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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24394-0.txt b/24394-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8bab920 --- /dev/null +++ b/24394-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8521 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. Birmingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Gossamer + 1915 + +Author: George A. Birmingham + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [EBook #24394] +Last Updated: February 17, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSSAMER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +GOSSAMER + +By G. A. Birmingham + +Copyright, 1915, George H. Doran Company + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +“For that mercy,” said Gorman, “you may thank with brief thanksgiving +whatever gods there be.” We were discussing, for perhaps the twentieth +time, the case of poor Ascher. Gorman had reminded me, as he often +does, that I am incapable of understanding Ascher or entering into his +feelings, because I am a man of no country and therefore know nothing +of the emotion of patriotism. This seems a curious thing to say to a +man who has just had his leg mangled in a battle; but I think Gorman is +quite right about his fact I went out to the fight, when the fight came +on, but only because I could not avoid going. I never supposed that I +was fighting for my country. But Gorman is wrong in his inference. I +have no country, but I believe I can understand Ascher quite as well as +Gorman does. Nor am I sure that I ought to be thankful for my immunity +from the fever of patriotism. Ascher suffered severely because at a +critical moment in his life a feeling of loyalty to his native land +gripped him hard. I have also suffered, a rending of the body at +least comparable to Ascher’s rending of the soul. But I have not the +consolation of feeling that I am a hero. + +I have often told Gorman that if he were as thorough-going as he +pretends to be he would call himself O’Gorabhain or at the very least, +O’Gorman. He is an Irishman by birth, sympathy and conviction. He is a +Member of Parliament, pledged to support the cause of Ireland, and this +in spite of the fact that he has brains. He might have been a brilliant, +perhaps even a successful and popular novelist. He wrote two +stories which critics acclaimed, which are still remembered and even +occasionally read. He might have risen to affluence as a dramatist. He +was the author of one single-act play which made the fortune of a very +charming actress ten years ago. He has made a name for himself as a +journalist, and his articles are the chief glory of a leading weekly +paper. But the business to which he has really devoted himself is that +of an Irish patriot. He says amazingly foolish things in public and, +in private, is always quite ready to laugh at his own speeches. He is +a genuine lover of Ireland, an inheritor of that curious tradition of +Irish patriotism which has survived centuries of disappointed hopes, +and, a much stranger thing, has never been quite asphyxiated by its own +gases. + +I happen to belong to that unfortunate class of Irishmen whom neither +Gorman nor any one else will recognise as being Irish at all. I owned, +at one time, a small estate in Co. Cork. I sold it to my tenants +and became a man of moderate income, encumbered with a baronetcy +of respectable antiquity and occupied chiefly in finding profitable +investments for my capital. By way of recreation I interest myself in my +neighbours and acquaintances, in the actual men and women rather than +in their affairs. No definition of the Irish people has yet been +framed which would include me, though I am indubitably a person--I take +“person” to be the singular of people which is a noun of multitude--and +come of a family which held on to an Irish property for 300 years. My +religion consists chiefly of a dislike of the Roman Catholic Church and +an instinctive distrust of the priests of all churches. My father was +an active Unionist, and I have no political opinions of any sort. I am +therefore cut off, both by religion and politics, from any chance of +taking part in Irish affairs. On the other hand I cannot manage to +feel myself an Englishman. Even now, though I have fought in their army +without incurring the reproach of cowardice, I cannot get out of the +habit of looking at Englishmen from a distance. This convinces me that I +am not one of them. + +I am thus--Gorman is quite right about this--a man of no country. But I +understand Ascher as well as Gorman does; though I take a different view +of Ascher’s ultimate decision. + +I met Gorman first on board a Cunard steamer in the autumn of 1913. + +I was on my way to Canada. My excuse, the reason I gave to myself for +the journey, was the necessity of looking into the affairs of certain +Canadian companies in which I had invested money. There were rumours +current in England at that time which led me to suspect that the boom in +Canadian securities had reached its height and was about to subside. I +did not really believe that I was likely to find out anything of +value by stopping in an hotel at Montreal or travelling in a train +to Vancouver. But I was tired of London and thought the trip might be +pleasant. I went to Canada by way of New York, partly because the big +Cunarders are comfortable steamers, partly because I find New York an +agreeable city. I have several friends there and I like the life of the +place--for a fortnight at a time. I do not know whether I should like it +for a longer time because I have never had money enough to live in New +York for more than a fortnight. As a regular place of residence it might +be too stimulating for me; but I shall probably never know how I should +feel about it at the end of six weeks. + +It was Gorman who took the initiative on board the steamer. I do not +think that I should ever have made his acquaintance if he had not +forced himself on me. He accosted me, introduced himself, carried the +acquaintance through to an intimacy by sheer force of personality, and +ended by inducing me to like him. He began his attack on me during that +very uncomfortable time just before the ship actually starts. It is +never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea +until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the +passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so +I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, +swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, +with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other +at the windows of the purser’s office, under pretence of expecting +letters or despatching telegrams. Women passengers eye other women +passengers with suspicion and distrust. It is very interesting to notice +how people who scowl at each other on the first day of a voyage exchange +cards and promise to pay each other visits after six days as fellow +travellers. At the end of another six days--such is the usual +unfortunate experience--the cards are lost and the promises forgotten. +A poet and, following him, a novelist have compared human intercourse to +the “speaking” of ships that pass in the night. They would have found a +more forcible, though perhaps less poetic, illustration of their idea +in the friendships formed by passengers in the same steamer. They are +intimate, but they are as a rule utterly transitory. However I have no +right to complain. The friendship which Gorman forced on me has lasted +eighteen months and shows no sign yet of wearing thin. + +He caught me in the smoking room. I had settled down quietly in a +comfortable chair, and was wondering, as I always do in that smoking +room, at the grain of the wood in the panel above the fireplace. There +was no one else in the room except a steward who hovered near the door +which leads to the bar. Experience has taught me that the smoking room, +the most populous part of the ship during the voyage, is generally empty +during the two hours before the start. I thought I should have the place +to myself. I was half way through my cigar and had failed to decide +whether the panel is a fake or a natural curiosity when Gorman entered. +He is a big man and fat. He is clean shaved and has bushy grey eyebrows. +Heavy rolls of skin hang down from his jaws. He wears an unusually large +gold signet ring. His appearance is not attractive. He sat down beside +me and addressed me at once. + +“Sir James Digby?” he said. + +That is my name. I admitted it by nodding. + +“I was glancing over the passenger list,” he said, “and saw you were on +board. The purser told me you were up here somewhere. My name’s Gorman, +Michael Gorman.” + +The name gave me no information beyond the fact that the speaker was an +Irishman. There must be several thousand Gormans in Ireland and I could +not remember that I was acquainted with any one of them. I nodded again. + +“I don’t suppose you remember me,” said Gorman, “but you used to see me +pretty frequently once, about twenty-five years ago. My father kept the +only shop in Curraghbeg, and you used to come in and buy sweets, a penny +worth at a time. You were a small boy then. I was a bit older, fifteen +or sixteen perhaps.” + +Curraghbeg is a miserable village standing in the middle of the tract +of land which used to be my property. It is close to Curraghbeg House, +where my father kept up such state as befitted an Irish gentleman of his +day. I believe I was born there. If I thought of any place in the world +as home I suppose it would be Curraghbeg; but I have no feeling for +the place except a mild dislike. The House is now a nunnery, in better +repair, but almost certainly more gauntly hideous than when I owned +it. The village, I expect, is still as sordid as when I saw it last. I +remembered Gorman’s shop, a dirty little public house, where sacks of +flour, tea and sugar candy were sold, as well as whisky and emigration +tickets. I also remembered my father’s opinion of Gorman, old Dan +Gorman, the father of the man beside me. He was “one of the worst +blackguards in the county, mixed up with every kind of League and +devilment.” Those were the days when the land agitation was at its +height and Irish gentlemen--they were fighting for their existence as a +class--felt rather strongly about the leaders of the people. + +Of any younger Gorman I had no recollection whatever. Nor did I at that +moment, or for some time afterwards, connect the son of the ruffianly +old publican with the journalist and politician of whom I had heard a +good deal. + +“Funny thing,” he said, “running into you like this. Let’s have a drink +of some sort.” + +He snapped his fingers to attract the attention of the steward. + +I am not, I fear, thoroughly modernised. Though I like American social +life I have never been able to accept the theory of the wickedness +of class distinctions. As a political system democracy seems to me +extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest +against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many +votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I +could. I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws +are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to +associate with gentlemen in private life. I was not prepared to sit +drinking with the son of old Dan Gorman if I could help it. + +I intended to say so, as politely as such a thing can be said. The man’s +face made me pause. He was looking at me with a curious smile, half +innocent, half whimsical. His eyes expressed friendliness of a perfectly +simple, unaffected kind. I realised that he was not a snob, that he was +not trying to push himself on me for the sake of my position and title, +the position of a disinherited Irish landlord and a title which, for all +any one could tell by hearing it, might be the reward of a successful +provincial doctor. I realised also, with an uncomfortable shiver, that +he understood my feeling and was slightly amused at it. It struck me +suddenly that I, and not Gorman, was the snob. + +The steward stood at his elbow. + +“Whisky and soda?” said Gorman. “We are still in English waters. Or +shall I say cocktails, as we’re on our way to America?” + +I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before +luncheon. But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about +Gorman that I thought it well to break my rule. I should, under the +circumstances, have considered myself justified in breaking a temperance +pledge, on the principle, once explained to me by an archdeacon, that +charity is above rubrics. I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the +more thorough-going drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a +mouthful. Gorman gave the order. + +“Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be rather a good plan for us +to sit together at meals? I’ll make arrangements with the steward and +have a table reserved for us in the upper saloon. I can manage it all +right. I often cross on this boat and everybody knows me.” + +Again he looked at me and again smiled in his fascinating childlike way. + +“I’m A-1 at ordering meals,” he said, “and it really does make a +difference on these ships if you know how to get the best that’s going.” + +That was the one attempt he made to justify himself in forcing his +company on me. But it was not the hope of better dinners, though I like +good dinners, which led me to agree to his proposal. I was captivated by +his smile. Besides, I had not, so far as I knew, a single acquaintance +among the passengers. I should be better off with Gorman as messmate +than set down beside some chance stranger who might smile in a +disagreeable way, or perhaps not smile at all. + +“Very well,” I said. “You arrange it.” + +“It would be pleasant,” he said, “if we could get hold of a couple of +other interesting people, and make four at our table.” + +I do not deny that Gorman is an interesting person, but I did not see +what right he had to put me in that select class. I could only hope +that the other interesting people would regard me as he did. He pulled a +passenger list out of his pocket and turned over the pages. + +“What about the Aschers?” he said. + +He handed the list to me. There was a pencil mark opposite the name of +Mr. Carl Ascher. Immediately below it was “Mrs. Ascher and maid.” + +“I don’t know him,” I said. “Who is he? Has he done anything +particular?” + +“Heavens above!” said Gorman. “Who is Ascher! But perhaps you don’t +recognise him apart from the rest of the firm. Ever heard of Ascher, +Stutz & Co.?” + +I recognised the name then. Ascher is a banker, one of those +international financiers who manage, chiefly from London offices, a +complicated kind of business which no ordinary man understands anything +about, a kind of foreign business which for some reason very few +Englishmen undertake. + +“If the man’s a millionaire,” I said, “he won’t care to dine with +us--and he’s probably a Jew--not that I’ve any particular prejudice +against Jews.” + +“He’s not a Jew,” said Gorman. “He’s an Englishman. At least he’s as +English as any man with a name like that can be. I expect he’ll jump at +the chance of feeding with us. We’re the only people on board the least +likely to interest him.” + +I admire Gorman’s splendid self-confidence, but I do not share it. I +shrank from seeking the friendship of a millionaire. + +“He has his wife with him,” I said. “Perhaps she----” + +I meant to suggest that Mrs. Ascher might not care to be thrown with +a couple of stray men of whom she knew nothing. Gorman thought I meant +something quite different. + +“She’s an American,” he said, “or was before she married Ascher. I hear +she goes in for music and pictures and literature and all that sort of +thing, which may be boring. But I daresay we shan’t see very much of +her. She’ll probably be seasick the whole time.” + +I have often wondered where Gorman gets all his astonishingly accurate +information about people whom he does not know. He was very nearly right +about Mrs. Ascher. She was seasick for four out of the six days of our +voyage. + +“Anyhow,” he went on, “we must put up with her if we want to get hold +of the husband. And I should like to do that. I’ve never had a chance +before of being intimate with one of the big bugs of finance. I want to +know what it is that those fellows really do.” + +When Gorman put it to me that way I withdrew all my objections to his +plan. I very much want to know “what those fellows really do.” I am +filled with curiosity and I want to know what every kind of fellow +really does. I want to have a long talk with a Parisian dressmaker, +one of the men who settles what shape women are to be for the next six +months. I want to get at the mind of a railway manager. I want to know +how a detective goes about the job of catching criminals. Of course I +want to understand international banking. + +“Besides,” said Gorman, “a millionaire is a very useful kind of man to +know.” + +Millionaires are useful acquaintances because there is always a chance +of getting money from them. + +“Don’t count on me as a bridge player,” I said. “I’m no good at the game +and never play for high points. You wouldn’t win anything worth while +with me as one of the party.” + +“I wasn’t thinking of bridge,” said Gorman. + +He was not. He was thinking, I fancy, of his brother. But we did not get +to Gorman’s brother for more than a week. + +Having got my consent, Gorman went off to “set” Ascher. I use the word +“set” deliberately, for Gorman, when bent on getting anything done, +reminds me of a well-trained sporting dog. He ranges, quarters the +ground in front of him and finally--well, he set me as if I had been a +grouse. He set Ascher, I have no doubt, in the same way. + +I did not think it likely that he would secure the Aschers. Millionaires +are usually shy birds, well accustomed to being pursued by all sorts +of ordinary men. They develop, I suppose, a special cunning in avoiding +capture, a cunning which the rest of us never achieve. However Ascher’s +cunning was no use to him in this case. Gorman is an exceedingly clever +dog. + +The trumpet, bugle, cornet, or whatever the instrument is which +announces meals at sea, was blaring out its luncheon tune when Gorman +returned to me. He was in high triumph. He had captured the Aschers, +reserved the nicest table in the upper saloon and secured the +exclusive service of the best table steward in the ship. I think he had +interviewed the head cook. I began to appreciate Gorman’s qualities as a +travelling companion. His handling of the servants of the Cunard Company +during the voyage was masterly. I never was so well looked after before, +though I always make it a practice to tip generously. + +Gorman proposed that we should have another whisky and soda before going +down to luncheon. He is a genial soul. No churl would want to drink two +glasses of whisky in the early part of one day. When I refused he looked +disappointed. + +On the way down to luncheon he asked the lift boy how his mother had got +over her operation. It would never have occurred to me that the lift +boy had a mother. If I had thought the matter out carefully I might have +reached the conclusion that there must be or at one time have been a +mother for every lift boy in the world. But Gorman did not reason. He +simply knew, and knew too that this particular lift boy’s mother had +been in a Liverpool hospital, a fact which no method of reasoning known +to me would have enabled him to arrive. + +The lift boy loved Gorman. His grins of delight showed that. Our table +steward, a very competent young man, adored him. The head cook--I +judged by the meals we had sent up to us--had a very strong personal +affection for Gorman. I do not wonder. I am myself fond of Gorman now. +So is Ascher. Mrs. Ascher goes further still. She respects and admires +Gorman. But Mrs. Ascher is a peculiar woman. She respects people whom +the rest of us only like. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +We saw very little of Ascher and nothing at all of his wife during the +first two days of our voyage. My idea was that they stayed in their +cabins--they had engaged a whole suite of rooms--in order to avoid +drifting into an intimacy with Gorman and me. A millionaire would +naturally, so I supposed, be suspicious of the advance of any one who +was not a fellow millionaire. I was mistaken. Ascher was simply seasick. +When he recovered, two days before Mrs. Ascher raised her head from +the pillow, he showed every sign of wanting to know Gorman and had no +objection to dining with me. + +In the meanwhile I found out a great deal about Gorman. He was +delightfully unreserved, not only about his own past, but about his +opinions of people and institutions. Old Dan Gorman had, it appeared, +married a new wife when he was about sixty. This lady turned Michael, +then a young man, out of the house. He bore her no ill will whatever, +though she deprived him in the end of his inheritance as well as his +home. For several years he “messed about”--the phrase is his--with +journalism, acting as reporter and leader writer for several Irish +provincial papers, a kind of work which requires no education or +literary talent. Then he, so to speak, emerged, becoming somehow, +novelist, playwright, politician. I have never made out how he achieved +his success. I do not think he himself knows that. According to his +own account--and I never could get him to go into details--“things just +happened to come along.” + +He was entirely frank about his opinions. He regarded landlords as the +curse of Ireland and said so to me. He did not seem satisfied that they +are innocuous, even when, being deprived of their estates, they are no +longer landlords. I do not like being called a curse--hardly any one +does--but I found myself listening to the things which Gorman said about +the class to which I belong without any strong resentment. His treatment +of us reminded me of Robbie Burns’ address to the devil. The poet +recognised that the devil was a bad character and that the world would +be in every way a brighter and happier place if there were no such +person. But his condemnation was of a kindly sort, not wholly without +sympathy. He held out a hope that “ould Nickie Ben” might still “hae +some stake”--stake in the country I suppose--if he would take thought +and mend. The reformation would have to be a drastic one, nothing less +than a complete change of his habits, character and opinions. But such a +thing was not wholly impossible. That was very much what Gorman thought +about me. + +Next to Irish landlords Gorman disliked financiers more than any other +people in the world. He did not, by his own confession, know anything +about them; but he had got into touch with a group of journalists in +London which specialises in abuse of the class. Gorman repeated all the +stock arguments to me and illuminated the subject with some very well +worn apologues. + +“A financier,” he said, “is a bloated spider, which sits in a murky den +spinning webs and sucks the life-blood of its victims.” + +I wondered how Ascher would like this kind of talk if he ever joined our +party. + +There was not, of course, the same note of personal bitterness in +Gorman’s condemnation of financiers which I noticed in his attacks on +landlords. He had learned to hate my class during the impressionable +years of childhood. He had only found out about financiers when he was a +grown man. And no one, not even a convert to a new faith, ever believes +anything with real intensity except what he was taught before he was +eight years old. But it was not to be expected that Ascher would be as +patient as I was, even if the abuse with which Gorman assailed his class +lacked something of the conviction with which he attacked me. + +I asked Gorman one evening why, holding the opinions he did, he had +chosen as his table mates a banker and an unrepentant landlord. He had +a whole shipload of passengers to choose from, most of them, no doubt +believers in democracy, some of them perhaps even socialists, the kind +of socialists who travel first class on crack Cunard steamers. He seemed +surprised at the question and did not answer me at once. An hour or so +after we had passed away from the subject he returned to it suddenly and +explained that it was necessary to distinguish between individuals +and the classes to which they belong. A class, so I understood, may be +objectionable and dangerous in every way though the men who form it are +delightful. + +“Take the Irish priests, for instance,” he said. “The minute we get Home +Rule, we’ll----” + +He paused significantly. + +“Deal with them?” I suggested. + +He nodded with an emphasis which was positively vicious. + +“All the same,” he said, “there are lots of priests whom I really +like, capital fellows that I’d be glad to dine with every day in the +week--except Friday.” + +Apparently he was glad to dine with Ascher and me every day in the week, +including Friday. + +“There’s no sense,” he said, “in refusing to talk to a man just because +you don’t like his opinions.” + +I agreed. I even offered proof of my agreement. I was at that moment +talking to Gorman and I certainly did not like his opinions. + +When Ascher joined us at dinner on the third evening of our voyage, he +turned out to be a very quiet, gentle little man with no outward sign of +great wealth about him. He drank nothing but Perrier Water which was +a surprise and, I fancy, something of a disappointment to Gorman. He +expected Ascher to order champagne and was quite ready to take his turn +in paying for the wine. Ascher smoked half a cigarette after dinner and +another half cigarette before he went to bed. Gorman confided to me that +millionaires and half-crown cigars had always been associated in his +mind before he met Ascher. To me the most surprising thing about the +man was the low opinion he had of himself and his own abilities. He +was deferential to Gorman and even seemed to think what I said worth +listening to. He knew all about Gorman’s two novels and his play. He had +read many of Gorman’s newspaper articles. He used to try and make +Gorman talk about literature and art. Gorman, being a man of great +intelligence, hates talking about literature, and suspects that any one +who accuses him of art is poking fun at him. Ascher took both literature +and art quite seriously. He evidently thought that men who write books +belong to a superior class. As a matter of fact Ascher has far more +brains than any author I have ever met; but he does not know this. + +Ascher lay down without protest under all the outrageous things which +Gorman said about financiers. His extreme meekness seemed to stimulate +Gorman. + +“No qualities,” said Gorman, “are required for success as a financier +except a low kind of cunning and a totally unscrupulous selfishness.” + +Ascher seemed to agree with him. I wanted to point out that considering +the very large number of men who are cunning and the general prevalence +of selfishness the number of successful financiers is surprisingly +small. But Gorman did not give me a chance of speaking. + +“Political life in every modern state,” said Gorman, “is poisoned, +poisoned at its source by the influence of the great financial houses. +Democracy is in shackles. Its leaders are gagged. Progress is stopped. +Politics are barren----” He delivered this oration at dinner one night, +and when he came to the barrenness of politics he knocked over Ascher’s +bottle of Perrier Water with a sweep of his hand “and it is the subtle +influence of the financiers, the money kings, what the Americans used to +call the Gold Bugs, which is responsible for the mischief.” + +Ascher assented with a sort of wavering smile. + +“The proof of what I say,” said Gorman, “is to be found in the +well-known fact----” + +I interrupted him at this point. He had cited his well-known fact to +me several times. The son of a Liberal Cabinet Minister married the +daughter of a well-known Conservative who had been a Cabinet Minister. +It may be my stupidity but I cannot see how that union proves that +financiers control politics. I am not, and never shall be either a money +king or a gold bug, but in mere dread of hearing Gorman produce his +well-known fact again I took up the task of defending the class to which +Ascher belongs. + +“After all, Gorman,” I said, “you ought to be a little grateful. You +know perfectly well that there wouldn’t be any politics if financiers +and other capitalists did not pay for them.” + +“That’s just what I say,” said Gorman. + +“No,” I said. “That’s not what you say. You say that financiers poison +politics. But there’s the greatest difference between paying for +a performance and poisoning the performers. Take a theatre for +instance----” + +“Talking of theatres,” said Gorman, “there’s a rattling good circus +going on in New York at present. I’ll take you two men to see it some +night.” + +But I was not going to let Gorman ride away in this manner from an +argument in which he was being worsted. + +“Do let me finish what I am saying,” I said. “All your Parliaments and +legislative assemblies are simply national theatres kept up for the +amusement of the people. Somebody has to put up the money to keep them +going. The ordinary man won’t do it. You can’t even get him to vote +without hypnotising him first by means of a lot of speeches and +newspaper articles and placards which stare at him from hoardings. Even +after you’ve hypnotised him you have to drag him to your polling booth +in motor cars. He wouldn’t go if you didn’t. As for paying for your +show, you know perfectly well that there’d be no money for the running +of it if it weren’t for a few financiers and rich men.” + +One of Gorman’s most delightful characteristics is that he bears no +malice when an argument goes against him. + +“Begad, you’re right,” he said. “Right all the way along. At the present +moment I’m on my way to America to get money for the Party. There’s +a man I have my eye on out in Detroit, a fellow with millions, and an +Irishman. I mean to get a good subscription out of him. That’s why I’m +on this ship.” + +“Curious,” I said. “I’m after money too. I have some investments in +Canadian railway shares--nothing much, just a few thousands, but a good +deal to me. I’m a little uneasy----” + +I looked at Ascher. A man in his position, the head of one of the great +financial houses, ought to be able to give very good advice about my +shares. A word from him about the prospects of Canada generally and the +companies in which I am interested in particular, would be very valuable +to me. Gorman was also looking inquiringly at Ascher. I daresay a tip on +the state of the stock market would be interesting to him. I do not know +whether party funds are invested or kept on deposit receipt on a +bank; but Gorman is likely to have a few pounds of his own. Ascher +misinterpreted our glances. He thought we wanted to know why he was +going to America. + +“The condition of Mexico at present,” he said, “is causing us all some +anxiety. My partner in New York wants to have a consultation with me. +That’s what’s bringing me over.” + +“Ah!” said Gorman. “I rather respect those Mexicans. It’s pleasant to +hear of wealthy men like you being hit sometimes.” + +“It’s not exactly that,” said Ascher. “As a firm we don’t lose directly +whatever happens in Mexico. What we have to consider is the interest +of our customers, the people, some of them quite small people, who went +into Mexican railways on our advice. Banking houses don’t put their +money into investments. That’s not our business. But banking is a very +dull subject. Let’s talk of something else.” + +He turned to me as he spoke. + +“You were speaking just now,” he said, “about the necessity of putting +up money for the support of theatres. If we are to have any real +dramatic art in England----” + +Banking is a fascinatingly interesting subject compared to art; but +Ascher does not think so, and Ascher had taken hold of the conversation. +He appealed to Gorman as a man whose services to literature and drama +had never been properly recognised. He appealed to me as a member of +a cultured class. Neither of us was sympathetic or responsive. Gorman +knows that he has never rendered any service to literature at all, that +he wrote novels because he wanted money in the days before a grateful +country paid him £400 a year for walking round the lobbies of the House +of Commons, that he tumbled into his play by accident and made money out +of it because a very charming lady was more charming than usual in the +part he wrote for her. + +Gorman--this is one of the advantages of being an Irishman--has no +illusions about himself. I have none about my class. It is not cultured +and does not want to be. + +When Ascher had smoked his half cigarette we left the dining saloon and +went to our special corner in the lounge. Ascher talked on till nearly +ten o’clock about art and drama and music as if they were the only +things of any interest or importance in the world. Then he went to +bed. Gorman and I agreed that art, drama, and music are of very little +importance and less interesting than anything else. Gorman’s weekly +articles, quite the best things of their kind then being published, are +all about art, so he has a perfect right to express his opinion. What we +wanted to hear Ascher talk about was money. + +“I’ve always wanted to know what high finance really is,” I said. +“It seems a pity not to be able to find out now we’ve got a man who +understands it.” + +“I’ll take him in hand to-morrow,” said Gorman. “There’s no use our +having him to dine with us and looking after him all the way across if we +don’t get anything out of him.” + +Gorman’s words were cryptic. I wanted to get knowledge--the sort of +knowledge which would satisfy my curiosity--out of Ascher; chiefly +knowledge though I would not have refused a little inside information +about Canadian affairs. Gorman might very well want something more. He +might want a subscription to the funds of his party. I hoped he would +not get it; either out of Ascher or out of the man at Detroit of whom he +spoke. I am not a member of any political party but I hate that to which +Gorman belongs. If I were attached to a party and if Gorman’s friends +joined it in a body, I should leave it at once. My opinion, so far as I +have any opinion, is that what Ireland wants is to be let alone. But if +the Irish Nationalist Party were to adopt a policy of deliberately doing +nothing and preventing other people from doing anything I should not +support it. I should then search about for something revolutionary and +try to insist on carrying it out. Nothing would induce me to be on the +same side as Gorman and his friends. Such is the nature of an Irish +gentleman. + +I lay awake for a long time that night, smoking cigarettes in my berth +and meditating on the fact that, of the three of us I was the one who +was going to America for purely selfish purposes. Gorman was trying to +get money for his party, for his own ultimate advantage no doubt, but +in the first instance the money was not for himself but for a cause. +And Gorman is a politician, a member of a notoriously corrupt and +unscrupulous professional class. Ascher was taking a long journey in +order to devise some means of rescuing his clients’ property from the +clutches of a people which had carried the principles of democracy +rather further than is usual. And Ascher is a financier. No one expects +anything but enlightened greed from financiers. I belong by birth and +education to an aristocracy, a class which is supposed to justify its +existence by its altruism. There was no doubt a valuable lesson to be +learned from these considerations. I fell asleep before I found out +exactly what it was. + +Gorman did as he promised. He took Ascher in hand next day. He made +the poor man walk up and down the deck with him. There is nothing on +shipboard more detestable than that tramp along the deck. Only the +strongest minded man can avoid counting his steps, making an estimate of +yards, and falling into the bondage of trying to walk a fixed number of +miles. Conversation and even coherent thought become impossible when the +mind is set on the effort to keep count of the turns made at the end of +the deck. I am sure that Ascher did not enjoy himself; but Gorman kept +him at it for more than an hour. I watched them from the deck chair in +which I sat, rolled up very comfortably in my rug. At one o’clock, when +we ought to have gone down to lunch, Gorman stopped opposite my chair. +He proclaimed his success jubilantly. + +“We’ve been talking about finance,” he said, “high finance. Pity you +wouldn’t join us.” + +Ascher bowed towards me. Gorman described Ascher’s manners as foreign. +I daresay they are. There is a certain flavour of formal courtesy +about them which Englishmen rarely practise, of which Irishmen of my +generation, partly anglicised by their education, have lost the trick. + +“Sir James would only have been bored,” said Ascher. + +“Not he,” said Gorman, “he’s just as keen as I am to know what bankers +do with money.” + +“It’s a dull trade,” said Ascher, “very dull. Some day I shall give it +up and devote the rest of my time to----” + +“Don’t say art,” said Gorman. + +Ascher opened his eyes and looked at Gorman with a mild kind of wonder. + +“Of course,” he said, “I can never be an artist. I haven’t got the +temperament, the soul, the capacity for abandon. But I might find +enjoyment, the highest pleasure, in understanding, in appreciating, +perhaps even in encouraging----” + +“Sort of Mecenas,” said Gorman. “I wonder if Mecenas was a banker. He +seems to have been a rich man.” + +“He was a descendant of kings,” I said, “but that’s no reason why he +shouldn’t have made money.” + +“Anyhow,” said Gorman, “you’d find art just as dull as banking if you +went in for it systematically.” + +“But artists----!” said Ascher, “genuine artists! Men with inspiration!” + +“Selfish conceited swine,” said Gorman. + +“Well,” I said, “you ought to know. You’re an artist yourself. Ascher +told me so yesterday.” + +“I remember your two novels,” said Ascher, “and I recognised in them the +touch, the unmistakable touch.” + +“Let’s go down to lunch,” said Gorman. + +He left the deck as he spoke. Even Gorman does not like to stand +self-convicted of being a selfish conceited swine. Ascher laid his hand +on my arm as we went down to the saloon. + +“What a brilliant fellow he is,” he whispered. “I never realised before +how magnificently paradoxical your Irish minds are. That pose of abject +self depreciation which is in reality not wholly a pose but a vehement +protest against the shallow judgment of a conventionalised culture----” + +Ascher’s language was a little confusing to me, but I could guess at +what he meant. Gorman appeared to him to be an unappreciated Oscar +Wilde, one of those geniuses--I am bound to admit that they are mostly +Irish--who delude the world into thinking they are uttering profound +truths when they are merely outraging common sense. + +It would be going too far perhaps to say that Ascher fawned on Gorman +during luncheon. He certainly showed his admiration for him very +plainly. + +During the afternoon we talked finance again. Ascher did it because he +wanted to please Gorman. I listened and learned several things which +interested me very much. I got to understand, for instance, why a +sovereign is sometimes worth more, sometimes less, when you try to +exchange it for dollars or francs; a thing which had always puzzled me +before. I learned why gold has to be shipped in large quantities from +one country to another by bankers, whereas I, a private individual, need +only send a cheque to pay my modest debts. I learned what is meant by +a bill drawn on London. It took me nearly half an hour to grasp that. +Gorman pretended to see it sooner than I did, but when he tried to +supplement Ascher’s explanation with one of his own he floundered +hopelessly. + +It was while we were at tea that afternoon that Mrs. Ascher put in an +appearance for the first time. She was a tall, lean woman, with dark red +hair--Gorman called it bronze--and narrow eyes which never seemed quite +open. Her face was nearly colourless. I was inclined to attribute this +to her long suffering from seasickness, but when I got to know her +better I found out that she is never anything but pallid, even when she +has lived for months on land and has been able to eat all she wants. The +first thing she did after we were introduced to her was to put her hands +up to her ears and give a low moan, expressive of great anguish. Ascher +explained to us that she was very musical and suffered acutely from the +ship’s band. I made up my mind definitely that she was not the sort of +woman I like. Gorman, on the other hand, took to her at once. He could +not stop the band, but he led the lady away to a distant corner of the +writing room. + +For the rest of the voyage Gorman devoted himself to her. I do not mean +to suggest that he flirted with her either frivolously, or with yearning +artistic seriousness. Gorman enjoys the society of women and is never +long happy without it, but I do not think he cares for love-making in +any form. Besides he spent most of his time in her company watching her +playing Patience. Owen Meredith wrote a poem in which he glorified the +game of chess as an aid to quiet conjugal love-making. But so far as I +know no one has suggested that Canfield--it was Mrs. Ascher’s favourite +kind of Patience--has ever been used as an excuse for flirtation. No +woman, not even if she has eyes of Japanese shape, can look tenderly at +a man when she has just buried a valuable two under a pile of kings and +queens in her rubbish heap. + +The result of Gorman’s devotion to the lady was that I was left to +improve my acquaintance with her husband. The more I talked to Ascher +the better I liked him. His admiration for his wife’s sensitiveness to +sound was very touching. I am convinced that he knew a great deal +more about music than she did and appreciated it more. But her sudden +outbursts of petulance when the band played seemed to Ascher a plain +proof that she had the spirit of an artist. He confided in me that +it gave him real pleasure to see her and Gorman together because, as +artists, they must have much in common. Ascher has a very simple and +beautiful nature. No one with any other kind of nature could put up with +Mrs. Ascher as a wife. + +Mere simplicity of soul and beauty of character would not, I am afraid, +have kept me at Ascher’s side for the rest of the voyage. Virtue, like +the innocence of the young, is admirable but apt to be tiresome. +What attracted me most to Ascher was his ability, the last thing he +recognised in himself. When he found out that I was interested in his +business he talked to me quite freely about it, though always with a +certain suggestion of apology. There was no need for anything of the +sort. He revealed to me a whole world of fascinating romance of which I +had never before suspected the existence. Some day, perhaps, a poet--he +will have to be a great poet--will discover that the system of credit +by means of which our civilisation works, deserves an epic. Neither +the wanderings of Ulysses nor the discoveries of a traveller through +Paradise and Purgatory make so splendid an appeal to the imagination +as this vastly complex machine which Ascher and men like him guide. The +oceans of the world are covered thick with ships. Long freight trains +wind like serpents across continents. Kings build navies. Ploughmen turn +up the clay. The wheels of factories go round. The minds of men bend +nature to their purposes by fresh inventions. Science creeps forward +inch by inch. Human beings everywhere eat, drink and reproduce +themselves. The myriad activities of the whole wide world go profitably +on. They can go on only because the Aschers, sitting at their office +desks in London or New York, direct the purchase or sale of what are but +scratches with a pen on bits of paper. + +There is, no doubt, another way of looking at the system. The ships, the +kings, the mighty minds, the common men, are all of them in bondage +to Ascher and his kind. He and his brother financiers are the unseen +rulers, the mysteriously shrouded tyrants of the world. This system of +credit, which need not be at all or might be quite other than it is, has +given them supreme, untempered power, which they use to the injury of +men. This is Gorman’s view. But is it any less romantic than the other? +An epic can be written round a devil as greatly as round a hero. Milton +showed us that. What is wanted in a poet’s theme is grandeur, either +fine or terrible. Ascher’s grip upon the world has surely that. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +We landed in New York and to my satisfaction I secured the rooms I +usually occupy. They are in a small hotel off Fifth Avenue, half way +between the streets which boast of numbers higher than fifty, and those +others which follow the effete European customs of having names. It +is one of the paradoxes of New York that the parts of the city where +fashionable people live and spend their money are severely business-like +in the treatment of streets, laying them out so as to form correct +parallelograms and distinguishing them by numbers instead of names, as +if terrified of letting imagination loose for a moment. Down town where +the money is made and the offices of the money makers are piled one +on top of another, the streets are as irregular as those of London or +Paris, and have all sorts of fascinatingly suggestive names. My hotel +stands in the debatable land between the two districts. Fashionable life +is ebbing away from its neighbourhood. Business is, as yet, a little shy +of invading it. The situation makes an appeal to me. I may be, as Gorman +says, a man of no country, but I am a man of two worlds. I cling to the +skirts of society, something of an outsider, yet one who has the right +of entry, if I choose to take the trouble, the large amount of trouble +necessary to exercise the right. I am one who is trying to make money, +scarcely more than an amateur among business men, but deeply interested +in their pursuits. This particular hotel seems to me therefore a +convenient, that is to say a suitable place of residence for me. It is +not luxurious, nor is it cheap, but it is comfortable, which is perhaps +the real reason why I go to it. + +I gave Gorman my address before I left the ship, but I did not expect +him to make any use of it. I thought that I had seen the last of him +when I crossed the gangway and got caught in the whirlpool of fuss which +eddied round the custom house shed. I was very much surprised when +he walked in on me at breakfast time on the second morning after our +arrival. I was eating an omelette at the time. I offered him a share of +it and a cup of coffee. Gorman refused both; but he helped himself to +a glass of iced water. This shows how adaptable Gorman is. Hardly any +European can drink iced water at or immediately after breakfast during +the first week he spends in America. I do not take to the stuff till +I have been there about a fortnight. But Gorman, in spite of his +patriotism, has a good deal of the cosmopolitan about him. Strange foods +and drinks upset him very little. + +“Doing anything this evening?” he asked. “If not will you spend it with +me? Ascher has promised to come. We’re going to a circus and on for +supper afterwards. You remember the circus I mentioned to you on the +steamer.” + +I hesitated before I answered. I suppose I looked a little astonished. +That Gorman should propose an evening out was natural enough. I should +not call him a dissipated man, but he has a great deal of vitality and +he likes what he calls “a racket” occasionally. What surprised me was +that a circus should be his idea of dissipation. A circus is the sort of +entertainment to which I send my nephew--a boy of eleven--when he +spends the night with me in London on his way to school. My servant, +a thoroughly trustworthy man, takes him there. I pay for the tickets. +Gorman, Ascher, and I were three grown men and we could not boast of a +child among us to serve as an excuse for going to a circus. + +“It’s quite a good show,” said Gorman. + +I tried to think of Ascher at a circus. I failed to picture him, a man +educated up to the highest forms of art, gazing in delight while a lady +in short petticoats jumps through a hoop from the back of a galloping +horse. I had not been at a circus for about thirty years, since my tenth +birthday indeed, but I do not believe that the form of entertainment +has changed much since then. The clowns’ jokes--I judge from my nephew’s +reports--are certainly the same as they were in my time. But even very +great improvements would not make circuses tolerable to really artistic +people like Ascher. + +“I’ve got free passes for the best seats,” said Gorman. + +He had mistaken the cause of my hesitation. I was not thinking of the +cost of our evening’s amusement. + +“You journalists,” I said, “are wonderful. You get into the front row +every time without paying, whether it’s a coronation or a funeral. How +did you manage it this time?” + +“My brother Tim is connected with the show. I daresay you don’t remember +him at Curraghbeg. He was fifteen years younger than me. My father +married a second time, you know. Tim is my half-brother.” + +I did not remember Gorman himself in Curraghbeg. I could not be expected +to remember Tim who must have been still unborn when I left home to join +the Army. + +“Tim has the brains of our family,” said Gorman. “His mother was a very +clever woman.” + +I never heard Gorman say anything worse than that about his step-mother, +and yet she certainly treated him very badly. + +“You’re all clever,” I said. “Your father drove mine out of the country +and deprived him of his property. It took ability to do that. You are a +Member of Parliament and a brilliant journalist. Timothy--I hardly like +to speak of him as Tim--owns a splendid circus.” + +“He doesn’t own it,” said Gorman. + +“Well, runs it,” I said. “I expect it takes more brains to run a circus +than to own one.” + +“He doesn’t exactly run it,” said Gorman. “In fact he only takes the +money at the door. But he has brains. That’s why I want Ascher to meet +him. I didn’t ask Mrs. Ascher,” he added thoughtfully, “though she +hinted for an invitation, rather made a set at me, in fact.” + +“Give her my ticket,” I said. “I don’t mind a bit. I’ll buy another for +myself in a cheap part of the house, and join you at supper afterwards. +You ought not to disappoint Mrs. Ascher.” + +“I don’t want Mrs. Ascher this time. She’d be in the way. She’s a +charming woman, of course, though she does bore me a bit about music and +talks of her soul.” + +“Good Heavens!” I said. “You haven’t been discussing religion with her, +surely. I didn’t think you’d do a thing like that, Gorman. You oughtn’t +to.” + +“Never mentioned religion to her in my life. Nothing would induce me to. +For one thing I don’t believe she has any.” + +“You’re a Roman Catholic yourself, aren’t you?” + +“Well,” said Gorman, “I don’t know that I can say that I am exactly; but +I’m not a Protestant or a Jew. But that’s nothing to do with it. Mrs. +Ascher doesn’t talk about her soul in a religious way. In fact--I don’t +know if you’ll understand, but what she means by a soul is something +quite different, not the same sort of soul.” + +I understood perfectly. I have met several women of Mrs. Ascher’s kind. +They are rather boastful about their souls and even talk of saving or +losing them. But they do not mean what one of Gorman’s priests would +mean, or what my poor father, who was a strongly evangelical Protestant, +meant by the phrases. + +“We are not accustomed to souls like hers in Ireland. We only go in for +the commonplace, old-fashioned sort.” + +Gorman smiled. + +“She wouldn’t be seen with one of them about her,” he said. “They’re +vulgar things. Everybody has one.” + +“Soul or no soul,” I said, “you ought to invite Mrs. Ascher to your +party. Why not do the civil thing?” + +“I’ll do the civil thing some other time. I’ll take her to a concert, +but I don’t want her to-night.” + +“Perhaps,” I said, “your brother’s circus is a little--shall we say +Parisian? I don’t think you need mind that. Mrs. Ascher isn’t exactly a +girl. It would take a lot to shock her. In fact, Gorman, my experience +of these women with artistic souls is that the riskier the thing is the +better they like it.” + +That is, as I have noticed, one of the great differences between a +commonplace, so to speak, religious soul and a soul of the artistic +kind. You save the one by keeping it as clean as you can. The other +seems to thrive best when heavily manured. It is no disparagement of the +artistic soul to say that it likes manure. Some of the most delicious +and beautiful things in the world are like that, raspberries for +instance, which make excellent jam, roses about which poets write, and +begonias. I knew a man once who poured bedroom slops into his begonia +bed every day and he had the finest flowers I ever saw. + +“Gorman,” I said, “did it ever occur to you that Mrs. Ascher’s soul is +like a begonia?” + +“Bother Mrs. Ascher’s soul!” said Gorman. “I’m not thinking about it. +The circus is a show you might take a nun to. Nobody could possibly +object to it. The reason I headed her off was because I wanted to talk +business to Ascher, very particular business and rather important. In +fact,” here he sank his voice to a confidential whisper, “I want you to +help me to rope him in.” + +“If you’ve succeeded in roping him into a circus,” I said, “I should +think you could rope him into anything else without my help. Would you +mind telling me what the scheme is?” + +“I’m trying to,” he said, “but you keep interrupting me with silly +riddles about begonias.” + +“I’m sorry I mentioned begonias. All the same it’s a pity you wouldn’t +listen. You’d have liked the part about manure. But never mind. Go on +about Ascher.” + +“My brother Tim,” said Gorman, “has invented a new cash register. He’s +always inventing things; been at it ever since he was a boy. But they’re +mostly quite useless things though as cute as the devil. In fact I don’t +think he ever hit on anything the least bit of good till he got this +cash register.” + +“Before we go further,” I said, “what is a cash register?” + +“It’s a machine used in shops and cheap tea-places for----” + +“I know now,” I said. “It has keys like a typewriter. That’s all right. +I thought for a moment it might be a book, a ledger, you know. Go on.” + +“Well, Tim’s machine is out and away the best thing of its kind ever +seen. There’s simply no comparison between it and the existing cash +registers. I’ve had it tested in every way and I know.” + +I began, so I thought, to see what Ascher was to be roped into. + +“You want money to patent it, I suppose,” I said. + +But that was not it. Gorman had scraped together whatever money was +necessary to make his brother’s invention secure in Europe and America. +He had done more, he had formed a small private company in which he held +most of the shares himself. He had manufactured a hundred of the new +machines and was prepared to put them on the market. + +“Ah,” I said. “Now I see what you’re at. You want more capital. You want +to work the thing on a big scale. I might take a share or two myself, +just for the sake of having a flutter.” + +“We don’t want you,” said Gorman. “The fewer there are in it the better. +I don’t want to have to divide the profits with a whole townful of +people. But we might let you in if you get Ascher for us. You have a lot +of influence with Ascher.” + +I had, of course, no influence whatever with Ascher. But Gorman, though +he is certainly a clever man, has the defects of his class and his +race. He was an Irish peasant to start with and there never was an Irish +peasant yet who did not believe in a mysterious power which he calls +“influence.” It is curious faith, though it justifies itself pretty well +in Ireland. In that country you can get nearly anything done, either +good or bad, if you persuade a sufficiently influential person to +recommend it. Gorman’s mistake, as it seemed to me, lay in supposing +that influence is equally potent outside Ireland. I am convinced that it +is no use at all in dealing with a man like Ascher. If a big financial +magnate will not supply money for an enterprise on the merits of the +thing he is not likely to do so because a friend asks him. Besides I +cannot, or could not at that time, boast of being Ascher’s intimate +friend. However Gorman’s mistake was no affair of mine. + +“If Ascher goes in at all,” I said, “he’ll do it on a pretty big scale. +He’ll simply absorb the rest of you.” + +“The fact is,” said Gorman, “I don’t want Ascher to join. I don’t want +him to put down a penny of money. All I want him to do is to back us. +Of course he’ll get his whack of whatever we make, and if he likes to be +the nominal owner of some bonus shares in our company he can. That would +regularise his position. The way the thing stands is this.” + +I had finished my breakfast and lit a cigar. Gorman pulled out his pipe +and sat down opposite to me. I am not, I regret to say, a business man, +but I succeeded in understanding fairly well what he told me. + +His brother’s cash register, if properly advertised and put on the +market, would drive out every other cash register in the world. In the +long run nothing could stand against it. Of that Gorman was perfectly +convinced. But the proprietors of the existing cash registers would not +submit without a struggle. + +Gorman nodded gravely when he told me this. Evidently their struggles +were the very essence of the situation. + +“What can they do?” I said. “If your machine is much better than theirs +surely----” + +“They’ll do what people always do on these occasions. They’ll infringe +our patents.” + +“But the law----” + +“Yes,” said Gorman, “the law. It’s just winning law suits that would +ruin us. Every time we got a judgment in our favour the case would be +appealed to a higher court. That would happen here and in England and +in France and in every country in the world civilised enough to use cash +registers. Sooner or later, pretty soon too--we should have no money +left to fight with.” + +“Bankrupt,” I said, “as a consequence of your own success. What an odd +situation!” + +“Now,” said Gorman, “you see where Ascher comes in.” + +“I do. But I don’t expect he’ll spend his firm’s money fighting +speculative law suits all over the world just to please you.” + +“You don’t see the position in the least. There’ll be no law suits and +he won’t spend a penny. Once it’s known that his firm is behind us no +one will attempt to touch our patent. People aren’t such fools as to +start playing beggar-my-neighbour with Ascher, Stutz & Co. The whole +world knows that their firm has money enough to go on paying lawyers +right on until the day of judgment.” + +“I hope to goodness,” I said, “that we shan’t meet lawyers then.” + +Gorman smiled. Up to that point it had been impossible to move him from +his desperate earnestness, but a joke at the expense of lawyers is sure +of a smile under any circumstances. With the possible exception of the +mother-in-law joke, the lawyer joke is the oldest in the world and like +all well tested jokes it may be relied on. + +“There won’t be any lawyers then,” said Gorman. “They’ll go straight to +hell without the formality of a trial.” + +This seemed to me to be carrying the joke too far. I have known several +lawyers who were no worse than other professional men, quite upright and +honourable compared to doctors. I should have liked to argue the point +with Gorman. But for the moment I was more interested in the future of +the new cash register than in the ultimate destiny of lawyers. + +“If you get Ascher to back you,” I said, “and your patents are safe, +you’ll want to begin making machines on a big scale. Where will you get +the money for that?” + +“You haven’t quite caught on yet,” said Gorman. “I don’t want to make +the things at all. Why should I? There would have to be a large company. +I have neither time nor inclination to manage it. Tim hasn’t that kind +of brains. Besides it would be risky. Somebody might come along any day +with a better machine and knock ours out. People are always inventing +things, you know. What I want is a nice large sum of hard cash without +any bother or risk. Don’t you see that the other people, the owners of +the present cash registers, will have to buy us out? If our machine +is the best and they daren’t go to law with us they must buy us out. +There’s no other course open to them. What’s more, they’ll have to pay +pretty nearly what we ask. In fact, if we put up a good bluff there’s +hardly any end to the extent to which we can bleed them. See?” + +I saw something which looked to me like a modernised form of highway +robbery. + +“Is that sort of thing common?” I said. + +“Done every day,” said Gorman. “It’s business.” + +“Well,” I said, “there’s one justification for your proceedings. If half +what you say about your brother’s invention is true the world will get +the benefit of a greatly improved cash register. I suppose that’s the +way civilisation advances.” + +“The world be damned,” said Gorman. “It’ll get nothing. You don’t +suppose the people who buy us out are going to start making Tim’s +machine. They can if they like, of course, once they’ve paid us. But it +will cost them hundreds of thousands if they do. They’d have to scrap +all their existing plant and turn their factories inside out, and in +the end they wouldn’t make any more profit than they’re making now. No. +They’ll simply suppress Tim’s invention and the silly old world will go +on with the machines it has at present.” + +“Gorman,” I said, “you gave me to understand a minute or so ago that +you went in for the old-fashioned kind of soul, the kind we were both +brought up to. I’m not at all sure that I wouldn’t rather have Mrs. +Ascher’s new kind, even if it----” + +“Don’t start talking about begonias again,” said Gorman. + +“I wasn’t going to. I was only going to say that even plays in which +nothing happens and grimy women say indecent things--that’s art you +know--seem to me better than the sort of things your soul fattens on.” + +“I don’t see any good talking about souls,” said Gorman. “This is a +matter of business. The other people will crush us if they can. If they +can’t, and they won’t be able to if Ascher backs us, they’ll have to +pay us. There’s nothing wrong about that, is there? Look at it this way. +We’ve got something to sell----” + +“Cash registers,” I said. “But you don’t propose to sell them.” + +“Not cash registers, but the right to make a certain kind of cash +registers. That’s what we’re going to sell. We could sell it to the +public, form a company to use the rights. It suits us better for various +reasons to sell it to these people. It suits them to buy. They needn’t +unless they like. But they will like. Now if we want to sell and they +want to buy and we agree on the price where does anybody’s soul come +in?” + +“There is evidently,” I said, “a third kind of soul. The original, +religious kind, the artistic kind, and what we may call the business +soul. You have a mixture of all three in you, Gorman.” + +“I wish you’d stop worrying about my soul and tell me this. Are you +going to help to rope in Ascher or not? He’ll come if you use your +influence with him.” + +“My dear fellow,” I said. “Of course I’m going to help. Haven’t you +offered me a share of the loot?” + +“I thought you would,” said Gorman triumphantly. “But what about your +own soul?” + +“I haven’t got one,” I said. + +I used to have a sort of instinct called honour which served men of my +class instead of a soul. But Gorman and Gorman’s father before him and +their political associates have succeeded in abolishing gentlemen in +Ireland. There is no longer the class of gentry in that country and +the few surviving individuals have learned that honour is a silly +superstition. I am now a disinterested spectator of a game which my +ancestors played and lost. The virtue desirable in a spectator is not +honour but curiosity. I wanted very much to see how Ascher would take +Gorman’s proposal and how the whole thing would work out. I promised to +sit through the circus, to attend the supper party afterwards and to do +the best I could to persuade Ascher to join our robber band. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Mrs. Ascher is not the woman to miss an entertainment she desires merely +because she lacks an invitation. She arrived at the door of the circus +in a taxicab with Ascher. Gorman and I were there and when he first saw +Mrs. Ascher he swore. However he was forced to give her some sort of +welcome and he did it pretty well, though I fear Ascher might have +noticed a note of insincerity in his voice. But that was only at first. +Gorman’s temper changed when we reached our seats and Mrs. Ascher threw +off her cloak. + +She was wearing an evening gown of the most startling design and colour. +I should have said beforehand that a woman with a skin as pallid as that +of a corpse and so little flesh that her bones stick up jaggedly would +be wise to avoid very low dresses. Mrs. Ascher displayed, when she took +off her cloak, as much skin and bone as she could without risking arrest +at the hands of the police. Her gown, what there was of it, was of a +vivid orange colour and she wore emeralds round her neck. If the main +object of wearing clothes is, as some philosophers maintain, to attract +attention, then Mrs. Ascher understands the art of dress. She created a +sensation. That was what pleased Gorman. He is a man who likes to be +the centre of interest wherever he is, or if that is not possible, to +be attached to the person who has secured that fortunate position. Mrs. +Ascher attracts the public gaze wherever she goes. I have seen people +turn round to stare at her in the dining room of the Ritz in New York +and at supper in the Carlton in London. The men and women who formed +the audience in Gorman’s circus were unaccustomed to daring splendour of +raiment. They actually gasped when Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak and +Gorman felt glad that she had come. + +She said a few words to me about the delight which an artist’s soul +feels in coming into direct contact with the seething life of the +people, and she mentioned with appreciation a French picture, one of +Degas’ I think, which represents ballet dancers practising their art. +Then she and Gorman settled down in two of the three seats reserved for +us. Ascher and I retired modestly to the back of what I may call the +dress circle. After a while when the performance was well under way, +Gorman’s brother came in. I suppose the greater part of his evening’s +work was done and he was able to leave the task of dealing with late +comers to some subordinate clerk. He looked a mere boy, younger than I +expected, as he stood at the end of the row of seats trying to attract +his brother’s attention. Gorman was so much occupied with Mrs. Ascher +that for some time he did not notice Tim. I had time to observe the +boy. He had fair hair, and large, childlike blue eyes. He was evidently +nervous, for he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He kept +pulling at his tie, and occasionally patting his hair. He was quite +right to be uncomfortable about his hair. It was very untidy and one +particular lock stood out stiffly at the back of his head. + +Gorman saw him at last and immediately introduced him to Ascher and to +me. But Tim was far too nervous to sit down beside us. He crept after +his brother and took a chair, three seats beyond Gorman, away from Mrs. +Ascher. She spotted him directly and insisted on his sitting beside her. +She is a woman who likes to have a man of some sort on each side of her. +Tim Gorman was little more than a boy but he was plainly frightened of +her. I suppose that gave zest to the sport of annexing him. Besides, his +eyes are very fine, and, if souls really shine through eyes, showed that +he was refreshingly innocent. I expect, too, that there was something +piquant in the company of the clerk who takes the money at the door of +a second-rate entertainment. Mrs. Ascher has often told me that she +is more interested in life than in anything else, even art. She +distinguishes between life and real life. Mine, I gather, is not nearly +so real as that of a performer in a travelling circus. I do not know why +this should be so, but I have no doubt that it is. Mrs. Ascher is not +by any means the only person who thinks so. Tim Gorman’s life was +apparently real enough to attract her greatly. She paid him the +compliment of talking a good deal to the boy, though she was far too +clever a woman to let the elder brother feel himself neglected. + +A learned horse had just begun its performance when Tim Gorman entered. +It went on for some time picking out large letters from a pile in front +of it and arranging them so as to spell out “yes” or “no” in answer to +questions asked by a man with a long whip in his hand. The animal used +one of its front hoofs in arranging the letters, and looked singularly +undignified. Ascher sat quite still with an air of grave politeness. +I tried to get him to tell me what he thought of the learned horse but +could get nothing out of him. Long silences make me uncomfortable. I +felt at last that it was better to talk nonsense than not to talk at +all. + +“I suppose,” I said, “that learned men look almost as grotesque to the +angels as learned horses do to us. I can fancy Raphael watching a German +professor writing a book on the origin of religion. He would feel all +the while that the creature’s front paw was meant by nature for nobler +uses.” + +“Yes,” said Ascher, “yes. Quite so.” + +He spoke vaguely. I think he did not hear what I said. Or perhaps the +learned horse struck him differently. Or his mind may have been entirely +occupied with the problem of Mexican railways so that he could pay no +attention either to the learned horse or to me. If so, he was wakened +from his reverie by the next performance. + +A company of acrobats in spangled tights, three men and one young woman, +took possession of the arena. At first they tumbled, turned somersaults, +climbed on each other’s shoulders and assumed attitudes which I should +have said beforehand were impossible for any creature with bones. Then +a large net was stretched some six feet from the ground and several +trapezes which had been tied to the roof were allowed to hang down. The +acrobats climbed up by a ladder and swung from one trapeze to another. +The business was commonplace enough, but I became aware that Ascher was +very much interested in it. He became actually excited when we reached +the final act, the climax of the performance. + +The programme, at which I glanced, spoke of “The Flying Lady.” The +woman, her spangles aglitter in a blaze of lime light, did indubitably +fly, if rushing unsupported through the air at some height from solid +ground is the essence of flying. Two of the men hung on their trapezes, +one by his hands and the other by his legs. They swung backwards and +forwards. The length of the ropes was so great that they passed through +large arcs, approaching each other and then swinging back until there +was a long space between them. The young woman, standing on a third +trapeze, swung too. Suddenly, at the upward end of a swing, just as her +trapeze hung motionless for an instant, she launched herself into the +air. The man on the next trapeze came swinging towards her. She caught +him by the feet at the very moment when he was nearest to her. He swung +back and she dangled below him. When he reached the highest point of the +half circle through which he passed, she was stretched out, making +with him a horizontal line. At that moment she let go and shot, feet +foremost, through the air. The man who hung head downwards from the next +trapeze came swiftly towards her and caught her by the ankles. The two +swung back together and at the end of his course he let her go. The +impulse of his swing sent her, turning swiftly as she flew, towards +a ladder at the end of the row. She alighted on her feet on a little +platform, high up near the roof of the building. There she stood, bowing +and smiling. + +The people burst into a shout of cheering. Ascher leaned forward in his +seat and gazed at her. The two men still kept their trapezes in full +swing. The third man, standing on a platform at the other end of the +row, set the remaining trapeze swinging, that from which the woman had +begun her flight. A minute later she flung herself from the platform +and the whole performance was repeated. I could hear Ascher panting with +excitement beside me. + +“A horribly risky business,” I said, “but wonderful, really wonderful. +If one of those swings were a fraction late---- But of course the whole +thing is exactly calculated.” + +“Yes, yes,” said Ascher, “calculated, of course. It’s a matter of +mathematics and accurate timing of effort. But if it were worked by +machinery, with lay figures, we should think nothing of it. Somebody +would do sums and there would be nothing particular in it. The wonderful +thing is the confidence. The timing of the swings might be all right; +but if the woman hesitated for an instant, or if one of the men felt the +slightest doubt about the thing’s coming off--If they didn’t all feel +absolutely sure that the hands would be there to grasp her at just the +proper moment--It’s the perfect trust which the people have, of each +other, of the calculations--Don’t you see?” + +I began to see that Ascher was profoundly moved by this performance. I +also began to see why. + +“It’s like--like some things in life,” I said, “or what some things +ought to be.” + +“It’s like what my life is,” said Ascher. “Don’t you see it?” + +“I should be rather stupid if I didn’t see it, considering the trouble +you took to explain the working of international credit to me for two +whole days.” + +“Then you do understand.” + +“I understand,” I said, “that you are that woman. Your whole complex +business is very like hers. It’s the meeting of obligations exactly at +the end of their swing, the fact that at the appointed moment there will +be something there for you to grasp.” + +“And the confidence,” said Ascher. “If the bankers in any country doubt +the solvency of the bankers in another country, if there’s the smallest +hesitation, an instant’s pause of distrust or fear, then international +credit collapses and----” + +He flung out his arm with a gesture of complete hopelessness. I realised +that if anything went wrong between bankers in their trapeze act there +would be a very ugly smash. + +“And in your case,” I said, “there’s no net underneath.” + +The girl and the three men were safe on firm ground again. They were +bowing final acknowledgments to the cheering crowd. I suppose they do +the same thing every night of their lives, but they were still able to +enjoy the cheering. Their faces were flushed and their eyes sparkled. +They are paid, perhaps pretty well paid, for risking their lives; but +the applause is the larger part of the reward. + +“Also,” I said to Ascher, “nobody cheers you. Nobody knows you’re doing +it.” + +“No. Nobody knows we’re doing it. Nobody sees our flights through the +air or guesses the supreme confidence we bankers must have in each +other. When anybody does notice us it’s--well, our friend Gorman, for +instance.” + +Gorman holds the theory that financial men, Ascher and the rest, are +bloated spiders who spend their time and energy in trapping the world’s +workers, poor flies, in gummy webs. + +“And of course Gorman is right in a way,” said Ascher. “I can’t help +feeling that things ought to be better managed. But--but it’s a pity +that men like him don’t understand.” + +Ascher is wonderful. I shall never attain his mental attitude of +philosophic tolerance. I do not feel that Gorman is in any way right +about the Irish landlords. I felt, though I like the man personally, +that he and his friends are deliberately and wickedly perverse. + +“Some day,” said Ascher, “something will go wrong. A rope will break, or +a man will miss his grip, and then people in one place will be starving, +while people somewhere else have food all round them rotting in heaps. +Men will want all sorts of things and will not be able to get them, +though there will be plenty of them in the world. Men will think that +the laws of nature have stopped working, that God has gone mad. Hardly +any one will understand what has happened, just that one trapeze rope has +broken, or that one man has lost his nerve and missed his grip.” + +“She might have fallen clear of the net,” I said, “and come down on the +audience.” + +“When we slip a trick,” said Ascher, “it will be on the audience that we +shall come down; and the audience, the people, will be bruised and hurt, +won’t in the least know what has happened.” + +Gorman--I suddenly recollected this--had an adventure in finance to +propose. If Ascher goes into the scheme I shall have an opportunity of +watching an interesting variant of the trapeze act. We shall get the +people, who own the existing cash registers on the swing and then hold +them to ransom. We shall set our small trapeze oscillating right across +their airy path and decline to remove it unless they agree to part with +some of the very shiniest of their spangles and hand them over to us +for our adornment. I wondered how Ascher, who is so deeply moved by +the perils of his own flights, would like the idea of destroying other +people’s confidence and upsetting their calculations. + +I looked down and saw that Gorman had left his seat. Mrs. Ascher had +been making good progress with Tim. The boy was leaning towards her and +talking eagerly. She lay back in her seat and smiled at him. If she +were not interested in what he was saying she succeeded very well in +pretending that she was. All really charming women practise this form of +deception and all men are taken in by it if it is well done. Mrs. Ascher +does it very well. + +When the net was cleared away and the trapezes slung up again in the +roof, we had a musical ride, performed by six men and six women mounted +on very shiny horses. Mrs. Ascher, of course, objected strongly to the +music. I could see her squirming in her seat. Ascher did not find +the thing interesting and began to fidget. It was, indeed, much less +suggestive than either the learned horse or the acrobats. You cannot +discover in a musical ride any parable with a meaning applicable to +life. Nothing in the world goes so smoothly and pleasantly. There are +always risks even when there are no catastrophes, and catastrophes are +far too common. Ascher probably felt that we were out of touch with +humanity. He kept looking round, as if seeking some way of escape. + +Fortunately Gorman turned up again very soon. + +“I hope you won’t mind,” he said, “but I have changed the arrangement +for supper. Mrs. Ascher,” he nodded towards the seat in which she was +writhing, “wants to meet the Galleotti family. They’re not a family, you +know, and of course they’re not called Galleotti. The woman is a Mrs. +Briggs, and the tallest of the men is her husband. The other two are no +relation. I don’t know their names, but Tim will introduce us.” + +I looked at my programme again. It was under the name of the Galleotti +Family that the acrobats performed. + +“That will be most interesting,” I said. + +“I’m afraid it won’t,” said Gorman. “People like that are usually +quite stupid. However Mrs. Ascher wanted it, so of course I made +arrangements.” + +Mrs. Ascher evidently wanted to see life, the most real kind of life, +thoroughly. Not contented with having the doorkeeper of a cheap circus +sitting, so to speak, in her lap all evening, she was now bent on +sharing a meal with a troupe of acrobats. + +“It’s rather unlucky,” Gorman went on, “but Mrs. Briggs simply refuses +to go to the Plaza. I had a table engaged there.” + +“How regal of you, Gorman!” I said. + +“You’d have thought she’d have liked it,” he said. “But she made a fuss +about clothes. It’s extraordinary how women will.” + +“You can hardly blame her,” I said; “I expect the head waiter would turn +her out if she appeared in that get-up of hers. Very absurd of him, of +course, but----” + +I was not conscious that my eyes had wandered to Mrs. Ascher’s dress +until Gorman winked at me. Fortunately Ascher noticed neither my glance +nor Gorman’s wink. I had not thought of suggesting that Mrs. Briggs’ +stage costume was no more daring than what Mrs. Ascher wore. + +“Of course,” said Ascher, “she wouldn’t come to supper in tights. It’s +her other clothes she’s thinking of. I daresay they are shabby.” + +I could understand what Mrs. Briggs felt. Gorman could not. I do not +think that any feeling about the shabbiness of his coat would make him +hesitate about dining with an Emperor. + +“I hope you won’t mind,” he said to Ascher, “but we’re going to rather a +third-rate little place.” + +Gorman had evidently meant to do us well in the way of supper, champagne +probably. He may have had the idea that good food would soften Ascher’s +heart towards the cash register scheme, but Mrs. Ascher’s insistence on +meeting the Galleotti family spoiled the whole plan. We could not talk +business across Mrs. Briggs, so it mattered little what sort of supper +we had. + +Mrs. Ascher left her seat and joined us. Tim, looking more nervous than +ever, followed her at a distance. + +“Take me out of this,” she said to me. “Take me out of this or I shall +go mad. That dreadful band!” + +She spoke in a kind of intense hiss, and I took her out at once, leaving +the others to collect our hats and coats and to hunt up the Galleotti +family. When we reached the entrance hall she sank into a seat. I +thought she was going to faint and felt very uncomfortable. She shut +her eyes and murmured in a feeble way. I bent down to hear what she +was trying to say, and was relieved to find that she was asking for a +cigarette. I gave her one at once. I even lit it for her as she seemed +very weak. It did her good. When she had inhaled three or four mouthfuls +of smoke she was able to speak quite audibly and had forgotten all about +the horror of the band. Her mind went back to the Galleotti family. + +“Did you notice the muscular development of those men?” she said. “I +don’t think I ever saw more perfect symmetry, the tallest of the three +especially. The play of his shoulder muscles was superb. I wonder if +he would sit for me. I do a little modelling, you know. Some day I must +show you my things. I did a baby faun just before I left London. It +isn’t good, of course; but I can’t help knowing that it has feeling.” + +The tallest Galleotti probably has feeling too, of a different kind. +I expect he would have refused Gorman’s invitation to supper if he had +known that he was invited in order to give Mrs. Ascher an opportunity of +studying his muscular development at close quarters. Perhaps he had some +idea that he was to be on show and did not like it. Instead of wearing +his spangled tights he came to supper in a very ill-fitting tweed suit, +which completely concealed his symmetry. The other two men were equally +inconsiderate. Mrs. Briggs wore a rusty black skirt and a somewhat +soiled blouse. Mrs. Ascher was disappointed. + +She showed her annoyance by ignoring the Galleotti Family. This was +rather hard on Gorman, who had invited the family solely to please her +and then found that she would not speak to them. She took a chair in a +corner next the wall, and beckoned to Tim Gorman to sit beside her. +Tim was miserably frightened and dodged about behind the tallest of +the Galleottis to avoid her eye. I expect her manner when the band was +playing had terrified him. I felt certain that I should be snubbed, but, +to avoid general awkwardness, I took the chair beside Mrs. Ascher. + +I tried to cheer her up a little. + +“Just think,” I whispered, “if Mr. Briggs looks so commonplace in +every-day clothes, other men, even I perhaps, might be as splendid as he +was if we put on spangled tights.” + +I had to whisper because Mr. Briggs was near me, and I did not want to +hurt his feelings. Mrs. Ascher may not have heard me. She certainly did +not answer; I went on: + +“Thus there may be far more beauty in the world than we suspect. We may +be meeting men every day who have the figures of Greek gods underneath +their absurd coats. It’s a most consoling thought.” + +It did not console Mrs. Ascher in the least; but I thought a little more +of it might be good for her. + +“In the same way,” I said, “heroic hearts may be beating under the +trappings of conventionality and great souls may----” + +I meant to work the idea out; but Mrs. Ascher cut me short by saying +that she had a headache. There was every excuse for her. She wanted to +see the muscles of Mr. Briggs’ shoulders and she wanted Tim Gorman to +sit beside her. Double disappointments of this kind often bring on the +most violent headaches. + +The supper party was a failure. The Galleotti men would talk freely +only to Tim Gorman and relapsed into gaping silence when Ascher spoke +to them. Mrs. Briggs would not speak at all, until Gorman, who has the +finest social talent of any man I ever met, talked to her about her +baby. On that subject she actually chattered to the disgust of Mrs. +Ascher, who has no children herself and regards women who have as her +personal enemies. We had sausages and mashed potatoes to eat. We drank +beer. Even Ascher drank a little beer, though I know he hated it. + +Not a word was said about Tim’s cash register until the Galleotti +family went away and the party broke up. Then Gorman suddenly sprang +the subject on Ascher. Mrs. Ascher, having snubbed me with her headache +story, at last captured Tim Gorman. She spoke quite kindly to him and +tried to teach him to help her on with her cloak, a garment which Tim +was at first afraid to touch. I heard her, when Tim was at last holding +the cloak, asking him to sit for her in her studio. Tim has no very +noticeable physical development, but he has very beautiful eyes. Mrs. +Ascher may have wanted him as a model for a figure of Sir Galahad. Her +interest in the boy gave us a chance of talking business. + +It was not a chance that I should have used if I had been Gorman. It +seemed to me foolish to lay a complicated scheme before a man who has +just been severely tried in temper by unaccustomed kinds of food and +drink. However, Gorman set out the case of the cash register in a few +words. He did not go into details, and I do not know whether Ascher +understood what was expected of him. He invited Gorman to bring Tim and +the machine to the bank next day and promised to look into the matter. +Gorman, still under the delusion that influence matters, insisted on my +being one of the party. He described me as a shareholder in the company. +Ascher said he would be glad to see me, too, next day. My impression +is that he would have agreed to receive the whole circus company rather +than stand any longer in that grimy restaurant talking to Gorman. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Gorman called for me at my hotel next morning at 9 o’clock. + +“Time to start,” he said, “if we’re to keep our appointment with +Ascher.” + +I was still at breakfast and did not want to start till I had finished. + +“Do you think,” I said, “that it’s wise to tackle him quite so early? +Most men’s tempers improve as the day goes on,--up to a certain point, +not right into the evening. Now I should say that noon would be the very +best hour for business of our kind.” + +But Gorman is very severe when he is doing business. He took no notice +whatever of my suggestion. He pulled a long envelope out of his pocket +and presented it to me. It contained a nicely printed certificate, which +assured me that I was the owner of one thousand ordinary shares in the +New Excelsior Cash Register Company, Ltd. The face value of the shares +was five dollars each. + +“I did not mean to take quite so many shares,” I said. “However, I +don’t mind. If you will work out the rate of exchange while I finish my +coffee, I’ll give you an English cheque for the amount.” + +Gorman laughed at the proposal. + +“You needn’t pay anything,” he said. “All we want from you is your name +on our list of directors and your influence with Ascher. Those shares +will be worth a couple of hundred dollars each at least when we begin +our squeeze and you don’t run the slightest risk of losing anything.” + +The owning of shares of this kind seems to me the easiest way there +is of making money. I thanked Gorman effusively and pocketed the +certificate. + +We went down town by the elevated railway, and got out at Rector Street. +Tim Gorman met us at the bottom of the steps which lead to the station. +He was carrying his cash register in his arms. We hurried across +Broadway and passed through the doors of a huge sky-scraper building. I +thought we were entering Ascher’s office. We were not. We were taking a +short cut through a kind of arcade like one of the covered shopping ways +which one sees in some English towns, especially in Birmingham. There +was a large number of little shops in it, luncheon places, barbers’ +shops, newspaper stalls, tobacconists’ stalls, florists’ stalls, and +sweet shops, which displayed an enormous variety of candies. We were in +the very centre of the business part of the city, a part to which women +hardly ever go, unless they are typists or manicure girls. Above our +heads were offices, tiers and tiers of them. I wondered why there were +so many florists’ shops and sweet shops. The American business man must, +I imagine, have a gentle and childlike heart. No one who has lost his +first innocence would require such a supply of flowers and chocolate at +his office door. + +There were lifts on each side of this arcade, dozens of them, in cages. +Some were labelled “Express” and warned passengers that they would make +no stop before the eleventh floor. I should have liked very much to make +a journey in an express lift, and I hoped that Ascher’s office might +turn out to be on the 25th or perhaps the 30th floor of the building. I +was disappointed. Gorman hurried us on. + +We emerged into the open air and found ourselves in a narrow, crooked +street along which men were hurrying in great numbers and at high speed. +On both sides of it were enormously tall houses. There was just one +building, right opposite to us, which was of English height. It was not +in the least English in any other way. It was white and very dignified. +Its lines were severely classical. It had tall, narrow windows and +a door which somehow reminded me of portraits of the first Duke of +Wellington. The architect may perhaps have been thinking of the great +soldier’s nose. Gorman walked straight up to that door. + +“Here we are,” he said. + +“Surely,” I said, “this Greek temple can’t be Ascher’s office?” + +“This is the exact spot.” + +“Tell me,” I said, “do we take off our shoes at the threshold or say +grace, or perform some kind of ceremonial lustration? We can’t go in +just as we are.” + +Gorman did not answer me. He went through the door, the terribly +impressive door, without even bowing. There was nothing for me to do but +follow him. Tim followed me, nursing his cash register as if it had been +a baby, a very heavy and awkwardly shaped baby. + +We passed into the outer office. At the first glance it seemed to +me like a very orderly town. It was built over with small houses of +polished mahogany and plate glass. Through the plate-glass fronts--they +were more than windows--I could see the furniture of the houses--rolltop +desks of mahogany, broad mahogany tables, chairs and high stools. All +the mahogany was very highly polished. The citizens of this town flitted +from one glass-fronted house to another. They met in narrow streets and +spoke to each other with grave dignity. They spoke in four languages, +and English was the one used least. From the remoter parts of the +place, the slums, if such a polished town has slums, came the sound of +typewriters worked with extreme rapidity. The manual labourers, in this +as in every civilised community, are kept out of sight. Only the sound +of their toil is allowed to remind the other classes of their happier +lot. Some of the citizens--I took them to be men of very high standing, +privy counsellors or magistrates--held cigars in their mouths as they +walked about. These cigars are badges of office, like the stripes on +soldiers’ coats. No one was actually smoking. + +Gorman was our spokesman. He explained who we were and what we wanted. +We were handed over to a clerk. I suppose he was a clerk, but to me he +seemed a gentleman in waiting of some mysterious monarch, or--my feeling +wavered--one of the inferior priests of a strange cult. He led us +through doors into a large room, impressively empty and silent. There +for a minute we left while he tapped reverently at another door. The +supreme moment arrived. We passed into the inmost shrine where Ascher +sat. My spirit quailed. + +Every great profession has its own way of hypnotising the souls of +simple men. Indeed I think that professions are accounted great in +accordance with their power of impressing on the world a sense of their +mysteriousness. Ecclesiastics, those of them who know their business, +build altars in dim recesses of vast buildings, light them with +flickering tapers, and fill the air with clouds of stupefying incense +smoke. Surgeons and dentists allow us fleeting glimpses of bright steel +instruments, very strangely shaped. It is contrived that we see them in +a cold, clear light, the light of scientific relentlessness. There is a +suggestion of torture, not brutal but exquisitely refined, of perfected +pain, achieved by the stimulation of recondite nerves of very delicate +sensibility. Lawyers wear archaic robes and use a strange language in +their mysteries, conveying to us a belief that Justice is an ancient +witch whose evil eye can be averted only by the incantation and +grotesque posturing of her initiate priests. But I am not sure that +financiers do not understand the art of hypnotic suggestion best of all. +I have worshipped in cathedrals, sweated cold in operating theatres, +trembled before judges, but there is something about large surfaces of +polished mahogany and very soft, dimly coloured turkey carpets which +quells my feeble spirit still more completely. + +There was a heavy deadening silence in Ascher’s private office, and our +voices, when they broke it, sounded like the cheeping of ghosts. +There was an odour more oppressive than the smell of incense or the +penetrating fumes of iodoform. Some one, many hours before, must have +smoked a very good cigar in the room, and the scent of it lingered. The +doors of huge safes must have been opened. From the recesses of these +steel chambers had oozed air which had lain stagnant and lifeless round +piles of gold bonds and rich securities for years and years. The faint, +sickly odour of sealing wax must have been distilled from immense +sticks of that substance and sprinkled overnight upon the carpets and +leather-seated chairs. I breathed and my very limbs felt numb. + +But certain souls are proof against the subtlest forms of hypnotism. +Gorman had escaped from the influence of his church. He would flip a +sterilised lancet across a glass slab with his finger and laugh in the +face of the surgeon who owned it. He walked with buoyant confidence into +Ascher’s office. My case was different. I stood and then sat, the victim +of a partial anaesthetic. I saw and heard dimly as if in a dream, or +through a mist. Poor Tim trembled as he laid his cash register down on +one of Ascher’s mahogany tables. I could hear the keys and bars of the +machine rattling together while he handled it. + +Ascher spoke through a telephone receiver which stood at his elbow. +Another man entered the room. We all shook hands with him. He was Stutz, +the New York partner of the firm. Then Ascher spoke through the receiver +again, and another man came in. + +With him we did not shake hands, but he bowed to us and we to him. He +was Mr. Mildmay. He stood near the door, waiting for orders. + +Tim Gorman unpacked his machine and exhibited it. I have not the remotest +idea what its peculiar virtues are, but Tim believed in them. His +nervousness seemed to pass away from him as he spoke about his invention +with simple-minded enthusiasm. Love casts out fear, and there is no +doubt that Tim loved every screw and lever of the complicated mechanism. + +Mr. Mildmay left his place near the door and came forward. His +deferential manner dropped off from him. He revealed himself as a +mechanical expert with a special knowledge of cash registers. He and +Tim Gorman pressed keys, twisted handles and bent together in absorbed +contemplation over some singular feature of the machine’s organism. +Gorman, the elder brother, watched them with a confident smile. Ascher +and Stutz sat gravely silent. They waited Mildmay’s opinion. He was the +man of the moment. A few minutes before he had bowed respectfully to +Ascher. In half an hour he would be bowing respectfully to Ascher +again. Just then, while he handled Tim Gorman’s machine, he was Ascher’s +master, and mine of course. They were all my masters. + +The inspection of the machine was finished at last. Tim stood flushed +and triumphant. The child of his ingenious brain had survived the tests +of an expert. Mildmay turned to Ascher and bowed again. + +“It’s a wonderful invention,” he said. “I see no reason why it should +not be a commercial success.” + +“Perhaps, Mr. Mildmay,” said Ascher, “you will study the subject further +and submit a report to us in writing.” + +Mr. Mildmay left the room. I had no doubt that he would report +enthusiastically on the new cash register. Mechanical experts do not, I +suppose, write poetry, but there was without doubt a lyric in Mildmay’s +heart as he left the room. Tim packed the thing up again. Now that the +mechanical part of the business was over, he relapsed into shy silence +in a corner. His brother took out a cigarette and lit it. I would not +have ventured to light a cigarette in that sanctuary for a hundred +pounds. But Gorman is entirely without reverence. + +“Well,” he said, “there’s no doubt about the value of the invention.” + +“We shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report,” said Ascher, “before we +come to any decision; but in the meanwhile we should like to hear any +proposal you have to make.” + +“Yes,” said Stutz, “your proposals. We are prepared to listen to them.” + +Stutz seemed to me to speak English with difficulty. His native language +was perhaps German, perhaps Hebrew or Yiddish or whatever the language +is which modern Jews speak in private life. + +“The matter is simple enough,” said Gorman. “Our machine will drive +any other out of the market. There’s no possibility of competition. The +thing is simply a dead cert. It can’t help going.” + +“A large capital would be required,” said Stutz, “a very large capital.” + +“Yes,” said Gorman, “a very large capital, much larger than I should +care to see invested in the thing. I may as well be quite frank with you +gentlemen. At present the patents of my brother’s invention are owned +by a small company in which I am the chief shareholder. If we ask the +public for a million dollars and get them--I don’t say we can’t get +them. We may. But if we do I shall be a very small shareholder. I shall +get 5 per cent, or 6 per cent, or perhaps 10 per cent, on my money. Now +I want more than that. I’m speaking quite frankly, you see. I believe in +frankness.” + +He looked at Ascher for approval. Stutz bowed, with an impassive face. +On Ascher’s lips there was the ghost of a mournful little smile. I +somehow gathered that he had come across frankness like Gorman’s before +and had not altogether liked it. Gorman went on. He explained, as he had +explained to me, the plan he had made for forcing the owners of existing +cash registers to buy his company out. At last he got to the central, +the vitally important point. + +“All we want, gentlemen, is your backing. You needn’t put down any +money. Your names will be enough. I will make over to you such bonus +shares as may be agreed upon. The only risk we run is lawsuits about +our patent rights. You understand how that game is worked. I needn’t +explain.” + +It was evident that both Ascher and Stutz understood that game +thoroughly. It was also plain to me, though not, I think, to Gorman, +that it was a game which neither one nor other of them would be willing +to play. + +“But if we have your names,” said Gorman, “that game’s off. It simply +wouldn’t pay. I don’t want to flatter you, gentlemen, but there isn’t a +firm in the world that would care to start feeing lawyers in competition +with Ascher, Stutz & Co.” + +“That is so,” said Stutz. + +“And your proposal?” said Ascher. + +“If they can’t crush us,” said Gorman, “and they can’t if you’re behind +us, they must buy us. I need scarcely say that your share in the profits +will be satisfactory to you. Sir James Digby is one of our directors. +There are only four others, and three of them scarcely count. There +won’t be many of us to divide what we get.” + +I felt that my time had come to speak. If I was to justify Gorman’s +confidence in me as an “influence,” I must say something. Besides Ascher +was looking at me inquiringly. + +“I’m not a business man,” I said, “and I’m afraid that my opinion isn’t +worth much, but I think----” + +I hesitated. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me, and there was a curiously +wistful expression in them. I could not understand what he wanted me to +say. + +“I think,” I said, “that Gorman’s plan sounds feasible, that it ought to +work.” + +“But your own opinion of it?” said Ascher. + +He spoke with a certain gentle insistency. I could not very well avoid +making some answer. + +“We are able to judge for ourselves,” he said, “whether it will work. +But the plan itself--what do you think of it?” + +“Well,” I said, “I’m a modern man. I have accepted all the ideas and +standards of my time and generation. I can hardly give you an opinion +that I could call my own, but if my father’s opinion would be of any +use to you---- He was an old-fashioned gentleman, with all the rather +obsolete ideas about honour which those people had.” + +“He’s dead, isn’t he?” said Gorman. + +“Oh, yes,” I said. “He’s been dead for fifteen years. Still I’m sure I +could tell you what he’d have said about this.” + +“I do not think,” said Stutz, “that we need consider the opinion of Sir +James Digby’s father, who has been dead for fifteen years.” + +“I quite agree with you,” I said. “It would be out of date, hopelessly.” + +“But your own opinion?” said Ascher, still mildly insistent. + +“Well,” I said, “I’ve been robbed of my property--land in Ireland, Mr. +Stutz--by Gorman and his friends. Everybody says that they were quite +right and that I ought not to have objected; so, I suppose, robbery must +be a proper thing according to our contemporary ethics.” + +“And that is your opinion of the scheme?” said Ascher. + +“Yes,” I said. “I hope I’ve made myself clear. I think we are justified +in pillaging when we can.” + +“You Irish,” said Ascher, “with your intellects of steel, your delight +in paradox and your reckless logic!” + +Stutz was not interested in the peculiarities of the Irish mind. He went +back to the main point with a directness which I admired. + +“This is not,” he said, “the kind of business we care to do.” + +“Mr. Gorman,” said Ascher, “we shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report +on your brother’s invention. If it turns out to be favourable, as I +confidently expect, we may have a proposal to lay before you. Our firm +cannot, you will understand, take shares in your company. That is not a +bank’s business. But I myself, in my private capacity, will consider +the matter. So will Mr. Stutz. It may be possible to arrange that your +brother’s machine shall be put on the market.” + +“But your proposal,” said Stutz obstinately. “It is not the kind of +business we undertake.” + +The interview was plainly at an end. We rose and left the room. + +Tim Gorman did not understand, perhaps did not hear, a word of what was +said. He followed us out of the office nursing his machine and plainly +in high delight. Curiously enough, the elder Gorman seemed equally +pleased. + +“We’ve got them,” he said when we reached the street. “We’ve got Ascher, +Stutz & Co quite safe. I don’t see what’s to stop us now.” + +My own impression was that both Ascher & Stutz had definitely refused to +entertain our proposal or fall in with our plans. I said so to Gorman. + +“Not at all,” he said. “You don’t understand business or business men. +Ascher and Stutz are very big bugs, very big indeed, and they have to +keep up appearances. It wouldn’t do for them to admit to you and me, or +even to each other, that they were out for what they could get from the +old company. They have to keep up the pretence that they mean legitimate +business. That’s the way these things are always worked. But you’ll find +that they won’t object to pocketing their cheques when the time comes +for smashing up Tim’s machine and suppressing his patents.” + +I turned, when I reached the far side of the street, to take another +look at Ascher’s office. I was struck again by the purity of line and +the severe simplicity of the building. Two thousand years ago men would +have had a statue of Pallas Athene in it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +I spent a very pleasant fortnight in New York among people entirely +unconnected with the Aschers or Gorman. I was kept busy dining, +lunching, going to the theatre, driving here and there in motor cars, +and enjoying the society of some of the least conventional and most +brilliant women in the world. I only found time to call on the Aschers +once and then did not see either of them. They were stopping in the +Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the young man in the office told me that Mrs. +Ascher spent the whole of every day in her studio. Her devotion to art +was evidently very great. She could not manage to spend a holiday in +New York without hiring a studio. I inquired whether any members of the +Galleotti family were sitting for her, but the hotel clerk did not know +that. He told me, however, that Mr. Ascher was in Washington. Gorman +always says that the strings of government in modern states are pulled +by financiers. Ascher was probably chucking at those which are fastened +to the arms and legs of the President of the United States, with a view +to making that potentate dance threateningly in the direction of Mexico. +I am sure that Ascher does this sort of thing very nicely and kindly +if indeed he does it at all. He would not willingly destroy the +self-respect even of a marionette. + +Of Gorman I saw nothing more before I left New York. I think he went off +to Detroit almost immediately after our interview with Ascher and +Stutz. Gorman is not exactly the man to put his public duties before +his private interests, but I am sure the public duties always come in a +close second. Having settled, or thought he had settled, the affair of +the cash register, he immediately turned his attention to that wealthy +motor man in Detroit from whom he meant to get a subscription. The +future of the Irish Party possibly, its comforts probably, depended +on the success of Gorman’s mission. And a party never deserved comfort +more. The Home Rule Bill was almost passed for the third and last time. +Nothing stood between Ireland and the realisation of Gorman’s hopes +for her except the obstinate perversity of the Ulster men. A few more +subscriptions, generous subscriptions, and that would be overcome. + +After enjoying myself in New York for a fortnight I went to Canada. +I did not gather much information about the companies in which I was +interested. But I learned a good deal about Canadian politics. The +men who play that game out there are extraordinarily clearsighted and +honest. They frankly express lower opinions of each other than the +politicians of any other country would dare to hold of the players +in their particular fields. In the end the general frankness became +monotonous and I tired of Canada. I went back to New York, hoping to +pick up someone there who would travel home with me by way of the West +Indies, islands which I had never seen. I thought it possible that I +might persuade the Aschers, if they were still in New York, to make the +tour with me. There was just a chance that I might come across Gorman +again and that he would be taken with the idea of preaching the +doctrines of Irish nationalism in Jamaica. I called on the Aschers twice +and missed them both times. But the second visit was not fruitless. Mrs. +Ascher rang me up on the telephone and asked me to go to see her in +her studio. She said that she particularly wanted to see me and had +something very important to say. + +I obeyed the summons, of course. I found Mrs. Ascher clad in a long, +pale-blue pinafore. Over-all is, I believe, the proper name for the +garment. But it looked to me like a child’s pinafore, greatly enlarged. +It completely covered all her other clothes in front and almost +completely covered them behind. I recognised it as the sort of thing a +really earnest artist would wear while working. Her hair was hanging +in loops and wisps about her head, a disorder which was effective with +dark-red hair. Her hands were damp and dirty. Her face was smudged here +and there, as if, in moments of artistic travail, she had pressed her +muddy fingers against her forehead and chin. The room had very little +furniture in it, but there were several tables, large and small. On +these stood what seemed to me shapeless lumps of various sizes, swathed +in damp rags. They reminded me a little of the shrouded objects on the +tables of dissecting rooms after the students have gone home. There was +the same suggestion of mutilated human forms. Mrs. Archer saw me looking +at them. + +“Some of my little things,” she said, “but nothing finished. I don’t +know why it is, but here in New York I find it very difficult to finish +anything.” + +“You’re not singular in that,” I said. “The New York people themselves +suffer in exactly the same way. There isn’t a street in their city that +they’ve finished or ever will finish. If anything begins to look +like completion they smash it up at once and start afresh. It must be +something in the air, a restlessness, a desire of the perfection which +can never be realised.” + +Mrs. Ascher very carefully unwrapped a succession of damp rags from one +of the largest of her lumps which was standing on a table by itself. I +have, since then, seen nurses unwrapping the bandages from the wounded +limbs of men. The way they did it always reminded me of Mrs. Ascher. +The removal of the last bandage revealed to me a figure about eighteen +inches high of a girl who seemed to me to be stretching herself after +getting out of bed before stepping into her bath. + +“Psyche,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +I had to show my admiration in some way. The proper thing, I believe, +when shown a statue by a sculptor, is to stroke it with your fingers and +murmur, “Ah!” I was afraid to stroke Psyche because she was certainly +wet and probably soft. A touch might have dinted her, made a dimple in +a wrong place. I dared not risk it. It became all the more necessary to +speak. + +The first thing I thought of was a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe. + +“I pacified Psyche and kissed her,” I murmured, “and tempted her out of +the gloom.” + +I said the lines in what I am convinced is the proper way, as if they +were forced from me, as if I spoke them to myself and did not mean them +to be heard. I do not think Mrs. Ascher knew them. I fear she suspected +me of making some sort of joke. I hastened to redeem my character. + +“Psyche,” I said, “the soul.” + +I was right so far. Psyche is the Greek for the soul. I ventured +further. + +“The human soul, the artistic soul.” + +Mrs. Ascher appeared to be absolutely hanging on my words. I plunged on. + +“Aspiring,” I said, “reaching after the unattainable.” + +I would not have said, “hoping for a yawn” for anything that could have +been offered me; but the young woman who stood for Mrs. Ascher’s Psyche +must have longed for that relief. The attitude in which she was posed +suggested yawning all the time, and we all know how fatal it is to think +of a yawn. + +“Quite unfinished,” said Mrs. Ascher with a sigh. + +“The fault of New York,” I said. “When you get home again----” + +I hesitated. I did not wish to commit myself to a confession of +ignorance, and I do not know whether a damp, soft Psyche can be packed +up and transported across the Atlantic to be finished in London. + +“But the aspiration is there,” I said, “and you owe that to New York. +The air, the very same air which forbids completion, is charged with +aspiration. We all feel it. The city itself aspires. Since the great +days when men set out to build a tower the top of which should reach +unto heaven, there has never been such aspiration anywhere in the world. +Look at the Woolworth Building.” + +I was maundering and I knew it. Mrs. Ascher’s statuette was very nice +and graceful; a much better thing than I expected to see, but there was +nothing in it, nothing at all in the way of thought or emotion. There +must be hundreds of people who can turn out clay girls just as good +as that Psyche. Somehow I had expected something different from Mrs. +Ascher, less skill in modelling, less care, but more temperament. + +“There’s nothing else worth showing,” she said, “except perhaps this. +Yes, except this.” + +She unwrapped more bandages. A damp, pale-grey head appeared. It was +standing in a large saucer or soup plate. At first I thought she had +been at John the Baptist and had chosen the moment when his head lay +in the charger ready for the dancing girl to take to her mother. +Fortunately I looked at it carefully before speaking. I saw that it was +Tim Gorman’s head. + +“He sat to me,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and by degrees I came to know him +very well. One does, one cannot help it, talking to a person every day +and watching, always watching. Do you think----?” + +“I think it’s wonderful,” I said. + +This time I spoke with real and entire conviction. I am no expert judge +of anything in the world except perhaps a horse or a bottle of claret, +but I was impressed by this piece of Mrs. Ascher’s work. Tim Gorman’s +fine eyes were the only things about him which struck me as noticeable. +No artist can model eyes in clay. But Mrs. Ascher had got all that I saw +in his eyes into the head before me--all and a great deal more. She had +somehow succeeded in making the lips, the nostrils, the forehead, the +cheek-bones, express the fact that Tim Gorman is an idealist, a dreamer +of fine dreams and at the same time innocent as a child which looks out +at the world with wonder. I do not know how the woman did it. I should +not have supposed her capable of even seeing what she had expressed in +her clay, but there it was. + +“You really like it?” + +She spoke with a curious note of humility in her voice. My impulse was +to say that I liked her, for the first time saw the real good in her; +but I could not say that. + +“Like it!” I said. “It isn’t for me to like or dislike it. I don’t know +anything about those things. I am not capable of judging. But this seems +to me to be really great.” + +“Ah!” said Mrs. Ascher, “and this time you are sincere.” + +She looked at me quite gravely as she spoke. Then a smile slowly +broadened her mouth. + +“That’s not the way you spoke of poor Psyche’s aspiration,” she said, +“you were laughing at me then.” + +A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The woman had understood every +word I said to her, understood what I meant as well as what I wanted to +convey to her, two very different things. She was immensely more clever +than I suspected or could have guessed. + +“Mrs. Ascher,” I said, “I beg your pardon.” + +“You were quite right,” she said. “That other thing isn’t Psyche. It’s +just a silly little girl, the model---- There wasn’t anything about her +that I could see, nothing but just a pretty body.” + +So she dismissed my apology and turned to Tim Gorman’s head again. She +ran her finger lightly round the rim of the saucer. + +“What shall I do with this?” she said. “What is his head to stand on, +to rise from? I was thinking of water-lily leaves, as if the head were +emerging----” + +I felt that I owed Mrs. Ascher some frankness in return for my first +insult to her intelligence. Besides, I was moved. I was, as I had not +been for years, emotional. Tim Gorman’s head gripped me in a curious +way. + +“Good God, Woman,” I said, “anything in the world but that! Wrap up that +chorus girl of a Psyche in leaves if you like. Sprinkle rose petals over +her or any other damned sentimentalism. But this man is a mechanic. He +has invented a cash register. What in the name of all that’s holy has +he got to do with water-lily leaves? Put hammers round his head, and +pincers, and long nails.” + +I stopped. I realised suddenly that I was making an unutterable fool of +myself. I was talking as I never talked in my life before, saying out +loud the sort of things I have carefully schooled myself neither to feel +nor to think. + +“After all,” said Mrs. Ascher, “you have an artist’s soul.” + +I shuddered. Mrs. Ascher looked at me and smiled again, a half-pitiful +smile. + +“I suppose I must have,” I said. “But I won’t let it break loose in that +way again. I’ll suppress it. It’s--it’s--this is rather an insulting +thing to say to you, but it’s a humiliating discovery to make that I +have----” + +Mrs. Ascher nodded. + +“My husband always says that you Irish----” + +“He’s quite wrong,” I said; “quite wrong about me at all events. I hate +paradoxes. I’m a plain man. The only thing I really admire is common +sense.” + +“I understand,” she said. “I understand exactly what you feel.” + +She is a witch and very likely did understand. I did not. + +“Now,” she said. “Now, I can talk to you. Sit down, please.” + +She pulled over a low stool, the only seat in the room. I sat on it. +Mrs. Ascher stood, or rather drooped in front of me, leaning on one +hand, which rested, palm down, on the table where Tim Gorman’s image +stood. I doubt whether Mrs. Ascher ever stands straight or is capable of +any kind of stiffness. But even drooping, she had a distinct advantage +over me. My stool was very low and my legs are long. If I ventured to +lean forwards, my knees would have touched my chin, a position in which +it is impossible for a man to assert himself. + +“I am so very glad,” she said, “that you like the little head.” + +I was not going to be caught again. One lapse into artistic fervour +was enough for me. Even at the risk of offending Mrs. Ascher beyond +forgiveness, I was determined to preserve my self-respect. + +“I wish you wouldn’t take my word for it’s being good,” I said. “Ask +somebody who knows. The fact that I like it is a proof that it’s bad, +bad art, if it’s a proof of anything. I never really admire anything +good, can’t bear, simply can’t bear old masters, or”--I dimly +recollected some witty essays by my brilliant fellow-countryman Mr. +George Moore--“I detest Corot. My favourite artist is Leader.” + +Mrs. Ascher smiled all the time I was speaking. + +“I know quite well,” she said, “that my work isn’t good. But you saw +what I meant by it. You can’t deny it now, and you know that the boy is +like that.” + +“I don’t know anything of the sort. I don’t know anything at all about +him. The only time I ever came into touch with him he was helping his +brother to persuade Mr. Ascher to go into a doubtful--well, to make +money by what I’d call sharp practice.” + +“I don’t think he was,” said Mrs. Ascher. “The elder brother may have +been doing what you say; but Tim wasn’t.” + +“He was in the game,” I said. + +I spoke all the more obstinately because I knew that Tim was not in the +game, I was determined not to be hysterical again. + +“I’ve had that poor boy here day after day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I +really know him. He has the soul of an artist. He is a creator. He is +one of humanity’s mother natures. You know how it is with us. Something +quickens in us. We travail and bring to the birth.” + +Mrs. Ascher evidently included herself among the mother natures. It +seemed a pity that she had not gone about the business in the ordinary +way. I think she would have been happier if she had. However, the head +of Tim Gorman was something. She had produced it. + +“That is art,” she said dreamily, “conception, gestation, travail, +birth. It does not matter whether the thing born is a poem, a picture, a +statue, a sonata, a temple----” + +“Or a cash register,” I said. + +The thing born might apparently be anything except an ordinary baby. The +true artist does not think much of babies. They are bourgeois things. + +“Or a cash register,” she said. “It makes no difference. The man who +creates, who brings into being, has only one desire, that his child, +whatever it may be, shall live. If it is stifled, killed, a sword goes +through his heart.” + +It seemed to me even then with Mrs. Ascher’s eyes on me, that it was +rather absurd to talk about a cash register living. I do not think that +men have ever personified this machine. We talk of ships and engines by +the names we give them and use personal pronouns, generally feminine, +when we speak of them. But did any one ever call a cash register +“Minnie” or talk of it familiarly as “she”? + +“He thinks,” said Mrs. Ascher, “indeed he is sure--he says his brother +told him----” + +“I know,” I said. “The machine isn’t going to be put on the market at +all. It is to be used simply as a threat to make other people pay what I +should call blackmail.” + +“That must not be,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +Her voice was pitched a couple of tones higher than usual. I might +almost say she shrieked. + +“It must not be,” she repeated, “must not. It is a crime, a vile act, +the murder of a soul.” + +Cash registers have not got souls. I am as sure of that as I am of +anything. + +“That boy,” she went on, “that passionate, brave, pure boy, he must not +be dragged down, defiled. His soul----” + +It was Tim Gorman’s soul then, not the cash registers, which she was +worrying about. Having seen her presentation of the boy’s head, having +it at that moment before my eyes, I understood what she meant. But I +was not going to let myself be swept again into the regions of artistic +passion to please Mrs. Ascher. + +“Well,” I said, “it does seem rather a shady way of making money. But +after all----” + +I have mentioned that Mrs. Ascher never stands upright. She went very +near it when I mentioned money. + +She threw her head back, flung both her arms out wide, clenched her +fists tightly, and, if the expression is possible, drooped backwards +from her hips. A slightly soiled light-blue overall is not the garment +best suited to set off the airs and attitudes of high tragedy. But Mrs. +Ascher’s feelings were strong enough to transfigure even her clothes. + +“Money!” she said. “Oh, Money! Is there nothing else? Do you care for, +hope for, see nothing else in the world? What does it matter whether you +make money or not, or how you make it?” + +It is only those who are very rich indeed or those who are on the outer +fringe of extreme poverty who can despise money in this whole-hearted +way. The wife of a millionaire--the millionaire himself probably +attaches some value to money because he has to get it--and the regular +tramp can say “Oh, money? Is there nothing else?” The rest of us find +money a useful thing and get what we can of it. + +Mrs. Ascher let her arms fall suddenly to her sides, folded herself up +and sat down, or rather crouched, on the floor. From that position she +looked up at me with the greatest possible intensity of eye. + +“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “You’re thinking of my husband. +But he hates money just as much as I do. All he wants is to escape, to have +done with it, to live peaceably with me, somewhere far away, far, far +away from everywhere.” + +Her eyes softened as she spoke. They even filled with water, tears, I +suppose. But she seemed to me to be talking nonsense. Ascher was making +money, piling it up. He could stop if he liked. So I thought. So any +sensible man must think. And as for living somewhere far, far away, what +did the woman want to get away from? Every possible place of residence +on the earth’s surface is near some other place. You cannot get far, far +away from everywhere. The thing is a physical impossibility. I made an +effort to get back to common sense. + +“About Tim Gorman’s cash register?” I said. “What would you suggest?” + +“You mustn’t let them do that hateful thing,” she said. “You can stop +them if you will.” + +“I don’t believe I can,” I said. “I’m extraordinarily feeble and +ineffectual in every way. In business matters I’m a mere babe.” + +“Mr. Gorman will listen to you,” she said. “He will understand if you +explain to him. He is a writer, an artist. He must understand.” + +I shook my head. Gorman can write. I admit that. His writing is a great +deal better than Mrs. Ascher’s modelling, though she did do that head +of Tim. I do not hail Gorman’s novels or his plays as great literature, +though they are good. But some of his criticism is the finest thing of +its kind that has been published in our time. But Gorman does not look +at these matters as Mrs. Ascher does. I do not believe he ever wrote a +line in his life without expecting to be paid for it. He would not write +at all if he could find any easier and pleasanter way of making money. +There was no use saying that to Mrs. Ascher. All I could do when she +asked me to appeal to Gorman’s artistic soul was to shake my head. I +shook it as decisively as I could. + +“And my husband will listen to you,” she said. + +“My dear lady! wouldn’t he be much more likely to listen to you?” + +“But we never talk about such things,” she said. “Never, never. Our life +together is sacred, hallowed, a thing apart, + + ‘Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot + Which men call earth.’” + +It surprised me to hear Mrs. Ascher quote Milton. I did not somehow +expect to find that she knew or liked that particular poet. I am nearly +sure he would not have liked her. + +“We cannot desecrate our union,” she said, “by talking about money.” + +The subject to be discussed with Ascher was plainly not money, but Tim +Gorman’s soul. Money only came incidentally. However, there was no use +arguing a point like that. There was no use arguing any point. I gave in +and promised to see Ascher about the matter. I prefer Ascher to Gorman +if I have to persuade any one to act midwife at the birth of a cash +register. Gorman would be certain to laugh. Ascher would at all events +listen to me courteously. + +“To-morrow,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +“Certainly,” I said. “To-morrow, quite early.” + +Mrs. Ascher uncoiled herself and rose from the floor. I struggled to my +feet rather stiffly, for my stool was far too low. She took my hand and +held it. I feared for a moment that she meant to kiss it. + +“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you again and again.” + +I took a long walk after I left the studio. I wanted to assimilate a new +fact, to get my mental vision into focus again. + +Ever since I thought about things at all, I have regarded the “artist” + outlook upon life as a pose, and the claim to artistic temperament as an +excuse for selfishness and bad temper in private life. Mrs. Ascher had +convinced me that, in her case at least, the artist soul is a reality. +She was hysterical and ridiculous when she talked to me, but she was +sincere. She was not posing even when she crumpled herself upon the +floor and looked like a sick serpent. She was in simple earnest when +she mouthed her lines about money, money. There might be, probably were, +several other people in the world like Mrs. Ascher, might even be many +others. That was the new fact which I wanted to digest. + +I reflected that I myself was kin to her, had in me, latent and +undeveloped, an artist’s soul. I had felt the thing fluttering when +I lost my self-control and talked flamboyantly about the head of Tim +Gorman. It was necessary that I should keep a firm grip on myself. I +belong to a class which has lost everything except its sanity. I think +it is true of the Irish aristocracy that even its period of greatest +glory, even when Grattan was waving his arms and shouting “Esto +Perpetua!”, it remained sane. I have nothing else left of what my +forefathers bequeathed to me, but I still have this temperament. A man +clings desperately to the last remnants of his heritage. + +The artist’s soul is a reality. I admitted that. But it is also a +disease. I had learned to believe in it as a man learns to believe in +influenza when his temperature runs up to 104 degrees and his bones ache +furiously. But there is a difference between admitting the existence of +a disease and deliberately cultivating the germs of it. + +I crossed 5th Avenue at 32nd Street in great peril of my life, for the +traffic at that point is as wild as the emotions of the artistic soul. + +It came into my mind that quite possibly the thrills and throbs which +Mrs. Ascher enjoys, of which I myself had a brief and mild experience, +are not only real, but worth while. There may after all be something +greater in the world than common sense. I fell to dreaming of what life +might be like to the man who refused to take it as it is, who insisted +on seeing above him, not silly little twinkling stars, but great worlds +coursing through the infinite spaces of eternity. I ran into a boy +carrying books, while I was thinking about eternity. His books were +scattered over the pavement and I hurt my knee. I decided that my faint +longing for what Mrs. Ascher would call “higher possibilities” is a +temptation, something to be conquered. I finished my meditation with a +“Retro Satanas”, and returned to my hotel for luncheon confident that I +should come out victor in my struggle. + +Ascher has certainly far more determination and force of character +than I have; but he does not seem able to break himself of the habit of +making money. His wife says that he hates doing it and wants to stop. +But he goes on doing it. He has formed a habit of making money, and +habit is almost unconquerable. It was plainly the path of wisdom for me +to check my tendency towards art at the very beginning, not to allow the +habit of feeling artistically, indeed of feeling at all, to form itself. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +I had no idea of breaking the promise I made Mrs. Ascher; but I felt +a certain hesitation about entering again the Holiest of Holies in the +office of Ascher, Stutz & Co. I was a little afraid of Stutz, who seemed +to me a severe man, very little tolerant of human folly. Still I would +have faced Stutz without shrinking, especially in a good cause. What I +really disliked was the idea of suggesting a business policy to +Ascher. The man was immeasurably my superior in natural ability and in +experience. I felt that I should be guilty of insolence if I offered him +any advice, and of something worse than insolence if I insisted on my +advice being taken. Yet it was just this which Mrs. Ascher expected of +me, and I did not want to disappoint her. + +It is true that I was a shareholder in the New Excelsior Cash Register +Company. I may have been a director. Gorman said something about my +being a director. I had accepted the office, pledged beforehand to the +approval of Gorman’s policy and therefore had no right to intervene. +What claim had I to insist on Ascher’s doing this or that? I should +not feel myself justified in calling on an archbishop and insisting +on drastic alterations in the Apostle’s Creed. Ascher is at least an +archbishop, possibly a patriarch, or even a cardinal, in that truly +catholic church which worships Mammon. + +But I had promised. + +I went to the office next morning, early. Having forgotten to make an +appointment with Ascher beforehand I had to wait some time before I saw +him. I sat in the large anteroom through which I had passed when I first +visited the office with Gorman. Through the glass door I was able to see +the public office outside where men went busily to and fro. + +I understood just enough about this business of Ascher’s to be able to +read romance, the romance which was certainly there, in the movements +of the quiet men who passed and repassed before my eyes, or bent with +rarely lifted heads over huge ledgers, or turned over with deft fingers +piles of papers in stuffed filing boxes. These men were in touch with +the furthest ends of the earth. Coded telegrams fluttered from their +hands and went vibrating across thousands of miles of land or through +the still depths of oceans, over unlighted tracts of ooze on the +sea-bottom. In London the words were read and men set free pent up, +dammed streams of money. In Hongkong the words were read and some +steamer went out, laden, from her harbour. Gold was poured into the +hands of tea-planters in Ceylon. Scanty wages in strange coins, dribbled +out to factory workers in Russian cotton mills. Gangs of navvies went to +work laying railway lines across the veldt in Bechuanaland. There was no +end to the energy controlled, directed by these cable messages, nor any +bounds to the field of their influence. Somewhere in Ireland a farmer +would go home along a desolate road, crossing brown bogs, thirsty and +disconsolate, his lean beasts unsold at a fair where buyers were scarce +or shy. What did he know of Ascher or Ascher know of him? Yet the price +which he might take or must refuse for those hardly reared bullocks of +his depended at the end of a long chain, on what the Aschers in their +offices said and did. + +Perhaps hardly one of all the busy men I watched quite knew what he was +doing. They juggled with figures, made précis of the reports of money +markets, dissected and analysed the balance sheets of railway companies, +decoded messages from London or from Paris, transcribed formulae as +abstract, as remote from tangible things as the x and y of algebraic +equations. These men all worked--the apologue of the quadratic equation +held my mind--moving their symbols here and there, extracting roots, +dissolving close-knit phrases into factors, cancelling, simplifying, but +always dealing with symbols meaningless, unreal in themselves. Behind +them was Ascher, Ascher and I suppose Stutz, who expressed realities +in formulae, and, when the sums were done, extracted realities from the +formulae again, achieving through the seemingly sterile processes new +facts, fresh grasp of the things which are, greater power to deal with +them. They knew and understood and held the whole world in leading +strings, delicate as silk, invisible, impalpable, but strong. + +The door of Ascher’s private office opened and a man passed out. I +glanced at him. He was a clean-shaved, keen-eyed, square-jawed man, the +type which American business methods have produced, a man of resource +and quick decision, but a man, so I guessed, who dealt with things, and +money only as the price of things, the reward of making them. He lacked, +so I felt, something of the fine spirituality of Ascher, the scientific +abstraction of the man who lives in a rarer atmosphere of pure finance. + +A clerk at my elbow invited me to leave my place and take my turn with +Ascher. + +I could not bring myself to plunge straightway into my business. I began +by pretending that I had no real business at all. + +“Any chance,” I asked, “of our being travelling companions again? I am +leaving New York almost at once.” + +“I’m afraid not,” said Ascher. “I’ve a great deal to do here still.” + +“Those Mexican affairs?” + +“Those among others.” + +“The Government here seems to be making rather a muddle of Mexico,” I +said. + +Opinion on this subject was, so far as I knew, nearly unanimous among +business men. Everyone who owned shares in Mexican companies, everyone +who had invested hopefully a little while before in Mexican railways, +everyone who had any kind of interest in Mexico was of the same opinion +about the inaction of the American Government. + +“I think it is a muddle,” said Ascher, “but the idea in the minds of the +men who are making the muddle is a fine one. If only the world could be +worked on those principles----” + +“But it can’t.” + +“Not yet,” said Ascher. “Perhaps never. Yet the idea on which +the Government in Washington proceeds is a noble one. Respect for +constitutional order should be a greater thing as a principle of +statesmanship than obvious expediency.” + +The man’s unnatural detachment of view worried me. It was the same when +Gorman blared out his stereotyped abuse of financiers, his well-worn +cliches about money kings and poison spiders. Ascher agreed with +him. Ascher, apparently, had some approval for the doctrinaire +constitutionalism of university professors turned diplomats. I could not +follow him to those heights of his. + +“I was thinking,” I said, “of going home by way of the West Indies.” + +“Yes? You will find it very agreeable. I was there in 1903 and remember +enjoying myself greatly.” + +“I wish you and Mrs. Ascher would come too. It would be much pleasanter +for me if I had you with me. + +“It’s very kind of you to say so; but----” + +“Besides,” I said, “I should see so much more. If I go by myself I shall +step from a steamer into an hotel and from an hotel into a steamer. +I shall be forced to buy a Baedeker, if there is a Baedeker for those +regions. I shall be a tourist of the ordinary kind. But if I travelled +with you I should really see things.” + +Ascher took up the telephone receiver. + +“If you like,” he said, “I can give you letters of introduction to our +correspondents wherever you go. They are bankers, of course, but you +will find them intelligent men.” + +He summoned a clerk. + +“If you give me an idea of your route----” he said. + +“At present,” I said, “my plans are very vague. I haven’t settled +anything. Perhaps you will give me your advice.” + +He drew a sheet of paper towards him and began to write. + +“You ought to see the work at Panama,” he said. “It is very interesting +and of course of immense importance. Certainly you must see that. +Afterwards----” + +He scribbled on his sheet of paper, making lists of place names and +adding notes about ways of travelling. + +“If you go further south still----” he said. “I don’t recommend the +Amazon, a huge river of course, but unless you are interested in rubber +or entomology. The insect life I believe----” + +“I’m interested in everything,” I said, “even insects which bite.” + +“Well, Para, perhaps, then south again. The South American ports are +worth seeing.” + +A clerk entered while he was speaking. Ascher handed him the list he had +written. + +“Look out the names of our agents in these places,” he said, “and have +letters of introduction made out to them for Sir James Digby.” + +The clerk left the room and I thanked Ascher warmly. It seemed to me +that he was taking a great deal of trouble for which he could expect no +kind of reward. He waved my gratitude aside. + +“I think,” he said, “that our agents will be able to make your trip +interesting for you. They can tell you what you want to know about the +trade and the natural wealth of the places you visit. They will put you +in the way of finding out the trend of political feeling. It is their +business to know these things, and in visiting new countries--new in +the sense that they have only lately felt the influences of our +civilisation--it is just these things that you will want to know. If you +were going to Italy, or Egypt, or Greece----” + +Ascher sighed. I felt that he would have preferred Italy to Brazil if he +had been travelling for pleasure. + +“Ah, there,” I said, “an artist or a scholar would be a better friend to +have than a banker.” + +“Even there,” said Ascher, “the present and the future matter more than +the past, perhaps. But are you tied at all by time? The tour which I +have indicated will take some months.” + +“I am an idle man,” I said. “I shall go on as long as your introductions +last, gathering knowledge which will not be the slightest use to me or +any one else.” + +“I had better provide you with a circular letter of credit,” said +Ascher. “It is never wise to carry considerable sums about in your +pocket.” + +We had got to money, to business in the strictest sense of the word. +My opportunity had plainly come for attacking the subject of the cash +register. Yet I hesitated. A banker ought to be the easiest man in the +world to talk business to. There is no awkwardness about the subject +of toothache in a dentist’s parlour. He expects to be talked to about +teeth. It ought to have been an equally simple thing to speak to Ascher +about the future of a company in which we were both interested. Yet I +hesitated. There was something in his manner, a grave formality, which +kept me miles away from him. I thanked him for the promise of the letter +of credit and then sat silent for a minute. + +“By the way,” said Ascher, “I have just had a visit from a man on +business in which you are interested.” + +“Was that the man who passed me in the anteroom before I was shown in +here?” + +“Yes. He came to talk to me about Gorman’s new cash register. He was +not an accredited agent, you will understand. He did not profess to +represent anybody. He was not empowered to treat with us in any way, +but----” + +Ascher smiled faintly. + +“I understand,” I said, “a sort of informal ambassador who could easily +be disowned if anything he said turned out to be inconvenient. In +politics men of that sort are very useful; but I somehow had the idea +that business methods are more straightforward.” + +“All negotiations,” said Ascher, “whether in politics or business are +carried on in much the same way. But before I go into his suggestions I +had better tell you how the matter stands. Mildmay sent us his report +and it was entirely favourable to the new machine. I think the invention +is likely to turn out a valuable property. We have made inquiries and +find out that the patent rights are duly protected here and in all the +chief European countries. In fact----” + +“It was really that and not my travels which I came to talk to you about +to-day. I may take it that we have got a good thing.” + +“We think so,” said Ascher, “and our opinion is confirmed by the fact +that we are not the only people who think so. If I am right about the +man who visited me this morning we have very good evidence that our +opinion is sound. The men who are in the best position to know about +cash registers, who are most interested in their future----” + +“The makers of the existing machines?” + +“Exactly. That is to say, if I am right about my visitor.” + +“But how did they--how could any one know about Tim Gorman’s invention?” + +Ascher shrugged his shoulders. + +“Surely,” I said, “Gorman can’t have been such a fool as to talk to +newspaper reporters.” + +“We need not suppose so,” said Ascher. “My experience is that anything +worth knowing always is known. The world of business is a vast +whispering gallery. There is no such thing as secrecy.” + +“Well,” I said, “the main point is that this man did know. What did he +want?” + +“He wanted us to sell the patent rights,” said Ascher. “What he said +was that he had a client--he posed as some kind of commission agent--who +would pay a substantial sum for them.” + +“That is just what Gorman said would happen once it was understood that +your firm is behind the new company.” + +“Gorman is--well, astute. But you understand, I am sure, that we cannot +do that kind of business.” + +“I always had a suspicion,” I said, “that Gorman’s scheme was fishy.” + +“I do not say fishy,” said Ascher. “Gorman’s plan is legitimate, +legitimate business, but business of an unenlightened kind. What is +wrong with Gorman is that he does not see far enough, does not grasp the +root principle of all business. We have a valuable invention. I do not +mean merely an invention which will put money into the pocket of the +inventor and into our pockets. If it were valuable only in that way +Gorman would be quite right, and our wisest course would be to take what +we could get with the least amount of risk and trouble, in other words +to accept the best price which we could induce the buyers to give us. +But this invention is valuable in quite another way. The new machine, +if we are right about it, is going to facilitate the business of retail +sellers all over the world. It will save time, increase accuracy, and, +being cheaper, make its way into places where the old machines never +went.” + +“Ah,” I said, “curiously enough I looked at the matter in that way when +Gorman first mentioned it to me. I said that the world ought to get the +benefit of this invention.” + +Ascher nodded. + +“I see that,” I went on. “I understand that way of looking at it. But +surely that’s altruism, not business. Business men don’t risk their +money with the general idea of benefiting humanity. That isn’t the way +things are done.” + +“I agree,” said Ascher. “It’s not the way things are done or can be done +at present, though there is more altruism in business than most people +think. Even we financiers----” + +“I know you subscribe to charity,” I said, “largely, enormously.” + +“That’s not what I mean,” said Ascher. “But we need not go into that. I +believe that business is not philanthropy, finance is not altruism.” + +“Then why----?” I said. “On strict business principles, altruism apart, +why not take what we can get out of Tim Gorman’s invention and let the +thing itself drop into the dustheap?” + +“On business principles,” said Ascher, “on the strictest business +principles, it would be foolish to do that. From time to time men hit +on some improvement in the way of making things or in the way of dealing +with things after they are made, that is to say in business methods. +Every such improvement increases the wealth of the world, tends to make +everybody richer. This invention which we have got hold of is a small +thing. It’s only going to do a little, a very little to make the world +richer, but it is going to do something for it is going to lessen the +labour required for certain results and therefore is going to increase +men’s power, a little, just a little. That is why we must make the +thing available, if we can; in order to add to the general wealth, and +therefore to our own wealth. Those are business principles.” + +Ascher paused. I had nothing to say for a moment. Business principles as +he explained them were not the business principles I was accustomed to, +certainly not the business principles on which Gorman acted. After a +minute’s silence Ascher went on. + +“The mistake which is most often made in business,” he said, “is to +suppose that we grow rich by taking riches from other men, or that +nations prosper by depriving other nations of prosperity. That would be +true if riches consisted of money, and if there were just so much money +and no more in the world. Then business and finance would be a scramble, +in which the roughest and strongest scrambler would get most. But that +is not so.” + +“Isn’t it?” I said. “I should have thought that business just is a +scramble.” + +“No,” said Ascher, “it is not. Nations grow rich, that is to say, get +comfort, ease, and even luxury, only when other nations are growing rich +too, only because other nations are growing rich.” + +“The way to grow rich,” I said, “is to make other people rich. Is that +it? It sounds rather like one of the--what do you call them?--counsels +of perfection in the Gospel.” + +“Perhaps it is a religious truth too,” said Ascher. “I don’t know. I +have never studied religion. Some day I think I shall. There must be a +great deal that is very interesting in the New Testament.” + +“Confound you, Ascher! Is there anything in heaven or earth that you +don’t look at from the outside, as if you were some kind of superior +epicurean god?” + +“I beg your pardon. I ought not to have spoken in that way. You are, no +doubt, a Christian.” + +“Of course I am--in--in a general way.” + +“I have often thought,” said Ascher slowly, “that I should like to be. +But from the little I know of that religion----” + +“I expect you know as much as I do,” I said. + +“It must be,” said Ascher, “very hard to be a Christian.” + +I was not going to discuss that point with Ascher. It was bad enough +to have an artistic soul awakened in me by Mrs. Ascher. I could not +possibly allow her husband to lead me to the discovery that I had +the other kind of soul. Nor was it any business of mine to work out +harmonies between Christian ethics and the principles of modern banking. +I detest puzzles of all kinds. It is far better, at all events far +more comfortable, to take life as one finds it, a straightforward, +commonplace affair. I have the greatest respect for Christianity of a +moderate, sensible kind and I subscribe to the funds of the Church +of Ireland. But when it comes to practical matters I find myself in +agreement with Wordsworth’s “Rob Roy”, + + “The good old rule + Sufficeth me, the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power + And they should keep who can.” + +So long, of course, as one does not do anything shady. I do not like +lying or theft. + +Ascher sat looking at me as if he expected me to tell him exactly how +hard it is to be a Christian. I made a determined effort to get back +again to cash registers. + +“Tim Gorman’s invention will get its chance then?” + +“Yes. If we can manage it the thing will get its chance. It will be made +and, I think, people will use it.” + +“Mrs. Ascher will be very pleased to hear that.” + +“Ah,” said Ascher. “Is she interested? But I remember now. Young Gorman +has been sitting to her. She would naturally be interested in him.” + +“Her idea,” I said, “is that Tim Gorman is producing a baby, with all +the usual accompaniments of that difficult business, labour, you know, +and pain. She regards you as the doctor in attendance, and she thinks it +would be exceedingly wrong of you to choke the little thing.” + +Ascher looked at me quite gravely. For a moment I was afraid that he +was going to say something about the paradoxical brilliance of the Irish +mind. I made haste to stop him. + +“That’s Mrs. Ascher’s metaphor,” I said, “not mine. I should never have +thought of it. I don’t know enough about the artistic soul to appreciate +the feelings of people who give birth to cash registers. But the idea +is plain enough. Tim Gorman will be bitterly disappointed if he does +not see girls in cheap restaurants putting actual shillings into those +machines of his.” + +“From my wife’s point of view,” said Ascher, “and from mine, too, that +ought to be an important consideration. It’s the artist’s feeling; but +business and art--unfortunately business and art----” + +“I don’t see why they shouldn’t kiss and be friends,” I said. “They’re +not nearly such irreconcilable enemies as business and religion. Now +that those two have lain down together like a lion and a lamb--I don’t +quite see how they do it, but in that new philosophy of yours it seemed +quite a simple matter--there’s no real reason why art shouldn’t come in +too.” + +But Ascher shook his head. He did not seem hopeful of a marriage between +art and business. He knows a good deal about both of them, far more, by +his own confession, than he knows about religion. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Ascher was very generous to me in the matter of letters of introduction. +A large bundle of them arrived at my hotel two days after I paid +my visit to his office. There must have been fifty or sixty of them +altogether. I sent for an atlas and found that I had a friend ready made +for me in every port of any importance in the West Indies and on the +east coast of South America as far down as Buenos Aires, and in a good +many places inland. I was fascinated by the idea of such a tour; but +it was plainly not an excursion to be undertaken without care and +consideration. I lingered in New York for a fortnight, buying some +additional clothes, getting together a few books on the South American +republics, and working out steamboat routes. + +I saw young Tim Gorman. He called on me, sent by Mrs. Ascher, to +thank me for my good offices. I deserved no thanks; but on the general +principle of taking what I could get I allowed the boy to pour gratitude +all over me. + +“I think,” I said, “you ought to do fairly well out of the thing, +financially, I mean.” + +“I don’t care about that,” said Tim, “at least not exactly. I--I----” he +hesitated for a moment and then blurted out, “I don’t particularly want +to be rich.” + +“That,” I said, “is precisely how you ought to feel at your age, but +when you get to be forty--I’m forty, so I know--you’ll probably be glad +enough to have some money.” + +“I want some money now,” said Tim. “Do you think I could get----? How +much do you think I’ll get out of my cash register?” + +“Well,” I said, “it’s hard to name an exact figure, but it will be +something pretty substantial.” + +“One thousand dollars?” said Tim anxiously. + +“A great deal more than that. If Mr. Ascher makes the arrangements he +contemplates you’ll get a great deal more.” + +I had only the vaguest idea what Ascher meant to do, and could make no +kind of guess at how much Tim would ultimately get, but I felt pretty +safe in promising two hundred pounds. + +“Do you think I could get it at once?” said Tim. “Or even five hundred +dollars? I think I could manage with five hundred dollars. The fact +is----” + +“You want to get out of that circus,” I said. “I don’t wonder. It must +be a very tiresome job.” + +“Oh, no. I don’t mind the circus. It’s rather a nuisance of course +moving about, and we always are moving. But I have plenty of time to +myself. It isn’t to get away from the circus that I want the money. The +fact is that I’m making some experiments.” + +“Another invention?” I said. “What a prolific creature you are! No +sooner have you perfected a cash register than you start----” + +“Oh, I’ve been at this for some time, for years. I believe I’ve hit on a +dodge---- I say, do you know anything about movies?” + +The word, though common on our side of the Atlantic now, was at that +time peculiar to the American language. + +“Cinematographs?” I said. “I’ve seen them of course. You have them in +your circus, haven’t you, as part of the show?” + +“Yes. That’s what set me thinking about them. I’ve always felt that the +next step in perfecting the cinematograph would be doing away with the +screen, putting the figures on the stage, that is to say reflections +of them, so that they would actually move about backwards and forwards +instead of on a flat surface. You understand?” + +When I was a boy there was a popular entertainment known as “Pepper’s +Ghost.” What appeared to be a real figure moved about before the eyes +of the audience, was pierced by swords and otherwise ill-treated without +suffering any inconvenience. The thing was worked by some arrangement of +mirrors. Tim evidently had a plan for combining this illusion with the +cinematograph. + +“Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be a great thing?” + +“It would be a perfectly beastly thing,” I said. “The cinematograph is +bad enough already. If you add a grosser realism to it----” + +Tim looked at me. I am nearly sure that there were tears in his eyes. + +“That’s just what Mrs. Ascher thinks,” he said. + +“I daresay she does. She probably regards the cinematograph as a sin +against art. What you propose would be an actual blasphemy.” + +“Oh,” said Tim, “that’s exactly what she said. Blasphemy! Do you really +think so too? I wouldn’t go on with my experiments if I thought that. +But I don’t believe you can be right. I--I went round to see Father +Bourke. That was after Mrs. Ascher said it was blasphemy and I really +wanted to know. Father Bourke is one of the priests at St. Gabriel’s. I +consulted him.” + +“Well,” I said, “what did he tell you?” + +“He said it was all right and that I needn’t bother about what +Protestants said was blasphemy. They don’t know. At least Father Bourke +seemed to think they couldn’t know.” + +“You go by what Father Bourke says and you’ll be safe.” + +I should particularly like to hear Father Bourke and Mrs. Ascher arguing +out the subject of blasphemy together. They might go on for years and +years before either of them began to understand what the other meant by +the word. But it would be little less than a crime to involve the simple +soul of Tim Gorman in the maze of two separate kinds of casuistry. + +“In any case,” I said, “I don’t take Mrs. Ascher’s view of the matter. I +don’t agree with her.” + +“I don’t see,” said Tim, “how cinematographs can be blasphemies so long +as there aren’t any pictures of religious things. I’m sure it must be +all right and I can go on with what I want to do. If I can succeed in +making the figures stand out from one another, as if they were really +there----” + +“You’ll add a new terror to life,” I said. “But that needn’t stop you +doing it if you can.” + +“I think I can,” he said eagerly. “You see it’s the next thing to be +done. The cinematograph is perfect up to that point. It must make a new +start if it’s to go any further. I should like to be the man who makes +the next step possible. What’s wanted now is--is----” + +“The illusion of distance.” + +“That’s it. That’s what I mean. It’s a matter of optics. Just making a +few adjustments, and I think I see the way to manage it.” + +“If you do,” I said, “you’ll make an immense fortune. The world will +pay anything, absolutely anything to the man who provides it with a new +torture. It’s an odd twist in human nature--though I don’t know why I +should say that. Oddness is really the normal thing in human nature.” + +“But I want a thousand dollars,” said Tim, “or five hundred dollars at +the very least. I must try experiments.” + +“If you ask your brother----” I said. + +“Michael isn’t nice to me about it,” said Tim. “He isn’t nice at all. +When I asked him for a thousand dollars he said he’d get it for me on +condition that I allowed him to manage my cash register in his own way. +But I won’t do that. I know what he wants to do.” + +“His idea,” he said, “is to let your invention lapse.” + +“I know. The machine will never be made. But I want it to be made. I +want to see it working everywhere all over the world. You see I’m always +travelling about with the circus, sometimes in America, sometimes in +England. We go to a lot of different towns. We go to all the big towns +there are. I want to be able to go into shops everywhere, in every town +in the world and see my machine there. Don’t you understand?” + +“Perfectly,” I said. “Mrs. Ascher explained the whole position to me +thoroughly. It’s the artist’s soul in you.” + +A look of puzzled annoyance came over the boy’s face. His forehead +wrinkled and his fine eyes took an expression of painful doubt as they +met mine. + +“Mrs. Ascher says things like that,” he said, “and I don’t know what she +means. I am not an artist. I never learned to draw, even; at least not +pictures. I can do geometrical drawing, of course, and make plans of +machines; but that’s not being an artist. I can’t paint. Why does she +say I am an artist?” + +“That,” I said, “is one of her little mannerisms. You will have to put +up with it.” + +Tim uses the word artist in a simple old-fashioned way, very much as +Father Bourke uses “blasphemy.” There is a good deal to be said for +their practice. People like Mrs. Ascher ought to invent new terms when +they want to express uncommon thoughts. They have no right to borrow +words like “artist” and “blasphemy” from common speech in order to set +them parading about the world with novel meanings attached to them. It +is not fair to people like Tim Gorman and his Father Bourke. It is not +fair to the words themselves. I should not like to be treated in that +way if I were a word. I cannot imagine anything more annoying to a +respectable, steady-going word than to be called upon suddenly to +undertake work to which it is not accustomed. The domestic housemaid +is perfectly right in resisting any effort to make her do new kinds of +work. Her formula, “It’s not my place,” used when she is asked to make a +slice of toast, is unanswerable. Why should words be worse treated than +housemaids? It is the business of “artist” to stand for the man who +paints pictures in oils. “Blasphemy” describes aggravated breaches of +the third commandment. What right had Mrs. Ascher or any one else to +press them into new services? There ought to be a strong trade union +among words. + +“And now,” said Tim, “she says I’m not an artist after all because I +want to make movies more real. And she’s angry with me. She turned +me out of her studio because I wouldn’t promise not to. Of course, I +wouldn’t promise such a thing. I think I see how it can be done. The +great difficulty is to secure an exact adjustment of the mirrors. There +are other difficulties. There’s the awkwardness of transparent figures +crossing in front of each other. Also----” + +“My dear boy,” I said, “don’t explain the thing to me. I am totally +incapable of understanding anything connected with mechanics, optics or +hydrostatics.” + +I can make as good an attempt as most men at replying intelligently to +Mrs. Ascher even when she talks of “values”, “atmospheres”, “feeling” + and “sympathy”, though her use of these familiar words conveys only +the vaguest ideas to my mind. I can, after a period of intense mental +effort, understand what Ascher means by exchanges, premiums, discounts +and bills, though he uses these words in unfamiliar ways. But I am +defeated utterly by the man who talks about escapements, compensating +balances and clutches. I suspected that Tim Gorman would pelt me with +even more recondite scientific terms if I let things go on. + +“You may take my word for it,” I said, “that you’ll get a thousand +dollars and more, in the end; but you may have to wait for it. In the +meanwhile keep on thinking out your plan for doubling the horrors of our +places of popular entertainment.” + +That was all I could do for Tim Gorman. I do not think that he deserved +more than cold comfort and disagreeable advice. I might have given him, +or lent him, a little money, if he had been at work on a really useful +invention, something which would benefit humanity. There are lots +of such things waiting to be invented. There ought to be some way +of stabbing a man who insists on ringing you up on the telephone at +unreasonable hours and saying tiresome things. We cannot claim to be +civilised until we have some weapon for legitimate self defence attached +to every telephone, something which could be operated easily and swiftly +by pressing a button at the side of the receiver. It is not necessary +that the man at the other end of the wire should be struck dead, but +he ought to suffer severe physical pain. If Tim Gorman would turn his +inventive genius in that direction, I should not hesitate to advance +money to him, even to the half of my possessions. + +I called on Mrs. Ascher again before I left New York. I wanted to hear +her version of the misunderstanding with Tim. I went, of course, to +the studio, not to the hotel. Mrs. Ascher is at her best in the studio. +Besides I was much more likely to find her there than anywhere else. + +She was hard at work when I entered on a figure, at least two feet high, +of a man of very fine muscular development. I glanced at it and then +asked where Tim Gorman’s head was. + +“You know,” I said, “that I admired that piece of work greatly.” + +Mrs. Ascher waved her hand towards a table in the darkest corner of the +room. + +“It’s not finished,” she said, “and never will be. I’ve lost all +interest in it. If you like it take it away. I’ll give it to you with +pleasure.” + +I found poor Tim, not even swathed in wet bandages, among a litter of +half finished fauns and nymphs and several attempts at a smooth-haired +dog. Mrs. Ascher had done very little work at him since I saw him +before. She had, in pursuance of her own idea, turned half the saucer +on which the head stood into a mat of water-lily leaves. The other +half--and I felt gratified when I saw this--was worked up into an +unmistakable hammer and a number of disproportionately large nails. +Tim’s face and head still expressed lofty idealism in the way which had +fascinated me when I first saw the thing. But Mrs. Ascher had evidently +neglected some necessary precaution in dealing with her material. The +neck--and Tim’s neck is an unusually long one--had collapsed. A jagged +crack ran half round it close under the right ear. The left side of +the neck was curiously crumpled. The head leaned rakishly towards the +water-lily side of the saucer. + +I remember hearing once of an irreverent choir boy. At a Christmas +party, a sort of feast of an Abbot of Unreason held in the less sacred +parts of the cathedral precincts, the brat decorated the statue of an +Archbishop with a pink and blue paper cap taken from a cracker. The +effect must have been much the same as that produced by the subsidence +of Tim Gorman’s neck. + +“Do you really mean to give it to me?” I said. “I should like to have +it very much. I should set it up on my writing table and call it +‘Disillusion.’ But do you think it will collapse any more?” + +“Has it collapsed? I suppose it did not dry properly.” + +Mrs. Ascher did not even look at it. + +“Oh,” I said, “the present effect, the cynical contempt for the +original noble spirituality, is the result of an accident? What tricks +circumstances play on us! A slight irregularity in drying and a hero +becomes a clown. The case of ‘Imperial Caesar dead and turned to clay’ +is not so bad as that of an idealist whose neck has cracked.” + +“I’m dreadfully disappointed in that boy,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Will you +forgive me if I do not talk of him? Even now I cannot bear to.” + +She sighed heavily, showing how much she felt the loss of Tim’s soul. +Then she turned to me with one of those bright smiles, one of those +charmingly bright smiles, which are the greatest achievements of serious +women. Very religious women, women with artists’ souls and the intenser +suffragists have these bright smiles. They work them up, I suppose, so +as to show that they can be as cheerful as any one else when they choose +to try. + +“Come and see what I’m doing now,” she said. + +I looked very carefully at the man’s figure in front of her. + +“This,” she said, “is manhood, virility, energy, simple strength, +directness, all that this poor neurotic world is yearning for, the +primal force, uncomplex, untroubled, just the exultation of the delight +of being.” + +“It reminds me faintly of some one,” I said, “the head and face, I mean; +but I can’t quite fix the likeness.” + +She clapped her hands with delight. + +“You see it,” she said, “I am so glad. It’s not meant to be a mere +likeness. I need not tell you that. Still I’m glad you see that it +resembles him. I am working to express his soul, the mere features, +the limbs, are nothing. The being which burns within, that is what I am +trying to express. But the fact that you see the external likeness makes +me feel more sure that my interpretation of the physical features is the +right one.” + +“Surely,” I said, “it’s not Gorman, the other Gorman, the elder Gorman, +Michael!” + +“Yes,” she said. + +“Has he been sitting for you?” I asked. + +I stopped myself just in time. I was very nearly saying “sitting to you +like that?” The figure on which she was at work was entirely undraped. +I do not suppose that Mrs. Ascher would have been the least embarrassed +even if I had said “like that.” The artist’s soul scorns conventions. +But I should have felt awkward if she had answered “Yes.” + +“Not exactly sitting to me,” she said. “He just comes here and talks. +While he talks I catch glimpses of his great, buoyant, joyous soul and +fashion the poor clay to express it.” + +“I did not know he was back in New York,” I said. + +“Oh, yes, he has been here a week, perhaps more. To me it seems as if he +had been here for ever.” + +I could not even guess at what she meant by that so I did not try to +answer her. + +“I wonder he didn’t look me up,” I said. + +“Ah,” said Mrs. Ascher, “he has had no time. That abundant, restless +energy of his is for ever pressing out into fresh activities.” + +I gathered, more from her tone than from her actual words that only an +effete, devitalised creature would call on me. A man of abundant energy +would naturally sit half the day in Mrs. Ascher’s studio, while she made +a fancy body for him in damp clay. + +She clasped her hands and gazed with rapt intensity at the statue of +Gorman’s soul. + +“His patriotism!” she said. “After living in that atmosphere of nebulous +cosmopolitanism which is what we hypercivilised people have created in +the world, it is everything to get back to the barbaric simplicity of +the old love for country.” + +“Did he happen to mention,” I asked, “whether he succeeded in wheedling +five thousand dollars out of that Detroit man?” + +Mrs. Ascher did not hear that; or if she did chose to ignore it. + +“The splendid destiny of Ireland,” she said, “has been to escape age +after age the malarial fever of culture. The Romans never touched her +shores. The renaissance passed her by. She has not bowed the knee to our +modern fetish of education. You and I have our blood diluted with----” + +Gorman must have been at his very best while he talked to Mrs. Ascher. +He had evidently made a kind of whirlpool of her mind. Her version of +his philosophy of history and politics seemed to me to be going round +and round in narrowing circles with confusing speed. The conception of +the Romans as apostles of the more malarial kinds of culture was new to +me. I had been brought up to believe--not that any one does believe this +as an actual fact--that Ireland was once and to some extent still is, an +island of Saints and Scholars. I did not obtain any very clear idea of +what Mrs. Ascher’s blood was diluted with, but there must have been +several ingredients, for she went on talking for quite a long time. When +she stopped I made a protest on behalf of my country. + +“We’re not so backward as all that,” I said. “We have a Board of +National Education and quite a large number of technical schools. In the +convents they teach girls to play the piano.” + +Mrs. Ascher shook her head slowly. I gathered that she knew much more +about Irish education than I did and regarded it as unworthy even of +serious contempt. + +“Dear Ireland!” she said, “splendid Ireland!” + +I suppose Gorman must have been talking to her about fairies, the +dignified, Celtic kind, and the dear dark head of Kathleen ni Houlihan. +Gorman is capable of anything. However as my country was being admired I +thought I might as well get a little of the credit for myself. + +“I am an Irishman,” I said. + +Mrs. Ascher looked at me with withering scorn. + +“You,” she said, “you--you--you are----” + +She was evidently in difficulties. I helped her out as best I could. + +“An Irish gentleman,” I said. + +“An alien,” she replied, “a stranger in the land you call your own.” + +“That,” I said, “is just what I say, put more forcibly and +picturesquely.” + +Then Gorman came in, without knocking at the door. I was very glad +to see him. In another minute Mrs. Ascher and I would, perhaps, have +quarrelled. Gorman saved us from that catastrophe. I do not think I ever +understood before that moment the secret of Gorman’s charm. He came into +that studio, a place charged with the smell of damp clay, like a breeze +from a nice green field. He was in a thoroughly good temper. I suspect +that he hurt Mrs. Ascher’s hand when he shook it. + +“I’ve just been looking at Mrs. Ascher’s statue of your soul,” I said. +“Splendid muscles in the calves of its legs. You must be enormously +proud of them.” + +Gorman, under pretence of seeking a place in which to put his +hat, turned his back on Mrs. Ascher for a minute. As he did so he +deliberately winked at me. + +Some day I mean to get Gorman in a private place, “away from +everywhere,” as Mrs. Ascher would say. When I get him there I shall ask +him two questions and insist on having an answer. First I shall ask him +why he devotes himself to Mrs. Ascher. He is not in love with her. We +Irish have not many virtues, but we can boast that we seldom make love +to other men’s wives. Besides, Mrs. Ascher is not the kind of woman who +allows strange men to make love to her. She is, in essentials, far +less emancipated than she thinks. It is just possible that he finds her +responsive to his fondness for the more flamboyant kinds of rhetoric. +Gorman really likes talking about Ireland as an oppressed and desolated +land. It is easy enough to move large audiences to enthusiasm by +that kind of oratory. It is not so easy, I imagine, to get single, +sympathetic listeners in private life. Mrs. Ascher apparently laps up +patriotic sentiment with loud purrs. That may be why Gorman likes her. +The next thing I mean to ask him is what he means by patriotism. I +can understand quite easily what Irish patriotism meant ten years ago. +Gorman’s friends wanted my land, a definite, tangible thing. I wanted it +myself. But now they have got the land, and yet Gorman goes on talking +patriotism. It is not as if he had no sense of humour. Gorman sees the +absurdity of the things he says just as plainly as I do. The ridiculous +side of his own enthusiasm is never long absent from his consciousness; +yet he goes on just the same. I wish I understood how he manages it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Now that my leg has been smashed up hopelessly, by that wretched German +shell, I shall never ride or shoot again. I have to content myself with +writing books to occupy my time, a very poor form of amusement compared +to tramping the fields after partridge. I suppose it is inevitable that +a man in my position should indulge in regretful memories. My mind +goes back now and then to certain days in my boyhood and I find myself +picturing scenes through which I shall not move again. + +There are fields stretching back from the demesne which used to be mine. +In the autumn many of them were stubble fields and among them were gorse +covered hills. I used to go through them with my gun and dogs in early +October mornings. There were--no doubt there still are, though I +shall not see them--very fine threads of gossamer stretching across +astonishingly wide spaces. The dew hung on them in tiny drops and +glittered when the sun rose clear of the light mist and shone on them. +Sometimes the threads floated free in the air, attached to some object +at one end, the rest borne about by faint breaths of wind, waved to and +fro, seeking other attachment elsewhere. Some threads reached from tufts +of grass to little hummocks or to the twigs which form the boles of elm +trees. Others still, with less ambitious span, went only from one blade +of grass to another or united the thorns of whin bushes. The lower air, +near the earth, was full of these threads. They formed an indescribably +delicate net cast right over the fields and hills. I used to see them +glistening, rainbow coloured when the sun rays struck them. Oftener I +was aware of their presence only when my hands had touched and broken +them or when they clung to my clothes, dragged from their fastenings by +my passing through them. + +I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy +of nature. I find it difficult to believe that the life of the fields +and gorsy hills and young plantations would be either better or worse if +there were no such thing as gossamer. But I am no longer contented with +my ignorance. I mean to find out all that is known about gossamer, and +satisfy myself of the truth of the tradition that the threads are spun +by tiny spiders, though surely with very little hope of snaring flies. + +I spent six months making the tour which Ascher planned for me. I +returned to London in the spring of 1914, full of interest in what I had +seen and learned. I intend some day to write a book of travels, to give +an account of my experiences. I shall describe the long strip of the +world over which I wandered as a landscape on a quiet autumn morning, +netted over with gossamer. That is the way it strikes me now, looking +back on it all. Ascher and men like him have spun fine threads, covering +every civilised land with a web of credit, infinitely complex, so +delicate that a child’s hand could tear it. + +A storm, even a strong breeze comes, and the threads are dragged from +their holdings and waved in wild confusion through the air. A man, +brutal as war, goes striding through the land, and, without knowing what +he does, bursts the filaments and destroys the shimmering beauty which +was before he came. That, I suppose, is what happens. But the passing of +a man, however violent he is, is the passing of a man and no more. Even +if a troop of men marches across the land their marching is over and +done with soon. They have their day, but afterwards there are other +days. Nature is infinitely persistent and gossamer is spun again. + +I remember meeting, quite by chance, on a coasting steamer on which +I travelled, a bishop. He was not, judged by strict ecclesiastical +standards, quite entitled to that rank. He belonged to some American +religious organisation of which I had no knowledge, but he called +himself, on the passenger list, Bishop Zacchary Brown. He was apostolic +in his devotion to the Gospel as he understood it. His particular field +of work lay in the northern part of South America. He ranged, so I +understood, through Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. He was full of hope +for the future of these lands, their spiritual future. I had long talks +with him and discovered that he regarded education, the American form +of it, and commerce, the fruit of American enterprise, as the enemies of +superstition and consequently the handmaids of the Gospel. + +He wanted to see schools and colleges scattered over the republic in +which he was interested. He wanted to see these lands heavily fertilised +with capital. + +“If you have any spare money,” he said, “put it into----” + +I think he said fruit farming in Colombia. Whatever the business was--I +forgot at the time to make a note of the particulars--he promised that +it would develop enormously when the Panama Canal was opened. The advice +may have been perfectly sound; but I do not think it was disinterested. +Bishop Zacchary Brown was not anxious about my future or my fortune. He +did not care, cannot have cared, whether the Panama Canal made me rich +or not. Nor did it seem to him an important thing that the fruit trade +of South America should develop. What he cared for was his conception +of religion. He saw in the inflow of capital the way of triumph for his +Gospel, the means of breaking up old careless, lazy creeds, the infusion +of energy and love of freedom. Ascher, so I conceived the situation, +was to stretch his threads from Calvary to the grapefruit trees of +Cartagena. + +At Bahia I was introduced to a Brazilian statesman. I met him first at +the house of one of Ascher’s banker friends. We talked to each other in +French, and, as we both spoke the language badly, understood each other +without much difficulty. It is one of the peculiarities of the French +language that the worse it is spoken the easier it is to understand. A +real Parisian baffles me completely. My Brazilian statesman was almost +always intelligible. + +He was interested in international politics, the international politics +of the western hemisphere. I found that he was distrustful of the +growing power of the United States. He suspected a policy of Empire, +a far-reaching scheme of influence, if not actual dominion, centred in +Washington. He regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the root from which such +an extension of power might grow. It was no business of mine to argue +with him, though I am convinced that the citizens of the United States +are of all peoples the least obsessed by the imperial idea. I tried, by +looking sympathetic, to induce him to develop his theory. In the end I +gathered that he hoped for security from the imperial peril through the +increase of wealth and therefore power in the South American republics. + +“Our natural resources,” he said, “are enormous, but undeveloped. We +cannot become strong in a military sense. We cannot possess fleets with +which to negotiate----” + +I should have said “threaten” instead of “negotiate” for that was +plainly what he meant. But statesmen have to be careful in their use of +words. + +“--Unless we can obtain capital with which to develop our wealth. The +great money-lending countries, England and France, ought in their own +interests to pour capital into our republics. The return, in the end, +would be enormous. But more important still, they would establish +a balance of power in the western world. Why do not your financiers +understand?” + +Again Ascher. Battleships are to be towed across the ocean, from the +ship yards of the Clyde to these far-off seas, at the ends of the +gossamer threads which Ascher spins. The Gospel and international +politics are caught in the same web. I seemed to see Diocletian the +Emperor and Saint John, who said, “Love not the world,” doing homage +together to the power of capital, leading each other by the hand through +the mazes of the system of credit. + +I saw beautiful scenes, wide harbours where stately ships lay anchored, +through whose shining gates fleets of steamers trudged. I never escaped +from the knowledge that the gossamer threads stretched from mast to +mast, a rigging more essential than the ropes of hemp and wire. I +saw the lines of steel on which trains go, stretched out across vast +prairies, and knew that they were not in reality lines of steel at all +but gossamer threads. I saw torrents made the slaves of man, the weight +of falling water transmuted into light and heat and force to drive cars +swiftly through city streets; but all the wheels and giant masses of +forged steel were tied together by these same slender threads which +Ascher spun in the shrine of that Greek temple of his, Ascher and his +fellow bankers. + +Always the desire was for more capital. There was room for thousands of +ships instead of hundreds. There were whole territories over which no +trains ran. There was potentiality of wealth so great that, if it were +realised, men everywhere would be raised above the fear of want. A whole +continent was crying out to Ascher that he should fling his web across +it, join point to point with gossamer, in Amazonian jungles, Peruvian +mountain heights, Argentine plains and tropical fruit gardens. + +I met and talked with many men whose outlook upon life was profoundly +interesting to me. Those whom I came to know best were Englishmen or +men of English origin. Some of them had built up flourishing businesses, +selling the products of English factories. Some acted as the agents +of steamboat companies, arranging for freights and settling the +destinations of ships which went voyaging. Some grew wheat or bred +cattle. Like all Englishmen whose lot is cast in far countries they +retained their feeling for England as a home and became conscious as +Englishmen in England seldom are, of love for their own land. Like all +Englishmen they grumbled ceaselessly at what they loved. + +They spoke with contempt of everything English. They abused English +business methods and complained that Germans were ousting Englishmen +from the markets of the world. They derided English Government +and English statesmanship, ignoring party loyalties with a fine +impartiality. They decried English social customs, contrasting the +freedom of life in the land of their adoption with the convention-bound +ways of their home. Yet it always was their home. I felt that, even when +their contempt expressed itself in the bitterest words. + +Whatever their opinions were or their affectations, however widely +their various activities were separated, these men were all consciously +dependent on the smooth working of the system of world-wide credit. + +They were Ascher’s clients, or if not Ascher’s, the clients of others +like Ascher. They were in a sense Ascher’s dependents. They were united +to England, to Europe, to each other, by Ascher’s threads. Whether they +bred cattle and sold them, whether they grew corn, whether they shipped +cargoes or imported merchandise, the gossamer net was over them. + +I returned to London with these impressions vivid in my mind, perhaps--I +tried to persuade myself of this--too vivid. I had travelled, so I +argued, under the shadow of a great banker. I had gone among bankers. +It was natural, inevitable, that I should see the world through +bankers’ eyes. Perhaps credit was not after all the life blood of our +civilisation. I failed to convince myself. The very fact that I could +go so far under the shadow of a bank proves how large a shadow a bank +throws. The fact that Ascher’s correspondents brought me into touch with +every kind of man, goes to show that banking has permeated, leavened +life, that human society is saturated with finance. + +In a very few months, before the end of the summer which followed my +home-coming, I was to see the whole machine stop working suddenly. The +war god stalked across the world and brushed aside, broke, tore, tangled +up, the gossamer threads. Then, long before his march was done, while +awe-struck men and weeping women still listened to the strident clamour +of his arms, the spinners of the webs were at work again, patiently +joining broken threads, flinging fresh filaments across unbridged gulfs, +refastening to their points of attachment the gossamer which seemed so +frail, which yet the storm of violence failed to destroy utterly. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +I reached home early in May and underwent an experience common, I +suppose, to all travellers. + +The city clerk, returning after a glorious week in Paris, finds that his +family is still interested in the peculiarities of the housemaid, the +Maud, or Ethel of the hour. To him, with his heart enlarged by nightly +visits to the Folies Bergères, it seems at first almost impossible that +any one can care to talk for hours about the misdeeds of Maud. He knows +that he himself was once excited over these domestic problems, but it +seems impossible that he ever can be again. Yet he is. A week passes, +a week of the old familiar life. The voluptuous joys of Parisian music +halls fade into dim memories. The realities of life, the things on which +his mind works, are the new lace curtains for the drawing-room window, +the ridiculous “swank” of young Jones in the office, and the question of +the dismissal of Maud the housemaid. + +I found London humming with excitement over Irish affairs and for a +while I wondered how any one could think that Irish affairs mattered in +the least. Fresh from my wanderings over a huge continent, Ireland seemed +to me a small place. It took me a week to get my mind into focus again. +Then I began once more to see the Home Rule question as it should be +seen. South America and Ascher’s web of international credit sank into +their proper insignificance. + +I met Malcolmson in my club a week after my return. He very nearly +pulled the buttons off my waistcoat in his eagerness to explain the +situation to me. Malcolmson has a vile habit of grabbing the clothes +of any one he particularly wants to speak to. If the subject is only +moderately interesting he pulls a sleeve or a lappet of a coat. When he +has something very important to say, he inserts two fingers between +the buttons of your waistcoat and pulls. I knew I was in for something +thrilling when he towed me into a quiet corner of the smoking room by my +two top buttons. + +I have known Malcolmson for nearly twenty years. He was adjutant of +my old regiment when I joined. He was senior Major when I resigned my +commission. He became colonel a few years later and then retired to his +place near Belfast, where he has practised political Protestantism +ever since. I have never met any one more sincere than Malcolmson. He +believes in civil and religious liberty. He is prepared at any moment +to do battle for his faith. I do not know that he really deserves much +credit for this, because he is the sort of man who would do battle for +the love of it, even if there were no faith to be fought for. Still the +fact remains that he has a faith--rather a rare possession. + +When he had me cornered near the window of the smoking room, he told +me that the hour of battle had almost come. Ulster was drilled, more +or less armed, and absolutely united. Rather than endure Home Rule +Malcolmson and, I think, a hundred thousand other men were going to lay +down their lives. It took Malcolmson more than an hour to tell me that +because he kept wandering from the main point in order to abuse the +Government and the Irish Party. Of the two he seemed to dislike the +Government more. + +Irish politics are of all subjects the most wearisome to me; but I must +admit that Malcolmson interested me before he stopped talking. I began +to wish to hear what Gorman had to say about the matter. I could not +imagine that he and his friends contemplated a siege of Belfast, to rank +in history alongside of the famous attempt to starve Derry. + +There was no difficulty about getting hold of Gorman. In times of +furious political excitement he is sure to be found at the post of duty, +that is to say, in the smoking room of the House of Commons. I wrote to +him and invited him to dine with me in my rooms. It would have been much +more convenient to give him dinner at one of my clubs. But I was +afraid to do that. I belonged to two clubs in London and unfortunately +Malcolmson is a member of both of them. I do not know what would have +happened if he had found himself in the same room with Gorman. The +threatened civil war might have begun prematurely, and Malcolmson is +such a determined warrior that a table fork might easily have become a +lethal weapon in his hands. I did not want to have Gorman killed before +I heard his opinion about the Ulster situation and I disliked the +thought of having to explain the circumstances of his death to the club +committee afterwards. There is always an uncertainty about the view +which a club committee will take of any unusual event. I might very +easily have been asked to resign my membership. + +Gorman accepted my invitation, but said he would have to be back in the +House of Commons at 9 o’clock. I fixed dinner for half past seven, which +gave me nearly an hour and a half with Gorman, more time than Malcolmson +had required to state his side of the case. + +But Gorman was very much more difficult to deal with. He was not +inclined to discuss Home Rule or the Ulster situation. He wanted to talk +about Tim’s cash register, and, later on, about the new way of putting +cinematograph pictures on the stage. + +“I have been wandering about since I saw you last,” I said, “and I’ve +been in all sorts of strange places. I’ve lost touch with things at +home. Hardly ever saw an English newspaper. I want you to tell me----” + +“Interesting time you must have had,” said Gorman. “Run across the trail +of our friend Ascher much? I expect you did.” + +Gorman very nearly sidetracked me there. I was strongly tempted to tell +him about the impression which Ascher’s gossamer had made on me. + +“The slime of the financier,” said Gorman, “lies pretty thick over the +world. You’ve seen those large black slugs which come out in summer +after rain, big juicy fellows which crawl along and leave a shiny track +on the grass. They’re financiers.” + +“Yes,” I said, “quite so. But tell me about Home Rule.” + +“It’s all right. Can’t help becoming law. We have it in our pockets.” + +“This time next year,” I said, “you’ll be sitting in a Parliament in +Dublin.” + +“There’ll be a Parliament in Dublin all right this time next year; but +I’m not sure that I’ll be in it. After all, you know, Dublin’s rather a +one-horse place. I don’t see how I could very well live there. I might +run over for an important debate now and then, but----. You see I’ve a +lot of interests in London. I suppose you’ve heard about the new Cash +Register Company and what Ascher’s done.” + +“Not a word. Do I still hold those shares of mine?” + +“Unless you’ve sold them you do; but they’ll be very little good to you. +Ascher has simply thrown away a sure thing. We might have had--well, I +needn’t mention the sum, but it was a pretty big one. I had the whole +business arranged. Those fellows would have paid up. But nothing would +do Ascher except to put in his spoon. I’m blest if I see what his game +is. He has one of course; but I don’t see it.” + +“Perhaps,” I said, “he wants to have your brother’s invention worked for +what it’s worth.” + +“Rot,” said Gorman. “Why should he? I expect he has some dodge for +squeezing us out and then getting a bigger price all for himself; but +I’m damned if I see how he means to work it. These financial men are as +cunning as Satan and they all hang together. We outsiders don’t have a +chance.” + +“What about Ulster?” I said. “I was talking to a man last week who told +me----” + +“All bluff,” said Gorman. “Nothing in it. How can they do anything? What +Ascher says is that he wants the old company to take up Tim’s invention +and work it. There’s to be additional capital raised and we’re to come +in as shareholders. Ascher, Stutz & Co. will underwrite the new issues +and take three and one-half per cent. That’s what he says. But, of +course, that’s not the real game. There’s something behind.” + +“Doesn’t it occur to you that there may be something behind the Ulster +movement too?” + +“No. What can they do? The Bill will be law before the end of July.” + +“They say they’ll fight.” + +“Oh,” said Gorman, “we’ve heard all about that till we’re sick of the +sound of it. There’s nothing in it. The thing’s as plain as anything can +be. We have a majority in Parliament and the bill will be passed. That’s +all there is to say. I wish to goodness I saw my way as plainly in the +cash register affair.” + +Gorman’s faith in parliamentary majorities is extremely touching. I +suppose that only politicians believe that the voting of men who are +paid to vote really affects things. I doubt whether men of any other +profession have the same whole-hearted faith in the efficacy of their +own craft. Doctors are often a little sceptical about the value of +medicines and operations. No barrister, that I ever met, thinks he +achieves justice by arguing points of law. But politicians, even quite +intelligent politicians like Gorman, seem really to hold that human life +will be altered in some way because they walk round the lobbies of a +particular building in London and have their heads counted three or four +times an hour. To me it seemed quite plain that Malcolmson would not +bate an ounce of his devotion to civil and religious liberty even if +Gorman’s head were counted every five minutes for ten years and Gorman +were paid a thousand a year instead of four hundred a year for letting +out his head for the purpose. Why should Malcolmson care how often +Gorman is counted? There is in the end only the original Gorman with his +single head. + +“Anyhow,” said Gorman, “I’m keeping in with Mrs. Ascher.” + +He winked at me as he said this. I like Gorman’s way of adding +explanatory winks to his remarks. I should frequently miss the meaning, +the full meaning of what he says if he did not help out his words with +these expressive winks. This time he made me understand that he had no +great affection for Mrs. Ascher, regarded her rather as a joke which +had worn thin; but hoped to pick up from her some information about her +husband’s subtle schemes. I knew his hopes were vain. In the first place +the Aschers do not talk business to each other and she knows nothing of +what he is doing. In the next place Ascher had no underhand plot with +regard to the cash register. He was acting in a perfectly open +and straightforward way. But Gorman cannot believe that any one is +straightforward. That is one of the drawbacks to the profession of +politics. The practice of it destroys a man’s faith in human honesty. + +“How’s Tim?” I asked. “Last time I saw him he was in great trouble +because Mrs. Ascher said he was committing blasphemy.” + +“Tim’s in England,” said Gorman. “I was rather angry with him myself for +a while. If he had followed my advice about the cash register----. But +Tim always was a fool about money, though he has brains of a sort, lots +of them.” + +“Still working with that circus?” + +“Oh, dear no. Left that months ago. He got some money. No, I didn’t give +it to him. I fancy it must have been Ascher. Anyhow he’s got it. He’s +down in Hertfordshire now, living in a barn.” + +“Why? A barn seems an odd place to live in. Draughty, I should think.” + +“He wanted space,” said Gorman, “a great deal of space to work at his +experiments. I’m inclined to think there may be something in this new +idea of his.” + +“The living picture idea? Making real ghosts of the figures?” + +“That’s it. And, do you know, he’s getting at it. He showed me some +perfectly astonishing results the other day. If he pulls it off----” + +“You won’t let Ascher get hold of it this time,” I said. + +Gorman frowned. + +“I wouldn’t let Ascher touch it if I could help it, but what the devil +can I do? We shall want capital and I suppose Ascher is no worse than +the rest of them.” + +By “them” Gorman evidently meant capitalists in general and financiers +in particular. + +“That’s the way,” he said. “Not only do these scoundrels control +politics, reducing the whole system of democracy to a farce----” + +“Come now,” I said, “don’t blame the capitalists for that. Democracy +would be a farce if there never was such a thing as a capitalist.” + +“Not content with that,” said Gorman, “they keep an iron grip upon +industry. They fatten on the fruits of other men’s brains. They hold +the working man in thrall, exploiting his energy for their own selfish +greed, starving his women and children----” + +Gorman ought to keep that sort of thing for public meetings. It is +thoroughly bad form to make speeches to an audience of one. I must say +that he seldom does. I suppose that his intimate association with Mrs. +Ascher had spoiled his manners in this respect. She encouraged him to be +oratorical. But I am not Mrs. Ascher, and I saw no reason why I should +stand that kind of thing at my own dinner table. + +“But the day is coming,” I said, “when organised labour will rise in its +might and claim its heritage in the fair world which lies bathed in the +sunlight of a nobler age.” + +Gorman looked at me doubtfully for an instant, only for a single +instant. Almost immediately his eyes twinkled and he smiled +good-humouredly. + +“You ought to go in for politics,” he said. “You really ought. I +apologise. Can’t think what came over me to talk like that.” + +I cannot resist Gorman when he smiles. I felt that I too owed an +apology. + +“After all,” I said, “you must practise somewhere. I don’t blame you in +the least; though I don’t profess to like it. No one can do that sort of +thing extempore and if it happens to suit you to rehearse at dinner----” + +“Nonsense,” said Gorman. “There’s not the slightest necessity for +practice. I could do it by the hour and work sums in my head at the same +time. Any one could.” + +Gorman is modest. Very few people can make speeches like his, +fortunately for the world. + +“All the same,” he said, reverting abruptly to the starting point of his +speech, “it’s a pity we have to let Ascher into this new cinematograph +racket; but we can’t help it. In fact I expect he’s in already.” + +“Lending money to Tim for experiments?” + +“He wouldn’t do that,” said Gorman, “unless he’d made sure of his share +of the spoil afterwards.” + +“Gorman,” I said, “why don’t you make a law to suppress Ascher. You +believe in making laws, and, according to your own showing, that would +be a very useful one.” + +Gorman gave me no answer. I knew he could not, because there is no +answer to give. If laws had any effect on life, as Gorman pretends to +believe, he would make one which would do away with Ascher. But he knows +in his heart that he might just as well make a law forbidding the wind +to blow from the east. Instead of taking any notice of my question he +pulled out his watch and looked at it. + +“Nine o’clock,” he said. “I must be off to the House at once. An +important division has been arranged for a quarter past. Just ask your +man to call a taxi, will you?” + +“Why go?” I said. “If the division is arranged the result will be +arranged too.” + +“Of course it is,” said Gorman. “You don’t suppose the Whips leave that +to chance.” + +“I must say you manage these things very badly. Here you are smoking +comfortably after dinner, not in the least inclined to stir, and yet you +say you have to go. Why don’t you introduce a system of writing cheques? +‘Pay the Whip of my Party or bearer 150 votes. Signed Michael Gorman, M. +P.’” + +“That’s rather a good idea,” said Gorman. “It would save a lot of +trouble.” + +“The cheque could be passed in to some sort of clearing house where +a competent clerk, after going over all the cheques, would strike a +balance and place it to the credit of your side or the other. That would +be the Government’s Majority, and you wouldn’t have to go near the House +of Commons at all except when you wanted to make a speech. I don’t think +you need go even then. You might make your speeches quietly in your own +home to a couple of reporters.” + +“It would simplify parliamentary life enormously,” said Gorman, “there’s +no doubt of that. But I don’t think it would do. I don’t really. The +people wouldn’t stand it.” + +“If the people stand the way you go on at present they’ll stand +anything.” + +“I wish,” said Gorman, “that you’d ring for a taxi.” I rang the bell +and five minutes later Gorman left me. He had not told me anything about +Home Rule, or how his party meant to deal with a recalcitrant Ulster. He +seemed very little interested in Ulster. Yet Malcolmson was indubitably +in earnest. I felt perfectly sure about that. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +I intended to call on the Aschers as soon as I could after I returned to +London. I owed Ascher some thanks for his kindness in providing me with +letters of introduction for my tour. However, they heard that I was home +again before I managed to pay my visit. I daresay Gorman told them. He +sees Mrs. Ascher two or three times a week and he must get tired talking +about Ireland. A little item of gossip, like the news of my return, +would come as a relief to Gorman, and perhaps even to Mrs. Ascher, after +a long course of poetic politics mixed with art. + +I had a note from Mrs. Ascher, in which she invited me to dinner. + +“Very quietly,” she said. “I know my husband would like to have a talk +with you, so I shall not ask any one to meet you. Please fix your own +night. We have no engagements this week.” + +I got the note on Monday and fixed Wednesday for our dinner. I could not +think that Ascher really wanted to talk to me. I did not see what he had +to talk to me about; but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell him +about my tour and to give him some idea of the effect which my glimpse +at his business had produced on my mind. I also wanted to find out what +he thought about Irish affairs. I had heard a good deal more talk about +the Ulster situation. Malcolmson got at me nearly every day, and several +other men, much more level-headed than Malcolmson, seemed to regard the +situation as serious. I heard it hinted that the Army would not relish +the idea of shooting the Ulstermen. I understood the feeling. If I were +still in the Army I should not like to be told to kill Malcolmson. He +was my brother officer at one time, and I found him a good comrade. The +same feeling must exist among the rank and file. Northeast Ulster was, +at one time, a favourite recruiting ground for the Guards. Malcolmson’s +volunteer army was leavened with old Guardsmen, reservists, many of them +quite well known to the men still serving in the Brigade. + +I could not, of course, expect Ascher to be much interested in Irish +affairs. Ireland is the one country in the world over which financiers +have not cast their net, possibly because they would catch next to +nothing there. So we, who escaped the civilisation of Roman law, almost +escaped the philosophy of the mediaeval church, were entirely untouched +by the culture of the Renaissance, remained a kind of Gideon’s fleece +when the dew of the industrial system of the 19th century was moistening +Europe, are now left untouched by the new civilisation of international +finance. Yet Ascher, if not personally interested in our destiny, has a +cool and unprejudiced mind. His opinion on Irish affairs would be of the +greatest interest to me. I was not satisfied with Gorman’s reading +of the situation. Nor did I feel sure that Malcolmson, though he was +certainly in earnest, quite understood what a big thing he was letting +himself in for. + +The Aschers live near Golders Hill, a part of London totally unknown to +me. They have a large old-fashioned house with a considerable amount of +ground round it. Some day when Ascher is dead the house will be pulled +down and the grounds cut up into building plots. In the meanwhile Ascher +holds it. I suppose it suits him. Neither he nor Mrs. Ascher cares for +fashionable life, and a Mayfair address has no attraction for them. The +few artistic and musical people whom they wish to know are quite willing +to go to Hampstead. Everyone else who wants to see Ascher--and a good +many people do--calls at his office or dines with him in a club. Ascher +knows most of the chief men in the political world, for instance, but +even Prime Ministers are not often invited to the house at Golders +Hill. If Ascher really controls them, as Gorman says, he does so without +allowing them to interfere with his private life. + +The house and its appointments impressed me greatly. The architecture +was Georgian, a style familiar to any one who has lived much in Dublin. +It gave me a feeling of spaciousness and dignity. The men who built +these houses knew what it was to live like gentlemen. I can imagine them +guilty of various offences against the code of Christian morality, but +I do not think they can ever have been either fussy or mean. There is +a restlessness about our fashionable imitations of the older kinds of +English domestic architecture. Our picturesque gables, dormer windows +and rooms with all sorts of odd angles, our finicky windows stuck high +up in unexpected parts of walls, our absurd leaded diamond panes and +crooked metal fastenings, all make for fussiness of soul. Nor can I +believe that people who live under ceilings which they can almost touch +ever attain a great and calm outlook upon life. + +There was nothing “artistic” about Ascher’s house. This surprised me +at first. I did not, of course, expect that Mrs. Ascher would have +surrounded herself with the maddening kind of furniture which is +distinguished by its crookedness and is designed by men who find their +inspiration by remembering the things which they see in nightmares. Nor +did I think it likely that she would have crammed her rooms with those +products of the east which are imported into this country by house +furnishers with reputations for aestheticism. I knew that she had +passed that stage of culture. But I did expect to find the house full +of heavily embroidered copes of mediaeval bishops, hung on screens; +candlesticks looted from Spanish monasteries, standing on curiously +carved shelves; chairs and cabinets which were genuine relics of the age +of Louis XV.; and pictures by artists who lived in Italy before the days +when Italians learned to paint. + +I found myself in a house which was curiously bare of furniture. There +were a few pictures in each of the rooms I entered, modern pictures, and +I suppose good, but I am no judge of such things. There were scarcely +any ornaments to be seen and very few tables and chairs. My own feeling +is that a house should be furnished in such a way as to be thoroughly +comfortable. I like deep soft chairs and sofas to sit on. I like to have +many small tables on which to lay down books, newspapers and pipes. I +like thick carpets and curtains which keep out draughts. I would not +live in Ascher’s house, even if I were paid for doing so by being given +Ascher’s fortune. But I would rather live in Ascher’s house than in one +of those overcrowded museums which are the delight of very wealthy +New York Jews. I should, in some moods, find a pleasure in the fine +proportions of the rooms which Ascher refuses to spoil. I could never, I +know, be happy in a place where I ran the risk of dropping tobacco ashes +on thirteenth century tapestry and dared not move suddenly lest I should +knock over some priceless piece of china. + +We ate at a small table set at one end of a big dining-room, a +dining-room in which, I suppose, thirty people could have sat down +together comfortably. There was no affectation of shaded lights and +gloomy, mysterious spaces. Ascher had aimed at and achieved something +like a subdued daylight by means of electric lamps, shaded underneath, +which shone on the ceiling. I could see all the corners of the room, the +walls with their pictures and the broad floor across which the servants +passed. The dinner itself was very short and simple. If I had been +actually hungry, as I am in the country after shooting, I should have +called the dinner meagre. For a London appetite there was enough, but +not more than enough. I might, a younger and more vigorous man would, +have got up from the table hungry. But the food was exquisite. The cook +must be a descendant of one of those artists whom Lord Beaconsfield +described in “Tancred,” and he has found in Ascher’s house a situation +which ought to satisfy him. Ascher does not care for sumptuousness +or abundance; but he knows how to eat well. We had one wine, a very +delicately flavoured white Italian wine, perhaps from Capri, the juice +of some rare crops of grapes in that sunny island. + +“We found ourselves in a little difficulty,” said Ascher, “when you +fixed on to-night for your visit to us.” + +“I hope,” I said, “that I haven’t lit on an inconvenient evening. Had +you any other engagement?” + +I was eating a very small piece of fish when he spoke to me, and was +trying to guess what the sauce was flavoured with. It occurred to +me suddenly that I might have broken in upon some sort of private +anniversary, a day which Ascher and his wife observed as one of +abstinence. There was, I could scarcely fail to notice it, a sense of +subdued melancholy about our proceedings. + +“Oh, no,” said Ascher, “but on Wednesdays we always have some music. I +was inclined to think that you might have preferred to spend the evening +talking, but my wife----” + +He looked at Mrs. Ascher. I should very much have preferred talk to +music. It was chiefly in order to hear Ascher talk that I had accepted +the invitation. + +“I know,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that Sir James likes music.” + +She laid a strong emphasis on the word “know,” and I felt that she was +paying me a nice compliment. What she said was true enough. I do like +music, some kinds of music. I had heard for the first time the night +before a song, then very popular, with a particularly attractive chorus. +It began to run through my head the moment Ascher mentioned music. “I +didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it.” I liked that song. I was +not sure that I should like the Aschers’ music equally well. However, I +had no intention of contradicting Mrs. Ascher. + +“I’m passionately fond of music,” I said. + +Ascher is a singularly guileless man. I cannot imagine how any one so +unsuspicious as he is can ever have succeeded as a financier, unless +indeed people are far honester about money than they are about anything +else. I do not think Mrs. Ascher believed that I am passionately fond of +music. Her husband did. The little shadow of anxiety which had rested on +his face cleared away. He became almost cheerful. + +“To-night,” he said, “we are going to hear some of the work of----” + +He said a name, but I utterly failed to catch it. I had never heard it +before, and it sounded foreign, very foreign indeed, possibly Kurdish. + +“------,” said Ascher, “is one of the new Russian composers.” + +I heard the name that time, but I can make no attempt, phonetic or +other, to spell it. I suppose it can be spelled, but the letters must +be given values quite new to me. The alphabet I am accustomed to is +incapable of representing that man’s name. + +“I daresay you know him,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +I strongly suspected that she was trying to entrap me. I have never +been quite sure of Mrs. Ascher since the day she discovered that I was +talking nonsense about the statuette of Psyche. Sometimes she appears to +be the kind of foolish woman to whom anything may be said without fear. +Sometimes she displays most unexpected intelligence. I looked at her +before I answered. Her narrow, pale-green eyes expressed nothing but +innocent inquiry. She might conceivably think that I had already made +a careful study of the music of the new Russian composer. On the other +hand, she might be luring me on to say that I knew music which was to be +played in her house that night for the first time. I made up my mind to +be safe. + +“No,” I said, “I never even heard of him.” + +Then Ascher began to talk about the man and his music. He became more +animated than I had ever seen him. It was evident that Russian music +interested Ascher far more than finance did--that it was a subject which +was capable of wakening real enthusiasm in him. I listened, eating from +time to time the delicate morsels of food offered to me and sipping the +delicious wine. I did not understand anything Ascher said, and all the +names he mentioned were new to me; but for a time I was content to sit +in a kind of half-conscious state, hypnotised by the sound of his voice +and the feeling that Mrs. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me. + +Not until dinner was nearly over did I make an effort to assert myself. + +“I was talking to Gorman the other day,” I said, “about Irish affairs +and especially about the Ulster situation. I have also been hearing +Malcolmson’s views. Malcolmson is a colonel and an Ulsterman. You know +the sort of views an Ulster Colonel would have.” + +Ascher smiled faintly. He seemed no more than slightly amused at the +turn Irish affairs were taking. After all neither international finance +nor Russian music was likely to be profoundly affected by the Ulster +rebellion. (Malcolmson will not use the word rebellion, but I must. +There is no other word to describe the actions he contemplates.) No +wonder Ascher takes small interest in the matter. On the other hand, +Mrs. Ascher was profoundly moved by the mention of Ulster. I could see +genuine passion in her eyes. + +“Belfast,” she said, “stands for all that is vilest and most hateful in +the world. It is worse than Glasgow, worse than Manchester, worse than +Birmingham.” + +Belfast is, no doubt, the main difficulty. If there were no Belfast the +resistance of the rest of Ulster would be inconsiderable. I admired the +political instinct which enabled Mrs. Ascher to go straight to the very +centre of the situation. But, in all probability, Gorman gave her the +hint. Gorman does not seem to understand how real the Ulster opposition +is, but he has intelligence enough to grasp the importance of Belfast. +What puzzled me first was the extreme bitterness with which Mrs. Ascher +spoke. + +“What has Belfast ever given to the world?” she asked. + +“Well,” I said, “ships are built there, and of course there’s linen. I +believe they manufacture tobacco, and----” + +“That,” said Ascher, “is not quite what my wife means. The gifts which a +city or a country give to the world must be of a more permanent kind if +they are to be of real value. Ships, linen, tobacco, we use them, and in +using we destroy them. They have their value, but it is not a permanent +value. Ultimately a city will be judged not by its perishable products, +but by----” + +“Art,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +I might have known it. Mrs. Ascher would be sure to judge cities, as she +judges men, by their achievement in that particular line. I was bound +to admit that the reputation of Belfast falls some way short of that of +Athens as a centre of literature and art. + +“Or thought,” said Ascher, “or criticism. It is curious that a community +which is virile and fearless, which is able to look at the world and +life through its own eyes, which is indifferent to the general consensus +of opinion----” + +“Belfast is all that,” I said. “I never knew any one who cared less what +other people said and thought than Malcolmson.” + +“Yet,” said Ascher, “Belfast has done nothing, thought nothing, seen +nothing. But perhaps that is all to come. The future may be, indeed I +think must be, very different.” + +Ascher will never be a real leader of men. His habit of seeing two sides +of every question is an incurable weakness in him. Mrs. Ascher does not +suffer in that way. She saw no good whatever in Belfast, nor any hope +for its future. + +“Never,” she said, “never. A people who have given themselves over +to material things, who accept frankly, without even the hypocrite’s +tribute to virtue, the money standard of value, who ask ‘Does it pay?’ +and ask nothing else---- Have you ever been in Belfast?” + +“Yes,” I said, “often. The churches are ugly, decidedly ugly, though +comfortable.” + +Mrs. Ascher shuddered. + +“Comfortable!” she said. “Yes. Comfortable! Think of it. Churches, +comfort! Irredeemable hideousness and the comfort of congregations as a +set-off to it.” + +Mrs. Ascher panted. I could see the front of her dress--she wore a very +floppy scarlet teagown--rising and falling rapidly in the intensity of +her passion. I understood more or less what she felt. If God is at all +what we think He is, sublime, then there is something a little grotesque +about requiring a cushioned pew, a good system of heating and a nice fat +footstool as aids to communion with Him. Yet I am not convinced that +man is incapable of the highest emotion when his body is at ease. Some +degree of physical comfort seems to be required if the excursions of +the soul are to be successful. I cannot, for instance, enjoy the finest +kinds of poetry when I am very thirsty; nor have I ever met any one +who found real pleasure in a statue when he had toothache. There +is something to be said for the theory of the sceptical bishop in +Browning’s poem, that the soul is only free to muse of lofty things + + “When body gets its sop and holds its noise.” + +“The whole Irish question,” said Mrs. Ascher, and she spoke with +the most tremendous vehemence, “is a struggle not between political +parties--what are political parties?” + +“Rotten things,” I said. “I quite agree with you there.” + +“Not between conceptions of religion. What is religion but the +blind gropings of the human soul after some divine perfection vaguely +guessed?” + +That is not what religion is in Ireland. There is nothing either dim +or vague about it there, and nobody gropes. Everyone, from the infant +school child to the greatest of our six archbishops, is perfectly clear +and definite in his religious beliefs and suffers no doubts of any kind. +That is why Ireland is recognised everywhere as an island of saints. But +of course Mrs. Ascher could not be expected to know that. + +“It is a struggle,” she said, getting back to the Irish question as the +subject of her sentence, “between a people to whom art is an ideal and +a people who have accepted materialism and money for their gods, an +atheist people.” + +It has been the great misfortune of my life that I have never been able +to escape from the Irish question. It was discussed round my cradle by a +nurse whom my parents selected for her sound Protestant principles. The +undertaker will give his views of the Irish question to his assistant +while he drives the nails into the lid of my coffin. I should not have +supposed that any one could have hit on an aspect of it wholly new to +me. But Mrs. Ascher did. Never before had I heard the problem stated as +she stated it. + +“That,” I said, “is an extraordinarily interesting way of looking at it. +The only difficulty I see is----” + +“It is true,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +That was precisely my difficulty. It was not true. I went back to my +recollections of old Dan Gorman, a man as intensely interested in the +struggle as ever any one was. I remembered his great pot belly, his +flabby skin, his whisky-sodden face. I remembered his grasping meanness, +his relentless hardness in dealing with those in his power. The most +thoroughly materialised business man in Belfast has more spirituality +about him than old Dan Gorman ever had. Nor did I believe that his +son, Michael Gorman, would have accepted Mrs. Ascher’s account of his +position. He would have winked, humourously appreciative of an excellent +joke, if any one had told him that he was a crusader, out to wrest the +sacred sepulchre of art from the keeping of the Saracens of Ulster. + +I did not, of course, attempt to reason with Mrs. Ascher. There is +nothing in the world more foolish than trying to reason with a woman who +is possessed by a cause. No good ever comes of it. But Mrs. Ascher is +quite clever enough to understand a man even if he does not speak. She +felt that I should have been glad to argue with her if I had not been +afraid. She entered on a long defence of her position. + +She began with the Irish Players, and the moment she mentioned them I +knew what she was going to say. + +“The one instance,” she said, “the single example in the modern world +of peasant art, from the soil, of the soil, redolent, fragrant of the +simple life of men and women, in direct touch with the primal forces of +nature itself. There is nothing else quite like those players and their +plays. They are the self-revelation of the peasant soul. From the +whitewashed cabins of the country-side, from the streets of tiny, +world-forgotten villages, from the islands where the great Atlantic +thunders ceaselessly, these have come to call us back to the realities +of life, to express again the external verities of art.” + +That is all very well. I agreed with Mrs. Ascher thoroughly about the +art of Synge’s plays, and Lady Gregory’s and Yeats’, and the art of the +players. But it is merely silly to talk about the soil and whitewashed +cottages, and self-revelation of peasant souls. Neither the dramatists +nor the players are peasants or ever were. They are very clever, +sometimes more than clever, members of the educated classes, who see the +peasants from outside just as I see them, as Mrs. Ascher would see them +if she ever got near enough to what she calls the soil to see a peasant +at all. + +When Mrs. Ascher had finished with the Irish Players she went on, +still in a white heat of excitement, to the attempt to revive the Irish +language. + +“Where else,” she said, “will you find such devotion to a purely +spiritual ideal? Here you have a people rising enthusiastically to fight +for the preservation of the national language. And its language is +the soul of a nation. These splendid efforts are made in defiance of +materialism, without the remotest hope of gain, just to keep, to +save from destruction, a possession felt instinctively to be the most +precious thing of all, far above gold and rubies in price.” + +“The only flaw in that theory,” I said, “is that the people who still +have this most precious possession don’t want to keep it in the least. +Nobody ever heard of the Irish-speaking peasants taking the smallest +interest in their language. The whole revival business is the work of an +English-speaking middle class, who never stop asking the Government to +pay them for doing it.” + +That was the second occasion on which I came near quarrelling with Mrs. +Ascher. Yet I am not a man who quarrels easily. Like St. Paul’s friends +at Corinth, I can suffer fools gladly. But Mrs. Ascher is not a fool. +She is a clever woman with a twist in her mind. That is why I find +myself saying nasty things to her now and then. I suppose it was Gorman +who taught her to be an Irish patriot. If she had been content to follow +him as an obedient disciple, I should have put up with all she said +politely. But, once started by Gorman, she thought out Ireland for +herself and arrived at this amazing theory of hers, her artistic +children of light in death grips with mercantile and manufacturing +materialists. No wonder she irritated me. + +Ascher saved us from a heated argument. Dinner was over. He had smoked +his half cigarette. He rose from his chair. + +“I expect Mr. Wendall is waiting for us,” he said to Mrs. Ascher. + +Her face softened as he spoke. The look of fanatical enthusiasm passed +out of her eyes. She got up quietly and left the room. Ascher held the +door open for her and motioned me to follow her. He took my arm as we +passed together down a long corridor. + +“Mr. Wendall,” he said, “is a young musician who comes to play to us +every week. He is a man with a future before him. I think you will enjoy +his playing. We are going to the music room.” + +We went through a small sitting-room, more fully furnished than any +other in Ascher’s house. It looked as if it were meant to be inhabited +by ordinary human beings. It was reserved, so I learned afterwards, for +the use of Ascher’s guests. We ascended a short flight of stairs and +entered the music room. Unlike the dining-room it was only partially +lit. A single lamp stood on a little table near the fireplace, and there +were two candles on a grand piano in the middle of the room. These made +small spots of light in a space of gloom. I felt rather than saw +that the room was a large one. I discerned the shapes of four tall, +curtainless windows. I saw that except the piano and a few seats near +the fireplace there was no furniture. As we entered I heard the sound of +an organ, played very softly, somewhere above me. + +“Mr. Wendall is here,” said Ascher. + +He led me over to the fireplace and put me in a deep soft chair. He laid +a box of cigarettes beside me and set a vase of spills at my right hand. +I gathered that I might smoke, so long as I lit my tobacco noiselessly, +with spills kindled in the fire; but that I must not make scratchy +sounds by striking matches. Mrs. Ascher sank down in a corner of a large +sofa. She lay there with parted lips and half-closed eyes, like some +feline creature expectant of sensuous delight. The light from the +lamp behind her and the flickering fire played a strange game of +shadow-making and shadow-chasing among the folds of her scarlet gown. +Ascher sat down beside her. + +The organ was played very softly. I found out that it was placed in a +gallery above the door by which we had entered. I saw the pipes, like +a clump of tall spears, barely discernible in the gloom. There was no +light in the gallery. Mr. Wendall was no doubt there and was able to +play without seeing a printed score. I supposed that he was playing the +music of the new Russian composer. Whatever he played he failed to catch +my attention, though the sounds were vaguely soothing. I found myself +thinking that Mrs. Ascher had no right to be furiously angry with the +people of Belfast for making their churches comfortable. This was her +form of worship, and never were any devotees more luxuriously placed +than we were. If her soul can soar to spiritual heights from the depths +of silken cushions, surely a linen-draper may find it possible to pray +in a cushioned pew. + +I was mistaken about the music I was listening to. Mr. Wendall was only +soothing his nerves with organ sounds while he waited for us. When he +discovered our presence he left the gallery and descended to the room +in which we sat, by a narrow stairway. No greeting of any kind passed +between him and the Aschers. He went straight to the piano without +giving any sign that he knew of our presence. I lit a cigarette and +prepared to endure what was in store for me. + +At first the new Russian music struck me as merely noisy. I found +no sense or rhythm in it. Then I began to feel slightly excited. The +excitement grew on me in a curious way. I looked at the Aschers. He was +sitting nearly bolt upright, very rigid, in a corner on the sofa. She +lay back, as she had lain before, with her hands on her lap. The only +change that I noted in her attitude was that her fists were clenched +tightly. Mr. Wendall stopped playing abruptly. There was a short +interval of silence, through which I seemed to feel the last chord that +was struck vibrating in my spine. + +Then he began to play again. Once more the feeling of excitement came on +me. I am far from being a Puritan, but I suppose I have inherited +from generations of sternly Protestant ancestors some kind of moral +prejudice. I felt, as the excitement grew intenser, that I had +discovered a new, supremely delightful kind of sin. There came to my +memory the names of ancient gods and goddesses denounced by the prophets +of Israel: Peor and Baalim, Milcom, Moloch, Ashtaroth. I knew why the +people loved to worship them. I remembered that Milton had rejoiced in +the names of these half-forgotten deities, and that Milton loved music. +No doubt he, too, understood this way of sinning and, very rightly, he +placed the gods of it in hell. Wendall, at the piano, stopped and began +again. He did this many times. His music was loud sometimes, +sometimes soft, but it did not fail to create the sense of passionate +deliciousness and, for a time, a longing for more of it. + +After a while my senses grew numb, sated I suppose. I looked over at the +Aschers. She still lay as she had lain at first, but her fists were no +longer clenched. All her muscles seemed to be relaxed. Ascher had crept +over close to her. He lay back beside her, and I saw that he held one of +her hands clasped in his. His eyes were fixed intently on hers, and even +as I watched I saw her lids droop before his gaze. She gave a long, soft +sigh of satisfaction. + +I realised that Ascher and his wife were lovers still, though they had +been married for a score or more of years. That strange emotion, which +touches human life with romance for a year or two and then fades into +a tolerant companionship, had endured with them. In some way altogether +unknown to me the music and all the art in which they delighted had the +power of stimulating afresh or re-creating again and again the passion +which drew them together. Under the influence of art they enjoyed a +mystical communion with each other, not wholly spiritual, but like all +mysticism, a mixture of the physical, the ecstasy of contact, actual or +imagined, with yearnings and emotions in which the body has no part. + +I suppose the music had its effect on me, too, gave me for a few moments +a power of sympathy not usually mine. I understood Ascher as I had never +understood him before. I knew that the man I had hitherto seen, austere, +calm, intellectual, the great financier whom the world sought, was a +man with a mask before his face; that accident and the excitement of the +music had enabled me to see the face behind the mask. I understood, or +supposed I understood, Mrs. Ascher, too. All her foolish fine phrases +and absurd enthusiasms were like cries in which tortured creatures find +some kind of relief from pain, or the low, crooning laughter of a young +mother with her baby at her breast. They were the inevitable, almost +hysterical gaspings of a spirit wrought upon over highly and over often +by the passion of romantic love. A mask hid the man’s face. The woman +was not strong enough to wear it. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +It is difficult now, in 1915, to regard the things which happened during +the first half of last year as events in any proper sense of the word. +But at the time they excited us all very much, and we felt that the +whole future of the country, the empire, perhaps of the human race, +depended on how the Government met the crisis with which it was faced. +It seems curious that we could have believed such a thing, but we did. + +I remember quite distinctly the circumstances under which I first heard +the news of the protest made by certain cavalry officers against what +they supposed to be the Government’s policy in Ulster. I am not, thank +God, called upon to pass a judgment on that very tangled business, or +to give any opinion about the rights or wrongs of either side. I do not +even profess to know the facts. Indeed I am inclined to doubt whether +there were any facts. In affairs conducted mainly by politicians there +seldom are facts. There are statements, explanations, pledges and +recriminations in great abundance; but facts are not to be discovered, +for the sufficient reason that they are not there. What happened or +seemed to happen was described as a plot, a mare’s nest, an aristocratic +conspiracy, an assertion of principle, a mutiny, a declaration of +loyalty, and a newspaper scare, according to the taste of the person who +was speaking. The safest thing to call it, I think, is an incident. + +I went down to the club at twelve o’clock, intending to smoke a cigar +and look at the picture papers before luncheon. I found Malcolmson +in the outer hall. His head was bent over the machine which reels off +strips of paper with the latest news printed on them. The machine was +ticking vigorously, and I knew by the tense attitude in which Malcolmson +was standing that something very important must have happened. My first +impulse was to slip quietly past and get away to the smoking room before +he saw me. I like Malcolmson, but he is tiresome, particularly tiresome +when there is important news. I crossed the hall cautiously, keeping an +eye on him, hoping that he would not look round till I was safe. + +Malcolmson has reached that time of life at which a man’s neck begins +to bulge over his collar at the back, forming a kind of roll of rather +hairy flesh, along which the starched linen marks a deep line from +ear to ear. I noticed as I passed that Malcolmson’s neck was far more +swollen than usual and, that it was rapidly changing colour from its +ordinary brick red to a deep purple. The sight was so strange and +startling that I stopped for a minute to see what would happen next. +I have never heard of a man’s neck bursting under pressure of strong +excitement, but Malcolmson’s looked as if it must break out in some +way. While I was watching, the machine suddenly stopped ticking and +Malcolmson turned round. His face was nearly as purple as his neck. His +moustache, always bristly, looked as if it was composed of fine wires +charged with electricity. His eyes were blazing with excitement. + +“Come here, Digby,” he said. “Come here and read this.” + +He caught up the paper which the machine had disgorged and allowed it to +hang across his hands in graceful festoons. There seemed to me to be a +great deal of it. + +“I wish you’d tell me about it,” I said. “I hate reading those things. +The print is so queer.” + +I knew that Malcolmson would tell me about it whether I read it for +myself or not. There was no use getting a double dose of the news +whatever it was. + +“The damned Government’s done for at last,” said Malcolmson +triumphantly, “and Home Rule’s as dead as a door nail.” + +“Good,” I said. “Now we shall all be able to settle down. How did it +happen? Earthquake in Dublin? But that would hardly do it. Cabinet +Ministers committed suicide unanimously?” + +“The Army,” said Malcolmson, “has refused to fire on us. I knew they +would and they have.” + +“Were they asked to?” I said. + +“Asked to!” said Malcolmson. “They were told to, ordered to. We’ve had +our private information of what was going on. We’ve known all about +it for a week or more. Belfast was to be bombarded by the Fleet. Two +brigades of infantry were to cross the Boyne and march on Portadown. +The cavalry, supported by light artillery, were to take Enniskillen by +surprise. We were to be mowed down, mowed down and sabred before we had +time to mobilise. The most infamous plot in modern times. A second +St. Bartholomew’s massacre. But thank God the Army is loyal. I cross +to-night to take my place with my men.” + +An ill-tempered, captious man might have suggested that Malcolmson +ought to have taken his place with his men--a regiment of volunteers I +suppose--a little sooner. According to his own account, the peril had +been real a week before, but was over before he told me about it. The +Government which had planned the massacre was dead and damned. The Army +had refused to carry out the infamous plot. It seemed a mere piece of +bravado, under the circumstances, to take up arms. But I knew Malcolmson +better than to suppose that he wanted to swagger when swaggering was +safe. His mind might be in a muddled state. Judging by the way he talked +to me, it was very muddled indeed. But his heart was sound, and no risk +would have daunted him. + +“Let’s have a glass of sherry and a biscuit,” I said. “You’ll want +something to steady your nerves.” + +But Malcolmson, for once, for the only time since I have known him, was +unwilling to sit down and talk. His train, supposing that he took the +quickest route to Belfast, did not leave Euston till 8 or 9 o’clock at +night; but he felt that he must be up and doing at once. He fussed out +of the club, and for some time I saw no more of him. + +I waited until the hall porter had cut up the slips of paper which fell +from the clicking machine and pinned the bits to the notice boards. Then +I read the news for myself. These machines are singularly unintelligent. +They mix up the items of news in a very irritating way. Sometimes a +sheet begins with the assassination of a foreign prime minister, breaks +off suddenly to announce the name of a winning horse, goes back to the +prime minister, starts a divorce case abruptly and then gives a few +Stock Exchange quotations. I hate news which comes to me in this +disjointed way, and never attempt to learn anything from the machine +until the hall porter has edited the sheets. He cuts them up, gets all +the racing news on one board, the Stock Exchange and the Divorce +Court on another and makes a continuous narrative of political news, +assassinations, picturesque shipwrecks and such matters on the largest +and most prominent of the notice boards. + +I found when I did read that Malcolmson had built up a lofty structure +on a very small foundation. Something had evidently happened among +the soldiers stationed at the Curragh Camp; but the first account +telegraphed over from Ireland left me in grave doubt. It was a question +whether the men had actually been told to shoot Malcolmson and refused +to obey orders; or had been asked, politely, if they would like to shoot +Malcolmson and said they would rather not. The one thing which emerged +with any sort of clearness was that Malcolmson would not be shot. This +made my mind easy. I went into the dining-room and had some luncheon. + +Early in the afternoon I collected six evening papers, three belonging +to each side. I found the Unionist writers unanimous on two points. The +Army had saved the Empire and the Government would be obliged to resign. +The Liberal scribes took another view of the situation. According to +them the Army had been seduced from its loyalty by the intrigues of +fascinating and fashionable Delilahs, but the will of the people must, +nevertheless, prevail. Newspaper writers on the Liberal side are far +more intelligent than their opponents. It was a stupid thing, in the +early part of 1914, to talk about saving the Empire. No one at that +time cared anything about the Empire. Very few people believed that it +existed. It was worse than stupid to suggest that the Government would +resign. The country was utterly weary of General Elections and was +planning its summer holiday. Public sympathy was hopelessly alienated by +that kind of talk. On the other hand, the fashionable Delilah story +was a brilliant invention. There is nothing dearer to the heart of the +English middle classes and working men than the belief that every woman +with a dress allowance of more than £200 a year is a courtesan. The +suggestion that these immoral Phrynes were bartering their charms for +power to thwart the will of the people was just the sort of thing to +raise a tempest of enthusiasm. + +Almost anything might have happened if the Government had had the +courage to follow up its advantage. Fortunately--from Malcolmson’s point +of view--it did not venture to shut up all women of title, under +fifty years of age, in houses of correction; a course which would have +convinced the general public that Home Rule was a sound thing. It spent +a fortnight or so contradicting everybody who said anything, including +itself, and then apologised for being misunderstood. + +However, that anti-climax was still some way off. + +I stuffed the three Liberal papers into my pocket and went to call on +Lady Kingscourt. She is the only peeress I am intimate with who moves in +really fashionable circles and is both rich and beautiful. It would have +been interesting to hear what she said when I pointed out to her that +she had been seducing subalterns. She was not at home when I reached her +house. The butler told me that she had gone to a bazaar got up to raise +funds for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Association, in itself a +suspicious circumstance. If I were Lady Kingscourt and my character was +attacked as hers was, I should keep clear of any charity with the word +soldier in its name. I was sorry to miss her, though I scarcely expected +that she would have tried to fascinate me. It is a good many years since +I resigned my commission. + +The next person I thought of seeing was Gorman. It was nearly five +o’clock, so I went to the House of Commons. + +Gorman, when I found him, seemed very much pleased to see me, and was in +a hospitable mood. He took me to a room, which must have originally been +meant for a cellar, and gave me tea. + +“I’ve been ringing you up on the telephone all day,” he said, “and +couldn’t get you. Where have you been?” + +“Down at the club,” I said, “talking to Malcolmson about the plot--what +you’d call the situation I suppose. You can hardly be expected to +admit that there is a plot. Now, do tell me what you think about the +situation.” + +“Damn the situation!” said Gorman. + +“That,” I said, “seems the sensible view to take. Is it the one usually +held? Is that what they’re saying up there?” + +I pointed to the ceiling with my thumb. Somewhere above my head, it +might be supposed, statesmen with furrowed brows were taking anxious +counsel together for the safety of the nation, retiring now and then +when utterly exhausted, to damn the situation in private rooms. + +“Some of them are a bit fussed,” said Gorman. “Silly asses! But it isn’t +that wretched business that I wanted to speak to you about.” + +“Good gracious! Do you mean to say that you can talk of anything else, +that you didn’t ring me up to tell me what will happen?” + +“Nothing will happen,” said Gorman. “Two or three muddled-headed young +fools at the Curragh will get court-martialed. That’s all. What I +wanted to see you about is this new invention of Tim’s. There’s really +something in it.” + +“Gorman,” I said. “You’re fiddling while Rome is burning. How can you +reconcile it to your conscience to play with cinematographs when a +horrible conspiracy is threatening life and liberty?” + +“Surely,” said Gorman, “you don’t really believe that we plotted, as +they call it, to murder people in Belfast?” + +“I don’t know whether you did or not,” I said. “But that’s not the +conspiracy I’m alluding to. Look here.” + +I pulled out of my pocket the three papers which I had meant for Lady +Kingscourt and showed Gorman the articles about the fashionable ladies +seducing soldiers. + +“You can’t expect our side,” I said, “to sit down under this kind of +thing without a struggle. We shall make counter-accusations. I shall do +it myself if nobody else does. I’m warning you beforehand, Gorman, so +that you won’t be surprised when you find your character in rags.” + +Gorman looked at his watch. + +“I know you like talking that sort of nonsense,” he said, “and I don’t +mind listening, not a bit; but just let me ask you this before you +start. Will you come down with me this evening and see Tim’s invention? +If you will I’ll order a motor from Harrod’s or somewhere, and we’ll run +down after dinner. There’s no use going in broad daylight, for we can’t +see the thing properly till after dark.” + +“I shall be delighted,” I said. + +“Very well. Excuse me a moment while I go and get on the ‘phone to +engage the motor.” + +I waited, feeling a little sore. I daresay I do talk nonsense and like +talking it, but no politician who ever lived has a right to tell me +so. I intended to greet Gorman when he returned with the proverb about +living in glass houses and throwing stones. He came back, smiling +radiantly. My ill-humour passed away at once. + +“Now,” he said, “go on with what you were telling me. + +“I pointed out to you,” I said, “that duchesses, marchionesses, +countesses, and other abandoned women of that kind have been flirting +with military officers in such a way as to interfere with the governing +of this country in accordance with the principles of democracy.” + +“Is that what they say?” said Gorman. + +He picked up one of the papers which I had laid on the table and +satisfied himself that the thing was really in print. + +“Well,” he said, “they had to say something. I daresay people will +believe them. The English are an extraordinarily credulous race, fools +in fact. That’s why I’m a Home Ruler.” + +“You must remember,” I said, “that I’m a Unionist.” + +“Are you? Speaking confidentially, now, are you really?” + +“My father was,” I said, “and I don’t like to see these things in print +about the party without making some kind of reply. What I’m thinking of +doing is writing a sort of circular letter to all the papers on our side +and saying that to my certain knowledge you and Mrs. Ascher have been +using undue and unfair influence over each other for the last six +months. If it’s wrong for a woman to talk politics to a soldier it must +be much more wrong for one to talk art to a politician.” + +“Mrs. Ascher,” said Gorman, “is an extraordinary woman. The more I see +of her, the less inclined I am to be surprised at anything she says +or does. She’s tremendously keen just now on Home Rule and Ireland +generally.” + +“That is amazing,” I said. + +“It isn’t in itself,” said Gorman, “but the way she gets at it is. I +mean that theory of hers about----” + +“Yes. I know. She will insist on thinking that you and everybody else on +your side are artists.” + +“And yet,” said Gorman, “I can’t persuade her to look at Tim’s new +invention.” + +Mrs. Ascher’s prejudice against cinematographs, improved or unimproved, +was certainly strong. I found it hard to understand exactly how she +felt. She found no difficulty in regarding Gorman, a devoted politician, +as a hero. When she had no objection to the form of entertainment with +which he provided the public, it was difficult to see why she kicked +against moving pictures. I should have thought that the performances at +Westminster were considerably more vulgar, certainly far less original +and striking, than the things shown on the cinematograph. + +Gorman and I dined at Scott’s, chiefly on lobsters, at seven o’clock, an +uncomfortably early hour. We had a twenty-five-mile drive before us to +reach the farm, somewhere in the depths of Hertfordshire, where Tim was +making his experiments. The drive was a very pleasant one. The first +part of it lay along one of the great artery roads which lead from the +centre of London to the North. The evening was fine and warm without +being stuffy, one of those evenings which are the peculiar glory of the +early English summer. It seemed to me that many thousands of people were +passing along that road towards the country. Parties of laughing boys +and girls pedalled northwards on bicycles, swerving in and out through +the traffic. Stout, middle-aged men, with fat, middle-aged women beside +them, drove sturdy ponies, or lean, high-stepping horses, in curious +old-fashioned gigs. Motor cyclists, young men with outstretched chins +and set faces, sped by us, outstripping our car. Others we passed, +riders who had side cars attached to their cycles, young men these, too, +but soberer, weighted with responsibility. They had their wives in the +side cars, wives who looked little more than girls, though many of them +held babies in their arms, and one now and then had a well-grown child +wrapped in rugs at her feet. + +“Life!” said Gorman, waving his cigar comprehensively towards the moving +crowds. “Wonderful thing life! Keeps going on. Don’t know why it should, +but it does. Nothing seems to make any difference to it.” + +“Not even your politics,” I said. “Curious thing, isn’t it, how little +all that fuss of yours matters? It doesn’t make any difference which +of your parties is in power. All this goes on just the same. That young +fellow--there, the one who didn’t quite break his neck at the lamp +post--would go down to his office to-morrow exactly as he always does, +if every member of the House of Commons dies in the night. You see that +girl with the baby--the one on our left--she’d have had that baby just +the same if the Long Parliament were still sitting. None of your laws +could have made her have that baby, or stopped her. You are simply +fussing in an unimportant way, raising silly little clouds of dust which +will settle down again at once. She’s keeping the world going and she +probably doesn’t even know the name of the Prime Minister.” + +“That’s all very well,” said Gorman, “but we’re seeing that these people +get their rights, their fair share of what’s going. If it wasn’t for us +and the laws we pass, the rich would grow richer and richer while these +men and women would gradually sink into the position of slaves. I’m not +a socialist. I don’t believe in that theory; but capitalists have had +things far too much their own way in the past.” + +“Ascher!” + +“Oh, Ascher! I like Ascher, of course, personally; but speaking of him +as a typical member of a class, he’s simply a parasite. All financiers +are. He ought to be abolished, wiped out, done away with. He fulfils no +useful function.” + +Our motor sped along. A cycle with a side car just kept pace with us for +a while. A nice, clean-shaven, honest-looking young fellow was in the +saddle. His girl-wife sat beside him in the basket-work slipper which +he dragged along. It was her baby which I had pointed out to Gorman a +moment before. + +“Perhaps,” I said, “they have had tinned peaches for tea.” + +“Very likely,” said Gorman, “just the sort of thing they would have. I +know that class. Lived among them for years. He comes home at half past +six. She has put on a clean blouse and tidied her hair so that he’ll +kiss her, and he does. Then he kisses the baby, probably likes doing +that, too, as it’s the first. Then he has a wash and she brings in the +tea. Bread and butter for her with a pot of marmalade, an egg--at this +time of year certainly an egg--for him.” + +“And tinned peaches.” + +“Eaten with teaspoons out of saucers,” said Gorman, “and they’ll enjoy +them far more than you did that lobster salad at Scott’s.” + +“I’m sure they will. And that is just where Ascher comes in.” + +“I don’t see it,” said Gorman, “unless you mean that they’d be eating +hothouse peaches if there were no Aschers.” + +I did not mean that. I am, indeed, pretty sure that if there were no +Aschers, if Gorman succeeded in abolishing the class, neither the +city clerk, nor his pretty wife, nor any one else in England would eat +hothouse peaches. There would not be any. I am inclined to think that if +Ascher were done away with there would not even be any tinned peaches. +Tinned peaches come from California. Somebody grows them there. That man +must be kept going, fed, clothed sufficiently, housed, while the peach +trees grow. He must be financed. Somebody else collects the peaches, +puts them into tins, solders air-tight lids on them, pastes labels round +them. He works with borrowed money. Somebody packs the tins in huge +cases, puts them in trains, piles them into ships, despatches them to +London, getting his power to do these things in some mysterious way from +Ascher. + +“While she washes up the cups and saucers,” said Gorman, “he brings +round that motor cycle.” + +“Paid for,” I said, “in monthly instalments.” + +“Probably,” said Gorman, “with a deposit of £25 to start with.” + +“It’s Ascher,” I said, “who makes that possible.” + +“It’s Ascher,” said Gorman, “who makes that necessary. If it were not +for Ascher’s rake-off, the tax he levies on every industry, the machine +could be bought right out for the original £25 and there would be no +instalments to be paid.” + +Possibly. But the tires of the machine were made of rubber. I remembered +my visit to Para, the broad, steaming Amazon, the great ships crawling +slowly past walls of forest trees, the pallid white men, the melancholy +Indians. It may be possible to devise some other means of getting +the precious gum from the Brazilian forest; but at present the whole +business is dependent on Ascher. + +We left that motor cycle behind us at last and sped faster along a +stretch of road where the traffic was less dense. + +“You notice,” said Gorman, “the way London is swallowing up the country. +That was once a rural inn.” + +I had observed what Gorman pointed out to me. Here and there along the +road, a mile or so apart from each other, we came on old buildings, a +group of cottages, a farm house, an inn. These were solidly built after +the good old fashion. It had seemed wasteful to pull them down. The +waves of the advancing tide of London reached them, passed them, swept +beyond them, left them standing. + +“Quite a few years ago,” said Gorman, “those houses stood in the middle +of fields, and the people who lived in them ate the food that grew at +their doors.” + +“No tinned peaches,” I said, “no bicycles.” + +“And no Ascher,” said Gorman. + +“Well,” I said, “we can’t go back.” + +“In Ireland,” he said, “we needn’t go on. If we can only get clear of +this cursed capitalistic civilisation of England--that’s what I mean by +being a Home Ruler.” + +“You think,” I said, “that we should be too wise to accept the yoke of +Ascher, to barter our freedom for tinned peaches.” + +“We’ll get the tinned peaches, too.” + +“No, you won’t. If you have civilisation--and that includes a lot of +things besides tinned peaches, tobacco for instance, Gorman. If you want +a cigar you’ll have to put up with Ascher. But I daresay you’d be better +without it. Only I don’t think I’ll live in your Ireland, Gorman.” + +We passed away from London in the end, got out beyond the last tentative +reachings of the speculative builder, into country lane-ways. There +were hedges covered with hawthorn, and the scent of it reached us as we +rushed past. Gorman threw away a half-smoked cigar. Perhaps he wanted to +enjoy the country smells. Perhaps he was preparing himself for life in +the new Ireland which he hoped to bring into being. + +We reached the barn in which Tim Gorman lived, at about nine o’clock. +He was waiting for us, dressed in his best clothes. I knew they were his +best clothes because they were creased all over in wrong places, showing +that they had been packed away tightly in some receptacle too small to +hold them. It is only holiday clothes which are treated in this way. +Besides putting on this suit, Tim had paid us the compliment of washing +his face and hands for the first time, I imagine, for many days. + +He shook hands with me shyly, and greeted his brother with obvious +nervousness. + +“I have everything ready,” he said, “quite ready. But I can’t +promise---- You may be disappointed---- I’ve had endless +difficulties---- If you will allow me to explain----” + +“Not a bit of good explaining to us,” said Gorman. “All we’re capable of +judging is the results.” + +Tim sighed and led us into the barn. + +It was a large, bare room, ventilated--no one could say it was lit--by +three or four unglazed openings in the wall. These Tim blocked with hay +so as to exclude the lingering twilight of the summer evening. + +At one end of the building was a stage, built, I thought, of fragments +of packing cases. It was very hard to be sure about anything, for we had +nothing except the light of two candles to see by, but the stage looked +exceedingly frail. I should not have cared to walk across it. However, +as it turned out, that did not matter. The stage was used only by +ghosts, the phantoms which Tim created, and they weighed nothing. Tim +himself, when it became necessary for him to adjust some part of his +apparatus, crept about underneath the stage. + +At the other end of the barn was an optical lantern, fitted with the +usual mechanism for the exhibition of films. Half way down the room was +a camp bedstead, covered with one brown blanket. Tim invited us to sit +on it. + +“It doesn’t often break down,” he said. + +“If it breaks down at all,” said Gorman, “I’ll not risk it. I’d rather +sit on the floor.” + +Gorman is a heavy man. I think he was right to avoid the bed. I sat down +cautiously on one end of it. The middle part looked more comfortable, +but I felt more secure with the legs immediately underneath me. + +“It’s all right,” said Tim, “quite all right. I fixed it just before you +came in.” + +That bed, a tin basin and two very dirty towels were the only articles +of household furniture in the place. I suppose Tim had his meals with +the farmer who owned the barn. No inspired artist, toiling frenziedly +with a masterpiece in a garret, ever lived a more Spartan life than Tim +Gorman did in that barn. Whatever money he had was certainly not spent +on his personal comfort. On the other hand, a good deal of money had +been spent on tools and material of various kinds. Packing cases stood +piled together against the walls. The straw in which their contents had +been wrapped littered the floor. I discerned, as my eyes got used to the +gloom, a quantity of carpenters’ tools near the stage, and, beside them, +a confused heap of the mysterious implements of the plumber’s trade. + +While I was looking round me and the elder Gorman was wriggling about on +the floor, Tim worked the lantern behind our backs. The thing, or some +part of it, hissed in an alarming way. Then it made a whirring noise +and a bright beam of light shot across the room. A very curious thing +happened to that light. Instead of splashing against the far wall of the +barn, exhibiting the cracks and ridges of the masonry, it stopped at +the stage and spread itself in a kind of irregular globe. We sat in the +dark. Across the room stretched the shaft of intense light, making the +dust particles visible. Then, just as when a child blows soap bubbles +through a tube, the light became globular. + +“Put out the candles,” said Tim. + +They stood, flaming feebly, on the floor between Gorman and me. I +extinguished them. Tim’s machine gave a sharp click. Figures appeared +suddenly in the middle of the globe of light. A man, then two women, +then a dog. I do not know, and at the time I did not care in the least, +what the figures were supposed to be saying or doing. It was sufficient +for me that they were there. I saw them, not as flat, sharply outlined +silhouettes, but as if they had been solid bodies. I saw them with +softened outlines, through two eyes instead of a monocle. I saw them +surrounded by an atmosphere. + +“Pretty good, isn’t it?” said Gorman. “Tim, turn on that running girl. +I want Sir James to see how you get the effect of her going further and +further away.” + +The running girl was the best thing accomplished by the old +cinematograph. I never witness her race without a certain feeling of +breathlessness. But Tim’s girl ran far better. She was amazingly real. +When she had finished her course, Gorman struck a match and lit the +candles again. + +“That’ll do, Tim,” he said. “We’ve seen enough.” + +“I’d like to show you the horses,” said Tim. “I think the horses +galloping are the best thing I’ve got.” + +“We’ll take your word for the horses,” said Gorman. “Shut off that light +of yours and stop the whizzing noise. I want to talk.” He turned to me. +“Well?” + +“It’s marvellous,” I said. + +“There’s money in it,” said Gorman. “Piles and piles of money. The only +question is, Who’s to get it?” + +“Tim,” I said, “is the one who deserves it.” + +“Tim will get his share whatever happens. The real question is, How are +we to prevent Ascher grabbing all the rest?” + +Tim had finished quieting his machine and came over to us. + +“Michael,” he said, “I want £100.” + +“What for?” + +“I want more mirrors. The ones I’m using aren’t perfect. I must have +others.” + +“The ones you have,” said Gorman, “are good enough for the present. +When we get a bit further on and see how this business is going to be +managed, we may get you other mirrors.” + +“Very well,” said Tim, “I’ll ask Ascher for the money. He’ll give it to +me. I’d have asked him a week ago only you made me promise not to take +any more money from him without telling you.” + +“If you take money from Ascher,” said Gorman, “he’ll simply collar your +whole invention. You’ll find in the end that it will be his, not yours. +He’ll get every penny that’s made out of it, and then he’ll tell you +that you owe him more than you can pay. I’ve told you all along that +that’s what will happen if you go borrowing from Ascher.” + +“I don’t care,” said Tim, “so long as I get it perfected I don’t care +what happens.” + +“Damn!” said Gorman. + +There was some excuse for him. Tim’s attitude was hopelessly +unpractical. + +“Don’t you see,” said Tim, “that this is a wonderful thing? It’s one of +the greatest things that any one has done for a long time. It’s a new +thing.” + +The note of weak obstinacy which was in his voice when he first spoke +had died out of it. He was pleading with his brother as a child might +beg for something from a grown-up man. + +“That’s exactly what I do see,” said Gorman. + +“Then why won’t you let me perfect it? It doesn’t matter--sure, you know +yourself, Michael, that it doesn’t matter what happens if only I get it +right.” + +I thought for a moment that the boy was going to cry. He pulled himself +together with a sort of choked sob and then suddenly flashed into a +rage. + +“I will ask Ascher for the money,” he said. “I will, I will. Damn you, +Michael! I’ll give it all to Ascher, everything I have. Everything I +ever invent. I’ll tell him all I’ve found out. I’ll make it his.” + +Then with another swift change of mood the boy turned to me and began to +plead again. + +“Tell him to give me the money,” he said. “Or make him let me ask Ascher +for it. He’ll do it if you speak to him. I don’t want to quarrel with +Michael. I don’t want to do anything he says is wrong. But I must have +that money. Don’t you see I must? I can’t get on without it?” + +“Listen to me, Tim,” I said; “if I give you the £100 you want----” + +“I could manage with £100,” said Tim. “But it would be much better if I +had £150.” + +“A hundred,” I said, “and no more. If I give it to you, will you promise +to bring that apparatus of yours up to London and exhibit your results +to a few friends of mine there?” + +“Yes, I will. Of course I will. May I order the new mirrors to-morrow +and say that you’ll pay for them?” + +“You may. But remember----” + +“Oh, that will be all right,” said Tim. “As soon as ever it is +perfected----” + +“Perfect or imperfect,” I said, “you’ve promised to show it off when I +ask you to.” + +Gorman and I drove home together. At first he would do nothing except +grumble about his brother’s childish obstinacy. + +“Can’t understand,” he said, “how any man with brains can be such a +fool.” + +Then when he had worked off the fine edge of his irritation he began to +thank me. + +“It was good of you, very,” he said, “to put down the money. I’d have +done it myself, if I could have laid my hand on the amount he wanted. +But just at this moment I can’t. All the same I don’t see what good +that £100 is going to do. The thing’s perfect enough for all practical +purposes already. I saw nothing wrong with it.” + +“Nor did I.” + +“Then what the devil does he want to do with it? If the thing works all +right, what’s the sense of tinkering with it?” + +“That’s the artistic soul,” I said, “never satisfied, always reaching +upwards towards the unattained. It’s the same with Mrs. Ascher.” + +“Of all the damned idiocies,” said Gorman, “that artistic soul is the +damnedest.” + +I said nothing more for several minutes. I knew it would take Gorman +some time to recover from the mention of the artistic soul. When I +thought he had regained his self-possession I went on speaking. + +“My idea,” I said, “is to hire a small hall, and to invite a number of +well-off people to see Tim’s show. You’ll want money in the end, you +know.” + +“Not much,” said Gorman. “A few thousands will be enough. It isn’t as if +we had to manufacture anything.” + +“If you get what you want,” I said, “in small sums from a number of +people, you’ll be able to keep control of the thing yourself, and you +needn’t be afraid of Ascher. Not that I believe Ascher would swindle, +you. I think Ascher’s an honest man.” + +“Ascher’s a financier,” said Gorman. “That’s enough for me.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +I never suspected Malcolmson of the cheap kind of military ardour which +shows itself in the girding on of swords after the hour of danger is +past. He is the kind of man who likes taking risks, and I have not +the slightest doubt that if he had really known beforehand that the +Government was “plotting” to invade Ulster he would have been found +entrenched, with a loaded rifle beside him, on the north bank of the +Boyne. What I did think, when he left London suddenly to place himself +at the head of his men, was that he had been a little carried away by +the excitement of the times; that he was moved, as many people are, when +startling events happen, to do something, without any very distinct +idea of what is to be done. But even that suspicion wronged Malcolmson. +Either he or some one else had devised an effective counterplot; +effective considered as a second act in a comic opera. Perhaps I ought +not to say comic opera. There is a certain reasonableness in the schemes +of every comic opera. Our affairs in the early part of 1914 were moving +through an atmosphere like that of “Alice in Wonderland.” The Government +was a sort of Duchess, affecting to regard Ulster as the baby which was +beaten when it sneezed because it could if it chose thoroughly enjoy +the pepper of Home Rule. The Opposition, on the other hand, with its eye +also on Ulster, kept saying in tones of awestruck warning, “Beware the +Jabberwock, my son.” Malcolmson seemed to be a kind of White Knight, +lovable, simple-minded, chivalrous, but a little out of place in the +world. + +However, Malcolmson and his friends, considered as characters in “Alice +in Wonderland,” were effective, far more effective than the poor +White Knight ever was. They bought a lot of guns somewhere, perhaps in +Hamburg. They hired a ship and loaded her with the guns. They sailed +her into Larne Harbour and said to the Government, “Now, come on if you +dare.” + +The Government, having previously issued a solemn proclamation +forbidding the importation of arms into Ireland, took up the attitude of +Mr. Winkle and said it was just going to begin. It rolled up its +sleeves and clenched its fists and said for the second time and with +considerable emphasis that it was just going to begin, Malcolmson danced +about, coat off, battle light in eye, and kept shouting: “Come on!” The +Government, taking off its collar and tie, said: “Just you wait till I +get at you.” + +Gorman took a sane, though I think incorrect, view of the situation. + +“The English people,” he said, “are hopeless fools. It’s almost +impossible to deal with them. They are actually beginning to believe +that Ulster is in earnest.” + +“Well,” I said, “that’s only fair. They’ve been believing that you’re in +earnest for quite a long time now. Ulster ought to have its turn.” + +Gorman, though a politician, is essentially a just man. He admitted +the truth of what I had said. He went further. He admitted that +Malcolmson’s _coup_ was exceedingly well conceived. + +“It’s just the sort of thing,” he said, “which appeals to Englishmen. +Reason is wasted on them.” + +“Don’t be too hard on the English,” I said. “It’s the same everywhere in +the world. Government through the people, of the people, by, with, from, +to and for the people, is always unreasonable.” + +“It’s the theatrical which pays,” said Gorman. “I didn’t think those +fellows in Belfast had brains enough to grasp that fact, but apparently +they have. I must say that this gun-running performance of theirs is +good. It has the quality which Americans describe as ‘punch.’ It has +stirred the popular imagination. It has got right across the footlights. +It has fetched the audience.” + +“Awkward situation for you,” I said. + +“We’ll have to do something,” said Gorman. + +“Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?” + +“Lord, no. We may be fools, but we’re not such fools as that.” + +“Still,” I said, “he’s broken the law. After all, a party like yours in +close alliance with the Government of the country must do something to +maintain the majesty of the law.” + +“Law be damned,” said Gorman. “What the devil does law matter to us or +the Government either? What we’ve got to consider is popular opinion.” + +“And that,” I said, “seems to be setting against you. According to +the theory of democracy as I understand it, you’re bound to go the way +popular opinion is blowing you. You can’t, without gross inconsistency, +start beating to windward against it.” + +“Winds sometimes change,” said Gorman. + +“They do. This one has. It was all in your favour a fortnight ago. +Now, what with your ‘plot’ and this really striking little episode in +Larne----” + +“The art of government,” said Gorman, “consists in manipulating the +wind, making it blow the way it’s wanted to. What we’ve got to do is to +go one better than the Ulster men.” + +“Ah,” I said, “they imported rifles. You might land a shipload of large +cannons. Is that the idea?” + +“They needn’t necessarily be real cannons. I don’t think our funds would +run to real cannons. Besides, what good would they be when we had +them? But you’ve got the main idea all right. Our game is to pull off +something which will startle the blessed British public, impress it with +the fact that we’re just as desperate as the other fellows.” + +“What about the police?” I said. “The police have always had a down on +your side. It’s a tradition in the force.” + +“The police aren’t fools,” said Gorman. “They know jolly well that any +policemen who attempted to interfere with our _coup_, whatever it may be, +would simply be dismissed. After all, we’re not doing any harm. We’re +not going to shoot any one. We’re simply going to influence public +opinion. Everyone has a right to do that. By the way, did I mention +that my play is being revived? Talking of public opinion reminded me of +it. It had quite a success when it was first put on.” + +Gorman is charming. He never sticks to one subject long enough to be +really tiresome. + +“I’m delighted to hear it,” I said. “I hope it will do even better this +time.” + +“It ought to,” said Gorman. “We’ve got a capital press agent, and, of +course, my name is far better known than it was. It isn’t every day the +public gets a play written by a Member of Parliament.” + +“Where is it to be produced?” + +“The Parthenon. Good big house.” + +The Parthenon is one of the largest of the London Music Halls. Gorman’s +play was, I suppose, to take its place in the usual way between an +exhibition of pretty frocks with orchestral accompaniment and an +imitation of the Russian dancers. + +“I shall be there,” I said, “on the first night. You can count on my +applause.” + +It occurred to me after Gorman left me that the revival of his play +offered me an excellent opportunity of entertaining the Aschers. Ascher +had been exceedingly kind to me in giving me letters of introduction to +all the leading bankers in South America. Mrs. Ascher had been steadily +friendly to me. I owed them something and had some difficulty about the +best way of paying the debt. I did not care to ask them to dinner in +my rooms in Clarges Street. My landlord keeps a fairly good cook, and I +could, I daresay, have bought some wine which Ascher would have drunk. +But I could not have managed any kind of entertainment afterwards. I did +not like to give them dinner at a restaurant without taking them on to +the theatre; and the Aschers are rather superior to most plays. I had +no way of knowing which they would regard as real drama. The revival of +Gorman’s play solved my difficulty. I knew that Mrs. Ascher regarded him +as an artist and that Ascher had the highest respect for his brilliant +and paradoxical Irish mind. After luncheon I took a taxi and drove +out to Hampstead. I owed a call at the house in any case and, if Mrs. +Ascher happened to be at home, I could arrange the whole matter with her +in the way that would suit her best. + +Mrs. Ascher was at home. She was in the studio, a large bare room at the +back of the house. Gorman was with her. + +I saw at once that Mrs. Ascher was in a highly emotional condition. I +suspected that Gorman had been talking to her about the latest wrong +that had been done to Ireland, his Ireland, by the other part of Ireland +which neither he nor Mrs. Ascher considered as Ireland at all. On the +table in the middle of the room there was a little group on which Mrs. +Ascher had been at work earlier in the day. A female figure stood with +its right foot on the neck of a very disagreeable beast, something like +a pig, but prick-eared and hairy. It had one horn in the middle of its +forehead. The female figure was rather well conceived. It was appealing, +with a sort of triumphant confidence, to some power above, heaven +perhaps. The prick-eared pig looked sulky. + +“Emblematic,” said Gorman, “symbolical.” + +“The Irish party,” I said, “trampling on Belfast.” + +“The spirit of poetry in Ireland,” said Mrs. Ascher, “defying +materialism.” + +“That,” I said, “is a far nicer way of putting it.” + +I took another look at the spirit of poetry. Mrs. Ascher was evidently +beginning to understand Ireland. Instead of being nude, or nearly nude, +as spirits generally are, this one was draped from head to foot. In +Ireland we are very particular about decency, and we like everything to +have on lots of clothes. + +“But now,” said Mrs. Ascher, tragically, “the brief dream is over. +Materialism is triumphant, is armed, is mighty.” + +I looked at Gorman for some sort of explanation. + +“I’ve just been telling Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “about the gun-running at +Larne.” + +“The mailed fist,” said Mrs. Ascher, “will beat into the dust the tender +shoots of poesy and all high imaginings; will crush the soul of Ireland, +and why? Oh, why?” + +“Perhaps it won’t,” I said. “My own idea is that Malcolmson doesn’t mean +to use those guns aggressively. He’ll keep quite quiet unless the soul +of poetry in Ireland goes for him in some way.” + +“We can make no such compromise,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Art must be all or +nothing, must be utterly triumphant or else perish with uncontaminated +soul.” + +“The exclusion of Ulster from the scope of the Bill,” said Gorman, “is +the latest proposition; but we won’t agree to it.” + +“Well,” I said, “it’s your affair, not mine. I mean to stay in London +and keep safe; but I warn you that if the spirit of poesy attempts to +triumph utterly over Malcolmson he’ll shoot at it. I know him and you +don’t. You think he’s a long-eared pig, but that ought to make you all +the more careful. Pigs are noted for their obstinacy.” + +“What we’ve got to do,” said Gorman, “is devise some way of countering +this new move. Something picturesque, something that newspapers will +splash with big headlines.” + +I do not think that Mrs. Ascher heard this. She was looking at the upper +part of the window with a sort of rapt, Joan of Arc expression of face. +I felt that she was meditating lofty things, probably trying to hit on +some appropriate form of self-sacrifice. + +“I shall go among the people,” she said, “your people, my people, for +I am spiritually one of them. I shall go from cottage to cottage, from +village to village, walking barefooted along the mountain roads, dressed +in a peasant woman’s petticoat. They will take me for one of themselves +and I shall sing war songs to them, the great inspiring chants of the +heroes of old. I shall awake them to a sense of their high destiny. +I shall set the young men’s feet marching, thousands and thousands of +them. I shall fill the women’s hearts with pride.” + +Then, for the first and only time since I have known him, Gorman’s +patience gave way. I do not blame him. The thought of Mrs. Ascher as an +Irish peasant, singing street ballads outside public houses, would have +upset the temper of Job. + +“That’s all very well,” he said, “but the other people have the guns.” + +“We must have guns, too,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and shining swords and long +spears tipped with light. Buy guns.” + +With a really impressive gesture she dragged the rings from the fingers, +first of one hand, then of the other, and flung them on the ground at +Gorman’s feet. Even when working in her studio Mrs. Ascher wears a great +many rings. + +“Buy, buy,” she said. + +She unclasped the necklace which she wore and flung it down beside the +rings. It was a pearl necklace, but not by any means the handsomest +pearl necklace she owned. + +“More,” she said, “you must have more.” + +She pranced out of the room, stepping high, like an actress taking a +part in one of Shakespeare’s plays or a well-bred carriage horse. + +“Gorman,” I said, “you’re not going to take her wedding ring, are you? +I don’t think you ought to. Ascher’s really fond of her and I’m sure he +wouldn’t like it.” + +“I wish to goodness,” said Gorman, “that she wouldn’t behave in this +wild way. If she wants to subscribe to the party funds why doesn’t she +write a cheque instead of shying jewellery at me? I should certainly +be arrested on suspicion if I went to try and pawn those things. Nobody +would believe that she gave them to me.” + +He picked up the rings as he spoke and laid them in a row on the table. + +“If we don’t get her stopped,” he said, “she’ll have everybody laughing +at us.” + +“Laughing at you, Gorman, not at me. I’ve nothing to do with the poetic +soul of Ireland. It’s your property.” + +“The English have no real sense of humour,” said Gorman. + +“They’ve got quite enough to see this joke,” I said. “An owl would +giggle if it saw Mrs. Ascher going barefoot about Ireland and you +following her round carrying a long spear tipped with light in your +hand.” + +“We must stop her,” said Gorman. “Oh, damn! Here she is again.” + +Mrs. Ascher came in carrying a large morocco leather covered box, her +jewel case, I suppose. She was a little calmer than when she left us but +still very determined. + +“Take this,” she said. “Take all there is in it. I give it gladly--to +Ireland.” + +Gorman looked at the jewel case and then pulled himself together with an +effort. + +“Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “your gift is princely, but----” + +“I give it freely,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +“And I shall receive it,” said Gorman, “receive it as the gift of a +queen, given with queenly generosity. I shall receive it when the hour +comes, but the time is not yet.” + +Gorman rising to an occasion is a sight which fills me with admiration. +That promise of a time to come was masterly. I should never have thought +of it; but of course it came more easily to Gorman than it would to +me. He is a politician and accustomed to draw cheques on rather distant +futures. + +“Our people,” said Gorman, “are as yet unprepared, not ready to face the +crisis of their destiny. Keep these.” Gorman laid his hand on the jewel +box as if giving it a sort of benediction, consecrating its contents to +the service of Ireland. “Keep these as a sacred trust until the hour is +upon us.” + +I very nearly applauded. Mrs. Ascher seemed a little disappointed. + +“Why not now?” she said. “Why should we delay any longer?” + +“We must trust our leaders,” said Gorman. “They will tell us when the +time for action comes.” + +That would have been good enough for any ordinary constituency. It +did not satisfy Mrs. Ascher. I saw her looking a little doubtfully +at Gorman. She is a curious woman. She uses the very finest kind of +language herself; but she always gets suspicious when any one else talks +about sacred trusts and things of that kind. The fact is, I suppose, +that she means what she says, lives, as well as talks, finely. Gorman +and I do not--quite. + +I felt that Gorman needed and deserved a little help. He had done well +enough so far, but he scarcely understood how near to the edge of Mrs. +Ascher’s credulity he had gone. + +“What Mr. Gorman means,” I said, “is that you must have men, organised, +you know, and drilled, before you can give them guns. Just at present +there are very few volunteers in Mr. Gorman’s part of Ireland. He’s +going to enroll a lot more. When he has them he’ll ask you for a +subscription for the gun fund.” + +I did not think that Mrs. Ascher was really satisfied. In the light of +subsequent events I found out that she certainly was not. But she said +no more at the moment and made no further effort to press her jewel case +on Gorman. I did not feel that the moment was a good one for giving her +the invitation I had planned. It is impossible, without something like +indecency, to invite a woman to dinner in a restaurant while she is +meditating a barefooted pilgrimage through the wild places of Holy +Ireland. + +Gorman and I left the house together. I hired a taxi to take us home so +that we could talk comfortably. + +“Extraordinary woman,” I said. + +“Very, very. But don’t let’s talk about her. That was rather a good idea +of yours. May be something in it. + +“I didn’t know I had an idea,” I said. “Are you sure you’re not mixing +me up with Mrs. Ascher? She has lots.” + +“Not at all,” said Gorman. “It was you who suggested organising the +National Volunteers.” + +There was at that time in Ireland a small number of extreme patriots +who rather admired Malcolmson because they thought he was going to fight +against England, and despised Gorman because they knew he was not. These +men had enrolled themselves in a semi-military organisation and called +themselves the National Volunteers. Gorman and his friends did their +best to suppress them and kept all mention of their existence out of the +English papers as far as possible. It surprised me to hear him speak in +a casual way of organising these declared enemies of his. + +“You can’t do that,” I said. “Those fellows hate you like poison, worse +than Malcolmson does. They’re--well, I should call them rebels. They +certainly won’t do what you tell them.” + +“Oh, yes, they will, if treated properly. My idea is to flood the +organisation with reliable men, fellows we can trust. When we’ve got a +majority of our own people enrolled we’ll tell them to elect their own +leaders, democratic idea. Army choosing its own officers. Sure to catch +on.” + +“Sure to, and then?” + +“Oh, then they’ll elect us. See? Every member of Parliament will be a +colonel. We needn’t drill or anything; but there’s nothing to prevent +our saying that we have 200,000 trained men. The Ulster fellows have +gone no trumps on their 100,000----” + +“I should be inclined to say gone No Home Rule.” + +Gorman grinned. + +“Gone no something,” he said, “and we double them. I expect that will +set English opinion swinging round again.” + +“It ought to,” I said, “but why bother about all these preliminaries? +Why put everybody in Ireland to the trouble of enrolling themselves in +a new organisation and electing officers and all that? It’s just as +easy to say you have 200,000 trained men before being made a colonel as +afterwards.” + +“You don’t understand politics,” said Gorman. “In politics there must +be a foundation of some sort for every fact. It needn’t be much of a +foundation, but there must be some.” + +“Hard on the Irish people,” I said, “being put to all that trouble and +bother just to make a foundation.” + +“Not at all,” said Gorman. “They’ll like it. But I hope to goodness that +fanatic woman won’t insist on our buying guns. It would be the devil +and all if the fellows I’m thinking about got guns in their hands. You +simply couldn’t tell what they’d do. You’ll have to try and keep Mrs. +Ascher quiet.” + +“I’m going to ask her to dine with me and go to see your play,” I said. +“That may distract her mind from guns for a while.” + +“You use your influence with her,” said Gorman. “I’ve the greatest +belief in influence.” + +He has. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +That evening I wrote my invitation to the Aschers. They immediately +accepted it, expressing the greatest pleasure at the prospect of seeing +Gorman’s play again. + +I arranged to have dinner at the Berkeley and ordered it with some care, +avoiding as far as I could the more sumptuous kinds of restaurant food, +and drawing on my recollection of the things Ascher used to eat when +Gorman ordered his dinner for him on the Cunard steamer. With the help +of the head waiter I chose a couple of wines and hoped that Ascher would +drink them. As it turned out he preferred Perrier water. But that was +not my fault. No restaurant in London could have supplied the delicate +Italian white wines which Ascher drinks in his own house. + +We dawdled over dinner and I lengthened the business out as well as I +could by smoking three cigarettes afterwards, very slowly. I did not +want to reach the Parthenon in time for the musical display of new +frocks. I could not suppose that Ascher was interested in seeing a +number of young women parading along a platform through the middle of +the theatre even though they wore the latest creations of Paris fancy +in silks and lingerie. I knew that Mrs. Ascher would feel it her duty to +make some sort of protest against the music of the orchestra. + +Gorman had told me the hour at which his play might be expected to +begin and my object was to hit off the time exactly. Unfortunately I +miscalculated and got to the theatre too soon. The last of the young +women was waving a well-formed leg at the audience as we entered the +box I had engaged. I realised that we should have to sit through a whole +tune from the orchestra before the curtain went up again for Gorman’s +play. I expected trouble and was pleasantly surprised when none came. +Mrs. Ascher had a cold. I daresay that made her slightly deaf and +mitigated the torture of the music. + +She sat forward in the box and looked round at the audience with some +show of interest. The audience looked at her with very great interest. +Her clothes that night were more startling than any I have ever seen her +wear. A young man in the stalls stared at her for some time, and then, +just when I thought he had fully taken her in, bowed to her. She turned +to Ascher. + +“Who is that?” she said. “The man in the fifth row, three seats from the +end, yes, there. He has a lady with him.” + +I saw the man distinctly, a well-set-up young fellow with a carefully +waxed, fair moustache. The way his hair was brushed and something about +the cut of his clothes made me sure that he was not an Englishman. The +lady with him was, quite obviously, not a lady in the old-fashioned +sense of the word. She seemed to me the kind of woman who would have +no scruples about forming a temporary friendship with a man provided he +would give her dinner, wine, and some sort of entertainment. + +Ascher fumbled for his pince-nez, which he carries attached to a black +silk ribbon. He fixed them on his nose and took a good look at the young +man. + +“Ah,” he said, “my nephew, Albrecht von Richter. You remember him. He +dined with us two or three times when we were in Berlin in 1912. I did +not know he was in London.” + +I somehow got the impression that Ascher was not particularly pleased +to see his nephew Albrecht. Ascher was not looking very well. I had not +seen him for some time, and I noticed even at dinner that his face was +pale and drawn. In the theatre he seemed worse and I thought that the +sudden appearance of his nephew had annoyed him. The young man whispered +something to his companion and left his seat. The orchestra was still +thrashing its way through its tune and there seemed no immediate +prospect of the curtain going up. + +A few minutes later there was a tap at the door of our box and Von +Richter came in. Mrs. Ascher held out her hand to him. He bent over it +and kissed it with very pretty courtesy. He shook hands with Ascher who +introduced him to me. + +“Captain von Richter--Sir James Digby.” + +Von Richter bowed profoundly. I nodded. + +“Have you been long in London?” said Ascher. “You did not let me know +that you were here.” + +“I arrived here this afternoon,” said Von Richter, “only this afternoon, +at five o’clock.” + +He spoke English remarkably well, with no more than a trace of foreign +accent. + +“I’ve been in Ireland,” he said, “for six weeks.” + +“Indeed!” said Ascher. “In Ireland?” + +He was looking at his nephew without any expression of surprise, +apparently without any suggestion of inquiry; but I could not help +noticing that his fingers were fidgeting with the ribbon of his +pince-nez. Ascher, as a rule, does not fidget. He has his nerves well +under control. + +Mrs. Ascher was frankly excited when she heard that Von Richter had been +in Ireland. + +“Tell me,” she said, “all about Ireland. About the people, what they are +saying and thinking.” + +“We are all,” I said, “tremendously interested in Irish politics at +present.” + +“Alas!” said Von Richter, “and I can tell you nothing. My business +was dull. I saw very little. I was in Dublin and Belfast, not in the +picturesque and beautiful parts of that charming country. I was buying +horses. Oh, there is no secret about it. I was buying horses for my +Government.” + +It is certainly possible to buy horses in Dublin and Belfast; but I was +slightly surprised to hear that Von Richter had not been further afield. +Any one who understood horse-buying in Ireland would have gone west to +County Galway or south to County Cork. + +The band showed signs of getting to the end of its tune. Von Richter +laid his hand on the door of the box. + +“Shall I see you to-morrow?” said Ascher. + +“Unfortunately,” said Von Richter, “I leave London early to-morrow +morning. Back to Berlin and the drill yard.” He kissed Mrs. Ascher’s +hand again. “We poor soldiers have to work hard.” + +“Perhaps,” I said, “you can join us at the Carlton after the play. Mr. +and Mrs. Ascher have promised to have supper there with me. If you are +not engaged------?” + +I glanced at the lady in the stalls. I was not going to ask her to +supper. + +“I shall be delighted,” said Von Richter. “I have no engagement of any +importance.” + +The lady in the stalls was evidently the sort of lady who could be +dismissed without trouble. + +“Good,” I said, “we leave directly this play is over; but you may want +to see the rest of the performance. The dancing is good I am told. Join +us at the Carlton as soon as you’re tired of this entertainment.” + +Von Richter slipped away. The curtain went up almost immediately. + +Gorman came in to receive our congratulations as soon as his play was +over. I asked him to join our supper party but he had an engagement of +his own, a supper at the Savoy. I do not blame him. The lady who acted +the principal part in his play had been very charming. She deserved any +supper that Gorman could give her. + +We reached the Carlton very early, long before the rush of supper +parties began. Von Richter joined us as we sat down at the table. He was +an intelligent, agreeable young man with plenty of tact. He listened +and was apparently interested while Mrs. Ascher poured out her hopes and +fears for Ireland’s future. When she came, as she did in the end, to +her own plan of buying guns for the Nationalist Volunteers Von Richter +became almost enthusiastic. + +“You Americans,” he said. “You are always on the side of the oppressed. +Alone among the nations of the earth you have a pat for the head of the +bottom dog.” + +Von Richter’s English is not only correct, it is highly idiomatic. +Mrs. Ascher bridled with pleasure. It pleased her to think that she was +patting the bottom dog’s head. I did not remind her that in the group +which she had just modelled the Spirit of Irish Poetry, for whose +benefit she intended to buy guns, had got its foot firmly planted on the +pig. That animal--and I still believed it to represent Belfast--was the +one which a tender-hearted American ought to have patted. + +“Perhaps I may be able to assist you,” said Von Richter, “I know +something of rifles. That is my trade, you know. If I can be of any +help--there is a firm in Hamburg----” + +He was glancing at Ascher as he spoke. He wondered, I suppose, how far +Ascher was committed to the scheme of arming Gorman’s constituents. But +Ascher did not appear to be listening to him. He had allowed me to +pour out some champagne for him and sat fingering the stem of his glass +without drinking. + +No one was eating or drinking much. I proposed that we should leave the +supper room and have our coffee in the hall outside. I felt slightly +uncomfortable at the turn the conversation was taking. Mrs. Ascher was +very much in earnest about Ireland. Von Richter, I suppose, really knew +where to buy guns. I entirely agreed with Gorman that the distribution +of firearms in Ireland was a most undesirable thing. + +“I always think,” I said, “that one of the things to do in London is +to watch the people going in and out of the supper room here. There +is nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. It is the best example +there is of the pride of life,--_superbia vitae_.’ I forget the Greek +words at the moment; but a bishop whom I happen to know once told +me that they mean the exultation of living. You know the sort of +thing--gems and glitter, colour, scent, beauty, stateliness, strength. +‘The pride of heraldry, the pomp of power.’” + +I made way for Mrs. Ascher and followed her as she moved among the +tables towards the staircase at the end of the room. Von Richter hooked +his arm in Ascher’s and spoke a few sentences to him rapidly in German. +He spoke without making any attempt to lower his voice. He evidently did +not think it likely that any one within earshot, except Ascher, would +understand German. We reached the hall and secured comfortable seats, +from which we could watch the long procession of men and women which was +already beginning to stream towards the supper room. I ordered coffee, +brandy and tobacco, cigars for Von Richter and myself, a box of +cigarettes for Mrs. Ascher. Ascher refused to smoke and did not touch +his brandy. + +Our little party divided itself into halves. I do not know how it +happened but Von Richter managed to get himself placed beside Mrs. +Ascher in such a way that his back was partly turned to me. General +conversation became impossible. Von Richter and Mrs. Ascher talked to +each other eagerly and somehow seemed to get further away from Ascher +and me. They were still discussing the landing of guns in Ireland--in +Connaught, I think. After a while I could no longer hear what they said. +Ascher began to talk to me. + +A party, two young women and one older one with three men behind them, +passed us and ascended the staircase to the supper room. + +“There is something very fine,” said Ascher, “about the insolence +of well-bred Englishwomen. You see how they walk and how they look, +straight in front of them. It is not an easy thing to walk well across a +long brightly lighted space with many eyes watching.” + +“I am not sure that I like Ascher’s word ‘insolence.’ I recognise the +quality which he intended to describe, which is, I think, the peculiar +possession of English women of a certain class; but I should not call it +insolence.” + +Another party fluttered past us, a man and a woman. + +“There,” said Ascher, “is a French woman. She is Madame de Berthier, the +wife of one of the Ministers in the last Government, a very prominent +woman in Paris. I know her pretty well, but even if I did not know her +I should recognise her as French. You see that she is conscious all the +time that she is a woman and therefore that men’s eyes are on her. She +does not escape from that consciousness. If a German lady were to pass +us we should see that she also is sex conscious; but she would be +aware that she is _only_ a woman, the inferior of the men with her. The +Englishwoman does not admit, does not feel, that she has any superiors +and she can walk as if she did not care whether people looked at her and +admired her or not. Even the American woman cannot or does not do that. +She wants to please and is always trying to please. The Englishwoman is +not indifferent to admiration and she tries to please if she thinks it +worth while. But she has learnt to bear herself as if she does not care; +as if the world and all that is in it were hers of right.” + +Two men--one of them almost forty years of age, the other much +younger--walked slowly up the hall looking to right and left of them. +They failed to find the friends whom they sought. The elder spoke a few +words and they sat down opposite to us, probably to wait until the rest +of their party should arrive. “The men of your English upper classes,” + said Ascher, “are physically very splendid, the sons of the women we +have been looking at are sure to be that. They possess a curious code of +honour, very limited, very irrational, but certainly very fine as far as +it goes. And I think they are probably true to it.” + +“I should have said,” I replied, “that the idea of honour had almost +disappeared, what used to be called the honour of a gentleman.” + +“You do not really think that,” said Ascher. “Or perhaps you may. In a +certain sense honour has disappeared among your upper classes. It is +no longer displayed. To the outsider it is scarcely noticeable. It is +covered up by affectation of cynicism, of greed, of selfishness. To pose +as cynical and selfish is for the moment fashionable. But the sense of +honour--of that singular arbitrary English honour--is behind the +pose, is the reality. Look at those two men opposite us. They are +probably--but perhaps I offend you in talking this way. You yourself +belong to the same class as those men.” + +“You do not offend me in the least,” I said. “I’m not an Englishman for +one thing. Gorman won’t let me call myself Irish, but I stick to it that +I’m not English. Please go on with what you were saying.” + +“Those men,” said Ascher slowly, “are probably self indulgent. Their +morality--sex morality--is most likely very low. We may suppose that +they have many prejudices and very few ideas. They--I do not know those +two personally; I take them simply as types of their class--they are +wholly indifferent to, even a little contemptuous of art and literature. +But if it happened that a duty claimed them, a duty which they +recognised, they would not fail to obey the call. I can believe for +instance that they would fight, would suffer the incredible hardships of +a soldier’s life, would endure pain and would die, without any heroics +or fuss or shouting. Men of my class and my training could not do those +things without great effort. Those men would do them simply, naturally.” + +“Ascher,” I said, “I have a confession to make to you. I understand +German. I happen to know the language, learned it as a boy.” Ascher +looked at me curiously for a moment. I do not think that he was much +surprised at what I said or that my confession made him uneasy. + +“Ah! You are thinking of what my nephew said to me as we left the supper +room. You heard?” + +“Yes,” I said, “I felt like an eavesdropper, but I couldn’t help myself. +He spoke quite loudly.” + +“And you understood?” + +As a matter of fact I had not understood at the moment. Von Richter said +very little, and what little he said concerned Ascher’s business and had +nothing to do with me. He told Ascher to move very cautiously, to risk +as little as possible, to keep the money of his firm within reach for +a few months. That, as well as I can remember, was all he said; but he +repeated it. “Your money should be realisable at a moment’s notice.” + +“You understood?” said Ascher, patiently persistent. + +“I don’t understand yet,” I said, “but what you have just said about +Englishmen being capable of fighting has put thoughts into my mind. Did +Captain von Richter mean----?” + +“He meant to warn me,” said Ascher, “that what I have always looked +forward to with horror and dread is imminent--a great war. You remember +a talk we had long ago in New York; the night we were at the circus +and saw the trapeze swingers. Well, if my nephew is right, the whole +delicate balance of that performance is going to be upset. There will be +a crash, inevitably.” + +“And you?” + +Ascher smiled faintly. + +“For me as well as for the others,” he said. “The fact that my affairs +are greater than those of most men will only make my fall the worse.” + +“But you have been warned in time.” + +“I scarcely needed the warning. I was aware of the danger. My nephew +only told me what I knew. His warning, coming from him, an officer who +stands high in the German military service--it confirms my fears, no +more.” + +“But you can save yourself and your business,” I said. “Knowing what is +before you, you can--you need not lend money, accept obligations. You +can gradually draw out of the stream of credit in which your fortune is +involved, get into a backwater for a while. You have time enough. I am +expressing myself all wrong; but you know what I mean.” + +“I know. And you think I ought to do that?” + +“There is no ‘ought’ about it,” I said. “It is the natural thing to do.” + +“You were a soldier once. I think you told me so.” + +I nodded. + +“Suppose,” said Ascher, “that this warning had come to you then, while +you were still a soldier. Suppose that you had known what your brother +officers did not know, or the men under you, that war was coming, you +would have resigned your commission. Is it so?” + +“No,” I said, “I shouldn’t.” + +“It would have been, from my point of view--for I am a coward--it would +have been the natural thing to do.” + +“It wouldn’t have been natural to me,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it. +I don’t know why, but I couldn’t. I’m not professing to be particularly +brave or chivalrous or anything of that sort. But to resign under those +circumstances!---- Well, one doesn’t do it.” + +“Nor do I know why,” said Ascher, “but I cannot do it either. It is, you +see, the same thing. I must, of course, go on; just as you would have +felt yourself obliged to go on. The warning makes no difference.” + +The idea that a banker feels about his business as a soldier does about +his profession was new to me. But I understood more or less what Ascher +meant. If he had that kind of sense of obligation there was clearly no +more to be said about the point. + +“And England?” I said. “Is she to be in it?” + +“Who knows? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I hope not. The disaster will be far +less terrible if England is able to remain at peace.” + +“Tell me this,” I said, “or if I am impertinent, say so, and I shall not +ask again. What was Captain von Richter doing in Ireland?” + +“I do not know. I can only guess.” + +“Not buying horses?” + +“I do not suppose he went there to buy horses though he may have bought +some. He went to see, to learn, to understand. That is what I guess. I +do not know.” + +“He has probably made up his mind,” I said, “that in the course of the +next couple of months England will find herself with her hands full, +so full with Irish affairs that it will be impossible for her to act +elsewhere. A civil war in Ireland----” + +“My nephew,” said Ascher, “is not very clever. He may think that. He is, +I believe, an excellent soldier. But if he were a banker I should not +employ him to find out things for me. I should not rely on the reports +he brought me. He lacks intelligence. Very likely he believes what you +have said.” + +“But you don’t?” + +“No. I do not. I do not believe that Irish affairs will be in such a +state that they will determine England’s action. You see I have the +privilege of knowing Gorman.” + +“You don’t know Malcolmson,” I said, “and he’s a most important factor +in the problem. He’s like your nephew, an excellent soldier, but lacking +in intelligence. You don’t realise what Malcolmson is capable of.” + +“I do not know Colonel Malcolmson personally,” said Ascher. “I am right, +am I not, in styling him _Colonel_ Malcolmson?” + +“Yes. He retired some years ago as Colonel of my old regiment” + +“Does a man retire from his loyalty,” said Ascher, “when he retires from +his regiment? Will your friend give up his honour because he has given +up his command? Will he aid the enemies of England?” + +“Of course,” I said, “if you put it to Malcolmson in that way---- He’s +a positive fanatic on the subject of loyalty. But he doesn’t know, he +doesn’t understand. He hasn’t had the warning that your nephew has just +given you.” + +“You are an Irishman,” said Ascher, “and you ought to know your +countrymen better than I do. But it will surprise me very much if +England finds herself hampered by Ireland when the crisis comes.” + +It was Von Richter who broke up our party. He pleaded the necessity for +early rising next morning as his excuse for going away before the hour +at which the law obliges people to stop eating supper in restaurants. +I wondered whether he and Mrs. Ascher had made a satisfactory plan +for running guns into Galway. According to Ascher it did not make much +difference whether the Irish peasants had rifles in their hands or +not. It was soothing, though humbling, to feel that, guns or no guns, +Volunteers or no Volunteers, Ireland would not matter in the least. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Gorman’s play achieved a second success. The Parthenon was crammed every +night, and it was the play, not the pretty dresses or the dancing, which +filled the house. Gorman made money, considerable sums of money. I know +this because he called on me one morning in the middle of July and +told me so. He did more. He offered me a very substantial and quite +unanswerable proof that he felt rich. + +“If you don’t mind,” he said, “I’d like to pay you whatever you’ve spent +on this new invention of Tim’s.” + +“I haven’t spent anything,” I said. “I’ve invested a little. I believe +in Tim’s new cinematograph. I expect to get back every penny I’ve +advanced to him and more.” + +This did not satisfy Gorman. He got out his cheque book and a fountain +pen. + +“There was the hundred pounds you gave him to buy looking glasses,” he +said. “You didn’t give him more than that, did you?” + +“Not so much,” I said. “The bill for those mirrors was only £98-7-6; and +I made the man knock off the seven and sixpence as discount for cash. +I’m learning to be a business man by degrees.” + +Gorman wrote down £98 on the cover of his cheque book. + +“And the hire of the hall?” he said. “What will that come to?” + +I had hired a small hall for the exhibition of Tim’s moving picture +ghosts. I had invited about a hundred people to witness the show. Gorman +himself, a brother of the inventor, had promised to preside over the +gathering and to make a few introductory remarks on the progress of +science or anything else that occurred to him as appropriate to such +an occasion. But I could not possibly allow him to pay for the +entertainment. + +“My dear Gorman,” I said, “it’s my party. The people are my friends. At +least some of them are. The invitations have gone out in my name. You +might just as well propose to pay for the tea I mean to offer them to +drink as for the hire of the room in which I am going to receive them.” + +“Will £150 cover the whole show?” said Gorman. + +“If you insist on heaping insults on my head,” I said, “I shall retire +into a nursing home and cancel all the invitations.” + +“You’re an obstinate man,” said Gorman. + +“Very. In matters of this kind.” + +“All the same,” said Gorman, “I’ll get rid of that money. I don’t +consider it’s mine. I ought to have paid for Tim, and I would, only that +I hadn’t a penny at the time.” + +“If you like to give £150 to a charity,” I said, “that’s your affair.” + +“That,” said Gorman, “would be waste. I rather think I’ll give a party +myself.” + +He slipped his cheque book back into his pocket. + +“Invite me to meet the lady who acts in your play,” I said. + +“Miss Gibson?” said Gorman. “Right. Who else shall we have?” + +“Why have anybody else?” + +“There are difficulties,” said Gorman, “about the rest of the party. You +wouldn’t care to meet my friends.” + +“Oh, yes, I would.” + +“No, you wouldn’t. I know you. You don’t consider Irish Nationalists fit +to associate with. We’re not respectable.” + +That was putting it too strongly; but it is a fact that I do not know, +or particularly want to know, any of Gorman’s political associates. + +“And your friends,” said Gorman, “wouldn’t know me.” + +Again Gorman was guilty of over-statement; but my friends are, for the +most part, of conservative and slightly military tastes. They would not +get on well with Gorman. + +“I’ll think it over,” said Gorman, “and let you know.” + +Two days later I got my invitation. Gorman, in the excitement of sudden +great possessions, had devised an expensive kind of party. The invited +guests were Mr. and Mrs. Ascher, Miss Gibson, Tim and myself. We were +to voyage off from Southampton in a motor yacht, hired by Gorman, to +see the Naval Review at Spithead. We were to start at ten o’clock from +Waterloo station in a saloon carriage reserved for our party. + +“We have to be back in time for Miss Gibson to go to the theatre,” + Gorman wrote, “so we must start early. I believe the show is to be +worth seeing. British Navy at its best. King there. Royal salutes from +Dreadnoughts. Rank, fashion and beauty in abundance.” + +The week was to be one of exciting festivities. Gorman had fixed his +party for the day before my exhibition of Tim’s new invention. + +I was shaving--shortly after eight o’clock on the morning of Gorman’s +party--when my servant came into my room. + +“I beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but there’s a young man waiting in the +hall, says that he wants to see you.” + +It seemed odd that anyone should want to see me at that hour. + +“Who is he?” I said. + +“Don’t know, sir. Gives his name as Gorman. But he’s not our Mr. +Gorman.” + +“It may be Tim,” I said. “Does he look as if he had an artistic soul?” + +“Couldn’t say, sir. Might have, sir. Artists is very various. Doesn’t +seem to me, sir, as if his man looked after his clothes proper.” + +“Must be Tim,” I said. “Show him in.” + +“In here, sir?” + +“Yes. And have an extra kidney cooked for breakfast.” + +Tim came in very shyly and sat down on a chair near the door. He +certainly did not look as if his clothes had been properly cared for. +He was wearing the blue suit which I suspected was the best he owned. +It was even more crumpled and worse creased than when I saw it down in +Hertfordshire. + +“I hope you don’t mind my coming here,” he said. “I didn’t like to go to +Mr. Ascher, and I was afraid to go to Michael. He’d have been angry with +me.” + +“Has anything gone wrong with your apparatus? Smashed a mirror?” + +Tim brightened up at the mention of his apparatus. + +“Oh, no,” he said. “That’s all right. In fact I’ve been able to improve +it greatly. You remember the trouble I had with the refraction from +the second prism. The adjustment of the angles---- The way the light +fell----” + +I could not, especially before breakfast, argue about prisms. + +“If your machinery’s all right,” I said, “what’s the matter with you?” + +“It’s this party of Michael’s,” he said. “I forgot all about it till +yesterday afternoon.” + +“Well, you remembered it then. If you’d forgotten it till this afternoon +it would have been a much more serious matter.” + +“But,” said Tim, “Michael told me to get some new clothes. He said he’d +pay for them, which was very kind of him. But when I got up to London +the shops were shut. I hurried as much as I could, but there were one or +two things I had to do before I started. And now I’m afraid Michael will +be angry. He said most particularly that I must be well dressed because +there are ladies coming.” + +“Stand up,” I said, “and let me have a look at you.” + +Poor Tim stood up, looking as if he expected me to box his ears. There +was no disguising the fact that his costume fell some way short of the +standard maintained by Cowes yachtsmen. + +Tim surveyed himself with a rueful air. He was certainly aware of the +condition of his clothes. + +“If I could even have got a ready made suit,” he said, “it might have +fitted. But I couldn’t do that. I didn’t get to London till nearly ten +o’clock. There was a train at four. I wish now that I’d caught it. It +was only a few minutes after three when I remembered about the party and +I might have caught that train. But I didn’t want to leave just then. +There were some things that I had to do. Perhaps now I’d better not go +to the party. Michael will be angry if I don’t; but I expect he’ll be +angrier if I go in these clothes. I think I’d better not go at all.” + +He looked at me wistfully. He was hoping, I am sure, that I might decide +that he was too disreputable to appear. + +“No,” I said, “you can’t get out of it that way. You’ll have to come.” + +“But can I? You know better than I do. I did brush my trousers a lot +this morning--really. I brushed them for quite half an hour; but there +are some marks----” + +He held out his right leg and looked at it hopelessly. + +“Stains, I suppose,” he said. + +“You’d be better,” I said, “if you had a tie.” + +Tim put his hand up to his neck and felt about helplessly. + +“I must have forgotten to put it on,” he said. “I have one, I know. But +it’s very hard to remember ties. They are such small things.” + +“Take one of mine,” I said, “and put it on before you forget again.” + +“Anything else?” said Tim. + +“I don’t think,” I said, “that there’s anything else we can do. My +clothes wouldn’t fit you. I might lend you a pair of boots but I doubt +if you’d get them on. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll get yours +cleaned. Take them off.” + +I do not think that my servant liked cleaning Tim’s boots. But he did it +and I daresay it was good for him. + +I was a little anxious about the meeting between Mrs. Ascher and Tim. +When they parted in New York she was deeply vexed with him and I could +not think it likely that a woman as devout as she is would readily +forgive a man who had been guilty of blasphemy. On the other hand she +had very graciously accepted my invitation to be present when the new +invention was shown off. She might, of course, only wish to hear +the other Gorman making a speech; but she might have forgotten Tim’s +offence, or changed her mind about its heinousness. In any case Tim’s +clothes would make no difference to her. Miss Gibson might think less of +him for being shabby. But Mrs. Ascher was quite likely to prefer him in +rags. Many people regard unkemptness as a sign of genius; which is, I +daresay, the reason why poets seldom wash their necks. + +I need not have troubled myself about the matter. Mrs. Ascher took no +notice of Tim. She was sitting in the saloon carriage when we reached +the station and was surrounded with newspapers. She greeted me with +effusion. + +“Isn’t it glorious?” she said. “Splendid. We have shown them that we +too can do daring things, even the sort of things in which they take a +special pride. The practical things which the world boasts of, which we +artists are not supposed to be able to do at all.” + +“I haven’t seen a paper this morning,” I said. “Has any one assassinated +the Prime Minister?” + +“Look!” she said. + +She held out one of the newspapers towards me. I did not have to take it +in my hand to see the news. I could have read the headlines from the far +side of the platform. + +“Steam yacht lands guns on Galway Coast. National Volunteers muster to +receive Arms. Coastguards Paralysed. Police Helpless. Crushing Reply to +Ulster Lawlessness.” + +That, of course, was a Liberal paper. There was a Unionist paper open on +the floor at my feet. Its statement of the facts was almost identical; +but its interpretation was different Instead of regarding the incident +as a lesson in loyalty to Malcolmson it said: + +“Act of Rebellion in Connaught. Civil War Breaks Out.” + +“In the broad light of day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “at noon. Without an +attempt at concealment. Now, now at last, Ireland has asserted herself, +has shown that the idealism of the artist is a match for the sordid +materialism of the worshippers of efficiency.” + +I looked round for Gorman. I wanted to see how he was taking the news. +He was on the platform, talking seriously, I fear sternly, to Tim; no +doubt about his clothes. Ascher was standing near them; but was not, I +think, listening to Gorman. He had the air of patient politeness which +is common with him on pleasure parties and excursions of all kinds. + +“I can’t help hoping,” I said, “that they haven’t got any ammunition. It +sounds an unkind thing to say, but--I’m not much of a patriot, I know, +but I’ve just enough love of country in me to dislike the idea of +Irishmen shooting each other.” + +“Oh,” said Mrs. Ascher, “there would be no risk of that if--if men like +you--the natural leaders--would place yourselves at the head of the +people. Think--think----” + +I did think. The more I thought the less inclined I felt to agree with +Mrs. Ascher. It seemed to me that if I took to paralysing coastguards +and reducing policemen to helplessness there would be considerably more +risk of shooting than if I stayed quietly in London. The proper leaders +of the people--proper though perhaps not natural--are the politicians. +The only risk of real trouble in Ireland rose from the fact that men +like Malcolmson--natural leaders--had done what Mrs. Ascher wanted me to +do, put themselves at the head of the people. If they had been content +to leave the question of Home Rule to the politicians it could have been +settled quietly. Gorman, for instance, has an instinct for stopping in +time. Malcolmson and men like him confuse games with real affairs. +I might turn out to be just as bad as Malcolmson if I took to placing +myself at the head of the people. Besides I do not like the people. + +Gorman came in with Miss Gibson and I was introduced to her. She seemed +a nice, quiet little girl, and smiled rather shyly as we shook hands. +She sat down beside Mrs. Ascher and refused the cigarette which was +offered her. She did not in the least correspond to my idea of what +a leading lady in a popular play should be. However I had not much +opportunity just then of forming an opinion of her. Gorman, having +settled the two ladies, took Ascher and me to the far end of the +carriage. The train started. + +“That’s a damned silly performance,” said Gorman, “landing those guns in +Galway.” + +“I should have thought,” I said, “that you’d have been pleased. You were +talking to me the other day about the necessity for pulling off some +_coup_ of a striking and theatrical kind by way of diverting the sympathy +of the English people from Ulster.” + +“But this,” said Gorman, “is a totally different thing. I happen to +know what I’m talking about. The fellows who’ve got these guns are wild, +irresponsible, unpractical fools. They’ve been giving us trouble for +years, far more trouble than all the Unionist party put together. +They don’t understand politics in the least. They’ve no sense. They’re +like--like----” he looked round for some comparison. “In some ways +they’re rather like Tim.” + +“Dreamers,” I said. + +“Exactly,” said Gorman. “They ought to be writing poetry.” + +“Lofty souls,” I said, “idealists. Just exactly what Mrs. Ascher thinks +you are.” + +“Take the case of Tim,” said Gorman. “You’ll hardly believe it but--just +look at his clothes, will you?” + +Tim was standing by himself in the middle of the carriage. He looked +forlorn. He was too shy, I imagine, to sit down beside Mrs. Ascher or +Miss Gibson, and too much afraid of his brother to join our group. We +had every opportunity of studying his clothes. + +“And I told him to buy a new suit,” said Gorman. + +“That,” I said, “is just the kind of man that Mrs. Ascher believes in. +She was saying to me a few minutes ago that there is nothing more sordid +and detestable than the worship of efficiency in practical matters.” + +The mention of Mrs. Ascher’s name recalled Gorman to a sense of his +duties as a host. The two ladies were not getting on very well together. +I imagine that Mrs. Ascher was too much excited by her Irish news to +care for talking about the Naval Review we were going to see, and that +was a topic which would inevitably suggest itself to Miss Gibson. Miss +Gibson, though anxious to be polite, was not likely to know or care +anything about Ireland. Gorman left us and joined them. + +“Well,” I said to Ascher, “what do you think of this performance in +Galway?” + +“Have you read the newspapers?” he said. + +“The headlines,” I replied. “I couldn’t very well help reading them.” + +Ascher stepped across the carriage and picked up one of the papers from +the floor. It was the one which declared that civil war had broken out +in Ireland. + +“I wish,” he said, “that I knew exactly the measure of my nephew’s +intelligence.” + +“Captain von Richter?” I said. + +“Yes. He may--almost anything is possible with a man like him. He may +believe that.” + +Ascher pointed to the words, “Civil War.” + +“I don’t think you need worry about that,” I said. “Whatever Malcolmson +and his lot may do those fellows in Galway won’t fight. Gorman and the +priests will stop them. You can always count on the politicians and the +priests. They’ll prevent anything really serious. The Connaught Celt +will never start a civil war; at least not unless he gives up his +religion and takes to hanging Members of Parliament. He’s a splendid +fighting man--none better--but he won’t run the risk of losing his soul +for the sake of a battle. He must be told he ought to fight by some +one whose authority he recognises. That’s where we’re safe. All the +authorities are against violence.” + +“I have no doubt you are right,” said Ascher. “No civil war will be +started in the way these papers suggest. I am not anxious about that. It +is impossible. But I am anxious lest it should be believed possible by +men who do not understand. My nephew, for instance. He will not know +what you know. He may believe--and those over him in Berlin--they will +not understand. They may think that the men in Ireland who have got +the guns will use them. They may even have had something to do with +supplying the guns. That is where the danger lies. A miscalculation--not +in Ireland--but elsewhere.” + +I did not like to ask whether Mrs. Ascher’s enthusiasm for the cause of +Ireland had led her to finance the Galway gun-running. Nor did I care to +question Ascher about his suggestion that Von Richter had something to +do with buying and shipping that cargo or the other which was landed +at Larne. Ascher seemed disinclined to discuss the matter further. We +joined Gorman and the two ladies at the far end of the carriage, picking +up Tim on our way. + +Gorman was sitting beside Miss Gibson. He was leaning forward, pointing +with outstretched hand to the country through which the train was +passing. + +“This is the playground of England,” he said. “Here the rich and idle +build themselves beautiful houses, plant delightful gardens, live +surrounded by a parasitic class, servants, ministers to luxury; try to +shut out, succeed to a great extent in shutting out all sense and memory +of real things, of that England where the world’s work is done, the +England which lies in the smoky hinterland.” He waved his hand with a +comprehensive gesture towards the north. “Far from all the prettinesses +of glorified villadom.” + +“I do think,” said Miss Gibson, “that Surrey and Hampshire are sweetly +pretty.” + +Miss Gibson may be regarded, I suppose, as one of England’s toys. It was +only natural that she should appreciate the playground. It was, so she +thought, a district very well suited to the enjoyment of life. She told +us how she had driven, in the motor of a wealthy member of Parliament, +through the New Forest. From time to time she had spent week-ends +at various well-appointed villas in different parts of the South of +England, and, as a nice-minded young woman should, had enjoyed these +holidays of hers. She frankly preferred the playground to that other, +more “real” England which Gorman contrasted with it, the England of the +midlands, where the toilers dwelt, in an atmosphere thick with smuts. + +Mrs. Ascher, of course, took quite a different view. It filled her +with sadness to think that a small number of people should play amid +beautiful surroundings while a great number--she dwelt particularly on +the case of women who made chains--should live hard lives in hideous +places. Mrs. Ascher is more emotional than intellectual. The necessity +for consistency in a philosophy of life troubles her very little. As a +devout worshipper of art she ought to have realised that her goddess can +only be fitly honoured by people wealthy enough to buy leisure, that the +toiling millions want bread much more than they want beauty. I have +no quarrel with the description of the life of Birmingham as more +“real”--both Gorman and Mrs. Ascher kept using the word--than the life +of the Isle of Wight. Nor should I want to argue with any one who said +that beauty and art are the only true realities, and that the struggle +of the manufacturing classes for wealth is a striving after wind. But I +felt slightly irritated with Mrs. Ascher for not seeing that she cannot +have it both ways. + +Gorman, of course, was simply trying to be agreeable. I pointed +out--when I succeeded in seizing a place in the conversation--that if +Gorman’s theory were applied to Ireland, Belfast would come out as a +reality while Cork, Limerick, and other places like them would be as +despicable as Dorsetshire. + +“Wicklow,” I said, “is the playground of Ireland, and it returns nothing +but Nationalist members to Parliament. You ought not to go back on your +own side, Gorman.” + +Mrs. Ascher shuddered at the mention of Belfast and would not admit that +it could be as “real” as Manchester or Leeds. + +Miss Gibson broke in with a reminiscence of her own. She told us that +she had been in Belfast once with a touring company, and thought it was +duller on Sunday than any other city in the British Isles. + +Gorman, after winking at me, appealed to Ascher on the subject of +Belfast’s prosperity. In his opinion the apparent wealth of that city is +built up on an insecure foundation of credit. There is no solidity about +it. The farmers of the south and west of Ireland, on the other hand, +have real wealth, actual savings, stored up in the Post Office Banks, or +placed on deposit, in other banks, or hoarded in stockings. + +Ascher was most unwilling to join in the discussion. He noticed, as I +did, that Miss Gibson’s attention was wandering. In the end, goaded by +Gorman, he said that someone ought to teach the Irish farmers to invest +their savings in high class international stocks and bonds. He added +that £1 notes kept in drawers and desks are not wealth but merely frozen +potentialities of credit. + +After that, conversation, as might be expected, became impossible for +some time, although Ascher apologised humbly. + +Gorman restored us to cheerfulness by opening a parcel and handing +round two enormous boxes of chocolates. One box was settled on the seat +between Miss Gibson and Tim. They ate with healthy appetites and obvious +delight. When we reached Southampton that box was nearly empty and +neither of them seemed any the worse. The other box lay on Mrs. Ascher’s +knee. She and I and Gorman did our best, but we did not get through the +top layer. Ascher only took one small chocolate and, when he thought no +one was looking, dropped it out of the window. + +The motor yacht which Gorman had hired for us turned out to be a swift +and well-found ship with a small cabin and possibilities of comfort in a +large cockpit aft. We sped down Southampton Water, one of a whole fleet +of pleasure vessels large and small. A racing cutter stooped under the +pressure of a fresh westerly breeze, to leeward of us. We slipped close +past a little brown-sailed yawl, steered by a man in white flannels. +Two laughing girls in bright red caps sat on the coach-roof cabin top. +An arrogant white steam yacht, flying the ensign of the Royal Yacht +Squadron, sliced her silent way through the water behind us. Shabby +boats with stained, discoloured sails and chipped paint bore large +parties seaward. The stiff front of Netley Hospital shone white in the +sun. The conical buoy at the entrance of Hamley river bent its head +shorewards as the strong tide swept past it. From the low point beneath +Calshott Castle a flying-machine rose suddenly, circled round in a wide +sweep and then sped swiftly eastwards towards Spithead. In the +roads off Cowes we could discern many yachts at anchor. One of the +Hamburg-American lines crept cautiously up the Solent. A belated +cruiser, four-funneled, black and grim, on her way to join the Fleet, +followed the huge German steamer. The waters of the Solent tumbled +in irregular white-topped waves, tide and wind opposed to each other, +struggling for mastery. + +Gorman hauled luncheon baskets from the cabin. He set Tim and me to open +them. The look of a ham which Tim thoughtlessly asked her to hold while +he unpacked the dish belonging to it, finished Mrs. Ascher. Our boat was +rolling quite appreciably. She retired to the cabin. Even the glass of +champagne with which Gorman hurriedly provided her failed to enable her +to eat. Miss Gibson fortunately was unaffected. She ate everything that +was offered to her and in the course of the afternoon finished Mrs. +Ascher’s box of chocolates. + +Before we stopped eating we caught our first sight of the Fleet. The +ships lay in three long, straight lines off Spithead; battleships, +cruisers, lean destroyers, submarines. A hydroplane raced past us, +flinging showers of spray and foam high on each side of her. Two naval +aeroplanes, their canoe-shaped floats plainly visible, hovered and +circled overhead. Pleasure-boats were everywhere, moving in and out +among the motionless ironclads. A handsome barque-rigged yacht, some +very rich man’s summer home, came slowly towards us, her sails furled, +using auxiliary steam power. + +We swiftly approached the Fleet. Already the vast bulk of the battleships +oppressed our spirits. We looked up from the cockpit of our dancing +pleasure boat and saw the huge misshapen iron monsters towering over us, +minatory, terrible. We swept in and out, across the sharp bows, under +the gloomy sterns of the ships of the first line. Ascher gazed at them. +His eyes were full of sorrow, sorrow and a patient resignation. + +“Your protection,” I said. “Because those ships are there, because +they are black and strong, stronger than any other ships, because men +everywhere are afraid of them, because this navy of England’s is great, +your net of commerce and credit can trawl across the world and gather +wealth.” + +“Protection,” said Ascher. “Protection and menace. This Navy is only one +of the world’s guarantees of peace, of peace guaranteed by fear. It is +there as you say, and the German Army is there; that men may fear them +and peace be thus made sure. But can peace be secured through fear? Will +not these navies and armies some day fulfil the end of their being, rend +all our nets as they rush across the seas and desolate the lands? They +are more menace than protection.” + +Gorman was standing with his back to us. His elbows were resting on the +slide of the roof above the steps which led to the cabin. His chin was +on his hands and he was staring at the ships. Suddenly he turned. + +“The world’s great delusion,” he said. “Hypnotised by the governing +classes the workers are everywhere bearing intolerable burdens in order +to provide statesmen and kings with these dangerous toys. Men toil, and +the fruits of their toil are taken from them to be squandered on vast +engines whose sole use is to destroy utterly in one awful moment what we +have spent the painful effort of ages in building up.” + +He swept his hand out towards the great ship under whose shadow we were +passing. + +“Was there ever plainer proof,” he said, “that men are mad?” + +Miss Gibson sat beside me. While Ascher spoke and while Gorman spoke, +she held my glasses in her hand and watched the ships through them. +She neither heard nor heeded the things they said. At last she laid +the glasses on my knee and began to recite Kipling’s “Recessional.” She +spoke low at first. Gradually her voice grew stronger, and a note of +passion, tense and restrained, came into it. She is more than a charming +woman. She has a great actress’ capacity for emotion. + +We moved through waters consecrate, and she expressed for us the spirit +which hovered over them. Here English guns raked the ships of Spain. +Here, staggering homewards, shot-riddled, came the frigates and +privateers of later centuries, their shattered prizes under their lee. +Through these waters men have sailed away to fight and conquer and rule +in India and in many distant lands. Back through these waters, some of +them have come again, generation after generation of them, their duty +done, their adventuring over, asking no more than to lay their bones at +last in quiet churchyards, under the shadow of the cross, near the grey +walls of some English church. + +Miss Gibson’s voice, resonant, passionate, devout, lingered on the last +syllables of the poem. + +“The imperial idea,” I said. “After all, Gorman, it has its greatness.” + +Then Tim spoke, shyly, eagerly. + +“I wonder,” he said, “if they would let us go on board one of the +submarines. I should like to see--oh, there are a lot of things I +should like to see in any of those ships. They must be nearly perfect, I +mean mechanically. The steering gear, for instance----” + +His voice trailed off into silence. + +“What a pity,” said Miss Gibson, “that the King can’t be here. I suppose +now there’ll be no royal salutes fired, and we shan’t see his yacht.” + +“All Mr. Gorman’s fault,” I said. “If he had not nagged on in the way he +has about Home Rule, the King would be here with the rest of us. As +it is, he has to stay in London while politicians abuse each other in +Buckingham Palace.” + +“That conference,” said Gorman, “is an unconstitutional manoeuvre of the +Tory party.” + +“What’s it all about?” said Miss Gibson. + +“The dispute at present,” I said, “centres round two parishes in County +Tyrone, and because of them a public holiday is being spoiled. All Mr. +Gorman’s fault.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +It must have been the novelty of the thing which brought people +flocking to the hall I hired for the exhibition of Tim Gorman’s new +cinematograph. I was aware, in a vague way, that my invitations had been +very generally accepted; but I made no list of my expected guests, and +I did not for a moment suppose that half the people who said they were +coming would actually arrive. I have some experience of social life and +I have always found that it is far easier to accept invitations than to +invent plausible excuses for refusing them. I do not consider that I +am in any way bound by my acceptance in most cases. Dinners are +exceptional. It is not fair to say that you will dine at a house +unless you really mean to do it. But the givers of miscellaneous +entertainments, of dances, receptions, private concerts and such things +are best dealt with by accepting their invitations and then consulting +one’s own convenience. That is what I thought people were doing to me. + +I had no reason to expect any other treatment. I was not offering food +or wine in large quantities or of fine kind. I was not a prominent +figure in London society. My party was of no importance from a political +or a financial point of view and I could scarcely expect the scientific +world to take a cinematograph seriously. Yet I found myself the host of +a number of very distinguished guests, many of whom I did not even know +by sight. + +Three Cabinet Ministers arrived, looking, as men immersed in great +affairs ought to look, slightly absent-minded and rather surprised to +find themselves where they were. They were Cabinet Ministers of a minor +kind, not men in the first flight. I owed their presence to Gorman’s +exertions in the House of Commons. He told me that he intended to +interest the Government in Tim’s invention on the ground that it +promised an opportunity of popularising and improving national +education. I had a seat kept for Ascher beside the Cabinet Ministers. I +did not suppose that he would particularly want to talk to them, but I +was sure that they would like to spend the evening in the company of one +of our greatest financiers. + +No less than five members of the Royal Society came, bringing their +wives and a numerous flock of daughters. They were men of high +scientific attainments. One of them was engaged in some experiments with +pigs, experiments which were supposed to lead to important discoveries +in the science of eugenics. I cannot even imagine why he came to see +a cinematograph. Another of them had written a book to expound a new +theory of crystallisation. I have never studied crystallisation, but I +believe it is a process by which particles of solid matter, temporarily +separated by some liquid medium, draw together and coalesce. My +scientists and their families afforded a good example of the process. +They arrived at different times, went at first to different parts of the +hall, got mixed up with all sorts of other people, but long before the +entertainment began they had drawn together and formed a solid block +among my guests. + +Two Royal Academicians, one of them a well-known portrait painter, +arrived a little late. They were men whom I knew pretty well and liked. +They have urbane and pleasant manners, and are refreshingly free from +affectations and fads. In my opinion they both paint very good pictures. +I introduced them to Mrs. Ascher; but this, as I should have known if +I had stopped to think, was a mistake. Mrs. Ascher regards the Royal +Academy as the home of an artistic Antichrist and Academicians as the +deadliest foes of art. Not even the suave courtesy of my two friends +saved them from the unpleasant experience of hearing the truth about +themselves. Mrs. Ascher was not, of course, bluntly rude to them, and +did not speak with offensive directness. She poked the truth at them +edgeways, the truth that is, as she saw it. + +The church did not support me very well. I distinctly remember inviting +six bishops. Only one came and he was Irish. However, he wore silk +stockings and a violet coat of aggressively ecclesiastical cut, so he +looked quite as well as if he had had a seat in the House of Lords. I +introduced him to the eugenic pig breeder, but they did not seem to hit +it off together. After a few remarks, probably about the weather, they +separated. The eugenist is rather a shaggy man to look at. That may +have prejudiced the bishop against him. I imagine that most bishops feel +shagginess to be embarrassing. + +Lady Kingscourt brought a large party, chiefly women in very splendid +attire. There were, I think, eight of them altogether, and they had only +one man with them, a subaltern in a Guards regiment. He slipped away +almost at once, telling me as he passed out, that he wanted to telephone +to a friend and that he would be back in a few minutes. I do not think +he came back at all. He probably went to his club. I do not know what +was said to him the next day by the ladies he deserted. I thanked Lady +Kingscourt for coming. I really think it was very good of her to come. +She had fair warning that Gorman was going to make a speech and she knew +that all Gorman’s political friends, probably Gorman himself, regarded +her as an abandoned woman who played fast and loose with the morals of +military officers and undermined their naturally enthusiastic loyalty to +Liberal Governments. By way of acknowledgment of my quite sincere thanks +Lady Kingscourt squeezed my hand. + +“I always make a point,” she said, “of encouraging any movement for the +good of the masses. They are such deserving dear things, aren’t they?” + +It is impossible to guess at what Lady Kingscourt thought we were doing; +but her heart was warm and kind. If ever class hatred comes to play +an important part in English life it will not be the fault of the +aristocracy. I doubt whether any labourer would sacrifice his evening’s +leisure to encourage a movement for the good of Lady Kingscourt. Nor +would the kindliest Socialist speak of women of the upper classes as +“deserving dear things.” The nicest term used by progressive people to +describe these ladies is “parasites,” and they often, as we had just +been learning, call them worse names than that. + +Lady Kingscourt and her party represented the highest layer of +fashionable life. I had, besides her, a large number of women of +slightly dimmer glory who were yet quite as finely dressed as Lady +Kingscourt, and were, I am sure, equally eager for the good of the +masses. My hall, not a very large one, was well filled before nine +o’clock. I had every reason to congratulate myself on the success of my +party, so far. It remained to be seen whether Gorman would make a good +speech and whether Tim’s ghosts would exhibit themselves satisfactorily. +Between the speech and the ghosts my guests would have an opportunity +of drinking tea and champagne cup, handed round by twelve nice looking +girls wearing black and white dresses, hired out to me (both the girls +and the dresses) for the evening by the firm which had undertaken to +manage the refreshments. + +According to my time table, Gorman ought to have begun his speech at nine +o’clock. Instead of doing so he came to me and whispered that he would +give late-comers ten minutes law. + +“Nothing more unpleasant for an audience,” he said, “than having their +toes trodden on by people who come in late, just as they are beginning +to get interested in what is going on.” + +Nothing, I imagine, is more unpleasant for a speaker than to have his +audience looking round to see who the newcomers are, just as he is +beginning to warm to his subject. I gathered from his anxiety about the +audience, that Gorman intended to make a great effort. I looked forward +to his speech. Gorman, at his best, is really a very fine speaker. + +At ten minutes past nine Gorman mounted the platform, the narrow +strip of platform left for him in front of the pits occupied by Tim’s +apparatus. The clatter of general conversation ceased, and the Cabinet +Ministers, sitting in the front row with Ascher, clapped their hands. +The rest of the audience, realising that applause was desirable, also +clapped their hands. Gorman bowed and smiled. + +Then my elbow was jerked sharply. I looked round and saw Jack Heneage. +Jack is a nice boy, the son of an old friend of mine. I have known him +ever since he first went to school. About six months ago his father +and I between us secured a very nice appointment for the boy, a sort +of private secretaryship or something of that sort. I understood at the +time that Jack’s business was to run messages for an important man’s +wife; and that the appointment would lead on to something good in the +political world. I was surprised to see him standing beside me for I had +not asked him to my party and he was not wearing evening clothes. Jack +would never go anywhere, willingly, unless he were properly dressed. + +“Sit down,” I said, “and don’t talk. Mr. Gorman is just going to make a +speech.” + +“Is Ascher here?” said Jack. + +“He is; in the front row.” + +“Thank God. I’ve been chasing him all over London. Office, club, private +house, tearing round in a taxi for hours. My Chief wants him.” + +“Your chief can’t get him now,” I said. “Not for half an hour, perhaps +three quarters. Gorman isn’t likely to stop under three quarters. Till +he does you can’t get Ascher.” + +“I must,” said Jack. “I simply must. It’s--it’s frightfully important.” + +Gorman began his speech. I did not hear what he said because I was +trying to restrain Jack Heneage, but the audience laughed, so I suppose +he began with a joke. Jack shook off my hold on his arm and walked right +up to the front of the hall. I saw Gorman scowling at him but Jack did +not seem to mind that in the least. He handed a note to Ascher. Gorman +said something about the very distinguished audience before him, a +remark plainly intended to fill in the time while Jack and Ascher were +finishing their business. Ascher read the note, rose from his seat and +came towards me. Everybody looked at him and at Jack who was following +him. Gorman repeated what he had said about the distinguished audience. + +“I find,” Ascher said to me, “that I am obliged to leave you. I am very +sorry.” + +“I have a taxi outside,” said Jack, pushing Ascher towards the door. + +Ascher lingered, looking at me wistfully. “I may not be able to return,” + he said. “If I cannot will you bring my wife home? The car will be here +and can drive you back to your rooms afterwards.” + +I was a little surprised at the request. Mrs. Ascher is, I should think, +pretty well able to take care of herself. + +“I think we ought to start, sir,” said Jack Heneage, taking Ascher by +the arm. + +“Perhaps,” said Ascher to me, “if you are kind enough to see my wife +home you will wait in my house till I get back. I may have something to +say to you. It is possible that I shall reach the house before you do, +but I may be late. I do not know. Will you wait for me?” + +“Won’t you come on, sir?” said Jack. + +I noticed, then, that Jack was excited and nervous. I do not ever +remember having seen him excited or nervous before, not even when he +went in second wicket down in the Eton and Harrow match with seventy +runs to make and an hour left to play. I held Ascher’s coat for him and +watched them get into the taxi together. + +When I got back to the hall Gorman was well into his speech and had +captured the attention of his audience. I was able to pick up the thread +of what he was saying almost at once. He was discoursing on the arts of +peace, contrasting them with the arts of war. In past ages, so Gorman +said, the human intellect had occupied itself mainly in devising means +for destroying life and had been indifferent to the task of preserving +it. Gunpowder was invented long before the antitoxin for diphtheria was +discovered. Steel was used for swords ages before any one thought of +making it into motor cars. These were Gorman’s illustrations. I should +not have thought that motor cars actually preserve life; but Gorman is a +good orator and a master in the art of concealing the weak points of +his argument. His hearers were quite ready to ignore the mortality +statistics of our new motor traffic. The pig-breeding scientist led a +round of applause. + +Gorman developed his theme. The intellect of the modern world, he said, +was not only occupied with the problems of preserving life, but was bent +on making life more convenient and happier, especially the life of the +toiling masses of our people. The mediaeval world built cathedrals, fine +castles, Doge’s palaces and such things. We have supplied mankind with +penny postage stamps. Which, Gorman asked, is the greater achievement: +to house a Doge or two in a building too big for them or to enable +countless mothers--sorrowing and lonely women--to communicate by letter +with the children who had left the maternal home? + +After dwelling for some time on the conveniences Gorman passed on to +speak of the pleasures of modern life. He said that pleasures were more +important than work, because without pleasures no work could be really +well done. When he reached that point I began to see how he meant to +work up to the cinematograph and Tim’s invention. I tried to get a +glimpse of Mrs. Ascher’s face. I wanted to find out how she was taking +this glorification of Tim’s blasphemy against art. Unfortunately I could +only see the back of her head. I moved along the side of the hall as +much as I dared in the hope of getting a sight of her face from some +angle. I failed. To this day I do not know whether Mrs. Ascher admired +Gorman’s art as an orator enough to make her forgive the vile purpose +for which it was used. + +When I began to listen to the speech again Gorman had reached his +peroration. + +The arts of war, he said, were the natural fruits of the human intellect +in a society organised on an aristocratic basis. The development of the +arts of peace and pleasure followed the birth of democracy. Tyrants and +robber barons in old days loved to fight and lived to kill. The common, +kindly men and women of our time, the now at length sovereign people, +lived to love and desire peace above all things. + +“The spirit of democracy,” said Gorman, “is moving through the world. +Its coming is like the coming of the spring, gentle, kindly, gradual. We +see it not, but in the fields and hedgerows of the world, past which +it moves, we see the green buds bursting into leaf, the myriad-tinted +flowers opening their petals to the sunlight. We see the lives of humble +men made glad, and our hearts are established with strong faith; faith +in the spirit whose beneficence we recognise, the spirit which at last +is guiding the whole wide world into the way of peace.” + +I gathered from these concluding remarks that all danger of war had +passed from the horizon of humanity since the Liberal Government muzzled +the House of Lords. + +Gorman did not mention this great feat in plain words. He suggested it +in such a way that the Cabinet Ministers in front of him understood what +he meant, while Lady Kingscourt and her friends thought he was referring +to a revolution in China or Portugal or the establishment of some kind +of representative government in Thibet. Thus everyone was pleased and +Gorman climbed down from the platform amid a burst of applause. + +Lady Kingscourt clapped her pretty hands as loudly as any one. Her +husband is a territorial magnate. Her brothers are soldiers. But she is +prepared to welcome democracy and universal peace as warmly as any of +us. Perhaps what attracted her in Gorman’s programme was the prospect of +a great increase in the pleasures of life. + +We drank tea, ate sandwiches, cheered our hearts with champagne cup, +chattered loudly, and, the men of the party, stretched our legs for half +an hour. Then we settled down again to gape at Tim’s moving figures. The +new mirrors were well worth the money I spent on them. The thing worked +better, far better, than when I saw it in the barn. I think the audience +was greatly pleased. Everybody said so to me when the time came for +escape from the hall. + +Mrs. Ascher and I drove back to Hampstead together. I told her how +Ascher had left the hall and that it might be late before he got home. +She sat silent beside me and I thought that she was wondering what had +happened to her husband. Just before we reached the house she spoke, and +I discovered that she had all the time been thinking of something else, +not Ascher’s absence. + +“I was wrong,” she said, “in condemning the cinematograph and this new +invention. It is--at present it is vile beyond words, vile as I thought +it; but I see now that there are possibilities.” + +“May I tell Tim that?” I said. “It would cheer him greatly. The poor +boy has never really got over what you said to him in New York, about +blasphemy, you know.” + +“You may tell him,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that his invention is capable of +being used for the ends of art; that he has created a mechanical body +and that _we_, the artists, must breathe into it the breath of life.” + +We reached the house. + +“I am coming in, if I may,” I said. “Mr. Ascher asked me to see him +to-night if possible. I promised to wait for him even if he does not get +home till very late.” + +“I shall not sit up with you,” said Mrs. Ascher. “I want to be alone to +think. I want to discover the way in which art is to take possession of +mechanics, how it is to inspire all new discoveries, to raise them from +the level of material things up and up to the mountain tops of beautiful +emotion.” + +“I shall tell Tim that,” I said. “He’ll be awfully pleased.” + +Mrs. Ascher held my hand, bidding me an impressive good-night. + +“There is a spirit,” she said, “which moves among the multitudinous +blind gropings of humanity. It moves all unseen and unknown by men, +guiding their pitiful endeavours to the Great End. That End is Duty. +That spirit is Art. To recognise it is Faith.” + +The Irish bishop who attended my party is a liberal and highly educated +churchman. He once told me about a Spirit which moves very much as Mrs. +Ascher’s does. Its aim was goodness and the bishop called it God. His +definition of faith was, except for the different object, precisely Mrs. +Ascher’s. + +Gorman propounds a somewhat similar philosophy of life, and occasionally +talks about faith in the same rapt way. I do not suppose that he +actually holds the faith he preaches, certainly not as Mrs. Ascher and +the bishop hold theirs. No Irishman is, or ever can be, a Liberal after +the English fashion; but Gorman does talk about the spirit of democracy +and says he looks forward to its guiding Humanity to a great end, +universal peace. + +I made my way into Ascher’s study, wondering how long I should have to +wait for him. + +I wondered where he was and what he was doing. Who sent Jack Heneage +to search for Ascher? I could not remember whose private secretary Jack +was. Mrs. Ascher was thinking of art and beauty, the bishop, no doubt +about God and goodness. Gorman was turning over in his mind nice new +phrases about democracy and peace. What was Ascher doing? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Ascher’s servant followed me into the study. He placed a little table +beside the chair on which I sat. He set a decanter of whisky, a syphon +of soda water and a box of cigars at my elbow. He brought a reading +lamp and put it behind me, switching on the electric current so that the +light fell brightly over my shoulder. He turned off the other lights in +the room. He asked me if there were anything else he could do for me. +Then he left me. + +A clock, somewhere behind me, chimed. It was a quarter to twelve. I +poured out some whisky and lit a cigar. I sat wondering what Ascher was +doing. The clock chimed again and then it struck. It was twelve o’clock. +It was a clock with a singularly mellow gong. The sounds it made were +soft and unaggressive. There was no rude challenge in its assertion +that time was passing on, but the very gentleness of its warnings, a +gentleness deeply tinged with melancholy, infected me with a strange +restlessness. When for the third time its chiming broke the heavy +silence of the room, I rose from my chair. The gloom which surrounded +the circle of light in which I sat weighed on my spirits. I touched a +switch and set the lights above the fireplace shining. + +Over the mantelpiece hung a picture, a landscape painting. A flock of +sheep wandered through a misty valley. There were great mountains in the +background, their slopes and tops dimly discernible through a haze. The +haze and the mist wreaths would certainly soon clear away, dispersed +by a rising sun. The whole scene would be stripped of its mystery. The +mountain sides, the valley stream and the grazing sheep would be seen +clear and bare in the merciless light of a summer morning. The painter +had chosen the moment while the mystery of dawn endured. I felt that he +feared the passing of it, that he shrank from the inevitable coming of +the hour when everything would be clear and all the outlines sharp, +when the searching sun would tear away the compassionate coverings, when +nature would appear less beautiful than his heart hoped it was. It was +with this picture, with this and one other, that Ascher chose to live. + +I moved round the room, turning on yet other lights. Over Ascher’s +writing desk hung a full length portrait of a woman, of Mrs. Ascher, +but painted many years ago. I have no idea who the artist was but he had +seen his sitter in no common way. The girl, she was no more than a girl +when the picture was painted, stood facing me from the canvas. She was +dressed in a long, trailing, pale green robe. Her hands were folded in +front of her. Her head was a little thrown back, so that her neck was +visible. Her skin, even then in the early days of her womanhood, was +almost colourless. The red colour of her hair saved the picture from +deathly coldness, contrasting sharply with the mass of pale green +drapery and the pallid skin. + +I have never thought of Mrs. Ascher as a beautiful woman or one who at +any time of her life could have been beautiful. But the artist, whoever +he was, had seen in her a singular alluring charm. I cannot imagine that +I could ever have been affected by her even if I had seen her as the +artist did, as no doubt Ascher did. I like normal people and common +things. I should have been afraid of the woman in the picture. I am in +no way like Keats’ “Knight at Arms.” I should simply have run away from +the “Belle Dame sans merci,” and no amount of fairy songs or manna dew +would have enabled her to have me in thrall. But I could understand how +Ascher, who evidently has a taste for that kind of thing, might have +been fascinated by the morbid beauty of the girl in the picture. I could +understand how the fascination might become an enduring thing; a great +love; how Ascher would still be drawn to the woman long after the +elfishness of girlhood passed away. The soul would still remain gleaming +out of those narrow eyes. + +The clock chimed close beside me. It was a quarter to one. I sat down +again, poured out more whisky and lit a fresh cigar. I left all the +lights in the room shining. I was determined to drag myself back to the +commonplace and to cheerfulness. + +I took a book from the table beside me. It was evidently a book which +Ascher had been reading. A thin ivory blade lay between the pages, +marking the place he had reached. The book was a prophetic forecast +of the State of the future, a record of one of those dreams of better, +calmer times, which haunt the spirits of brave and good men, to which +cowards turn when they are made faint by the contemplation of present +evil things. I read a page or two in one part of the book and a page or +two in another. I read in one place a whole chapter. I discerned in the +author an underlying faith in the natural goodness of man. He believed, +his whole argument was based on the belief, that all men, but especially +common men, the manual workers, would gladly turn away from greed +and lust and envy, would live in beauty and peace, naturally, without +effort, if only they were set free from the pressure of want and the +threat of hunger. The evil which troubles us, so this dreamer seemed +to hold, is not in ourselves or of our nature. It is the result of the +conditions in which we live, conditions created by our mistakes, not by +our vices. I wondered if Ascher, with his wide knowledge of the world, +believed in such a creed or even cherished a hope that it might be true. +Do men, in fact, become saints straightway when their bellies are full? + +It is strange how childish memories awaken in us suddenly. As I laid +down Ascher’s book there came to me a picture of a scene in my old home. +We were at prayers in the dining-room. My father sat at a little table +with a great heavy Bible before him. Ranged along the wall in front of +him was the long line of servants, the butler a little apart from +the others as befitted the chief of the staff. My governess and I +sat together in a corner near the fire. My father read, in a flat, +unemotional voice; read words which he absolutely believed to be the +words of God. “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of +God.” + +Well, that is a different creed. To me it seems more consonant with the +facts of life. Man as he is can neither enter into nor create a great +society nor enjoy peace which comes of love. Hitherto the new birth of +the Spirit, which bloweth where it listeth, has been for a few in every +generation. The hour of rebirth for the mass of men still lingers. Will +it ever come--the time when all the young men see visions and all the +old men dream dreams? + +I stirred uneasily in my chair and looked up. I had not heard him enter +the room, but Ascher stood beside me. + +“I am glad you are here,” he said. “I hoped you would be; but I am very +late.” + +“Yes,” I said, “you are very late. It is long after midnight. Where have +you been? What have you been doing?” + +Ascher sat down opposite to me, and for some time he did not speak. I +made no attempt to press my questions. If Ascher wanted to talk to me he +would do so in his own time and in the way he chose. I supposed that he +did want to talk to me. He had asked me to his house. He had bidden me +wait for him. + +“I have no right,” said Ascher at last, “to trouble you with my +difficulties. I ought to think them out and fight them out for myself; +but it will be a help to me if I can put them into words and feel that +you are listening to me.” + +He paused for so long that I felt I must make some reply to him, though +I did not know what to say. + +“I don’t suppose I can be of any use to you,” I said, “but if I can----” + +“Perhaps you can,” said Ascher. “You can listen to me at least. Perhaps +you can do more. It is a large call to make upon your friendship to +treat you in this manner, but--I am in some ways a lonely man.” + +I have always, since the day I first met him, liked and respected +Ascher. When he spoke about his loneliness I felt a sudden wave of pity +for him. It seems a strange thing to say, but at that moment I had a +strong affection for the man. + +“What I partly foresaw and greatly dreaded has come,” he said. “I am +certain now that war is inevitable, a great war, almost perhaps in the +end quite world-wide.” + +“And England?” I said, “is England, too----?” + +“Almost inevitably.” + +“Germany?” I said. + +Ascher nodded. + +I was throbbing with excitement. For the moment I felt nothing but a +sense of exultation, strangely out of harmony with the grave melancholy +with which Ascher spoke. I suppose the soldier instinct survives in me, +an inheritance from generations of my forefathers, all of whom have worn +swords, many of whom have fought. We have done our part in building +up the British Empire, we Irish gentlemen, fighting, as Virgil’s bees +worked, ourselves in our own persons, but not for our own gain. There is +surely not one battlefield of all where the flag of England has flown on +which we have not led men, willing to fall at the head of them. It seems +strange now, looking back on it, that such an emotion should have been +possible; but at the moment I felt an overmastering sense of awful joy +at Ascher’s news. + +“I cannot tell you where I have been to-night,” said Ascher, “nor with +whom I have been talking. Still less must I repeat what I have heard, +but this much I think I may say. I was sent for to give my advice on +certain matters connected with finance, to express an opinion about what +will happen, what dangers threaten in that world, my world, the world of +money.” + +“There’ll be an infernal flurry on the Stock Exchange,” I said. “Prices +will come tumbling down about men’s ears. Fellows will go smash in every +direction.” + +“There will be much more than that,” said Ascher. “The declaration of +war will not simply mean the ruin of a few speculators here and there. +You know enough about the modern system of credit to realise something +of what we have to face. There will be a sudden paralysis of the nerves +and muscles of the whole world-wide body of commercial and industrial +life. The heart will stop beating for a short time--only for a short +time I hope--and no blood will go through the veins and arteries.” + +Ascher spoke very gravely. Yet, though I had spent months watching the +workings of his machine, I could not at the moment share his mood. The +war fever was in my blood. + +“I should change my metaphor,” said Ascher. “It is not a case of a body +where the heart pumps blood into the arteries, but of springs which make +brooks, brooks which flow into streams, which in their turn feed great +rivers. Now those springs will be frozen. In a million places, of which +you and I do not even know the names, credit will be frozen suddenly. +There will be no water in the brooks and streams. The rivers will run +dry.” + +Ascher had asked for my sympathy. I did my best to give it. + +“It’s a tremendous responsibility for you,” I said, “and men like you. +But you’ll pull through. The whole thing can’t collapse, simply can’t. +It’s too big.” + +“Perhaps,” said Ascher, “perhaps. But it is not that side of the matter +which I wish to speak to you about. You will forgive me if I say that +you can hardly understand or appreciate it. What I want to say to you +is something more personal. I want”--Ascher smiled wanly--“to talk about +myself.” + +“You stand to lose heavily,” I said. “I see that.” + +“I do not know,” said Ascher, “whether at the end of a week I shall own +one single penny in the world. I may very well have lost everything. +But if that were all I should not trouble much. Merely to lose +money--but----” + +He stopped speaking, and for a long while sat silent The clock behind me +chimed again. It was half past two. + +“I suppose,” said Ascher, “that you have always thought of me as an +Englishman.” + +“To tell you the truth,” I said, “I’ve never thought whether you are an +Englishman or not. I wasn’t interested. I suppose I took it for granted +that you were English.” + +“I am a German,” said Ascher. “I was born in Hamburg, of German parents. +All my relations are Germans. I came over to England as a young man and +went into business here. My business--I do not know why--is one to which +Englishmen do not take readily. There are English bankers of course, +but not very many English financiers. Yet my particular kind of banking, +international banking, can best be carried on in England. That is why I +am here, why my business is centred in London, though I myself am not +an Englishman. I am a German. Please understand that. My brother is a +general in the German Army. My sister’s sons are in the German Army and +Navy. My blood ties are with the people from whom I came.” + +I realised that Ascher was stating a case of conscience, was perhaps +asking my advice. It seemed to me that there was only one thing which +I could advise, only one possible course for Ascher to take. Whatever +happened to his business or his private fortune he must be true to his +own people. I was about to say this when Ascher raised his hand slightly +and stopped me. + +“I want you to understand,” he said, “my blood ties are with the people +from whom I came; but I am now wholly English in my sympathies. I see +things from the English point of view, not from the German. I am sure +that it will be a good thing for the world if England and her Allies +win, a bad thing if Germany is victorious in the war before us. Yet the +blood tie remains. Who was the Englishman who said, ‘My country, may she +always be right, but my country right or wrong’? It seems to me a mean +thing to desert my country now, even although I have become a stranger +to her. Is it not a kind of disloyalty to range myself with her +enemies?” + +Again Ascher paused. This time I was less ready to answer him. + +“I have also to consider this,” he went on, “and here I get to the very +heart of my difficulty. I have lived most of my life here, and I have +built up my business on an English foundation. I have been able to build +it up because I had ready made for me that foundation of integrity which +your English merchants have established by centuries of honest dealing. +Without that--if the world had not believed that my business was +English, and therefore stable--I could not have built at all or should +have built with much greater difficulty. My bank is English, though I, +who control it, am not. If I go back to my own people now, now when it +seems treachery to desert them, the whole machinery of the vast system +of credit which I guide will cease to work, will break to fragments. Of +my own loss I say nothing, indeed I think nothing. But what of the +other men, thousands of them who are involved with me, whose affairs +are inextricably mixed with mine, who have trusted not me, but my bank, +trusted it because it is an English institution? And it is English. Have +I the right to ruin them and to break up my bank, which belongs to your +nation, of which in a sense I am no more than a trustee for England? You +understand, do you not? My bank is just as certainly of English birth as +I am of German birth. Yet it and I are one. We cannot be divided. What +am I to do?” + +Ascher was asking questions; but I did not think that he was asking them +of me. I felt that it was my part to listen, not to answer. Besides +what could I answer? Ascher had given me a glimpse of one of those +intolerable dilemmas from which there is no way of escape. The choice +between right and wrong, when the nobler and baser parts of our nature +are in conflict, is often very difficult and painful. But there are +times--this was one of them--when two of the nobler, two of the very +noblest of our instincts, are set against each other. When we can only +do right by doing wrong at the same time, when to be loyal we must turn +traitors. + +When Ascher spoke again he seemed to have drifted away from the subject +of the coming war, the financial catastrophe and his own trouble. I did +not, for some time, guess where his words were leading. + +“I have been a very careful observer of English life,” he said, “ever +since I first came to this country, and no class in your nation has +interested me more than you minor gentry, the second grade of your +aristocracy.” + +“Often spoken of as the squirearchy,” I said. “It is generally supposed +to be the most useless and the least intelligent part of the community. +It is rapidly disappearing, which, I daresay, is a fortunate thing.” + +“Your greater nobility,” said Ascher, “is modernised, is necessarily +more or less cosmopolitan. It has international interests and is +occupied with great affairs. It has been forced to accept the standard +of ethics in accordance with which great affairs are managed. Your +merchants and manufacturers have their own code, by no means a low one, +and their theory of right and wrong. Between these two classes come the +men with lesser titles or no titles at all, families which spring from +roots centuries deep in the soil of England, men of some wealth, but +not of great riches. They have their own standard, their code, their +peculiar touchstone for distinguishing fine conduct from its imitation, +their ethic.” + +“Yes,” I said, “I can understand your being interested in that. It is a +survival of a certain antiquarian value. It is the quaintest standard +of conduct imaginable, totally unreasonable and inconsistent. But it +exists. There are some things which a gentleman of that class will not +do.” + +“Exactly. These men--may I say you, for it is you I am thinking of. You +have your sense of honour.” + +I never was more surprised in my life than I was when Ascher said +that to me. Nothing that I have ever said or done in his company could +possibly have led him to suppose that I am a victim of that outworn +superstition known as the honour of a gentleman. + +“You have an instinct,” said Ascher, “inherited through many +generations, a highly specialised sense, now nearly infallible, for +knowing what is honourable and what is base. I do not know that any +of my countrymen have that sense. I am sure that the class to which I +belong has not. We look at things in a different way.” + +“A much better way,” I said, “more practical.” + +“Yes, more practical. Better perhaps in the sense of being wiser. But I +have a wish, an odd fancy if you like, to see things your way, to guide +my conduct according to your standard of honour.” + +As well as I could make out Ascher was asking me to decide for him on +which horn of his infernal dilemma he was to impale himself, and to +base my decision on a perfectly absurd and arbitrary set of rules for +conduct, none of which could by any possibility be made to apply to a +situation like his. + +“My dear Ascher,” I said, “I can’t possibly judge for you.” + +“You could judge if it were your own case,” he said. “You could +certainly judge then. Have you ever in your life been in the smallest +doubt, even for a moment, about the way of honour, which it is?” + +“That is all very well,” I said. “I quite admit I do know that. I +generally do the other thing, but I know what I ought to do according to +the ridiculous standard of my class. But I don’t know what you ought to +do. That’s a different thing altogether.” + +“Because I am not of your class? not a gentleman?” + +“Don’t talk nonsense,” I said. “There aren’t any gentlemen left. The +species is extinct. The very name of it is vulgarised. You’re as +near being one as anybody I know. And that has nothing to do with it. +Gentleman or not, you’ve got to decide for yourself. No man living can do +it for you.” + +“Your class would decide for me if I belonged to it,” said Ascher. “The +collective wisdom of your class, the class instinct. It would make me +certain, leave me in no doubt at all, if only I belonged to it, were one +of you. The choice I have to make----” + +Ascher paused. + +“It’s a nasty choice to have to make. You’ve got to be disloyal either +way you go. That’s what it comes to.” + +“There is no other way,” said Ascher sadly, “no third way.” + +“Not that I can see.” + +There was, in fact, a third way, though I did not see it at the time. +Mrs. Ascher discovered it. I heard of it two days later. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +No one has greater respect and admiration for Ascher than I have. +I respect his ability. I admire his cool detachment of mind and his +unfailing feeling for justice. I recognise in him a magnanimity, a +certain knightliness which is very rare. But it is vain to pretend +that I can ever regard Ascher as an intimate friend. I am never quite +comfortable in his company. He lacks something, something essential. He +lacks a sense of humour. + +No one in England--no one I suppose in Europe--wanted to make jokes +during that critical week which followed my interview with Ascher. The +most abandoned buffoon shrank from jesting when every morning brought a +fresh declaration of war by one great power on another. But even under +such circumstances the sense of the ridiculous survives--a thing to be +carefully concealed--in those who are fortunate enough to possess it. +Ascher has no sense of the ridiculous. He sees men and women clad in +long, stately robes moving through life with grave dignity like Arab +chiefs or caliphs of Bagdad. He sees their actions conditioned and to +some extent controlled by the influences of majestic inhuman powers, +the genii of eastern tales, huge, cloud-girt spirits of oppressive +solemnity. In reality most people wear motley all day long and the fairy +powers are leprechauns, tricksy, irresponsible sprites, willing enough +to make merry with those who can laugh with them; but players of all +Puck’s tricks on “wisest aunts telling saddest tales.” + +I sometimes think that it is Ascher’s chivalry, his fine knightliness, +which has killed his sense of humour. I cannot suppose that Sir Galahad +found any delight in the quips of fools. His owl-like eyes, large +with the wonder of Holy Grails, looked stupidly on faces wrinkled +with merriment. King Arthur could never have talked as he did to +Guinevere--Tennyson is my authority for the things he said--if he +had not had in him the soul of an earnest member of a league for the +sympathetic study of social problems. Ascher is as chivalrous as any +member of King Arthur’s fellowship, and humour, if he ever had the sense +of it, is dead in him. But perhaps he was born without it and is by +nature hopelessly serious because he is a German. For the Germans never +seem to be able to appreciate the fact that the grandiose is invariably +comic, and that nothing in the world is more difficult than to stand +toes to the line of the high heroic without stepping across it into the +region of the ridiculous. I think of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” of Nietzsche’s +“Zarathrusta,” of the Kaiser Wilhelm’s amazing “Weltauffassung,” and +it seems to me that such things could not be in any nation where one +single man knew how to laugh. + +If Ascher had in him the faintest glimmering of a sense of humour he +would never have appealed to me, choosing the silent and ghostly middle +of the night for the performance, to decide his point of honour for him. +What am I that he should imagine me capable of settling high questions +of that kind? An expatriated Irishman, a dispossessed landlord, a man +without one high ambition, a mere mocker of enthusiasm of every kind. +No one, unless he were absolutely blind to the ridiculous, would have +consulted me on such a subject as the honour of a gentleman. + +Yet, in her total lack of humour, Mrs. Ascher is as bad as her husband +is. If such a thing were possible I should say that she is worse. There +is, at all events, less excuse for her. She is not knightly, not very +knightly, though she did champion the cause of poor, oppressed Ireland. +She is an American, not a German, and the Americans pay high honour to +their humourists. Perhaps she has lived too long with Ascher. Perhaps +she has devoted herself too much to art and her steady contemplation of +the sublime has killed her sense of the ridiculous. At all events it is +dead. She has no humour now. + +It is almost impossible to imagine that any woman would have been +capable of calling in Gorman and me as advisers and helpers at a +critical moment of her life. Yet that is what Mrs. Ascher did. + +We obeyed the summons of course, both of us. + +Gorman got there first. I found him seated opposite Mrs. Ascher in the +large drawing-room of the house in Hampstead. Mrs. Ascher is lacking in +humour, but she has a fine sense of dramatic propriety. Great decisions +can only be come to fittingly, mighty spiritual tragedies can only be +satisfactorily enacted, in spacious rooms. And there must be emptiness. +Knick-knacks and pretty ornaments kill high emotion. The chamber of a +dainty woman, the room which delicate feminity has made its own, will +suit a light flirtation, the love-making of a summer afternoon, but deep +passion is out of place in it. + +I walked cautiously across a wide space of slippery floor in order to +shake hands with Mrs. Ascher. I saw that Gorman was sitting in a huge +straight-backed chair with heavily carved elbow rests. It was the +sort of chair which would have suited a bishop--in the chancel of his +cathedral, not in his private room--and a major excommunication might +very suitably have been delivered from it. + +“I am in great trouble,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I have asked you two to +come to me because you are my friends. I was right to call you, was I +not?” + +She looked at Gorman and then at me, evidently expecting us to make a +confession of friendship for her. Gorman wriggled in a way that made me +think the carving of the chair must be sticking into him somewhere. But +he did not fail Mrs. Ascher. + +“You were right,” he said with deep feeling, “altogether right.” + +I was not going to be outdone by Gorman. + +“‘A friend,’” I said, “‘must bear a friend’s infirmities.’” + +The quotation was not wholly happy, but Mrs. Ascher seemed to like it. +She smiled gratefully. + +“My husband,” she said. + +I knew it must be her husband’s affairs which were troubling her. + +“He is in a very difficult position,” I said. “I had a long talk with +him the other night. It seems to me that he has to choose between----” + +Gorman interrupted me. + +“He’s in an infernally awkward hole,” he said. “The English people will +lose their tempers to a certainty, not at first perhaps, but as soon as +anything goes against them. When they do they’ll make things damnably +unpleasant for any one who’s suspected of being German or even remotely +connected with Germany. That’s the sort of people the English are. +And Ascher is just the man they’ll fasten on at once. They’ll hunt him +down.” + +Mrs. Ascher looked at Gorman while he spoke. Her face expressed a quiet +dignity. + +“That is not the difficulty,” she said. “What people say or think of us +or do to us does not matter. We live our own lives. We can always live +them, apart from, above the bitter voices of the crowd.” + +“All the same,” said Gorman, “it will be unpleasant. It will be a great +deal worse than merely unpleasant. If I were Ascher I should get on the +safe side at once. I should give a thumping big subscription--£50,000 +or something that will attract attention--to some popular fund. I should +offer to present the War Office with half a dozen aeroplanes to be +called ‘The Ascher Flying Fleet’; or a first-rate cannon of the largest +size. A good deal can be done to shut people’s mouths in that sort of +way.” + +“You do not understand,” said Mrs. Ascher. + +She turned to me, evidently hoping that I would explain Ascher’s real +difficulty to Gorman. I hesitated for a moment. It was plain to me that +though Gorman did not appreciate the reality of the spiritual crisis, he +did understand something which had escaped me and, so far as I knew, +had escaped Ascher also. I had a vivid recollection of the unenviable +position of men suspected of lukewarm patriotism during the Boer War. +In the struggle we were then entering upon popular passion would be far +more highly excited. The position of the Aschers in England might become +impossible. + +Gorman with his highly developed faculty for gauging the force and +direction of popular opinion understood at once and thoroughly the +difficulties that lay before Ascher. What he did not understand was +the peculiar difficulty which Ascher felt. I responded to Mrs. Ascher’s +glance of appeal and tried to explain things to Gorman. + +“Ascher,” I said, “is pulled two ways. His country is pulling him. +That’s the call of patriotism. You ought to understand that, Gorman. +You’re a tremendous patriot yourself. But if he goes back to his country +now he absolutely ruins his business. That means a lot more than merely +losing his money. It means more even than losing other people’s money, +the money of the men who trusted him. It means that he must be false +to his commercial honour. You see that, don’t you, Gorman? And there +doesn’t seem any way out of the dilemma. He has got to go back on his +patriotism or on his honour. There is no other course.” + +I looked at Mrs. Ascher for approval. I had stated her husband’s dilemma +clearly, I believed fairly. Gorman could hardly fail to understand. I +thought Mrs. Ascher would have been pleased with me. To my amazement she +acknowledged my efforts with a burst of indignation. + +“Oh,” she cried, “you do not understand, either of you. You do not even +begin to understand. I suppose you cannot, because you are men and not +women. You men! All of you, my husband, too, though he is far above the +rest of you--but even he! You concern yourselves about things which +are nothing. You argue about phantoms and discuss them as if they +were realities. And all the time you miss the things which are. You +think”--she spoke directly to Gorman and her voice expressed the utmost +scorn--“you think about reputation, the way men babble about each other +and will babble about us. Why should we care? Even if we were afraid of +what men say there are places in the world to which the voices of Europe +cannot reach. There are islands in the sea where the sun shines and palm +trees grow, to which the talk of men who dwell in cities never comes.” + +I recollected the desire which Mrs. Ascher had once expressed to me of +getting “far, far away from everywhere.” She evidently hoped to be able +to try that experiment. + +She turned from Gorman and faced me. + +“You talk,” she said, “about honour and patriotism. What are they? +Words, just words. It is only you men, slaves of your own conventions, +who take them for realities. We women know better. You go about life +imagining that your limbs are bound with fetters. They are bound with +delusions. We women know. Love and beauty are real. Nothing else is. All +your fine words are like the flags under which your dupes go out to die; +fluttering rags to us whose eyes are open. You talk--oh, so finely you +talk--about the shadows your own imaginings cast, and you end in being +afraid of them. You talk--you dare to talk to me of money----” + +This was a totally unjust accusation. I had not talked about money. I +had more sense than to mention money to a woman in Mrs. Ascher’s frame +of mind. + +“I have money enough of my own,” she said. “He and I want very little. +What do we care for except just to love each other and to see beautiful +things and to escape from all this nightmare of blood and hate and +horror and hideousness?” + +I felt helpless. Mrs. Ascher had undoubtedly hit on a new solution of +the problem. She proposed that Ascher should impale himself not on one +or other, but on both horns of the dilemma, be false to every kind of +honour and loyalty. It was, I suppose, possible for Ascher to pack a bag +and take to flight, simply to disappear, leaving everything behind +him. He and she might go to some valley in the Rocky Mountains, to some +unknown creek on the Californian coast, to some island in the South +Pacific. If she were right about honour and faithfulness and patriotism, +if these are, after all, only idols of the tribe, then she and Ascher +might be very happy. They would have all that either of them required. + +I looked at Gorman. He shrugged his shoulders, helpless as I was. Mrs. +Ascher began to plead with us in a way that was very strange to listen +to. + +“Life is so short,” she said. “Already most of it is gone from us. We +have only a few years more, he and I. Why should we be miserable? There +is happiness waiting for us. There is nothing between us and happiness +except words, honor, patriotism, right, wrong. These are words, only +words. They are gossamer threads which we break as we go, break without +feeling them if only we go boldly. Will you not help me? Tell him that +what I say is true. He will listen to you because you are men; and you +know in your hearts that I speak what is true, that I have hold upon +reality.” + +There was a moment’s silence after she stopped speaking. Before either +Gorman or I attempted to make any answer Ascher himself came into the +room. I certainly did not expect to see him. Mrs. Ascher was, I am sure, +as much surprised as I was. It was about twelve o’clock and at that hour +Ascher is always in his office. He crossed the room quietly. He greeted +Gorman and me without a sign that our presence was unexpected or +unwelcome. He went to his wife and took her hand in his. She clung to +him, looking up into his face. She knew at once that he had something +very important to say to her. + +“You have decided?” she said. + +Ascher’s eyes met hers. His face seemed to me full of tenderness and +pity. He held her hand tightly. He bowed his head, a silent “yes” to the +question she asked. + +“To leave it all and come with me?” she said; “away, away.” + +Ascher did not speak; but she knew and I knew that his decision was not +that. + +The scene was very painful. I felt that I had no right whatever to +witness it. Gorman, I am sure, would have been glad to escape. But it was +very difficult for us to get away. Neither Ascher nor his wife seemed, +conscious of our presence. We stood helpless a little apart from them. +Gorman, with that unfailing tact of his, did, or tried to do the only +thing which could have relieved the intolerable tension. He made an +effort to get us all back to the commonplace. + +“You’re in a devil of an awkward situation, Ascher,” he said. “A good +deal seems to me to depend on whether you are a naturalised British +subject or not. If you have been naturalised you ought to be able to +pull through, though it won’t be pleasant even then.” + +“I have not been naturalised,” said Ascher. “I never thought of it.” + +“That’s a pity,” said Gorman. “Still--in the case of a man in your +position I daresay it can be managed even now. I’ll use my influence. +I know most of the members of the Cabinet pretty well. I can put it to +them that, from an English point of view, considering the tremendous +importance of your business, considering the financial collapse which +would follow--oh, we’ll be able to manage.” + +“Thank you,” said Ascher, “but that purely legal aspect of the matter +does not at the moment strike me as the most important or the most +pressing. No doubt it is important and your kindness will be helpful. +But just now I cannot speak about that. There is, you see, my country and +the loyalty I owe to it. I do not seem to escape from that obligation by +a process of law. I may legalise, but do I really justify, treachery to +the claim of patriotism?” + +I have always felt,--felt rather than known,--that there is a queer +strain of mysticism in Gorman. His arid common sense, his politics, his +rhetoric, his tricky money-making, are the outside, visible things about +him. Behind them, deep down, seldom seen, is a strange, emotional +love for his country. When Ascher spoke as he did about the claim of +patriotism Gorman understood. The innermost part of the man was reached. +Without hesitating for an instant, without consideration or debate, +Gorman leaped to a solution of the problem. + +“Loyalty to your country comes first,” he said; “it must. Everything +else goes by the board. I did not know you felt that way about Germany; +but since you do there is no more to be said. Go back to your own +country of course. You can’t help yourself.” + +I have no doubt that Gorman meant exactly what he said. If he had been +in Ascher’s position, if once the issue became quite plain to him and +the tangle of political alliances were swept away, he would have thrown +all his interests and every other kind of honour to the wind. He would +have sacrificed his business, would if necessary have parted with his +wife; he would have been loyal to the land of his birth, entirely +contemptuous of any other call or any claim. + +Mrs. Ascher clung tightly to her husband’s arm. “Words,” she said, +“words, only words. You must not listen to him.” + +Ascher felt for her hands again, grasped them and held them pressed +close against him. He turned from Gorman to me. + +“And you,” he said, “what are you going to do?” + +The question took me by surprise. I had no difficult decision to make. +My course was in clear daylight. Besides, it did not matter to anyone +what I did. + +“You, yourself,” said Ascher again. “What are you going to do?” + +“Oh,” I said, “I’m going back to my regiment. I suppose they’ll take me. +Anyhow I shall offer myself.” + +“And fight?” said Ascher. + +“Well, yes. I suppose I shall fight. This war won’t be over in a week. +I’m pretty sure to get my turn. Yes, I shall almost certainly fight.” + +“Why?” said Ascher. “What will you fight for?” + +It was Gorman who answered the question. He had recovered from his brief +outburst, and had become the normal Gorman again. + +“The war,” he said, “is for the liberation of Europe. It is a vast +struggle, an Armageddon in which the forces of reaction, absolutism, +tyranny, a military caste are ranged against democracy. It is their last +appearance upon the stage of history. Vindicated now, the principles of +democracy----” + +“If you think,” I said, “that I’m going out to fight for the principles +of democracy, you’re making a big mistake. There’s nothing in the world +I dislike more than that absurd democracy of yours.” + +“Then why?” said Ascher, mildly persistent. “Why are you going to +fight?” + +“Well,” I said, “I don’t want to say anything offensive about your +people, Ascher. The Germans have a lot of fine qualities, but if +they were to win this war, if they were to succeed in imposing their +civilisation and their mentality on us all, if they were to Germanise +the world, the sense of humour would perish from among men. Nobody +would any longer be able to laugh. We--we should find ourselves taking +governments and officials seriously. Just imagine! To live under a +bureaucracy and not to see that it was funny! Surely it’s worth while +fighting for the right to laugh.” + +“You Irish!” said Ascher. “Even in times like this your love of +paradox----” + +“Don’t say it,” I said. “If you can possibly help it don’t say that. I +admit that I brought it on myself and deserve it. I apologise. That is +not my real reason for going back to my regiment. I only gave it to you +because I don’t know what my real reason is. It’s not patriotism. I +haven’t got any country to be patriotic about. It’s not any silly belief +in liberty or democracy. I don’t know why I’m doing it. I just have to. +That’s all.” + +“_Noblesse oblige_,” said Ascher. “Your honour as a gentleman.” + +I shuddered. Ascher--there is no other way of putting it--is grossly +indecent. A woman has a sense of modesty about her body. It would be +considered an outrage to strip her and leave her stark naked in the +middle of the room. I cannot see why a man should not be credited with +some feeling of modesty about his soul. I detest having my last garments +plucked from me in public. Complete spiritual nudity causes me very +great embarrassment. + +“You can put it that way if you like,” I said. “The plain fact is I +can’t help myself. I must go back to my regiment. I have no choice.” + +“I have come to see,” said Ascher, “that I have no choice either. There +is such a thing--though perhaps Mr. Gorman will not believe me--there is +such a thing as the honour of a banker. It compels me.” + +He put his arm round his wife’s waist as he spoke. Still holding her +hands in one of his, he led her from the room. Her head drooped against +his shoulder as they went out. + +“I suppose that means,” said Gorman, “that he’s going to stick it out +and see the thing through. It will be infernally awkward for him. I +don’t think he realises how nasty it will be. He hasn’t considered that +side of it.” + +“A man doesn’t consider that side of things,” I said, “when he’s up +against it as Ascher is.” + +“Well, I’ll do my best about the naturalisation papers. That’ll be some +help.” + +“It’s very hard to be sure,” I said, “but I’m inclined to think that +Ascher is right.” + +“He’s utterly wrong,” said Gorman. “A man’s country ought to come +first always. You don’t understand that because you’re denationalised; +because, as you say yourself, you have no country. But it’s true, +whether you understand it or not.” + +“When I think of that business of his,” I said, “the immense complexity +of it, the confidence of thousands of men in each other, all resting at +last on a faith in the integrity of one man, or rather of a firm--the +existence of such a business, world-wide, international, entirely +independent of all ties of race, nationality, language, religion, in a +certain sense wider than any of these--it’s a great, human affair, +not English nor German, not the white man’s nor the yellow man’s, not +Christian nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan, just human. Ascher owes some +kind of loyalty to a thing like that. It’s a frightfully complicated +question; but on the whole I think he is right.” + +Gorman was not listening to me. He had ceased, for the time, to be +interested in Ascher’s decision. I tried to regain his attention. + +“Ascher says,” I said, “that there is such a thing as the honour of a +banker, of a financier.” + +That ought to have roused Gorman to a contradiction; but it did not. + +“Do you think,” he said, “that we could get them to take on Tim in +any job connected with flying machines? This war will knock all his +inventions into a cocked hat. He will simply be left, and he has a real +turn for mechanics. If he got messing about with aeroplanes he might +do something big, something really valuable. But I don’t know how to go +about getting that sort of job for him. I’m not in with military people. +Look here, you’ve a lot of influence with the War Office----” + +“No,” I said. “None.” + +“Nonsense. You must have. A word from you---- I’ll tell you what we’ll +do. I’ll work Ascher’s naturalisation papers for him, and you get Tim +taken on by the Army Flying Corps people.” + +“Perhaps,” I said, “you’d like me to get you a Staff appointment while +I’m at it.” + +“Oh, no,” said Gorman. “I’m not a soldier, I’m a Member of Parliament. +My job is----” + +Gorman hesitated. For a moment I thought that he was in real doubt, was +actually wondering what place he ought to take, what work he ought to +do. + +“Yes,” I said. “You. Now, what is your idea for yourself?” + +Gorman drew himself up to his full height, squared his shoulders and +puffed out his chest. + +“My place,” he said, “is in the great council of the Empire.” + +I gasped. + +“Good Lord!” I said. “You don’t really think--you _can’t_ think, that +your silly old Parliament is going to matter now; that you politicians +will be allowed to go on talking, that there will be divisions in the +House, and elections and all that foolishness.” + +Gorman, still heroically erect, still enormously swelled in chest, +winked at me with careful deliberation. I was immensely relieved. + +“Thank God,” I said. “For a moment I thought you really meant it--all +that great-council-of-the-Empire business, you know. It would have been +a horrible disappointment to me if you had. I’ve come to have a high +regard for you, Gorman, and I really could not have borne it. But of +course I ought to have known better. You couldn’t have believed in +that stuff, simply couldn’t. Nobody with your intelligence could. But +seriously, now, I should like to know--I’m sure you won’t mind telling +me--what are you going to do? Your party, I mean. It seems to me +you’re in rather a hole. The Irish people will expect you to take the +regular line of backing the enemy.” + +“The Irish people be damned,” said Gorman; “our game is to support the +Government.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +I look back on the time I spent soldiering--soldiering under war +conditions--as a curious blank in an otherwise interesting and amusing +life. From the day on which I rejoined my regiment until the day, about +five months later, when I escaped from the hospital in which I was +incarcerated, my mind stopped working altogether. I took no interest +whatever in any of the things which used to excite me, which are now, I +am thankful to say, beginning to amuse me again. Politicians, I believe, +pranced about with fascinating agility. I did not care to look at them. +Newspaper proprietors demanded the immediate execution of one public man +after another. I do not believe I should have cared if a guillotine +had been set up in Piccadilly Circus and a regular reign of terror +established. I lost sight of Gorman. The Aschers faded from my memory. + +I spent three months or so in camp with my old regiment. I worked +exceedingly hard. I ate enormously. I slept profoundly. I attained an +almost incredible perfection of physical health. I ceased to think about +anything. My experience of the business of actual fighting was brief. +I had little more than a month of it altogether. Then they sent me home +with a shattered leg. I worked harder than ever when I was at the Front. +I was often very uncomfortable. I remained amazingly healthy. I suffered +at last a good deal of physical pain. I did not think at all, even about +the progress of the war. + +I date my awakening again to the interests of life from the day when +Gorman paid me his first visit. I was convalescent and had made myself +fairly comfortable in a cottage near Guildford. I had got rid of the +last of a long series of nurses. My leg had ceased to cause me any +active annoyance, but I was beginning to find myself a good deal bored +and not a little depressed. When Gorman walked in I was not, just at +first, particularly glad to see him. + +“Let me congratulate you,” he said. + +“On being alive? Is that a blessing?” + +I had been brooding over the fact that I was lame for life. Gorman’s +breezy cheerfulness rather jarred me. + +“Of course it’s a blessing to be alive,” said Gorman, “but I wasn’t +thinking of that. What I was congratulating you on was being a hero. +D.S.O., isn’t it? Tell me all about it, won’t you?” + +I have been given the right of appending those three letters to my +name, so I suppose I must have avoided the worst kinds of blundering and +incompetence. But I have no recollection of doing anything to deserve +the honour. I fear I answered Gorman rather ill-temperedly. + +“There’s nothing whatever to tell,” I said. “I just crawled about in a +trench, generally muddy. Everybody else did exactly the same.” + +Gorman is still the same man he always was, amazingly tactful and +sympathetic. He realised at once that I hated talking about the war and +was in no mood for recounting my own experiences. Instead of pressing me +with silly questions until he drove me mad, he dropped the subject of my +D.S.O. and began to babble agreeably about other things. + +“Politics,” he said, “have got into a frightful state. In fact there are +hardly any politics at all. We haven’t had a decent rag since the war +began. We all sit round cooing at each other like beastly little green +lovebirds in a cage. It can’t last long, of course. Sooner or later +somebody’s bound to break out and try to bite; but for the present +Parliament’s the dullest place in Europe.” + +I began to feel slightly interested. + +“I remember hearing,” I said, “that you Nationalists promised not to +cheer for the Germans.” + +“We did more than that,” said Gorman. “We rallied to the Empire at the +very start and have kept on rallying ever since. It felt odd at first, +but you get used to anything in time, even to being loyal. You’d have +been surprised if you’d heard me singing, ‘God Save the King’ in Dublin +last week.” + +“Did you really?” + +“Twice,” said Gorman, “on two consecutive days.” + +A world in which such things could happen might, I began to feel, be +worth living in after all. I smiled feebly at Gorman. He responded with +a delicious wink. + +“What’s happened to Home Rule?” I said. + +“For the present it’s hung up; a case of suspended animation; our idea +is that if we’re thoroughly loyal now the English people will be so +grateful to us----” + +“But they’ll be just as grateful to the Ulstermen,” I said. “They’re +loyal, too, I suppose.” + +“That’s the difficulty, of course,” said Gorman. “But what else could +we do? If we’d allowed the Orangemen to make a corner in loyalty at the +present crisis----” + +“Crisis!” I said. “How that word brings it all back to me? Are we still +going through a crisis? Fancy the word surviving!” + +“It’s about the only part of our old political system which does +survive. The rest’s gone, hopelessly.” + +Gorman sighed, and I began to feel depressed again. But Gorman is not +the man to sorrow long, even over the decay of the British Constitution. +He dropped the unpleasant subject and started fresh. + +“Tim,” he said, “has been rather a disappointment to me. He hasn’t +invented a single thing since the war began.” + +“I should have thought,” I said, “that this would have been his +opportunity.” + +“So it is. The country’s simply crying out for inventions. Aerial +torpedoes, traps for submarines, wireless methods of exploding the +enemy’s ammunition, heaps of things of that sort. Tim might scoop up an +immense fortune and be made a baronet. But instead of inventing--and he +could if he chose--the young fool is flying about somewhere and dropping +bombs on German railways. I’m inclined to think it was a mistake putting +Tim into the Flying Corps at all. I wonder if we could get him out +again. Do you know any one you could write to about him?” + +“No,” I said, “not a soul.” + +“Pity,” said Gorman. “A little personal influence helps a lot in things +of this sort, and a letter from you----” + +I thought it time to change the subject. + +“The Aschers?” I said. “Ever see them now?” + +“I met her in the Park on Sunday. She’s Red Crossing. Had on the most +elaborate costume you ever saw. Imagine a nurse’s uniform brought up to +the standard of the highest art, or perhaps I ought to say an artistic +dress with the red cross for motif. She told me that she expects to go +to the Front next week.” + +“Thank God she didn’t go sooner! She might have nursed me if she’d been +there in time.” + +“She’d have done it all right,” said Gorman. “I hear she’s a splendid +organiser in spite of her clothes. Always was a remarkable woman, though +you didn’t care for her. There’s been a lot of trouble about Ascher.” + +“Did he go bankrupt?” + +“Oh, dear no. Quite the contrary. All that financial part of the +business was well managed and there wasn’t any serious smash-up. They +say that Ascher helped a lot, in fact that it was very largely his +advice which the Government took. All the same a lot of people turned +on him afterwards, in spite of all I did to get him naturalised. They +wanted to imprison him; but that was absurd. It’s all very well to round +up ordinary Germans, barbers, waiters and people of that sort, and put +them in concentration camps. But you can’t imprison a man who’s worth +millions. That sort of thing isn’t done in any civilised state.” + +“Besides,” I said, “Ascher didn’t deserve it.” + +“Of course not. But that wouldn’t have saved him. In fact that has +nothing whatever to do with the matter. Popular opinion ran very +strongly against Germans, whether naturalised or not. And things were +beginning to look very nasty for Ascher. However, we managed all right.” + +“How?” + +“Oh,” said Gorman, “in the usual way. Diverted it.” + +“Gorman,” I said, “I’m afraid I’m getting stupid. Fighting must have +muddled my brain. I don’t quite follow you. What did you divert?” + +“Popular opinion,” said Gorman. “We turned it away from Ascher, started +everybody hunting a fresh hare. It wouldn’t have done to imprison +Ascher, really wouldn’t, for a lot of reasons; so we all began making +speeches about beer. Temperance, you know; I made one myself. Then +everybody forgot about Ascher and things settled down.” + +“Politics aren’t as dead as you said they were, Gorman. You +politicians----” + +“It’s all very well sneering at politicians, and I don’t mind your doing +it, not a bit, especially as you’re wounded. But if it hadn’t been +for us politicians---- Tell me this now, is there anybody else in the +country who can divert popular opinion from an awkward subject?” + +I do not suppose there is. But I did not care to argue about it. + +“Do you think,” I said, “that Ascher ever regretted his decision?” + +“What decision? Oh, to stay in England? No. I don’t think he ever has. +He’s done pretty well for himself in spite of any little trouble there’s +been. I should say he’s no worse off than he was.” + +“I wasn’t thinking of the matter from a business point of view,” I said. + +“From every other point of view,” said Gorman, “he was wrong. A man +ought not to go back on his country under any circumstances whatever.” + +“I don’t agree with you,” I said. + +“His conscience,” said Gorman, “if financiers have consciences which I +doubt----” + +“Some day,” I said, “when I’m a bit stronger, we’ll argue the whole +thing out.” + +We have argued it out, since then, twenty times at least. We are no +nearer reaching a conclusion than we were. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. 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A. Birmingham + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. Birmingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Gossamer + 1915 + +Author: George A. Birmingham + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [EBook #24394] +Last Updated: February 17, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSSAMER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + GOSSAMER + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By G. A. Birmingham + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Copyright, 1915, George H. Doran Company + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + “For that mercy,” said Gorman, “you may thank with brief thanksgiving + whatever gods there be.” We were discussing, for perhaps the twentieth + time, the case of poor Ascher. Gorman had reminded me, as he often does, + that I am incapable of understanding Ascher or entering into his feelings, + because I am a man of no country and therefore know nothing of the emotion + of patriotism. This seems a curious thing to say to a man who has just had + his leg mangled in a battle; but I think Gorman is quite right about his + fact I went out to the fight, when the fight came on, but only because I + could not avoid going. I never supposed that I was fighting for my + country. But Gorman is wrong in his inference. I have no country, but I + believe I can understand Ascher quite as well as Gorman does. Nor am I + sure that I ought to be thankful for my immunity from the fever of + patriotism. Ascher suffered severely because at a critical moment in his + life a feeling of loyalty to his native land gripped him hard. I have also + suffered, a rending of the body at least comparable to Ascher’s rending of + the soul. But I have not the consolation of feeling that I am a hero. + </p> + <p> + I have often told Gorman that if he were as thorough-going as he pretends + to be he would call himself O’Gorabhain or at the very least, O’Gorman. He + is an Irishman by birth, sympathy and conviction. He is a Member of + Parliament, pledged to support the cause of Ireland, and this in spite of + the fact that he has brains. He might have been a brilliant, perhaps even + a successful and popular novelist. He wrote two stories which critics + acclaimed, which are still remembered and even occasionally read. He might + have risen to affluence as a dramatist. He was the author of one + single-act play which made the fortune of a very charming actress ten + years ago. He has made a name for himself as a journalist, and his + articles are the chief glory of a leading weekly paper. But the business + to which he has really devoted himself is that of an Irish patriot. He + says amazingly foolish things in public and, in private, is always quite + ready to laugh at his own speeches. He is a genuine lover of Ireland, an + inheritor of that curious tradition of Irish patriotism which has survived + centuries of disappointed hopes, and, a much stranger thing, has never + been quite asphyxiated by its own gases. + </p> + <p> + I happen to belong to that unfortunate class of Irishmen whom neither + Gorman nor any one else will recognise as being Irish at all. I owned, at + one time, a small estate in Co. Cork. I sold it to my tenants and became a + man of moderate income, encumbered with a baronetcy of respectable + antiquity and occupied chiefly in finding profitable investments for my + capital. By way of recreation I interest myself in my neighbours and + acquaintances, in the actual men and women rather than in their affairs. + No definition of the Irish people has yet been framed which would include + me, though I am indubitably a person—I take “person” to be the + singular of people which is a noun of multitude—and come of a family + which held on to an Irish property for 300 years. My religion consists + chiefly of a dislike of the Roman Catholic Church and an instinctive + distrust of the priests of all churches. My father was an active Unionist, + and I have no political opinions of any sort. I am therefore cut off, both + by religion and politics, from any chance of taking part in Irish affairs. + On the other hand I cannot manage to feel myself an Englishman. Even now, + though I have fought in their army without incurring the reproach of + cowardice, I cannot get out of the habit of looking at Englishmen from a + distance. This convinces me that I am not one of them. + </p> + <p> + I am thus—Gorman is quite right about this—a man of no + country. But I understand Ascher as well as Gorman does; though I take a + different view of Ascher’s ultimate decision. + </p> + <p> + I met Gorman first on board a Cunard steamer in the autumn of 1913. + </p> + <p> + I was on my way to Canada. My excuse, the reason I gave to myself for the + journey, was the necessity of looking into the affairs of certain Canadian + companies in which I had invested money. There were rumours current in + England at that time which led me to suspect that the boom in Canadian + securities had reached its height and was about to subside. I did not + really believe that I was likely to find out anything of value by stopping + in an hotel at Montreal or travelling in a train to Vancouver. But I was + tired of London and thought the trip might be pleasant. I went to Canada + by way of New York, partly because the big Cunarders are comfortable + steamers, partly because I find New York an agreeable city. I have several + friends there and I like the life of the place—for a fortnight at a + time. I do not know whether I should like it for a longer time because I + have never had money enough to live in New York for more than a fortnight. + As a regular place of residence it might be too stimulating for me; but I + shall probably never know how I should feel about it at the end of six + weeks. + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who took the initiative on board the steamer. I do not think + that I should ever have made his acquaintance if he had not forced himself + on me. He accosted me, introduced himself, carried the acquaintance + through to an intimacy by sheer force of personality, and ended by + inducing me to like him. He began his attack on me during that very + uncomfortable time just before the ship actually starts. It is never + possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the + screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers + have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, + are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the + corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile + energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows + of the purser’s office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching + telegrams. Women passengers eye other women passengers with suspicion and + distrust. It is very interesting to notice how people who scowl at each + other on the first day of a voyage exchange cards and promise to pay each + other visits after six days as fellow travellers. At the end of another + six days—such is the usual unfortunate experience—the cards + are lost and the promises forgotten. A poet and, following him, a novelist + have compared human intercourse to the “speaking” of ships that pass in + the night. They would have found a more forcible, though perhaps less + poetic, illustration of their idea in the friendships formed by passengers + in the same steamer. They are intimate, but they are as a rule utterly + transitory. However I have no right to complain. The friendship which + Gorman forced on me has lasted eighteen months and shows no sign yet of + wearing thin. + </p> + <p> + He caught me in the smoking room. I had settled down quietly in a + comfortable chair, and was wondering, as I always do in that smoking room, + at the grain of the wood in the panel above the fireplace. There was no + one else in the room except a steward who hovered near the door which + leads to the bar. Experience has taught me that the smoking room, the most + populous part of the ship during the voyage, is generally empty during the + two hours before the start. I thought I should have the place to myself. I + was half way through my cigar and had failed to decide whether the panel + is a fake or a natural curiosity when Gorman entered. He is a big man and + fat. He is clean shaved and has bushy grey eyebrows. Heavy rolls of skin + hang down from his jaws. He wears an unusually large gold signet ring. His + appearance is not attractive. He sat down beside me and addressed me at + once. + </p> + <p> + “Sir James Digby?” he said. + </p> + <p> + That is my name. I admitted it by nodding. + </p> + <p> + “I was glancing over the passenger list,” he said, “and saw you were on + board. The purser told me you were up here somewhere. My name’s Gorman, + Michael Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + The name gave me no information beyond the fact that the speaker was an + Irishman. There must be several thousand Gormans in Ireland and I could + not remember that I was acquainted with any one of them. I nodded again. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t suppose you remember me,” said Gorman, “but you used to see me + pretty frequently once, about twenty-five years ago. My father kept the + only shop in Curraghbeg, and you used to come in and buy sweets, a penny + worth at a time. You were a small boy then. I was a bit older, fifteen or + sixteen perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + Curraghbeg is a miserable village standing in the middle of the tract of + land which used to be my property. It is close to Curraghbeg House, where + my father kept up such state as befitted an Irish gentleman of his day. I + believe I was born there. If I thought of any place in the world as home I + suppose it would be Curraghbeg; but I have no feeling for the place except + a mild dislike. The House is now a nunnery, in better repair, but almost + certainly more gauntly hideous than when I owned it. The village, I + expect, is still as sordid as when I saw it last. I remembered Gorman’s + shop, a dirty little public house, where sacks of flour, tea and sugar + candy were sold, as well as whisky and emigration tickets. I also + remembered my father’s opinion of Gorman, old Dan Gorman, the father of + the man beside me. He was “one of the worst blackguards in the county, + mixed up with every kind of League and devilment.” Those were the days + when the land agitation was at its height and Irish gentlemen—they + were fighting for their existence as a class—felt rather strongly + about the leaders of the people. + </p> + <p> + Of any younger Gorman I had no recollection whatever. Nor did I at that + moment, or for some time afterwards, connect the son of the ruffianly old + publican with the journalist and politician of whom I had heard a good + deal. + </p> + <p> + “Funny thing,” he said, “running into you like this. Let’s have a drink of + some sort.” + </p> + <p> + He snapped his fingers to attract the attention of the steward. + </p> + <p> + I am not, I fear, thoroughly modernised. Though I like American social + life I have never been able to accept the theory of the wickedness of + class distinctions. As a political system democracy seems to me + extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest + against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many + votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could. + I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by + dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with + gentlemen in private life. I was not prepared to sit drinking with the son + of old Dan Gorman if I could help it. + </p> + <p> + I intended to say so, as politely as such a thing can be said. The man’s + face made me pause. He was looking at me with a curious smile, half + innocent, half whimsical. His eyes expressed friendliness of a perfectly + simple, unaffected kind. I realised that he was not a snob, that he was + not trying to push himself on me for the sake of my position and title, + the position of a disinherited Irish landlord and a title which, for all + any one could tell by hearing it, might be the reward of a successful + provincial doctor. I realised also, with an uncomfortable shiver, that he + understood my feeling and was slightly amused at it. It struck me suddenly + that I, and not Gorman, was the snob. + </p> + <p> + The steward stood at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “Whisky and soda?” said Gorman. “We are still in English waters. Or shall + I say cocktails, as we’re on our way to America?” + </p> + <p> + I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. + But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought + it well to break my rule. I should, under the circumstances, have + considered myself justified in breaking a temperance pledge, on the + principle, once explained to me by an archdeacon, that charity is above + rubrics. I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going + drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful. Gorman gave + the order. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be rather a good plan for us to + sit together at meals? I’ll make arrangements with the steward and have a + table reserved for us in the upper saloon. I can manage it all right. I + often cross on this boat and everybody knows me.” + </p> + <p> + Again he looked at me and again smiled in his fascinating childlike way. + </p> + <p> + “I’m A-1 at ordering meals,” he said, “and it really does make a + difference on these ships if you know how to get the best that’s going.” + </p> + <p> + That was the one attempt he made to justify himself in forcing his company + on me. But it was not the hope of better dinners, though I like good + dinners, which led me to agree to his proposal. I was captivated by his + smile. Besides, I had not, so far as I knew, a single acquaintance among + the passengers. I should be better off with Gorman as messmate than set + down beside some chance stranger who might smile in a disagreeable way, or + perhaps not smile at all. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” I said. “You arrange it.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be pleasant,” he said, “if we could get hold of a couple of + other interesting people, and make four at our table.” + </p> + <p> + I do not deny that Gorman is an interesting person, but I did not see what + right he had to put me in that select class. I could only hope that the + other interesting people would regard me as he did. He pulled a passenger + list out of his pocket and turned over the pages. + </p> + <p> + “What about the Aschers?” he said. + </p> + <p> + He handed the list to me. There was a pencil mark opposite the name of Mr. + Carl Ascher. Immediately below it was “Mrs. Ascher and maid.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know him,” I said. “Who is he? Has he done anything particular?” + </p> + <p> + “Heavens above!” said Gorman. “Who is Ascher! But perhaps you don’t + recognise him apart from the rest of the firm. Ever heard of Ascher, Stutz + & Co.?” + </p> + <p> + I recognised the name then. Ascher is a banker, one of those international + financiers who manage, chiefly from London offices, a complicated kind of + business which no ordinary man understands anything about, a kind of + foreign business which for some reason very few Englishmen undertake. + </p> + <p> + “If the man’s a millionaire,” I said, “he won’t care to dine with us—and + he’s probably a Jew—not that I’ve any particular prejudice against + Jews.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s not a Jew,” said Gorman. “He’s an Englishman. At least he’s as + English as any man with a name like that can be. I expect he’ll jump at + the chance of feeding with us. We’re the only people on board the least + likely to interest him.” + </p> + <p> + I admire Gorman’s splendid self-confidence, but I do not share it. I + shrank from seeking the friendship of a millionaire. + </p> + <p> + “He has his wife with him,” I said. “Perhaps she——” + </p> + <p> + I meant to suggest that Mrs. Ascher might not care to be thrown with a + couple of stray men of whom she knew nothing. Gorman thought I meant + something quite different. + </p> + <p> + “She’s an American,” he said, “or was before she married Ascher. I hear + she goes in for music and pictures and literature and all that sort of + thing, which may be boring. But I daresay we shan’t see very much of her. + She’ll probably be seasick the whole time.” + </p> + <p> + I have often wondered where Gorman gets all his astonishingly accurate + information about people whom he does not know. He was very nearly right + about Mrs. Ascher. She was seasick for four out of the six days of our + voyage. + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” he went on, “we must put up with her if we want to get hold of + the husband. And I should like to do that. I’ve never had a chance before + of being intimate with one of the big bugs of finance. I want to know what + it is that those fellows really do.” + </p> + <p> + When Gorman put it to me that way I withdrew all my objections to his + plan. I very much want to know “what those fellows really do.” I am filled + with curiosity and I want to know what every kind of fellow really does. I + want to have a long talk with a Parisian dressmaker, one of the men who + settles what shape women are to be for the next six months. I want to get + at the mind of a railway manager. I want to know how a detective goes + about the job of catching criminals. Of course I want to understand + international banking. + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” said Gorman, “a millionaire is a very useful kind of man to + know.” + </p> + <p> + Millionaires are useful acquaintances because there is always a chance of + getting money from them. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t count on me as a bridge player,” I said. “I’m no good at the game + and never play for high points. You wouldn’t win anything worth while with + me as one of the party.” + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t thinking of bridge,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He was not. He was thinking, I fancy, of his brother. But we did not get + to Gorman’s brother for more than a week. + </p> + <p> + Having got my consent, Gorman went off to “set” Ascher. I use the word + “set” deliberately, for Gorman, when bent on getting anything done, + reminds me of a well-trained sporting dog. He ranges, quarters the ground + in front of him and finally—well, he set me as if I had been a + grouse. He set Ascher, I have no doubt, in the same way. + </p> + <p> + I did not think it likely that he would secure the Aschers. Millionaires + are usually shy birds, well accustomed to being pursued by all sorts of + ordinary men. They develop, I suppose, a special cunning in avoiding + capture, a cunning which the rest of us never achieve. However Ascher’s + cunning was no use to him in this case. Gorman is an exceedingly clever + dog. + </p> + <p> + The trumpet, bugle, cornet, or whatever the instrument is which announces + meals at sea, was blaring out its luncheon tune when Gorman returned to + me. He was in high triumph. He had captured the Aschers, reserved the + nicest table in the upper saloon and secured the exclusive service of the + best table steward in the ship. I think he had interviewed the head cook. + I began to appreciate Gorman’s qualities as a travelling companion. His + handling of the servants of the Cunard Company during the voyage was + masterly. I never was so well looked after before, though I always make it + a practice to tip generously. + </p> + <p> + Gorman proposed that we should have another whisky and soda before going + down to luncheon. He is a genial soul. No churl would want to drink two + glasses of whisky in the early part of one day. When I refused he looked + disappointed. + </p> + <p> + On the way down to luncheon he asked the lift boy how his mother had got + over her operation. It would never have occurred to me that the lift boy + had a mother. If I had thought the matter out carefully I might have + reached the conclusion that there must be or at one time have been a + mother for every lift boy in the world. But Gorman did not reason. He + simply knew, and knew too that this particular lift boy’s mother had been + in a Liverpool hospital, a fact which no method of reasoning known to me + would have enabled him to arrive. + </p> + <p> + The lift boy loved Gorman. His grins of delight showed that. Our table + steward, a very competent young man, adored him. The head cook—I + judged by the meals we had sent up to us—had a very strong personal + affection for Gorman. I do not wonder. I am myself fond of Gorman now. So + is Ascher. Mrs. Ascher goes further still. She respects and admires + Gorman. But Mrs. Ascher is a peculiar woman. She respects people whom the + rest of us only like. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + We saw very little of Ascher and nothing at all of his wife during the + first two days of our voyage. My idea was that they stayed in their cabins—they + had engaged a whole suite of rooms—in order to avoid drifting into + an intimacy with Gorman and me. A millionaire would naturally, so I + supposed, be suspicious of the advance of any one who was not a fellow + millionaire. I was mistaken. Ascher was simply seasick. When he recovered, + two days before Mrs. Ascher raised her head from the pillow, he showed + every sign of wanting to know Gorman and had no objection to dining with + me. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile I found out a great deal about Gorman. He was + delightfully unreserved, not only about his own past, but about his + opinions of people and institutions. Old Dan Gorman had, it appeared, + married a new wife when he was about sixty. This lady turned Michael, then + a young man, out of the house. He bore her no ill will whatever, though + she deprived him in the end of his inheritance as well as his home. For + several years he “messed about”—the phrase is his—with + journalism, acting as reporter and leader writer for several Irish + provincial papers, a kind of work which requires no education or literary + talent. Then he, so to speak, emerged, becoming somehow, novelist, + playwright, politician. I have never made out how he achieved his success. + I do not think he himself knows that. According to his own account—and + I never could get him to go into details—“things just happened to + come along.” + </p> + <p> + He was entirely frank about his opinions. He regarded landlords as the + curse of Ireland and said so to me. He did not seem satisfied that they + are innocuous, even when, being deprived of their estates, they are no + longer landlords. I do not like being called a curse—hardly any one + does—but I found myself listening to the things which Gorman said + about the class to which I belong without any strong resentment. His + treatment of us reminded me of Robbie Burns’ address to the devil. The + poet recognised that the devil was a bad character and that the world + would be in every way a brighter and happier place if there were no such + person. But his condemnation was of a kindly sort, not wholly without + sympathy. He held out a hope that “ould Nickie Ben” might still “hae some + stake”—stake in the country I suppose—if he would take thought + and mend. The reformation would have to be a drastic one, nothing less + than a complete change of his habits, character and opinions. But such a + thing was not wholly impossible. That was very much what Gorman thought + about me. + </p> + <p> + Next to Irish landlords Gorman disliked financiers more than any other + people in the world. He did not, by his own confession, know anything + about them; but he had got into touch with a group of journalists in + London which specialises in abuse of the class. + Gorman repeated all the stock arguments to me and illuminated the subject + with some very well worn apologues. + </p> + <p> + “A financier,” he said, “is a bloated spider, which sits in a murky den + spinning webs and sucks the life-blood of its victims.” + </p> + <p> + I wondered how Ascher would like this kind of talk if he ever joined our + party. + </p> + <p> + There was not, of course, the same note of personal bitterness in Gorman’s + condemnation of financiers which I noticed in his attacks on landlords. He + had learned to hate my class during the impressionable years of childhood. + He had only found out about financiers when he was a grown man. And no + one, not even a convert to a new faith, ever believes anything with real + intensity except what he was taught before he was eight years old. But it + was not to be expected that Ascher would be as patient as I was, even if + the abuse with which Gorman assailed his class lacked something of the + conviction with which he attacked me. + </p> + <p> + I asked Gorman one evening why, holding the opinions he did, he had chosen + as his table mates a banker and an unrepentant landlord. He had a whole + shipload of passengers to choose from, most of them, no doubt believers in + democracy, some of them perhaps even socialists, the kind of socialists + who travel first class on crack Cunard steamers. He seemed surprised at + the question and did not answer me at once. An hour or so after we had + passed away from the subject he returned to it suddenly and explained that + it was necessary to distinguish between individuals and the classes to + which they belong. A class, so I understood, may be objectionable and + dangerous in every way though the men who form it are delightful. + </p> + <p> + “Take the Irish priests, for instance,” he said. “The minute we get Home + Rule, we’ll——” + </p> + <p> + He paused significantly. + </p> + <p> + “Deal with them?” I suggested. + </p> + <p> + He nodded with an emphasis which was positively vicious. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he said, “there are lots of priests whom I really like, + capital fellows that I’d be glad to dine with every day in the week—except + Friday.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently he was glad to dine with Ascher and me every day in the week, + including Friday. + </p> + <p> + “There’s no sense,” he said, “in refusing to talk to a man just because + you don’t like his opinions.” + </p> + <p> + I agreed. I even offered proof of my agreement. I was at that moment + talking to Gorman and I certainly did not like his opinions. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher joined us at dinner on the third evening of our voyage, he + turned out to be a very quiet, gentle little man with no outward sign of + great wealth about him. He drank nothing but Perrier Water which was a + surprise and, I fancy, something of a disappointment to Gorman. He + expected Ascher to order champagne and was quite ready to take his turn in + paying for the wine. Ascher smoked half a cigarette after dinner and + another half cigarette before he went to bed. Gorman confided to me that + millionaires and half-crown cigars had always been associated in his mind + before he met Ascher. To me the most surprising thing about the man was + the low opinion he had of himself and his own abilities. He was + deferential to Gorman and even seemed to think what I said worth listening + to. He knew all about Gorman’s two novels and his play. He had read many + of Gorman’s newspaper articles. He used to try and make Gorman talk about + literature and art. Gorman, being a man of great intelligence, hates + talking about literature, and suspects that any one who accuses him of art + is poking fun at him. Ascher took both literature and art quite seriously. + He evidently thought that men who write books belong to a superior class. + As a matter of fact Ascher has far more brains than any author I have ever + met; but he does not know this. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lay down without protest under all the outrageous things which + Gorman said about financiers. His extreme meekness seemed to stimulate + Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “No qualities,” said Gorman, “are required for success as a financier + except a low kind of cunning and a totally unscrupulous selfishness.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher seemed to agree with him. I wanted to point out that considering + the very large number of men who are cunning and the general prevalence of + selfishness the number of successful financiers is surprisingly small. But + Gorman did not give me a chance of speaking. + </p> + <p> + “Political life in every modern state,” said Gorman, “is poisoned, + poisoned at its source by the influence of the great financial houses. + Democracy is in shackles. Its leaders are gagged. Progress is stopped. + Politics are barren——” He delivered this oration at dinner one + night, and when he came to the barrenness of politics he knocked over + Ascher’s bottle of Perrier Water with a sweep of his hand “and it is the + subtle influence of the financiers, the money kings, what the Americans + used to call the Gold Bugs, which is responsible for the mischief.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher assented with a sort of wavering smile. + </p> + <p> + “The proof of what I say,” said Gorman, “is to be found in the well-known + fact——” + </p> + <p> + I interrupted him at this point. He had cited his well-known fact to me + several times. The son of a Liberal Cabinet Minister married the daughter + of a well-known Conservative who had been a Cabinet Minister. It may be my + stupidity but I cannot see how that union proves that financiers control + politics. I am not, and never shall be either a money king or a gold bug, + but in mere dread of hearing Gorman produce his well-known fact again I + took up the task of defending the class to which Ascher belongs. + </p> + <p> + “After all, Gorman,” I said, “you ought to be a little grateful. You know + perfectly well that there wouldn’t be any politics if financiers and other + capitalists did not pay for them.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s just what I say,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said. “That’s not what you say. You say that financiers poison + politics. But there’s the greatest difference between paying for a + performance and poisoning the performers. Take a theatre for instance——” + </p> + <p> + “Talking of theatres,” said Gorman, “there’s a rattling good circus going + on in New York at present. I’ll take you two men to see it some night.” + </p> + <p> + But I was not going to let Gorman ride away in this manner from an + argument in which he was being worsted. + </p> + <p> + “Do let me finish what I am saying,” I said. “All your Parliaments and + legislative assemblies are simply national theatres kept up for the + amusement of the people. Somebody has to put up the money to keep them + going. The ordinary man won’t do it. You can’t even get him to vote + without hypnotising him first by means of a lot of speeches and newspaper + articles and placards which stare at him from hoardings. Even after you’ve + hypnotised him you have to drag him to your polling booth in motor cars. + He wouldn’t go if you didn’t. As for paying for your show, you know + perfectly well that there’d be no money for the running of it if it + weren’t for a few financiers and rich men.” + </p> + <p> + One of Gorman’s most delightful characteristics is that he bears no malice + when an argument goes against him. + </p> + <p> + “Begad, you’re right,” he said. “Right all the way along. At the present + moment I’m on my way to America to get money for the Party. There’s a man + I have my eye on out in Detroit, a fellow with millions, and an Irishman. + I mean to get a good subscription out of him. That’s why I’m on this + ship.” + </p> + <p> + “Curious,” I said. “I’m after money too. I have some investments in + Canadian railway shares—nothing much, just a few thousands, but a + good deal to me. I’m a little uneasy——” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Ascher. A man in his position, the head of one of the great + financial houses, ought to be able to give very good advice about my + shares. A word from him about the prospects of Canada generally and the + companies in which I am interested in particular, would be very valuable + to me. Gorman was also looking inquiringly at Ascher. I daresay a tip on + the state of the stock market would be interesting to him. I do not know + whether party funds are invested or kept on deposit receipt on a bank; but + Gorman is likely to have a few pounds of his own. Ascher misinterpreted + our glances. He thought we wanted to know why he was going to America. + </p> + <p> + “The condition of Mexico at present,” he said, “is causing us all some + anxiety. My partner in New York wants to have a consultation with me. + That’s what’s bringing me over.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Gorman. “I rather respect those Mexicans. It’s pleasant to hear + of wealthy men like you being hit sometimes.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s not exactly that,” said Ascher. “As a firm we don’t lose directly + whatever happens in Mexico. What we have to consider is the interest of + our customers, the people, some of them quite small people, who went into + Mexican railways on our advice. Banking houses don’t put their money into + investments. That’s not our business. But banking is a very dull subject. + Let’s talk of something else.” + </p> + <p> + He turned to me as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + “You were speaking just now,” he said, “about the necessity of putting up + money for the support of theatres. If we are to have any real dramatic art + in England——” + </p> + <p> + Banking is a fascinatingly interesting subject compared to art; but Ascher + does not think so, and Ascher had taken hold of the conversation. He + appealed to Gorman as a man whose services to literature and drama had + never been properly recognised. He appealed to me as a member of a + cultured class. Neither of us was sympathetic or responsive. Gorman knows + that he has never rendered any service to literature at all, that he wrote + novels because he wanted money in the days before a grateful country paid + him £400 a year for walking round the lobbies of the House of Commons, + that he tumbled into his play by accident and made money out of it because + a very charming lady was more charming than usual in the part he wrote for + her. + </p> + <p> + Gorman—this is one of the advantages of being an Irishman—has + no illusions about himself. I have none about my class. It is not cultured + and does not want to be. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher had smoked his half cigarette we left the dining saloon and + went to our special corner in the lounge. Ascher talked on till nearly ten + o’clock about art and drama and music as if they were the only things of + any interest or importance in the world. Then he went to bed. Gorman and I + agreed that art, drama, and music are of very little importance and less + interesting than anything else. Gorman’s weekly articles, quite the best + things of their kind then being published, are all about art, so he has a + perfect right to express his opinion. What we wanted to hear Ascher talk + about was money. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve always wanted to know what high finance really is,” I said. “It + seems a pity not to be able to find out now we’ve got a man who + understands it.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll take him in hand to-morrow,” said Gorman. “There’s no use our having + him to dine with us and looking after him all the way across if we don’t + get anything out of him.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman’s words were cryptic. I wanted to get knowledge—the sort of + knowledge which would satisfy my curiosity—out of Ascher; chiefly + knowledge though I would not have refused a little inside information + about Canadian affairs. Gorman might very well want something more. He + might want a subscription to the funds of his party. I hoped he would not + get it; either out of Ascher or out of the man at Detroit of whom he + spoke. I am not a member of any political party but I hate that to which + Gorman belongs. If I were attached to a party and if Gorman’s friends + joined it in a body, I should leave it at once. My opinion, so far as I + have any opinion, is that what Ireland wants is to be let alone. But if + the Irish Nationalist Party were to adopt a policy of deliberately doing + nothing and preventing other people from doing anything I should not + support it. I should then search about for something revolutionary and try + to insist on carrying it out. Nothing would induce me to be on the same + side as Gorman and his friends. Such is the nature of an Irish gentleman. + </p> + <p> + I lay awake for a long time that night, smoking cigarettes in my berth and + meditating on the fact that, of the three of us I was the one who was + going to America for purely selfish purposes. Gorman was trying to get + money for his party, for his own ultimate advantage no doubt, but in the + first instance the money was not for himself but for a cause. And Gorman + is a politician, a member of a notoriously corrupt and unscrupulous + professional class. Ascher was taking a long journey in order to devise + some means of rescuing his clients’ property from the clutches of a people + which had carried the principles of democracy rather further than is + usual. And Ascher is a financier. No one expects anything but enlightened + greed from financiers. I belong by birth and education to an aristocracy, + a class which is supposed to justify its existence by its altruism. There + was no doubt a valuable lesson to be learned from these considerations. I + fell asleep before I found out exactly what it was. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did as he promised. He took Ascher in hand next day. He made the + poor man walk up and down the deck with him. There is nothing on shipboard + more detestable than that tramp along the deck. Only the strongest minded + man can avoid counting his steps, making an estimate of yards, and falling + into the bondage of trying to walk a fixed number of miles. Conversation + and even coherent thought become impossible when the mind is set on the + effort to keep count of the turns made at the end of the deck. I am sure + that Ascher did not enjoy himself; but Gorman kept him at it for more than + an hour. I watched them from the deck chair in which I sat, rolled up very + comfortably in my rug. At one o’clock, when we ought to have gone down to + lunch, Gorman stopped opposite my chair. He proclaimed his success + jubilantly. + </p> + <p> + “We’ve been talking about finance,” he said, “high finance. Pity you + wouldn’t join us.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher bowed towards me. Gorman described Ascher’s manners as foreign. I + daresay they are. There is a certain flavour of formal courtesy about them + which Englishmen rarely practise, of which Irishmen of my generation, + partly anglicised by their education, have lost the trick. + </p> + <p> + “Sir James would only have been bored,” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Not he,” said Gorman, “he’s just as keen as I am to know what bankers do + with money.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a dull trade,” said Ascher, “very dull. Some day I shall give it up + and devote the rest of my time to——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t say art,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + Ascher opened his eyes and looked at Gorman with a mild kind of wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” he said, “I can never be an artist. I haven’t got the + temperament, the soul, the capacity for abandon. But I might find + enjoyment, the highest pleasure, in understanding, in appreciating, + perhaps even in encouraging——” + </p> + <p> + “Sort of Mecenas,” said Gorman. “I wonder if Mecenas was a banker. He + seems to have been a rich man.” + </p> + <p> + “He was a descendant of kings,” I said, “but that’s no reason why he + shouldn’t have made money.” + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” said Gorman, “you’d find art just as dull as banking if you went + in for it systematically.” + </p> + <p> + “But artists——!” said Ascher, “genuine artists! Men with + inspiration!” + </p> + <p> + “Selfish conceited swine,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “you ought to know. You’re an artist yourself. Ascher told + me so yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember your two novels,” said Ascher, “and I recognised in them the + touch, the unmistakable touch.” + </p> + <p> + “Let’s go down to lunch,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He left the deck as he spoke. Even Gorman does not like to stand + self-convicted of being a selfish conceited swine. Ascher laid his hand on + my arm as we went down to the saloon. + </p> + <p> + “What a brilliant fellow he is,” he whispered. “I never realised before + how magnificently paradoxical your Irish minds are. That pose of abject + self depreciation which is in reality not wholly a pose but a vehement + protest against the shallow judgment of a conventionalised culture——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher’s language was a little confusing to me, but I could guess at what + he meant. Gorman appeared to him to be an unappreciated Oscar Wilde, one + of those geniuses—I am bound to admit that they are mostly Irish—who + delude the world into thinking they are uttering profound truths when they + are merely outraging common sense. + </p> + <p> + It would be going too far perhaps to say that Ascher fawned on Gorman + during luncheon. He certainly showed his admiration for him very plainly. + </p> + <p> + During the afternoon we talked finance again. Ascher did it because he + wanted to please Gorman. I listened and learned several things which + interested me very much. I got to understand, for instance, why a + sovereign is sometimes worth more, sometimes less, when you try to + exchange it for dollars or francs; a thing which had always puzzled me + before. I learned why gold has to be shipped in large quantities from one + country to another by bankers, whereas I, a private individual, need only + send a cheque to pay my modest debts. I learned what is meant by a bill + drawn on London. It took me nearly half an hour to grasp that. Gorman + pretended to see it sooner than I did, but when he tried to supplement + Ascher’s explanation with one of his own he floundered hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + It was while we were at tea that afternoon that Mrs. Ascher put in an + appearance for the first time. She was a tall, lean woman, with dark red + hair—Gorman called it bronze—and narrow eyes which never + seemed quite open. Her face was nearly colourless. I was inclined to + attribute this to her long suffering from seasickness, but when I got to + know her better I found out that she is never anything but pallid, even + when she has lived for months on land and has been able to eat all she + wants. The first thing she did after we were introduced to her was to put + her hands up to her ears and give a low moan, expressive of great anguish. + Ascher explained to us that she was very musical and suffered acutely from + the ship’s band. I made up my mind definitely that she was not the sort of + woman I like. Gorman, on the other hand, took to her at once. He could not + stop the band, but he led the lady away to a distant corner of the writing + room. + </p> + <p> + For the rest of the voyage Gorman devoted himself to her. I do not mean to + suggest that he flirted with her either frivolously, or with yearning + artistic seriousness. Gorman enjoys the society of women and is never long + happy without it, but I do not think he cares for love-making in any form. + Besides he spent most of his time in her company watching her playing + Patience. Owen Meredith wrote a poem in which he glorified the game of + chess as an aid to quiet conjugal love-making. But so far as I know no one + has suggested that Canfield—it was Mrs. Ascher’s favourite kind of + Patience—has ever been used as an excuse for flirtation. No woman, + not even if she has eyes of Japanese shape, can look tenderly at a man + when she has just buried a valuable two under a pile of kings and queens + in her rubbish heap. + </p> + <p> + The result of Gorman’s devotion to the lady was that I was left to improve + my acquaintance with her husband. The more I talked to Ascher the better I + liked him. His admiration for his wife’s sensitiveness to sound was very + touching. I am convinced that he knew a great deal more about music than + she did and appreciated it more. But her sudden outbursts of petulance + when the band played seemed to Ascher a plain proof that she had the + spirit of an artist. He confided in me that it gave him real pleasure to + see her and Gorman together because, as artists, they must have much in + common. Ascher has a very simple and beautiful nature. No one with any + other kind of nature could put up with Mrs. Ascher as a wife. + </p> + <p> + Mere simplicity of soul and beauty of character would not, I am afraid, + have kept me at Ascher’s side for the rest of the voyage. Virtue, like the + innocence of the young, is admirable but apt to be tiresome. What + attracted me most to Ascher was his ability, the last thing he recognised + in himself. When he found out that I was interested in his business he + talked to me quite freely about it, though always with a certain + suggestion of apology. There was no need for anything of the sort. He + revealed to me a whole world of fascinating romance of which I had never + before suspected the existence. Some day, perhaps, a poet—he will + have to be a great poet—will discover that the system of credit by + means of which our civilisation works, deserves an epic. Neither the + wanderings of Ulysses nor the discoveries of a traveller through Paradise + and Purgatory make so splendid an appeal to the imagination as this vastly + complex machine which Ascher and men like him guide. The oceans of the + world are covered thick with ships. Long freight trains wind like serpents + across continents. Kings build navies. Ploughmen turn up the clay. The + wheels of factories go round. The minds of men bend nature to their + purposes by fresh inventions. Science creeps forward inch by inch. Human + beings everywhere eat, drink and reproduce themselves. The myriad + activities of the whole wide world go profitably on. They can go on only + because the Aschers, sitting at their office desks in London or New York, + direct the purchase or sale of what are but scratches with a pen on bits + of paper. + </p> + <p> + There is, no doubt, another way of looking at the system. The ships, the + kings, the mighty minds, the common men, are all of them in bondage to + Ascher and his kind. He and his brother financiers are the unseen rulers, + the mysteriously shrouded tyrants of the world. This system of credit, + which need not be at all or might be quite other than it is, has given + them supreme, untempered power, which they use to the injury of men. This + is Gorman’s view. But is it any less romantic than the other? An epic can + be written round a devil as greatly as round a hero. Milton showed us + that. What is wanted in a poet’s theme is grandeur, either fine or + terrible. Ascher’s grip upon the world has surely that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + We landed in New York and to my satisfaction I secured the rooms I usually + occupy. They are in a small hotel off Fifth Avenue, half way between the + streets which boast of numbers higher than fifty, and those others which + follow the effete European customs of having names. It is one of the + paradoxes of New York that the parts of the city where fashionable people + live and spend their money are severely business-like in the treatment of + streets, laying them out so as to form correct parallelograms and + distinguishing them by numbers instead of names, as if terrified of + letting imagination loose for a moment. Down town where the money is made + and the offices of the money makers are piled one on top of another, the + streets are as irregular as those of London or Paris, and have all sorts + of fascinatingly suggestive names. My hotel stands in the debatable land + between the two districts. Fashionable life is ebbing away from its + neighbourhood. Business is, as yet, a little shy of invading it. The + situation makes an appeal to me. I may be, as Gorman says, a man of no + country, but I am a man of two worlds. I cling to the skirts of society, + something of an outsider, yet one who has the right of entry, if I choose + to take the trouble, the large amount of trouble necessary to exercise the + right. I am one who is trying to make money, scarcely more than an amateur + among business men, but deeply interested in their pursuits. This + particular hotel seems to me therefore a convenient, that is to say a + suitable place of residence for me. It is not luxurious, nor is it cheap, + but it is comfortable, which is perhaps the real reason why I go to it. + </p> + <p> + I gave Gorman my address before I left the ship, but I did not expect him + to make any use of it. I thought that I had seen the last of him when I + crossed the gangway and got caught in the whirlpool of fuss which eddied + round the custom house shed. I was very much surprised when he walked in + on me at breakfast time on the second morning after our arrival. I was + eating an omelette at the time. I offered him a share of it and a cup of + coffee. Gorman refused both; but he helped himself to a glass of iced + water. This shows how adaptable Gorman is. Hardly any European can drink + iced water at or immediately after breakfast during the first week he + spends in America. I do not take to the stuff till I have been there about + a fortnight. But Gorman, in spite of his patriotism, has a good deal of + the cosmopolitan about him. Strange foods and drinks upset him very + little. + </p> + <p> + “Doing anything this evening?” he asked. “If not will you spend it with + me? Ascher has promised to come. We’re going to a circus and on for supper + afterwards. You remember the circus I mentioned to you on the steamer.” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated before I answered. I suppose I looked a little astonished. + That Gorman should propose an evening out was natural enough. I should not + call him a dissipated man, but he has a great deal of vitality and he + likes what he calls “a racket” occasionally. What surprised me was that a + circus should be his idea of dissipation. A circus is the sort of + entertainment to which I send my nephew—a boy of eleven—when + he spends the night with me in London on his way to school. My servant, a + thoroughly trustworthy man, takes him there. I pay for the tickets. + Gorman, Ascher, and I were three grown men and we could not boast of a + child among us to serve as an excuse for going to a circus. + </p> + <p> + “It’s quite a good show,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + I tried to think of Ascher at a circus. I failed to picture him, a man + educated up to the highest forms of art, gazing in delight while a lady in + short petticoats jumps through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse. + I had not been at a circus for about thirty years, since my tenth birthday + indeed, but I do not believe that the form of entertainment has changed + much since then. The clowns’ jokes—I judge from my nephew’s reports—are + certainly the same as they were in my time. But even very great + improvements would not make circuses tolerable to really artistic people + like Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve got free passes for the best seats,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He had mistaken the cause of my hesitation. I was not thinking of the cost + of our evening’s amusement. + </p> + <p> + “You journalists,” I said, “are wonderful. You get into the front row + every time without paying, whether it’s a coronation or a funeral. How did + you manage it this time?” + </p> + <p> + “My brother Tim is connected with the show. I daresay you don’t remember + him at Curraghbeg. He was fifteen years younger than me. My father married + a second time, you know. Tim is my half-brother.” + </p> + <p> + I did not remember Gorman himself in Curraghbeg. I could not be expected + to remember Tim who must have been still unborn when I left home to join + the Army. + </p> + <p> + “Tim has the brains of our family,” said Gorman. “His mother was a very + clever woman.” + </p> + <p> + I never heard Gorman say anything worse than that about his step-mother, + and yet she certainly treated him very badly. + </p> + <p> + “You’re all clever,” I said. “Your father drove mine out of the country + and deprived him of his property. It took ability to do that. You are a + Member of Parliament and a brilliant journalist. Timothy—I hardly + like to speak of him as Tim—owns a splendid circus.” + </p> + <p> + “He doesn’t own it,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well, runs it,” I said. “I expect it takes more brains to run a circus + than to own one.” + </p> + <p> + “He doesn’t exactly run it,” said Gorman. “In fact he only takes the money + at the door. But he has brains. That’s why I want Ascher to meet him. I + didn’t ask Mrs. Ascher,” he added thoughtfully, “though she hinted for an + invitation, rather made a set at me, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + “Give her my ticket,” I said. “I don’t mind a bit. I’ll buy another for + myself in a cheap part of the house, and join you at supper afterwards. + You ought not to disappoint Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t want Mrs. Ascher this time. She’d be in the way. She’s a charming + woman, of course, though she does bore me a bit about music and talks of + her soul.” + </p> + <p> + “Good Heavens!” I said. “You haven’t been discussing religion with her, + surely. I didn’t think you’d do a thing like that, Gorman. You oughtn’t + to.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mentioned religion to her in my life. Nothing would induce me to. + For one thing I don’t believe she has any.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re a Roman Catholic yourself, aren’t you?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Gorman, “I don’t know that I can say that I am exactly; but + I’m not a Protestant or a Jew. But that’s nothing to do with it. Mrs. + Ascher doesn’t talk about her soul in a religious way. In fact—I + don’t know if you’ll understand, but what she means by a soul is something + quite different, not the same sort of soul.” + </p> + <p> + I understood perfectly. I have met several women of Mrs. Ascher’s kind. + They are rather boastful about their souls and even talk of saving or + losing them. But they do not mean what one of Gorman’s priests would mean, + or what my poor father, who was a strongly evangelical Protestant, meant + by the phrases. + </p> + <p> + “We are not accustomed to souls like hers in Ireland. We only go in for + the commonplace, old-fashioned sort.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. + </p> + <p> + “She wouldn’t be seen with one of them about her,” he said. “They’re + vulgar things. Everybody has one.” + </p> + <p> + “Soul or no soul,” I said, “you ought to invite Mrs. Ascher to your party. + Why not do the civil thing?” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll do the civil thing some other time. I’ll take her to a concert, but + I don’t want her to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “your brother’s circus is a little—shall we say + Parisian? I don’t think you need mind that. Mrs. Ascher isn’t exactly a + girl. It would take a lot to shock her. In fact, Gorman, my experience of + these women with artistic souls is that the riskier the thing is the + better they like it.” + </p> + <p> + That is, as I have noticed, one of the great differences between a + commonplace, so to speak, religious soul and a soul of the artistic kind. + You save the one by keeping it as clean as you can. The other seems to + thrive best when heavily manured. It is no disparagement of the artistic + soul to say that it likes manure. Some of the most delicious and beautiful + things in the world are like that, raspberries for instance, which make + excellent jam, roses about which poets write, and begonias. I knew a man + once who poured bedroom slops into his begonia bed every day and he had + the finest flowers I ever saw. + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “did it ever occur to you that Mrs. Ascher’s soul is + like a begonia?” + </p> + <p> + “Bother Mrs. Ascher’s soul!” said Gorman. “I’m not thinking about it. The + circus is a show you might take a nun to. Nobody could possibly object to + it. The reason I headed her off was because I wanted to talk business to + Ascher, very particular business and rather important. In fact,” here he + sank his voice to a confidential whisper, “I want you to help me to rope + him in.” + </p> + <p> + “If you’ve succeeded in roping him into a circus,” I said, “I should think + you could rope him into anything else without my help. Would you mind + telling me what the scheme is?” + </p> + <p> + “I’m trying to,” he said, “but you keep interrupting me with silly riddles + about begonias.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m sorry I mentioned begonias. All the same it’s a pity you wouldn’t + listen. You’d have liked the part about manure. But never mind. Go on + about Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “My brother Tim,” said Gorman, “has invented a new cash register. He’s + always inventing things; been at it ever since he was a boy. But they’re + mostly quite useless things though as cute as the devil. In fact I don’t + think he ever hit on anything the least bit of good till he got this cash + register.” + </p> + <p> + “Before we go further,” I said, “what is a cash register?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a machine used in shops and cheap tea-places for——” + </p> + <p> + “I know now,” I said. “It has keys like a typewriter. That’s all right. I + thought for a moment it might be a book, a ledger, you know. Go on.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Tim’s machine is out and away the best thing of its kind ever seen. + There’s simply no comparison between it and the existing cash registers. + I’ve had it tested in every way and I know.” + </p> + <p> + I began, so I thought, to see what Ascher was to be roped into. + </p> + <p> + “You want money to patent it, I suppose,” I said. + </p> + <p> + But that was not it. Gorman had scraped together whatever money was + necessary to make his brother’s invention secure in Europe and America. He + had done more, he had formed a small private company in which he held most + of the shares himself. He had manufactured a hundred of the new machines + and was prepared to put them on the market. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said. “Now I see what you’re at. You want more capital. You want + to work the thing on a big scale. I might take a share or two myself, just + for the sake of having a flutter.” + </p> + <p> + “We don’t want you,” said Gorman. “The fewer there are in it the better. I + don’t want to have to divide the profits with a whole townful of people. + But we might let you in if you get Ascher for us. You have a lot of + influence with Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + I had, of course, no influence whatever with Ascher. But Gorman, though he + is certainly a clever man, has the defects of his class and his race. He + was an Irish peasant to start with and there never was an Irish peasant + yet who did not believe in a mysterious power which he calls “influence.” + It is curious faith, though it justifies itself pretty well in Ireland. In + that country you can get nearly anything done, either good or bad, if you + persuade a sufficiently influential person to recommend it. Gorman’s + mistake, as it seemed to me, lay in supposing that influence is equally + potent outside Ireland. I am convinced that it is no use at all in dealing + with a man like Ascher. If a big financial magnate will not supply money + for an enterprise on the merits of the thing he is not likely to do so + because a friend asks him. Besides I cannot, or could not at that time, + boast of being Ascher’s intimate friend. However Gorman’s mistake was no + affair of mine. + </p> + <p> + “If Ascher goes in at all,” I said, “he’ll do it on a pretty big scale. + He’ll simply absorb the rest of you.” + </p> + <p> + “The fact is,” said Gorman, “I don’t want Ascher to join. I don’t want him + to put down a penny of money. All I want him to do is to back us. Of + course he’ll get his whack of whatever we make, and if he likes to be the + nominal owner of some bonus shares in our company he can. That would + regularise his position. The way the thing stands is this.” + </p> + <p> + I had finished my breakfast and lit a cigar. Gorman pulled out his pipe + and sat down opposite to me. I am not, I regret to say, a business man, + but I succeeded in understanding fairly well what he told me. + </p> + <p> + His brother’s cash register, if properly advertised and put on the market, + would drive out every other cash register in the world. In the long run + nothing could stand against it. Of that Gorman was perfectly convinced. + But the proprietors of the existing cash registers would not submit + without a struggle. + </p> + <p> + Gorman nodded gravely when he told me this. Evidently their struggles were + the very essence of the situation. + </p> + <p> + “What can they do?” I said. “If your machine is much better than theirs + surely——” + </p> + <p> + “They’ll do what people always do on these occasions. They’ll infringe our + patents.” + </p> + <p> + “But the law——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Gorman, “the law. It’s just winning law suits that would ruin + us. Every time we got a judgment in our favour the case would be appealed + to a higher court. That would happen here and in England and in France and + in every country in the world civilised enough to use cash registers. + Sooner or later, pretty soon too—we should have no money left to + fight with.” + </p> + <p> + “Bankrupt,” I said, “as a consequence of your own success. What an odd + situation!” + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said Gorman, “you see where Ascher comes in.” + </p> + <p> + “I do. But I don’t expect he’ll spend his firm’s money fighting + speculative law suits all over the world just to please you.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t see the position in the least. There’ll be no law suits and he + won’t spend a penny. Once it’s known that his firm is behind us no one + will attempt to touch our patent. People aren’t such fools as to start + playing beggar-my-neighbour with Ascher, Stutz & Co. The whole world + knows that their firm has money enough to go on paying lawyers right on + until the day of judgment.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope to goodness,” I said, “that we shan’t meet lawyers then.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. Up to that point it had been impossible to move him from + his desperate earnestness, but a joke at the expense of lawyers is sure of + a smile under any circumstances. With the possible exception of the + mother-in-law joke, the lawyer joke is the oldest in the world and like + all well tested jokes it may be relied on. + </p> + <p> + “There won’t be any lawyers then,” said Gorman. “They’ll go straight to + hell without the formality of a trial.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed to me to be carrying the joke too far. I have known several + lawyers who were no worse than other professional men, quite upright and + honourable compared to doctors. I should have liked to argue the point + with Gorman. But for the moment I was more interested in the future of the + new cash register than in the ultimate destiny of lawyers. + </p> + <p> + “If you get Ascher to back you,” I said, “and your patents are safe, + you’ll want to begin making machines on a big scale. Where will you get + the money for that?” + </p> + <p> + “You haven’t quite caught on yet,” said Gorman. “I don’t want to make the + things at all. Why should I? There would have to be a large company. I + have neither time nor inclination to manage it. Tim hasn’t that kind of + brains. Besides it would be risky. Somebody might come along any day with + a better machine and knock ours out. People are always inventing things, + you know. What I want is a nice large sum of hard cash without any bother + or risk. Don’t you see that the other people, the owners of the present + cash registers, will have to buy us out? If our machine is the best and + they daren’t go to law with us they must buy us out. There’s no other + course open to them. What’s more, they’ll have to pay pretty nearly what + we ask. In fact, if we put up a good bluff there’s hardly any end to the + extent to which we can bleed them. See?” + </p> + <p> + I saw something which looked to me like a modernised form of highway + robbery. + </p> + <p> + “Is that sort of thing common?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Done every day,” said Gorman. “It’s business.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “there’s one justification for your proceedings. If half + what you say about your brother’s invention is true the world will get the + benefit of a greatly improved cash register. I suppose that’s the way + civilisation advances.” + </p> + <p> + “The world be damned,” said Gorman. “It’ll get nothing. You don’t suppose + the people who buy us out are going to start making Tim’s machine. They + can if they like, of course, once they’ve paid us. But it will cost them + hundreds of thousands if they do. They’d have to scrap all their existing + plant and turn their factories inside out, and in the end they wouldn’t + make any more profit than they’re making now. No. They’ll simply suppress + Tim’s invention and the silly old world will go on with the machines it + has at present.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “you gave me to understand a minute or so ago that you + went in for the old-fashioned kind of soul, the kind we were both brought + up to. I’m not at all sure that I wouldn’t rather have Mrs. Ascher’s new + kind, even if it——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t start talking about begonias again,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t going to. I was only going to say that even plays in which + nothing happens and grimy women say indecent things—that’s art you + know—seem to me better than the sort of things your soul fattens + on.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see any good talking about souls,” said Gorman. “This is a matter + of business. The other people will crush us if they can. If they can’t, + and they won’t be able to if Ascher backs us, they’ll have to pay us. + There’s nothing wrong about that, is there? Look at it this way. We’ve got + something to sell——” + </p> + <p> + “Cash registers,” I said. “But you don’t propose to sell them.” + </p> + <p> + “Not cash registers, but the right to make a certain kind of cash + registers. That’s what we’re going to sell. We could sell it to the + public, form a company to use the rights. It suits us better for various + reasons to sell it to these people. It suits them to buy. They needn’t + unless they like. But they will like. Now if we want to sell and they want + to buy and we agree on the price where does anybody’s soul come in?” + </p> + <p> + “There is evidently,” I said, “a third kind of soul. The original, + religious kind, the artistic kind, and what we may call the business soul. + You have a mixture of all three in you, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you’d stop worrying about my soul and tell me this. Are you going + to help to rope in Ascher or not? He’ll come if you use your influence + with him.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow,” I said. “Of course I’m going to help. Haven’t you + offered me a share of the loot?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you would,” said Gorman triumphantly. “But what about your own + soul?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t got one,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I used to have a sort of instinct called honour which served men of my + class instead of a soul. But Gorman and Gorman’s father before him and + their political associates have succeeded in abolishing gentlemen in + Ireland. There is no longer the class of gentry in that country and the + few surviving individuals have learned that honour is a silly + superstition. I am now a disinterested spectator of a game which my + ancestors played and lost. The virtue desirable in a spectator is not + honour but curiosity. I wanted very much to see how Ascher would take + Gorman’s proposal and how the whole thing would work out. I promised to + sit through the circus, to attend the supper party afterwards and to do + the best I could to persuade Ascher to join our robber band. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher is not the woman to miss an entertainment she desires merely + because she lacks an invitation. She arrived at the door of the circus in + a taxicab with Ascher. Gorman and I were there and when he first saw Mrs. + Ascher he swore. However he was forced to give her some sort of welcome + and he did it pretty well, though I fear Ascher might have noticed a note + of insincerity in his voice. But that was only at first. Gorman’s temper + changed when we reached our seats and Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak. + </p> + <p> + She was wearing an evening gown of the most startling design and colour. I + should have said beforehand that a woman with a skin as pallid as that of + a corpse and so little flesh that her bones stick up jaggedly would be + wise to avoid very low dresses. Mrs. Ascher displayed, when she took off + her cloak, as much skin and bone as she could without risking arrest at + the hands of the police. Her gown, what there was of it, was of a vivid + orange colour and she wore emeralds round her neck. If the main object of + wearing clothes is, as some philosophers maintain, to attract attention, + then Mrs. Ascher understands the art of dress. She created a sensation. + That was what pleased Gorman. He is a man who likes to be the centre of + interest wherever he is, or if that is not possible, to be attached to the + person who has secured that fortunate position. Mrs. Ascher attracts the + public gaze wherever she goes. I have seen people turn round to stare at + her in the dining room of the Ritz in New York and at supper in the + Carlton in London. The men and women who formed the audience in Gorman’s + circus were unaccustomed to daring splendour of raiment. They actually + gasped when Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak and Gorman felt glad that she + had come. + </p> + <p> + She said a few words to me about the delight which an artist’s soul feels + in coming into direct contact with the seething life of the people, and + she mentioned with appreciation a French picture, one of Degas’ I think, + which represents ballet dancers practising their art. Then she and Gorman + settled down in two of the three seats reserved for us. Ascher and I + retired modestly to the back of what I may call the dress circle. After a + while when the performance was well under way, Gorman’s brother came in. I + suppose the greater part of his evening’s work was done and he was able to + leave the task of dealing with late comers to some subordinate clerk. He + looked a mere boy, younger than I expected, as he stood at the end of the + row of seats trying to attract his brother’s attention. Gorman was so much + occupied with Mrs. Ascher that for some time he did not notice Tim. I had + time to observe the boy. He had fair hair, and large, childlike blue eyes. + He was evidently nervous, for he shifted his weight from one leg to the + other. He kept pulling at his tie, and occasionally patting his hair. He + was quite right to be uncomfortable about his hair. It was very untidy and + one particular lock stood out stiffly at the back of his head. + </p> + <p> + Gorman saw him at last and immediately introduced him to Ascher and to me. + But Tim was far too nervous to sit down beside us. He crept after his + brother and took a chair, three seats beyond Gorman, away from Mrs. + Ascher. She spotted him directly and insisted on his sitting beside her. + She is a woman who likes to have a man of some sort on each side of her. + Tim Gorman was little more than a boy but he was plainly frightened of + her. I suppose that gave zest to the sport of annexing him. Besides, his + eyes are very fine, and, if souls really shine through eyes, showed that + he was refreshingly innocent. I expect, too, that there was something + piquant in the company of the clerk who takes the money at the door of a + second-rate entertainment. Mrs. Ascher has often told me that she is more + interested in life than in anything else, even art. She distinguishes + between life and real life. Mine, I gather, is not nearly so real as that + of a performer in a travelling circus. I do not know why this should be + so, but I have no doubt that it is. Mrs. Ascher is not by any means the + only person who thinks so. Tim Gorman’s life was apparently real enough to + attract her greatly. She paid him the compliment of talking a good deal to + the boy, though she was far too clever a woman to let the elder brother + feel himself neglected. + </p> + <p> + A learned horse had just begun its performance when Tim Gorman entered. It + went on for some time picking out large letters from a pile in front of it + and arranging them so as to spell out “yes” or “no” in answer to questions + asked by a man with a long whip in his hand. The animal used one of its + front hoofs in arranging the letters, and looked singularly undignified. + Ascher sat quite still with an air of grave politeness. I tried to get him + to tell me what he thought of the learned horse but could get nothing out + of him. Long silences make me uncomfortable. I felt at last that it was + better to talk nonsense than not to talk at all. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” I said, “that learned men look almost as grotesque to the + angels as learned horses do to us. I can fancy Raphael watching a German + professor writing a book on the origin of religion. He would feel all the + while that the creature’s front paw was meant by nature for nobler uses.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Ascher, “yes. Quite so.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke vaguely. I think he did not hear what I said. Or perhaps the + learned horse struck him differently. Or his mind may have been entirely + occupied with the problem of Mexican railways so that he could pay no + attention either to the learned horse or to me. If so, he was wakened from + his reverie by the next performance. + </p> + <p> + A company of acrobats in spangled tights, three men and one young woman, + took possession of the arena. At first they tumbled, turned somersaults, + climbed on each other’s shoulders and assumed attitudes which I should + have said beforehand were impossible for any creature with bones. Then a + large net was stretched some six feet from the ground and several trapezes + which had been tied to the roof were allowed to hang down. The acrobats + climbed up by a ladder and swung from one trapeze to another. The business + was commonplace enough, but I became aware that Ascher was very much + interested in it. He became actually excited when we reached the final + act, the climax of the performance. + </p> + <p> + The programme, at which I glanced, spoke of “The Flying Lady.” The woman, + her spangles aglitter in a blaze of lime light, did indubitably fly, if + rushing unsupported through the air at some height from solid ground is + the essence of flying. Two of the men hung on their trapezes, one by his + hands and the other by his legs. They swung backwards and forwards. The + length of the ropes was so great that they passed through large arcs, + approaching each other and then swinging back until there was a long space + between them. The young woman, standing on a third trapeze, swung too. + Suddenly, at the upward end of a swing, just as her trapeze hung + motionless for an instant, she launched herself into the air. The man on + the next trapeze came swinging towards her. She caught him by the feet at + the very moment when he was nearest to her. He swung back and she dangled + below him. When he reached the highest point of the half circle through + which he passed, she was stretched out, making with him a horizontal line. + At that moment she let go and shot, feet foremost, through the air. The + man who hung head downwards from the next trapeze came swiftly towards her + and caught her by the ankles. The two swung back together and at the end + of his course he let her go. The impulse of his swing sent her, turning + swiftly as she flew, towards a ladder at the end of the row. She alighted + on her feet on a little platform, high up near the roof of the building. + There she stood, bowing and smiling. + </p> + <p> + The people burst into a shout of cheering. Ascher leaned forward in his + seat and gazed at her. The two men still kept their trapezes in full + swing. The third man, standing on a platform at the other end of the row, + set the remaining trapeze swinging, that from which the woman had begun + her flight. A minute later she flung herself from the platform and the + whole performance was repeated. I could hear Ascher panting with + excitement beside me. + </p> + <p> + “A horribly risky business,” I said, “but wonderful, really wonderful. If + one of those swings were a fraction late—— But of course the + whole thing is exactly calculated.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” said Ascher, “calculated, of course. It’s a matter of + mathematics and accurate timing of effort. But if it were worked by + machinery, with lay figures, we should think nothing of it. Somebody would + do sums and there would be nothing particular in it. The wonderful thing + is the confidence. The timing of the swings might be all right; but if the + woman hesitated for an instant, or if one of the men felt the slightest + doubt about the thing’s coming off—If they didn’t all feel + absolutely sure that the hands would be there to grasp her at just the + proper moment—It’s the perfect trust which the people have, of each + other, of the calculations—Don’t you see?” + </p> + <p> + I began to see that Ascher was profoundly moved by this performance. I + also began to see why. + </p> + <p> + “It’s like—like some things in life,” I said, “or what some things + ought to be.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s like what my life is,” said Ascher. “Don’t you see it?” + </p> + <p> + “I should be rather stupid if I didn’t see it, considering the trouble you + took to explain the working of international credit to me for two whole + days.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you do understand.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” I said, “that you are that woman. Your whole complex + business is very like hers. It’s the meeting of obligations exactly at the + end of their swing, the fact that at the appointed moment there will be + something there for you to grasp.” + </p> + <p> + “And the confidence,” said Ascher. “If the bankers in any country doubt + the solvency of the bankers in another country, if there’s the smallest + hesitation, an instant’s pause of distrust or fear, then international + credit collapses and——” + </p> + <p> + He flung out his arm with a gesture of complete hopelessness. I realised + that if anything went wrong between bankers in their trapeze act there + would be a very ugly smash. + </p> + <p> + “And in your case,” I said, “there’s no net underneath.” + </p> + <p> + The girl and the three men were safe on firm ground again. They were + bowing final acknowledgments to the cheering crowd. I suppose they do the + same thing every night of their lives, but they were still able to enjoy + the cheering. Their faces were flushed and their eyes sparkled. They are + paid, perhaps pretty well paid, for risking their lives; but the applause + is the larger part of the reward. + </p> + <p> + “Also,” I said to Ascher, “nobody cheers you. Nobody knows you’re doing + it.” + </p> + <p> + “No. Nobody knows we’re doing it. Nobody sees our flights through the air + or guesses the supreme confidence we bankers must have in each other. When + anybody does notice us it’s—well, our friend Gorman, for instance.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman holds the theory that financial men, Ascher and the rest, are + bloated spiders who spend their time and energy in trapping the world’s + workers, poor flies, in gummy webs. + </p> + <p> + “And of course Gorman is right in a way,” said Ascher. “I can’t help + feeling that things ought to be better managed. But—but it’s a pity + that men like him don’t understand.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher is wonderful. I shall never attain his mental attitude of + philosophic tolerance. I do not feel that Gorman is in any way right about + the Irish landlords. I felt, though I like the man personally, that he and + his friends are deliberately and wickedly perverse. + </p> + <p> + “Some day,” said Ascher, “something will go wrong. A rope will break, or a + man will miss his grip, and then people in one place will be starving, + while people somewhere else have food all round them rotting in heaps. Men + will want all sorts of things and will not be able to get them, though + there will be plenty of them in the world. Men will think that the laws of + nature have stopped working, that God has gone mad. Hardly any one will + understand what has happened, just that one trapeze rope has broken, or + that one man has lost his nerve and missed his grip.” + </p> + <p> + “She might have fallen clear of the net,” I said, “and come down on the + audience.” + </p> + <p> + “When we slip a trick,” said Ascher, “it will be on the audience that we + shall come down; and the audience, the people, will be bruised and hurt, + won’t in the least know what has happened.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman—I suddenly recollected this—had an adventure in finance + to propose. If Ascher goes into the scheme I shall have an opportunity of + watching an interesting variant of the trapeze act. We shall get the + people, who own the existing cash registers on the swing and then hold + them to ransom. We shall set our small trapeze oscillating right across + their airy path and decline to remove it unless they agree to part with + some of the very shiniest of their spangles and hand them over to us for + our adornment. I wondered how Ascher, who is so deeply moved by the perils + of his own flights, would like the idea of destroying other people’s + confidence and upsetting their calculations. + </p> + <p> + I looked down and saw that Gorman had left his seat. Mrs. Ascher had been + making good progress with Tim. The boy was leaning towards her and talking + eagerly. She lay back in her seat and smiled at him. If she were not + interested in what he was saying she succeeded very well in pretending + that she was. All really charming women practise this form of deception + and all men are taken in by it if it is well done. Mrs. Ascher does it + very well. + </p> + <p> + When the net was cleared away and the trapezes slung up again in the roof, + we had a musical ride, performed by six men and six women mounted on very + shiny horses. Mrs. Ascher, of course, objected strongly to the music. I + could see her squirming in her seat. Ascher did not find the thing + interesting and began to fidget. It was, indeed, much less suggestive than + either the learned horse or the acrobats. You cannot discover in a musical + ride any parable with a meaning applicable to life. Nothing in the world + goes so smoothly and pleasantly. There are always risks even when there + are no catastrophes, and catastrophes are far too common. Ascher probably + felt that we were out of touch with humanity. He kept looking round, as if + seeking some way of escape. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately Gorman turned up again very soon. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you won’t mind,” he said, “but I have changed the arrangement for + supper. Mrs. Ascher,” he nodded towards the seat in which she was + writhing, “wants to meet the Galleotti family. They’re not a family, you + know, and of course they’re not called Galleotti. The woman is a Mrs. + Briggs, and the tallest of the men is her husband. The other two are no + relation. I don’t know their names, but Tim will introduce us.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at my programme again. It was under the name of the Galleotti + Family that the acrobats performed. + </p> + <p> + “That will be most interesting,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “I’m afraid it won’t,” said Gorman. “People like that are usually quite + stupid. However Mrs. Ascher wanted it, so of course I made arrangements.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently wanted to see life, the most real kind of life, + thoroughly. Not contented with having the doorkeeper of a cheap circus + sitting, so to speak, in her lap all evening, she was now bent on sharing + a meal with a troupe of acrobats. + </p> + <p> + “It’s rather unlucky,” Gorman went on, “but Mrs. Briggs simply refuses to + go to the Plaza. I had a table engaged there.” + </p> + <p> + “How regal of you, Gorman!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “You’d have thought she’d have liked it,” he said. “But she made a fuss + about clothes. It’s extraordinary how women will.” + </p> + <p> + “You can hardly blame her,” I said; “I expect the head waiter would turn + her out if she appeared in that get-up of hers. Very absurd of him, of + course, but——” + </p> + <p> + I was not conscious that my eyes had wandered to Mrs. Ascher’s dress until + Gorman winked at me. Fortunately Ascher noticed neither my glance nor + Gorman’s wink. I had not thought of suggesting that Mrs. Briggs’ stage + costume was no more daring than what Mrs. Ascher wore. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Ascher, “she wouldn’t come to supper in tights. It’s her + other clothes she’s thinking of. I daresay they are shabby.” + </p> + <p> + I could understand what Mrs. Briggs felt. Gorman could not. I do not think + that any feeling about the shabbiness of his coat would make him hesitate + about dining with an Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you won’t mind,” he said to Ascher, “but we’re going to rather a + third-rate little place.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman had evidently meant to do us well in the way of supper, champagne + probably. He may have had the idea that good food would soften Ascher’s + heart towards the cash register scheme, but Mrs. Ascher’s insistence on + meeting the Galleotti family spoiled the whole plan. We could not talk + business across Mrs. Briggs, so it mattered little what sort of supper we + had. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher left her seat and joined us. Tim, looking more nervous than + ever, followed her at a distance. + </p> + <p> + “Take me out of this,” she said to me. “Take me out of this or I shall go + mad. That dreadful band!” + </p> + <p> + She spoke in a kind of intense hiss, and I took her out at once, leaving + the others to collect our hats and coats and to hunt up the Galleotti + family. When we reached the entrance hall she sank into a seat. I thought + she was going to faint and felt very uncomfortable. She shut her eyes and + murmured in a feeble way. I bent down to hear what she was trying to say, + and was relieved to find that she was asking for a cigarette. I gave her + one at once. I even lit it for her as she seemed very weak. It did her + good. When she had inhaled three or four mouthfuls of smoke she was able + to speak quite audibly and had forgotten all about the horror of the band. + Her mind went back to the Galleotti family. + </p> + <p> + “Did you notice the muscular development of those men?” she said. “I don’t + think I ever saw more perfect symmetry, the tallest of the three + especially. The play of his shoulder muscles was superb. I wonder if he + would sit for me. I do a little modelling, you know. Some day I must show + you my things. I did a baby faun just before I left London. It isn’t good, + of course; but I can’t help knowing that it has feeling.” + </p> + <p> + The tallest Galleotti probably has feeling too, of a different kind. I + expect he would have refused Gorman’s invitation to supper if he had known + that he was invited in order to give Mrs. Ascher an opportunity of + studying his muscular development at close quarters. Perhaps he had some + idea that he was to be on show and did not like it. Instead of wearing his + spangled tights he came to supper in a very ill-fitting tweed suit, which + completely concealed his symmetry. The other two men were equally + inconsiderate. Mrs. Briggs wore a rusty black skirt and a somewhat soiled + blouse. Mrs. Ascher was disappointed. + </p> + <p> + She showed her annoyance by ignoring the Galleotti Family. This was rather + hard on Gorman, who had invited the family solely to please her and then + found that she would not speak to them. She took a chair in a corner next + the wall, and beckoned to Tim Gorman to sit beside her. Tim was miserably + frightened and dodged about behind the tallest of the Galleottis to avoid + her eye. I expect her manner when the band was playing had terrified him. + I felt certain that I should be snubbed, but, to avoid general + awkwardness, I took the chair beside Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I tried to cheer her up a little. + </p> + <p> + “Just think,” I whispered, “if Mr. Briggs looks so commonplace in + every-day clothes, other men, even I perhaps, might be as splendid as he + was if we put on spangled tights.” + </p> + <p> + I had to whisper because Mr. Briggs was near me, and I did not want to + hurt his feelings. Mrs. Ascher may not have heard me. She certainly did + not answer; I went on: + </p> + <p> + “Thus there may be far more beauty in the world than we suspect. We may be + meeting men every day who have the figures of Greek gods underneath their + absurd coats. It’s a most consoling thought.” + </p> + <p> + It did not console Mrs. Ascher in the least; but I thought a little more + of it might be good for her. + </p> + <p> + “In the same way,” I said, “heroic hearts may be beating under the + trappings of conventionality and great souls may——” + </p> + <p> + I meant to work the idea out; but Mrs. Ascher cut me short by saying that + she had a headache. There was every excuse for her. She wanted to see the + muscles of Mr. Briggs’ shoulders and she wanted Tim Gorman to sit beside + her. Double disappointments of this kind often bring on the most violent + headaches. + </p> + <p> + The supper party was a failure. The Galleotti men would talk freely only + to Tim Gorman and relapsed into gaping silence when Ascher spoke to them. + Mrs. Briggs would not speak at all, until Gorman, who has the finest + social talent of any man I ever met, talked to her about her baby. On that + subject she actually chattered to the disgust of Mrs. Ascher, who has no + children herself and regards women who have as her personal enemies. We + had sausages and mashed potatoes to eat. We drank beer. Even Ascher drank + a little beer, though I know he hated it. + </p> + <p> + Not a word was said about Tim’s cash register until the Galleotti family + went away and the party broke up. Then Gorman suddenly sprang the subject + on Ascher. Mrs. Ascher, having snubbed me with her headache story, at last + captured Tim Gorman. She spoke quite kindly to him and tried to teach him + to help her on with her cloak, a garment which Tim was at first afraid to + touch. I heard her, when Tim was at last holding the cloak, asking him to + sit for her in her studio. Tim has no very noticeable physical + development, but he has very beautiful eyes. Mrs. Ascher may have wanted + him as a model for a figure of Sir Galahad. Her interest in the boy gave + us a chance of talking business. + </p> + <p> + It was not a chance that I should have used if I had been Gorman. It + seemed to me foolish to lay a complicated scheme before a man who has just + been severely tried in temper by unaccustomed kinds of food and drink. + However, Gorman set out the case of the cash register in a few words. He + did not go into details, and I do not know whether Ascher understood what + was expected of him. He invited Gorman to bring Tim and the machine to the + bank next day and promised to look into the matter. Gorman, still under + the delusion that influence matters, insisted on my being one of the + party. He described me as a shareholder in the company. Ascher said he + would be glad to see me, too, next day. My impression is that he would + have agreed to receive the whole circus company rather than stand any + longer in that grimy restaurant talking to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + Gorman called for me at my hotel next morning at 9 o’clock. + </p> + <p> + “Time to start,” he said, “if we’re to keep our appointment with Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + I was still at breakfast and did not want to start till I had finished. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” I said, “that it’s wise to tackle him quite so early? Most + men’s tempers improve as the day goes on,—up to a certain point, not + right into the evening. Now I should say that noon would be the very best + hour for business of our kind.” + </p> + <p> + But Gorman is very severe when he is doing business. He took no notice + whatever of my suggestion. He pulled a long envelope out of his pocket and + presented it to me. It contained a nicely printed certificate, which + assured me that I was the owner of one thousand ordinary shares in the New + Excelsior Cash Register Company, Ltd. The face value of the shares was + five dollars each. + </p> + <p> + “I did not mean to take quite so many shares,” I said. “However, I don’t + mind. If you will work out the rate of exchange while I finish my coffee, + I’ll give you an English cheque for the amount.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman laughed at the proposal. + </p> + <p> + “You needn’t pay anything,” he said. “All we want from you is your name on + our list of directors and your influence with Ascher. Those shares will be + worth a couple of hundred dollars each at least when we begin our squeeze + and you don’t run the slightest risk of losing anything.” + </p> + <p> + The owning of shares of this kind seems to me the easiest way there is of + making money. I thanked Gorman effusively and pocketed the certificate. + </p> + <p> + We went down town by the elevated railway, and got out at Rector Street. + Tim Gorman met us at the bottom of the steps which lead to the station. He + was carrying his cash register in his arms. We hurried across Broadway and + passed through the doors of a huge sky-scraper building. I thought we were + entering Ascher’s office. We were not. We were taking a short cut through + a kind of arcade like one of the covered shopping ways which one sees in + some English towns, especially in Birmingham. There was a large number of + little shops in it, luncheon places, barbers’ shops, newspaper stalls, + tobacconists’ stalls, florists’ stalls, and sweet shops, which displayed + an enormous variety of candies. We were in the very centre of the business + part of the city, a part to which women hardly ever go, unless they are + typists or manicure girls. Above our heads were offices, tiers and tiers + of them. I wondered why there were so many florists’ shops and sweet + shops. The American business man must, I imagine, have a gentle and + childlike heart. No one who has lost his first innocence would require + such a supply of flowers and chocolate at his office door. + </p> + <p> + There were lifts on each side of this arcade, dozens of them, in cages. + Some were labelled “Express” and warned passengers that they would make no + stop before the eleventh floor. I should have liked very much to make a + journey in an express lift, and I hoped that Ascher’s office might turn + out to be on the 25th or perhaps the 30th floor of the building. I was + disappointed. Gorman hurried us on. + </p> + <p> + We emerged into the open air and found ourselves in a narrow, crooked + street along which men were hurrying in great numbers and at high speed. + On both sides of it were enormously tall houses. There was just one + building, right opposite to us, which was of English height. It was not in + the least English in any other way. It was white and very dignified. Its + lines were severely classical. It had tall, narrow windows and a door + which somehow reminded me of portraits of the first Duke of Wellington. + The architect may perhaps have been thinking of the great soldier’s nose. + Gorman walked straight up to that door. + </p> + <p> + “Here we are,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “this Greek temple can’t be Ascher’s office?” + </p> + <p> + “This is the exact spot.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” I said, “do we take off our shoes at the threshold or say + grace, or perform some kind of ceremonial lustration? We can’t go in just + as we are.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not answer me. He went through the door, the terribly + impressive door, without even bowing. There was nothing for me to do but + follow him. Tim followed me, nursing his cash register as if it had been a + baby, a very heavy and awkwardly shaped baby. + </p> + <p> + We passed into the outer office. At the first glance it seemed to me like + a very orderly town. It was built over with small houses of polished + mahogany and plate glass. Through the plate-glass fronts—they were + more than windows—I could see the furniture of the houses, rolltop + desks of mahogany, broad mahogany tables, chairs and high stools. All the + mahogany was very highly polished. The citizens of this town flitted from + one glass-fronted house to another. They met in narrow streets and spoke + to each other with grave dignity. They spoke in four languages, and + English was the one used least. From the remoter parts of the place, the + slums, if such a polished town has slums, came the sound of typewriters + worked with extreme rapidity. The manual labourers, in this as in every + civilised community, are kept out of sight. Only the sound of their toil + is allowed to remind the other classes of their happier lot. Some of the + citizens—I took them to be men of very high standing, privy + counsellors or magistrates—held cigars in their mouths as they + walked about. These cigars are badges of office, like the stripes on + soldiers’ coats. No one was actually smoking. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was our spokesman. He explained who we were and what we wanted. We + were handed over to a clerk. I suppose he was a clerk, but to me he seemed + a gentleman in waiting of some mysterious monarch, or—my feeling + wavered—one of the inferior priests of a strange cult. He led us + through doors into a large room, impressively empty and silent. There for + a minute we left while he tapped reverently at another door. The supreme + moment arrived. We passed into the inmost shrine where Ascher sat. My + spirit quailed. + </p> + <p> + Every great profession has its own way of hypnotising the souls of simple + men. Indeed I think that professions are accounted great in accordance + with their power of impressing on the world a sense of their + mysteriousness. Ecclesiastics, those of them who know their business, + build altars in dim recesses of vast buildings, light them with flickering + tapers, and fill the air with clouds of stupefying incense smoke. Surgeons + and dentists allow us fleeting glimpses of bright steel instruments, very + strangely shaped. It is contrived that we see them in a cold, clear light, + the light of scientific relentlessness. There is a suggestion of torture, + not brutal but exquisitely refined, of perfected pain, achieved by the + stimulation of recondite nerves of very delicate sensibility. Lawyers wear + archaic robes and use a strange language in their mysteries, conveying to + us a belief that Justice is an ancient witch whose evil eye can be averted + only by the incantation and grotesque posturing of her initiate priests. + But I am not sure that financiers do not understand the art of hypnotic + suggestion best of all. I have worshipped in cathedrals, sweated cold in + operating theatres, trembled before judges, but there is something about + large surfaces of polished mahogany and very soft, dimly coloured turkey + carpets which quells my feeble spirit still more completely. + </p> + <p> + There was a heavy deadening silence in Ascher’s private office, and our + voices, when they broke it, sounded like the cheeping of ghosts. There was + an odour more oppressive than the smell of incense or the penetrating + fumes of iodoform. Some one, many hours before, must have smoked a very + good cigar in the room, and the scent of it lingered. The doors of huge + safes must have been opened. From the recesses of these steel chambers had + oozed air which had lain stagnant and lifeless round piles of gold bonds + and rich securities for years and years. The faint, sickly odour of + sealing wax must have been distilled from immense sticks of that substance + and sprinkled overnight upon the carpets and leather-seated chairs. I + breathed and my very limbs felt numb. + </p> + <p> + But certain souls are proof against the subtlest forms of hypnotism. + Gorman had escaped from the influence of his church. He would flip a + sterilised lancet across a glass slab with his finger and laugh in the + face of the surgeon who owned it. He walked with buoyant confidence into + Ascher’s office. My case was different. I stood and then sat, the victim + of a partial anaesthetic. I saw and heard dimly as if in a dream, or + through a mist. Poor Tim trembled as he laid his cash register down on one + of Ascher’s mahogany tables. I could hear the keys and bars of the machine + rattling together while he handled it. + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke through a telephone receiver which stood at his elbow. + Another man entered the room. We all shook hands with him. He was Stutz, + the New York partner of the firm. Then Ascher spoke through the receiver + again, and another man came in. + </p> + <p> + With him we did not shake hands, but he bowed to us and we to him. He was + Mr. Mildmay. He stood near the door, waiting for orders. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman unpacked his machine and exhibited it. I have not the remotest + idea what its peculiar virtues are, but Tim believed in them. His + nervousness seemed to pass away from him as he spoke about his invention + with simple-minded enthusiasm. Love casts out fear, and there is no doubt + that Tim loved every screw and lever of the complicated mechanism. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left his place near the door and came forward. His deferential + manner dropped off from him. He revealed himself as a mechanical expert + with a special knowledge of cash registers. He and Tim Gorman pressed + keys, twisted handles and bent together in absorbed contemplation over + some singular feature of the machine’s organism. Gorman, the elder + brother, watched them with a confident smile. Ascher and Stutz sat gravely + silent. They waited Mildmay’s opinion. He was the man of the moment. A few + minutes before he had bowed respectfully to Ascher. In half an hour he + would be bowing respectfully to Ascher again. Just then, while he handled + Tim Gorman’s machine, he was Ascher’s master, and mine of course. They + were all my masters. + </p> + <p> + The inspection of the machine was finished at last. Tim stood flushed and + triumphant. The child of his ingenious brain had survived the tests of an + expert. Mildmay turned to Ascher and bowed again. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a wonderful invention,” he said. “I see no reason why it should not + be a commercial success.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps, Mr. Mildmay,” said Ascher, “you will study the subject further + and submit a report to us in writing.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left the room. I had no doubt that he would report + enthusiastically on the new cash register. Mechanical experts do not, I + suppose, write poetry, but there was without doubt a lyric in Mildmay’s + heart as he left the room. Tim packed the thing up again. Now that the + mechanical part of the business was over, he relapsed into shy silence in + a corner. His brother took out a cigarette and lit it. I would not have + ventured to light a cigarette in that sanctuary for a hundred pounds. But + Gorman is entirely without reverence. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “there’s no doubt about the value of the invention.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report,” said Ascher, “before we come to + any decision; but in the meanwhile we should like to hear any proposal you + have to make.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Stutz, “your proposals. We are prepared to listen to them.” + </p> + <p> + Stutz seemed to me to speak English with difficulty. His native language + was perhaps German, perhaps Hebrew or Yiddish or whatever the language is + which modern Jews speak in private life. + </p> + <p> + “The matter is simple enough,” said Gorman. “Our machine will drive any + other out of the market. There’s no possibility of competition. The thing + is simply a dead cert. It can’t help going.” + </p> + <p> + “A large capital would be required,” said Stutz, “a very large capital.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Gorman, “a very large capital, much larger than I should care + to see invested in the thing. I may as well be quite frank with you + gentlemen. At present the patents of my brother’s invention are owned by a + small company in which I am the chief shareholder. If we ask the public + for a million dollars and get them—I don’t say we can’t get them. We + may. But if we do I shall be a very small shareholder. I shall get 5 per + cent, or 6 per cent, or perhaps 10 per cent, on my money. Now I want more + than that. I’m speaking quite frankly, you see. I believe in frankness.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at Ascher for approval. Stutz bowed, with an impassive face. On + Ascher’s lips there was the ghost of a mournful little smile. I somehow + gathered that he had come across frankness like Gorman’s before and had + not altogether liked it. Gorman went on. He explained, as he had explained + to me, the plan he had made for forcing the owners of existing cash + registers to buy his company out. At last he got to the central, the + vitally important point. + </p> + <p> + “All we want, gentlemen, is your backing. You needn’t put down any money. + Your names will be enough. I will make over to you such bonus shares as + may be agreed upon. The only risk we run is lawsuits about our patent + rights. You understand how that game is worked. I needn’t explain.” + </p> + <p> + It was evident that both Ascher and Stutz understood that game thoroughly. + It was also plain to me, though not, I think, to Gorman, that it was a + game which neither one nor other of them would be willing to play. + </p> + <p> + “But if we have your names,” said Gorman, “that game’s off. It simply + wouldn’t pay. I don’t want to flatter you, gentlemen, but there isn’t a + firm in the world that would care to start feeing lawyers in competition + with Ascher, Stutz & Co.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so,” said Stutz. + </p> + <p> + “And your proposal?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “If they can’t crush us,” said Gorman, “and they can’t if you’re behind + us, they must buy us. I need scarcely say that your share in the profits + will be satisfactory to you. Sir James Digby is one of our directors. + There are only four others, and three of them scarcely count. There won’t + be many of us to divide what we get.” + </p> + <p> + I felt that my time had come to speak. If I was to justify Gorman’s + confidence in me as an “influence,” I must say something. Besides Ascher + was looking at me inquiringly. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not a business man,” I said, “and I’m afraid that my opinion isn’t + worth much, but I think——” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me, and there was a curiously + wistful expression in them. I could not understand what he wanted me to + say. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” I said, “that Gorman’s plan sounds feasible, that it ought to + work.” + </p> + <p> + “But your own opinion of it?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He spoke with a certain gentle insistency. I could not very well avoid + making some answer. + </p> + <p> + “We are able to judge for ourselves,” he said, “whether it will work. But + the plan itself—what do you think of it?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I’m a modern man. I have accepted all the ideas and + standards of my time and generation. I can hardly give you an opinion that + I could call my own, but if my father’s opinion would be of any use to you—— + He was an old-fashioned gentleman, with all the rather obsolete ideas + about honour which those people had.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s dead, isn’t he?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” I said. “He’s been dead for fifteen years. Still I’m sure I + could tell you what he’d have said about this.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think,” said Stutz, “that we need consider the opinion of Sir + James Digby’s father, who has been dead for fifteen years.” + </p> + <p> + “I quite agree with you,” I said. “It would be out of date, hopelessly.” + </p> + <p> + “But your own opinion?” said Ascher, still mildly insistent. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I’ve been robbed of my property—land in Ireland, + Mr. Stutz—by Gorman and his friends. Everybody says that they were + quite right and that I ought not to have objected; so, I suppose, robbery + must be a proper thing according to our contemporary ethics.” + </p> + <p> + “And that is your opinion of the scheme?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said. “I hope I’ve made myself clear. I think we are justified in + pillaging when we can.” + </p> + <p> + “You Irish,” said Ascher, “with your intellects of steel, your delight in + paradox and your reckless logic!” + </p> + <p> + Stutz was not interested in the peculiarities of the Irish mind. He went + back to the main point with a directness which I admired. + </p> + <p> + “This is not,” he said, “the kind of business we care to do.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Gorman,” said Ascher, “we shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report on your + brother’s invention. If it turns out to be favourable, as I confidently + expect, we may have a proposal to lay before you. Our firm cannot, you + will understand, take shares in your company. That is not a bank’s + business. But I myself, in my private capacity, will consider the matter. + So will Mr. Stutz. It may be possible to arrange that your brother’s + machine shall be put on the market.” + </p> + <p> + “But your proposal,” said Stutz obstinately. “It is not the kind of + business we undertake.” + </p> + <p> + The interview was plainly at an end. We rose and left the room. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman did not understand, perhaps did not hear, a word of what was + said. He followed us out of the office nursing his machine and plainly in + high delight. Curiously enough, the elder Gorman seemed equally pleased. + </p> + <p> + “We’ve got them,” he said when we reached the street. “We’ve got Ascher, + Stutz & Co quite safe. I don’t see what’s to stop us now.” + </p> + <p> + My own impression was that both Ascher & Stutz had definitely refused + to entertain our proposal or fall in with our plans. I said so to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” he said. “You don’t understand business or business men. + Ascher and Stutz are very big bugs, very big indeed, and they have to keep + up appearances. It wouldn’t do for them to admit to you and me, or even to + each other, that they were out for what they could get from the old + company. They have to keep up the pretence that they mean legitimate + business. That’s the way these things are always worked. But you’ll find + that they won’t object to pocketing their cheques when the time comes for + smashing up Tim’s machine and suppressing his patents.” + </p> + <p> + I turned, when I reached the far side of the street, to take another look + at Ascher’s office. I was struck again by the purity of line and the + severe simplicity of the building. Two thousand years ago men would have + had a statue of Pallas Athene in it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + I spent a very pleasant fortnight in New York among people entirely + unconnected with the Aschers or Gorman. I was kept busy dining, lunching, + going to the theatre, driving here and there in motor cars, and enjoying + the society of some of the least conventional and most brilliant women in + the world. I only found time to call on the Aschers once and then did not + see either of them. They were stopping in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the + young man in the office told me that Mrs. Ascher spent the whole of every + day in her studio. Her devotion to art was evidently very great. She could + not manage to spend a holiday in New York without hiring a studio. I + inquired whether any members of the Galleotti family were sitting for her, + but the hotel clerk did not know that. He told me, however, that Mr. + Ascher was in Washington. Gorman always says that the strings of + government in modern states are pulled by financiers. Ascher was probably + chucking at those which are fastened to the arms and legs of the President + of the United States, with a view to making that potentate dance + threateningly in the direction of Mexico. I am sure that Ascher does this + sort of thing very nicely and kindly if indeed he does it at all. He would + not willingly destroy the self-respect even of a marionette. + </p> + <p> + Of Gorman I saw nothing more before I left New York. I think he went off + to Detroit almost immediately after our interview with Ascher and Stutz. + Gorman is not exactly the man to put his public duties before his private + interests, but I am sure the public duties always come in a close second. + Having settled, or thought he had settled, the affair of the cash + register, he immediately turned his attention to that wealthy motor man in + Detroit from whom he meant to get a subscription. The future of the Irish + Party possibly, its comforts probably, depended on the success of Gorman’s + mission. And a party never deserved comfort more. The Home Rule Bill was + almost passed for the third and last time. Nothing stood between Ireland + and the realisation of Gorman’s hopes for her except the obstinate + perversity of the Ulster men. A few more subscriptions, generous + subscriptions, and that would be overcome. + </p> + <p> + After enjoying myself in New York for a fortnight I went to Canada. I did + not gather much information about the companies in which I was interested. + But I learned a good deal about Canadian politics. The men who play that + game out there are extraordinarily clearsighted and honest. They frankly + express lower opinions of each other than the politicians of any other + country would dare to hold of the players in their particular fields. In + the end the general frankness became monotonous and I tired of Canada. I + went back to New York, hoping to pick up someone there who would travel + home with me by way of the West Indies, islands which I had never seen. I + thought it possible that I might persuade the Aschers, if they were still + in New York, to make the tour with me. There was just a chance that I + might come across Gorman again and that he would be taken with the idea of + preaching the doctrines of Irish nationalism in Jamaica. I called on the + Aschers twice and missed them both times. But the second visit was not + fruitless. Mrs. Ascher rang me up on the telephone and asked me to go to + see her in her studio. She said that she particularly wanted to see me and + had something very important to say. + </p> + <p> + I obeyed the summons, of course. I found Mrs. Ascher clad in a long, + pale-blue pinafore. Over-all is, I believe, the proper name for the + garment. But it looked to me like a child’s pinafore, greatly enlarged. It + completely covered all her other clothes in front and almost completely + covered them behind. I recognised it as the sort of thing a really earnest + artist would wear while working. Her hair was hanging in loops and wisps + about her head, a disorder which was effective with dark-red hair. Her + hands were damp and dirty. Her face was smudged here and there, as if, in + moments of artistic travail, she had pressed her muddy fingers against her + forehead and chin. The room had very little furniture in it, but there + were several tables, large and small. On these stood what seemed to me + shapeless lumps of various sizes, swathed in damp rags. They reminded me a + little of the shrouded objects on the tables of dissecting rooms after the + students have gone home. There was the same suggestion of mutilated human + forms. Mrs. Archer saw me looking at them. + </p> + <p> + “Some of my little things,” she said, “but nothing finished. I don’t know + why it is, but here in New York I find it very difficult to finish + anything.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re not singular in that,” I said. “The New York people themselves + suffer in exactly the same way. There isn’t a street in their city that + they’ve finished or ever will finish. If anything begins to look like + completion they smash it up at once and start afresh. It must be something + in the air, a restlessness, a desire of the perfection which can never be + realised.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher very carefully unwrapped a succession of damp rags from one of + the largest of her lumps which was standing on a table by itself. I have, + since then, seen nurses unwrapping the bandages from the wounded limbs of + men. The way they did it always reminded me of Mrs. Ascher. The removal of + the last bandage revealed to me a figure about eighteen inches high of a + girl who seemed to me to be stretching herself after getting out of bed + before stepping into her bath. + </p> + <p> + “Psyche,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I had to show my admiration in some way. The proper thing, I believe, when + shown a statue by a sculptor, is to stroke it with your fingers and + murmur, “Ah!” I was afraid to stroke Psyche because she was certainly wet + and probably soft. A touch might have dinted her, made a dimple in a wrong + place. I dared not risk it. It became all the more necessary to speak. + </p> + <p> + The first thing I thought of was a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe. + </p> + <p> + “I pacified Psyche and kissed her,” I murmured, “and tempted her out of + the gloom.” + </p> + <p> + I said the lines in what I am convinced is the proper way, as if they were + forced from me, as if I spoke them to myself and did not mean them to be + heard. I do not think Mrs. Ascher knew them. I fear she suspected me of + making some sort of joke. I hastened to redeem my character. + </p> + <p> + “Psyche,” I said, “the soul.” + </p> + <p> + I was right so far. Psyche is the Greek for the soul. I ventured further. + </p> + <p> + “The human soul, the artistic soul.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher appeared to be absolutely hanging on my words. I plunged on. + </p> + <p> + “Aspiring,” I said, “reaching after the unattainable.” + </p> + <p> + I would not have said, “hoping for a yawn” for anything that could have + been offered me; but the young woman who stood for Mrs. Ascher’s Psyche + must have longed for that relief. The attitude in which she was posed + suggested yawning all the time, and we all know how fatal it is to think + of a yawn. + </p> + <p> + “Quite unfinished,” said Mrs. Ascher with a sigh. + </p> + <p> + “The fault of New York,” I said. “When you get home again——” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. I did not wish to commit myself to a confession of ignorance, + and I do not know whether a damp, soft Psyche can be packed up and + transported across the Atlantic to be finished in London. + </p> + <p> + “But the aspiration is there,” I said, “and you owe that to New York. The + air, the very same air which forbids completion, is charged with + aspiration. We all feel it. The city itself aspires. Since the great days + when men set out to build a tower the top of which should reach unto + heaven, there has never been such aspiration anywhere in the world. Look + at the Woolworth Building.” + </p> + <p> + I was maundering and I knew it. Mrs. Ascher’s statuette was very nice and + graceful; a much better thing than I expected to see, but there was + nothing in it, nothing at all in the way of thought or emotion. There must + be hundreds of people who can turn out clay girls just as good as that + Psyche. Somehow I had expected something different from Mrs. Ascher, less + skill in modelling, less care, but more temperament. + </p> + <p> + “There’s nothing else worth showing,” she said, “except perhaps this. Yes, + except this.” + </p> + <p> + She unwrapped more bandages. A damp, pale-grey head appeared. It was + standing in a large saucer or soup plate. At first I thought she had been + at John the Baptist and had chosen the moment when his head lay in the + charger ready for the dancing girl to take to her mother. Fortunately I + looked at it carefully before speaking. I saw that it was Tim Gorman’s + head. + </p> + <p> + “He sat to me,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and by degrees I came to know him very + well. One does, one cannot help it, talking to a person every day and + watching, always watching. Do you think——?” + </p> + <p> + “I think it’s wonderful,” I said. + </p> + <p> + This time I spoke with real and entire conviction. I am no expert judge of + anything in the world except perhaps a horse or a bottle of claret, but I + was impressed by this piece of Mrs. Ascher’s work. Tim Gorman’s fine eyes + were the only things about him which struck me as noticeable. No artist + can model eyes in clay. But Mrs. Ascher had got all that I saw in his eyes + into the head before me—all and a great deal more. She had somehow + succeeded in making the lips, the nostrils, the forehead, the cheek-bones, + express the fact that Tim Gorman is an idealist, a dreamer of fine dreams + and at the same time innocent as a child which looks out at the world with + wonder. I do not know how the woman did it. I should not have supposed her + capable of even seeing what she had expressed in her clay, but there it + was. + </p> + <p> + “You really like it?” + </p> + <p> + She spoke with a curious note of humility in her voice. My impulse was to + say that I liked her, for the first time saw the real good in her; but I + could not say that. + </p> + <p> + “Like it!” I said. “It isn’t for me to like or dislike it. I don’t know + anything about those things. I am not capable of judging. But this seems + to me to be really great.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Mrs. Ascher, “and this time you are sincere.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me quite gravely as she spoke. Then a smile slowly broadened + her mouth. + </p> + <p> + “That’s not the way you spoke of poor Psyche’s aspiration,” she said, “you + were laughing at me then.” + </p> + <p> + A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The woman had understood every word + I said to her, understood what I meant as well as what I wanted to convey + to her, two very different things. She was immensely more clever than I + suspected or could have guessed. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” I said, “I beg your pardon.” + </p> + <p> + “You were quite right,” she said. “That other thing isn’t Psyche. It’s + just a silly little girl, the model—— There wasn’t anything + about her that I could see, nothing but just a pretty body.” + </p> + <p> + So she dismissed my apology and turned to Tim Gorman’s head again. She ran + her finger lightly round the rim of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I do with this?” she said. “What is his head to stand on, to + rise from? I was thinking of water-lily leaves, as if the head were + emerging——” + </p> + <p> + I felt that I owed Mrs. Ascher some frankness in return for my first + insult to her intelligence. Besides, I was moved. I was, as I had not been + for years, emotional. Tim Gorman’s head gripped me in a curious way. + </p> + <p> + “Good God, Woman,” I said, “anything in the world but that! Wrap up that + chorus girl of a Psyche in leaves if you like. Sprinkle rose petals over + her or any other damned sentimentalism. But this man is a mechanic. He has + invented a cash register. What in the name of all that’s holy has he got + to do with water-lily leaves? Put hammers round his head, and pincers, and + long nails.” + </p> + <p> + I stopped. I realised suddenly that I was making an unutterable fool of + myself. I was talking as I never talked in my life before, saying out loud + the sort of things I have carefully schooled myself neither to feel nor to + think. + </p> + <p> + “After all,” said Mrs. Ascher, “you have an artist’s soul.” + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Mrs. Ascher looked at me and smiled again, a half-pitiful + smile. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I must have,” I said. “But I won’t let it break loose in that + way again. I’ll suppress it. It’s—it’s—this is rather an + insulting thing to say to you, but it’s a humiliating discovery to make + that I have——” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + “My husband always says that you Irish——” + </p> + <p> + “He’s quite wrong,” I said; “quite wrong about me at all events. I hate + paradoxes. I’m a plain man. The only thing I really admire is common + sense.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” she said. “I understand exactly what you feel.” + </p> + <p> + She is a witch and very likely did understand. I did not. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” she said. “Now, I can talk to you. Sit down, please.” + </p> + <p> + She pulled over a low stool, the only seat in the room. I sat on it. Mrs. + Ascher stood, or rather drooped in front of me, leaning on one hand, which + rested, palm down, on the table where Tim Gorman’s image stood. I doubt + whether Mrs. Ascher ever stands straight or is capable of any kind of + stiffness. But even drooping, she had a distinct advantage over me. My + stool was very low and my legs are long. If I ventured to lean forwards, + my knees would have touched my chin, a position in which it is impossible + for a man to assert himself. + </p> + <p> + “I am so very glad,” she said, “that you like the little head.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be caught again. One lapse into artistic fervour was + enough for me. Even at the risk of offending Mrs. Ascher beyond + forgiveness, I was determined to preserve my self-respect. + </p> + <p> + “I wish you wouldn’t take my word for it’s being good,” I said. “Ask + somebody who knows. The fact that I like it is a proof that it’s bad, bad + art, if it’s a proof of anything. I never really admire anything good, + can’t bear, simply can’t bear old masters, or”—I dimly recollected + some witty essays by my brilliant fellow-countryman Mr. George Moore—“I + detest Corot. My favourite artist is Leader.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher smiled all the time I was speaking. + </p> + <p> + “I know quite well,” she said, “that my work isn’t good. But you saw what + I meant by it. You can’t deny it now, and you know that the boy is like + that.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know anything of the sort. I don’t know anything at all about + him. The only time I ever came into touch with him he was helping his + brother to persuade Mr. Ascher to go into a doubtful—well, to make + money by what I’d call sharp practice.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think he was,” said Mrs. Ascher. “The elder brother may have been + doing what you say; but Tim wasn’t.” + </p> + <p> + “He was in the game,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I spoke all the more obstinately because I knew that Tim was not in the + game, I was determined not to be hysterical again. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve had that poor boy here day after day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I + really know him. He has the soul of an artist. He is a creator. He is one + of humanity’s mother natures. You know how it is with us. Something + quickens in us. We travail and bring to the birth.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently included herself among the mother natures. It seemed + a pity that she had not gone about the business in the ordinary way. I + think she would have been happier if she had. However, the head of Tim + Gorman was something. She had produced it. + </p> + <p> + “That is art,” she said dreamily, “conception, gestation, travail, birth. + It does not matter whether the thing born is a poem, a picture, a statue, + a sonata, a temple——” + </p> + <p> + “Or a cash register,” I said. + </p> + <p> + The thing born might apparently be anything except an ordinary baby. The + true artist does not think much of babies. They are bourgeois things. + </p> + <p> + “Or a cash register,” she said. “It makes no difference. The man who + creates, who brings into being, has only one desire, that his child, + whatever it may be, shall live. If it is stifled, killed, a sword goes + through his heart.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed to me even then with Mrs. Ascher’s eyes on me, that it was + rather absurd to talk about a cash register living. I do not think that + men have ever personified this machine. We talk of ships and engines by + the names we give them and use personal pronouns, generally feminine, when + we speak of them. But did any one ever call a cash register “Minnie” or + talk of it familiarly as “she”? + </p> + <p> + “He thinks,” said Mrs. Ascher, “indeed he is sure—he says his + brother told him——” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” I said. “The machine isn’t going to be put on the market at all. + It is to be used simply as a threat to make other people pay what I should + call blackmail.” + </p> + <p> + “That must not be,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her voice was pitched a couple of tones higher than usual. I might almost + say she shrieked. + </p> + <p> + “It must not be,” she repeated, “must not. It is a crime, a vile act, the + murder of a soul.” + </p> + <p> + Cash registers have not got souls. I am as sure of that as I am of + anything. + </p> + <p> + “That boy,” she went on, “that passionate, brave, pure boy, he must not be + dragged down, defiled. His soul——” + </p> + <p> + It was Tim Gorman’s soul then, not the cash registers, which she was + worrying about. Having seen her presentation of the boy’s head, having it + at that moment before my eyes, I understood what she meant. But I was not + going to let myself be swept again into the regions of artistic passion to + please Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it does seem rather a shady way of making money. But + after all——” + </p> + <p> + I have mentioned that Mrs. Ascher never stands upright. She went very near + it when I mentioned money. + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back, flung both her arms out wide, clenched her fists + tightly, and, if the expression is possible, drooped backwards from her + hips. A slightly soiled light-blue overall is not the garment best suited + to set off the airs and attitudes of high tragedy. But Mrs. Ascher’s + feelings were strong enough to transfigure even her clothes. + </p> + <p> + “Money!” she said. “Oh, Money! Is there nothing else? Do you care for, + hope for, see nothing else in the world? What does it matter whether you + make money or not, or how you make it?” + </p> + <p> + It is only those who are very rich indeed or those who are on the outer + fringe of extreme poverty who can despise money in this whole-hearted way. + The wife of a millionaire—the millionaire himself probably attaches + some value to money because he has to get it—and the regular tramp + can say “Oh, money? Is there nothing else?” The rest of us find money a + useful thing and get what we can of it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher let her arms fall suddenly to her sides, folded herself up and + sat down, or rather crouched, on the floor. From that position she looked + up at me with the greatest possible intensity of eye. + </p> + <p> + “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “You’re thinking of my husband. + But he hates money just as much as I do. All he wants is to escape, to have + done with it, to live peaceably with me, somewhere far away, far, far away + from everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + Her eyes softened as she spoke. They even filled with water, tears, I + suppose. But she seemed to me to be talking nonsense. Ascher was making + money, piling it up. He could stop if he liked. So I thought. So any + sensible man must think. And as for living somewhere far, far away, what + did the woman want to get away from? Every possible place of residence on + the earth’s surface is near some other place. You cannot get far, far away + from everywhere. The thing is a physical impossibility. I made an effort + to get back to common sense. + </p> + <p> + “About Tim Gorman’s cash register?” I said. “What would you suggest?” + </p> + <p> + “You mustn’t let them do that hateful thing,” she said. “You can stop them + if you will.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t believe I can,” I said. “I’m extraordinarily feeble and + ineffectual in every way. In business matters I’m a mere babe.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Gorman will listen to you,” she said. “He will understand if you + explain to him. He is a writer, an artist. He must understand.” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. Gorman can write. I admit that. His writing is a great + deal better than Mrs. Ascher’s modelling, though she did do that head of + Tim. I do not hail Gorman’s novels or his plays as great literature, + though they are good. But some of his criticism is the finest thing of its + kind that has been published in our time. But Gorman does not look at + these matters as Mrs. Ascher does. I do not believe he ever wrote a line + in his life without expecting to be paid for it. He would not write at all + if he could find any easier and pleasanter way of making money. There was + no use saying that to Mrs. Ascher. All I could do when she asked me to + appeal to Gorman’s artistic soul was to shake my head. I shook it as + decisively as I could. + </p> + <p> + “And my husband will listen to you,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “My dear lady! wouldn’t he be much more likely to listen to you?” + </p> + <p> + “But we never talk about such things,” she said. “Never, never. Our life + together is sacred, hallowed, a thing apart, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ‘Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot + Which men call earth.’” + </pre> + <p> + It surprised me to hear Mrs. Ascher quote Milton. I did not somehow expect + to find that she knew or liked that particular poet. I am nearly sure he + would not have liked her. + </p> + <p> + “We cannot desecrate our union,” she said, “by talking about money.” + </p> + <p> + The subject to be discussed with Ascher was plainly not money, but Tim + Gorman’s soul. Money only came incidentally. However, there was no use + arguing a point like that. There was no use arguing any point. I gave in + and promised to see Ascher about the matter. I prefer Ascher to Gorman if + I have to persuade any one to act midwife at the birth of a cash register. + Gorman would be certain to laugh. Ascher would at all events listen to me + courteously. + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” I said. “To-morrow, quite early.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher uncoiled herself and rose from the floor. I struggled to my + feet rather stiffly, for my stool was far too low. She took my hand and + held it. I feared for a moment that she meant to kiss it. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you again and again.” + </p> + <p> + I took a long walk after I left the studio. I wanted to assimilate a new + fact, to get my mental vision into focus again. + </p> + <p> + Ever since I thought about things at all, I have regarded the “artist” + outlook upon life as a pose, and the claim to artistic temperament as an + excuse for selfishness and bad temper in private life. Mrs. Ascher had + convinced me that, in her case at least, the artist soul is a reality. She + was hysterical and ridiculous when she talked to me, but she was sincere. + She was not posing even when she crumpled herself upon the floor and + looked like a sick serpent. She was in simple earnest when she mouthed her + lines about money, money. There might be, probably were, several other + people in the world like Mrs. Ascher, might even be many others. That was + the new fact which I wanted to digest. + </p> + <p> + I reflected that I myself was kin to her, had in me, latent and + undeveloped, an artist’s soul. I had felt the thing fluttering when I lost + my self-control and talked flamboyantly about the head of Tim Gorman. It + was necessary that I should keep a firm grip on myself. I belong to a + class which has lost everything except its sanity. I think it is true of + the Irish aristocracy that even its period of greatest glory, even when + Grattan was waving his arms and shouting “Esto Perpetua!”, it remained + sane. I have nothing else left of what my forefathers bequeathed to me, + but I still have this temperament. A man clings desperately to the last + remnants of his heritage. + </p> + <p> + The artist’s soul is a reality. I admitted that. But it is also a disease. + I had learned to believe in it as a man learns to believe in influenza + when his temperature runs up to 104 degrees and his bones ache furiously. + But there is a difference between admitting the existence of a disease and + deliberately cultivating the germs of it. + </p> + <p> + I crossed 5th Avenue at 32nd Street in great peril of my life, for the + traffic at that point is as wild as the emotions of the artistic soul. + </p> + <p> + It came into my mind that quite possibly the thrills and throbs which Mrs. + Ascher enjoys, of which I myself had a brief and mild experience, are not + only real, but worth while. There may after all be something greater in + the world than common sense. I fell to dreaming of what life might be like + to the man who refused to take it as it is, who insisted on seeing above + him, not silly little twinkling stars, but great worlds coursing through + the infinite spaces of eternity. I ran into a boy carrying books, while I + was thinking about eternity. His books were scattered over the pavement + and I hurt my knee. I decided that my faint longing for what Mrs. Ascher + would call “higher possibilities” is a temptation, something to be + conquered. I finished my meditation with a “Retro Satanas”, and returned to + my hotel for luncheon, confident that I should come out victor in my + struggle. + </p> + <p> + Ascher has certainly far more determination and force of character than I + have; but he does not seem able to break himself of the habit of making + money. His wife says that he hates doing it and wants to stop. But he goes + on doing it. He has formed a habit of making money, and habit is almost + unconquerable. It was plainly the path of wisdom for me to check my + tendency towards art at the very beginning, not to allow the habit of + feeling artistically, indeed of feeling at all, to form itself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + I had no idea of breaking the promise I made Mrs. Ascher; but I felt a + certain hesitation about entering again the Holiest of Holies in the + office of Ascher, Stutz & Co. I was a little afraid of Stutz, who + seemed to me a severe man, very little tolerant of human folly. Still I + would have faced Stutz without shrinking, especially in a good cause. What + I really disliked was the idea of suggesting a business policy to Ascher. + The man was immeasurably my superior in natural ability and in experience. + I felt that I should be guilty of insolence if I offered him any advice, + and of something worse than insolence if I insisted on my advice being + taken. Yet it was just this which Mrs. Ascher expected of me, and I did + not want to disappoint her. + </p> + <p> + It is true that I was a shareholder in the New Excelsior Cash Register + Company. I may have been a director. Gorman said something about my being + a director. I had accepted the office, pledged beforehand to the approval + of Gorman’s policy and therefore had no right to intervene. What claim had + I to insist on Ascher’s doing this or that? I should not feel myself + justified in calling on an archbishop and insisting on drastic alterations + in the Apostle’s Creed. Ascher is at least an archbishop, possibly a + patriarch, or even a cardinal, in that truly catholic church which + worships Mammon. + </p> + <p> + But I had promised. + </p> + <p> + I went to the office next morning, early. Having forgotten to make an + appointment with Ascher beforehand I had to wait some time before I saw + him. I sat in the large anteroom through which I had passed when I first + visited the office with Gorman. Through the glass door I was able to see + the public office outside where men went busily to and fro. + </p> + <p> + I understood just enough about this business of Ascher’s to be able to + read romance, the romance which was certainly there, in the movements of + the quiet men who passed and repassed before my eyes, or bent with rarely + lifted heads over huge ledgers, or turned over with deft fingers piles of + papers in stuffed filing boxes. These men were in touch with the furthest + ends of the earth. Coded telegrams fluttered from their hands and went + vibrating across thousands of miles of land or through the still depths of + oceans, over unlighted tracts of ooze on the sea-bottom. In London the + words were read and men set free pent up, dammed streams of money. In + Hongkong the words were read and some steamer went out, laden, from her + harbour. Gold was poured into the hands of tea-planters in Ceylon. Scanty + wages in strange coins, dribbled out to factory workers in Russian cotton + mills. Gangs of navvies went to work laying railway lines across the veldt + in Bechuanaland. There was no end to the energy controlled, directed by + these cable messages, nor any bounds to the field of their influence. + Somewhere in Ireland a farmer would go home along a desolate road, + crossing brown bogs, thirsty and disconsolate, his lean beasts unsold at a + fair where buyers were scarce or shy. What did he know of Ascher or Ascher + know of him? Yet the price which he might take or must refuse for those + hardly reared bullocks of his depended at the end of a long chain, on what + the Aschers in their office said and did. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps hardly one of all the busy men I watched quite knew what he was + doing. They juggled with figures, made précis of the reports of money + markets, dissected and analysed the balance sheets of railway companies, + decoded messages from London or from Paris, transcribed formulae as + abstract, as remote from tangible things as the x and y of algebraic + equations. These men all worked—the apologue of the quadratic + equation held my mind—moving their symbols here and there, + extracting roots, dissolving close-knit phrases into factors, cancelling, + simplifying, but always dealing with symbols meaningless, unreal in + themselves. Behind them was Ascher, Ascher and I suppose Stutz, who + expressed realities in formulae, and, when the sums were done, extracted + realities from the formulae again, achieving through the seemingly sterile + processes new facts, fresh grasp of the things which are, greater power to + deal with them. They knew and understood and held the whole world in + leading strings, delicate as silk, invisible, impalpable, but strong. + </p> + <p> + The door of Ascher’s private office opened and a man passed out. I glanced + at him. He was a clean-shaved, keen-eyed, square-jawed man, the type which + American business methods have produced, a man of resource and quick + decision, but a man, so I guessed, who dealt with things, and money only + as the price of things, the reward of making them. He lacked, so I felt, + something of the fine spirituality of Ascher, the scientific abstraction + of the man who lives in a rarer atmosphere of pure finance. + </p> + <p> + A clerk at my elbow invited me to leave my place and take my turn with + Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I could not bring myself to plunge straightway into my business. I began + by pretending that I had no real business at all. + </p> + <p> + “Any chance,” I asked, “of our being travelling companions again? I am + leaving New York almost at once.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m afraid not,” said Ascher. “I’ve a great deal to do here still.” + </p> + <p> + “Those Mexican affairs?” + </p> + <p> + “Those among others.” + </p> + <p> + “The Government here seems to be making rather a muddle of Mexico,” I + said. + </p> + <p> + Opinion on this subject was, so far as I knew, nearly unanimous among + business men. Every one who owned shares in Mexican companies, every one + who had invested hopefully a little while before in Mexican railways, + every one who had any kind of interest in Mexico was of the same opinion + about the inaction of the American Government. + </p> + <p> + “I think it is a muddle,” said Ascher, “but the idea in the minds of the + men who are making the muddle is a fine one. If only the world could be + worked on those principles——” + </p> + <p> + “But it can’t.” + </p> + <p> + “Not yet,” said Ascher. “Perhaps never. Yet the idea on which the + Government in Washington proceeds is a noble one. Respect for + constitutional order should be a greater thing as a principle of + statesmanship than obvious expediency.” + </p> + <p> + The man’s unnatural detachment of view worried me. It was the same when + Gorman blared out his stereotyped abuse of financiers, his well-worn + cliches about money kings and poison spiders. Ascher agreed with him. + Ascher, apparently, had some approval for the doctrinaire + constitutionalism of university professors turned diplomats. I could not + follow him to those heights of his. + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking,” I said, “of going home by way of the West Indies.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes? You will find it very agreeable. I was there in 1903 and remember + enjoying myself greatly.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you and Mrs. Ascher would come too. It would be much pleasanter + for me if I had you with me. + </p> + <p> + “It’s very kind of you to say so; but——” + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” I said, “I should see so much more. If I go by myself I shall + step from a steamer into an hotel and from an hotel into a steamer. I + shall be forced to buy a Baedeker, if there is a Baedeker for those + regions. I shall be a tourist of the ordinary kind. But if I travelled + with you I should really see things.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher took up the telephone receiver. + </p> + <p> + “If you like,” he said, “I can give you letters of introduction to our + correspondents wherever you go. They are bankers, of course, but you will + find them intelligent men.” + </p> + <p> + He summoned a clerk. + </p> + <p> + “If you give me an idea of your route——” he said. + </p> + <p> + “At present,” I said, “my plans are very vague. I haven’t settled + anything. Perhaps you will give me your advice.” + </p> + <p> + He drew a sheet of paper towards him and began to write. + </p> + <p> + “You ought to see the work at Panama,” he said. “It is very interesting + and of course of immense importance. Certainly you must see that. + Afterwards——” + </p> + <p> + He scribbled on his sheet of paper, making lists of place names and adding + notes about ways of travelling. + </p> + <p> + “If you go further south still——” he said. “I don’t recommend + the Amazon, a huge river of course, but unless you are interested in + rubber or entomology. The insect life I believe——” + </p> + <p> + “I’m interested in everything,” I said, “even insects which bite.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Para, perhaps, then south again. The South American ports are worth + seeing.” + </p> + <p> + A clerk entered while he was speaking. Ascher handed him the list he had + written. + </p> + <p> + “Look out the names of our agents in these places,” he said, “and have + letters of introduction made out to them for Sir James Digby.” + </p> + <p> + The clerk left the room and I thanked Ascher warmly. It seemed to me that + he was taking a great deal of trouble for which he could expect no kind of + reward. He waved my gratitude aside. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” he said, “that our agents will be able to make your trip + interesting for you. They can tell you what you want to know about the + trade and the natural wealth of the places you visit. They will put you in + the way of finding out the trend of political feeling. It is their + business to know these things, and in visiting new countries—new in + the sense that they have only lately felt the influences of our + civilisation—it is just these things that you will want to know. If + you were going to Italy, or Egypt, or Greece——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher sighed. I felt that he would have preferred Italy to Brazil if he + had been travelling for pleasure. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, there,” I said, “an artist or a scholar would be a better friend to + have than a banker.” + </p> + <p> + “Even there,” said Ascher, “the present and the future matter more than + the past, perhaps. But are you tied at all by time? The tour which I have + indicated will take some months.” + </p> + <p> + “I am an idle man,” I said. “I shall go on as long as your introductions + last, gathering knowledge which will not be the slightest use to me or any + one else.” + </p> + <p> + “I had better provide you with a circular letter of credit,” said Ascher. + “It is never wise to carry considerable sums about in your pocket.” + </p> + <p> + We had got to money, to business in the strictest sense of the word. My + opportunity had plainly come for attacking the subject of the cash + register. Yet I hesitated. A banker ought to be the easiest man in the + world to talk business to. There is no awkwardness about the subject of + toothache in a dentist’s parlour. He expects to be talked to about teeth. + It ought to have been an equally simple thing to speak to Ascher about the + future of a company in which we were both interested. Yet I hesitated. + There was something in his manner, a grave formality, which kept me miles + away from him. I thanked him for the promise of the letter of credit and + then sat silent for a minute. + </p> + <p> + “By the way,” said Ascher, “I have just had a visit from a man on business + in which you are interested.” + </p> + <p> + “Was that the man who passed me in the anteroom before I was shown in + here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He came to talk to me about Gorman’s new cash register. He was not + an accredited agent, you will understand. He did not profess to represent + anybody. He was not empowered to treat with us in any way, but——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” I said, “a sort of informal ambassador who could easily be + disowned if anything he said turned out to be inconvenient. In politics + men of that sort are very useful; but I somehow had the idea that business + methods are more straightforward.” + </p> + <p> + “All negotiations,” said Ascher, “whether in politics or business are + carried on in much the same way. But before I go into his suggestions I + had better tell you how the matter stands. Mildmay sent us his report and + it was entirely favourable to the new machine. I think the invention is + likely to turn out a valuable property. We have made inquiries and find + out that the patent rights are duly protected here and in all the chief + European countries. In fact——” + </p> + <p> + “It was really that and not my travels which I came to talk to you about + to-day. I may take it that we have got a good thing.” + </p> + <p> + “We think so,” said Ascher, “and our opinion is confirmed by the fact that + we are not the only people who think so. If I am right about the man who + visited me this morning we have very good evidence that our opinion is + sound. The men who are in the best position to know about cash registers, + who are most interested in their future——” + </p> + <p> + “The makers of the existing machines?” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. That is to say, if I am right about my visitor.” + </p> + <p> + “But how did they—how could any one know about Tim Gorman’s + invention?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “Gorman can’t have been such a fool as to talk to + newspaper reporters.” + </p> + <p> + “We need not suppose so,” said Ascher. “My experience is that anything + worth knowing always is known. The world of business is a vast whispering + gallery. There is no such thing as secrecy.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “the main point is that this man did know. What did he + want?” + </p> + <p> + “He wanted us to sell the patent rights,” said Ascher. “What he said was + that he had a client—he posed as some kind of commission agent—who + would pay a substantial sum for them.” + </p> + <p> + “That is just what Gorman said would happen once it was understood that + your firm is behind the new company.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman is—well, astute. But you understand, I am sure, that we + cannot do that kind of business.” + </p> + <p> + “I always had a suspicion,” I said, “that Gorman’s scheme was fishy.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not say fishy,” said Ascher. “Gorman’s plan is legitimate, + legitimate business, but business of an unenlightened kind. What is wrong + with Gorman is that he does not see far enough, does not grasp the root + principle of all business. We have a valuable invention. I do not mean + merely an invention which will put money into the pocket of the inventor + and into our pockets. If it were valuable only in that way Gorman would be + quite right, and our wisest course would be to take what we could get with + the least amount of risk and trouble, in other words to accept the best + price which we could induce the buyers to give us. But this invention is + valuable in quite another way. The new machine, if we are right about it, + is going to facilitate the business of retail sellers all over the world. + It will save time, increase accuracy, and, being cheaper, make its way + into places where the old machines never went.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said, “curiously enough I looked at the matter in that way when + Gorman first mentioned it to me. I said that the world ought to get the + benefit of this invention.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + “I see that,” I went on. “I understand that way of looking at it. But + surely that’s altruism, not business. Business men don’t risk their money + with the general idea of benefiting humanity. That isn’t the way things + are done.” + </p> + <p> + “I agree,” said Ascher. “It’s not the way things are done or can be done + at present, though there is more altruism in business than most people + think. Even we financiers——” + </p> + <p> + “I know you subscribe to charity,” I said, “largely, enormously.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s not what I mean,” said Ascher. “But we need not go into that. I + believe that business is not philanthropy, finance is not altruism.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why——?” I said. “On strict business principles, altruism + apart, why not take what we can get out of Tim Gorman’s invention and let + the thing itself drop into the dustheap?” + </p> + <p> + “On business principles,” said Ascher, “on the strictest business + principles, it would be foolish to do that. From time to time men hit on + some improvement in the way of making things or in the way of dealing with + things after they are made, that is to say in business methods. Every such + improvement increases the wealth of the world, tends to make everybody + richer. This invention which we have got hold of is a small thing. It’s + only going to do a little, a very little to make the world richer, but it + is going to do something for it is going to lessen the labour required for + certain results and therefore is going to increase men’s power, a little, + just a little. That is why we must make the thing available, if we can; in + order to add to the general wealth, and therefore to our own wealth. Those + are business principles.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. I had nothing to say for a moment. Business principles as + he explained them were not the business principles I was accustomed to, + certainly not the business principles on which Gorman acted. After a + minute’s silence Ascher went on. + </p> + <p> + “The mistake which is most often made in business,” he said, “is to + suppose that we grow rich by taking riches from other men, or that nations + prosper by depriving other nations of prosperity. That would be true if + riches consisted of money, and if there were just so much money and no + more in the world. Then business and finance would be a scramble, in which + the roughest and strongest scrambler would get most. But that is not so.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t it?” I said. “I should have thought that business just is a + scramble.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Ascher, “it is not. Nations grow rich, that is to say, get + comfort, ease, and even luxury, only when other nations are growing rich + too, only because other nations are growing rich.” + </p> + <p> + “The way to grow rich,” I said, “is to make other people rich. Is that it? + It sounds rather like one of the—what do you call them?—counsels + of perfection in the Gospel.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it is a religious truth too,” said Ascher. “I don’t know. I have + never studied religion. Some day I think I shall. There must be a great + deal that is very interesting in the New Testament.” + </p> + <p> + “Confound you, Ascher! Is there anything in heaven or earth that you don’t + look at from the outside, as if you were some kind of superior epicurean + god?” + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon. I ought not to have spoken in that way. You are, no + doubt, a Christian.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I am—in—in a general way.” + </p> + <p> + “I have often thought,” said Ascher slowly, “that I should like to be. But + from the little I know of that religion——” + </p> + <p> + “I expect you know as much as I do,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “It must be,” said Ascher, “very hard to be a Christian.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to discuss that point with Ascher. It was bad enough to + have an artistic soul awakened in me by Mrs. Ascher. I could not possibly + allow her husband to lead me to the discovery that I had the other kind of + soul. Nor was it any business of mine to work out harmonies between + Christian ethics and the principles of modern banking. I detest puzzles of + all kinds. It is far better, at all events far more comfortable, to take + life as one finds it, a straightforward, commonplace affair. I have the + greatest respect for Christianity of a moderate, sensible kind and I + subscribe to the funds of the Church of Ireland. But when it comes to + practical matters I find myself in agreement with Wordsworth’s “Rob Roy,” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The good old rule + Sufficeth me, the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power + And they should keep who can. +</pre> + <p> + So long, of course, as one does not do anything shady. I do not like lying + or theft. + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat looking at me as if he expected me to tell him exactly how hard + it is to be a Christian. I made a determined effort to get back again to + cash registers. + </p> + <p> + “Tim Gorman’s invention will get its chance then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. If we can manage it the thing will get its chance. It will be made + and, I think, people will use it.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher will be very pleased to hear that.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Ascher. “Is she interested? But I remember now. Young Gorman + has been sitting to her. She would naturally be interested in him.” + </p> + <p> + “Her idea,” I said, “is that Tim Gorman is producing a baby, with all the + usual accompaniments of that difficult business, labour, you know, and + pain. She regards you as the doctor in attendance, and she thinks it would + be exceedingly wrong of you to choke the little thing.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher looked at me quite gravely. For a moment I was afraid that he was + going to say something about the paradoxical brilliance of the Irish mind. + I made haste to stop him. + </p> + <p> + “That’s Mrs. Ascher’s metaphor,” I said, “not mine. I should never have + thought of it. I don’t know enough about the artistic soul to appreciate + the feelings of people who give birth to cash registers. But the idea is + plain enough. Tim Gorman will be bitterly disappointed if he does not see + girls in cheap restaurants putting actual shillings into those machines of + his.” + </p> + <p> + “From my wife’s point of view,” said Ascher, “and from mine, too, that + ought to be an important consideration. It’s the artist’s feeling; but + business and art—unfortunately business and art——” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see why they shouldn’t kiss and be friends,” I said. “They’re not + nearly such irreconcilable enemies as business and religion. Now that + those two have lain down together like a lion and a lamb—I don’t + quite see how they do it, but in that new philosophy of yours it seemed + quite a simple matter—there’s no real reason why art shouldn’t come + in too.” + </p> + <p> + But Ascher shook his head. He did not seem hopeful of a marriage between + art and business. He knows a good deal about both of them, far more, by + his own confession, than he knows about religion. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Ascher was very generous to me in the matter of letters of introduction. A + large bundle of them arrived at my hotel two days after I paid my visit to + his office. There must have been fifty or sixty of them altogether. I sent + for an atlas and found that I had a friend ready made for me in every port + of any importance in the West Indies and on the east coast of South + America as far down as Buenos Aires, and in a good many places inland. I + was fascinated by the idea of such a tour; but it was plainly not an + excursion to be undertaken without care and consideration. I lingered in + New York for a fortnight, buying some additional clothes, getting together + a few books on the South American republics, and working out steamboat + routes. + </p> + <p> + I saw young Tim Gorman. He called on me, sent by Mrs. Ascher, to thank me + for my good offices. I deserved no thanks; but on the general principle of + taking what I could get I allowed the boy to pour gratitude all over me. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” I said, “you ought to do fairly well out of the thing, + financially, I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care about that,” said Tim, “at least not exactly. I—I——” + he hesitated for a moment and then blurted out, “I don’t particularly want + to be rich.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is precisely how you ought to feel at your age, but when + you get to be forty—I’m forty, so I know—you’ll probably be + glad enough to have some money.” + </p> + <p> + “I want some money now,” said Tim. “Do you think I could get——? + How much do you think I’ll get out of my cash register?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it’s hard to name an exact figure, but it will be + something pretty substantial.” + </p> + <p> + “One thousand dollars?” said Tim anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “A great deal more than that. If Mr. Ascher makes the arrangements he + contemplates you’ll get a great deal more.” + </p> + <p> + I had only the vaguest idea what Ascher meant to do, and could make no + kind of guess at how much Tim would ultimately get, but I felt pretty safe + in promising two hundred pounds. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think I could get it at once?” said Tim. “Or even five hundred + dollars? I think I could manage with five hundred dollars. The fact is——” + </p> + <p> + “You want to get out of that circus,” I said. “I don’t wonder. It must be + a very tiresome job.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no. I don’t mind the circus. It’s rather a nuisance of course moving + about, and we always are moving. But I have plenty of time to myself. It + isn’t to get away from the circus that I want the money. The fact is that + I’m making some experiments.” + </p> + <p> + “Another invention?” I said. “What a prolific creature you are! No sooner + have you perfected a cash register than you start——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I’ve been at this for some time, for years. I believe I’ve hit on a + dodge—— I say, do you know anything about Movies?” + </p> + <p> + The word, though common on our side of the Atlantic now, was at that time + peculiar to the American language. + </p> + <p> + “Cinematographs?” I said. “I’ve seen them of course. You have them in your + circus, haven’t you, as part of the show?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. That’s what set me thinking about them. I’ve always felt that the + next step in perfecting the cinematograph would be doing away with the + screen, putting the figures on the stage, that is to say reflections of + them, so that they would actually move about backwards and forwards + instead of on a flat surface. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + When I was a boy there was a popular entertainment known as “Pepper’s + Ghost.” What appeared to be a real figure moved about before the eyes of + the audience, was pierced by swords and otherwise ill-treated without + suffering any inconvenience. The thing was worked by some arrangement of + mirrors. Tim evidently had a plan for combining this illusion with the + cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be a great thing?” + </p> + <p> + “It would be a perfectly beastly thing,” I said. “The cinematograph is bad + enough already. If you add a grosser realism to it——” + </p> + <p> + Tim looked at me. I am nearly sure that there were tears in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “That’s just what Mrs. Ascher thinks,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “I daresay she does. She probably regards the cinematograph as a sin + against art. What you propose would be an actual blasphemy.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Tim, “that’s exactly what she said. Blasphemy! Do you really + think so too? I wouldn’t go on with my experiments if I thought that. But + I don’t believe you can be right. I—I went round to see Father + Bourke. That was after Mrs. Ascher said it was blasphemy and I really + wanted to know. Father Bourke is one of the priests at St. Gabriel’s. I + consulted him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “what did he tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “He said it was all right and that I needn’t bother about what Protestants + said was blasphemy. They don’t know. At least Father Bourke seemed to + think they couldn’t know.” + </p> + <p> + “You go by what Father Bourke says and you’ll be safe.” + </p> + <p> + I should particularly like to hear Father Bourke and Mrs. Ascher arguing + out the subject of blasphemy together. They might go on for years and + years before either of them began to understand what the other meant by + the word. But it would be little less than a crime to involve the simple + soul of Tim Gorman in the maze of two separate kinds of casuistry. + </p> + <p> + “In any case,” I said, “I don’t take Mrs. Ascher’s view of the matter. I + don’t agree with her.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see,” said Tim, “how cinematographs can be blasphemies so long as + there aren’t any pictures of religious things. I’m sure it must be all + right and I can go on with what I want to do. If I can succeed in making + the figures stand out from one another, as if they were really there——” + </p> + <p> + “You’ll add a new terror to life,” I said. “But that needn’t stop you + doing it if you can.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I can,” he said eagerly. “You see it’s the next thing to be done. + The cinematograph is perfect up to that point It must make a new start if + it’s to go any further. I should like to be the man who makes the next + step possible. What’s wanted now is—is——” + </p> + <p> + “The illusion of distance.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. That’s what I mean. It’s a matter of optics. Just making a few + adjustments, and I think I see the way to manage it.” + </p> + <p> + “If you do,” I said, “you’ll make an immense fortune. The world will pay + anything, absolutely anything to the man who provides it with a new + torture. It’s an odd twist in human nature—though I don’t know why I + should say that. Oddness is really the normal thing in human nature.” + </p> + <p> + “But I want a thousand dollars,” said Tim, “or five hundred dollars at the + very least. I must try experiments.” + </p> + <p> + “If you ask your brother——” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Michael isn’t nice to me about it,” said Tim. “He isn’t nice at all. When + I asked him for a thousand dollars he said he’d get it for me on condition + that I allowed him to manage my cash register in his own way. But I won’t + do that. I know what he wants to do.” + </p> + <p> + “His idea,” he said, “is to let your invention lapse.” + </p> + <p> + “I know. The machine will never be made. But I want it to be made. I want + to see it working everywhere all over the world. You see I’m always + travelling about with the circus, sometimes in America, sometimes in + England. We go to a lot of different towns. We go to all the big towns + there are. I want to be able to go into shops everywhere, in every town in + the world and see my machine there. Don’t you understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” I said. “Mrs. Ascher explained the whole position to me + thoroughly. It’s the artist’s soul in you.” + </p> + <p> + A look of puzzled annoyance came over the boy’s face. His forehead + wrinkled and his fine eyes took an expression of painful doubt as they met + mine. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher says things like that,” he said, “and I don’t know what she + means. I am not an artist. I never learned to draw, even; at least not + pictures. I can do geometrical drawing, of course, and make plans of + machines; but that’s not being an artist. I can’t paint. Why does she say + I am an artist?” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is one of her little mannerisms. You will have to put up + with it.” + </p> + <p> + Tim uses the word artist in a simple old-fashioned way, very much as + Father Bourke uses “blasphemy.” There is a good deal to be said for their + practice. People like Mrs. Ascher ought to invent new terms when they want + to express uncommon thoughts. They have no right to borrow words like + “artist” and “blasphemy” from common speech in order to set them parading + about the world with novel meanings attached to them. It is not fair to + people like Tim Gorman and his Father Bourke. It is not fair to the words + themselves. I should not like to be treated in that way if I were a word. + I cannot imagine anything more annoying to a respectable, steady-going + word than to be called upon suddenly to undertake work to which it is not + accustomed. The domestic housemaid is perfectly right in resisting any + effort to make her do new kinds of work. Her formula, “It’s not my place,” + used when she is asked to make a slice of toast, is unanswerable. Why + should words be worse treated than housemaids? It is the business of + “artist” to stand for the man who paints pictures in oils. “Blasphemy” + describes aggravated breaches of the third commandment. What right had + Mrs. Ascher or any one else to press them into new services? There ought + to be a strong trade union among words. + </p> + <p> + “And now,” said Tim, “she says I’m not an artist after all because I want + to make movies more real. And she’s angry with me. She turned me out of + her studio because I wouldn’t promise not to. Of course, I wouldn’t + promise such a thing. I think I see how it can be done. The great + difficulty is to secure an exact adjustment of the mirrors. There are + other difficulties. There’s the awkwardness of transparent figures + crossing in front of each other. Also——” + </p> + <p> + “My dear boy,” I said, “don’t explain the thing to me. I am totally + incapable of understanding anything connected with mechanics, optics or + hydrostatics.” + </p> + <p> + I can make as good an attempt as most men at replying intelligently to + Mrs. Ascher even when she talks of “values,” atmospheres, feeling and + sympathy, though her use of these familiar words conveys only the vaguest + ideas to my mind. I can, after a period of intense mental effort, + understand what Ascher means by exchanges, premiums, discounts and bills, + though he uses these words in unfamiliar ways. But I am defeated utterly + by the man who talks about escapements, compensating balances and + clutches. I suspected that Tim Gorman would pelt me with even more + recondite scientific terms if I let things go on. + </p> + <p> + “You may take my word for it,” I said, “that you’ll get a thousand dollars + and more, in the end; but you may have to wait for it. In the meanwhile + keep on thinking out your plan for doubling the horrors of our places of + popular entertainment.” + </p> + <p> + That was all I could do for Tim Gorman. I do not think that he deserved + more than cold comfort and disagreeable advice. I might have given him, or + lent him, a little money, if he had been at work on a really useful + invention, something which would benefit humanity. There are lots of such + things waiting to be invented. There ought to be some way of stabbing a + man who insists on ringing you up on the telephone at unreasonable hours + and saying tiresome things. We cannot claim to be civilised until we have + some weapon for legitimate self defence attached to every telephone, + something which could be operated easily and swiftly by pressing a button + at the side of the receiver. It is not necessary that the man at the other + end of the wire should be struck dead, but he ought to suffer severe + physical pain. If Tim Gorman would turn his inventive genius in that + direction, I should not hesitate to advance money to him, even to the half + of my possessions. + </p> + <p> + I called on Mrs. Ascher again before I left New York. I wanted to hear her + version of the misunderstanding with Tim. I went, of course, to the + studio, not to the hotel. Mrs. Ascher is at her best in the studio. + Besides I was much more likely to find her there than anywhere else. + </p> + <p> + She was hard at work when I entered on a figure, at least two feet high, + of a man of very fine muscular development. I glanced at it and then asked + where Tim Gorman’s head was. + </p> + <p> + “You know,” I said, “that I admired that piece of work greatly.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher waved her hand towards a table in the darkest corner of the + room. + </p> + <p> + “It’s not finished,” she said, “and never will be. I’ve lost all interest + in it. If you like it take it away. I’ll give it to you with pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + I found poor Tim, not even swathed in wet bandages, among a litter of half + finished fauns and nymphs and several attempts at a smooth-haired dog. + Mrs. Ascher had done very little work at him since I saw him before. She + had, in pursuance of her own idea, turned half the saucer on which the + head stood into a mat of water-lily leaves. The other half—and I + felt gratified when I saw this—was worked up into an unmistakable + hammer and a number of disproportionately large nails. Tim’s face and head + still expressed lofty idealism in the way which had fascinated me when I + first saw the thing. But Mrs. Ascher had evidently neglected some + necessary precaution in dealing with her material. The neck—and + Tim’s neck is an unusually long one—had collapsed. A jagged crack + ran half round it close under the right ear. The left side of the neck was + curiously crumpled. The head leaned rakishly towards the water-lily side + of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + I remember hearing once of an irreverent choir boy. At a Christmas party, + a sort of feast of an Abbot of Unreason held in the less sacred parts of + the cathedral precincts, the brat decorated the statue of an Archbishop + with a pink and blue paper cap taken from a cracker. The effect must have + been much the same as that produced by the subsidence of Tim Gorman’s + neck. + </p> + <p> + “Do you really mean to give it to me?” I said. “I should like to have it + very much. I should set it up on my writing table and call it + ‘Disillusion.’ But do you think it will collapse any more?” + </p> + <p> + “Has it collapsed? I suppose it did not dry properly.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not even look at it. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” I said, “the present effect, the cynical contempt for the original + noble spirituality, is the result of an accident? What tricks + circumstances play on us! A slight irregularity in drying and a hero + becomes a clown. The case of ‘Imperial Caesar dead and turned to clay’ is + not so bad as that of an idealist whose neck has cracked.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m dreadfully disappointed in that boy,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Will you + forgive me if I do not talk of him? Even now I cannot bear to.” + </p> + <p> + She sighed heavily, showing how much she felt the loss of Tim’s soul. Then + she turned to me with one of those bright smiles, one of those charmingly + bright smiles, which are the greatest achievements of serious women. Very + religious women, women with artists’ souls and the intenser suffragists + have these bright smiles. They work them up, I suppose, so as to show that + they can be as cheerful as any one else when they choose to try. + </p> + <p> + “Come and see what I’m doing now,” she said. + </p> + <p> + I looked very carefully at the man’s figure in front of her. + </p> + <p> + “This,” she said, “is manhood, virility, energy, simple strength, + directness, all that this poor neurotic world is yearning for, the primal + force, uncomplex, untroubled, just the exultation of the delight of + being.” + </p> + <p> + “It reminds me faintly of some one,” I said, “the head and face, I mean; + but I can’t quite fix the likeness.” + </p> + <p> + She clapped her hands with delight. + </p> + <p> + “You see it,” she said, “I am so glad. It’s not meant to be a mere + likeness. I need not tell you that. Still I’m glad you see that it + resembles him. I am working to express his soul, the mere features, the + limbs, are nothing. The being which burns within, that is what I am trying + to express. But the fact that you see the external likeness makes me feel + more sure that my interpretation of the physical features is the right + one.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “it’s not Gorman, the other Gorman, the elder Gorman, + Michael!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Has he been sitting for you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + I stopped myself just in time. I was very nearly saying “sitting to you + like that?” The figure on which she was at work was entirely undraped. I + do not suppose that Mrs. Ascher would have been the least embarrassed even + if I had said “like that.” The artist’s soul scorns conventions. But I + should have felt awkward if she had answered “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Not exactly sitting to me,” she said. “He just comes here and talks. + While he talks I catch glimpses of his great, buoyant, joyous soul and + fashion the poor clay to express it.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not know he was back in New York,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, he has been here a week, perhaps more. To me it seems as if he + had been here for ever.” + </p> + <p> + I could not even guess at what she meant by that so I did not try to + answer her. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder he didn’t look me up,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Mrs. Ascher, “he has had no time. That abundant, restless + energy of his is for ever pressing out into fresh activities.” + </p> + <p> + I gathered, more from her tone than from her actual words that only an + effete, devitalised creature would call on me. A man of abundant energy + would naturally sit half the day in Mrs. Ascher’s studio, while she made a + fancy body for him in damp clay. + </p> + <p> + She clasped her hands and gazed with rapt intensity at the statue of + Gorman’s soul. + </p> + <p> + “His patriotism!” she said. “After living in that atmosphere of nebulous + cosmopolitanism which is what we hypercivilised people have created in the + world, it is everything to get back to the barbaric simplicity of the old + love for country.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he happen to mention,” I asked, “whether he succeeded in wheedling + five thousand dollars out of that Detroit man?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not hear that; or if she did chose to ignore it. + </p> + <p> + “The splendid destiny of Ireland,” she said, “has been to escape age after + age the malarial fever of culture. The Romans never touched her shores. + The renaissance passed her by. She has not bowed the knee to our modern + fetish of education. You and I have our blood diluted with——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman must have been at his very best while he talked to Mrs. Ascher. He + had evidently made a kind of whirlpool of her mind. Her version of his + philosophy of history and politics seemed to me to be going round and + round in narrowing circles with confusing speed. The conception of the + Romans as apostles of the more malarial kinds of culture was new to me. I + had been brought up to believe—not that any one does believe this as + an actual fact—that Ireland was once and to some extent still is, an + island of Saints and Scholars. I did not obtain any very clear idea of + what Mrs. Ascher’s blood was diluted with, but there must have been + several ingredients, for she went on talking for quite a long time. When + she stopped I made a protest on behalf of my country. + </p> + <p> + “We’re not so backward as all that,” I said. “We have a Board of National + Education and quite a large number of technical schools. In the convents + they teach girls to play the piano.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shook her head slowly. I gathered that she knew much more + about Irish education than I did and regarded it as unworthy even of + serious contempt. + </p> + <p> + “Dear Ireland!” she said, “splendid Ireland!” + </p> + <p> + I suppose Gorman must have been talking to her about fairies, the + dignified, Celtic kind, and the dear dark head of Kathaleen ni Houlihan. + Gorman is capable of anything. However as my country was being admired I + thought I might as well get a little of the credit for myself. + </p> + <p> + “I am an Irishman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at me with withering scorn. + </p> + <p> + “You,” she said, “you—you—you are——” + </p> + <p> + She was evidently in difficulties. I helped her out as best I could. + </p> + <p> + “An Irish gentleman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “An alien,” she replied, “a stranger in the land you call your own.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is just what I say, put more forcibly and picturesquely.” + </p> + <p> + Then Gorman came in, without knocking at the door. I was very glad to see + him. In another minute Mrs. Ascher and I would, perhaps, have quarrelled. + Gorman saved us from that catastrophe. I do not think I ever understood + before that moment the secret of Gorman’s charm. He came into that studio, + a place charged with the smell of damp clay, like a breeze from a nice + green field. He was in a thoroughly good temper. I suspect that he hurt + Mrs. Ascher’s hand when he shook it. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just been looking at Mrs. Ascher’s statue of your soul,” I said. + “Splendid muscles in the calves of its legs. You must be enormously proud + of them.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, under pretence of seeking a place in which to put his hat, turned + his back on Mrs. Ascher for a minute. As he did so he deliberately winked + at me. + </p> + <p> + Some day I mean to get Gorman in a private place, “away from everywhere,” + as Mrs. Ascher would say. When I get him there I shall ask him two + questions and insist on having an answer. First I shall ask him why he + devotes himself to Mrs. Ascher. He is not in love with her. We Irish have + not many virtues, but we can boast that we seldom make love to other men’s + wives. Besides, Mrs. Ascher is not the kind of woman who allows strange + men to make love to her. She is, in essentials, far less emancipated than + she thinks. It is just possible that he finds her responsive to his + fondness for the more flamboyant kinds of rhetoric. Gorman really likes + talking about Ireland as an oppressed and desolated land. It is easy + enough to move large audiences to enthusiasm by that kind of oratory. It + is not so easy, I imagine, to get single, sympathetic listeners in private + life. Mrs. Ascher apparently laps up patriotic sentiment with loud purrs. + That may be why Gorman likes her. The next thing I mean to ask him is what + he means by patriotism. I can understand quite easily what Irish + patriotism meant ten years ago. Gorman’s friends wanted my land, a + definite, tangible thing. I wanted it myself. But now they have got the + land, and yet Gorman goes on talking patriotism. It is not as if he had no + sense of humour. Gorman sees the absurdity of the things he says just as + plainly as I do. The ridiculous side of his own enthusiasm is never long + absent from his consciousness; yet he goes on just the same. I wish I + understood how he manages it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p> + Now that my leg has been smashed up hopelessly, by that wretched German + shell, I shall never ride or shoot again. I have to content myself with + writing books to occupy my time, a very poor form of amusement compared to + tramping the fields after partridge. I suppose it is inevitable that a man + in my position should indulge in regretful memories. My mind goes back now + and then to certain days in my boyhood and I find myself picturing scenes + through which I shall not move again. + </p> + <p> + There are fields stretching back from the demesne which used to be mine. + In the autumn many of them were stubble fields and among them were gorse + covered hills. I used to go through them with my gun and dogs in early + October mornings. There were—no doubt there still are—though I + shall not see them—very fine threads of gossamer stretching across + astonishingly wide spaces. The dew hung on them in tiny drops and + glittered when the sun rose clear of the light mist and shone on them. + Sometimes the threads floated free in the air, attached to some object at + one end, the rest borne about by faint breaths of wind, waved to and fro, + seeking other attachment elsewhere. Some threads reached from tufts of + grass to little hummocks or to the twigs which form the boles of elm + trees. Others still, with less ambitious span, went only from one blade of + grass to another or united the thorns of whin bushes. The lower air, near + the earth, was full of these threads. They formed an indescribably + delicate net cast right over the fields and hills. I used to see them + glistening, rainbow coloured when the sun rays struck them. Oftener I was + aware of their presence only when my hands had touched and broken them or + when they clung to my clothes, dragged from their fastenings by my passing + through them. + </p> + <p> + I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy of + nature. I find it difficult to believe that the life of the fields and + gorsy hills and young plantations would be either better or worse if there + were no such thing as gossamer. But I am no longer contented with my + ignorance. I mean to find out all that is known about gossamer, and + satisfy myself of the truth of the tradition that the threads are spun by + tiny spiders, though surely with very little hope of snaring flies. + </p> + <p> + I spent six months making the tour which Ascher planned for me. I returned + to London in the spring of 1914, full of interest in what I had seen and + learned. I intend some day to write a book of travels, to give an account + of my experiences. I shall describe the long strip of the world over which + I wandered as a landscape on a quiet autumn morning, netted over with + gossamer. That is the way it strikes me now, looking back on it all. + Ascher and men like him have spun fine threads, covering every civilised + land with a web of credit, infinitely complex, so delicate that a child’s + hand could tear it. + </p> + <p> + A storm, even a strong breeze comes, and the threads are dragged from + their holdings and waved in wild confusion through the air. A man, brutal + as war, goes striding through the land, and, without knowing what he does, + bursts the filaments and destroys the shimmering beauty which was before + he came. That, I suppose, is what happens. But the passing of a man, + however violent he is, is the passing of a man and no more. Even if a + troop of men marches across the land their marching is over and done with + soon. They have their day, but afterwards there are other days. Nature is + infinitely persistent and gossamer is spun again. + </p> + <p> + I remember meeting, quite by chance, on a coasting steamer on which I + travelled, a bishop. He was not, judged by strict ecclesiastical + standards, quite entitled to that rank. He belonged to some American + religious organisation of which I had no knowledge, but he called himself, + on the passenger list, Bishop Zacchary Brown. He was apostolic in his + devotion to the Gospel as he understood it. His particular field of work + lay in the northern part of South America. He ranged, so I understood, + through Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. He was full of hope for the + future of these lands, their spiritual future. I had long talks with him + and discovered that he regarded education, the American form of it, and + commerce, the fruit of American enterprise, as the enemies of superstition + and consequently the handmaids of the Gospel. + </p> + <p> + He wanted to see schools and colleges scattered over the republic in which + he was interested. He wanted to see these lands heavily fertilised with + capital. + </p> + <p> + “If you have any spare money,” he said, “put it into——” + </p> + <p> + I think he said fruit farming in Colombia. Whatever the business was—I + forgot at the time to make a note of the particulars—he promised + that it would develop enormously when the Panama Canal was opened. The + advice may have been perfectly sound; but I do not think it was + disinterested. Bishop Zacchary Brown was not anxious about my future or my + fortune. He did not care, cannot have cared, whether the Panama Canal made + me rich or not. Nor did it seem to him an important thing that the fruit + trade of South America should develop. What he cared for was his + conception of religion. He saw in the inflow of capital the way of triumph + for his Gospel, the means of breaking up old careless, lazy creeds, the + infusion of energy and love of freedom. Ascher, so I conceived the + situation, was to stretch his threads from Calvary to the grapefruit trees + of Cartagena. + </p> + <p> + At Bahia I was introduced to a Brazilian statesman. I met him first at the + house of one of Ascher’s banker friends. We talked to each other in + French, and, as we both spoke the language badly, understood each other + without much difficulty. It is one of the peculiarities of the French + language that the worse it is spoken the easier it is to understand. A + real Parisian baffles me completely. My Brazilian statesman was almost + always intelligible. + </p> + <p> + He was interested in international politics, the international politics of + the western hemisphere. I found that he was distrustful of the growing + power of the United States. He suspected a policy of Empire, a + far-reaching scheme of influence, if not actual dominion, centred in + Washington. He regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the root from which such an + extension of power might grow. It was no business of mine to argue with + him, though I am convinced that the citizens of the United States are of + all peoples the least obsessed by the imperial idea. I tried, by looking + sympathetic, to induce him to develop his theory. In the end I gathered + that he hoped for security from the imperial peril through the increase of + wealth and therefore power in the South American republics. + </p> + <p> + “Our natural resources,” he said, “are enormous, but undeveloped. We + cannot become strong in a military sense. We cannot possess fleets with + which to negotiate——” + </p> + <p> + I should have said “threaten” instead of “negotiate” for that was plainly + what he meant. But statesmen have to be careful in their use of words. + </p> + <p> + “—Unless we can obtain capital with which to develop our wealth. The + great money-lending countries, England and France, ought in their own + interests to pour capital into our republics. The return, in the end, + would be enormous. But more important still, they would establish a + balance of power in the western world. Why do not your financiers + understand?” + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher. Battleships are to be towed across the ocean, from the ship + yards of the Clyde to these far-off seas, at the ends of the gossamer + threads which Ascher spins. The Gospel and international politics are + caught in the same web. I seemed to see Diocletian the Emperor and Saint + John, who said, “Love not the world,” doing homage together to the power + of capital, leading each other by the hand through the mazes of the system + of credit. + </p> + <p> + I saw beautiful scenes, wide harbours where stately ships lay anchored, + through whose shining gates fleets of steamers trudged. I never escaped + from the knowledge that the gossamer threads stretched from mast to mast, + a rigging more essential than the ropes of hemp and wire. I saw the lines + of steel on which trains go, stretched out across vast prairies, and knew + that they were not in reality lines of steel at all but gossamer threads. + I saw torrents made the slaves of man, the weight of falling water + transmuted into light and heat and force to drive cars swiftly through + city streets; but all the wheels and giant masses of forged steel were + tied together by these same slender threads which Ascher spun in the + shrine of that Greek temple of his, Ascher and his fellow bankers. + </p> + <p> + Always the desire was for more capital. There was room for thousands of + ships instead of hundreds. There were whole territories over which no + trains ran. There was potentiality of wealth so great that, if it were + realised, men everywhere would be raised above the fear of want. A whole + continent was crying out to Ascher that he should fling his web across it, + join point to point with gossamer, in Amazonian jungles, Peruvian mountain + heights, Argentine plains and tropical fruit gardens. + </p> + <p> + I met and talked with many men whose outlook upon life was profoundly + interesting to me. Those whom I came to know best were Englishmen or men + of English origin. Some of them had built up flourishing businesses, + selling the products of English factories. Some acted as the agents of + steamboat companies, arranging for freights and settling the destinations + of ships which went voyaging. Some grew wheat or bred cattle. Like all + Englishmen whose lot is cast in far countries they retained their feeling + for England as a home and became conscious as Englishmen in England seldom + are, of love for their own land. Like all Englishmen they grumbled + ceaselessly at what they loved. + </p> + <p> + They spoke with contempt of everything English. They abused English + business methods and complained that Germans were ousting Englishmen from + the markets of the world. They derided English Government and English + statesmanship, ignoring party loyalties with a fine impartiality. They + decried English social customs, contrasting the freedom of life in the + land of their adoption with the convention-bound ways of their home. Yet + it always was their home. I felt that, even when their contempt expressed + itself in the bitterest words. + </p> + <p> + Whatever their opinions were or their affectations, however widely their + various activities were separated, these men were all consciously + dependent on the smooth working of the system of world-wide credit. + </p> + <p> + They were Ascher’s clients, or if not Ascher’s, the clients of others like + Ascher. They were in a sense Ascher’s dependents. They were united to + England, to Europe, to each other, by Ascher’s threads. Whether they bred + cattle and sold them, whether they grew corn, whether they shipped cargoes + or imported merchandise, the gossamer net was over them. + </p> + <p> + I returned to London with these impressions vivid in my mind, perhaps—I + tried to persuade myself of this—too vivid. I had travelled, so I + argued, under the shadow of a great banker. I had gone among bankers. It + was natural, inevitable, that I should see the world through bankers’ + eyes. Perhaps credit was not after all the life blood of our civilisation. + I failed to convince myself. The very fact that I could go so far under + the shadow of a bank proves how large a shadow a bank throws. The fact + that Ascher’s correspondents brought me into touch with every kind of man, + goes to show that banking has permeated, leavened life, that human society + is saturated with finance. + </p> + <p> + In a very few months, before the end of the summer which followed my + home-coming, I was to see the whole machine stop working suddenly. The war + god stalked across the world and brushed aside, broke, tore, tangled up, + the gossamer threads. Then, long before his march was done, while + awe-struck men and weeping women still listened to the strident clamour of + his arms, the spinners of the webs were at work again, patiently joining + broken threads, flinging fresh filaments across unbridged gulfs, + refastening to their points of attachment the gossamer which seemed so + frail, which yet the storm of violence failed to destroy utterly. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p> + I reached home early in May and underwent an experience common, I suppose, + to all travellers. + </p> + <p> + The city clerk, returning after a glorious week in Paris, finds that his + family is still interested in the peculiarities of the housemaid, the + Maud, or Ethel of the hour. To him, with his heart enlarged by nightly + visits to the Folies Bergères, it seems at first almost impossible that + any one can care to talk for hours about the misdeeds of Maud. He knows + that he himself was once excited over these domestic problems, but it + seems impossible that he ever can be again. Yet he is. A week passes, a + week of the old familiar life. The voluptuous joys of Parisian music halls + fade into dim memories. The realities of life, the things on which his + mind works, are the new lace curtains for the drawing-room window, the + ridiculous “swank” of young Jones in the office, and the question of the + dismissal of Maud the housemaid. + </p> + <p> + I found London humming with excitement over Irish affairs and for a while + I wondered how any one could think that Irish affairs mattered in the + least. Fresh from my wanderings over a huge continent Ireland seemed to me + a small place. It took me a week to get my mind into focus again. Then I + began once more to see the Home Rule question as it should be seen. South + America and Ascher’s web of international credit sank into their proper + insignificance. + </p> + <p> + I met Malcolmson in my club a week after my return. He very nearly pulled + the buttons off my waistcoat in his eagerness to explain the situation to + me. Malcolmson has a vile habit of grabbing the clothes of any one he + particularly wants to speak to. If the subject is only moderately + interesting he pulls a sleeve or a lappet of a coat. When he has something + very important to say, he inserts two fingers between the buttons of your + waistcoat and pulls. I knew I was in for something thrilling when he towed + me into a quiet corner of the smoking room by my two top buttons. + </p> + <p> + I have known Malcolmson for nearly twenty years. He was adjutant of my old + regiment when I joined. He was senior Major when I resigned my commission. + He became colonel a few years later and then retired to his place near + Belfast, where he has practised political Protestanism ever since. I have + never met any one more sincere than Malcolmson. He believes in civil and + religious liberty. He is prepared at any moment to do battle for his + faith. I do not know that he really deserves much credit for this, because + he is the sort of man who would do battle for the love of it, even if + there were no faith to be fought for. Still the fact remains that he has a + faith, rather a rare possession. + </p> + <p> + When he had me cornered near the window of the smoking room, he told me + that the hour of battle had almost come. Ulster was drilled, more or less + armed, and absolutely united. Rather than endure Home Rule Malcolmson and, + I think, a hundred thousand other men were going to lay down their lives. + It took Malcolmson more than an hour to tell me that because he kept + wandering from the main point in order to abuse the Government and the + Irish Party. Of the two he seemed to dislike the Government more. + </p> + <p> + Irish politics are of all subjects the most wearisome to me; but I must + admit that Malcolmson interested me before he stopped talking. I began to + wish to hear what Gorman had to say about the matter. I could not imagine + that he and his friends contemplated a siege of Belfast, to rank in + history alongside of the famous attempt to starve Derry. + </p> + <p> + There was no difficulty about getting hold of Gorman. In times of furious + political excitement he is sure to be found at the post of duty, that is + to say, in the smoking room of the House of Commons. I wrote to him and + invited him to dine with me in my rooms. It would have been much more + convenient to give him dinner at one of my clubs. But I was afraid to do + that. I belonged to two clubs in London and unfortunately Malcolmson is a + member of both of them. I do not know what would have happened if he had + found himself in the same room with Gorman. The threatened civil war might + have begun prematurely, and Malcolmson is such a determined warrior that a + table fork might easily have become a lethal weapon in his hands. I did + not want to have Gorman killed before I heard his opinion about the Ulster + situation and I disliked the thought of having to explain the + circumstances of his death to the club committee afterwards. There is + always an uncertainty about the view which a club committee will take of + any unusual event. I might very easily have been asked to resign my + membership. + </p> + <p> + Gorman accepted my invitation, but said he would have to be back in the + House of Commons at 9 o’clock. I fixed dinner for half past seven, which + gave me nearly an hour and a half with Gorman, more time than Malcolmson + had required to state his side of the case. + </p> + <p> + But Gorman was very much more difficult to deal with. He was not inclined + to discuss Home Rule or the Ulster situation. He wanted to talk about + Tim’s cash register, and, later on, about the new way of putting + cinematograph pictures on the stage. + </p> + <p> + “I have been wandering about since I saw you last,” I said, “and I’ve been + in all sorts of strange places. I’ve lost touch with things at home. + Hardly ever saw an English newspaper. I want you to tell me——” + </p> + <p> + “Interesting time you must have had,” said Gorman. “Run across the trail + of our friend Ascher much? I expect you did.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman very nearly sidetracked me there. I was strongly tempted to tell + him about the impression which Ascher’s gossamer had made on me. + </p> + <p> + “The slime of the financier,” said Gorman, “lies pretty thick over the + world. You’ve seen those large black slugs which come out in summer after + rain, big juicy fellows which crawl along and leave a shiny track on the + grass. They’re financiers.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “quite so. But tell me about Home Rule.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right. Can’t help becoming law. We have it in our pockets.” + </p> + <p> + “This time next year,” I said, “you’ll be sitting in a Parliament in + Dublin.” + </p> + <p> + “There’ll be a Parliament in Dublin all right this time next year; but I’m + not sure that I’ll be in it. After all, you know, Dublin’s rather a + one-horse place. I don’t see how I could very well live there. I might run + over for an important debate now and then, but—— You see I’ve + a lot of interests in London. I suppose you’ve heard about the new Cash + Register Company and what Ascher’s done.” + </p> + <p> + “Not a word. Do I still hold those shares of mine?” + </p> + <p> + “Unless you’ve sold them you do, but they’ll be very little good to you. + Ascher has simply thrown away a sure thing. We might have had—well, + I needn’t mention the sum, but it was a pretty big one. I had the whole + business arranged. Those fellows would have paid up. But nothing would do + Ascher except to put in his spoon. I’m blest if I see what his game is. He + has one of course; but I don’t see it.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “he wants to have your brother’s invention worked for + what it’s worth.” + </p> + <p> + “Rot,” said Gorman. “Why should he? I expect he has some dodge for + squeezing us out and then getting a bigger price all for himself; but I’m + damned if I see how he means to work it. These financial men are as + cunning as Satan and they all hang together. We outsiders don’t have a + chance.” + </p> + <p> + “What about Ulster?” I said. “I was talking to a man last week who told me——” + </p> + <p> + “All bluff,” said Gorman. “Nothing in it. How can they do anything? What + Ascher says is that he wants the old company to take up Tim’s invention + and work it. There’s to be additional capital raised and we’re to come in + as shareholders. Ascher, Stutz & Co. will underwrite the new issues + and take three and one-half per cent. That’s what he says. But, of course, + that’s not the real game. There’s something behind.” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn’t it occur to you that there may be something behind the Ulster + movement too?” + </p> + <p> + “No. What can they do? The Bill will be law before the end of July.” + </p> + <p> + “They say they’ll fight.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Gorman, “we’ve heard all about that till we’re sick of the + sound of it. There’s nothing in it. The thing’s as plain as anything can + be. We have a majority in Parliament and the bill will be passed. That’s + all there is to say. I wish to goodness I saw my way as plainly in the + cash register affair.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman’s faith in parliamentary majorities is extremely touching. I + suppose that only politicians believe that the voting of men who are paid + to vote really affects things. I doubt whether men of any other profession + have the same whole-hearted faith in the efficacy of their own craft. + Doctors are often a little sceptical about the value of medicines and + operations. No barrister, that I ever met, thinks he achieves justice by + arguing points of law. But politicians, even quite intelligent politicians + like Gorman, seem really to hold that human life will be altered in some + way because they walk round the lobbies of a particular building in London + and have their heads counted three or four times an hour. To me it seemed + quite plain that Malcolmson would not bate an ounce of his devotion to + civil and religious liberty even if Gorman’s head were counted every five + minutes for ten years and Gorman were paid a thousand a year instead of + four hundred a year for letting out his head for the purpose. Why should + Malcolmson care how often Gorman is counted? There is in the end only the + original Gorman with his single head. + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” said Gorman, “I’m keeping in with Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + He winked at me as he said this. I like Gorman’s way of adding explanatory + winks to his remarks. I should frequently miss the meaning, the full + meaning of what he says if he did not help out his words with these + expressive winks. This time he made me understand that he had no great + affection for Mrs. Ascher, regarded her rather as a joke which had worn + thin; but hoped to pick up from her some information about her husband’s + subtle schemes. I knew his hopes were vain. In the first place the Aschers + do not talk business to each other and she knows nothing of what he is + doing. In the next place Ascher had no underhand plot with regard to the + cash register. He was acting in a perfectly open and straightforward way. + But Gorman cannot believe that any one is straightforward. That is one of + the drawbacks to the profession of politics. The practice of it destroys a + man’s faith in human honesty. + </p> + <p> + “How’s Tim?” I asked. “Last time I saw him he was in great trouble because + Mrs. Ascher said he was committing blasphemy.” + </p> + <p> + “Tim’s in England,” said Gorman. “I was rather angry with him myself for a + while. If he had followed my advice about the cash register——. + But Tim always was a fool about money, though he has brains of a sort, + lots of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Still working with that circus?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear no. Left that months ago. He got some money. No, I didn’t give + it to him. I fancy it must have been Ascher. Anyhow he’s got it. He’s down + in Hertfordshire now, living in a barn.” + </p> + <p> + “Why? A barn seems an odd place to live in. Draughty, I should think.” + </p> + <p> + “He wanted space,” said Gorman, “a great deal of space to work at his + experiments. I’m inclined to think there may be something in this new idea + of his.” + </p> + <p> + “The living picture idea? Making real ghosts of the figures?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. And, do you know, he’s getting at it. He showed me some + perfectly astonishing results the other day. If he pulls it off——” + </p> + <p> + “You won’t let Ascher get hold of it this time,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Gorman frowned. + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn’t let Ascher touch it if I could help it, but what the devil can + I do? We shall want capital and I suppose Ascher is no worse than the rest + of them.” + </p> + <p> + By “them” Gorman evidently meant capitalists in general and financiers in + particular. + </p> + <p> + “That’s the way,” he said. “Not only do these scoundrels control politics, + reducing the whole system of democracy to a farce——” + </p> + <p> + “Come now,” I said, “don’t blame the capitalists for that. Democracy would + be a farce if there never was such a thing as a capitalist.” + </p> + <p> + “Not content with that,” said Gorman, “they keep an iron grip upon + industry. They fatten on the fruits of other men’s brains. They hold the + working man in thrall, exploiting his energy for their own selfish greed, + starving his women and children——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman ought to keep that sort of thing for public meetings. It is + thoroughly bad form to make speeches to an audience of one. I must say + that he seldom does. I suppose that his intimate association with Mrs. + Ascher had spoiled his manners in this respect. She encouraged him to be + oratorical. But I am not Mrs. Ascher, and I saw no reason why I should + stand that kind of thing at my own dinner table. + </p> + <p> + “But the day is coming,” I said, “when organised labour will rise in its + might and claim its heritage in the fair world which lies bathed in the + sunlight of a nobler age.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at me doubtfully for an instant, only for a single instant. + Almost immediately his eyes twinkled and he smiled good-humouredly. + </p> + <p> + “You ought to go in for politics,” he said. “You really ought. I + apologise. Can’t think what came over me to talk like that.” + </p> + <p> + I cannot resist Gorman when he smiles. I felt that I too owed an apology. + </p> + <p> + “After all,” I said, “you must practise somewhere. I don’t blame you in + the least; though I don’t profess to like it. No one can do that sort of + thing extempore and if it happens to suit you to rehearse at dinner——” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense,” said Gorman. “There’s not the slightest necessity for + practice. I could do it by the hour and work sums in my head at the same + time. Any one could.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is modest. Very few people can make speeches like his, fortunately + for the world. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he said, reverting abruptly to the starting point of his + speech, “it’s a pity we have to let Ascher into this new cinematograph + racket; but we can’t help it. In fact I expect he’s in already.” + </p> + <p> + “Lending money to Tim for experiments?” + </p> + <p> + “He wouldn’t do that,” said Gorman, “unless he’d made sure of his share of + the spoil afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “why don’t you make a law to suppress Ascher. You + believe in making laws, and, according to your own showing, that would be + a very useful one.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman gave me no answer. I knew he could not, because there is no answer + to give. If laws had any effect on life, as Gorman pretends to believe, he + would make one which would do away with Ascher. But he knows in his heart + that he might just as well make a law forbidding the wind to blow from the + east. Instead of taking any notice of my question he pulled out his watch + and looked at it. + </p> + <p> + “Nine o’clock,” he said. “I must be off to the House at once. An important + division has been arranged for a quarter past. Just ask your man to call a + taxi, will you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why go?” I said. “If the division is arranged the result will be arranged + too.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course it is,” said Gorman. “You don’t suppose the Whips leave that to + chance.” + </p> + <p> + “I must say you manage these things very badly. Here you are smoking + comfortably after dinner, not in the least inclined to stir, and yet you + say you have to go. Why don’t you introduce a system of writing cheques? + ‘Pay the Whip of my Party or bearer 150 votes. Signed Michael Gorman, M. + P.’” + </p> + <p> + “That’s rather a good idea,” said Gorman. “It would save a lot of + trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “The cheque could be passed in to some sort of clearing house where a + competent clerk, after going over all the cheques, would strike a balance + and place it to the credit of your side or the other. That would be the + Government’s Majority, and you wouldn’t have to go near the House of + Commons at all except when you wanted to make a speech. I don’t think you + need go even then. You might make your speeches quietly in your own home + to a couple of reporters.” + </p> + <p> + “It would simplify parliamentary life enormously,” said Gorman, “there’s + no doubt of that. But I don’t think it would do. I don’t really. The + people wouldn’t stand it.” + </p> + <p> + “If the people stand the way you go on at present they’ll stand anything.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” said Gorman, “that you’d ring for a taxi.” I rang the bell and + five minutes later Gorman left me. He had not told me anything about Home + Rule, or how his party meant to deal with a recalcitrant Ulster. He seemed + very little interested in Ulster. Yet Malcolmson was indubitably in + earnest. I felt perfectly sure about that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p> + I intended to call on the Aschers as soon as I could after I returned to + London. I owed Ascher some thanks for his kindness in providing me with + letters of introduction for my tour. However, they heard that I was home + again before I managed to pay my visit. I daresay Gorman told them. He + sees Mrs. Ascher two or three times a week and he must get tired talking + about Ireland. A little item of gossip, like the news of my return, would + come as a relief to Gorman, and perhaps even to Mrs. Ascher, after a long + course of poetic politics mixed with art. + </p> + <p> + I had a note from Mrs. Ascher, in which she invited me to dinner. + </p> + <p> + “Very quietly,” she said. “I know my husband would like to have a talk + with you, so I shall not ask any one to meet you. Please fix your own + night. We have no engagements this week.” + </p> + <p> + I got the note on Monday and fixed Wednesday for our dinner. I could not + think that Ascher really wanted to talk to me. I did not see what he had + to talk to me about; but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell him + about my tour and to give him some idea of the effect which my glimpse at + his business had produced on my mind. I also wanted to find out what he + thought about Irish affairs. I had heard a good deal more talk about the + Ulster situation. Malcolmson got at me nearly every day, and several other + men, much more level-headed than Malcolmson, seemed to regard the + situation as serious. I heard it hinted that the Army would not relish the + idea of shooting the Ulstermen. I understood the feeling. If I were still + in the Army I should not like to be told to kill Malcolmson. He was my + brother officer at one time, and I found him a good comrade. The same + feeling must exist among the rank and file. Northeast Ulster was, at one + time, a favourite recruiting ground for the Guards. Malcolmson’s volunteer + army was leavened with old Guardsmen, reservists, many of them quite well + known to the men still serving in the Brigade. + </p> + <p> + I could not, of course, expect Ascher to be much interested in Irish + affairs. Ireland is the one country in the world over which financiers + have not cast their net, possibly because they would catch next to nothing + there. So we, who escaped the civilisation of Roman law, almost escaped + the philosophy of the mediaeval church, were entirely untouched by the + culture of the Renaissance, remained a kind of Gideon’s fleece when the + dew of the industrial system of the 19th century was moistening Europe, + are now left untouched by the new civilisation of international finance. + Yet Ascher, if not personally interested in our destiny, has a cool and + unprejudiced mind. His opinion on Irish affairs would be of the greatest + interest to me. I was not satisfied with Gorman’s reading of the + situation. Nor did I feel sure that Malcolmson, though he was certainly in + earnest, quite understood what a big thing he was letting himself in for. + </p> + <p> + The Aschers live near Golders Hill, a part of London totally unknown to + me. They have a large old-fashioned house with a considerable amount of + ground round it. Some day when Ascher is dead the house will be pulled + down and the grounds cut up into building plots. In the meanwhile Ascher + holds it. I suppose it suits him. Neither he nor Mrs. Ascher cares for + fashionable life, and a Mayfair address has no attraction for them. The + few artistic and musical people whom they wish to know are quite willing + to go to Hampstead. Every one else who wants to see Ascher, and a good + many people do, calls at his office or dines with him in a club. Ascher + knows most of the chief men in the political world, for instance, but even + Prime Ministers are not often invited to the house at Golders Hill. If + Ascher really controls them, as Gorman says, he does so without allowing + them to interfere with his private life. + </p> + <p> + The house and its appointments impressed me greatly. The architecture was + Georgian, a style familiar to any one who has lived much in Dublin. It + gave me a feeling of spaciousness and dignity. The men who built these + houses knew what it was to live like gentlemen. I can imagine them guilty + of various offences against the code of Christian morality, but I do not + think they can ever have been either fussy or mean. There is a + restlessness about our fashionable imitations of the older kinds of + English domestic architecture. Our picturesque gables, dormer windows and + rooms with all sorts of odd angles, our finicky windows stuck high up in + unexpected parts of walls, our absurd leaded diamond panes and crooked + metal fastenings, all make for fussiness of soul. Nor can I believe that + people who live under ceilings which they can almost touch ever attain a + great and calm outlook upon life. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing “artistic” about Ascher’s house. This surprised me at + first. I did not, of course, expect that Mrs. Ascher would have surrounded + herself with the maddening kind of furniture which is distinguished by its + crookedness and is designed by men who find their inspiration by + remembering the things which they see in nightmares. Nor did I think it + likely that she would have crammed her rooms with those products of the + east which are imported into this country by house furnishers with + reputations for aestheticism. I knew that she had passed that stage of + culture. But I did expect to find the house full of heavily embroidered + copes of mediaeval bishops, hung on screens; candlesticks looted from + Spanish monasteries, standing on curiously carved shelves; chairs and + cabinets which were genuine relics of the age of Louis XV.; and pictures + by artists who lived in Italy before the days when Italians learned to + paint. + </p> + <p> + I found myself in a house which was curiously bare of furniture. There + were a few pictures in each of the rooms I entered, modern pictures, and I + suppose good, but I am no judge of such things. There were scarcely any + ornaments to be seen and very few tables and chairs. My own feeling is + that a house should be furnished in such a way as to be thoroughly + comfortable. I like deep soft chairs and sofas to sit on. I like to have + many small tables on which to lay down books, newspapers and pipes. I like + thick carpets and curtains which keep out draughts. I would not live in + Ascher’s house, even if I were paid for doing so by being given Ascher’s + fortune. But I would rather live in Ascher’s house than in one of those + overcrowded museums which are the delight of very wealthy New York Jews. I + should, in some moods, find a pleasure in the fine proportions of the + rooms which Ascher refuses to spoil. I could never, I know, be happy in a + place where I ran the risk of dropping tobacco ashes on thirteenth century + tapestry and dared not move suddenly lest I should knock over some + priceless piece of china. + </p> + <p> + We ate at a small table set at one end of a big dining-room, a dining-room + in which, I suppose, thirty people could have sat down together + comfortably. There was no affectation of shaded lights and gloomy, + mysterious spaces. Ascher had aimed at and achieved something like a + subdued daylight by means of electric lamps, shaded underneath, which + shone on the ceiling. I could see all the corners of the room, the walls + with their pictures and the broad floor across which the servants passed. + The dinner itself was very short and simple. If I had been actually + hungry, as I am in the country after shooting, I should have called the + dinner meagre. For a London appetite there was enough, but not more than + enough. I might, a younger and more vigorous man would, have got up from + the table hungry. But the food was exquisite. The cook must be a + descendant of one of those artists whom Lord Beaconsfield described in + “Tancred,” and he has found in Ascher’s house a situation which ought to + satisfy him. Ascher does not care for sumptuousness or abundance; but he + knows how to eat well. We had one wine, a very delicately flavoured white + Italian wine, perhaps from Capri, the juice of some rare crops of grapes + in that sunny island. + </p> + <p> + “We found ourselves in a little difficulty,” said Ascher, “when you fixed + on to-night for your visit to us.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope,” I said, “that I haven’t lit on an inconvenient evening. Had you + any other engagement?” + </p> + <p> + I was eating a very small piece of fish when he spoke to me, and was + trying to guess what the sauce was flavoured with. It occurred to me + suddenly that I might have broken in upon some sort of private + anniversary, a day which Ascher and his wife observed as one of + abstinence. There was, I could scarcely fail to notice it, a sense of + subdued melancholy about our proceedings. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” said Ascher, “but on Wednesdays we always have some music. I was + inclined to think that you might have preferred to spend the evening + talking, but my wife——” + </p> + <p> + He looked at Mrs. Ascher. I should very much have preferred talk to music. + It was chiefly in order to hear Ascher talk that I had accepted the + invitation. + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that Sir James likes music.” + </p> + <p> + She laid a strong emphasis on the word “know,” and I felt that she was + paying me a nice compliment. What she said was true enough. I do like + music, some kinds of music. I had heard for the first time the night + before a song, then very popular, with a particularly attractive chorus. + It began to run through my head the moment Ascher mentioned music. “I + didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it.” I liked that song. I was + not sure that I should like the Aschers’ music equally well. However, I + had no intention of contradicting Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “I’m passionately fond of music,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher is a singularly guileless man. I cannot imagine how any one so + unsuspicious as he is can ever have succeeded as a financier, unless + indeed people are far honester about money than they are about anything + else. I do not think Mrs. Ascher believed that I am passionately fond of + music. Her husband did. The little shadow of anxiety which had rested on + his face cleared away. He became almost cheerful. + </p> + <p> + “To-night,” he said, “we are going to hear some of the work of——” + </p> + <p> + He said a name, but I utterly failed to catch it. I had never heard it + before, and it sounded foreign, very foreign indeed, possibly Kurdish. + </p> + <p> + “———,” said Ascher, “is one of the new Russian + composers.” + </p> + <p> + I heard the name that time, but I can make no attempt, phonetic or other, + to spell it. I suppose it can be spelled, but the letters must be given + values quite new to me. The alphabet I am accustomed to is incapable of + representing that man’s name. + </p> + <p> + “I daresay you know him,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I strongly suspected that she was trying to entrap me. I have never been + quite sure of Mrs. Ascher since the day she discovered that I was talking + nonsense about the statuette of Psyche. Sometimes she appears to be the + kind of foolish woman to whom anything may be said without fear. Sometimes + she displays most unexpected intelligence. I looked at her before I + answered. Her narrow, pale-green eyes expressed nothing but innocent + inquiry. She might conceivably think that I had already made a careful + study of the music of the new Russian composer. On the other hand, she + might be luring me on to say that I knew music which was to be played in + her house that night for the first time. I made up my mind to be safe. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “I never even heard of him.” + </p> + <p> + Then Ascher began to talk about the man and his music. He became more + animated than I had ever seen him. It was evident that Russian music + interested Ascher far more than finance did; that it was a subject which + was capable of wakening real enthusiasm in him. I listened, eating from + time to time the delicate morsels of food offered to me and sipping the + delicious wine. I did not understand anything Ascher said, and all the + names he mentioned were new to me; but for a time I was content to sit in + a kind of half-conscious state, hypnotised by the sound of his voice and + the feeling that Mrs. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me. + </p> + <p> + Not until dinner was nearly over did I make an effort to assert myself. + </p> + <p> + “I was talking to Gorman the other day,” I said, “about Irish affairs and + especially about the Ulster situation. I have also been hearing + Malcolmson’s views. Malcolmson is a colonel and an Ulsterman. You know the + sort of views an Ulster Colonel would have.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. He seemed no more than slightly amused at the turn + Irish affairs were taking. After all neither international finance nor + Russian music was likely to be profoundly affected by the Ulster + rebellion. (Malcolmson will not use the word rebellion, but I must. There + is no other word to describe the actions he contemplates.) No wonder + Ascher takes small interest in the matter. On the other hand, Mrs. Ascher + was profoundly moved by the mention of Ulster. I could see genuine passion + in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Belfast,” she said, “stands for all that is vilest and most hateful in + the world. It is worse than Glasgow, worse than Manchester, worse than + Birmingham.” + </p> + <p> + Belfast is, no doubt, the main difficulty. If there were no Belfast the + resistance of the rest of Ulster would be inconsiderable. I admired the + political instinct which enabled Mrs. Ascher to go straight to the very + centre of the situation. But, in all probability, Gorman gave her the + hint. Gorman does not seem to understand how real the Ulster opposition + is, but he has intelligence enough to grasp the importance of Belfast. + What puzzled me first was the extreme bitterness with which Mrs. Ascher + spoke. + </p> + <p> + “What has Belfast ever given to the world?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “ships are built there, and of course there’s linen. I + believe they manufacture tobacco, and——” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Ascher, “is not quite what my wife means. The gifts which a + city or a country give to the world must be of a more permanent kind if + they are to be of real value. Ships, linen, tobacco, we use them, and in + using we destroy them. They have their value, but it is not a permanent + value. Ultimately a city will be judged not by its perishable products, + but by——” + </p> + <p> + “Art,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I might have known it. Mrs. Ascher would be sure to judge cities, as she + judges men, by their achievement in that particular line. I was bound to + admit that the reputation of Belfast falls some way short of that of + Athens as a centre of literature and art. + </p> + <p> + “Or thought,” said Ascher, “or criticism. It is curious that a community + which is virile and fearless, which is able to look at the world and life + through its own eyes, which is indifferent to the general consensus of + opinion——” + </p> + <p> + “Belfast is all that,” I said. “I never knew any one who cared less what + other people said and thought than Malcolmson.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet,” said Ascher, “Belfast has done nothing, thought nothing, seen + nothing. But perhaps that is all to come. The future may be, indeed I + think must be, very different.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher will never be a real leader of men. His habit of seeing two sides + of every question is an incurable weakness in him. Mrs. Ascher does not + suffer in that way. She saw no good whatever in Belfast, nor any hope for + its future. + </p> + <p> + “Never,” she said, “never. A people who have given themselves over to + material things, who accept frankly, without even the hypocrite’s tribute + to virtue, the money standard of value, who ask ‘Does it pay?’ and ask + nothing else—— Have you ever been in Belfast?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “often. The churches are ugly, decidedly ugly, though + comfortable.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered. + </p> + <p> + “Comfortable!” she said. “Yes. Comfortable! Think of it. Churches, + comfort! Irredeemable hideousness and the comfort of congregations as a + set-off to it.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher panted. I could see the front of her dress—she wore a + very floppy scarlet teagown—rising and falling rapidly in the + intensity of her passion. I understood more or less what she felt. If God + is at all what we think He is, sublime, then there is something a little + grotesque about requiring a cushioned pew, a good system of heating and a + nice fat footstool as aids to communion with Him. Yet I am not convinced + that man is incapable of the highest emotion when his body is at ease. + Some degree of physical comfort seems to be required if the excursions of + the soul are to be successful. I cannot, for instance, enjoy the finest + kinds of poetry when I am very thirsty; nor have I ever met any one who + found real pleasure in a statue when he had toothache. There is something + to be said for the theory of the sceptical bishop in Browning’s poem, that + the soul is only free to muse of lofty things + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “When body gets its sop and holds its noise.” + </pre> + <p> + “The whole Irish question,” said Mrs. Ascher, and she spoke with the most + tremendous vehemence, “is a struggle not between political parties—what + are political parties?” + </p> + <p> + “Rotten things,” I said. “I quite agree with you there.” + </p> + <p> + “Not between conceptions of religion—— What is religion but + the blind gropings of the human soul after some divine perfection vaguely + guessed?” + </p> + <p> + That is not what religion is in Ireland. There is nothing either dim or + vague about it there, and nobody gropes. Every one, from the infant school + child to the greatest of our six archbishops, is perfectly clear and + definite in his religious beliefs and suffers no doubts of any kind. That + is why Ireland is recognised everywhere as an island of saints. But of + course Mrs. Ascher could not be expected to know that. + </p> + <p> + “It is a struggle,” she said, getting back to the Irish question as the + subject of her sentence, “between a people to whom art is an ideal and a + people who have accepted materialism and money for their gods, an atheist + people.” + </p> + <p> + It has been the great misfortune of my life that I have never been able to + escape from the Irish question. It was discussed round my cradle by a + nurse whom my parents selected for her sound Protestant principles. The + undertaker will give his views of the Irish question to his assistant + while he drives the nails into the lid of my coffin. I should not have + supposed that any one could have hit on an aspect of it wholly new to me. + But Mrs. Ascher did. Never before had I heard the problem stated as she + stated it. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is an extraordinarily interesting way of looking at it. + The only difficulty I see is——” + </p> + <p> + “It is true,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + That was precisely my difficulty. It was not true. I went back to my + recollections of old Dan Gorman, a man as intensely interested in the + struggle as ever any one was. I remembered his great pot belly, his flabby + skin, his whisky-sodden face. I remembered his grasping meanness, his + relentless hardness in dealing with those in his power. The most + thoroughly materialised business man in Belfast has more spirituality + about him than old Dan Gorman ever had. Nor did I believe that his son, + Michael Gorman, would have accepted Mrs. Ascher’s account of his position. + He would have winked, humourously appreciative of an excellent joke, if + any one had told him that he was a crusader, out to wrest the sacred + sepulchre of art from the keeping of the Saracens of Ulster. + </p> + <p> + I did not, of course, attempt to reason with Mrs. Ascher. There is nothing + in the world more foolish than trying to reason with a woman who is + possessed by a cause. No good ever comes of it. But Mrs. Ascher is quite + clever enough to understand a man even if he does not speak. She felt that + I should have been glad to argue with her if I had not been afraid. She + entered on a long defence of her position. + </p> + <p> + She began with the Irish Players, and the moment she mentioned them I knew + what she was going to say. + </p> + <p> + “The one instance,” she said, “the single example in the modern world of + peasant art, from the soil, of the soil, redolent, fragrant of the simple + life of men and women, in direct touch with the primal forces of nature + itself. There is nothing else quite like those players and their plays. + They are the self-revelation, of the peasant soul. From the whitewashed + cabins of the country-side, from the streets of tiny, world-forgotten + villages, from the islands where the great Atlantic thunders ceaselessly, + these have come to call us back to the realities of life, to express again + the external verities of art.” + </p> + <p> + That is all very well. I agreed with Mrs. Ascher thoroughly about the art + of Synge’s plays, and Lady Gregory’s and Yeats’, and the art of the + players. But it is merely silly to talk about the soil and whitewashed + cottages, and self-revelation of peasant souls. Neither the dramatists nor + the players are peasants or ever were. They are very clever, sometimes + more than clever, members of the educated classes, who see the peasants + from outside just as I see them, as Mrs. Ascher would see them if she ever + got near enough to what she calls the soil to see a peasant at all. + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. Ascher had finished with the Irish Players she went on, still in + a white heat of excitement, to the attempt to revive the Irish language. + </p> + <p> + “Where else,” she said, “will you find such devotion to a purely spiritual + ideal? Here you have a people rising enthusiastically to fight for the + preservation of the national language. And its language is the soul of a + nation. These splendid efforts are made in defiance of materialism, + without the remotest hope of gain, just to keep, to save from destruction, + a possession felt instinctively to be the most precious thing of all, far + above gold and rubies in price.” + </p> + <p> + “The only flaw in that theory,” I said, “is that the people who still have + this most precious possession don’t want to keep it in the least. Nobody + ever heard of the Irish-speaking peasants taking the smallest interest in + their language. The whole revival business is the work of an + English-speaking middle class, who never stop asking the Government to pay + them for doing it.” + </p> + <p> + That was the second occasion on which I came near quarrelling with Mrs. + Ascher. Yet I am not a man who quarrels easily. Like St. Paul’s friends at + Corinth, I can suffer fools gladly. But Mrs. Ascher is not a fool. She is + a clever woman with a twist in her mind. That is why I find myself saying + nasty things to her now and then. I suppose it was Gorman who taught her + to be an Irish patriot. If she had been content to follow him as an + obedient disciple, I should have put up with all she said politely. But, + once started by Gorman, she thought out Ireland for herself and arrived at + this amazing theory of hers, her artistic children of light in death grips + with mercantile and manufacturing materialists. No wonder she irritated + me. + </p> + <p> + Ascher saved us from a heated argument. Dinner was over. He had smoked his + half cigarette. He rose from his chair. + </p> + <p> + “I expect Mr. Wendall is waiting for us,” he said to Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her face softened as he spoke. The look of fanatical enthusiasm passed out + of her eyes. She got up quietly and left the room. Ascher held the door + open for her and motioned me to follow her. He took my arm as we passed + together down a long corridor. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Wendall,” he said, “is a young musician who comes to play to us every + week. He is a man with a future before him. I think you will enjoy his + playing. We are going to the music room.” + </p> + <p> + We went through a small sitting-room, more fully furnished than any other + in Ascher’s house. It looked as if it were meant to be inhabited by + ordinary human beings. It was reserved, so I learned afterwards, for the + use of Ascher’s guests. We ascended a short flight of stairs and entered + the music room. Unlike the dining-room it was only partially lit. A single + lamp stood on a little table near the fireplace, and there were two + candles on a grand piano in the middle of the room. These made small spots + of light in a space of gloom. I felt rather than saw that the room was a + large one. I discerned the shapes of four tall, curtainless windows. I saw + that except the piano and a few seats near the fireplace there was no + furniture. As we entered I heard the sound of an organ, played very + softly, somewhere above me. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Wendall is here,” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He led me over to the fireplace and put me in a deep soft chair. He laid a + box of cigarettes beside me and set a vase of spills at my right hand. I + gathered that I might smoke, so long as I lit my tobacco noiselessly, with + spills kindled in the fire; but that I must not make scratchy sounds by + striking matches. Mrs. Ascher sank down in a corner of a large sofa. She + lay there with parted lips and half-closed eyes, like some feline creature + expectant of sensuous delight. The light from the lamp behind her and the + flickering fire played a strange game of shadow-making and shadow-chasing + among the folds of her scarlet gown. Ascher sat down beside her. + </p> + <p> + The organ was played very softly. I found out that it was placed in a + gallery above the door by which we had entered. I saw the pipes, like a + clump of tall spears, barely discernible in the gloom. There was no light + in the gallery. Mr. Wendall was no doubt there and was able to play + without seeing a printed score. I supposed that he was playing the music + of the new Russian composer. Whatever he played he failed to catch my + attention, though the sounds were vaguely soothing. I found myself + thinking that Mrs. Ascher had no right to be furiously angry with the + people of Belfast for making their churches comfortable. This was her form + of worship, and never were any devotees more luxuriously placed than we + were. If her soul can soar to spiritual heights from the depths of silken + cushions, surely a linen-draper may find it possible to pray in a + cushioned pew. + </p> + <p> + I was mistaken about the music I was listening to. Mr. Wendall was only + soothing his nerves with organ sounds while he waited for us. When he + discovered our presence he left the gallery and descended to the room in + which we sat, by a narrow stairway. No greeting of any kind passed between + him and the Aschers. He went straight to the piano without giving any sign + that he knew of our presence. I lit a cigarette and prepared to endure + what was in store for me. + </p> + <p> + At first the new Russian music struck me as merely noisy. I found no sense + or rhythm in it. Then I began to feel slightly excited. The excitement + grew on me in a curious way. I looked at the Aschers. He was sitting + nearly bolt upright, very rigid, in a corner on the sofa. She lay back, as + she had lain before, with her hands on her lap. The only change that I + noted in her attitude was that her fists were clenched tightly. Mr. + Wendall stopped playing abruptly. There was a short interval of silence, + through which I seemed to feel the last chord that was struck vibrating in + my spine. + </p> + <p> + Then he began to play again. Once more the feeling of excitement came on + me. I am far from being a Puritan, but I suppose I have inherited from + generations of sternly Protestant ancestors some kind of moral prejudice. + I felt, as the excitement grew intenser, that I had discovered a new, + supremely delightful kind of sin. There came to my memory the names of + ancient gods and goddesses denounced by the prophets of Israel: Peor and + Baalim, Milcom, Moloch, Ashtaroth. I knew why the people loved to worship + them. I remembered that Milton had rejoiced in the names of these + half-forgotten deities, and that Milton loved music. No doubt he, too, + understood this way of sinning and, very rightly, he placed the gods of it + in hell. Wendall, at the piano, stopped and began again. He did this many + times. His music was loud sometimes, sometimes soft, but it did not fail + to create the sense of passionate deliciousness and, for a time, a longing + for more of it. + </p> + <p> + After a while my senses grew numb, sated I suppose. I looked over at the + Aschers. She still lay as she had lain at first, but her fists were no + longer clenched. All her muscles seemed to be relaxed. Ascher had crept + over close to her. He lay back beside her, and I saw that he held one of + her hands clasped in his. His eyes were fixed intently on hers, and even + as I watched I saw her lids droop before his gaze. She gave a long, soft + sigh of satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher and his wife were lovers still, though they had + been married for a score or more of years. That strange emotion, which + touches human life with romance for a year or two and then fades into a + tolerant companionship, had endured with them. In some way altogether + unknown to me the music and all the art in which they delighted had the + power of stimulating afresh or re-creating again and again the passion + which drew them together. Under the influence of art they enjoyed a + mystical communion with each other, not wholly spiritual, but like all + mysticism, a mixture of the physical, the ecstasy of contact, actual or + imagined, with yearnings and emotions in which the body has no part. + </p> + <p> + I suppose the music had its effect on me, too, gave me for a few moments a + power of sympathy not usually mine. I understood Ascher as I had never + understood him before. I knew that the man I had hitherto seen, austere, + calm, intellectual, the great financier whom the world sought, was a man + with a mask before his face; that accident and the excitement of the music + had enabled me to see the face behind the mask. I understood, or supposed + I understood, Mrs. Ascher, too. All her foolish fine phrases and absurd + enthusiasms were like cries in which tortured creatures find some kind of + relief from pain, or the low, crooning laughter of a young mother with her + baby at her breast. They were the inevitable, almost hysterical gaspings + of a spirit wrought upon over highly and over often by the passion of + romantic love. A mask hid the man’s face. The woman was not strong enough + to wear it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p> + It is difficult now, in 1915, to regard the things which happened during + the first half of last year as events in any proper sense of the word. But + at the time they excited us all very much, and we felt that the whole + future of the country, the empire, perhaps of the human race, depended on + how the Government met the crisis with which it was faced. It seems + curious that we could have believed such a thing, but we did. + </p> + <p> + I remember quite distinctly the circumstances under which I first heard + the news of the protest made by certain cavalry officers against what they + supposed to be the Government’s policy in Ulster. I am not, thank God, + called upon to pass a judgment on that very tangled business, or to give + any opinion about the rights or wrongs of either side. I do not even + profess to know the facts. Indeed I am inclined to doubt whether there + were any facts. In affairs conducted mainly by politicians there seldom + are facts. There are statements, explanations, pledges and recriminations + in great abundance; but facts are not to be discovered, for the sufficient + reason that they are not there. What happened or seemed to happen was + described as a plot, a mare’s nest, an aristocratic conspiracy, an + assertion of principle, a mutiny, a declaration of loyalty, and a + newspaper scare, according to the taste of the person who was speaking. + The safest thing to call it, I think, is an incident. + </p> + <p> + I went down to the club at twelve o’clock, intending to smoke a cigar and + look at the picture papers before luncheon. I found Malcolmson in the + outer hall. His head was bent over the machine which reels off strips of + paper with the latest news printed on them. The machine was ticking + vigorously, and I knew by the tense attitude in which Malcolmson was + standing that something very important must have happened. My first + impulse was to slip quietly past and get away to the smoking room before + he saw me. I like Malcolmson, but he is tiresome, particularly tiresome + when there is important news. I crossed the hall cautiously, keeping an + eye on him, hoping that he would not look round till I was safe. + </p> + <p> + Malcolmson has reached that time of life at which a man’s neck begins to + bulge over his collar at the back, forming a kind of roll of rather hairy + flesh, along which the starched linen marks a deep line from ear to ear. I + noticed as I passed that Malcolmson’s neck was far more swollen than usual + and, that it was rapidly changing colour from its ordinary brick red to a + deep purple. The sight was so strange and startling that I stopped for a + minute to see what would happen next. I have never heard of a man’s neck + bursting under pressure of strong excitement, but Malcolmson’s looked as + if it must break out in some way. While I was watching, the machine + suddenly stopped ticking and Malcolmson turned round. His face was nearly + as purple as his neck. His moustache, always bristly, looked as if it was + composed of fine wires charged with electricity. His eyes were blazing + with excitement. + </p> + <p> + “Come here, Digby,” he said. “Come here and read this.” + </p> + <p> + He caught up the paper which the machine had disgorged and allowed it to + hang across his hands in graceful festoons. There seemed to me to be a + great deal of it. + </p> + <p> + “I wish you’d tell me about it,” I said. “I hate reading those things. The + print is so queer.” + </p> + <p> + I knew that Malcolmson would tell me about it whether I read it for myself + or not. There was no use getting a double dose of the news whatever it + was. + </p> + <p> + “The damned Government’s done for at last,” said Malcolmson triumphantly, + “and Home Rule’s as dead as a door nail.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” I said. “Now we shall all be able to settle down. How did it + happen? Earthquake in Dublin? But that would hardly do it. Cabinet + Ministers committed suicide unanimously?” + </p> + <p> + “The Army,” said Malcolmson, “has refused to fire on us. I knew they would + and they have.” + </p> + <p> + “Were they asked to?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Asked to!” said Malcolmson. “They were told to, ordered to. We’ve had our + private information of what was going on. We’ve known all about it for a + week or more. Belfast was to be bombarded by the Fleet. Two brigades of + infantry were to cross the Boyne and march on Portadown. The cavalry, + supported by light artillery, were to take Enniskillen by surprise. We + were to be mowed down, mowed down and sabred before we had time to + mobilise. The most infamous plot in modern times. A second St. + Bartholomew’s massacre. But thank God the Army is loyal. I cross to-night + to take my place with my men.” + </p> + <p> + An ill-tempered, captious man might have suggested that Malcolmson ought + to have taken his place with his men—a regiment of volunteers I + suppose—a little sooner. According to his own account, the peril had + been real a week before, but was over before he told me about it. The + Government which had planned the massacre was dead and damned. The Army + had refused to carry out the infamous plot. It seemed a mere piece of + bravado, under the circumstances, to take up arms. But I knew Malcolmson + better than to suppose that he wanted to swagger when swaggering was safe. + His mind might be in a muddled state. Judging by the way he talked to me, + it was very muddled indeed. But his heart was sound, and no risk would + have daunted him. + </p> + <p> + “Let’s have a glass of sherry and a biscuit,” I said. “You’ll want + something to steady your nerves.” + </p> + <p> + But Malcolmson, for once, for the only time since I have known him, was + unwilling to sit down and talk. His train, supposing that he took the + quickest route to Belfast, did not leave Euston till 8 or 9 o’clock at + night; but he felt that he must be up and doing at once. He fussed out of + the club, and for some time I saw no more of him. + </p> + <p> + I waited until the hall porter had cut up the slips of paper which fell + from the clicking machine and pinned the bits to the notice boards. Then I + read the news for myself. These machines are singularly unintelligent. + They mix up the items of news in a very irritating way. Sometimes a sheet + begins with the assassination of a foreign prime minister, breaks off + suddenly to announce the name of a winning horse, goes back to the prime + minister, starts a divorce case abruptly and then gives a few Stock + Exchange quotations. I hate news which comes to me in this disjointed way, + and never attempt to learn anything from the machine until the hall porter + has edited the sheets. He cuts them up, gets all the racing news on one + board, the Stock Exchange and the Divorce Court on another and makes a + continuous narrative of political news, assassinations, picturesque + shipwrecks and such matters on the largest and most prominent of the + notice boards. + </p> + <p> + I found when I did read that Malcolmson had built up a lofty structure on + a very small foundation. Something had evidently happened among the + soldiers stationed at the Curragh Camp; but the first account telegraphed + over from Ireland left me in grave doubt. It was a question whether the + men had actually been told to shoot Malcolmson and refused to obey orders; + or had been asked, politely, if they would like to shoot Malcolmson and + said they would rather not. The one thing which emerged with any sort of + clearness was that Malcolmson would not be shot. This made my mind easy. I + went into the dining-room and had some luncheon. + </p> + <p> + Early in the afternoon I collected six evening papers, three belonging to + each side. I found the Unionist writers unanimous on two points. The Army + had saved the Empire and the Government would be obliged to resign. The + Liberal scribes took another view of the situation. According to them the + Army had been seduced from its loyalty by the intrigues of fascinating and + fashionable Delilahs, but the will of the people must, nevertheless, + prevail. Newspaper writers on the Liberal side are far more intelligent + than their opponents. It was a stupid thing, in the early part of 1914, to + talk about saving the Empire. No one at that time cared anything about the + Empire. Very few people believed that it existed. It was worse than stupid + to suggest that the Government would resign. The country was utterly weary + of General Elections and was planning its summer holiday. Public sympathy + was hopelessly alienated by that kind of talk. On the other hand, the + fashionable Delilah story was a brilliant invention. There is nothing + dearer to the heart of the English middle classes and working men than the + belief that every woman with a dress allowance of more than £200 a year is + a courtesan. The suggestion that these immoral Phrynes were bartering + their charms for power to thwart the will of the people was just the sort + of thing to raise a tempest of enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + Almost anything might have happened if the Government had had the courage + to follow up its advantage. Fortunately—from Malcolmson’s point of + view—it did not venture to shut up all women of title, under fifty + years of age, in houses of correction; a course which would have convinced + the general public that Home Rule was a sound thing. It spent a fortnight + or so contradicting everybody who said anything, including itself, and + then apologised for being misunderstood. + </p> + <p> + However, that anti-climax was still some way off. + </p> + <p> + I stuffed the three Liberal papers into my pocket and went to call on Lady + Kingscourt. She is the only peeress I am intimate with who moves in really + fashionable circles and is both rich and beautiful. It would have been + interesting to hear what she said when I pointed out to her that she had + been seducing subalterns. She was not at home when I reached her house. + The butler told me that she had gone to a bazaar got up to raise funds for + the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Association, in itself a suspicious + circumstance. If I were Lady Kingscourt and my character was attacked as + hers was, I should keep clear of any charity with the word soldier in its + name. I was sorry to miss her, though I scarcely expected that she would + have tried to fascinate me. It is a good many years since I resigned my + commission. + </p> + <p> + The next person I thought of seeing was Gorman. It was nearly five + o’clock, so I went to the House of Commons. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, when I found him, seemed very much pleased to see me, and was in a + hospitable mood. He took me to a room, which must have originally been + meant for a cellar, and gave me tea. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been ringing you up on the telephone all day,” he said, “and + couldn’t get you. Where have you been?” + </p> + <p> + “Down at the club,” I said, “talking to Malcolmson about the plot—what + you’d call the situation I suppose. You can hardly be expected to admit + that there is a plot. Now, do tell me what you think about the situation.” + </p> + <p> + “Damn the situation!” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “seems the sensible view to take. Is it the one usually + held? Is that what they’re saying up there?” + </p> + <p> + I pointed to the ceiling with my thumb. Somewhere above my head, it might + be supposed, statesmen with furrowed brows were taking anxious counsel + together for the safety of the nation, retiring now and then when utterly + exhausted, to damn the situation in private rooms. + </p> + <p> + “Some of them are a bit fussed,” said Gorman. “Silly asses! But it isn’t + that wretched business that I wanted to speak to you about.” + </p> + <p> + “Good gracious! Do you mean to say that you can talk of anything else? + that you didn’t ring me up to tell me what will happen?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing will happen,” said Gorman. “Two or three muddled-headed young + fools at the Curragh will get court-martialled. That’s all. What I wanted + to see you about is this new invention of Tim’s. There’s really something + in it.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said. “You’re fiddling while Rome is burning. How can you + reconcile it to your conscience to play with cinematographs when a + horrible conspiracy is threatening life and liberty?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” said Gorman, “you don’t really believe that we plotted, as they + call it, to murder people in Belfast?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know whether you did or not,” I said. “But that’s not the + conspiracy I’m alluding to. Look here.” + </p> + <p> + I pulled out of my pocket the three papers which I had meant for Lady + Kingscourt and showed Gorman the articles about the fashionable ladies + seducing soldiers. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t expect our side,” I said, “to sit down under this kind of thing + without a struggle. We shall make counter accusations. I shall do it + myself if nobody else does. I’m warning you beforehand, Gorman, so that + you won’t be surprised when you find your character in rags.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at his watch. + </p> + <p> + “I know you like talking that sort of nonsense,” he said, “and I don’t + mind listening, not a bit; but just let me ask you this before you start. + Will you come down with me this evening and see Tim’s invention? If you + will I’ll order a motor from Harrod’s or somewhere, and we’ll run down + after dinner. There’s no use going in broad daylight, for we can’t see the + thing properly till after dark.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be delighted,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Very well. Excuse me a moment while I go and get on the ‘phone to engage + the motor.” + </p> + <p> + I waited, feeling a little sore. I daresay I do talk nonsense and like + talking it, but no politician who ever lived has a right to tell me so. I + intended to greet Gorman when he returned with the proverb about living in + glass houses and throwing stones. He came back, smiling radiantly. My + ill-humour passed away at once. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” he said, “go on with what you were telling me. + </p> + <p> + “I pointed out to you,” I said, “that duchesses, marchionesses, + countesses, and other abandoned women of that kind have been flirting with + military officers in such a way as to interfere with the governing of this + country in accordance with the principles of democracy.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that what they say?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He picked up one of the papers which I had laid on the table and satisfied + himself that the thing was really in print. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “they had to say something. I daresay people will believe + them. The English are an extraordinarily credulous race, fools in fact. + That’s why I’m a Home Ruler.” + </p> + <p> + “You must remember,” I said, “that I’m a Unionist.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you? Speaking confidentially, now, are you really?” + </p> + <p> + “My father was,” I said, “and I don’t like to see these things in print + about the party without making some kind of reply. What I’m thinking of + doing is writing a sort of circular letter to all the papers on our side + and saying that to my certain knowledge you and Mrs. Ascher have been + using undue and unfair influence over each other for the last six months. + If it’s wrong for a woman to talk politics to a soldier it must be much + more wrong for one to talk art to a politician.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” said Gorman, “is an extraordinary woman. The more I see of + her, the less inclined I am to be surprised at anything she says or does. + She’s tremendously keen just now on Home Rule and Ireland generally.” + </p> + <p> + “That is amazing,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “It isn’t in itself,” said Gorman, “but the way she gets at it is. I mean + that theory of hers about——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I know. She will insist on thinking that you and everybody else on + your side are artists.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet,” said Gorman, “I can’t persuade her to look at Tim’s new + invention.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher’s prejudice against cinematographs, improved or unimproved, + was certainly strong. I found it hard to understand exactly how she felt. + She found no difficulty in regarding Gorman, a devoted politician, as a + hero. When she had no objection to the form of entertainment with which he + provided the public, it was difficult to see why she kicked against moving + pictures. I should have thought that the performances at Westminster were + considerably more vulgar, certainly far less original and striking, than + the things shown on the cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I dined at Scott’s, chiefly on lobsters, at seven o’clock, an + uncomfortably early hour. We had a twenty-five-mile drive before us to + reach the farm, somewhere in the depths of Hertfordshire, where Tim was + making his experiments. The drive was a very pleasant one. The first part + of it lay along one of the great artery roads which lead from the centre + of London to the North. The evening was fine and warm without being + stuffy, one of those evenings which are the peculiar glory of the early + English summer. It seemed to me that many thousands of people were passing + along that road towards the country. Parties of laughing boys and girls + pedalled northwards on bicycles, swerving in and out through the traffic. + Stout, middle-aged men, with fat, middle-aged women beside them, drove + sturdy ponies, or lean, high-stepping horses, in curious old-fashioned + gigs. Motor cyclists, young men with outstretched chins and set faces, + sped by us, outstripping our car. Others we passed, riders who had side + cars attached to their cycles, young men these, too, but soberer, weighted + with responsibility. They had their wives in the side cars, wives who + looked little more than girls, though many of them held babies in their + arms, and one now and then had a well-grown child wrapped in rugs at her + feet. + </p> + <p> + “Life!” said Gorman, waving his cigar comprehensively towards the moving + crowds. “Wonderful thing life! Keeps going on. Don’t know why it should, + but it does. Nothing seems to make any difference to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Not even your politics,” I said. “Curious thing, isn’t it, how little all + that fuss of yours matters? It doesn’t make any difference which of your + parties is in power. All this goes on just the same. That young fellow—there, + the one who didn’t quite break his neck at the lamp post—would go + down to his office to-morrow exactly as he always does, if every member of + the House of Commons dies in the night. You see that girl with the baby—the + one on our left—she’d have had that baby just the same if the Long + Parliament were still sitting. None of your laws could have made her have + that baby, or stopped her. You are simply fussing in an unimportant way, + raising silly little clouds of dust which will settle down again at once. + She’s keeping the world going and she probably doesn’t even know the name + of the Prime Minister.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s all very well,” said Gorman, “but we’re seeing that these people + get their rights, their fair share of what’s going. If it wasn’t for us + and the laws we pass, the rich would grow richer and richer while these + men and women would gradually sink into the position of slaves. I’m not a + socialist. I don’t believe in that theory; but capitalists have had things + far too much their own way in the past.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Ascher! I like Ascher, of course, personally; but speaking of him as + a typical member of a class, he’s simply a parasite. All financiers are. + He ought to be abolished, wiped out, done away with. He fulfils no useful + function.” + </p> + <p> + Our motor sped along. A cycle with a side car just kept pace with us for a + while. A nice, clean-shaven, honest-looking young fellow was in the + saddle. His girl-wife sat beside him in the basket-work slipper which he + dragged along. It was her baby which I had pointed out to Gorman a moment + before. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “they have had tinned peaches for tea.” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” said Gorman, “just the sort of thing they would have. I + know that class. Lived among them for years. He comes home at half past + six. She has put on a clean blouse and tidied her hair so that he’ll kiss + her, and he does. Then he kisses the baby, probably likes doing that, too, + as it’s the first. Then he has a wash and she brings in the tea. Bread and + butter for her with a pot of marmalade, an egg—at this time of year + certainly an egg—for him.” + </p> + <p> + “And tinned peaches.” + </p> + <p> + “Eaten with teaspoons out of saucers,” said Gorman, “and they’ll enjoy + them far more than you did that lobster salad at Scott’s.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m sure they will. And that is just where Ascher comes in.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see it,” said Gorman, “unless you mean that they’d be eating + hothouse peaches if there were no Aschers.” + </p> + <p> + I did not mean that. I am, indeed, pretty sure that if there were no + Aschers, if Gorman succeeded in abolishing the class, neither the city + clerk, nor his pretty wife, nor any one else in England would eat hothouse + peaches. There would not be any. I am inclined to think that if Ascher + were done away with there would not even be any tinned peaches. Tinned + peaches come from California. Somebody grows them there. That man must be + kept going, fed, clothed sufficiently, housed, while the peach trees grow. + He must be financed. Somebody else collects the peaches, puts them into + tins, solders air-tight lids on them, pastes labels round them. He works + with borrowed money. Somebody packs the tins in huge cases, puts them in + trains, piles them into ships, despatches them to London, getting his + power to do these things in some mysterious way from Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “While she washes up the cups and saucers,” said Gorman, “he brings round + that motor cycle.” + </p> + <p> + “Paid for,” I said, “in monthly instalments.” + </p> + <p> + “Probably,” said Gorman, “with a deposit of £25 to start with.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s Ascher,” I said, “who makes that possible.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s Ascher,” said Gorman, “who makes that necessary. If it were not for + Ascher’s rake-off, the tax he levies on every industry, the machine could + be bought right out for the original £25 and there would be no instalments + to be paid.” + </p> + <p> + Possibly. But the tires of the machine were made of rubber. I remembered + my visit to Para, the broad, steaming Amazon, the great ships crawling + slowly past walls of forest trees, the pallid white men, the melancholy + Indians. It may be possible to devise some other means of getting the + precious gum from the Brazilian forest; but at present the whole business + is dependent on Ascher. + </p> + <p> + We left that motor cycle behind us at last and sped faster along a stretch + of road where the traffic was less dense. + </p> + <p> + “You notice,” said Gorman, “the way London is swallowing up the country. + That was once a rural inn.” + </p> + <p> + I had observed what Gorman pointed out to me. Here and there along the + road, a mile or so apart from each other, we came on old buildings, a + group of cottages, a farm house, an inn. These were solidly built after + the good old fashion. It had seemed wasteful to pull them down. The waves + of the advancing tide of London reached them, passed them, swept beyond + them, left them standing. + </p> + <p> + “Quite a few years ago,” said Gorman, “those houses stood in the middle of + fields, and the people who lived in them ate the food that grew at their + doors.” + </p> + <p> + “No tinned peaches,” I said, “no bicycles.” + </p> + <p> + “And no Ascher,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “we can’t go back.” + </p> + <p> + “In Ireland,” he said, “we needn’t go on. If we can only get clear of this + cursed capitalistic civilisation of England—that’s what I mean by + being a Home Ruler.” + </p> + <p> + “You think,” I said, “that we should be too wise to accept the yoke of + Ascher, to barter our freedom for tinned peaches.” + </p> + <p> + “We’ll get the tinned peaches, too.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you won’t. If you have civilisation—and that includes a lot of + things besides tinned peaches, tobacco for instance, Gorman. If you want a + cigar you’ll have to put up with Ascher. But I daresay you’d be better + without it. Only I don’t think I’ll live in your Ireland, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + We passed away from London in the end, got out beyond the last tentative + reachings of the speculative builder, into country lane-ways. There were + hedges covered with hawthorn, and the scent of it reached us as we rushed + past. Gorman threw away a half-smoked cigar. Perhaps he wanted to enjoy + the country smells. Perhaps he was preparing himself for life in the new + Ireland which he hoped to bring into being. + </p> + <p> + We reached the barn in which Tim Gorman lived, at about nine o’clock. He + was waiting for us, dressed in his best clothes. I knew they were his best + clothes because they were creased all over in wrong places, showing that + they had been packed away tightly in some receptacle too small to hold + them. It is only holiday clothes which are treated in this way. Besides + putting on this suit, Tim had paid us the compliment of washing his face + and hands for the first time, I imagine, for many days. + </p> + <p> + He shook hands with me shyly, and greeted his brother with obvious + nervousness. + </p> + <p> + “I have everything ready,” he said, “quite ready. But I can’t promise—— + You may be disappointed—— I’ve had endless difficulties—— + If you will allow me to explain——” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit of good explaining to us,” said Gorman. “All we’re capable of + judging is the results.” + </p> + <p> + Tim sighed and led us into the barn. + </p> + <p> + It was a large, bare room, ventilated—no one could say it was lit—by + three or four unglazed openings in the wall. These Tim blocked with hay so + as to exclude the lingering twilight of the summer evening. + </p> + <p> + At one end of the building was a stage, built, I thought, of fragments of + packing cases. It was very hard to be sure about anything, for we had + nothing except the light of two candles to see by, but the stage looked + exceedingly frail. I should not have cared to walk across it. However, as + it turned out, that did not matter. The stage was used only by ghosts, the + phantoms which Tim created, and they weighed nothing. Tim himself, when it + became necessary for him to adjust some part of his apparatus, crept about + underneath the stage. + </p> + <p> + At the other end of the barn was an optical lantern, fitted with the usual + mechanism for the exhibition of films. Half way down the room was a camp + bedstead, covered with one brown blanket. Tim invited us to sit on it. + </p> + <p> + “It doesn’t often break down,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “If it breaks down at all,” said Gorman, “I’ll not risk it. I’d rather sit + on the floor.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is a heavy man. I think he was right to avoid the bed. I sat down + cautiously on one end of it. The middle part looked more comfortable, but + I felt more secure with the legs immediately underneath me. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right,” said Tim, “quite all right. I fixed it just before you + came in.” + </p> + <p> + That bed, a tin basin and two very dirty towels were the only articles of + household furniture in the place. I suppose Tim had his meals with the + farmer who owned the barn. No inspired artist, toiling frenziedly with a + masterpiece in a garret, ever lived a more Spartan life than Tim Gorman + did in that barn. Whatever money he had was certainly not spent on his + personal comfort. On the other hand, a good deal of money had been spent + on tools and material of various kinds. Packing cases stood piled together + against the walls. The straw in which their contents had been wrapped + littered the floor. I discerned, as my eyes got used to the gloom, a + quantity of carpenters’ tools near the stage, and, beside them, a confused + heap of the mysterious implements of the plumber’s trade. + </p> + <p> + While I was looking round me and the elder Gorman was wriggling about on + the floor, Tim worked the lantern behind our backs. The thing, or some + part of it, hissed in an alarming way. Then it made a whirring noise and a + bright beam of light shot across the room. A very curious thing happened + to that light. Instead of splashing against the far wall of the barn, + exhibiting the cracks and ridges of the masonry, it stopped at the stage + and spread itself in a kind of irregular globe. We sat in the dark. Across + the room stretched the shaft of intense light, making the dust particles + visible. Then, just as when a child blows soap bubbles through a tube, the + light became globular. + </p> + <p> + “Put out the candles,” said Tim. + </p> + <p> + They stood, flaming feebly, on the floor between Gorman and me. I + extinguished them. Tim’s machine gave a sharp click. Figures appeared + suddenly in the middle of the globe of light. A man, then two women, then + a dog. I do not know, and at the time I did not care in the least, what + the figures were supposed to be saying or doing. It was sufficient for me + that they were there. I saw them, not as flat, sharply outlined + silhouettes, but as if they had been solid bodies. I saw them with + softened outlines, through two eyes instead of a monocle. I saw them + surrounded by an atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty good, isn’t it?” said Gorman. “Tim, turn on that running girl. I + want Sir James to see how you get the effect of her going further and + further away.” + </p> + <p> + The running girl was the best thing accomplished by the old cinematograph. + I never witness her race without a certain feeling of breathlessness. But + Tim’s girl ran far better. She was amazingly real. When she had finished + her course, Gorman struck a match and lit the candles again. + </p> + <p> + “That’ll do, Tim,” he said. “We’ve seen enough.” + </p> + <p> + “I’d like to show you the horses,” said Tim. “I think the horses galloping + are the best thing I’ve got.” + </p> + <p> + “We’ll take your word for the horses,” said Gorman. “Shut off that light + of yours and stop the whizzing noise. I want to talk.” He turned to me. + “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s marvellous,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “There’s money in it,” said Gorman. “Piles and piles of money. The only + question is, Who’s to get it?” + </p> + <p> + “Tim,” I said, “is the one who deserves it.” + </p> + <p> + “Tim will get his share whatever happens. The real question is, How are we + to prevent Ascher grabbing all the rest?” + </p> + <p> + Tim had finished quieting his machine and came over to us. + </p> + <p> + “Michael,” he said, “I want £100.” + </p> + <p> + “What for?” + </p> + <p> + “I want more mirrors. The ones I’m using aren’t perfect. I must have + others.” + </p> + <p> + “The ones you have,” said Gorman, “are good enough for the present. When + we get a bit further on and see how this business is going to be managed, + we may get you other mirrors.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said Tim, “I’ll ask Ascher for the money. He’ll give it to + me. I’d have asked him a week ago only you made me promise not to take any + more money from him without telling you.” + </p> + <p> + “If you take money from Ascher,” said Gorman, “he’ll simply collar your + whole invention. You’ll find in the end that it will be his, not yours. + He’ll get every penny that’s made out of it, and then he’ll tell you that + you owe him more than you can pay. I’ve told you all along that that’s + what will happen if you go borrowing from Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care,” said Tim, “so long as I get it perfected I don’t care what + happens.” + </p> + <p> + “Damn!” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + There was some excuse for him. Tim’s attitude was hopelessly unpractical. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you see,” said Tim, “that this is a wonderful thing? It’s one of + the greatest things that any one has done for a long time. It’s a new + thing.” + </p> + <p> + The note of weak obstinacy which was in his voice when he first spoke had + died out of it. He was pleading with his brother as a child might beg for + something from a grown-up man. + </p> + <p> + “That’s exactly what I do see,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Then why won’t you let me perfect it? It doesn’t matter—sure, you + know yourself, Michael, that it doesn’t matter what happens if only I get + it right.” + </p> + <p> + I thought for a moment that the boy was going to cry. He pulled himself + together with a sort of choked sob and then suddenly flashed into a rage. + </p> + <p> + “I will ask Ascher for the money,” he said. “I will, I will. Damn you, + Michael! I’ll give it all to Ascher, everything I have. Everything I ever + invent. I’ll tell him all I’ve found out. I’ll make it his.” + </p> + <p> + Then with another swift change of mood the boy turned to me and began to + plead again. + </p> + <p> + “Tell him to give me the money,” he said. “Or make him let me ask Ascher + for it. He’ll do it if you speak to him. I don’t want to quarrel with + Michael. I don’t want to do anything he says is wrong. But I must have + that money. Don’t you see I must? I can’t get on without it?” + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me, Tim,” I said; “if I give you the £100 you want——” + </p> + <p> + “I could manage with £100,” said Tim. “But it would be much better if I + had £150.” + </p> + <p> + “A hundred,” I said, “and no more. If I give it to you, will you promise + to bring that apparatus of yours up to London and exhibit your results to + a few friends of mine there?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will. Of course I will. May I order the new mirrors to-morrow and + say that you’ll pay for them?” + </p> + <p> + “You may. But remember——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that will be all right,” said Tim. “As soon as ever it is perfected——” + </p> + <p> + “Perfect or imperfect,” I said, “you’ve promised to show it off when I ask + you to.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I drove home together. At first he would do nothing except + grumble about his brother’s childish obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + “Can’t understand,” he said, “how any man with brains can be such a fool.” + </p> + <p> + Then when he had worked off the fine edge of his irritation he began to + thank me. + </p> + <p> + “It was good of you, very,” he said, “to put down the money. I’d have done + it myself, if I could have laid my hand on the amount he wanted. But just + at this moment I can’t. All the same I don’t see what good that £100 is + going to do. The thing’s perfect enough for all practical purposes + already. I saw nothing wrong with it.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor did I.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what the devil does he want to do with it? If the thing works all + right, what’s the sense of tinkering with it?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s the artistic soul,” I said, “never satisfied, always reaching + upwards towards the unattained. It’s the same with Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “Of all the damned idiocies,” said Gorman, “that artistic soul is the + damnedest.” + </p> + <p> + I said nothing more for several minutes. I knew it would take Gorman some + time to recover from the mention of the artistic soul. When I thought he + had regained his self-possession I went on speaking. + </p> + <p> + “My idea,” I said, “is to hire a small hall, and to invite a number of + well-off people to see Tim’s show. You’ll want money in the end, you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “Not much,” said Gorman. “A few thousands will be enough. It isn’t as if + we had to manufacture anything.” + </p> + <p> + “If you get what you want,” I said, “in small sums from a number of + people, you’ll be able to keep control of the thing yourself, and you + needn’t be afraid of Ascher. Not that I believe Ascher would swindle, you. + I think Ascher’s an honest man.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher’s a financier,” said Gorman. “That’s enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. + </h2> + <p> + I never suspected Malcolmson of the cheap kind of military ardour which + shows itself in the girding on of swords after the hour of danger is past. + He is the kind of man who likes taking risks, and I have not the slightest + doubt that if he had really known beforehand that the Government was + “plotting” to invade Ulster he would have been found entrenched, with a + loaded rifle beside him, on the north bank of the Boyne. What I did think, + when he left London suddenly to place himself at the head of his men, was + that he had been a little carried away by the excitement of the times; + that he was moved, as many people are, when startling events happen, to do + something, without any very distinct idea of what is to be done. But even + that suspicion wronged Malcolmson. Either he or some one else had devised + an effective counterplot; effective considered as a second act in a comic + opera. Perhaps I ought not to say comic opera. There is a certain + reasonableness in the schemes of every comic opera. Our affairs in the + early part of 1914 were moving through an atmosphere like that of “Alice + in Wonderland.” The Government was a sort of Duchess, affecting to regard + Ulster as the baby which was beaten when it sneezed because it could if it + chose thoroughly enjoy the pepper of Home Rule. The Opposition, on the + other hand, with its eye also on Ulster, kept saying in tones of awestruck + warning, “Beware the Jabberwock, my son.” Malcolmson seemed to be a kind + of White Knight, lovable, simple-minded, chivalrous, but a little out of + place in the world. + </p> + <p> + However, Malcolmson and his friends, considered as characters in “Alice in + Wonderland,” were effective, far more effective than the poor White Knight + ever was. They bought a lot of guns somewhere, perhaps in Hamburg. They + hired a ship and loaded her with the guns. They sailed her into Larne + Harbour and said to the Government, “Now, come on if you dare.” + </p> + <p> + The Government, having previously issued a solemn proclamation forbidding + the importation of arms into Ireland, took up the attitude of Mr. Winkle + and said it was just going to begin. It rolled up its sleeves and clenched + its fists and said for the second time and with considerable emphasis that + it was just going to begin, Malcolmson danced about, coat off, battle + light in eye, and kept shouting: “Come on!” The Government, taking off its + collar and tie, said: “Just you wait till I get at you.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman took a sane, though I think incorrect, view of the situation. + </p> + <p> + “The English people,” he said, “are hopeless fools. It’s almost impossible + to deal with them. They are actually beginning to believe that Ulster is + in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “that’s only fair. They’ve been believing that you’re in + earnest for quite a long time now. Ulster ought to have its turn.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, though a politician, is essentially a just man. He admitted the + truth of what I had said. He went further. He admitted that Malcolmson’s + coup was exceedingly well conceived. + </p> + <p> + “It’s just the sort of thing,” he said, “which appeals to Englishmen. + Reason is wasted on them.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be too hard on the English,” I said. “It’s the same everywhere in + the world. Government through the people, of the people, by, with, from, + to and for the people, is always unreasonable.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s the theatrical which pays,” said Gorman. “I didn’t think those + fellows in Belfast had brains enough to grasp that fact, but apparently + they have. I must say that this gun-running performance of theirs is good. + It has the quality which Americans describe as ‘punch.’ It has stirred the + popular imagination. It has got right across the footlights. It has + fetched the audience.” + </p> + <p> + “Awkward situation for you,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “We’ll have to do something,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?” + </p> + <p> + “Lord, no. We may be fools, but we’re not such fools as that.” + </p> + <p> + “Still,” I said, “he’s broken the law. After all, a party like yours in + close alliance with the Government of the country must do something to + maintain the majesty of the law.” + </p> + <p> + “Law be damned,” said Gorman. “What the devil does law matter to us or the + Government either? What we’ve got to consider is popular opinion.” + </p> + <p> + “And that,” I said, “seems to be setting against you. According to the + theory of democracy as I understand it, you’re bound to go the way popular + opinion is blowing you. You can’t, without gross inconsistency, start + beating to windward against it.” + </p> + <p> + “Winds sometimes change,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “They do. This one has. It was all in your favour a fortnight ago. Now, + what with your ‘plot’ and this really striking little episode in Larne——” + </p> + <p> + “The art of government,” said Gorman, “consists in manipulating the wind, + making it blow the way it’s wanted to. What we’ve got to do is to go one + better than the Ulster men.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said, “they imported rifles. You might land a shipload of large + cannons. Is that the idea?” + </p> + <p> + “They needn’t necessarily be real cannons. I don’t think our funds would + run to real cannons. Besides, what good would they be when we had them? + But you’ve got the main idea all right. Our game is to pull off something + which will startle the blessed British public, impress it with the fact + that we’re just as desperate as the other fellows.” + </p> + <p> + “What about the police?” I said. “The police have always had a down on + your side. It’s a tradition in the force.” + </p> + <p> + “The police aren’t fools,” said Gorman. “They know jolly well that any + policemen who attempted to interfere with our coup, whatever it may be, + would simply be dismissed. After all, we’re not doing any harm. We’re not + going to shoot any one. We’re simply going to influence public opinion. + Every one has a right to do that. By the way, did I mention that my play + is being revived? Talking of public opinion reminded me of it. It had + quite a success when it was first put on.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is charming. He never sticks to one subject long enough to be + really tiresome. + </p> + <p> + “I’m delighted to hear it,” I said. “I hope it will do even better this + time.” + </p> + <p> + “It ought to,” said Gorman. “We’ve got a capital press agent, and, of + course, my name is far better known than it was. It isn’t every day the + public gets a play written by a Member of Parliament.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is it to be produced?” “The Parthenon. Good big house.” + </p> + <p> + The Parthenon is one of the largest of the London Music Halls. Gorman’s + play was, I suppose, to take its place in the usual way between an + exhibition of pretty frocks with orchestral accompaniment and an imitation + of the Russian dancers. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be there,” I said, “on the first night. You can count on my + applause.” + </p> + <p> + It occurred to me after Gorman left me that the revival of his play + offered me an excellent opportunity of entertaining the Aschers. Ascher + had been exceedingly kind to me in giving me letters of introduction to + all the leading bankers in South America. Mrs. Ascher had been steadily + friendly to me. I owed them something and had some difficulty about the + best way of paying the debt. I did not care to ask them to dinner in my + rooms in Clarges Street. My landlord keeps a fairly good cook, and I + could, I daresay, have bought some wine which Ascher would have drunk. But + I could not have managed any kind of entertainment afterwards. I did not + like to give them dinner at a restaurant without taking them on to the + theatre; and the Aschers are rather superior to most plays. I had no way + of knowing which they would regard as real drama. The revival of Gorman’s + play solved my difficulty. I knew that Mrs. Ascher regarded him as an + artist and that Ascher had the highest respect for his brilliant and + paradoxical Irish mind. After luncheon I took a taxi and drove out to + Hampstead. I owed a call at the house in any case and, if Mrs. Ascher + happened to be at home, I could arrange the whole matter with her in the + way that would suit her best. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was at home. She was in the studio, a large bare room at the + back of the house. Gorman was with her. + </p> + <p> + I saw at once that Mrs. Ascher was in a highly emotional condition. I + suspected that Gorman had been talking to her about the latest wrong that + had been done to Ireland, his Ireland, by the other part of Ireland which + neither he nor Mrs. Ascher considered as Ireland at all. On the table in + the middle of the room there was a little group on which Mrs. Ascher had + been at work earlier in the day. A female figure stood with its right foot + on the neck of a very disagreeable beast, something like a pig, but + prick-eared and hairy. It had one horn in the middle of its forehead. The + female figure was rather well conceived. It was appealing, with a sort of + triumphant confidence, to some power above, heaven perhaps. The + prick-eared pig looked sulky. + </p> + <p> + “Emblematic,” said Gorman, “symbolical.” + </p> + <p> + “The Irish party,” I said, “trampling on Belfast.” + </p> + <p> + “The spirit of poetry in Ireland,” said Mrs. Ascher, “defying + materialism.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is a far nicer way of putting it.” + </p> + <p> + I took another look at the spirit of poetry. Mrs. Ascher was evidently + beginning to understand Ireland. Instead of being nude, or nearly nude, as + spirits generally are, this one was draped from head to foot. In Ireland + we are very particular about decency, and we like everything to have on + lots of clothes. + </p> + <p> + “But now,” said Mrs. Ascher, tragically, “the brief dream is over. + Materialism is triumphant, is armed, is mighty.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman for some sort of explanation. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just been telling Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “about the gun-running at + Larne.” + </p> + <p> + “The mailed fist,” said Mrs. Ascher, “will beat into the dust the tender + shoots of poesy and all high imaginings; will crush the soul of Ireland, + and why? Oh, why?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it won’t,” I said. “My own idea is that Malcolmson doesn’t mean + to use those guns aggressively. He’ll keep quite quiet unless the soul of + poetry in Ireland goes for him in some way.” + </p> + <p> + “We can make no such compromise,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Art must be all or + nothing, must be utterly triumphant or else perish with uncontaminated + soul.” + </p> + <p> + “The exclusion of Ulster from the scope of the Bill,” said Gorman, “is the + latest proposition; but we won’t agree to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it’s your affair, not mine. I mean to stay in London and + keep safe; but I warn you that if the spirit of poesy attempts to triumph + utterly over Malcolmson he’ll shoot at it. I know him and you don’t. You + think he’s a long-eared pig, but that ought to make you all the more + careful. Pigs are noted for their obstinacy.” + </p> + <p> + “What we’ve got to do,” said Gorman, “is devise some way of countering + this new move. Something picturesque, something that newspapers will + splash with big headlines.” + </p> + <p> + I do not think that Mrs. Ascher heard this. She was looking at the upper + part of the window with a sort of rapt, Joan of Arc expression of face. I + felt that she was meditating lofty things, probably trying to hit on some + appropriate form of self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + “I shall go among the people,” she said, “your people, my people, for I am + spiritually one of them. I shall go from cottage to cottage, from village + to village, walking barefooted along the mountain roads, dressed in a + peasant woman’s petticoat. They will take me for one of themselves and I + shall sing war songs to them, the great inspiring chants of the heroes of + old. I shall awake them to a sense of their high destiny. I shall set the + young men’s feet marching, thousands and thousands of them. I shall fill + the women’s hearts with pride.” + </p> + <p> + Then, for the first and only time since I have known him, Gorman’s + patience gave way. I do not blame him. The thought of Mrs. Ascher as an + Irish peasant, singing street ballads outside public houses, would have + upset the temper of Job. + </p> + <p> + “That’s all very well,” he said, “but the other people have the guns.” + </p> + <p> + “We must have guns, too,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and shining swords and long + spears tipped with light. Buy guns.” + </p> + <p> + With a really impressive gesture she dragged the rings from the fingers, + first of one hand, then of the other, and flung them on the ground at + Gorman’s feet. Even when working in her studio Mrs. Ascher wears a great + many rings. + </p> + <p> + “Buy. Buy,” she said. + </p> + <p> + She unclasped the necklace which she wore and flung it down beside the + rings. It was a pearl necklace, but not by any means the handsomest pearl + necklace she owned. + </p> + <p> + “More,” she said, “you must have more.” + </p> + <p> + She pranced out of the room, stepping high, like an actress taking a part + in one of Shakespeare’s plays or a well-bred carriage horse. + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “you’re not going to take her wedding ring, are you? I + don’t think you ought to. Ascher’s really fond of her and I’m sure he + wouldn’t like it.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish to goodness,” said Gorman, “that she wouldn’t behave in this wild + way. If she wants to subscribe to the party funds why doesn’t she write a + cheque instead of shying jewellery at me? I should certainly be arrested + on suspicion if I went to try and pawn those things. Nobody would believe + that she gave them to me.” + </p> + <p> + He picked up the rings as he spoke and laid them in a row on the table. + </p> + <p> + “If we don’t get her stopped,” he said, “she’ll have everybody laughing at + us.” + </p> + <p> + “Laughing at you, Gorman, not at me. I’ve nothing to do with the poetic + soul of Ireland. It’s your property.” + </p> + <p> + “The English have no real sense of humour,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “They’ve got quite enough to see this joke,” I said. “An owl would giggle + if it saw Mrs. Ascher going barefoot about Ireland and you following her + round carrying a long spear tipped with light in your hand.” + </p> + <p> + “We must stop her,” said Gorman. “Oh, damn! Here she is again.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher came in carrying a large morocco leather covered box, her + jewel case, I suppose. She was a little calmer than when she left us but + still very determined. + </p> + <p> + “Take this,” she said. “Take all there is in it. I give it gladly—to + Ireland.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at the jewel case and then pulled himself together with an + effort. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “your gift is princely, but——” + </p> + <p> + “I give it freely,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “And I shall receive it,” said Gorman, “receive it as the gift of a queen, + given with queenly generosity. I shall receive it when the hour comes, but + the time is not yet.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman rising to an occasion is a sight which fills me with admiration. + That promise of a time to come was masterly. I should never have thought + of it; but of course it came more easily to Gorman than it would to me. He + is a politician and accustomed to draw cheques on rather distant futures. + </p> + <p> + “Our people,” said Gorman, “are as yet unprepared, not ready to face the + crisis of their destiny. Keep these.” Gorman laid his hand on the jewel + box as if giving it a sort of benediction, consecrating its contents to + the service of Ireland. “Keep these as a sacred trust until the hour is + upon us.” + </p> + <p> + I very nearly applauded. Mrs. Ascher seemed a little disappointed. + </p> + <p> + “Why not now?” she said. “Why should we delay any longer?” + </p> + <p> + “We must trust our leaders,” said Gorman. “They will tell us when the time + for action comes.” + </p> + <p> + That would have been good enough for any ordinary constituency. It did not + satisfy Mrs. Ascher. I saw her looking a little doubtfully at Gorman. She + is a curious woman. She uses the very finest kind of language herself; but + she always gets suspicious when any one else talks about sacred trusts and + things of that kind. The fact is, I suppose, that she means what she says, + lives, as well as talks, finely. Gorman and I do not—quite. + </p> + <p> + I felt that Gorman needed and deserved a little help. He had done well + enough so far, but he scarcely understood how near to the edge of Mrs. + Ascher’s credulity he had gone. + </p> + <p> + “What Mr. Gorman means,” I said, “is that you must have men, organised, + you know, and drilled, before you can give them guns. Just at present + there are very few volunteers in Mr. Gorman’s part of Ireland. He’s going + to enroll a lot more. When he has them he’ll ask you for a subscription + for the gun fund.” + </p> + <p> + I did not think that Mrs. Ascher was really satisfied. In the light of + subsequent events I found out that she certainly was not. But she said no + more at the moment and made no further effort to press her jewel case on + Gorman. I did not feel that the moment was a good one for giving her the + invitation I had planned. It is impossible, without something like + indecency, to invite a woman to dinner in a restaurant while she is + meditating a barefooted pilgrimage through the wild places of Holy + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I left the house together. I hired a taxi to take us home so + that we could talk comfortably. + </p> + <p> + “Extraordinary woman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Very, very. But don’t let’s talk about her. That was rather a good idea + of yours. May be something in it. + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t know I had an idea,” I said. “Are you sure you’re not mixing me + up with Mrs. Ascher? She has lots.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Gorman. “It was you who suggested organising the + National Volunteers.” + </p> + <p> + There was at that time in Ireland a small number of extreme patriots who + rather admired Malcolmson because they thought he was going to fight + against England, and despised Gorman because they knew he was not. These + men had enrolled themselves in a semi-military organisation and called + themselves the National Volunteers. Gorman and his friends did their best + to suppress them and kept all mention of their existence out of the + English papers as far as possible. It surprised me to hear him speak in a + casual way of organising these declared enemies of his. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t do that,” I said. “Those fellows hate you like poison, worse + than Malcolmson does. They’re—well, I should call them rebels. They + certainly won’t do what you tell them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, they will, if treated properly. My idea is to flood the + organisation with reliable men, fellows we can trust. When we’ve got a + majority of our own people enrolled we’ll tell them to elect their own + leaders, democratic idea. Army choosing its own officers. Sure to catch + on.” + </p> + <p> + “Sure to, and then?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, then they’ll elect us. See? Every member of Parliament will be a + colonel. We needn’t drill or anything; but there’s nothing to prevent our + saying that we have 200,000 trained men. The Ulster fellows have gone no + trumps on their 100,000——” + </p> + <p> + “I should be inclined to say gone No Home Rule.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman grinned. + </p> + <p> + “Gone no something,” he said, “and we double them. I expect that will set + English opinion swinging round again.” + </p> + <p> + “It ought to,” I said, “but why bother about all these preliminaries? Why + put everybody in Ireland to the trouble of enrolling themselves in a new + organisation and electing officers and all that? It’s just as easy to say + you have 200,000 trained men before being made a colonel as afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t understand politics,” said Gorman. “In politics there must be a + foundation of some sort for every fact. It needn’t be much of a + foundation, but there must be some.” + </p> + <p> + “Hard on the Irish people,” I said, “being put to all that trouble and + bother just to make a foundation.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Gorman. “They’ll like it. But I hope to goodness that + fanatic woman won’t insist on our buying guns. It would be the devil and + all if the fellows I’m thinking about got guns in their hands. You simply + couldn’t tell what they’d do. You’ll have to try and keep Mrs. Ascher + quiet.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m going to ask her to dine with me and go to see your play,” I said. + “That may distract her mind from guns for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “You use your influence with her,” said Gorman. “I’ve the greatest belief + in influence.” + </p> + <p> + He has. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. + </h2> + <p> + That evening I wrote my invitation to the Aschers. They immediately + accepted it, expressing the greatest pleasure at the prospect of seeing + Gorman’s play again. + </p> + <p> + I arranged to have dinner at the Berkeley and ordered it with some care, + avoiding as far as I could the more sumptuous kinds of restaurant food, + and drawing on my recollection of the things Ascher used to eat when + Gorman ordered his dinner for him on the Cunard steamer. With the help of + the head waiter I chose a couple of wines and hoped that Ascher would + drink them. As it turned out he preferred Perrier water. But that was not + my fault. No restaurant in London could have supplied the delicate Italian + white wines which Ascher drinks in his own house. + </p> + <p> + We dawdled over dinner and I lengthened the business out as well as I + could by smoking three cigarettes afterwards, very slowly. I did not want + to reach the Parthenon in time for the musical display of new frocks. I + could not suppose that Ascher was interested in seeing a number of young + women parading along a platform through the middle of the theatre even + though they wore the latest creations of Paris fancy in silks and + lingerie. I knew that Mrs. Ascher would feel it her duty to make some sort + of protest against the music of the orchestra. + </p> + <p> + Gorman had told me the hour at which his play might be expected to begin + and my object was to hit off the time exactly. Unfortunately I + miscalculated and got to the theatre too soon. The last of the young women + was waving a well-formed leg at the audience as we entered the box I had + engaged. I realised that we should have to sit through a whole tune from + the orchestra before the curtain went up again for Gorman’s play. I + expected trouble and was pleasantly surprised when none came. Mrs. Ascher + had a cold. I daresay that made her slightly deaf and mitigated the + torture of the music. + </p> + <p> + She sat forward in the box and looked round at the audience with some show + of interest. The audience looked at her with very great interest. Her + clothes that night were more startling than any I have ever seen her wear. + A young man in the stalls stared at her for some time, and then, just when + I thought he had fully taken her in, bowed to her. She turned to Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Who is that?” she said. “The man in the fifth row, three seats from the + end, yes, there. He has a lady with him.” + </p> + <p> + I saw the man distinctly, a well-set-up young fellow with a carefully + waxed, fair moustache. The way his hair was brushed and something about + the cut of his clothes made me sure that he was not an Englishman. The + lady with him was, quite obviously, not a lady in the old-fashioned sense + of the word. She seemed to me the kind of woman who would have no scruples + about forming a temporary friendship with a man provided he would give her + dinner, wine, and some sort of entertainment. + </p> + <p> + Ascher fumbled for his pince-nez, which he carries attached to a black + silk ribbon. He fixed them on his nose and took a good look at the young + man. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” he said, “my nephew, Albrecht von Richter. You remember him. He + dined with us two or three times when we were in Berlin in 1912. I did not + know he was in London.” + </p> + <p> + I somehow got the impression that Ascher was not particularly pleased to + see his nephew Albrecht. Ascher was not looking very well. I had not seen + him for some time, and I noticed even at dinner that his face was pale and + drawn. In the theatre he seemed worse and I thought that the sudden + appearance of his nephew had annoyed him. The young man whispered + something to his companion and left his seat. The orchestra was still + thrashing its way through its tune and there seemed no immediate prospect + of the curtain going up. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later there was a tap at the door of our box and Von Richter + came in. Mrs. Ascher held out her hand to him. He bent over it and kissed + it with very pretty courtesy. He shook hands with Ascher who introduced + him to me. + </p> + <p> + “Captain von Richter—Sir James Digby.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter bowed profoundly. I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Have you been long in London?” said Ascher. “You did not let me know that + you were here.” + </p> + <p> + “I arrived here this afternoon,” said Von Richter, “only this afternoon, + at five o’clock.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke English remarkably well, with no more than a trace of foreign + accent. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been in Ireland,” he said, “for six weeks.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” said Ascher. “In Ireland?” + </p> + <p> + He was looking at his nephew without any expression of surprise, + apparently without any suggestion of inquiry; but I could not help + noticing that his fingers were fidgeting with the ribbon of his pince-nez. + Ascher, as a rule, does not fidget. He has his nerves well under control. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was frankly excited when she heard that Von Richter had been + in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” she said, “all about Ireland. About the people, what they are + saying and thinking.” + </p> + <p> + “We are all,” I said, “tremendously interested in Irish politics at + present.” + </p> + <p> + “Alas!” said Von Richter, “and I can tell you nothing. My business was + dull. I saw very little. I was in Dublin and Belfast, not in the + picturesque and beautiful parts of that charming country. I was buying + horses. Oh, there is no secret about it. I was buying horses for my + Government.” + </p> + <p> + It is certainly possible to buy horses in Dublin and Belfast; but I was + slightly surprised to hear that Von Richter had not been further afield. + Any one who understood horse-buying in Ireland would have gone west to + County Galway or south to County Cork. + </p> + <p> + The band showed signs of getting to the end of its tune. Von Richter laid + his hand on the door of the box. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I see you to-morrow?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Unfortunately,” said Von Richter, “I leave London early to-morrow + morning. Back to Berlin and the drill yard.” He kissed Mrs. Ascher’s hand + again. “We poor soldiers have to work hard.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “you can join us at the Carlton after the play. Mr. and + Mrs. Ascher have promised to have supper there with me. If you are not + engaged———?” + </p> + <p> + I glanced at the lady in the stalls. I was not going to ask her to supper. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be delighted,” said Von Richter. “I have no engagement of any + importance.” + </p> + <p> + The lady in the stalls was evidently the sort of lady who could be + dismissed without trouble. + </p> + <p> + “Good,” I said, “we leave directly this play is over; but you may want to + see the rest of the performance. The dancing is good I am told. Join us at + the Carlton as soon as you’re tired of this entertainment.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter slipped away. The curtain went up almost immediately. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in to receive our congratulations as soon as his play was + over. I asked him to join our supper party but he had an engagement of his + own, a supper at the Savoy. I do not blame him. The lady who acted the + principle part in his play had been very charming. She deserved any supper + that Gorman could give her. + </p> + <p> + We reached the Carlton very early, long before the rush of supper parties + began. Von Richter joined us as we sat down at the table. He was an + intelligent, agreeable young man with plenty of tact. He listened and was + apparently interested while Mrs. Ascher poured out her hopes and fears for + Ireland’s future. When she came, as she did in the end, to her own plan of + buying guns for the Nationalist Volunteers Von Richter became almost + enthusiastic. + </p> + <p> + “You Americans,” he said. “You are always on the side of the oppressed. + Alone among the nations of the earth you have a pat for the head of the + bottom dog.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter’s English is not only correct, it is highly idiomatic. Mrs. + Ascher bridled with pleasure. It pleased her to think that she was patting + the bottom dog’s head. I did not remind her that in the group which she + had just modelled the Spirit of Irish Poetry, for whose benefit she + intended to buy guns, had got its foot firmly planted on the pig. That + animal—and I still believed it to represent Belfast—was the + one which a tender-hearted American ought to have patted. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I may be able to assist you,” said Von Richter, “I know something + of rifles. That is my trade, you know. If I can be of any help—there + is a firm in Hamburg——” + </p> + <p> + He was glancing at Ascher as he spoke. He wondered, I suppose, how far + Ascher was committed to the scheme of arming Gorman’s constituents. But + Ascher did not appear to be listening to him. He had allowed me to pour + out some champagne for him and sat fingering the stem of his glass without + drinking. + </p> + <p> + No one was eating or drinking much. I proposed that we should leave the + supper room and have our coffee in the hall outside. I felt slightly + uncomfortable at the turn the conversation was taking. Mrs. Ascher was + very much in earnest about Ireland. Von Richter, I suppose, really knew + where to buy guns. I entirely agreed with Gorman that the distribution of + firearms in Ireland was a most undesirable thing. + </p> + <p> + “I always think,” I said, “that one of the things to do in London is to + watch the people going in and out of the supper room here. There is + nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. It is the best example there + is of the pride of life, ‘superbia vitae.’ I forget the Greek words at the + moment; but a bishop whom I happen to know once told me that they mean the + exultation of living. You know the sort of thing—gems and glitter, + colour, scent, beauty, stateliness, strength. ‘The pride of heraldry, the + pomp of power.’” + </p> + <p> + I made way for Mrs. Ascher and followed her as she moved among the tables + towards the staircase at the end of the room. Von Richter hooked his arm + in Ascher’s and spoke a few sentences to him rapidly in German. He spoke + without making any attempt to lower his voice. He evidently did not think + it likely that any one within earshot, except Ascher, would understand + German. We reached the hall and secured comfortable seats, from which we + could watch the long procession of men and women which was already + beginning to stream towards the supper room. I ordered coffee, brandy and + tobacco, cigars for Von Richter and myself, a box of cigarettes for Mrs. + Ascher. Ascher refused to smoke and did not touch his brandy. + </p> + <p> + Our little party divided itself into halves. I do not know how it happened + but Von Richter managed to get himself placed beside Mrs. Ascher in such a + way that his back was partly turned to me. General conversation became + impossible. Von Richter and Mrs. Ascher talked to each other eagerly and + somehow seemed to get further away from Ascher and me. They were still + discussing the landing of guns in Ireland, in Connaught, I think. After a + while I could no longer hear what they said. Ascher began to talk to me. + </p> + <p> + A party, two young women and one older one with three men behind them, + passed us and ascended the staircase to the supper room. + </p> + <p> + “There is something very fine,” said Ascher, “about the insolence of + well-bred Englishwomen. You see how they walk and how they look, straight + in front of them. It is not an easy thing to walk well across a long + brightly lighted space with many eyes watching.” I am not sure that I like + Ascher’s word “insolence.” I recognise the quality which he intended to + describe, which is, I think, the peculiar possession of English women of a + certain class; but I should not call it insolence. + </p> + <p> + Another party fluttered past us, a man and a woman. + </p> + <p> + “There,” said Ascher, “is a French woman. She is Madame de Berthier, the + wife of one of the Ministers in the last Government, a very prominent + woman in Paris. I know her pretty well, but even if I did not know her I + should recognise her as French. You see that she is conscious all the time + that she is a woman and therefore that men’s eyes are on her. She does not + escape from that consciousness. If a German lady were to pass us we should + see that she also is sex conscious; but she would be aware that she is <i>only</i> + a woman, the inferior of the men with her. The Englishwoman does not + admit, does not feel, that she has any superiors and she can walk as if + she did not care whether people looked at her and admired her or not. Even + the American woman cannot or does not do that. She wants to please and is + always trying to please. The Englishwoman is not indifferent to admiration + and she tries to please if she thinks it worth while. But she has learnt + to bear herself as if she does not care; as if the world and all that is + in it were hers of right.” + </p> + <p> + Two men—one of them almost forty years of age, the other much + younger—walked slowly up the hall looking to right and left of them. + They failed to find the friends whom they sought. The elder spoke a few + words and they sat down opposite to us, probably to wait until the rest of + their party should arrive. “The men of your English upper classes,” said + Ascher, “are physically very splendid, the sons of the women we have been + looking at are sure to be that. They possess a curious code of honour, + very limited, very irrational, but certainly very fine as far as it goes. + And I think they are probably true to it.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have said,” I replied, “that the idea of honour had almost + disappeared, what used to be called the honour of a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not really think that,” said Ascher. “Or perhaps you may. In a + certain sense honour has disappeared among your upper classes. It is no + longer displayed. To the outsider it is scarcely noticeable. It is covered + up by affectation of cynicism, of greed, of selfishness. To pose as + cynical and selfish is for the moment fashionable. But the sense of honour—of + that singular arbitrary English honour—is behind the pose, is the + reality. Look at those two men opposite us. They are probably—but + perhaps I offend you in talking this way. You yourself belong to the same + class as those men.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not offend me in the least,” I said. “I’m not an Englishman for + one thing. Gorman won’t let me call myself Irish, but I stick to it that + I’m not English. Please go on with what you were saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Those men,” said Ascher slowly, “are probably self indulgent. Their + morality—sex morality—is most likely very low. We may suppose + that they have many prejudices and very few ideas. They—I do not + know those two personally. I take them simply as types of their class. + They are wholly indifferent to, even a little contemptuous of art and + literature. But if it happened that a duty claimed them, a duty which they + recognised, they would not fail to obey the call. I can believe for + instance that they would fight, would suffer the incredible hardships of a + soldier’s life, would endure pain and would die, without any heroics or + fuss or shouting. Men of my class and my training could not do those + things without great effort. Those men would do them simply, naturally.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher,” I said, “I have a confession to make to you. I understand + German. I happen to know the language, learned it as a boy.” Ascher looked + at me curiously for a moment. I do not think that he was much surprised at + what I said or that my confession made him uneasy. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! You are thinking of what my nephew said to me as we left the supper + room. You heard?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “I felt like an eavesdropper, but I couldn’t help myself. + He spoke quite loudly.” + </p> + <p> + “And you understood?” + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact I had not understood at the moment. Von Richter said + very little, and what little he said concerned Ascher’s business and had + nothing to do with me. He told Ascher to move very cautiously, to risk as + little as possible, to keep the money of his firm within reach for a few + months. That, as well as I can remember, was all he said; but he repeated + it. “Your money should be realisable at a moment’s notice.” + </p> + <p> + “You understood?” said Ascher, patiently persistent. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t understand yet,” I said, “but what you have just said about + Englishmen being capable of fighting has put thoughts into my mind. Did + Captain von Richter mean——?” + </p> + <p> + “He meant to warn me,” said Ascher, “that what I have always looked + forward to with horror and dread is imminent—a great war. You + remember a talk we had long ago in New York; the night we were at the + circus and saw the trapeze swingers. Well, if my nephew is right, the + whole delicate balance of that performance is going to be upset. There + will be a crash, inevitably.” + </p> + <p> + “And you?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + “For me as well as for the others,” he said. “The fact that my affairs are + greater than those of most men will only make my fall the worse.” + </p> + <p> + “But you have been warned in time.” + </p> + <p> + “I scarcely needed the warning. I was aware of the danger. My nephew only + told me what I knew. His warning, coming from him, an officer who stands + high in the German military service—it confirms my fears, no more.” + </p> + <p> + “But you can save yourself and your business,” I said. “Knowing what is + before you, you can—you need not lend money, accept obligations. You + can gradually draw out of the stream of credit in which your fortune is + involved, get into a backwater for a while. You have time enough. I am + expressing myself all wrong; but you know what I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “I know. And you think I ought to do that?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no ‘ought’ about it,” I said. “It is the natural thing to do.” + </p> + <p> + “You were a soldier once. I think you told me so.” + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” said Ascher, “that this warning had come to you then, while you + were still a soldier. Suppose that you had known what your brother + officers did not know, or the men under you, that war was coming, you + would have resigned your commission. Is it so?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “I shouldn’t.” + </p> + <p> + “It would have been, from my point of view—for I am a coward—it + would have been the natural thing to do.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn’t have been natural to me,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it. I + don’t know why, but I couldn’t. I’m not professing to be particularly + brave or chivalrous or anything of that sort. But to resign under those + circumstances——! Well, one doesn’t do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor do I know why,” said Ascher, “but I cannot do it either. It is, you + see, the same thing. I must, of course, go on; just as you would have felt + yourself obliged to go on. The warning makes no difference.” + </p> + <p> + The idea that a banker feels about his business as a soldier does about + his profession was new to me. But I understood more or less what Ascher + meant. If he had that kind of sense of obligation there was clearly no + more to be said about the point. + </p> + <p> + “And England?” I said. “Is she to be in it?” + </p> + <p> + “Who knows? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I hope not. The disaster will be far + less terrible if England is able to remain at peace.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me this,” I said, “or if I am impertinent, say so, and I shall not + ask again. What was Captain von Richter doing in Ireland?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know. I can only guess.” + </p> + <p> + “Not buying horses?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not suppose he went there to buy horses though he may have bought + some. He went to see, to learn, to understand. That is what I guess. I do + not know.” + </p> + <p> + “He has probably made up his mind,” I said, “that in the course of the + next couple of months England will find herself with her hands full, so + full with Irish affairs that it will be impossible for her to act + elsewhere. A civil war in Ireland——” + </p> + <p> + “My nephew,” said Ascher, “is not very clever. He may think that. He is, I + believe, an excellent soldier. But if he were a banker I should not employ + him to find out things for me. I should not rely on the reports he brought + me. He lacks intelligence. Very likely he believes what you have said.” + </p> + <p> + “But you don’t?” + </p> + <p> + “No. I do not. I do not believe that Irish affairs will be in such a state + that they will determine England’s action. You see I have the privilege of + knowing Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t know Malcolmson,” I said, “and he’s a most important factor in + the problem. He’s like your nephew, an excellent soldier, but lacking in + intelligence. You don’t realise what Malcolmson is capable of.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know Colonel Malcolmson personally,” said Ascher. “I am right, + am I not, in styling him <i>Colonel</i> Malcolmson?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He retired some years ago as Colonel of my old regiment” + </p> + <p> + “Does a man retire from his loyalty,” said Ascher, “when he retires from + his regiment? Will your friend give up his honour because he has given up + his command? Will he aid the enemies of England?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” I said, “if you put it to Malcolmson in that way—— + He’s a positive fanatic on the subject of loyalty. But he doesn’t know, he + doesn’t understand. He hasn’t had the warning that your nephew has just + given you.” + </p> + <p> + “You are an Irishman,” said Ascher, “and you ought to know your countrymen + better than I do. But it will surprise me very much if England finds + herself hampered by Ireland when the crisis comes.” + </p> + <p> + It was Von Richter who broke up our party. He pleaded the necessity for + early rising next morning as his excuse for going away before the hour at + which the law obliges people to stop eating supper in restaurants. I + wondered whether he and Mrs. Ascher had made a satisfactory plan for + running guns into Galway. According to Ascher it did not make much + difference whether the Irish peasants had rifles in their hands or not. It + was soothing, though humbling, to feel that, guns or no guns, Volunteers + or no Volunteers, Ireland would not matter in the least. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. + </h2> + <p> + Gorman’s play achieved a second success. The Parthenon was crammed every + night, and it was the play, not the pretty dresses or the dancing, which + filled the house. Gorman made money, considerable sums of money. I know + this because he called on me one morning in the middle of July and told me + so. He did more. He offered me a very substantial and quite unanswerable + proof that he felt rich. + </p> + <p> + “If you don’t mind,” he said, “I’d like to pay you whatever you’ve spent + on this new invention of Tim’s.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t spent anything,” I said. “I’ve invested a little. I believe in + Tim’s new cinematograph. I expect to get back every penny I’ve advanced to + him and more.” + </p> + <p> + This did not satisfy Gorman. He got out his cheque book and a fountain + pen. + </p> + <p> + “There was the hundred pounds you gave him to buy looking glasses,” he + said. “You didn’t give him more than that, did you?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so much,” I said. “The bill for those mirrors was only £98-7-6; and I + made the man knock off the seven and sixpence as discount for cash. I’m + learning to be a business man by degrees.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman wrote down £98 on the cover of his cheque book. + </p> + <p> + “And the hire of the hall?” he said. “What will that come to?” + </p> + <p> + I had hired a small hall for the exhibition of Tim’s moving picture + ghosts. I had invited about a hundred people to witness the show. Gorman + himself, a brother of the inventor, had promised to preside over the + gathering and to make a few introductory remarks on the progress of + science or anything else that occurred to him as appropriate to such an + occasion. But I could not possibly allow him to pay for the entertainment. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Gorman,” I said, “it’s my party. The people are my friends. At + least some of them are. The invitations have gone out in my name. You + might just as well propose to pay for the tea I mean to offer them to + drink as for the hire of the room in which I am going to receive them.” + </p> + <p> + “Will £150 cover the whole show?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “If you insist on heaping insults on my head,” I said, “I shall retire + into a nursing home and cancel all the invitations.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re an obstinate man,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Very. In matters of this kind.” + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” said Gorman, “I’ll get rid of that money. I don’t consider + it’s mine. I ought to have paid for Tim, and I would, only that I hadn’t a + penny at the time.” + </p> + <p> + “If you like to give £150 to a charity,” I said, “that’s your affair.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Gorman, “would be waste. I rather think I’ll give a party + myself.” + </p> + <p> + He slipped his cheque book back into his pocket. + </p> + <p> + “Invite me to meet the lady who acts in your play,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Gibson?” said Gorman. “Right. Who else shall we have?” + </p> + <p> + “Why have anybody else?” + </p> + <p> + “There are difficulties,” said Gorman, “about the rest of the party. You + wouldn’t care to meet my friends.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I would.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you wouldn’t. I know you. You don’t consider Irish Nationalists fit + to associate with. We’re not respectable.” + </p> + <p> + That was putting it too strongly; but it is a fact that I do not know, or + particularly want to know, any of Gorman’s political associates. + </p> + <p> + “And your friends,” said Gorman, “wouldn’t know me.” + </p> + <p> + Again Gorman was guilty of over-statement; but my friends are, for the + most part, of conservative and slightly military tastes. They would not + get on well with Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll think it over,” said Gorman, “and let you know.” + </p> + <p> + Two days later I got my invitation. Gorman, in the excitement of sudden + great possessions, had devised an expensive kind of party. The invited + guests were Mr. and Mrs. Ascher, Miss Gibson, Tim and myself. We were to + voyage off from Southampton in a motor yacht, hired by Gorman, to see the + Naval Review at Spithead. We were to start at ten o’clock from Waterloo + station in a saloon carriage reserved for our party. + </p> + <p> + “We have to be back in time for Miss Gibson to go to the theatre,” Gorman + wrote, “so we must start early. I believe the show is to be worth seeing. + British Navy at its best. King there. Royal salutes from Dreadnoughts. + Rank, fashion and beauty in abundance.” + </p> + <p> + The week was to be one of exciting festivities. Gorman had fixed his party + for the day before my exhibition of Tim’s new invention. + </p> + <p> + I was shaving—shortly after eight o’clock on the morning of Gorman’s + party—when my servant came into my room. + </p> + <p> + “I beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but there’s a young man waiting in the + hall, says that he wants to see you.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed odd that any one should want to see me at that hour. + </p> + <p> + “Who is he?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t know, sir. Gives his name as Gorman. But he’s not our Mr. Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “It may be Tim,” I said. “Does he look as if he had an artistic soul?” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn’t say, sir. Might have, sir. Artists is very various. Doesn’t seem + to me, sir, as if his man looked after his clothes proper.” + </p> + <p> + “Must be Tim,” I said. “Show him in.” + </p> + <p> + “In here, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. And have an extra kidney cooked for breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + Tim came in very shyly and sat down on a chair near the door. He certainly + did not look as if his clothes had been properly cared for. He was wearing + the blue suit which I suspected was the best he owned. It was even more + crumpled and worse creased than when I saw it down in Hertfordshire. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you don’t mind my coming here,” he said. “I didn’t like to go to + Mr. Ascher, and I was afraid to go to Michael. He’d have been angry with + me.” + </p> + <p> + “Has anything gone wrong with your apparatus? Smashed a mirror?” + </p> + <p> + Tim brightened up at the mention of his apparatus. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” he said. “That’s all right. In fact I’ve been able to improve it + greatly. You remember the trouble I had with the refraction from the + second prism. The adjustment of the angles—— The way the light + fell——” + </p> + <p> + I could not, especially before breakfast, argue about prisms. + </p> + <p> + “If your machinery’s all right,” I said, “what’s the matter with you?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s this party of Michael’s,” he said. “I forgot all about it till + yesterday afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you remembered it then. If you’d forgotten it till this afternoon + it would have been a much more serious matter.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Tim, “Michael told me to get some new clothes. He said he’d + pay for them, which was very kind of him. But when I got up to London the + shops were shut. I hurried as much as I could, but there were one or two + things I had to do before I started. And now I’m afraid Michael will be + angry. He said most particularly that I must be well dressed because there + are ladies coming.” + </p> + <p> + “Stand up,” I said, “and let me have a look at you.” + </p> + <p> + Poor Tim stood up, looking as if he expected me to box his ears. There was + no disguising the fact that his costume fell some way short of the + standard maintained by Cowes yachtsmen. + </p> + <p> + Tim surveyed himself with a rueful air. He was certainly aware of the + condition of his clothes. + </p> + <p> + “If I could even have got a ready made suit,” he said, “it might have + fitted. But I couldn’t do that. I didn’t get to London till nearly ten + o’clock. There was a train at four. I wish now that I’d caught it. It was + only a few minutes after three when I remembered about the party and I + might have caught that train. But I didn’t want to leave just then. There + were some things that I had to do. Perhaps now I’d better not go to the + party. Michael will be angry if I don’t; but I expect he’ll be angrier if + I go in these clothes. I think I’d better not go at all.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at me wistfully. He was hoping, I am sure, that I might decide + that he was too disreputable to appear. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “you can’t get out of it that way. You’ll have to come.” + </p> + <p> + “But can I? You know better than I do. I did brush my trousers a lot this + morning—really. I brushed them for quite half an hour; but there are + some mark——” + </p> + <p> + He held out his right leg and looked at it hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + “Stains, I suppose,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “You’d be better,” I said, “if you had a tie.” + </p> + <p> + Tim put his hand up to his neck and felt about helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “I must have forgotten to put it on,” he said. “I have one, I know. But + it’s very hard to remember ties. They are such small things.” + </p> + <p> + “Take one of mine,” I said, “and put it on before you forget again.” + </p> + <p> + “Anything else?” said Tim. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think,” I said, “that there’s anything else we can do. My clothes + wouldn’t fit you. I might lend you a pair of boots but I doubt if you’d + get them on. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll get yours cleaned. Take + them off.” + </p> + <p> + I do not think that my servant liked cleaning Tim’s boots. But he did it + and I daresay it was good for him. + </p> + <p> + I was a little anxious about the meeting between Mrs. Ascher and Tim. When + they parted in New York she was deeply vexed with him and I could not + think it likely that a woman as devout as she is would readily forgive a + man who had been guilty of blasphemy. On the other hand she had very + graciously accepted my invitation to be present when the new invention was + shown off. She might, of course, only wish to hear the other Gorman making + a speech; but she might have forgotten Tim’s offence, or changed her mind + about its heinousness. In any case Tim’s clothes would make no difference + to her. Miss Gibson might think less of him for being shabby. But Mrs. + Ascher was quite likely to prefer him in rags. Many people regard + unkemptness as a sign of genius; which is, I daresay, the reason why poets + seldom wash their necks. + </p> + <p> + I need not have troubled myself about the matter. Mrs. Ascher took no + notice of Tim. She was sitting in the saloon carriage when we reached the + station and was surrounded with newspapers. She greeted me with effusion. + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t it glorious?” she said. “Splendid. We have shown them that we too + can do daring things, even the sort of things in which they take a special + pride. The practical things which the world boasts of, which we artists + are not supposed to be able to do at all.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t seen a paper this morning,” I said. “Has any one assassinated + the Prime Minister?” + </p> + <p> + “Look!” she said. + </p> + <p> + She held out one of the newspapers towards me. I did not have to take it + in my hand to see the news. I could have read the headlines from the far + side of the platform. + </p> + <p> + “Steam yacht lands guns on Galway Coast. National Volunteers muster to + receive Arms. Coastguards Paralysed. Police Helpless. Crushing Reply to + Ulster Lawlessness.” + </p> + <p> + That, of course, was a Liberal paper. There was a Unionist paper open on + the floor at my feet. Its statement of the facts was almost identical; but + its interpretation was different Instead of regarding the incident as a + lesson in loyalty to Malcolmson it said: + </p> + <p> + “Act of Rebellion in Connaught. Civil War Breaks Out.” + </p> + <p> + “In the broad light of day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “at noon. Without an + attempt at concealment. Now, now at last, Ireland has asserted herself, + has shown that the idealism of the artist is a match for the sordid + materialism of the worshippers of efficiency.” + </p> + <p> + I looked round for Gorman. I wanted to see how he was taking the news. He + was on the platform, talking seriously, I fear sternly, to Tim; no doubt + about his clothes. Ascher was standing near them; but was not, I think, + listening to Gorman. He had the air of patient politeness which is common + with him on pleasure parties and excursions of all kinds. + </p> + <p> + “I can’t help hoping,” I said, “that they haven’t got any ammunition. It + sounds an unkind thing to say, but—I’m not much of a patriot, I + know, but I’ve just enough love of country in me to dislike the idea of + Irishmen shooting each other.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Mrs. Ascher, “there would be no risk of that if—if men + like you—the natural leaders—would place yourselves at the + head of the people. Think—think——” + </p> + <p> + I did think. The more I thought the less inclined I felt to agree with + Mrs. Ascher. It seemed to me that if I took to paralysing coastguards and + reducing policemen to helplessness there would be considerably more risk + of shooting than if I stayed quietly in London. The proper leaders of the + people—proper though perhaps not natural—are the politicians. + The only risk of real trouble in Ireland rose from the fact that men like + Malcolmson—natural leaders—had done what Mrs. Ascher wanted me + to do, put themselves at the head of the people. If they had been content + to leave the question of Home Rule to the politicians it could have been + settled quietly. Gorman, for instance, has an instinct for stopping in + time. Malcolmson and men like him confuse games with real affairs. I + might turn out to be just as bad as Malcolmson if I took to placing myself + at the head of the people. Besides I do not like the people. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in with Miss Gibson and I was introduced to her. She seemed a + nice, quiet little girl, and smiled rather shyly as we shook hands. She + sat down beside Mrs. Ascher and refused the cigarette which was offered + her. She did not in the least correspond to my idea of what a leading lady + in a popular play should be. However I had not much opportunity just then + of forming an opinion of her. Gorman, having settled the two ladies, took + Ascher and me to the far end of the carriage. The train started. + </p> + <p> + “That’s a damned silly performance,” said Gorman, “landing those guns in + Galway.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” I said, “that you’d have been pleased. You were + talking to me the other day about the necessity for pulling off some coup + of a striking and theatrical kind by way of diverting the sympathy of the + English people from Ulster.” + </p> + <p> + “But this,” said Gorman, “is a totally different thing. I happen to know + what I’m talking about. The fellows who’ve got these guns are wild, + irresponsible, unpractical fools. They’ve been giving us trouble for + years, far more trouble than all the Unionist party put together. They + don’t understand politics in the least. They’ve no sense. They’re like—like——” + he looked round for some comparison, “in some ways they’re rather like + Tim.” + </p> + <p> + “Dreamers,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly,” said Gorman. “They ought to be writing poetry.” + </p> + <p> + “Lofty souls,” I said, “idealists. Just exactly what Mrs. Ascher thinks + you are.” + </p> + <p> + “Take the case of Tim,” said Gorman. “You’ll hardly believe it but—just + look at his clothes, will you?” + </p> + <p> + Tim was standing by himself in the middle of the carriage. He looked + forlorn. He was too shy, I imagine, to sit down beside Mrs. Ascher or Miss + Gibson, and too much afraid of his brother to join our group. We had every + opportunity of studying his clothes. + </p> + <p> + “And I told him to buy a new suit,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is just the kind of man that Mrs. Ascher believes in. She + was saying to me a few minutes ago that there is nothing more sordid and + detestable than the worship of efficiency in practical matters.” + </p> + <p> + The mention of Mrs. Ascher’s name recalled Gorman to a sense of his duties + as a host. The two ladies were not getting on very well together. I + imagine that Mrs. Ascher was too much excited by her Irish news to care + for talking about the Naval Review we were going to see, and that was a + topic which would inevitably suggest itself to Miss Gibson. Miss Gibson, + though anxious to be polite, was not likely to know or care anything about + Ireland. Gorman left us and joined them. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said to Ascher, “what do you think of this performance in + Galway?” + </p> + <p> + “Have you read the newspapers?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “The headlines,” I replied. “I couldn’t very well help reading them.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher stepped across the carriage and picked up one of the papers from + the floor. It was the one which declared that civil war had broken out in + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” he said, “that I knew exactly the measure of my nephew’s + intelligence.” + </p> + <p> + “Captain von Richter?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He may—almost anything is possible with a man like him. He may + believe that.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher pointed to the words, “Civil War.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think you need worry about that,” I said. “Whatever Malcolmson + and his lot may do those fellows in Galway won’t fight. Gorman and the + priests will stop them. You can always count on the politicians and the + priests. They’ll prevent anything really serious. The Connaught Celt will + never start a civil war; at least not unless he gives up his religion and + takes to hanging Members of Parliament. He’s a splendid fighting man—none + better—but he won’t run the risk of losing his soul for the sake of + a battle. He must be told he ought to fight by some one whose authority he + recognises. That’s where we’re safe. All the authorities are against + violence.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no doubt you are right,” said Ascher. “No civil war will be + started in the way these papers suggest. I am not anxious about that. It + is impossible. But I am anxious lest it should be believed possible by men + who do not understand. My nephew, for instance. He will not know what you + know. He may believe—and those over him in Berlin—they will + not understand. They may think that the men in Ireland who have got the + guns will use them. They may even have had something to do with supplying + the guns. That is where the danger lies. A miscalculation—not in + Ireland—but elsewhere.” + </p> + <p> + I did not like to ask whether Mrs. Ascher’s enthusiasm for the cause of + Ireland had led her to finance the Galway gun-running. Nor did I care to + question Ascher about his suggestion that Von Richter had something to do + with buying and shipping that cargo or the other which was landed at + Larne. Ascher seemed disinclined to discuss the matter further. We joined + Gorman and the two ladies at the far end of the carriage, picking up Tim + on our way. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was sitting beside Miss Gibson. He was leaning forward, pointing + with outstretched hand to the country through which the train was passing. + </p> + <p> + “This is the playground of England,” he said. “Here the rich and idle + build themselves beautiful houses, plant delightful gardens, live + surrounded by a parasitic class, servants, ministers to luxury; try to + shut out, succeed to a great extent in shutting out all sense and memory + of real things, of that England where the world’s work is done, the + England which lies in the smoky hinterland.” He waved his hand with a + comprehensive gesture towards the north. “Far from all the prettinesses of + glorified villadom.” + </p> + <p> + “I do think,” said Miss Gibson, “that Surrey and Hampshire are sweetly + pretty.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson may be regarded, I suppose, as one of England’s toys. It was + only natural that she should appreciate the playground. It was, so she + thought, a district very well suited to the enjoyment of life. She told us + how she had driven, in the motor of a wealthy member of Parliament, + through the New Forest. From time to time she had spent week-ends at + various well-appointed villas in different parts of the South of England, + and, as a nice-minded young woman should, had enjoyed these holidays of + hers. She frankly preferred the playground to that other, more “real” + England which Gorman contrasted with it, the England of the midlands, + where the toilers dwelt, in an atmosphere thick with smuts. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher, of course, took quite a different view. It filled her with + sadness to think that a small number of people should play amid beautiful + surroundings while a great number—she dwelt particularly on the case + of women who made chains—should live hard lives in hideous places. + Mrs. Ascher is more emotional than intellectual. The necessity for + consistency in a philosophy of life troubles her very little. As a devout + worshipper of art she ought to have realised that her goddess can only be + fitly honoured by people wealthy enough to buy leisure, that the toiling + millions want bread much more than they want beauty. I have no quarrel + with the description of the life of Birmingham as more “real”—both + Gorman and Mrs. Ascher kept using the word—than the life of the Isle + of Wight. Nor should I want to argue with any one who said that beauty and + art are the only true realities, and that the struggle of the + manufacturing classes for wealth is a striving after wind. But I felt + slightly irritated with Mrs. Ascher for not seeing that she cannot have it + both ways. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, of course, was simply trying to be agreeable. I pointed out—when + I succeeded in seizing a place in the conversation—that if Gorman’s + theory were applied to Ireland Belfast would come out as a reality while + Cork, Limerick, and other places like them would be as despicable as + Dorsetshire. + </p> + <p> + “Wicklow,” I said, “is the playground of Ireland, and it returns nothing + but Nationalist members to Parliament. You ought not to go back on your + own side, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered at the mention of Belfast and would not admit that + it could be as “real” as Manchester or Leeds. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson broke in with a reminiscence of her own. She told us that she + had been in Belfast once with a touring company, and thought it was duller + on Sunday than any other city in the British Isles. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, after winking at me, appealed to Ascher on the subject of + Belfast’s prosperity. In his opinion the apparent wealth of that city is + built up on an insecure foundation of credit. There is no solidity about + it. The farmers of the south and west of Ireland, on the other hand, have + real wealth, actual savings, stored up in the Post Office Banks, or placed + on deposit, in other banks, or hoarded in stockings. + </p> + <p> + Ascher was most unwilling to join in the discussion. He noticed, as I did, + that Miss Gibson’s attention was wandering. In the end, goaded by Gorman, + he said that some one ought to teach the Irish farmers to invest their + savings in high class international stocks and bonds. He added that £1 + notes kept in drawers and desks are not wealth but merely frozen + potentialities of credit. + </p> + <p> + After that, conversation, as might be expected, became impossible for some + time, although Ascher apologised humbly. + </p> + <p> + Gorman restored us to cheerfulness by opening a parcel and handing round + two enormous boxes of chocolates. One box was settled on the seat between + Miss Gibson and Tim. They ate with healthy appetites and obvious delight. + When we reached Southampton that box was nearly empty and neither of them + seemed any the worse. The other box lay on Mrs. Ascher’s knee. She and I + and Gorman did our best, but we did not get through the top layer. Ascher + only took one small chocolate and, when he thought no one was looking, + dropped it out of the window. + </p> + <p> + The motor yacht which Gorman had hired for us turned out to be a swift and + well-found ship with a small cabin and possibilities of comfort in a large + cockpit aft. We sped down Southampton Water, one of a whole fleet of + pleasure vessels large and small. A racing cutter stooped under the + pressure of a fresh westerly breeze, to leeward of us. We slipped close + past a little brown sailed yawl, steered by a man in white flannels. Two + laughing girls in bright red caps sat on the coachroof cabin top. An + arrogant white steam yacht, flying the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron, + sliced her silent way through the water behind us. Shabby boats with + stained, discoloured sails and chipped paint bore large parties seaward. + The stiff front of Netley Hospital shone white in the sun. The conical + buoy at the entrance of Hamley river bent its head shorewards as the + strong tide swept past it. From the low point beneath Calshott Castle a + flying machine rose suddenly, circled round in a wide sweep and then sped + swiftly eastwards towards Spit-head. In the roads off Cowes we could + discern many yachts at anchor. One of the Hamburg-American lines crept + cautiously up the Solent. A belated cruiser, four-funneled, black and + grim, on her way to join the Fleet, followed the huge German steamer. The + waters of the Solent tumbled in irregular white-topped waves, tide and + wind opposed to each other, struggling for mastery. + </p> + <p> + Gorman hauled luncheon baskets from the cabin. He set Tim and me to open + them. The look of a ham which Tim thoughtlessly asked her to hold while he + unpacked the dish belonging to it, finished Mrs. Ascher. Our boat was + rolling quite appreciably. She retired to the cabin. Even the glass of + champagne with which Gorman hurriedly provided her failed to enable her to + eat. Miss Gibson fortunately was unaffected. She ate everything that was + offered to her and in the course of the afternoon finished Mrs. Ascher’s + box of chocolates. + </p> + <p> + Before we stopped eating we caught our first sight of the Fleet. The ships + lay in three long, straight lines off Spithead; battleships, cruisers, + lean destroyers, submarines. A hydroplane raced past us, flinging showers + of spray and foam high on each side of her. Two naval aeroplanes, their + canoe-shaped floats plainly visible, hovered and circled overhead. + Pleasure boats were everywhere, moving in and out among the motionless + ironclads. A handsome barque-rigged yacht, some very rich man’s summer + home, came slowly towards us, her sails furled, using auxiliary steam + power. + </p> + <p> + We swiftly approached the Fleet. Already the vast bulk of the battleships + oppressed our spirits. We looked up from the cockpit of our dancing + pleasure boat and saw the huge misshapen iron monsters towering over us, + minatory, terrible. We swept in and out, across the sharp bows, under the + gloomy sterns of the ships of the first line. Ascher gazed at them. His + eyes were full of sorrow, sorrow and a patient resignation. + </p> + <p> + “Your protection,” I said. “Because those ships are there, because they + are black and strong, stronger than any other ships, because men + everywhere are afraid of them, because this navy of England’s is great, + your net of commerce and credit can trawl across the world and gather + wealth.” + </p> + <p> + “Protection,” said Ascher. “Protection and menace. This Navy is only one + of the world’s guarantees of peace, of peace guaranteed by fear. It is + there as you say, and the German Army is there; that men may fear them and + peace be thus made sure. But can peace be secured through fear? Will not + these navies and armies some day fulfil the end of their being, rend all + our nets as they rush across the seas and desolate the lands? They are + more menace than protection.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman was standing with his back to us. His elbows were resting on the + slide of the roof above the steps which led to the cabin. His chin was on + his hands and he was staring at the ships. Suddenly he turned. + </p> + <p> + “The world’s great delusion,” he said. “Hypnotised by the governing + classes the workers are everywhere bearing intolerable burdens in order to + provide statesmen and kings with these dangerous toys. Men toil, and the + fruits of their toil are taken from them to be squandered on vast engines + whose sole use is to destroy utterly in one awful moment what we have + spent the painful effort of ages in building up.” + </p> + <p> + He swept his hand out towards the great ship under whose shadow we were + passing. + </p> + <p> + “Was there ever plainer proof,” he said, “that men are mad?” + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson sat beside me. While Ascher spoke and while Gorman spoke, she + held my glasses in her hand and watched the ships through them. She + neither heard nor heeded the things they said. At last she laid the + glasses on my knee and began to recite Kipling’s “Recessional.” She spoke + low at first. Gradually her voice grew stronger, and a note of passion, + tense and restrained, came into it. She is more than a charming woman. She + has a great actress’ capacity for emotion. + </p> + <p> + We moved through waters consecrate, and she expressed for us the spirit + which hovered over them. Here English guns raked the ships of Spain. Here, + staggering homewards, shot-riddled, came the frigates and privateers of + later centuries, their shattered prizes under their lee. Through these + waters men have sailed away to fight and conquer and rule in India and in + many distant lands. Back through these waters, some of them have come + again, generation after generation of them, their duty done, their + adventuring over, asking no more than to lay their bones at last in quiet + churchyards, under the shadow of the cross, near the grey walls of some + English church. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson’s voice, resonant, passionate, devout, lingered on the last + syllables of the poem. + </p> + <p> + “The imperial idea,” I said, “after all, Gorman, it has its greatness.” + </p> + <p> + Then Tim spoke, shyly, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” he said, “if they would let us go on board one of the + submarines. I should like to see—— Oh, there are a lot of + things I should like to see in any of those ships. They must be nearly + perfect, I mean mechanically. The steering gear, for instance——” + </p> + <p> + His voice trailed off into silence. + </p> + <p> + “What a pity,” said Miss Gibson, “that the King can’t be here. I suppose + now there’ll be no royal salutes fired and we shan’t see his yacht.” + </p> + <p> + “All Mr. Gorman’s fault,” I said. “If he had not nagged on in the way he + has about Home Rule, the King would be here with the rest of us. As it is + he has to stay in London while politicians abuse each other in Buckingham + Palace.” + </p> + <p> + “That conference,” said Gorman, “is an unconstitutional manoeuvre of the + Tory party.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s it all about?” said Miss Gibson. + </p> + <p> + “The dispute at present,” I said, “centres round two parishes in County + Tyrone and because of them a public holiday is being spoiled. All Mr. + Gorman’s fault.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. + </h2> + <p> + It must have been the novelty of the thing which brought people flocking + to the hall I hired for the exhibition of Tim Gorman’s new cinematograph. + I was aware, in a vague way, that my invitations had been very generally + accepted; but I made no list of my expected guests, and I did not for a + moment suppose that half the people who said they were coming would + actually arrive. I have some experience of social life and I have always + found that it is far easier to accept invitations than to invent plausible + excuses for refusing them. I do not consider that I am in any way bound by + my acceptance in most cases. Dinners are exceptional. It is not fair to + say that you will dine at a house unless you really mean to do it. But the + givers of miscellaneous entertainments, of dances, receptions, private + concerts and such things are best dealt with by accepting their + invitations and then consulting one’s own convenience. That is what I + thought people were doing to me. + </p> + <p> + I had no reason to expect any other treatment. I was not offering food or + wine in large quantities or of fine kind. I was not a prominent figure in + London society. My party was of no importance from a political or a + financial point of view and I could scarcely expect the scientific world + to take a cinematograph seriously. Yet I found myself the host of a number + of very distinguished guests, many of whom I did not even know by sight. + </p> + <p> + Three Cabinet Ministers arrived, looking, as men immersed in great affairs + ought to look, slightly absent-minded and rather surprised to find + themselves where they were. They were Cabinet Ministers of a minor kind, + not men in the first flight. I owed their presence to Gorman’s exertions + in the House of Commons. He told me that he intended to interest the + Government in Tim’s invention on the ground that it promised an + opportunity of popularising and improving national education. I had a seat + kept for Ascher beside the Cabinet Ministers. I did not suppose that he + would particularly want to talk to them, but I was sure that they would + like to spend the evening in the company of one of our greatest + financiers. + </p> + <p> + No less than five members of the Royal Society came, bringing their wives + and a numerous flock of daughters. They were men of high scientific + attainments. One of them was engaged in some experiments with pigs, + experiments which were supposed to lead to important discoveries in the + science of eugenics. I cannot even imagine why he came to see a + cinematograph. Another of them had written a book to expound a new theory + of crystallisation. I have never studied crystallisation, but I believe it + is a process by which particles of solid matter, temporarily separated by + some liquid medium, draw together and coalesce. My scientists and their + families afforded a good example of the process. They arrived at different + times, went at first to different parts of the hall, got mixed up with all + sorts of other people, but long before the entertainment began they had + drawn together and formed a solid block among my guests. + </p> + <p> + Two Royal Academicians, one of them a well-known portrait painter, arrived + a little late. They were men whom I knew pretty well and liked. They have + urbane and pleasant manners, and are refreshingly free from affectations + and fads. In my opinion they both paint very good pictures. I introduced + them to Mrs. Ascher; but this, as I should have known if I had stopped to + think, was a mistake. Mrs. Ascher regards the Royal Academy as the home of + an artistic anti-Christ and Academicians as the deadliest foes of art. Not + even the suave courtesy of my two friends saved them from the unpleasant + experience of hearing the truth about themselves. Mrs. Ascher was not, of + course, bluntly rude to them, and did not speak with offensive directness. + She poked the truth at them edgeways, the truth that is, as she saw it. + </p> + <p> + The church did not support me very well. I distinctly remember inviting + six bishops. Only one came and he was Irish. However, he wore silk + stockings and a violet coat of aggressively ecclesiastical cut, so he + looked quite as well as if he had had a seat in the House of Lords. I + introduced him to the eugenic pig breeder, but they did not seem to hit it + off together. After a few remarks, probably about the weather, they + separated. The eugenist is rather a shaggy man to look at. That may have + prejudiced the bishop against him. I imagine that most bishops feel + shagginess to be embarrassing. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt brought a large party, chiefly women in very splendid + attire. There were, I think, eight of them altogether, and they had only + one man with them, a subaltern in a Guards regiment. He slipped away + almost at once, telling me as he passed out, that he wanted to telephone + to a friend and that he would be back in a few minutes. I do not think he + came back at all. He probably went to his club. I do not know what was + said to him the next day by the ladies he deserted. I thanked Lady + Kingscourt for coming. I really think it was very good of her to come. She + had fair warning that Gorman was going to make a speech and she knew that + all Gorman’s political friends, probably Gorman himself, regarded her as + an abandoned woman who played fast and loose with the morals of military + officers and undermined their naturally enthusiastic loyalty to Liberal + Governments. By way of acknowledgment of my quite sincere thanks Lady + Kingscourt squeezed my hand. + </p> + <p> + “I always make a point,” she said, “of encouraging any movement for the + good of the masses. They are such deserving dear things, aren’t they?” + </p> + <p> + It is impossible to guess at what Lady Kingscourt thought we were doing; + but her heart was warm and kind. If ever class hatred comes to play an + important part in English life it will not be the fault of the + aristocracy. I doubt whether any labourer would sacrifice his evening’s + leisure to encourage a movement for the good of Lady Kingscourt. Nor would + the kindliest Socialist speak of women of the upper classes as “deserving + dear things.” The nicest term used by progressive people to describe these + ladies is “parasites,” and they often, as we had just been learning, call + them worse names than that. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt and her party represented the highest layer of fashionable + life. I had, besides her, a large number of women of slightly dimmer glory + who were yet quite as finely dressed as Lady Kings-court, and were, I am + sure, equally eager for the good of the masses. My hall, not a very large + one, was well filled before nine o’clock. I had every reason to + congratulate myself on the success of my party, so far. It remained to be + seen whether Gorman would make a good speech and whether Tim’s ghosts + would exhibit themselves satisfactorily. Between the speech and the ghosts + my guests would have an opportunity of drinking tea and champagne cup, + handed round by twelve nice looking girls wearing black and white dresses, + hired out to me (both the girls and the dresses) for the evening by the + firm which had undertaken to manage the refreshments. + </p> + <p> + According to my time table Gorman ought to have begun his speech at nine + o’clock. Instead of doing so he came to me and whispered that he would + give late comers ten minutes law. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing more unpleasant for an audience,” he said, “than having their + toes trodden on by people who come in late, just as they are beginning to + get interested in what is going on.” + </p> + <p> + Nothing, I imagine, is more unpleasant for a speaker than to have his + audience looking round to see who the newcomers are, just as he is + beginning to warm to his subject. I gathered from his anxiety about the + audience, that Gorman intended to make a great effort. I looked forward to + his speech. Gorman, at his best, is really a very fine speaker. + </p> + <p> + At ten minutes past nine Gorman mounted the platform, the narrow strip of + platform left for him in front of the pits occupied by Tim’s apparatus. + The clatter of general conversation ceased, and the Cabinet Ministers, + sitting in the front row with Ascher, clapped their hands. The rest of the + audience, realising that applause was desirable, also clapped their hands. + Gorman bowed and smiled. + </p> + <p> + Then my elbow was jerked sharply. I looked round and saw Jack Heneage. + Jack is a nice boy, the son of an old friend of mine. I have known him + ever since he first went to school. About six months ago his father and I + between us secured a very nice appointment for the boy, a sort of private + secretaryship or something of that sort. I understood at the time that + Jack’s business was to run messages for an important man’s wife; and that + the appointment would lead on to something good in the political world. I + was surprised to see him standing beside me for I had not asked him to my + party and he was not wearing evening clothes. Jack would never go + anywhere, willingly, unless he were properly dressed. + </p> + <p> + “Sit down,” I said, “and don’t talk. Mr. Gorman is just going to make a + speech.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Ascher here?” said Jack. + </p> + <p> + “He is; in the front row.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God. I’ve been chasing him all over London. Office, club, private + house, tearing round in a taxi for hours. My Chief wants him.” + </p> + <p> + “Your chief can’t get him now,” I said. “Not for half an hour, perhaps + three quarters. Gorman isn’t likely to stop under three quarters. Till he + does you can’t get Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I must,” said Jack. “I simply must. It’s—it’s frightfully + important.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman began his speech. I did not hear what he said because I was trying + to restrain Jack Heneage, but the audience laughed, so I suppose he began + with a joke. Jack shook off my hold on his arm and walked right up to the + front of the hall. I saw Gorman scowling at him but Jack did not seem to + mind that in the least. He handed a note to Ascher. Gorman said something + about the very distinguished audience before him, a remark plainly + intended to fill in the time while Jack and Ascher were finishing their + business. Ascher read the note, rose from his seat and came towards me. + Everybody looked at him and at Jack who was following him. Gorman repeated + what he had said about the distinguished audience. + </p> + <p> + “I find,” Ascher said to me, “that I am obliged to leave you. I am very + sorry.” + </p> + <p> + “I have a taxi outside,” said Jack, pushing Ascher towards the door. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lingered, looking at me wistfully. “I may not be able to return,” + he said. “If I cannot will you bring my wife home? The car will be here + and can drive you back to your rooms afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + I was a little surprised at the request. Mrs. Ascher is, I should think, + pretty well able to take care of herself. + </p> + <p> + “I think we ought to start, sir,” said Jack Heneage, taking Ascher by the + arm. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Ascher to me, “if you are kind enough to see my wife home + you will wait in my house till I get back. I may have something to say to + you. It is possible that I shall reach the house before you do, but I may + be late. I do not know. Will you wait for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Won’t you come on, sir?” said Jack. + </p> + <p> + I noticed, then, that Jack was excited and nervous. I do not ever remember + having seen him excited or nervous before, not even when he went in second + wicket down in the Eton and Harrow match with seventy runs to make and an + hour left to play. I held Ascher’s coat for him and watched them get into + the taxi together. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to the hall Gorman was well into his speech and had + captured the attention of his audience. I was able to pick up the thread + of what he was saying almost at once. He was discoursing on the arts of + peace, contrasting them with the arts of war. In past ages, so Gorman + said, the human intellect had occupied itself mainly in devising means for + destroying life and had been indifferent to the task of preserving it. + Gunpowder was invented long before the antitoxin for diphtheria was + discovered. Steel was used for swords ages before any one thought of + making it into motor cars. These were Gorman’s illustrations. I should not + have thought that motor cars actually preserve life; but Gorman is a good + orator and a master in the art of concealing the weak points of his + argument. His hearers were quite ready to ignore the mortality statistics + of our new motor traffic. The pig-breeding scientist led a round of + applause. + </p> + <p> + Gorman developed his theme. The intellect of the modern world, he said, + was not only occupied with the problems of preserving life, but was bent + on making life more convenient and happier, especially the life of the + toiling masses of our people. The mediaeval world built cathedrals, fine + castles, Doge’s palaces and such things. We have supplied mankind with + penny postage stamps. Which, Gorman asked, is the greater achievement: to + house a Doge or two in a building too big for them or to enable countless + mothers—sorrowing and lonely women—to communicate by letter + with the children who had left the maternal home? + </p> + <p> + After dwelling for some time on the conveniences Gorman passed on to speak + of the pleasures of modern life. He said that pleasures were more + important than work, because without pleasures no work could be really + well done. When he reached that point I began to see how he meant to work + up to the cinematograph and Tim’s invention. I tried to get a glimpse of + Mrs. Ascher’s face. I wanted to find out how she was taking this + glorification of Tim’s blasphemy against art. Unfortunately I could only + see the back of her head. I moved along the side of the hall as much as I + dared in the hope of getting a sight of her face from some angle. I + failed. To this day I do not know whether Mrs. Ascher admired Gorman’s art + as an orator enough to make her forgive the vile purpose for which it was + used. + </p> + <p> + When I began to listen to the speech again Gorman had reached his + peroration. + </p> + <p> + The arts of war, he said, were the natural fruits of the human intellect + in a society organised on an aristocratic basis. The development of the + arts of peace and pleasure followed the birth of democracy. Tyrants and + robber barons in old days loved to fight and lived to kill. The common, + kindly men and women of our time, the now at length sovereign people, + lived to love and desire peace above all things. + </p> + <p> + “The spirit of democracy,” said Gorman, “is moving through the world. Its + coming is like the coming of the spring, gentle, kindly, gradual. We see + it not, but in the fields and hedgerows of the world, past which it moves, + we see the green buds bursting into leaf, the myriad-tinted flowers + opening their petals to the sunlight. We see the lives of humble men made + glad, and our hearts are established with strong faith; faith in the + spirit whose beneficence we recognise, the spirit which at last is guiding + the whole wide world into the way of peace.” + </p> + <p> + I gathered from these concluding remarks that all danger of war had passed + from the horizon of humanity since the Liberal Government muzzled the + House of Lords. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not mention this great feat in plain words. He suggested it in + such a way that the Cabinet Ministers in front of him understood what he + meant, while Lady Kingscourt and her friends thought he was referring to a + revolution in China or Portugal or the establishment of some kind of + representative government in Thibet. Thus every one was pleased and Gorman + climbed down from the platform amid a burst of applause. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt clapped her pretty hands as loudly as any one. Her husband + is a territorial magnate. Her brothers are soldiers. But she is prepared + to welcome democracy and universal peace as warmly as any of us. Perhaps + what attracted her in Gorman’s programme was the prospect of a great + increase in the pleasures of life. + </p> + <p> + We drank tea, ate sandwiches, cheered our hearts with champagne cup, + chattered loudly, and, the men of the party, stretched our legs for half + an hour. Then we settled down again to gape at Tim’s moving figures. The + new mirrors were well worth the money I spent on them. The thing worked + better, far better, than when I saw it in the barn. I think the audience + was greatly pleased. Everybody said so to me when the time came for escape + from the hall. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher and I drove back to Hampstead together. I told her how Ascher + had left the hall and that it might be late before he got home. She sat + silent beside me and I thought that she was wondering what had happened to + her husband. Just before we reached the house she spoke, and I discovered + that she had all the time been thinking of something else, not Ascher’s + absence. + </p> + <p> + “I was wrong,” she said, “in condemning the cinematograph and this new + invention. It is—at present it is vile beyond words, vile as I + thought it; but I see now that there are possibilities.” + </p> + <p> + “May I tell Tim that?” I said. “It would cheer him greatly. The poor boy + has never really got over what you said to him in New York, about + blasphemy, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “You may tell him,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that his invention is capable of + being used for the ends of art; that he has created a mechanical body and + that <i>we</i>, the artists, must breathe into it the breath of life.” + </p> + <p> + We reached the house. + </p> + <p> + “I am coming in, if I may,” I said. “Mr. Ascher asked me to see him + to-night if possible. I promised to wait for him even if he does not get + home till very late.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not sit up with you,” said Mrs. Ascher. “I want to be alone to + think. I want to discover the way in which art is to take possession of + mechanics, how it is to inspire all new discoveries, to raise them from + the level of material things up and up to the mountain tops of beautiful + emotion.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall tell Tim that,” I said. “He’ll be awfully pleased.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher held my hand, bidding me an impressive good-night. + </p> + <p> + “There is a spirit,” she said, “which moves among the multitudinous blind + gropings of humanity. It moves all unseen and unknown by men, guiding + their pitiful endeavours to the Great End. That End is Duty. That spirit + is Art. To recognise it is Faith.” + </p> + <p> + The Irish bishop who attended my party is a liberal and highly educated + churchman. He once told me about a Spirit which moves very much as Mrs. + Ascher’s does. Its aim was goodness and the bishop called it God. His + definition of faith was, except for the different object, precisely Mrs. + Ascher’s. + </p> + <p> + Gorman propounds a somewhat similar philosophy of life, and occasionally + talks about faith in the same rapt way. I do not suppose that he actually + holds the faith he preaches, certainly not as Mrs. Ascher and the bishop + hold theirs. No Irishman is, or ever can be, a Liberal after the English + fashion; but Gorman does talk about the spirit of democracy and says he + looks forward to its guiding Humanity to a great end, universal peace. + </p> + <p> + I made my way into Ascher’s study, wondering how long I should have to + wait for him. + </p> + <p> + I wondered where he was and what he was doing. Who sent Jack Heneage to + search for Ascher? I could not remember whose private secretary Jack was. + Mrs. Ascher was thinking of art and beauty, the bishop, no doubt about God + and goodness. Gorman was turning over in his mind nice new phrases about + democracy and peace. What was Ascher doing? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. + </h2> + <p> + Ascher’s servant followed me into the study. He placed a little table + beside the chair on which I sat. He set a decanter of whisky, a syphon of + soda water and a box of cigars at my elbow. He brought a reading lamp and + put it behind me, switching on the electric current so that the light fell + brightly over my shoulder. He turned off the other lights in the room. He + asked me if there were anything else he could do for me. Then he left me. + </p> + <p> + A clock, somewhere behind me, chimed. It was a quarter to twelve. I poured + out some whisky and lit a cigar. I sat wondering what Ascher was doing. + The clock chimed again and then it struck. It was twelve o’clock. It was a + clock with a singularly mellow gong. The sounds it made were soft and + unaggressive. There was no rude challenge in its assertion that time was + passing on, but the very gentleness of its warnings, a gentleness deeply + tinged with melancholy, infected me with a strange restlessness. When for + the third time its chiming broke the heavy silence of the room, I rose + from my chair. The gloom which surrounded the circle of light in which I + sat weighed on my spirits. I touched a switch and set the lights above the + fireplace shining. + </p> + <p> + Over the mantelpiece hung a picture, a landscape painting. A flock of + sheep wandered through a misty valley. There were great mountains in the + background, their slopes and tops dimly, discernible through a haze. The + haze and the mist wreaths would certainly soon clear away, dispersed by a + rising sun. The whole scene would be stripped of its mystery. The mountain + sides, the valley stream and the grazing sheep would be seen clear and + bare in the merciless light of a summer morning. The painter had chosen + the moment while the mystery of dawn endured. I felt that he feared the + passing of it, that he shrank from the inevitable coming of the hour when + everything would be clear and all the outlines sharp, when the searching + sun would tear away the compassionate coverings, when nature would appear + less beautiful than his heart hoped it was. It was with this picture, with + this and one other, that Ascher chose to live. + </p> + <p> + I moved round the room, turning on yet other lights. Over Ascher’s writing + desk hung a full length portrait of a woman, of Mrs. Ascher, but painted + many years ago. I have no idea who the artist was but he had seen his + sitter in no common way. The girl, she was no more than a girl when the + picture was painted, stood facing me from the canvas. She was dressed in a + long, trailing, pale green robe. Her hands were folded in front of her. + Her head was a little thrown back, so that her neck was visible. Her skin, + even then in the early days of her womanhood, was almost colourless. The + red colour of her hair saved the picture from deathly coldness, + contrasting sharply with the mass of pale green drapery and the pallid + skin. + </p> + <p> + I have never thought of Mrs. Ascher as a beautiful woman or one who at any + time of her life could have been beautiful. But the artist, whoever he + was, had seen in her a singular alluring charm. I cannot imagine that I + could ever have been affected by her even if I had seen her as the artist + did, as no doubt Ascher did. I like normal people and common things. I + should have been afraid of the woman in the picture. I am in no way like + Keats’ “Knight at Arms.” I should simply have run away from the “Belle + Dame sans merci,” and no amount of fairy songs or manna dew would have + enabled her to have me in thrall. But I could understand how Ascher, who + evidently has a taste for that kind of thing, might have been fascinated + by the morbid beauty of the girl in the picture. I could understand how + the fascination might become an enduring thing; a great love; how Ascher + would still be drawn to the woman long after the elfishness of girlhood + passed away. The soul would still remain gleaming out of those narrow + eyes. + </p> + <p> + The clock chimed close beside me. It was a quarter to one. I sat down + again, poured out more whisky and lit a fresh cigar. I left all the lights + in the room shining. I was determined to drag myself back to the + commonplace and to cheerfulness. + </p> + <p> + I took a book from the table beside me. It was evidently a book which + Ascher had been reading. A thin ivory blade lay between the pages, marking + the place he had reached. The book was a prophetic forecast of the State + of the future, a record of one of those dreams of better, calmer times, + which haunt the spirits of brave and good men, to which cowards turn when + they are made faint by the contemplation of present evil things. I read a + page or two in one part of the book and a page or two in another. I read + in one place a whole chapter. I discerned in the author an underlying + faith in the natural goodness of man. He believed, his whole argument was + based on the belief, that all men, but especially common men, the manual + workers, would gladly turn away from greed and lust and envy, would live + in beauty and peace, naturally, without effort, if only they were set free + from the pressure of want and the threat of hunger. The evil which + troubles us, so this dreamer seemed to hold, is not in ourselves or of our + nature. It is the result of the conditions in which we live, conditions + created by our mistakes, not by our vices. I wondered if Ascher, with his + wide knowledge of the world, believed in such a creed or even cherished a + hope that it might be true. Do men, in fact, become saints straightway + when their bellies are full? + </p> + <p> + It is strange how childish memories awaken in us suddenly. As I laid down + Ascher’s book there came to me a picture of a scene in my old home. We + were at prayers in the dining-room. My father sat at a little table with a + great heavy Bible before him. Ranged along the wall in front of him was + the long line of servants, the butler a little apart from the others as + befitted the chief of the staff. My governess and I sat together in a + corner near the fire. My father read, in a flat, unemotional voice, read + words which he absolutely believed to be the words of God. “Except a man + be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” + </p> + <p> + Well, that is a different creed. To me it seems more consonant with the + facts of life. Man as he is can neither enter into nor create a great + society nor enjoy peace which comes of love. Hitherto the new birth of the + Spirit, which bloweth where it listeth, has been for a few in every + generation. The hour of rebirth for the mass of men still lingers. Will it + ever come—the time when all the young men see visions and all the + old men dream dreams? + </p> + <p> + I stirred uneasily in my chair and looked up. I had not heard him enter + the room, but Ascher stood beside me. + </p> + <p> + “I am glad you are here,” he said. “I hoped you would be; but I am very + late.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “you are very late. It is long after midnight. Where have + you been? What have you been doing?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat down opposite to me, and for some time he did not speak. I made + no attempt to press my questions. If Ascher wanted to talk to me he would + do so in his own time and in the way he chose. I supposed that he did want + to talk to me. He had asked me to his house. He had bidden me wait for + him. + </p> + <p> + “I have no right,” said Ascher at last, “to trouble you with my + difficulties. I ought to think them out and fight them out for myself; but + it will be a help to me if I can put them into words and feel that you are + listening to me.” + </p> + <p> + He paused for so long that I felt I must make some reply to him, though I + did not know what to say. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t suppose I can be of any use to you,” I said, “but if I can——” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you can,” said Ascher. “You can listen to me at least. Perhaps + you can do more. It is a large call to make upon your friendship to treat + you in this manner, but—I am in some ways a lonely man.” + </p> + <p> + I have always, since the day I first met him, liked and respected Ascher. + When he spoke about his loneliness I felt a sudden wave of pity for him. + It seems a strange thing to say, but at that moment I had a strong + affection for the man. + </p> + <p> + “What I partly foresaw and greatly dreaded has come,” he said. “I am + certain now that war is inevitable, a great war, almost perhaps in the end + quite worldwide.” + </p> + <p> + “And England?” I said, “is England, too——?” + </p> + <p> + “Almost inevitably.” + </p> + <p> + “Germany?” I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + I was throbbing with excitement. For the moment I felt nothing but a sense + of exultation, strangely out of harmony with the grave melancholy with + which Ascher spoke. I suppose the soldier instinct survives in me, an + inheritance from generations of my forefathers, all of whom have worn + swords, many of whom have fought. We have done our part in building up the + British Empire, we Irish gentlemen, fighting, as Virgil’s bees worked, + ourselves in our own persons, but not for our own gain. There is surely + not one battlefield of all where the flag of England has flown on which we + have not led men, willing to fall at the head of them. It seems strange + now, looking back on it, that such an emotion should have been possible; + but at the moment I felt an overmastering sense of awful joy at Ascher’s + news. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell you where I have been to-night,” said Ascher, “nor with + whom I have been talking. Still less must I repeat what I have heard, but + this much I think I may say. I was sent for to give my advice on certain + matters connected with finance, to express an opinion about what will + happen, what dangers threaten in that world, my world, the world of + money.” + </p> + <p> + “There’ll be an infernal flurry on the Stock Exchange,” I said. “Prices + will come tumbling down about men’s ears. Fellows will go smash in every + direction.” + </p> + <p> + “There will be much more than that,” said Ascher. “The declaration of war + will not simply mean the ruin of a few speculators here and there. You + know enough about the modern system of credit to realise something of what + we have to face. There will be a sudden paralysis of the nerves and + muscles of the whole world-wide body of commercial and industrial life. + The heart will stop beating for a short time—only for a short time I + hope—and no blood will go through the veins and arteries.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke very gravely. Yet, though I had spent months watching the + workings of his machine, I could not at the moment share his mood. The war + fever was in my blood. + </p> + <p> + “I should change my metaphor,” said Ascher. “It is not a case of a body + where the heart pumps blood into the arteries, but of springs which make + brooks, brooks which flow into streams, which in their turn feed great + rivers. Now those springs will be frozen. In a million places of which you + and I do not even know the names, credit will be frozen suddenly. There + will be no water in the brooks and streams. The rivers will run dry.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher had asked for my sympathy. I did my best to give it. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a tremendous responsibility for you,” I said, “and men like you. But + you’ll pull through. The whole thing can’t collapse, simply can’t. It’s + too big.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Ascher, “perhaps. But it is not that side of the matter + which I wish to speak to you about. You will forgive me if I say that you + can hardly understand or appreciate it. What I want to say to you is + something more personal. I want”—Ascher smiled wanly—“to talk + about myself.” + </p> + <p> + “You stand to lose heavily,” I said. “I see that.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know,” said Ascher, “whether at the end of a week I shall own + one single penny in the world. I may very well have lost everything. But + if that were all I should not trouble much. Merely to lose money—but——” + </p> + <p> + He stopped speaking, and for a long while sat silent The clock behind me + chimed again. It was half past two. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said Ascher, “that you have always thought of me as an + Englishman.” + </p> + <p> + “To tell you the truth,” I said, “I’ve never thought whether you are an + Englishman or not. I wasn’t interested. I suppose I took it for granted + that you were English.” + </p> + <p> + “I am a German,” said Ascher. “I was born in Hamburg, of German parents. + All my relations are Germans. I came over to England as a young man and + went into business here. My business—I do not know why—is one + to which Englishmen do not take readily. There are English bankers of + course, but not very many English financiers. Yet my particular kind of + banking, international banking, can best be carried on in England. That is + why I am here, why my business is centred in London, though I myself am + not an Englishman. I am a German. Please understand that. My brother is a + general in the German Army. My sister’s sons are in the German Army and + Navy. My blood ties are with the people from whom I came.” + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher was stating a case of conscience, was perhaps + asking my advice. It seemed to me that there was only one thing which I + could advise, only one possible course for Ascher to take. Whatever + happened to his business or his private fortune he must be true to his own + people. I was about to say this when Ascher raised his hand slightly and + stopped me. + </p> + <p> + “I want you to understand,” he said, “my blood ties are with the people + from whom I came; but I am now wholly English in my sympathies. I see + things from the English point of view, not from the German. I am sure that + it will be a good thing for the world if England and her Allies win, a bad + thing if Germany is victorious in the war before us. Yet the blood tie + remains. Who was the Englishman who said, ‘My country, may she always be + right, but my country right or wrong’? It seems to me a mean thing to + desert my country now, even although I have become a stranger to her. Is + it not a kind of disloyalty to range myself with her enemies?” + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher paused. This time I was less ready to answer him. + </p> + <p> + “I have also to consider this,” he went on, “and here I get to the very + heart of my difficulty. I have lived most of my life here, and I have + built up my business on an English foundation. I have been able to build + it up because I had ready made for me that foundation of integrity which + your English merchants have established by centuries of honest dealing. + Without that—if the world had not believed that my business was + English, and therefore stable, I could not have built at all or should + have built with much greater difficulty. My bank is English, though I, who + control it, am not. If I go back to my own people now, now when it seems + treachery to desert them, the whole machinery of the vast system of credit + which I guide will cease to work, will break to fragments. Of my own loss + I say nothing, indeed I think nothing. But what of the other men, + thousands of them who are involved with me, whose affairs are inextricably + mixed with mine, who have trusted not me, but my bank, trusted it because + it is an English institution? And it is English. Have I the right to ruin + them and to break up my bank, which belongs to your nation, of which in a + sense I am no more than a trustee for England? You understand, do you not? + My bank is just as certainly of English birth as I am of German birth. Yet + it and I are one. We cannot be divided. What am I to do?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher was asking questions; but I did not think that he was asking them + of me. I felt that it was my part to listen, not to answer. Besides what + could I answer? Ascher had given me a glimpse of one of those intolerable + dilemmas from which there is no way of escape. The choice between right + and wrong, when the nobler and baser parts of our nature are in conflict, + is often very difficult and painful. But there are times—this was + one of them—when two of the nobler, two of the very noblest of our + instincts, are set against each other. When we can only do right by doing + wrong at the same time, when to be loyal we must turn traitors. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher spoke again he seemed to have drifted away from the subject of + the coming war, the financial catastrophe and his own trouble. I did not, + for some time, guess where his words were leading. + </p> + <p> + “I have been a very careful observer of English life,” he said, “ever + since I first came to this country, and no class in your nation has + interested me more than you minor gentry, the second grade of your + aristocracy.” + </p> + <p> + “Often spoken of as the squirearchy,” I said. “It is generally supposed to + be the most useless and the least intelligent part of the community. It is + rapidly disappearing, which, I daresay, is a fortunate thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Your greater nobility,” said Ascher, “is modernised, is necessarily more + or less cosmopolitan. It has international interests and is occupied with + great affairs. It has been forced to accept the standard of ethics in + accordance with which great affairs are managed. Your merchants and + manufacturers have their own code, by no means a low one, and their theory + of right and wrong. Between these two classes come the men with lesser + titles or no titles at all, families which spring from roots centuries + deep in the soil of England, men of some wealth, but not of great riches. + They have their own standard, their code, their peculiar touchstone for + distinguishing fine conduct from its imitation, their ethic.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “I can understand your being interested in that. It is a + survival of a certain antiquarian value. It is the quaintest standard of + conduct imaginable, totally unreasonable and inconsistent. But it exists. + There are some things which a gentleman of that class will not do.” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. These men—may I say you, for it is you I am thinking of. + You have your sense of honour.” + </p> + <p> + I never was more surprised in my life than I was when Ascher said that to + me. Nothing that I have ever said or done in his company could possibly + have led him to suppose that I am a victim of that outworn superstition + known as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + “You have an instinct,” said Ascher, “inherited through many generations, + a highly specialised sense, now nearly infallible, for knowing what is + honourable and what is base. I do not know that any of my countrymen have + that sense. I am sure that the class to which I belong has not. We look at + things in a different way.” + </p> + <p> + “A much better way,” I said, “more practical.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, more practical. Better perhaps in the sense of being wiser. But I + have a wish, an odd fancy if you like, to see things your way, to guide my + conduct according to your standard of honour.” + </p> + <p> + As well as I could make out Ascher was asking me to decide for him on + which horn of his infernal dilemma he was to impale himself, and to base + my decision on a perfectly absurd and arbitrary set of rules for conduct, + none of which could by any possibility be made to apply to a situation + like his. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Ascher,” I said, “I can’t possibly judge for you.” + </p> + <p> + “You could judge if it were your own case,” he said. “You could certainly + judge then. Have you ever in your life been in the smallest doubt, even + for a moment, about the way of honour, which it is?” + </p> + <p> + “That is all very well,” I said; “I quite admit I do know that. I + generally do the other thing, but I know what I ought to do according to + the ridiculous standard of my class. But I don’t know what you ought to + do. That’s a different thing altogether.” + </p> + <p> + “Because I am not of your class? not a gentleman?” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t talk nonsense,” I said. “There aren’t any gentlemen left. The + species is extinct. The very name of it is vulgarised. You’re as near + being one as anybody I know. And that has nothing to do with it. Gentleman + or not, you’ve go to decide for yourself. No man living can do it for + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Your class would decide for me if I belonged to it,” said Ascher. “The + collective wisdom of your class, the class instinct. It would make me + certain, leave me in no doubt at all, if only I belonged to it, were one + of you. The choice I have to make——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a nasty choice to have to make. You’ve got to be disloyal either way + you go. That’s what it comes to.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no other way,” said Ascher sadly, “no third way.” + </p> + <p> + “Not that I can see.” + </p> + <p> + There was, in fact, a third way, though I did not see it at the time. Mrs. + Ascher discovered it. I heard of it two days later. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + No one has greater respect and admiration for Ascher than I have. I + respect his ability. I admire his cool detachment of mind and his + unfailing feeling for justice. I recognise in him a magnanimity, a certain + knightliness which is very rare. But it is vain to pretend that I can ever + regard Ascher as an intimate friend. I am never quite comfortable in his + company. He lacks something, something essential. He lacks a sense of + humour. + </p> + <p> + No one in England—no one I suppose in Europe—wanted to make + jokes during that critical week which followed my interview with Ascher. + The most abandoned buffoon shrank from jesting when every morning brought + a fresh declaration of war by one great power on another. But even under + such circumstances the sense of the ridiculous survives—a thing to + be carefully concealed—in those who are fortunate enough to possess + it. Ascher has no sense of the ridiculous. He sees men and women clad in + long, stately robes moving through life with grave dignity like Arab + chiefs or caliphs of Bagdad. He sees their actions conditioned and to some + extent controlled by the influences of majestic inhuman powers, the genii + of eastern tales, huge, cloud-girt spirits of oppressive solemnity. In + reality most people wear motley all day long and the fairy powers are + leprechauns, tricksy, irresponsible sprites, willing enough to make merry + with those who can laugh with them; but players of all Puck’s tricks on + “wisest aunts telling saddest tales.” + </p> + <p> + I sometimes think that it is Ascher’s chivalry, his fine knightliness, + which has killed his sense of humour. I cannot suppose that Sir Galahad + found any delight in the quips of fools. His owl-like eyes, large with the + wonder of Holy Grails, looked stupidly on faces wrinkled with merriment. + King Arthur could never have talked as he did to Guinevere—Tennyson + is my authority for the things he said—if he had not had in him the + soul of an earnest member of a league for the sympathetic study of social + problems. Ascher is as chivalrous as any member of King Arthur’s + fellowship, and humour, if he ever had the sense of it, is dead in him. + But perhaps he was born without it and is by nature hopelessly serious + because he is a German. For the Germans never seem to be able to + appreciate the fact that the grandiose is invariably comic, and that + nothing in the world is more difficult than to stand toes to the line of + the high heroic without stepping across it into the region of the + ridiculous. I think of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” of Nietzsche’s “Zara-thrusta,” + of the Kaiser Wilhelm’s amazing “Weltauf-fassung,” and it seems to me that + such things could not be in any nation where one single man knew how to + laugh. + </p> + <p> + If Ascher had in him the faintest glimmering of a sense of humour he would + never have appealed to me, choosing the silent and ghostly middle of the + night for the performance, to decide his point of honour for him. What am + I that he should imagine me capable of settling high questions of that + kind? An expatriated Irishman, a dispossessed landlord, a man without one + high ambition, a mere mocker of enthusiasm of every kind. No one, unless + he were absolutely blind to the ridiculous, would have consulted me on + such a subject as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + Yet, in her total lack of humour, Mrs. Ascher is as bad as her husband is. + If such a thing were possible I should say that she is worse. There is, at + all events, less excuse for her. She is not knightly, not very knightly, + though she did champion the cause of poor, oppressed Ireland. She is an + American, not a German, and the Americans pay high honour to their + humourists. Perhaps she has lived too long with Ascher. Perhaps she has + devoted herself too much to art and her steady contemplation of the + sublime has killed her sense of the ridiculous. At all events it is dead. + She has no humour now. + </p> + <p> + It is almost impossible to imagine that any woman would have been capable + of calling in Gorman and me as advisers and helpers at a critical moment + of her life. Yet that is what Mrs. Ascher did. + </p> + <p> + We obeyed the summons of course, both of us. + </p> + <p> + Gorman got there first. I found him seated opposite Mrs. Ascher in the + large drawing-room of the house in Hampstead. Mrs. Ascher is lacking in + humour, but she has a fine sense of dramatic propriety. Great decisions + can only be come to fittingly, mighty spiritual tragedies can only be + satisfactorily enacted, in spacious rooms. And there must be emptiness. + Knicknacks and pretty ornaments kill high emotion. The chamber of a dainty + woman, the room which delicate feminity has made its own, will suit a + light flirtation, the love-making of a summer afternoon, but deep passion + is out of place in it. + </p> + <p> + I walked cautiously across a wide space of slippery floor in order to + shake hands with Mrs. Ascher. I saw that Gorman was sitting in a huge + straight-backed chair with heavily carved elbow rests. It was the sort of + chair which would have suited a bishop—in the chancel of his + cathedral, not in his private room—and a major excommunication + might very suitably have been delivered from it. + </p> + <p> + “I am in great trouble,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I have asked you two to + come to me because you are my friends. I was right to call you, was I + not?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at Gorman and then at me, evidently expecting us to make a + confession of friendship for her. Gorman wriggled in a way that made me + think the carving of the chair must be sticking into him somewhere. But he + did not fail Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “You were right,” he said with deep feeling, “altogether right.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be outdone by Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “‘A friend,’” I said, “‘must bear a friend’s infirmities.’” + </p> + <p> + The quotation was not wholly happy, but Mrs. Ascher seemed to like it. She + smiled gratefully. + </p> + <p> + “My husband,” she said. + </p> + <p> + I knew it must be her husband’s affairs which were troubling her. + </p> + <p> + “He is in a very difficult position,” I said. “I had a long talk with him + the other night. It seems to me that he has to choose between——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman interrupted me. + </p> + <p> + “He’s in an infernally awkward hole,” he said. “The English people will + lose their tempers to a certainty, not at first perhaps, but as soon as + anything goes against them. When they do they’ll make things damnably + unpleasant for any one who’s suspected of being German or even remotely + connected with Germany. That’s the sort of people the English are. And + Ascher is just the man they’ll fasten on at once. They’ll hunt him down.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at Gorman while he spoke. Her face expressed a quiet + dignity. + </p> + <p> + “That is not the difficulty,” she said. “What people say or think of us or + do to us does not matter. We live our own lives. We can always live them, + apart from, above the bitter voices of the crowd.” + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” said Gorman, “it will be unpleasant. It will be a great + deal worse than merely unpleasant. If I were Ascher I should get on the + safe side at once. I should give a thumping big subscription—£50,000 + or something that will attract attention—to some popular fund. I + should offer to present the War Office with half a dozen aeroplanes to be + called ‘The Ascher Flying Fleet’; or a first-rate cannon of the largest + size. A good deal can be done to shut people’s mouths in that sort of + way.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not understand,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + She turned to me, evidently hoping that I would explain Ascher’s real + difficulty to Gorman. I hesitated for a moment. It was plain to me that + though Gorman did not appreciate the reality of the spiritual crisis, he + did understand something which had escaped me and, so far as I knew, had + escaped Ascher also. I had a vivid recollection of the unenviable position + of men suspected of lukewarm patriotism during the Boer War. In the + struggle we were then entering upon popular passion would be far more + highly excited. The position of the Aschers in England might become + impossible. + </p> + <p> + Gorman with his highly developed faculty for gauging the force and + direction of popular opinion understood at once and thoroughly the + difficulties that lay before Ascher. What he did not understand was the + peculiar difficulty which Ascher felt. I responded to Mrs. Ascher’s glance + of appeal and tried to explain things to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Ascher,” I said, “is pulled two ways. His country is pulling him. That’s + the call of patriotism. You ought to understand that, Gorman. You’re a + tremendous patriot yourself. But if he goes back to his country now he + absolutely ruins his business. That means a lot more than merely losing + his money. It means more even than losing other people’s money, the money + of the men who trusted him. It means that he must be false to his + commercial honour. You see that, don’t you, Gorman? And there doesn’t seem + any way out of the dilemma. He has got to go back on his patriotism or on + his honour. There is no other course.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Mrs. Ascher for approval. I had stated her husband’s dilemma + clearly, I believed fairly. Gorman could hardly fail to understand. I + thought Mrs. Ascher would have been pleased with me. To my amazement she + acknowledged my efforts with a burst of indignation. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” she cried, “you do not understand, either of you. You do not even + begin to understand. I suppose you cannot, because you are men and not + women. You men! All of you, my husband, too, though he is far above the + rest of you—but even he! You concern yourselves about things which + are nothing. You argue about phantoms and discuss them as if they were + realities. And all the time you miss the things which are. You think”—she + spoke directly to Gorman and her voice expressed the utmost scorn—“you + think about reputation, the way men babble about each other and will + babble about us. Why should we care? Even if we were afraid of what men + say there are places in the world to which the voices of Europe cannot + reach. There are islands in the sea where the sun shines and palm trees + grow, to which the talk of men who dwell in cities never comes.” + </p> + <p> + I recollected the desire which Mrs. Ascher had once expressed to me of + getting “far, far away from everywhere.” She evidently hoped to be able to + try that experiment. + </p> + <p> + She turned from Gorman and faced me. + </p> + <p> + “You talk,” she said, “about honour and patriotism. What are they? Words, + just words. It is only you men, slaves of your own conventions, who take + them for realities. We women know better. You go about life imagining that + your limbs are bound with fetters. They are bound with delusions. We women + know. Love and beauty are real. Nothing else is. All your fine words are + like the flags under which your dupes go out to die; fluttering rags to us + whose eyes are open. You talk—oh, so finely you talk—about the + shadows your own imaginings cast, and you end in being afraid of them. You + talk—you dare to talk to me of money——” + </p> + <p> + This was a totally unjust accusation. I had not talked about money. I had + more sense than to mention money to a woman in Mrs. Ascher’s frame of + mind. + </p> + <p> + “I have money enough of my own,” she said. “He and I want very little. + What do we care for except just to love each other and to see beautiful + things and to escape from all this nightmare of blood and hate and horror + and hideousness?” + </p> + <p> + I felt helpless. Mrs. Ascher had undoubtedly hit on a new solution of the + problem. She proposed that Ascher should impale himself not on one or + other, but on both horns of the dilemma, be false to every kind of honour + and loyalty. It was, I suppose, possible for Ascher to pack a bag and take + to flight, simply to disappear, leaving everything behind him. He and she + might go to some valley in the Rocky Mountains, to some unknown creek on + the Californian coast, to some island in the South Pacific. If she were + right about honour and faithfulness and patriotism, if these are, after + all, only idols of the tribe, then she and Ascher might be very happy. + They would have all that either of them required. + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman. He shrugged his shoulders, helpless as I was. Mrs. + Ascher began to plead with us in a way that was very strange to listen to. + </p> + <p> + “Life is so short,” she said. “Already most of it is gone from us. We have + only a few years more, he and I. Why should we be miserable? There is + happiness waiting for us. There is nothing between us and happiness except + words, honor, patriotism, right, wrong. These are words, only words. They + are gossamer threads which we break as we go, break without feeling them + if only we go boldly. Will you not help me? Tell him that what I say is + true. He will listen to you because you are men; and you know in your + hearts that I speak what is true, that I have hold upon reality.” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment’s silence after she stopped speaking. Before either + Gorman or I attempted to make any answer Ascher himself came into the + room. I certainly did not expect to see him. Mrs. Ascher was, I am sure, + as much surprised as I was. It was about twelve o’clock and at that hour + Ascher is always in his office. He crossed the room quietly. He greeted + Gorman and me without a sign that our presence was unexpected or + unwelcome. He went to his wife and took her hand in his. She clung to him, + looking up into his face. She knew at once that he had something very + important to say to her. + </p> + <p> + “You have decided?” she said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher’s eyes met hers. His face seemed to me full of tenderness and pity. + He held her hand tightly. He bowed his head, a silent “yes” to the + question she asked. + </p> + <p> + “To leave it all and come with me?” she said; “away, away.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher did not speak; but she knew and I knew that his decision was not + that. + </p> + <p> + The scene was very painful. I felt that I had no right whatever to witness + it Gorman, I am sure, would have been glad to escape. But it was very + difficult for us to get away. Neither Ascher nor his wife seemed, + conscious of our presence. We stood helpless a little apart from them. + Gorman, with that unfailing tact of his, did, or tried to do the only + thing which could have relieved the intolerable tension. He made an effort + to get us all back to the commonplace. + </p> + <p> + “You’re in a devil of an awkward situation, Ascher,” he said. “A good deal + seems to me to depend on whether you are a naturalised British subject or + not. If you have been naturalised you ought to be able to pull through, + though it won’t be pleasant even then.” + </p> + <p> + “I have not been naturalised,” said Ascher. “I never thought of it.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s a pity,” said Gorman. “Still—in the case of a man in your + position I daresay it can be managed even now. I’ll use my influence. I + know most of the members of the Cabinet pretty well. I can put it to them + that, from an English point of view, considering the tremendous importance + of your business, considering the financial collapse which would follow—oh, + we’ll be able to manage.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said Ascher, “but that purely legal aspect of the matter does + not at the moment strike me as the most important or the most pressing. No + doubt it is important and your kindness will be helpful. But just now I + cannot speak about that. There is, you see, my country and the loyalty I + owe to it. I do not seem to escape from that obligation by a process of + law. I may legalise, but do I really justify, treachery to the claim of + patriotism?” + </p> + <p> + I have always felt,—felt rather than known,—that there is a + queer strain of mysticism in Gorman. His arid common sense, his politics, + his rhetoric, his tricky money-making, are the outside, visible things + about him. Behind them, deep down, seldom seen, is a strange, emotional + love for his country. When Ascher spoke as he did about the claim of + patriotism Gorman understood. The innermost part of the man was reached. + Without hesitating for an instant, without consideration or debate, Gorman + leaped to a solution of the problem. + </p> + <p> + “Loyalty to your country comes first,” he said; “it must. Everything else + goes by the board. I did not know you felt that way about Germany; but + since you do There is no more to be said. Go back to your own country of + course. You can’t help yourself.” + </p> + <p> + I have no doubt that Gorman meant exactly what he said. If he had been in + Ascher’s position, if once the issue became quite plain to him and the + tangle of political alliances were swept away, he would have thrown all + his interests and every other kind of honour to the wind. He would have + sacrificed his business, would if necessary have parted with his wife; he + would have been loyal to the land of his birth, entirely contemptuous of + any other call or any claim. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher clung tightly to her husband’s arm. “Words,” she said, “words, + only words. You must not listen to him.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher felt for her hands again, grasped them and held them pressed close + against him. He turned from Gorman to me. + </p> + <p> + “And you,” he said, “what are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + The question took me by surprise. I had no difficult decision to make. My + course was in clear daylight. Besides, it did not matter to any one what I + did. + </p> + <p> + “You, yourself,” said Ascher again. “What are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” I said, “I’m going back to my regiment. I suppose they’ll take me. + Anyhow I shall offer myself.” + </p> + <p> + “And fight?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes. I suppose I shall fight. This war won’t be over in a week. I’m + pretty sure to get my turn. Yes, I shall almost certainly fight.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” said Ascher. “What will you fight for?” + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who answered the question. He had recovered from his brief + outburst, and had become the normal Gorman again. + </p> + <p> + “The war,” he said, “is for the liberation of Europe. It is a vast + struggle, an Armageddon in which the forces of reaction, absolutism, + tyranny, a military caste are ranged against democracy. It is their last + appearance upon the stage of history. Vindicated now, the principles of + democracy——” + </p> + <p> + “If you think,” I said, “that I’m going out to fight for the principles of + democracy, you’re making a big mistake. There’s nothing in the world I + dislike more than that absurd democracy of yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why?” said Ascher, mildly persistent. “Why are you going to fight?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I don’t want to say anything offensive about your people, + Ascher. The Germans have a lot of fine qualities, but if they were to win + this war, if they were to succeed in imposing their civilisation and their + mentality on us all, if they were to Germanise the world, the sense of + humour would perish from among men. Nobody would any longer be able to + laugh. We—we should find ourselves taking governments and officials + seriously. Just imagine! To live under a bureaucracy and not to see that + it was funny! Surely it’s worth while fighting for the right to laugh.” + </p> + <p> + “You Irish!” said Ascher. “Even in times like this your love of paradox——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t say it,” I said. “If you can possibly help it don’t say that. I + admit that I brought it on myself and deserve it. I apologise. That is not + my real reason for going back to my regiment. I only gave it to you + because I don’t know what my real reason is. It’s not patriotism. I + haven’t got any country to be patriotic about. It’s not any silly belief + in liberty or democracy. I don’t know why I’m doing it. I just have to. + That’s all.” + </p> + <p> + “Noblesse oblige,” said Ascher. “Your honour as a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Ascher—there is no other way of putting it—is + grossly indecent. A woman has a sense of modesty about her body. It would + be considered an outrage to strip her and leave her stark naked in the + middle of the room. I cannot see why a man should not be credited with + some feeling of modesty about his soul. I detest having my last garments + plucked from me in public. Complete spiritual nudity causes me very great + embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + “You can put it that way if you like,” I said. “The plain fact is I can’t + help myself. I must go back to my regiment. I have no choice.” + </p> + <p> + “I have come to see,” said Ascher, “that I have no choice either. There is + such a thing, though perhaps Mr. Gorman will not believe me—there is + such a thing as the honour of a banker. It compels me.” + </p> + <p> + He put his arm round his wife’s waist as he spoke. Still holding her hands + in one of his, he led her from the room. Her head drooped against his + shoulder as they went out. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose that means,” said Gorman, “that he’s going to stick it out and + see the thing through. It will be infernally awkward for him. I don’t + think he realises how nasty it will be. He hasn’t considered that side of + it.” + </p> + <p> + “A man doesn’t consider that side of things,” I said, “when he’s up + against it as Ascher is.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I’ll do my best about the naturalisation papers. That’ll be some + help.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s very hard to be sure,” I said, “but I’m inclined to think that + Ascher is right.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s utterly wrong,” said Gorman. “A man’s country ought to come first + always. You don’t understand that because you’re denationalised; because, + as you say yourself, you have no country. But it’s true, whether you + understand it or not.” + </p> + <p> + “When I think of that business of his,” I said, “the immense complexity of + it, the confidence of thousands of men in each other, all resting at last + on a faith in the integrity of one man, or rather of a firm—the + existence of such a business, world-wide, international, entirely + independent of all ties of race, nationality, language, religion, in a + certain sense wider than any of these—it’s a great, human affair, + not English nor German, not the white man’s nor the yellow man’s, not + Christian nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan, just human. Ascher owes some kind + of loyalty to a thing like that. It’s a frightfully complicated question; + but on the whole I think he is right.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman was not listening to me. He had ceased, for the time, to be + interested in Ascher’s decision. I tried to regain his attention. + </p> + <p> + “Ascher says,” I said, “that there is such a thing as the honour of a + banker, of a financier.” + </p> + <p> + That ought to have roused Gorman to a contradiction; but it did not. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” he said, “that we could get them to take on Tim in any job + connected with flying machines? This war will knock all his inventions + into a cocked hat. He will simply be left, and he has a real turn for + mechanics. If he got messing about with aeroplanes he might do something + big, something really valuable. But I don’t know how to go about getting + that sort of job for him. I’m not in with military people. Look here, + you’ve a lot of influence with the War Office——” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said. “None.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense. You must have. A word from you—— I’ll tell you what + we’ll do. I’ll work Ascher’s naturalisation papers for him, and you get + Tim taken on by the Army Flying Corps people.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “you’d like me to get you a Staff appointment while I’m + at it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” said Gorman. “I’m not a soldier, I’m a Member of Parliament. My + job is——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman hesitated. For a moment I thought that he was in real doubt, was + actually wondering what place he ought to take, what work he ought to do. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said. “You. Now, what is your idea for yourself?” + </p> + <p> + Gorman drew himself up to his full height, squared his shoulders and + puffed out his chest. + </p> + <p> + “My place,” he said, “is in the great council of the Empire.” + </p> + <p> + I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord!” I said. “You don’t really think—you <i>can’t</i> think, + that your silly old Parliament is going to matter now; that you + politicians will be allowed to go on talking, that there will be divisions + in the House, and elections and all that foolishness.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, still heroically erect, still enormously swelled in chest, winked + at me with careful deliberation. I was immensely relieved. + </p> + <p> + “Thank God,” I said. “For a moment I thought you really meant it—all + that great-council-of-the-Empire business, you know. It would have been a + horrible disappointment to me if you had. I’ve come to have a high regard + for you, Gorman, and I really could not have borne it. But of course I + ought to have known better. You couldn’t have believed in that stuff, + simply couldn’t. Nobody with your intelligence could. But seriously, now, + I should like to know—I’m sure you won’t mind telling me—— + What are you going to do? Your party, I mean. It seems to me you’re in + rather a hole. The Irish people will expect you to take the regular line + of backing the enemy.” + </p> + <p> + “The Irish people be damned,” said Gorman; “our game is to support the + Government.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. + </h2> + <p> + I look back on the time I spent soldiering—soldiering under war + conditions—as a curious blank in an otherwise interesting and + amusing life. From the day on which I rejoined my regiment until the day, + about five months later, when I escaped from the hospital in which I was + incarcerated, my mind stopped working altogether. I took no interest + whatever in any of the things which used to excite me, which are now, I am + thankful to say, beginning to amuse me again. Politicians, I believe, + pranced about with fascinating agility. I did not care to look at them. + Newspaper proprietors demanded the immediate execution of one public man + after another. I do not believe I should have cared if a guillotine had + been set up in Piccadilly Circus and a regular reign of terror + established. I lost sight of Gorman. The Aschers faded from my memory. + </p> + <p> + I spent three months or so in camp with my old regiment. I worked + exceedingly hard. I ate enormously. I slept profoundly. I attained an + almost incredible perfection of physical health. I ceased to think about + anything. My experience of the business of actual fighting was brief. I + had little more than a month of it altogether. Then they sent me home with + a shattered leg. I worked harder than ever when I was at the Front. I was + often very uncomfortable. I remained amazingly healthy. I suffered at last + a good deal of physical pain. I did not think at all, even about the + progress of the war. + </p> + <p> + I date my awakening again to the interests of life from the day when + Gorman paid me his first visit. I was convalescent and had made myself + fairly comfortable in a cottage near Guildford. I had got rid of the last + of a long series of nurses. My leg had ceased to cause me any active + annoyance, but I was beginning to find myself a good deal bored and not a + little depressed. When Gorman walked in I was not, just at first, + particularly glad to see him. + </p> + <p> + “Let me congratulate you,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “On being alive? Is that a blessing?” + </p> + <p> + I had been brooding over the fact that I was lame for life. Gorman’s + breezy cheerfulness rather jarred me. + </p> + <p> + “Of course it’s a blessing to be alive,” said Gorman, “but I wasn’t + thinking of that. What I was congratulating you on was being a hero. + D.S.O., isn’t it? Tell me all about it, won’t you?” + </p> + <p> + I have been given the right of appending those three letters to my name, + so I suppose I must have avoided the worst kinds of blundering and + incompetence. But I have no recollection of doing anything to deserve the + honour. I fear I answered Gorman rather ill-temperedly. + </p> + <p> + “There’s nothing whatever to tell,” I said. “I just crawled about in a + trench, generally muddy. Everybody else did exactly the same.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is still the same man he always was, amazingly tactful and + sympathetic. He realised at once that I hated talking about the war and + was in no mood for recounting my own experiences. Instead of pressing me + with silly questions until he drove me mad, he dropped the subject of my + D.S.O. and began to babble agreeably about other things. + </p> + <p> + “Politics,” he said, “have got into a frightful state. In fact there are + hardly any politics at all. We haven’t had a decent rag since the war + began. We all sit round cooing at each other like beastly little green + lovebirds in a cage. It can’t last long, of course. Sooner or later + somebody’s bound to break out and try to bite; but for the present + Parliament’s the dullest place in Europe.” + </p> + <p> + I began to feel slightly interested. + </p> + <p> + “I remember hearing,” I said, “that you Nationalists promised not to cheer + for the Germans.” + </p> + <p> + “We did more than that,” said Gorman. “We rallied to the Empire at the + very start and have kept on rallying ever since. It felt odd at first, but + you get used to anything in time, even to being loyal. You’d have been + surprised if you’d heard me singing, ‘God Save the King’ in Dublin last + week.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you really?” + </p> + <p> + “Twice,” said Gorman, “on two consecutive days.” + </p> + <p> + A world in which such things could happen might, I began to feel, be worth + living in after all. I smiled feebly at Gorman. He responded with a + delicious wink. + </p> + <p> + “What’s happened to Home Rule?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “For the present it’s hung up; a case of suspended animation; our idea is + that if we’re thoroughly loyal now the English people will be so grateful + to us——” + </p> + <p> + “But they’ll be just as grateful to the Ulstermen,” I said. “They’re + loyal, too, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s the difficulty, of course,” said Gorman. “But what else could we + do? If we’d allowed the Orangemen to make a corner in loyalty at the + present crisis——” + </p> + <p> + “Crisis!” I said. “How that word brings it all back to me? Are we still + going through a crisis? Fancy the word surviving!” + </p> + <p> + “It’s about the only part of our old political system which does survive. + The rest’s gone, hopelessly.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman sighed, and I began to feel depressed again: But Gorman is not the + man to sorrow long, even over the decay of the British Constitution. He + dropped the unpleasant subject and started fresh. + </p> + <p> + “Tim,” he said, “has been rather a disappointment to me. He hasn’t + invented a single thing since the war began.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” I said, “that this would have been his + opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + “So it is. The country’s simply crying out for inventions. Aerial + torpedoes, traps for submarines, wireless methods of exploding the enemy’s + ammunition, heaps of things of that sort. Tim might scoop up an immense + fortune and be made a baronet. But instead of inventing—and he could + if he chose—the young fool is flying about somewhere and dropping + bombs on German railways. I’m inclined to think it was a mistake putting + Tim into the Flying Corps at all. I wonder if we could get him out again. + Do you know any one you could write to about him?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “not a soul.” + </p> + <p> + “Pity,” said Gorman. “A little personal influence helps a lot in things of + this sort, and a letter from you——” + </p> + <p> + I thought it time to change the subject. + </p> + <p> + “The Aschers?” I said. “Ever see them now?” + </p> + <p> + “I met her in the Park on Sunday. She’s Red Crossing. Had on the most + elaborate costume you ever saw. Imagine a nurse’s uniform brought up to + the standard of the highest art, or perhaps I ought to say an artistic + dress with the red cross for motif. She told me that she expects to go to + the Front next week.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God she didn’t go sooner! She might have nursed me if she’d been + there in time.” + </p> + <p> + “She’d have done it all right,” said Gorman. “I hear she’s a splendid + organiser in spite of her clothes. Always was a remarkable woman, though + you didn’t care for her. There’s been a lot of trouble about Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he go bankrupt?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear no. Quite the contrary. All that financial part of the business + was well managed and there wasn’t any serious smash-up. They say that + Ascher helped a lot, in fact that it was very largely his advice which the + Government took. All the same a lot of people turned on him afterwards, in + spite of all I did to get him naturalised. They wanted to imprison him; + but that was absurd. It’s all very well to round up ordinary Germans, + barbers, waiters and people of that sort, and put them in concentration + camps. But you can’t imprison a man who’s worth millions. That sort of + thing isn’t done in any civilised state.” + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” I said, “Ascher didn’t deserve it.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course not. But that wouldn’t have saved him. In fact that has nothing + whatever to do with the matter. Popular opinion ran very strongly against + Germans, whether naturalised or not. And things were beginning to look + very nasty for Ascher. However, we managed all right.” + </p> + <p> + “How?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Gorman, “in the usual way. Diverted it.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “I’m afraid I’m getting stupid. Fighting must have + muddled my brain. I don’t quite follow you. What did you divert?” + </p> + <p> + “Popular opinion,” said Gorman. “We turned it away from Ascher, started + everybody hunting a fresh hare. It wouldn’t have done to imprison Ascher, + really wouldn’t, for a lot of reasons; so we all began making speeches + about beer. Temperance, you know; I made one myself. Then everybody forgot + about Ascher and things settled down.” + </p> + <p> + “Politics aren’t as dead as you said they were, Gorman. You politicians——” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all very well sneering at politicians, and I don’t mind your doing + it, not a bit, especially as you’re wounded. But if it hadn’t been for us + politicians—— Tell me this now, is there anybody else in the + country who can divert popular opinion from an awkward subject?” + </p> + <p> + I do not suppose there is. But I did not care to argue about it. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” I said, “that Ascher ever regretted his decision?” + </p> + <p> + “What decision? Oh, to stay in England? No. I don’t think he ever has. + He’s done pretty well for himself in spite of any little trouble there’s + been. I should say he’s no worse off than he was.” + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t thinking of the matter from a business point of view,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “From every other point of view,” said Gorman, “he was wrong. A man ought + not to go back on his country under any circumstances whatever.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t agree with you,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “His conscience,” said Gorman, “if financiers have consciences which I + doubt——” + </p> + <p> + “Some day,” I said, “when I’m a bit stronger, we’ll argue the whole thing + out.” + </p> + <p> + We have argued it out, since then, twenty times at least. We are no nearer + reaching a conclusion than we were. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. 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Birmingham + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 100%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. Birmingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Gossamer + 1915 + +Author: George A. Birmingham + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [EBook #24394] +Last Updated: May 5, 2014 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSSAMER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + +</pre> + + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + GOSSAMER + </h1> + <h2> + By G. A. Birmingham + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h5> + Copyright, 1915, George H. Doran Company + </h5> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">F</span>or that mercy," + said Gorman, "you may thank with brief thanksgiving whatever gods there + be." We were discussing, for perhaps the twentieth time, the case of poor + Ascher. Gorman had reminded me, as he often does, that I am incapable of + understanding Ascher or entering into his feelings, because I am a man of + no country and therefore know nothing of the emotion of patriotism. This + seems a curious thing to say to a man who has just had his leg mangled in + a battle; but I think Gorman is quite right about his fact I went out to + the fight, when the fight came on, but only because I could not avoid + going. I never supposed that I was fighting for my country. But Gorman is + wrong in his inference. I have no country, but I believe I can understand + Ascher quite as well as Gorman does. Nor am I sure that I ought to be + thankful for my immunity from the fever of patriotism. Ascher suffered + severely because at a critical moment in his life a feeling of loyalty to + his native land gripped him hard. I have also suffered, a rending of the + body at least comparable to Ascher's rending of the soul. But I have not + the consolation of feeling that I am a hero. + </p> + <p> + I have often told Gorman that if he were as thorough-going as he pretends + to be he would call himself O'Gorabhain or at the very least, O'Gorman. He + is an Irishman by birth, sympathy and conviction. He is a Member of + Parliament, pledged to support the cause of Ireland, and this in spite of + the fact that he has brains. He might have been a brilliant, perhaps even + a successful and popular novelist. He wrote two stories which critics + acclaimed, which are still remembered and even occasionally read. He might + have risen to affluence as a dramatist. He was the author of one + single-act play which made the fortune of a very charming actress ten + years ago. He has made a name for himself as a journalist, and his + articles are the chief glory of a leading weekly paper. But the business + to which he has really devoted himself is that of an Irish patriot. He + says amazingly foolish things in public and, in private, is always quite + ready to laugh at his own speeches. He is a genuine lover of Ireland, an + inheritor of that curious tradition of Irish patriotism which has survived + centuries of disappointed hopes, and, a much stranger thing, has never + been quite asphyxiated by its own gases. + </p> + <p> + I happen to belong to that unfortunate class of Irishmen whom neither + Gorman nor any one else will recognise as being Irish at all. I owned, at + one time, a small estate in Co. Cork. I sold it to my tenants and became a + man of moderate income, encumbered with a baronetcy of respectable + antiquity and occupied chiefly in finding profitable investments for my + capital. By way of recreation I interest myself in my neighbours and + acquaintances, in the actual men and women rather than in their affairs. + No definition of the Irish people has yet been framed which would include + me, though I am indubitably a person—I take "person" to be the + singular of people which is a noun of multitude—and come of a family + which held on to an Irish property for 300 years. My religion consists + chiefly of a dislike of the Roman Catholic Church and an instinctive + distrust of the priests of all churches. My father was an active Unionist, + and I have no political opinions of any sort. I am therefore cut off, both + by religion and politics, from any chance of taking part in Irish affairs. + On the other hand I cannot manage to feel myself an Englishman. Even now, + though I have fought in their army without incurring the reproach of + cowardice, I cannot get out of the habit of looking at Englishmen from a + distance. This convinces me that I am not one of them. + </p> + <p> + I am thus—Gorman is quite right about this—a man of no + country. But I understand Ascher as well as Gorman does; though I take a + different view of Ascher's ultimate decision. + </p> + <p> + I met Gorman first on board a Cunard steamer in the autumn of 1913. + </p> + <p> + I was on my way to Canada. My excuse, the reason I gave to myself for the + journey, was the necessity of looking into the affairs of certain Canadian + companies in which I had invested money. There were rumours current in + England at that time which led me to suspect that the boom in Canadian + securities had reached its height and was about to subside. I did not + really believe that I was likely to find out anything of value by stopping + in an hotel at Montreal or travelling in a train to Vancouver. But I was + tired of London and thought the trip might be pleasant. I went to Canada + by way of New York, partly because the big Cunarders are comfortable + steamers, partly because I find New York an agreeable city. I have several + friends there and I like the life of the place—for a fortnight at a + time. I do not know whether I should like it for a longer time because I + have never had money enough to live in New York for more than a fortnight. + As a regular place of residence it might be too stimulating for me; but I + shall probably never know how I should feel about it at the end of six + weeks. + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who took the initiative on board the steamer. I do not think + that I should ever have made his acquaintance if he had not forced himself + on me. He accosted me, introduced himself, carried the acquaintance + through to an intimacy by sheer force of personality, and ended by + inducing me to like him. He began his attack on me during that very + uncomfortable time just before the ship actually starts. It is never + possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the + screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers + have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, + are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the + corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile + energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows + of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching + telegrams. Women passengers eye other women passengers with suspicion and + distrust. It is very interesting to notice how people who scowl at each + other on the first day of a voyage exchange cards and promise to pay each + other visits after six days as fellow travellers. At the end of another + six days—such is the usual unfortunate experience—the cards + are lost and the promises forgotten. A poet and, following him, a novelist + have compared human intercourse to the "speaking" of ships that pass in + the night. They would have found a more forcible, though perhaps less + poetic, illustration of their idea in the friendships formed by passengers + in the same steamer. They are intimate, but they are as a rule utterly + transitory. However I have no right to complain. The friendship which + Gorman forced on me has lasted eighteen months and shows no sign yet of + wearing thin. + </p> + <p> + He caught me in the smoking room. I had settled down quietly in a + comfortable chair, and was wondering, as I always do in that smoking room, + at the grain of the wood in the panel above the fireplace. There was no + one else in the room except a steward who hovered near the door which + leads to the bar. Experience has taught me that the smoking room, the most + populous part of the ship during the voyage, is generally empty during the + two hours before the start. I thought I should have the place to myself. I + was half way through my cigar and had failed to decide whether the panel + is a fake or a natural curiosity when Gorman entered. He is a big man and + fat. He is clean shaved and has bushy grey eyebrows. Heavy rolls of skin + hang down from his jaws. He wears an unusually large gold signet ring. His + appearance is not attractive. He sat down beside me and addressed me at + once. + </p> + <p> + "Sir James Digby?" he said. + </p> + <p> + That is my name. I admitted it by nodding. + </p> + <p> + "I was glancing over the passenger list," he said, "and saw you were on + board. The purser told me you were up here somewhere. My name's Gorman, + Michael Gorman." + </p> + <p> + The name gave me no information beyond the fact that the speaker was an + Irishman. There must be several thousand Gormans in Ireland and I could + not remember that I was acquainted with any one of them. I nodded again. + </p> + <p> + "I don't suppose you remember me," said Gorman, "but you used to see me + pretty frequently once, about twenty-five years ago. My father kept the + only shop in Curraghbeg, and you used to come in and buy sweets, a penny + worth at a time. You were a small boy then. I was a bit older, fifteen or + sixteen perhaps." + </p> + <p> + Curraghbeg is a miserable village standing in the middle of the tract of + land which used to be my property. It is close to Curraghbeg House, where + my father kept up such state as befitted an Irish gentleman of his day. I + believe I was born there. If I thought of any place in the world as home I + suppose it would be Curraghbeg; but I have no feeling for the place except + a mild dislike. The House is now a nunnery, in better repair, but almost + certainly more gauntly hideous than when I owned it. The village, I + expect, is still as sordid as when I saw it last. I remembered Gorman's + shop, a dirty little public house, where sacks of flour, tea and sugar + candy were sold, as well as whisky and emigration tickets. I also + remembered my father's opinion of Gorman, old Dan Gorman, the father of + the man beside me. He was "one of the worst blackguards in the county, + mixed up with every kind of League and devilment." Those were the days + when the land agitation was at its height and Irish gentlemen—they + were fighting for their existence as a class—felt rather strongly + about the leaders of the people. + </p> + <p> + Of any younger Gorman I had no recollection whatever. Nor did I at that + moment, or for some time afterwards, connect the son of the ruffianly old + publican with the journalist and politician of whom I had heard a good + deal. + </p> + <p> + "Funny thing," he said, "running into you like this. Let's have a drink of + some sort." + </p> + <p> + He snapped his fingers to attract the attention of the steward. + </p> + <p> + I am not, I fear, thoroughly modernised. Though I like American social + life I have never been able to accept the theory of the wickedness of + class distinctions. As a political system democracy seems to me + extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest + against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many + votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could. + I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by + dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with + gentlemen in private life. I was not prepared to sit drinking with the son + of old Dan Gorman if I could help it. + </p> + <p> + I intended to say so, as politely as such a thing can be said. The man's + face made me pause. He was looking at me with a curious smile, half + innocent, half whimsical. His eyes expressed friendliness of a perfectly + simple, unaffected kind. I realised that he was not a snob, that he was + not trying to push himself on me for the sake of my position and title, + the position of a disinherited Irish landlord and a title which, for all + any one could tell by hearing it, might be the reward of a successful + provincial doctor. I realised also, with an uncomfortable shiver, that he + understood my feeling and was slightly amused at it. It struck me suddenly + that I, and not Gorman, was the snob. + </p> + <p> + The steward stood at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + "Whisky and soda?" said Gorman. "We are still in English waters. Or shall + I say cocktails, as we're, on our way to America?" + </p> + <p> + I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. + But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought + it well to break my rule. I should, under the circumstances, have + considered myself justified in breaking a temperance pledge, on the + principle, once explained to me by an archdeacon, that charity is above + rubrics. I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going + drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful. Gorman gave + the order. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you think," he said, "that it would be rather a good plan for us to + sit together at meals? I'll make arrangements with the steward and have a + table reserved for us in the upper saloon. I can manage it all right. I + often cross on this boat and everybody knows me." + </p> + <p> + Again he looked at me and again smiled in his fascinating childlike way. + </p> + <p> + "I'm A-1 at ordering meals," he said, "and it really does make a + difference on these ships if you know how to get the best that's going." + </p> + <p> + That was the one attempt he made to justify himself in forcing his company + on me. But it was not the hope of better dinners, though I like good + dinners, which led me to agree to his proposal. I was captivated by his + smile. Besides, I had not, so far as I knew, a single acquaintance among + the passengers. I should be better off with Gorman as messmate than set + down beside some chance stranger who might smile in a disagreeable way, or + perhaps not smile at all. + </p> + <p> + "Very well," I said. "You arrange it." + </p> + <p> + "It would be pleasant," he said, "if we could get hold of a couple of + other interesting people, and make four at our table." + </p> + <p> + I do not deny that Gorman is an interesting person, but I did not see what + right he had to put me in that select class. I could only hope that the + other interesting people would regard me as he did. He pulled a passenger + list out of his pocket and turned over the pages. + </p> + <p> + "What about the Aschers?" he said. + </p> + <p> + He handed the list to me. There was a pencil mark opposite the name of Mr. + Carl Ascher. Immediately below it was "Mrs. Ascher and maid." + </p> + <p> + "I don't know him," I said. "Who is he? Has he done anything particular?" + </p> + <p> + "Heavens above!" said Gorman. "Who is Ascher! But perhaps you don't + recognise him apart from the rest of the firm. Ever heard of Ascher, Stutz + & Co.?" + </p> + <p> + I recognised the name then. Ascher is a banker, one of those international + financiers who manage, chiefly from London offices, a complicated kind of + business which no ordinary man understands anything about, a kind of + foreign business which for some reason very few Englishmen undertake. + </p> + <p> + "If the man's a millionaire," I said, "he won't care to dine with us—and + he's probably a Jew—not that I've any particular prejudice against + Jews." + </p> + <p> + "He's not a Jew," said Gorman. "He's an Englishman. At least he's as + English as any man with a name like that can be. I expect he'll jump at + the chance of feeding with us. We're the only people on board the least + likely to interest him." + </p> + <p> + I admire Gorman's splendid self-confidence, but I do not share it. I + shrank from seeking the friendship of a millionaire. + </p> + <p> + "He has his wife with him," I said. "Perhaps she——" + </p> + <p> + I meant to suggest that Mrs. Ascher might not care to be thrown with a + couple of stray men of whom she knew nothing. Gorman thought I meant + something quite different. + </p> + <p> + "She's an American," he said, "or was before she married Ascher. I hear + she goes in for music and pictures and literature and all that sort of + thing, which may be boring. But I daresay we shan't see very much of her. + She'll probably be seasick the whole time." + </p> + <p> + I have often wondered where Gorman gets all his astonishingly accurate + information about people whom he does not know. He was very nearly right + about Mrs. Ascher. She was seasick for four out of the six days of our + voyage. + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow," he went on, "we must put up with her if we want to get hold of + the husband. And I should like to do that. I've never had a chance before + of being intimate with one of the big bugs of finance. I want to know what + it is that those fellows really do." + </p> + <p> + When Gorman put it to me that way I withdrew all my objections to his + plan. I very much want to know "what those fellows really do." I am filled + with curiosity and I want to know what every kind of fellow really does. I + want to have a long talk with a Parisian dressmaker, one of the men who + settles what shape women are to be for the next six months. I want to get + at the mind of a railway manager. I want to know how a detective goes + about the job of catching criminals. Of course I want to understand + international banking. + </p> + <p> + "Besides," said Gorman, "a millionaire is a very useful kind of man to + know." + </p> + <p> + Millionaires are useful acquaintances because there is always a chance of + getting money from them. + </p> + <p> + "Don't count on me as a bridge player," I said. "I'm no good at the game + and never play for high points. You wouldn't win anything worth while with + me as one of the party." + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't thinking of bridge," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He was not. He was thinking, I fancy, of his brother. But we did not get + to Gorman's brother for more than a week. + </p> + <p> + Having got my consent, Gorman went off to "set" Ascher. I use the word + "set" deliberately, for Gorman, when bent on getting anything done, + reminds me of a well-trained sporting dog. He ranges, quarters the ground + in front of him and finally—well, he set me as if I had been a + grouse. He set Ascher, I have no doubt, in the same way. + </p> + <p> + I did not think it likely that he would secure the Aschers. Millionaires + are usually shy birds, well accustomed to being pursued by all sorts of + ordinary men. They develop, I suppose, a special cunning in avoiding + capture, a cunning which the rest of us never achieve. However Ascher's + cunning was no use to him in this case. Gorman is an exceedingly clever + dog. + </p> + <p> + The trumpet, bugle, cornet, or whatever the instrument is which announces + meals at sea, was blaring out its luncheon tune when Gorman returned to + me. He was in high triumph. He had captured the Aschers, reserved the + nicest table in the upper saloon and secured the exclusive service of the + best table steward in the ship. I think he had interviewed the head cook. + I began to appreciate Gorman's qualities as a travelling companion. His + handling of the servants of the Cunard Company during the voyage was + masterly. I never was so well looked after before, though I always make it + a practice to tip generously. + </p> + <p> + Gorman proposed that we should have another whisky and soda before going + down to luncheon. He is a genial soul. No churl would want to drink two + glasses of whisky in the early part of one day. When I refused he looked + disappointed. + </p> + <p> + On the way down to luncheon he asked the lift boy how his mother had got + over her operation. It would never have occurred to me that the lift boy + had a mother. If I had thought the matter out carefully I might have + reached the conclusion that there must be or at one time have been a + mother for every lift boy in the world. But Gorman did not reason. He + simply knew, and knew too that this particular lift boy's mother had been + in a Liverpool hospital, a fact which no method of reasoning known to me + would have enabled him to arrive. + </p> + <p> + The lift boy loved Gorman. His grins of delight showed that. Our table + steward, a very competent young man, adored him. The head cook—I + judged by the meals we had sent up to us—had a very strong personal + affection for Gorman. I do not wonder. I am myself fond of Gorman now. So + is Ascher. Mrs. Ascher goes further still. She respects and admires + Gorman. But Mrs. Ascher is a peculiar woman. She respects people whom the + rest of us only like. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">W</span>e saw very little + of Ascher and nothing at all of his wife during the first two days of our + voyage. My idea was that they stayed in their cabins—they had + engaged a whole suite of rooms—in order to avoid drifting into an + intimacy with Gorman and me. A millionaire would naturally, so I supposed, + be suspicious of the advance of any one who was not a fellow millionaire. + I was mistaken. Ascher was simply seasick. When he recovered, two days + before Mrs. Ascher raised her head from the pillow, he showed every sign + of wanting to know Gorman and had no objection to dining with me. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile I found out a great deal about Gorman. He was + delightfully unreserved, not only about his own past, but about his + opinions of people and institutions. Old Dan Gorman had, it appeared, + married a new wife when he was about sixty. This lady turned Michael, then + a young man, out of the house. He bore her no ill will whatever, though + she deprived him in the end of his inheritance as well as his home. For + several years he "messed about"—the phrase is his—with + journalism, acting as reporter and leader writer for several Irish + provincial papers, a kind of work which requires no education or literary + talent. Then he, so to speak, emerged, becoming somehow, novelist, + playwright, politician. I have never made out how he achieved his success. + I do not think he himself knows that. According to his own account—and + I never could get him to go into details—"things just happened to + come along." + </p> + <p> + He was entirely frank about his opinions. He regarded landlords as the + curse of Ireland and said so to me. He did not seem satisfied that they + are innocuous, even when, being deprived of their estates, they are no + longer landlords. I do not like being called a curse—hardly any one + does—but I found myself listening to the things which Gorman said + about the class to which I belong without any strong resentment. His + treatment of us reminded me of Robbie Burns' address to the devil. The + poet recognised that the devil was a bad character and that the world + would be in every way a brighter and happier place if there were no such + person. But his condemnation was of a kindly sort, not wholly without + sympathy. He held out a hope that "ould Nickie Ben" might still "hae some + stake"—stake in the country I suppose—if he would take thought + and mend. The reformation would have to be a drastic one, nothing less + than a complete change of his habits, character and opinions. But such a + thing was not wholly impossible. That was very much what Gorman thought + about me. + </p> + <p> + Next to Irish landlords Gorman disliked financiers more than any other + people in the world. He did not, by his own confession, know anything + about them; but he had got into touch with a group of journalists in + London which specialises in abuse of the class. Gorman repeated all the + stock arguments to me and illuminated the subject with some very well worn + apologues. + </p> + <p> + "A financier," he said, "is a bloated spider, which sits in a murky den + spinning webs and sucks the life-blood of its victims." + </p> + <p> + I wondered how Ascher would like this kind of talk if he ever joined our + party. + </p> + <p> + There was not, of course, the same note of personal bitterness in Gorman's + condemnation of financiers which I noticed in his attacks on landlords. He + had learned to hate my class during the impressionable years of childhood. + He had only found out about financiers when he was a grown man. And no + one, not even a convert to a new faith, ever believes anything with real + intensity except what he was taught before he was eight years old. But it + was not to be expected that Ascher would be as patient as I was, even if + the abuse with which Gorman assailed his class lacked something of the + conviction with which he attacked me. + </p> + <p> + I asked Gorman one evening why, holding the opinions he did, he had chosen + as his table mates a banker and an unrepentant landlord. He had a whole + shipload of passengers to choose from, most of them, no doubt believers in + democracy, some of them perhaps even socialists, the kind of socialists + who travel first class on crack Cunard steamers. He seemed surprised at + the question and did not answer me at once. An hour or so after we had + passed away from the subject he returned to it suddenly and explained that + it was necessary to distinguish between individuals and the classes to + which they belong. A class, so I understood, may be objectionable and + dangerous in every way though the men who form it are delightful. + </p> + <p> + "Take the Irish priests, for instance," he said. "The minute we get Home + Rule, we'll——" + </p> + <p> + He paused significantly. + </p> + <p> + "Deal with them?" I suggested. + </p> + <p> + He nodded with an emphasis which was positively vicious. + </p> + <p> + "All the same," he said, "there are lots of priests whom I really like, + capital fellows that I'd be glad to dine with every day in the week—except + Friday." + </p> + <p> + Apparently he was glad to dine with Ascher and me every day in the week, + including Friday. + </p> + <p> + "There's no sense," he said, "in refusing to talk to a man just because + you don't like his opinions." + </p> + <p> + I agreed. I even offered proof of my agreement. I was at that moment + talking to Gorman and I certainly did not like his opinions. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher joined us at dinner on the third evening of our voyage, he + turned out to be a very quiet, gentle little man with no outward sign of + great wealth about him. He drank nothing but Perrier Water which was a + surprise and, I fancy, something of a disappointment to Gorman. He + expected Ascher to order champagne and was quite ready to take his turn in + paying for the wine. Ascher smoked half a cigarette after dinner and + another half cigarette before he went to bed. Gorman confided to me that + millionaires and half-crown cigars had always been associated in his mind + before he met Ascher. To me the most surprising thing about the man was + the low opinion he had of himself and his own abilities. He was + deferential to Gorman and even seemed to think what I said worth listening + to. He knew all about Gorman's two novels and his play. He had read many + of Gorman's newspaper articles. He used to try and make Gorman talk about + literature and art. Gorman, being a man of great intelligence, hates + talking about literature, and suspects that any one who accuses him of art + is poking fun at him. Ascher took both literature and art quite seriously. + He evidently thought that men who write books belong to a superior class. + As a matter of fact Ascher has far more brains than any author I have ever + met; but he does not know this. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lay down without protest under all the outrageous things which + Gorman said about financiers. His extreme meekness seemed to stimulate + Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "No qualities," said Gorman, "are required for success as a financier + except a low kind of cunning and a totally unscrupulous selfishness." + </p> + <p> + Ascher seemed to agree with him. I wanted to point out that considering + the very large number of men who are cunning and the general prevalence of + selfishness the number of successful financiers is surprisingly small. But + Gorman did not give me a chance of speaking. + </p> + <p> + "Political life in every modern state," said Gorman, "is poisoned, + poisoned at its source by the influence of the great financial houses. + Democracy is in shackles. Its leaders are gagged. Progress is stopped. + Politics are barren——" He delivered this oration at dinner one + night, and when he came to the barrenness of politics he knocked over + Ascher's bottle of Perrier Water with a sweep of his hand "and it is the + subtle influence of the financiers, the money kings, what the Americans + used to call the Gold Bugs, which is responsible for the mischief." + </p> + <p> + Ascher assented with a sort of wavering smile. + </p> + <p> + "The proof of what I say," said Gorman, "is to be found in the well-known + fact——" + </p> + <p> + I interrupted him at this point. He had cited his well-known fact to me + several times. The son of a Liberal Cabinet Minister married the daughter + of a well-known Conservative who had been a Cabinet Minister. It may be my + stupidity but I cannot see how that union proves that financiers control + politics. I am not, and never shall be either a money king or a gold bug, + but in mere dread of hearing Gorman produce his well-known fact again I + took up the task of defending the class to which Ascher belongs. + </p> + <p> + "After all, Gorman," I said, "you ought to be a little grateful. You know + perfectly well that there wouldn't be any politics if financiers and other + capitalists did not pay for them." + </p> + <p> + "That's just what I say," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "No," I said. "That's not what you say. You say that financiers poison + politics. But there's the greatest difference between paying for a + performance and poisoning the performers. Take a theatre for instance——" + </p> + <p> + "Talking of theatres," said Gorman, "there's a rattling good circus going + on in New York at present. I'll take you two men to see it some night." + </p> + <p> + But I was not going to let Gorman ride away in this manner from an + argument in which he was being worsted. + </p> + <p> + "Do let me finish what I am saying," I said. "All your Parliaments and + legislative assemblies are simply national theatres kept up for the + amusement of the people. Somebody has to put up the money to keep them + going. The ordinary man won't do it. You can't even get him to vote + without hypnotising him first by means of a lot of speeches and newspaper + articles and placards which stare at him from hoardings. Even after you've + hypnotised him you have to drag him to your polling booth in motor cars. + He wouldn't go if you didn't. As for paying for your show, you know + perfectly well that there'd be no money for the running of it if it + weren't for a few financiers and rich men." + </p> + <p> + One of Gorman's most delightful characteristics is that he bears no malice + when an argument goes against him. + </p> + <p> + "Begad, you're right," he said. "Right all the way along. At the present + moment I'm on my way to America to get money for the Party. There's a man + I have my eye on out in Detroit, a fellow with millions, and an Irishman. + I mean to get a good subscription out of him. That's why I'm on this + ship." + </p> + <p> + "Curious," I said. "I'm after money too. I have some investments in + Canadian railway shares—nothing much, just a few thousands, but a + good deal to me. I'm a little uneasy——" + </p> + <p> + I looked at Ascher. A man in his position, the head of one of the great + financial houses, ought to be able to give very good advice about my + shares. A word from him about the prospects of Canada generally and the + companies in which I am interested in particular, would be very valuable + to me. Gorman was also looking inquiringly at Ascher. I daresay a tip on + the state of the stock market would be interesting to him. I do not know + whether party funds are invested or kept on deposit receipt on a bank; but + Gorman is likely to have a few pounds of his own. Ascher misinterpreted + our glances. He thought we wanted to know why he was going to America. + </p> + <p> + "The condition of Mexico at present," he said, "is causing us all some + anxiety. My partner in New York wants to have a consultation with me. + That's what's bringing me over." + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" said Gorman. "I rather respect those Mexicans. It's pleasant to hear + of wealthy men like you being hit sometimes." + </p> + <p> + "It's not exactly that," said Ascher. "As a firm we don't lose directly + whatever happens in Mexico. What we have to consider is the interest of + our customers, the people, some of them quite small people, who went into + Mexican railways on our advice. Banking houses don't put their money into + investments. That's not our business. But banking is a very dull subject. + Let's talk of something else." + </p> + <p> + He turned to me as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + "You were speaking just now," he said, "about the necessity of putting up + money for the support of theatres. If we are to have any real dramatic art + in England——" + </p> + <p> + Banking is a fascinatingly interesting subject compared to art; but Ascher + does not think so, and Ascher had taken hold of the conversation. He + appealed to Gorman as a man whose services to literature and drama had + never been properly recognised. He appealed to me as a member of a + cultured class. Neither of us was sympathetic or responsive. Gorman knows + that he has never rendered any service to literature at all, that he wrote + novels because he wanted money in the days before a grateful country paid + him 400 a year for walking round the lobbies of the House of Commons, + that he tumbled into his play by accident and made money out of it because + a very charming lady was more charming than usual in the part he wrote for + her. + </p> + <p> + Gorman—this is one of the advantages of being an Irishman—has + no illusions about himself. I have none about my class. It is not cultured + and does not want to be. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher had smoked his half cigarette we left the dining saloon and + went to our special corner in the lounge. Ascher talked on till nearly ten + o'clock about art and drama and music as if they were the only things of + any interest or importance in the world. Then he went to bed. Gorman and I + agreed that art, drama, and music are of very little importance and less + interesting than anything else. Gorman's weekly articles, quite the best + things of their kind then being published, are all about art, so he has a + perfect right to express his opinion. What we wanted to hear Ascher talk + about was money. + </p> + <p> + "I've always wanted to know what high finance really is," I said. "It + seems a pity not to be able to find out now we've got a man who + understands it." + </p> + <p> + "I'll take him in hand to-morrow," said Gorman. "There's no use our having + him to dine with us and looking after him all the way across if we don't + get anything out of him." + </p> + <p> + Gorman's words were cryptic. I wanted to get knowledge—the sort of + knowledge which would satisfy my curiosity—out of Ascher; chiefly + knowledge though I would not have refused a little inside information + about Canadian affairs. Gorman might very well want something more. He + might want a subscription to the funds of his party. I hoped he would not + get it; either out of Ascher or out of the man at Detroit of whom he + spoke. I am not a member of any political party but I hate that to which + Gorman belongs. If I were attached to a party and if Gorman's friends + joined it in a body, I should leave it at once. My opinion, so far as I + have any opinion, is that what Ireland wants is to be let alone. But if + the Irish Nationalist Party were to adopt a policy of deliberately doing + nothing and preventing other people from doing anything I should not + support it. I should then search about for something revolutionary and try + to insist on carrying it out. Nothing would induce me to be on the same + side as Gorman and his friends. Such is the nature of an Irish gentleman. + </p> + <p> + I lay awake for a long time that night, smoking cigarettes in my berth and + meditating on the fact that, of the three of us I was the one who was + going to America for purely selfish purposes. Gorman was trying to get + money for his party, for his own ultimate advantage no doubt, but in the + first instance the money was not for himself but for a cause. And Gorman + is a politician, a member of a notoriously corrupt and unscrupulous + professional class. Ascher was taking a long journey in order to devise + some means of rescuing his clients' property from the clutches of a people + which had carried the principles of democracy rather further than is + usual. And Ascher is a financier. No one expects anything but enlightened + greed from financiers. I belong by birth and education to an aristocracy, + a class which is supposed to justify its existence by its altruism. There + was no doubt a valuable lesson to be learned from these considerations. I + fell asleep before I found out exactly what it was. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did as he promised. He took Ascher in hand next day. He made the + poor man walk up and down the deck with him. There is nothing on shipboard + more detestable than that tramp along the deck. Only the strongest minded + man can avoid counting his steps, making an estimate of yards, and falling + into the bondage of trying to walk a fixed number of miles. Conversation + and even coherent thought become impossible when the mind is set on the + effort to keep count of the turns made at the end of the deck. I am sure + that Ascher did not enjoy himself; but Gorman kept him at it for more than + an hour. I watched them from the deck chair in which I sat, rolled up very + comfortably in my rug. At one o'clock, when we ought to have gone down to + lunch, Gorman stopped opposite my chair. He proclaimed his success + jubilantly. + </p> + <p> + "We've been talking about finance," he said, "high finance. Pity you + wouldn't join us." + </p> + <p> + Ascher bowed towards me. Gorman described Ascher's manners as foreign. I + daresay they are. There is a certain flavour of formal courtesy about them + which Englishmen rarely practise, of which Irishmen of my generation, + partly anglicised by their education, have lost the trick. + </p> + <p> + "Sir James would only have been bored," said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Not he," said Gorman, "he's just as keen as I am to know what bankers do + with money." + </p> + <p> + "It's a dull trade," said Ascher, "very dull. Some day I shall give it up + and devote the rest of my time to——" + </p> + <p> + "Don't say art," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + Ascher opened his eyes and looked at Gorman with a mild kind of wonder. + </p> + <p> + "Of course," he said, "I can never be an artist. I haven't got the + temperament, the soul, the capacity for abandon. But I might find + enjoyment, the highest pleasure, in understanding, in appreciating, + perhaps even in encouraging——" + </p> + <p> + "Sort of Mecenas," said Gorman. "I wonder if Mecenas was a banker. He + seems to have been a rich man." + </p> + <p> + "He was a descendant of kings," I said, "but that's no reason why he + shouldn't have made money." + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow," said Gorman, "you'd find art just as dull as banking if you went + in for it systematically." + </p> + <p> + "But artists——!" said Ascher, "genuine artists! Men with + inspiration!" + </p> + <p> + "Selfish conceited swine," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "you ought to know. You're an artist yourself. Ascher told + me so yesterday." + </p> + <p> + "I remember your two novels," said Ascher, "and I recognised in them the + touch, the unmistakable touch." + </p> + <p> + "Let's go down to lunch," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He left the deck as he spoke. Even Gorman does not like to stand + self-convicted of being a selfish conceited swine. Ascher laid his hand on + my arm as we went down to the saloon. + </p> + <p> + "What a brilliant fellow he is," he whispered. "I never realised before + how magnificently paradoxical your Irish minds are. That pose of abject + self depreciation which is in reality not wholly a pose but a vehement + protest against the shallow judgment of a conventionalised culture——" + </p> + <p> + Ascher's language was a little confusing to me, but I could guess at what + he meant. Gorman appeared to him to be an unappreciated Oscar Wilde, one + of those geniuses—I am bound to admit that they are mostly Irish—who + delude the world into thinking they are uttering profound truths when they + are merely outraging common sense. + </p> + <p> + It would be going too far perhaps to say that Ascher fawned on Gorman + during luncheon. He certainly showed his admiration for him very plainly. + </p> + <p> + During the afternoon we talked finance again. Ascher did it because he + wanted to please Gorman. I listened and learned several things which + interested me very much. I got to understand, for instance, why a + sovereign is sometimes worth more, sometimes less, when you try to + exchange it for dollars or francs; a thing which had always puzzled me + before. I learned why gold has to be shipped in large quantities from one + country to another by bankers, whereas I, a private individual, need only + send a cheque to pay my modest debts. I learned what is meant by a bill + drawn on London. It took me nearly half an hour to grasp that. Gorman + pretended to see it sooner than I did, but when he tried to supplement + Ascher's explanation with one of his own he floundered hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + It was while we were at tea that afternoon that Mrs. Ascher put in an + appearance for the first time. She was a tall, lean woman, with dark red + hair—Gorman called it bronze—and narrow eyes which never + seemed quite open. Her face was nearly colourless. I was inclined to + attribute this to her long suffering from seasickness, but when I got to + know her better I found out that she is never anything but pallid, even + when she has lived for months on land and has been able to eat all she + wants. The first thing she did after we were introduced to her was to put + her hands up to her ears and give a low moan, expressive of great anguish. + Ascher explained to us that she was very musical and suffered acutely from + the ship's band. I made up my mind definitely that she was not the sort of + woman I like. Gorman, on the other hand, took to her at once. He could not + stop the band, but he led the lady away to a distant corner of the writing + room. + </p> + <p> + For the rest of the voyage Gorman devoted himself to her. I do not mean to + suggest that he flirted with her either frivolously, or with yearning + artistic seriousness. Gorman enjoys the society of women and is never long + happy without it, but I do not think he cares for love-making in any form. + Besides he spent most of his time in her company watching her playing + Patience. Owen Meredith wrote a poem in which he glorified the game of + chess as an aid to quiet conjugal love-making. But so far as I know no one + has suggested that Canfield—it was Mrs. Ascher's favourite kind of + Patience—has ever been used as an excuse for flirtation. No woman, + not even if she has eyes of Japanese shape, can look tenderly at a man + when she has just buried a valuable two under a pile of kings and queens + in her rubbish heap. + </p> + <p> + The result of Gorman's devotion to the lady was that I was left to improve + my acquaintance with her husband. The more I talked to Ascher the better I + liked him. His admiration for his wife's sensitiveness to sound was very + touching. I am convinced that he knew a great deal more about music than + she did and appreciated it more. But her sudden outbursts of petulance + when the band played seemed to Ascher a plain proof that she had the + spirit of an artist. He confided in me that it gave him real pleasure to + see her and Gorman together because, as artists, they must have much in + common. Ascher has a very simple and beautiful nature. No one with any + other kind of nature could put up with Mrs. Ascher as a wife. + </p> + <p> + Mere simplicity of soul and beauty of character would not, I am afraid, + have kept me at Ascher's side for the rest of the voyage. Virtue, like the + innocence of the young, is admirable but apt to be tiresome. What + attracted me most to Ascher was his ability, the last thing he recognised + in himself. When he found out that I was interested in his business he + talked to me quite freely about it, though always with a certain + suggestion of apology. There was no need for anything of the sort. He + revealed to me a whole world of fascinating romance of which I had never + before suspected the existence. Some day, perhaps, a poet—he will + have to be a great poet—will discover that the system of credit by + means of which our civilisation works, deserves an epic. Neither the + wanderings of Ulysses nor the discoveries of a traveller through Paradise + and Purgatory make so splendid an appeal to the imagination as this vastly + complex machine which Ascher and men like him guide. The oceans of the + world are covered thick with ships. Long freight trains wind like serpents + across continents. Kings build navies. Ploughmen turn up the clay. The + wheels of factories go round. The minds of men bend nature to their + purposes by fresh inventions. Science creeps forward inch by inch. Human + beings everywhere eat, drink and reproduce themselves. The myriad + activities of the whole wide world go profitably on. They can go on only + because the Aschers, sitting at their office desks in London or New York, + direct the purchase or sale of what are but scratches with a pen on bits + of paper. + </p> + <p> + There is, no doubt, another way of looking at the system. The ships, the + kings, the mighty minds, the common men, are all of them in bondage to + Ascher and his kind. He and his brother financiers are the unseen rulers, + the mysteriously shrouded tyrants of the world. This system of credit, + which need not be at all or might be quite other than it is, has given + them supreme, untempered power, which they use to the injury of men. This + is Gorman's view. But is it any less romantic than the other? An epic can + be written round a devil as greatly as round a hero. Milton showed us + that. What is wanted in a poet's theme is grandeur, either fine or + terrible. Ascher's grip upon the world has surely that. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">W</span>e landed in New + York and to my satisfaction I secured the rooms I usually occupy. They are + in a small hotel off Fifth Avenue, half way between the streets which + boast of numbers higher than fifty, and those others which follow the + effete European customs of having names. It is one of the paradoxes of New + York that the parts of the city where fashionable people live and spend + their money are severely business-like in the treatment of streets, laying + them out so as to form correct parallelograms and distinguishing them by + numbers instead of names, as if terrified of letting imagination loose for + a moment. Down town where the money is made and the offices of the money + makers are piled one on top of another, the streets are as irregular as + those of London or Paris, and have all sorts of fascinatingly suggestive + names. My hotel stands in the debatable land between the two districts. + Fashionable life is ebbing away from its neighbourhood. Business is, as + yet, a little shy of invading it. The situation makes an appeal to me. I + may be, as Gorman says, a man of no country, but I am a man of two worlds. + I cling to the skirts of society, something of an outsider, yet one who + has the right of entry, if I choose to take the trouble, the large amount + of trouble necessary to exercise the right. I am one who is trying to make + money, scarcely more than an amateur among business men, but deeply + interested in their pursuits. This particular hotel seems to me therefore + a convenient, that is to say a suitable place of residence for me. It is + not luxurious, nor is it cheap, but it is comfortable, which is perhaps + the real reason why I go to it. + </p> + <p> + I gave Gorman my address before I left the ship, but I did not expect him + to make any use of it. I thought that I had seen the last of him when I + crossed the gangway and got caught in the whirlpool of fuss which eddied + round the custom house shed. I was very much surprised when he walked in + on me at breakfast time on the second morning after our arrival. I was + eating an omelette at the time. I offered him a share of it and a cup of + coffee. Gorman refused both; but he helped himself to a glass of iced + water. This shows how adaptable Gorman is. Hardly any European can drink + iced water at or immediately after breakfast during the first week he + spends in America. I do not take to the stuff till I have been there about + a fortnight. But Gorman, in spite of his patriotism, has a good deal of + the cosmopolitan about him. Strange foods and drinks upset him very + little. + </p> + <p> + "Doing anything this evening?" he asked. "If not will you spend it with + me? Ascher has promised to come. We're going to a circus and on for supper + afterwards. You remember the circus I mentioned to you on the steamer." + </p> + <p> + I hesitated before I answered. I suppose I looked a little astonished. + That Gorman should propose an evening out was natural enough. I should not + call him a dissipated man, but he has a great deal of vitality and he + likes what he calls "a racket" occasionally. What surprised me was that a + circus should be his idea of dissipation. A circus is the sort of + entertainment to which I send my nephew—a boy of eleven—when + he spends the night with me in London on his way to school. My servant, a + thoroughly trustworthy man, takes him there. I pay for the tickets. + Gorman, Ascher, and I were three grown men and we could not boast of a + child among us to serve as an excuse for going to a circus. + </p> + <p> + "It's quite a good show," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + I tried to think of Ascher at a circus. I failed to picture him, a man + educated up to the highest forms of art, gazing in delight while a lady in + short petticoats jumps through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse. + I had not been at a circus for about thirty years, since my tenth birthday + indeed, but I do not believe that the form of entertainment has changed + much since then. The clowns' jokes—I judge from my nephew's reports—are + certainly the same as they were in my time. But even very great + improvements would not make circuses tolerable to really artistic people + like Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "I've got free passes for the best seats," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He had mistaken the cause of my hesitation. I was not thinking of the cost + of our evening's amusement. + </p> + <p> + "You journalists," I said, "are wonderful. You get into the front row + every time without paying, whether it's a coronation or a funeral. How did + you manage it this time?" + </p> + <p> + "My brother Tim is connected with the show. I daresay you don't remember + him at Curraghbeg. He was fifteen years younger than me. My father married + a second time, you know. Tim is my half-brother." + </p> + <p> + I did not remember Gorman himself in Curraghbeg. I could not be expected + to remember Tim who must have been still unborn when I left home to join + the Army. + </p> + <p> + "Tim has the brains of our family," said Gorman. "His mother was a very + clever woman." + </p> + <p> + I never heard Gorman say anything worse than that about his step-mother, + and yet she certainly treated him very badly. + </p> + <p> + "You're all clever," I said. "Your father drove mine out of the country + and deprived him of his property. It took ability to do that. You are a + Member of Parliament and a brilliant journalist. Timothy—I hardly + like to speak of him as Tim—owns a splendid circus." + </p> + <p> + "He doesn't own it," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Well, runs it," I said. "I expect it takes more brains to run a circus + than to own one." + </p> + <p> + "He doesn't exactly run it," said Gorman. "In fact he only takes the money + at the door. But he has brains. That's why I want Ascher to meet him. I + didn't ask Mrs. Ascher," he added thoughtfully, "though she hinted for an + invitation, rather made a set at me, in fact." + </p> + <p> + "Give her my ticket," I said. "I don't mind a bit. I'll buy another for + myself in a cheap part of the house, and join you at supper afterwards. + You ought not to disappoint Mrs. Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "I don't want Mrs. Ascher this time. She'd be in the way. She's a charming + woman, of course, though she does bore me a bit about music and talks of + her soul." + </p> + <p> + "Good Heavens!" I said. "You haven't been discussing religion with her, + surely. I didn't think you'd do a thing like that, Gorman. You oughtn't + to." + </p> + <p> + "Never mentioned religion to her in my life. Nothing would induce me to. + For one thing I don't believe she has any." + </p> + <p> + "You're a Roman Catholic yourself, aren't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," said Gorman, "I don't know that I can say that I am exactly; but + I'm not a Protestant or a Jew. But that's nothing to do with it. Mrs. + Ascher doesn't talk about her soul in a religious way. In fact—I + don't know if you'll understand, but what she means by a soul is something + quite different, not the same sort of soul." + </p> + <p> + I understood perfectly. I have met several women of Mrs. Ascher's kind. + They are rather boastful about their souls and even talk of saving or + losing them. But they do not mean what one of Gorman's priests would mean, + or what my poor father, who was a strongly evangelical Protestant, meant + by the phrases. + </p> + <p> + "We are not accustomed to souls like hers in Ireland. We only go in for + the commonplace, old-fashioned sort." + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. + </p> + <p> + "She wouldn't be seen with one of them about her," he said. "They're + vulgar things. Everybody has one." + </p> + <p> + "Soul or no soul," I said, "you ought to invite Mrs. Ascher to your party. + Why not do the civil thing?" + </p> + <p> + "I'll do the civil thing some other time. I'll take her to a concert, but + I don't want her to-night." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," I said, "your brother's circus is a little—shall we say + Parisian? I don't think you need mind that. Mrs. Ascher isn't exactly a + girl. It would take a lot to shock her. In fact, Gorman, my experience of + these women with artistic souls is that the riskier the thing is the + better they like it." + </p> + <p> + That is, as I have noticed, one of the great differences between a + commonplace, so to speak, religious soul and a soul of the artistic kind. + You save the one by keeping it as clean as you can. The other seems to + thrive best when heavily manured. It is no disparagement of the artistic + soul to say that it likes manure. Some of the most delicious and beautiful + things in the world are like that, raspberries for instance, which make + excellent jam, roses about which poets write, and begonias. I knew a man + once who poured bedroom slops into his begonia bed every day and he had + the finest flowers I ever saw. + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said, "did it ever occur to you that Mrs. Ascher's soul is + like a begonia?" + </p> + <p> + "Bother Mrs. Ascher's soul!" said Gorman. "I'm not thinking about it. The + circus is a show you might take a nun to. Nobody could possibly object to + it. The reason I headed her off was because I wanted to talk business to + Ascher, very particular business and rather important. In fact," here he + sank his voice to a confidential whisper, "I want you to help me to rope + him in." + </p> + <p> + "If you've succeeded in roping him into a circus," I said, "I should think + you could rope him into anything else without my help. Would you mind + telling me what the scheme is?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm trying to," he said, "but you keep interrupting me with silly riddles + about begonias." + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry I mentioned begonias. All the same it's a pity you wouldn't + listen. You'd have liked the part about manure. But never mind. Go on + about Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "My brother Tim," said Gorman, "has invented a new cash register. He's + always inventing things; been at it ever since he was a boy. But they're + mostly quite useless things though as cute as the devil. In fact I don't + think he ever hit on anything the least bit of good till he got this cash + register." + </p> + <p> + "Before we go further," I said, "what is a cash register?" + </p> + <p> + "It's a machine used in shops and cheap tea-places for——" + </p> + <p> + "I know now," I said. "It has keys like a typewriter. That's all right. I + thought for a moment it might be a book, a ledger, you know. Go on." + </p> + <p> + "Well, Tim's machine is out and away the best thing of its kind ever seen. + There's simply no comparison between it and the existing cash registers. + I've had it tested in every way and I know." + </p> + <p> + I began, so I thought, to see what Ascher was to be roped into. + </p> + <p> + "You want money to patent it, I suppose," I said. + </p> + <p> + But that was not it. Gorman had scraped together whatever money was + necessary to make his brother's invention secure in Europe and America. He + had done more, he had formed a small private company in which he held most + of the shares himself. He had manufactured a hundred of the new machines + and was prepared to put them on the market. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," I said. "Now I see what you're at. You want more capital. You want + to work the thing on a big scale. I might take a share or two myself, just + for the sake of having a flutter." + </p> + <p> + "We don't want you," said Gorman. "The fewer there are in it the better. I + don't want to have to divide the profits with a whole townful of people. + But we might let you in if you get Ascher for us. You have a lot of + influence with Ascher." + </p> + <p> + I had, of course, no influence whatever with Ascher. But Gorman, though he + is certainly a clever man, has the defects of his class and his race. He + was an Irish peasant to start with and there never was an Irish peasant + yet who did not believe in a mysterious power which he calls "influence." + It is curious faith, though it justifies itself pretty well in Ireland. In + that country you can get nearly anything done, either good or bad, if you + persuade a sufficiently influential person to recommend it. Gorman's + mistake, as it seemed to me, lay in supposing that influence is equally + potent outside Ireland. I am convinced that it is no use at all in dealing + with a man like Ascher. If a big financial magnate will not supply money + for an enterprise on the merits of the thing he is not likely to do so + because a friend asks him. Besides I cannot, or could not at that time, + boast of being Ascher's intimate friend. However Gorman's mistake was no + affair of mine. + </p> + <p> + "If Ascher goes in at all," I said, "he'll do it on a pretty big scale. + He'll simply absorb the rest of you." + </p> + <p> + "The fact is," said Gorman, "I don't want Ascher to join. I don't want him + to put down a penny of money. All I want him to do is to back us. Of + course he'll get his whack of whatever we make, and if he likes to be the + nominal owner of some bonus shares in our company he can. That would + regularise his position. The way the thing stands is this." + </p> + <p> + I had finished my breakfast and lit a cigar. Gorman pulled out his pipe + and sat down opposite to me. I am not, I regret to say, a business man, + but I succeeded in understanding fairly well what he told me. + </p> + <p> + His brother's cash register, if properly advertised and put on the market, + would drive out every other cash register in the world. In the long run + nothing could stand against it. Of that Gorman was perfectly convinced. + But the proprietors of the existing cash registers would not submit + without a struggle. + </p> + <p> + Gorman nodded gravely when he told me this. Evidently their struggles were + the very essence of the situation. + </p> + <p> + "What can they do?" I said. "If your machine is much better than theirs + surely——" + </p> + <p> + "They'll do what people always do on these occasions. They'll infringe our + patents." + </p> + <p> + "But the law——" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Gorman, "the law. It's just winning law suits that would ruin + us. Every time we got a judgment in our favour the case would be appealed + to a higher court. That would happen here and in England and in France and + in every country in the world civilised enough to use cash registers. + Sooner or later, pretty soon too—we should have no money left to + fight with." + </p> + <p> + "Bankrupt," I said, "as a consequence of your own success. What an odd + situation!" + </p> + <p> + "Now," said Gorman, "you see where Ascher comes in." + </p> + <p> + "I do. But I don't expect he'll spend his firm's money fighting + speculative law suits all over the world just to please you." + </p> + <p> + "You don't see the position in the least. There'll be no law suits and he + won't spend a penny. Once it's known that his firm is behind us no one + will attempt to touch our patent. People aren't such fools as to start + playing beggar-my-neighbour with Ascher, Stutz & Co. The whole world + knows that their firm has money enough to go on paying lawyers right on + until the day of judgment." + </p> + <p> + "I hope to goodness," I said, "that we shan't meet lawyers then." + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. Up to that point it had been impossible to move him from + his desperate earnestness, but a joke at the expense of lawyers is sure of + a smile under any circumstances. With the possible exception of the + mother-in-law joke, the lawyer joke is the oldest in the world and like + all well tested jokes it may be relied on. + </p> + <p> + "There won't be any lawyers then," said Gorman. "They'll go straight to + hell without the formality of a trial." + </p> + <p> + This seemed to me to be carrying the joke too far. I have known several + lawyers who were no worse than other professional men, quite upright and + honourable compared to doctors. I should have liked to argue the point + with Gorman. But for the moment I was more interested in the future of the + new cash register than in the ultimate destiny of lawyers. + </p> + <p> + "If you get Ascher to back you," I said, "and your patents are safe, + you'll want to begin making machines on a big scale. Where will you get + the money for that?" + </p> + <p> + "You haven't quite caught on yet," said Gorman. "I don't want to make the + things at all. Why should I? There would have to be a large company. I + have neither time nor inclination to manage it. Tim hasn't that kind of + brains. Besides it would be risky. Somebody might come along any day with + a better machine and knock ours out. People are always inventing things, + you know. What I want is a nice large sum of hard cash without any bother + or risk. Don't you see that the other people, the owners of the present + cash registers, will have to buy us out? If our machine is the best and + they daren't go to law with us they must buy us out. There's no other + course open to them. What's more, they'll have to pay pretty nearly what + we ask. In fact, if we put up a good bluff there's hardly any end to the + extent to which we can bleed them. See?" + </p> + <p> + I saw something which looked to me like a modernised form of highway + robbery. + </p> + <p> + "Is that sort of thing common?" I said. + </p> + <p> + "Done every day," said Gorman. "It's business." + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "there's one justification for your proceedings. If half + what you say about your brother's invention is true the world will get the + benefit of a greatly improved cash register. I suppose that's the way + civilisation advances." + </p> + <p> + "The world be damned," said Gorman. "It'll get nothing. You don't suppose + the people who buy us out are going to start making Tim's machine. They + can if they like, of course, once they've paid us. But it will cost them + hundreds of thousands if they do. They'd have to scrap all their existing + plant and turn their factories inside out, and in the end they wouldn't + make any more profit than they're making now. No. They'll simply suppress + Tim's invention and the silly old world will go on with the machines it + has at present." + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said, "you gave me to understand a minute or so ago that you + went in for the old-fashioned kind of soul, the kind we were both brought + up to. I'm not at all sure that I wouldn't rather have Mrs. Ascher's new + kind, even if it——" + </p> + <p> + "Don't start talking about begonias again," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't going to. I was only going to say that even plays in which + nothing happens and grimy women say indecent things—that's art you + know—seem to me better than the sort of things your soul fattens + on." + </p> + <p> + "I don't see any good talking about souls," said Gorman. "This is a matter + of business. The other people will crush us if they can. If they can't, + and they won't be able to if Ascher backs us, they'll have to pay us. + There's nothing wrong about that, is there? Look at it this way. We've got + something to sell——" + </p> + <p> + "Cash registers," I said. "But you don't propose to sell them." + </p> + <p> + "Not cash registers, but the right to make a certain kind of cash + registers. That's what we're going to sell. We could sell it to the + public, form a company to use the rights. It suits us better for various + reasons to sell it to these people. It suits them to buy. They needn't + unless they like. But they will like. Now if we want to sell and they want + to buy and we agree on the price where does anybody's soul come in?" + </p> + <p> + "There is evidently," I said, "a third kind of soul. The original, + religious kind, the artistic kind, and what we may call the business soul. + You have a mixture of all three in you, Gorman." + </p> + <p> + "I wish you'd stop worrying about my soul and tell me this. Are you going + to help to rope in Ascher or not? He'll come if you use your influence + with him." + </p> + <p> + "My dear fellow," I said. "Of course I'm going to help. Haven't you + offered me a share of the loot?" + </p> + <p> + "I thought you would," said Gorman triumphantly. "But what about your own + soul?" + </p> + <p> + "I haven't got one," I said. + </p> + <p> + I used to have a sort of instinct called honour which served men of my + class instead of a soul. But Gorman and Gorman's father before him and + their political associates have succeeded in abolishing gentlemen in + Ireland. There is no longer the class of gentry in that country and the + few surviving individuals have learned that honour is a silly + superstition. I am now a disinterested spectator of a game which my + ancestors played and lost. The virtue desirable in a spectator is not + honour but curiosity. I wanted very much to see how Ascher would take + Gorman's proposal and how the whole thing would work out. I promised to + sit through the circus, to attend the supper party afterwards and to do + the best I could to persuade Ascher to join our robber band. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">M</span>rs. Ascher is not + the woman to miss an entertainment she desires merely because she lacks an + invitation. She arrived at the door of the circus in a taxicab with + Ascher. Gorman and I were there and when he first saw Mrs. Ascher he + swore. However he was forced to give her some sort of welcome and he did + it pretty well, though I fear Ascher might have noticed a note of + insincerity in his voice. But that was only at first. Gorman's temper + changed when we reached our seats and Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak. + </p> + <p> + She was wearing an evening gown of the most startling design and colour. I + should have said beforehand that a woman with a skin as pallid as that of + a corpse and so little flesh that her bones stick up jaggedly would be + wise to avoid very low dresses. Mrs. Ascher displayed, when she took off + her cloak, as much skin and bone as she could without risking arrest at + the hands of the police. Her gown, what there was of it, was of a vivid + orange colour and she wore emeralds round her neck. If the main object of + wearing clothes is, as some philosophers maintain, to attract attention, + then Mrs. Ascher understands the art of dress. She created a sensation. + That was what pleased Gorman. He is a man who likes to be the centre of + interest wherever he is, or if that is not possible, to be attached to the + person who has secured that fortunate position. Mrs. Ascher attracts the + public gaze wherever she goes. I have seen people turn round to stare at + her in the dining room of the Ritz in New York and at supper in the + Carlton in London. The men and women who formed the audience in Gorman's + circus were unaccustomed to daring splendour of raiment. They actually + gasped when Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak and Gorman felt glad that she + had come. + </p> + <p> + She said a few words to me about the delight which an artist's soul feels + in coming into direct contact with the seething life of the people, and + she mentioned with appreciation a French picture, one of Degas' I think, + which represents ballet dancers practising their art. Then she and Gorman + settled down in two of the three seats reserved for us. Ascher and I + retired modestly to the back of what I may call the dress circle. After a + while when the performance was well under way, Gorman's brother came in. I + suppose the greater part of his evening's work was done and he was able to + leave the task of dealing with late comers to some subordinate clerk. He + looked a mere boy, younger than I expected, as he stood at the end of the + row of seats trying to attract his brother's attention. Gorman was so much + occupied with Mrs. Ascher that for some time he did not notice Tim. I had + time to observe the boy. He had fair hair, and large, childlike blue eyes. + He was evidently nervous, for he shifted his weight from one leg to the + other. He kept pulling at his tie, and occasionally patting his hair. He + was quite right to be uncomfortable about his hair. It was very untidy and + one particular lock stood out stiffly at the back of his head. + </p> + <p> + Gorman saw him at last and immediately introduced him to Ascher and to me. + But Tim was far too nervous to sit down beside us. He crept after his + brother and took a chair, three seats beyond Gorman, away from Mrs. + Ascher. She spotted him directly and insisted on his sitting beside her. + She is a woman who likes to have a man of some sort on each side of her. + Tim Gorman was little more than a boy but he was plainly frightened of + her. I suppose that gave zest to the sport of annexing him. Besides, his + eyes are very fine, and, if souls really shine through eyes, showed that + he was refreshingly innocent. I expect, too, that there was something + piquant in the company of the clerk who takes the money at the door of a + second-rate entertainment. Mrs. Ascher has often told me that she is more + interested in life than in anything else, even art. She distinguishes + between life and real life. Mine, I gather, is not nearly so real as that + of a performer in a travelling circus. I do not know why this should be + so, but I have no doubt that it is. Mrs. Ascher is not by any means the + only person who thinks so. Tim Gorman's life was apparently real enough to + attract her greatly. She paid him the compliment of talking a good deal to + the boy, though she was far too clever a woman to let the elder brother + feel himself neglected. + </p> + <p> + A learned horse had just begun its performance when Tim Gorman entered. It + went on for some time picking out large letters from a pile in front of it + and arranging them so as to spell out "yes" or "no" in answer to questions + asked by a man with a long whip in his hand. The animal used one of its + front hoofs in arranging the letters, and looked singularly undignified. + Ascher sat quite still with an air of grave politeness. I tried to get him + to tell me what he thought of the learned horse but could get nothing out + of him. Long silences make me uncomfortable. I felt at last that it was + better to talk nonsense than not to talk at all. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose," I said, "that learned men look almost as grotesque to the + angels as learned horses do to us. I can fancy Raphael watching a German + professor writing a book on the origin of religion. He would feel all the + while that the creature's front paw was meant by nature for nobler uses." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Ascher, "yes. Quite so." + </p> + <p> + He spoke vaguely. I think he did not hear what I said. Or perhaps the + learned horse struck him differently. Or his mind may have been entirely + occupied with the problem of Mexican railways so that he could pay no + attention either to the learned horse or to me. If so, he was wakened from + his reverie by the next performance. + </p> + <p> + A company of acrobats in spangled tights, three men and one young woman, + took possession of the arena. At first they tumbled, turned somersaults, + climbed on each other's shoulders and assumed attitudes which I should + have said beforehand were impossible for any creature with bones. Then a + large net was stretched some six feet from the ground and several trapezes + which had been tied to the roof were allowed to hang down. The acrobats + climbed up by a ladder and swung from one trapeze to another. The business + was commonplace enough, but I became aware that Ascher was very much + interested in it. He became actually excited when we reached the final + act, the climax of the performance. + </p> + <p> + The programme, at which I glanced, spoke of "The Flying Lady." The woman, + her spangles aglitter in a blaze of lime light, did indubitably fly, if + rushing unsupported through the air at some height from solid ground is + the essence of flying. Two of the men hung on their trapezes, one by his + hands and the other by his legs. They swung backwards and forwards. The + length of the ropes was so great that they passed through large arcs, + approaching each other and then swinging back until there was a long space + between them. The young woman, standing on a third trapeze, swung too. + Suddenly, at the upward end of a swing, just as her trapeze hung + motionless for an instant, she launched herself into the air. The man on + the next trapeze came swinging towards her. She caught him by the feet at + the very moment when he was nearest to her. He swung back and she dangled + below him. When he reached the highest point of the half circle through + which he passed, she was stretched out, making with him a horizontal line. + At that moment she let go and shot, feet foremost, through the air. The + man who hung head downwards from the next trapeze came swiftly towards her + and caught her by the ankles. The two swung back together and at the end + of his course he let her go. The impulse of his swing sent her, turning + swiftly as she flew, towards a ladder at the end of the row. She alighted + on her feet on a little platform, high up near the roof of the building. + There she stood, bowing and smiling. + </p> + <p> + The people burst into a shout of cheering. Ascher leaned forward in his + seat and gazed at her. The two men still kept their trapezes in full + swing. The third man, standing on a platform at the other end of the row, + set the remaining trapeze swinging, that from which the woman had begun + her flight. A minute later she flung herself from the platform and the + whole performance was repeated. I could hear Ascher panting with + excitement beside me. + </p> + <p> + "A horribly risky business," I said, "but wonderful, really wonderful. If + one of those swings were a fraction late—— But of course the + whole thing is exactly calculated." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, yes," said Ascher, "calculated, of course. It's a matter of + mathematics and accurate timing of effort. But if it were worked by + machinery, with lay figures, we should think nothing of it. Somebody would + do sums and there would be nothing particular in it. The wonderful thing + is the confidence. The timing of the swings might be all right; but if the + woman hesitated for an instant, or if one of the men felt the slightest + doubt about the thing's coming off—If they didn't all feel + absolutely sure that the hands would be there to grasp her at just the + proper moment—It's the perfect trust which the people have, of each + other, of the calculations—Don't you see?" + </p> + <p> + I began to see that Ascher was profoundly moved by this performance. I + also began to see why. + </p> + <p> + "It's like—like some things in life," I said, "or what some things + ought to be." + </p> + <p> + "It's like what my life is," said Ascher. "Don't you see it?" + </p> + <p> + "I should be rather stupid if I didn't see it, considering the trouble you + took to explain the working of international credit to me for two whole + days." + </p> + <p> + "Then you do understand." + </p> + <p> + "I understand," I said, "that you are that woman. Your whole complex + business is very like hers. It's the meeting of obligations exactly at the + end of their swing, the fact that at the appointed moment there will be + something there for you to grasp." + </p> + <p> + "And the confidence," said Ascher. "If the bankers in any country doubt + the solvency of the bankers in another country, if there's the smallest + hesitation, an instant's pause of distrust or fear, then international + credit collapses and——" + </p> + <p> + He flung out his arm with a gesture of complete hopelessness. I realised + that if anything went wrong between bankers in their trapeze act there + would be a very ugly smash. + </p> + <p> + "And in your case," I said, "there's no net underneath." + </p> + <p> + The girl and the three men were safe on firm ground again. They were + bowing final acknowledgments to the cheering crowd. I suppose they do the + same thing every night of their lives, but they were still able to enjoy + the cheering. Their faces were flushed and their eyes sparkled. They are + paid, perhaps pretty well paid, for risking their lives; but the applause + is the larger part of the reward. + </p> + <p> + "Also," I said to Ascher, "nobody cheers you. Nobody knows you're doing + it." + </p> + <p> + "No. Nobody knows we're doing it. Nobody sees our flights through the air + or guesses the supreme confidence we bankers must have in each other. When + anybody does notice us it's—well, our friend Gorman, for instance." + </p> + <p> + Gorman holds the theory that financial men, Ascher and the rest, are + bloated spiders who spend their time and energy in trapping the world's + workers, poor flies, in gummy webs. + </p> + <p> + "And of course Gorman is right in a way," said Ascher. "I can't help + feeling that things ought to be better managed. But—but it's a pity + that men like him don't understand." + </p> + <p> + Ascher is wonderful. I shall never attain his mental attitude of + philosophic tolerance. I do not feel that Gorman is in any way right about + the Irish landlords. I felt, though I like the man personally, that he and + his friends are deliberately and wickedly perverse. + </p> + <p> + "Some day," said Ascher, "something will go wrong. A rope will break, or a + man will miss his grip, and then people in one place will be starving, + while people somewhere else have food all round them rotting in heaps. Men + will want all sorts of things and will not be able to get them, though + there will be plenty of them in the world. Men will think that the laws of + nature have stopped working, that God has gone mad. Hardly any one will + understand what has happened, just that one trapeze rope has broken, or + that one man has lost his nerve and missed his grip." + </p> + <p> + "She might have fallen clear of the net," I said, "and come down on the + audience." + </p> + <p> + "When we slip a trick," said Ascher, "it will be on the audience that we + shall come down; and the audience, the people, will be bruised and hurt, + won't in the least know what has happened." + </p> + <p> + Gorman—I suddenly recollected this—had an adventure in finance + to propose. If Ascher goes into the scheme I shall have an opportunity of + watching an interesting variant of the trapeze act. We shall get the + people, who own the existing cash registers on the swing and then hold + them to ransom. We shall set our small trapeze oscillating right across + their airy path and decline to remove it unless they agree to part with + some of the very shiniest of their spangles and hand them over to us for + our adornment. I wondered how Ascher, who is so deeply moved by the perils + of his own flights, would like the idea of destroying other people's + confidence and upsetting their calculations. + </p> + <p> + I looked down and saw that Gorman had left his seat. Mrs. Ascher had been + making good progress with Tim. The boy was leaning towards her and talking + eagerly. She lay back in her seat and smiled at him. If she were not + interested in what he was saying she succeeded very well in pretending + that she was. All really charming women practise this form of deception + and all men are taken in by it if it is well done. Mrs. Ascher does it + very well. + </p> + <p> + When the net was cleared away and the trapezes slung up again in the roof, + we had a musical ride, performed by six men and six women mounted on very + shiny horses. Mrs. Ascher, of course, objected strongly to the music. I + could see her squirming in her seat. Ascher did not find the thing + interesting and began to fidget. It was, indeed, much less suggestive than + either the learned horse or the acrobats. You cannot discover in a musical + ride any parable with a meaning applicable to life. Nothing in the world + goes so smoothly and pleasantly. There are always risks even when there + are no catastrophes, and catastrophes are far too common. Ascher probably + felt that we were out of touch with humanity. He kept looking round, as if + seeking some way of escape. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately Gorman turned up again very soon. + </p> + <p> + "I hope you won't mind," he said, "but I have changed the arrangement for + supper. Mrs. Ascher," he nodded towards the seat in which she was + writhing, "wants to meet the Galleotti family. They're not a family, you + know, and of course they're not called Galleotti. The woman is a Mrs. + Briggs, and the tallest of the men is her husband. The other two are no + relation. I don't know their names, but Tim will introduce us." + </p> + <p> + I looked at my programme again. It was under the name of the Galleotti + Family that the acrobats performed. + </p> + <p> + "That will be most interesting," I said. + </p> + <p> + "I'm afraid it won't," said Gorman. "People like that are usually quite + stupid. However Mrs. Ascher wanted it, so of course I made arrangements." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently wanted to see life, the most real kind of life, + thoroughly. Not contented with having the doorkeeper of a cheap circus + sitting, so to speak, in her lap all evening, she was now bent on sharing + a meal with a troupe of acrobats. + </p> + <p> + "It's rather unlucky," Gorman went on, "but Mrs. Briggs simply refuses to + go to the Plaza. I had a table engaged there." + </p> + <p> + "How regal of you, Gorman!" I said. + </p> + <p> + "You'd have thought she'd have liked it," he said. "But she made a fuss + about clothes. It's extraordinary how women will." + </p> + <p> + "You can hardly blame her," I said; "I expect the head waiter would turn + her out if she appeared in that get-up of hers. Very absurd of him, of + course, but——" + </p> + <p> + I was not conscious that my eyes had wandered to Mrs. Ascher's dress until + Gorman winked at me. Fortunately Ascher noticed neither my glance nor + Gorman's wink. I had not thought of suggesting that Mrs. Briggs' stage + costume was no more daring than what Mrs. Ascher wore. + </p> + <p> + "Of course," said Ascher, "she wouldn't come to supper in tights. It's her + other clothes she's thinking of. I daresay they are shabby." + </p> + <p> + I could understand what Mrs. Briggs felt. Gorman could not. I do not think + that any feeling about the shabbiness of his coat would make him hesitate + about dining with an Emperor. + </p> + <p> + "I hope you won't mind," he said to Ascher, "but we're going to rather a + third-rate little place." + </p> + <p> + Gorman had evidently meant to do us well in the way of supper, champagne + probably. He may have had the idea that good food would soften Ascher's + heart towards the cash register scheme, but Mrs. Ascher's insistence on + meeting the Galleotti family spoiled the whole plan. We could not talk + business across Mrs. Briggs, so it mattered little what sort of supper we + had. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher left her seat and joined us. Tim, looking more nervous than + ever, followed her at a distance. + </p> + <p> + "Take me out of this," she said to me. "Take me out of this or I shall go + mad. That dreadful band!" + </p> + <p> + She spoke in a kind of intense hiss, and I took her out at once, leaving + the others to collect our hats and coats and to hunt up the Galleotti + family. When we reached the entrance hall she sank into a seat. I thought + she was going to faint and felt very uncomfortable. She shut her eyes and + murmured in a feeble way. I bent down to hear what she was trying to say, + and was relieved to find that she was asking for a cigarette. I gave her + one at once. I even lit it for her as she seemed very weak. It did her + good. When she had inhaled three or four mouthfuls of smoke she was able + to speak quite audibly and had forgotten all about the horror of the band. + Her mind went back to the Galleotti family. + </p> + <p> + "Did you notice the muscular development of those men?" she said. "I don't + think I ever saw more perfect symmetry, the tallest of the three + especially. The play of his shoulder muscles was superb. I wonder if he + would sit for me. I do a little modelling, you know. Some day I must show + you my things. I did a baby faun just before I left London. It isn't good, + of course; but I can't help knowing that it has feeling." + </p> + <p> + The tallest Galleotti probably has feeling too, of a different kind. I + expect he would have refused Gorman's invitation to supper if he had known + that he was invited in order to give Mrs. Ascher an opportunity of + studying his muscular development at close quarters. Perhaps he had some + idea that he was to be on show and did not like it. Instead of wearing his + spangled tights he came to supper in a very ill-fitting tweed suit, which + completely concealed his symmetry. The other two men were equally + inconsiderate. Mrs. Briggs wore a rusty black skirt and a somewhat soiled + blouse. Mrs. Ascher was disappointed. + </p> + <p> + She showed her annoyance by ignoring the Galleotti Family. This was rather + hard on Gorman, who had invited the family solely to please her and then + found that she would not speak to them. She took a chair in a corner next + the wall, and beckoned to Tim Gorman to sit beside her. Tim was miserably + frightened and dodged about behind the tallest of the Galleottis to avoid + her eye. I expect her manner when the band was playing had terrified him. + I felt certain that I should be snubbed, but, to avoid general + awkwardness, I took the chair beside Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I tried to cheer her up a little. + </p> + <p> + "Just think," I whispered, "if Mr. Briggs looks so commonplace in + every-day clothes, other men, even I perhaps, might be as splendid as he + was if we put on spangled tights." + </p> + <p> + I had to whisper because Mr. Briggs was near me, and I did not want to + hurt his feelings. Mrs. Ascher may not have heard me. She certainly did + not answer; I went on: + </p> + <p> + "Thus there may be far more beauty in the world than we suspect. We may be + meeting men every day who have the figures of Greek gods underneath their + absurd coats. It's a most consoling thought." + </p> + <p> + It did not console Mrs. Ascher in the least; but I thought a little more + of it might be good for her. + </p> + <p> + "In the same way," I said, "heroic hearts may be beating under the + trappings of conventionality and great souls may——" + </p> + <p> + I meant to work the idea out; but Mrs. Ascher cut me short by saying that + she had a headache. There was every excuse for her. She wanted to see the + muscles of Mr. Briggs' shoulders and she wanted Tim Gorman to sit beside + her. Double disappointments of this kind often bring on the most violent + headaches. + </p> + <p> + The supper party was a failure. The Galleotti men would talk freely only + to Tim Gorman and relapsed into gaping silence when Ascher spoke to them. + Mrs. Briggs would not speak at all, until Gorman, who has the finest + social talent of any man I ever met, talked to her about her baby. On that + subject she actually chattered to the disgust of Mrs. Ascher, who has no + children herself and regards women who have as her personal enemies. We + had sausages and mashed potatoes to eat. We drank beer. Even Ascher drank + a little beer, though I know he hated it. + </p> + <p> + Not a word was said about Tim's cash register until the Galleotti family + went away and the party broke up. Then Gorman suddenly sprang the subject + on Ascher. Mrs. Ascher, having snubbed me with her headache story, at last + captured Tim Gorman. She spoke quite kindly to him and tried to teach him + to help her on with her cloak, a garment which Tim was at first afraid to + touch. I heard her, when Tim was at last holding the cloak, asking him to + sit for her in her studio. Tim has no very noticeable physical + development, but he has very beautiful eyes. Mrs. Ascher may have wanted + him as a model for a figure of Sir Galahad. Her interest in the boy gave + us a chance of talking business. + </p> + <p> + It was not a chance that I should have used if I had been Gorman. It + seemed to me foolish to lay a complicated scheme before a man who has just + been severely tried in temper by unaccustomed kinds of food and drink. + However, Gorman set out the case of the cash register in a few words. He + did not go into details, and I do not know whether Ascher understood what + was expected of him. He invited Gorman to bring Tim and the machine to the + bank next day and promised to look into the matter. Gorman, still under + the delusion that influence matters, insisted on my being one of the + party. He described me as a shareholder in the company. Ascher said he + would be glad to see me, too, next day. My impression is that he would + have agreed to receive the whole circus company rather than stand any + longer in that grimy restaurant talking to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">G</span>orman called for + me at my hotel next morning at 9 o'clock. + </p> + <p> + "Time to start," he said, "if we're to keep our appointment with Ascher." + </p> + <p> + I was still at breakfast and did not want to start till I had finished. + </p> + <p> + "Do you think," I said, "that it's wise to tackle him quite so early? Most + men's tempers improve as the day goes on,—up to a certain point, not + right into the evening. Now I should say that noon would be the very best + hour for business of our kind." + </p> + <p> + But Gorman is very severe when he is doing business. He took no notice + whatever of my suggestion. He pulled a long envelope out of his pocket and + presented it to me. It contained a nicely printed certificate, which + assured me that I was the owner of one thousand ordinary shares in the New + Excelsior Cash Register Company, Ltd. The face value of the shares was + five dollars each. + </p> + <p> + "I did not mean to take quite so many shares," I said. "However, I don't + mind. If you will work out the rate of exchange while I finish my coffee, + I'll give you an English cheque for the amount." + </p> + <p> + Gorman laughed at the proposal. + </p> + <p> + "You needn't pay anything," he said. "All we want from you is your name on + our list of directors and your influence with Ascher. Those shares will be + worth a couple of hundred dollars each at least when we begin our squeeze + and you don't run the slightest risk of losing anything." + </p> + <p> + The owning of shares of this kind seems to me the easiest way there is of + making money. I thanked Gorman effusively and pocketed the certificate. + </p> + <p> + We went down town by the elevated railway, and got out at Rector Street. + Tim Gorman met us at the bottom of the steps which lead to the station. He + was carrying his cash register in his arms. We hurried across Broadway and + passed through the doors of a huge sky-scraper building. I thought we were + entering Ascher's office. We were not. We were taking a short cut through + a kind of arcade like one of the covered shopping ways which one sees in + some English towns, especially in Birmingham. There was a large number of + little shops in it, luncheon places, barbers' shops, newspaper stalls, + tobacconists' stalls, florists' stalls, and sweet shops, which displayed + an enormous variety of candies. We were in the very centre of the business + part of the city, a part to which women hardly ever go, unless they are + typists or manicure girls. Above our heads were offices, tiers and tiers + of them. I wondered why there were so many florists' shops and sweet + shops. The American business man must, I imagine, have a gentle and + childlike heart. No one who has lost his first innocence would require + such a supply of flowers and chocolate at his office door. + </p> + <p> + There were lifts on each side of this arcade, dozens of them, in cages. + Some were labelled "Express" and warned passengers that they would make no + stop before the eleventh floor. I should have liked very much to make a + journey in an express lift, and I hoped that Ascher's office might turn + out to be on the 25th or perhaps the 30th floor of the building. I was + disappointed. Gorman hurried us on. + </p> + <p> + We emerged into the open air and found ourselves in a narrow, crooked + street along which men were hurrying in great numbers and at high speed. + On both sides of it were enormously tall houses. There was just one + building, right opposite to us, which was of English height. It was not in + the least English in any other way. It was white and very dignified. Its + lines were severely classical. It had tall, narrow windows and a door + which somehow reminded me of portraits of the first Duke of Wellington. + The architect may perhaps have been thinking of the great soldier's nose. + Gorman walked straight up to that door. + </p> + <p> + "Here we are," he said. + </p> + <p> + "Surely," I said, "this Greek temple can't be Ascher's office?" + </p> + <p> + "This is the exact spot." + </p> + <p> + "Tell me," I said, "do we take off our shoes at the threshold or say + grace, or perform some kind of ceremonial lustration? We can't go in just + as we are." + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not answer me. He went through the door, the terribly + impressive door, without even bowing. There was nothing for me to do but + follow him. Tim followed me, nursing his cash register as if it had been a + baby, a very heavy and awkwardly shaped baby. + </p> + <p> + We passed into the outer office. At the first glance it seemed to me like + a very orderly town. It was built over with small houses of polished + mahogany and plate glass. Through the plate-glass fronts—they were + more than windows—I could see the furniture of the houses—rolltop + desks of mahogany, broad mahogany tables, chairs and high stools. All the + mahogany was very highly polished. The citizens of this town flitted from + one glass-fronted house to another. They met in narrow streets and spoke + to each other with grave dignity. They spoke in four languages, and + English was the one used least. From the remoter parts of the place, the + slums, if such a polished town has slums, came the sound of typewriters + worked with extreme rapidity. The manual labourers, in this as in every + civilised community, are kept out of sight. Only the sound of their toil + is allowed to remind the other classes of their happier lot. Some of the + citizens—I took them to be men of very high standing, privy + counsellors or magistrates—held cigars in their mouths as they + walked about. These cigars are badges of office, like the stripes on + soldiers' coats. No one was actually smoking. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was our spokesman. He explained who we were and what we wanted. We + were handed over to a clerk. I suppose he was a clerk, but to me he seemed + a gentleman in waiting of some mysterious monarch, or—my feeling + wavered—one of the inferior priests of a strange cult. He led us + through doors into a large room, impressively empty and silent. There for + a minute we left while he tapped reverently at another door. The supreme + moment arrived. We passed into the inmost shrine where Ascher sat. My + spirit quailed. + </p> + <p> + Every great profession has its own way of hypnotising the souls of simple + men. Indeed I think that professions are accounted great in accordance + with their power of impressing on the world a sense of their + mysteriousness. Ecclesiastics, those of them who know their business, + build altars in dim recesses of vast buildings, light them with flickering + tapers, and fill the air with clouds of stupefying incense smoke. Surgeons + and dentists allow us fleeting glimpses of bright steel instruments, very + strangely shaped. It is contrived that we see them in a cold, clear light, + the light of scientific relentlessness. There is a suggestion of torture, + not brutal but exquisitely refined, of perfected pain, achieved by the + stimulation of recondite nerves of very delicate sensibility. Lawyers wear + archaic robes and use a strange language in their mysteries, conveying to + us a belief that Justice is an ancient witch whose evil eye can be averted + only by the incantation and grotesque posturing of her initiate priests. + But I am not sure that financiers do not understand the art of hypnotic + suggestion best of all. I have worshipped in cathedrals, sweated cold in + operating theatres, trembled before judges, but there is something about + large surfaces of polished mahogany and very soft, dimly coloured turkey + carpets which quells my feeble spirit still more completely. + </p> + <p> + There was a heavy deadening silence in Ascher's private office, and our + voices, when they broke it, sounded like the cheeping of ghosts. There was + an odour more oppressive than the smell of incense or the penetrating + fumes of iodoform. Some one, many hours before, must have smoked a very + good cigar in the room, and the scent of it lingered. The doors of huge + safes must have been opened. From the recesses of these steel chambers had + oozed air which had lain stagnant and lifeless round piles of gold bonds + and rich securities for years and years. The faint, sickly odour of + sealing wax must have been distilled from immense sticks of that substance + and sprinkled overnight upon the carpets and leather-seated chairs. I + breathed and my very limbs felt numb. + </p> + <p> + But certain souls are proof against the subtlest forms of hypnotism. + Gorman had escaped from the influence of his church. He would flip a + sterilised lancet across a glass slab with his finger and laugh in the + face of the surgeon who owned it. He walked with buoyant confidence into + Ascher's office. My case was different. I stood and then sat, the victim + of a partial anaesthetic. I saw and heard dimly as if in a dream, or + through a mist. Poor Tim trembled as he laid his cash register down on one + of Ascher's mahogany tables. I could hear the keys and bars of the machine + rattling together while he handled it. + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke through a telephone receiver which stood at his elbow. + Another man entered the room. We all shook hands with him. He was Stutz, + the New York partner of the firm. Then Ascher spoke through the receiver + again, and another man came in. + </p> + <p> + With him we did not shake hands, but he bowed to us and we to him. He was + Mr. Mildmay. He stood near the door, waiting for orders. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman unpacked his machine and exhibited it. I have not the remotest + idea what its peculiar virtues are, but Tim believed in them. His + nervousness seemed to pass away from him as he spoke about his invention + with simple-minded enthusiasm. Love casts out fear, and there is no doubt + that Tim loved every screw and lever of the complicated mechanism. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left his place near the door and came forward. His deferential + manner dropped off from him. He revealed himself as a mechanical expert + with a special knowledge of cash registers. He and Tim Gorman pressed + keys, twisted handles and bent together in absorbed contemplation over + some singular feature of the machine's organism. Gorman, the elder + brother, watched them with a confident smile. Ascher and Stutz sat gravely + silent. They waited Mildmay's opinion. He was the man of the moment. A few + minutes before he had bowed respectfully to Ascher. In half an hour he + would be bowing respectfully to Ascher again. Just then, while he handled + Tim Gorman's machine, he was Ascher's master, and mine of course. They + were all my masters. + </p> + <p> + The inspection of the machine was finished at last. Tim stood flushed and + triumphant. The child of his ingenious brain had survived the tests of an + expert. Mildmay turned to Ascher and bowed again. + </p> + <p> + "It's a wonderful invention," he said. "I see no reason why it should not + be a commercial success." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps, Mr. Mildmay," said Ascher, "you will study the subject further + and submit a report to us in writing." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left the room. I had no doubt that he would report + enthusiastically on the new cash register. Mechanical experts do not, I + suppose, write poetry, but there was without doubt a lyric in Mildmay's + heart as he left the room. Tim packed the thing up again. Now that the + mechanical part of the business was over, he relapsed into shy silence in + a corner. His brother took out a cigarette and lit it. I would not have + ventured to light a cigarette in that sanctuary for a hundred pounds. But + Gorman is entirely without reverence. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, "there's no doubt about the value of the invention." + </p> + <p> + "We shall wait for Mr. Mildmay's report," said Ascher, "before we come to + any decision; but in the meanwhile we should like to hear any proposal you + have to make." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Stutz, "your proposals. We are prepared to listen to them." + </p> + <p> + Stutz seemed to me to speak English with difficulty. His native language + was perhaps German, perhaps Hebrew or Yiddish or whatever the language is + which modern Jews speak in private life. + </p> + <p> + "The matter is simple enough," said Gorman. "Our machine will drive any + other out of the market. There's no possibility of competition. The thing + is simply a dead cert. It can't help going." + </p> + <p> + "A large capital would be required," said Stutz, "a very large capital." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Gorman, "a very large capital, much larger than I should care + to see invested in the thing. I may as well be quite frank with you + gentlemen. At present the patents of my brother's invention are owned by a + small company in which I am the chief shareholder. If we ask the public + for a million dollars and get them—I don't say we can't get them. We + may. But if we do I shall be a very small shareholder. I shall get 5 per + cent, or 6 per cent, or perhaps 10 per cent, on my money. Now I want more + than that. I'm speaking quite frankly, you see. I believe in frankness." + </p> + <p> + He looked at Ascher for approval. Stutz bowed, with an impassive face. On + Ascher's lips there was the ghost of a mournful little smile. I somehow + gathered that he had come across frankness like Gorman's before and had + not altogether liked it. Gorman went on. He explained, as he had explained + to me, the plan he had made for forcing the owners of existing cash + registers to buy his company out. At last he got to the central, the + vitally important point. + </p> + <p> + "All we want, gentlemen, is your backing. You needn't put down any money. + Your names will be enough. I will make over to you such bonus shares as + may be agreed upon. The only risk we run is lawsuits about our patent + rights. You understand how that game is worked. I needn't explain." + </p> + <p> + It was evident that both Ascher and Stutz understood that game thoroughly. + It was also plain to me, though not, I think, to Gorman, that it was a + game which neither one nor other of them would be willing to play. + </p> + <p> + "But if we have your names," said Gorman, "that game's off. It simply + wouldn't pay. I don't want to flatter you, gentlemen, but there isn't a + firm in the world that would care to start feeing lawyers in competition + with Ascher, Stutz & Co." + </p> + <p> + "That is so," said Stutz. + </p> + <p> + "And your proposal?" said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "If they can't crush us," said Gorman, "and they can't if you're behind + us, they must buy us. I need scarcely say that your share in the profits + will be satisfactory to you. Sir James Digby is one of our directors. + There are only four others, and three of them scarcely count. There won't + be many of us to divide what we get." + </p> + <p> + I felt that my time had come to speak. If I was to justify Gorman's + confidence in me as an "influence," I must say something. Besides Ascher + was looking at me inquiringly. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not a business man," I said, "and I'm afraid that my opinion isn't + worth much, but I think——" + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. Ascher's eyes were fixed on me, and there was a curiously + wistful expression in them. I could not understand what he wanted me to + say. + </p> + <p> + "I think," I said, "that Gorman's plan sounds feasible, that it ought to + work." + </p> + <p> + "But your own opinion of it?" said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He spoke with a certain gentle insistency. I could not very well avoid + making some answer. + </p> + <p> + "We are able to judge for ourselves," he said, "whether it will work. But + the plan itself—what do you think of it?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "I'm a modern man. I have accepted all the ideas and + standards of my time and generation. I can hardly give you an opinion that + I could call my own, but if my father's opinion would be of any use to you—— + He was an old-fashioned gentleman, with all the rather obsolete ideas + about honour which those people had." + </p> + <p> + "He's dead, isn't he?" said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes," I said. "He's been dead for fifteen years. Still I'm sure I + could tell you what he'd have said about this." + </p> + <p> + "I do not think," said Stutz, "that we need consider the opinion of Sir + James Digby's father, who has been dead for fifteen years." + </p> + <p> + "I quite agree with you," I said. "It would be out of date, hopelessly." + </p> + <p> + "But your own opinion?" said Ascher, still mildly insistent. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "I've been robbed of my property—land in Ireland, + Mr. Stutz—by Gorman and his friends. Everybody says that they were + quite right and that I ought not to have objected; so, I suppose, robbery + must be a proper thing according to our contemporary ethics." + </p> + <p> + "And that is your opinion of the scheme?" said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said. "I hope I've made myself clear. I think we are justified in + pillaging when we can." + </p> + <p> + "You Irish," said Ascher, "with your intellects of steel, your delight in + paradox and your reckless logic!" + </p> + <p> + Stutz was not interested in the peculiarities of the Irish mind. He went + back to the main point with a directness which I admired. + </p> + <p> + "This is not," he said, "the kind of business we care to do." + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Gorman," said Ascher, "we shall wait for Mr. Mildmay's report on your + brother's invention. If it turns out to be favourable, as I confidently + expect, we may have a proposal to lay before you. Our firm cannot, you + will understand, take shares in your company. That is not a bank's + business. But I myself, in my private capacity, will consider the matter. + So will Mr. Stutz. It may be possible to arrange that your brother's + machine shall be put on the market." + </p> + <p> + "But your proposal," said Stutz obstinately. "It is not the kind of + business we undertake." + </p> + <p> + The interview was plainly at an end. We rose and left the room. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman did not understand, perhaps did not hear, a word of what was + said. He followed us out of the office nursing his machine and plainly in + high delight. Curiously enough, the elder Gorman seemed equally pleased. + </p> + <p> + "We've got them," he said when we reached the street. "We've got Ascher, + Stutz & Co quite safe. I don't see what's to stop us now." + </p> + <p> + My own impression was that both Ascher & Stutz had definitely refused + to entertain our proposal or fall in with our plans. I said so to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," he said. "You don't understand business or business men. + Ascher and Stutz are very big bugs, very big indeed, and they have to keep + up appearances. It wouldn't do for them to admit to you and me, or even to + each other, that they were out for what they could get from the old + company. They have to keep up the pretence that they mean legitimate + business. That's the way these things are always worked. But you'll find + that they won't object to pocketing their cheques when the time comes for + smashing up Tim's machine and suppressing his patents." + </p> + <p> + I turned, when I reached the far side of the street, to take another look + at Ascher's office. I was struck again by the purity of line and the + severe simplicity of the building. Two thousand years ago men would have + had a statue of Pallas Athene in it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> spent a very + pleasant fortnight in New York among people entirely unconnected with the + Aschers or Gorman. I was kept busy dining, lunching, going to the theatre, + driving here and there in motor cars, and enjoying the society of some of + the least conventional and most brilliant women in the world. I only found + time to call on the Aschers once and then did not see either of them. They + were stopping in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the young man in the office + told me that Mrs. Ascher spent the whole of every day in her studio. Her + devotion to art was evidently very great. She could not manage to spend a + holiday in New York without hiring a studio. I inquired whether any + members of the Galleotti family were sitting for her, but the hotel clerk + did not know that. He told me, however, that Mr. Ascher was in Washington. + Gorman always says that the strings of government in modern states are + pulled by financiers. Ascher was probably chucking at those which are + fastened to the arms and legs of the President of the United States, with + a view to making that potentate dance threateningly in the direction of + Mexico. I am sure that Ascher does this sort of thing very nicely and + kindly if indeed he does it at all. He would not willingly destroy the + self-respect even of a marionette. + </p> + <p> + Of Gorman I saw nothing more before I left New York. I think he went off + to Detroit almost immediately after our interview with Ascher and Stutz. + Gorman is not exactly the man to put his public duties before his private + interests, but I am sure the public duties always come in a close second. + Having settled, or thought he had settled, the affair of the cash + register, he immediately turned his attention to that wealthy motor man in + Detroit from whom he meant to get a subscription. The future of the Irish + Party possibly, its comforts probably, depended on the success of Gorman's + mission. And a party never deserved comfort more. The Home Rule Bill was + almost passed for the third and last time. Nothing stood between Ireland + and the realisation of Gorman's hopes for her except the obstinate + perversity of the Ulster men. A few more subscriptions, generous + subscriptions, and that would be overcome. + </p> + <p> + After enjoying myself in New York for a fortnight I went to Canada. I did + not gather much information about the companies in which I was interested. + But I learned a good deal about Canadian politics. The men who play that + game out there are extraordinarily clearsighted and honest. They frankly + express lower opinions of each other than the politicians of any other + country would dare to hold of the players in their particular fields. In + the end the general frankness became monotonous and I tired of Canada. I + went back to New York, hoping to pick up someone there who would travel + home with me by way of the West Indies, islands which I had never seen. I + thought it possible that I might persuade the Aschers, if they were still + in New York, to make the tour with me. There was just a chance that I + might come across Gorman again and that he would be taken with the idea of + preaching the doctrines of Irish nationalism in Jamaica. I called on the + Aschers twice and missed them both times. But the second visit was not + fruitless. Mrs. Ascher rang me up on the telephone and asked me to go to + see her in her studio. She said that she particularly wanted to see me and + had something very important to say. + </p> + <p> + I obeyed the summons, of course. I found Mrs. Ascher clad in a long, + pale-blue pinafore. Over-all is, I believe, the proper name for the + garment. But it looked to me like a child's pinafore, greatly enlarged. It + completely covered all her other clothes in front and almost completely + covered them behind. I recognised it as the sort of thing a really earnest + artist would wear while working. Her hair was hanging in loops and wisps + about her head, a disorder which was effective with dark-red hair. Her + hands were damp and dirty. Her face was smudged here and there, as if, in + moments of artistic travail, she had pressed her muddy fingers against her + forehead and chin. The room had very little furniture in it, but there + were several tables, large and small. On these stood what seemed to me + shapeless lumps of various sizes, swathed in damp rags. They reminded me a + little of the shrouded objects on the tables of dissecting rooms after the + students have gone home. There was the same suggestion of mutilated human + forms. Mrs. Archer saw me looking at them. + </p> + <p> + "Some of my little things," she said, "but nothing finished. I don't know + why it is, but here in New York I find it very difficult to finish + anything." + </p> + <p> + "You're not singular in that," I said. "The New York people themselves + suffer in exactly the same way. There isn't a street in their city that + they've finished or ever will finish. If anything begins to look like + completion they smash it up at once and start afresh. It must be something + in the air, a restlessness, a desire of the perfection which can never be + realised." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher very carefully unwrapped a succession of damp rags from one of + the largest of her lumps which was standing on a table by itself. I have, + since then, seen nurses unwrapping the bandages from the wounded limbs of + men. The way they did it always reminded me of Mrs. Ascher. The removal of + the last bandage revealed to me a figure about eighteen inches high of a + girl who seemed to me to be stretching herself after getting out of bed + before stepping into her bath. + </p> + <p> + "Psyche," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I had to show my admiration in some way. The proper thing, I believe, when + shown a statue by a sculptor, is to stroke it with your fingers and + murmur, "Ah!" I was afraid to stroke Psyche because she was certainly wet + and probably soft. A touch might have dinted her, made a dimple in a wrong + place. I dared not risk it. It became all the more necessary to speak. + </p> + <p> + The first thing I thought of was a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe. + </p> + <p> + "I pacified Psyche and kissed her," I murmured, "and tempted her out of + the gloom." + </p> + <p> + I said the lines in what I am convinced is the proper way, as if they were + forced from me, as if I spoke them to myself and did not mean them to be + heard. I do not think Mrs. Ascher knew them. I fear she suspected me of + making some sort of joke. I hastened to redeem my character. + </p> + <p> + "Psyche," I said, "the soul." + </p> + <p> + I was right so far. Psyche is the Greek for the soul. I ventured further. + </p> + <p> + "The human soul, the artistic soul." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher appeared to be absolutely hanging on my words. I plunged on. + </p> + <p> + "Aspiring," I said, "reaching after the unattainable." + </p> + <p> + I would not have said, "hoping for a yawn" for anything that could have + been offered me; but the young woman who stood for Mrs. Ascher's Psyche + must have longed for that relief. The attitude in which she was posed + suggested yawning all the time, and we all know how fatal it is to think + of a yawn. + </p> + <p> + "Quite unfinished," said Mrs. Ascher with a sigh. + </p> + <p> + "The fault of New York," I said. "When you get home again——" + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. I did not wish to commit myself to a confession of ignorance, + and I do not know whether a damp, soft Psyche can be packed up and + transported across the Atlantic to be finished in London. + </p> + <p> + "But the aspiration is there," I said, "and you owe that to New York. The + air, the very same air which forbids completion, is charged with + aspiration. We all feel it. The city itself aspires. Since the great days + when men set out to build a tower the top of which should reach unto + heaven, there has never been such aspiration anywhere in the world. Look + at the Woolworth Building." + </p> + <p> + I was maundering and I knew it. Mrs. Ascher's statuette was very nice and + graceful; a much better thing than I expected to see, but there was + nothing in it, nothing at all in the way of thought or emotion. There must + be hundreds of people who can turn out clay girls just as good as that + Psyche. Somehow I had expected something different from Mrs. Ascher, less + skill in modelling, less care, but more temperament. + </p> + <p> + "There's nothing else worth showing," she said, "except perhaps this. Yes, + except this." + </p> + <p> + She unwrapped more bandages. A damp, pale-grey head appeared. It was + standing in a large saucer or soup plate. At first I thought she had been + at John the Baptist and had chosen the moment when his head lay in the + charger ready for the dancing girl to take to her mother. Fortunately I + looked at it carefully before speaking. I saw that it was Tim Gorman's + head. + </p> + <p> + "He sat to me," said Mrs. Ascher, "and by degrees I came to know him very + well. One does, one cannot help it, talking to a person every day and + watching, always watching. Do you think——?" + </p> + <p> + "I think it's wonderful," I said. + </p> + <p> + This time I spoke with real and entire conviction. I am no expert judge of + anything in the world except perhaps a horse or a bottle of claret, but I + was impressed by this piece of Mrs. Ascher's work. Tim Gorman's fine eyes + were the only things about him which struck me as noticeable. No artist + can model eyes in clay. But Mrs. Ascher had got all that I saw in his eyes + into the head before me—all and a great deal more. She had somehow + succeeded in making the lips, the nostrils, the forehead, the cheek-bones, + express the fact that Tim Gorman is an idealist, a dreamer of fine dreams + and at the same time innocent as a child which looks out at the world with + wonder. I do not know how the woman did it. I should not have supposed her + capable of even seeing what she had expressed in her clay, but there it + was. + </p> + <p> + "You really like it?" + </p> + <p> + She spoke with a curious note of humility in her voice. My impulse was to + say that I liked her, for the first time saw the real good in her; but I + could not say that. + </p> + <p> + "Like it!" I said. "It isn't for me to like or dislike it. I don't know + anything about those things. I am not capable of judging. But this seems + to me to be really great." + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" said Mrs. Ascher, "and this time you are sincere." + </p> + <p> + She looked at me quite gravely as she spoke. Then a smile slowly broadened + her mouth. + </p> + <p> + "That's not the way you spoke of poor Psyche's aspiration," she said, "you + were laughing at me then." + </p> + <p> + A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The woman had understood every word + I said to her, understood what I meant as well as what I wanted to convey + to her, two very different things. She was immensely more clever than I + suspected or could have guessed. + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Ascher," I said, "I beg your pardon." + </p> + <p> + "You were quite right," she said. "That other thing isn't Psyche. It's + just a silly little girl, the model—— There wasn't anything + about her that I could see, nothing but just a pretty body." + </p> + <p> + So she dismissed my apology and turned to Tim Gorman's head again. She ran + her finger lightly round the rim of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + "What shall I do with this?" she said. "What is his head to stand on, to + rise from? I was thinking of water-lily leaves, as if the head were + emerging——" + </p> + <p> + I felt that I owed Mrs. Ascher some frankness in return for my first + insult to her intelligence. Besides, I was moved. I was, as I had not been + for years, emotional. Tim Gorman's head gripped me in a curious way. + </p> + <p> + "Good God, Woman," I said, "anything in the world but that! Wrap up that + chorus girl of a Psyche in leaves if you like. Sprinkle rose petals over + her or any other damned sentimentalism. But this man is a mechanic. He has + invented a cash register. What in the name of all that's holy has he got + to do with water-lily leaves? Put hammers round his head, and pincers, and + long nails." + </p> + <p> + I stopped. I realised suddenly that I was making an unutterable fool of + myself. I was talking as I never talked in my life before, saying out loud + the sort of things I have carefully schooled myself neither to feel nor to + think. + </p> + <p> + "After all," said Mrs. Ascher, "you have an artist's soul." + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Mrs. Ascher looked at me and smiled again, a half-pitiful + smile. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose I must have," I said. "But I won't let it break loose in that + way again. I'll suppress it. It's—it's—this is rather an + insulting thing to say to you, but it's a humiliating discovery to make + that I have——" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + "My husband always says that you Irish——" + </p> + <p> + "He's quite wrong," I said; "quite wrong about me at all events. I hate + paradoxes. I'm a plain man. The only thing I really admire is common + sense." + </p> + <p> + "I understand," she said. "I understand exactly what you feel." + </p> + <p> + She is a witch and very likely did understand. I did not. + </p> + <p> + "Now," she said. "Now, I can talk to you. Sit down, please." + </p> + <p> + She pulled over a low stool, the only seat in the room. I sat on it. Mrs. + Ascher stood, or rather drooped in front of me, leaning on one hand, which + rested, palm down, on the table where Tim Gorman's image stood. I doubt + whether Mrs. Ascher ever stands straight or is capable of any kind of + stiffness. But even drooping, she had a distinct advantage over me. My + stool was very low and my legs are long. If I ventured to lean forwards, + my knees would have touched my chin, a position in which it is impossible + for a man to assert himself. + </p> + <p> + "I am so very glad," she said, "that you like the little head." + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be caught again. One lapse into artistic fervour was + enough for me. Even at the risk of offending Mrs. Ascher beyond + forgiveness, I was determined to preserve my self-respect. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you wouldn't take my word for it's being good," I said. "Ask + somebody who knows. The fact that I like it is a proof that it's bad, bad + art, if it's a proof of anything. I never really admire anything good, + can't bear, simply can't bear old masters, or"—I dimly recollected + some witty essays by my brilliant fellow-countryman Mr. George Moore—"I + detest Corot. My favourite artist is Leader." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher smiled all the time I was speaking. + </p> + <p> + "I know quite well," she said, "that my work isn't good. But you saw what + I meant by it. You can't deny it now, and you know that the boy is like + that." + </p> + <p> + "I don't know anything of the sort. I don't know anything at all about + him. The only time I ever came into touch with him he was helping his + brother to persuade Mr. Ascher to go into a doubtful—well, to make + money by what I'd call sharp practice." + </p> + <p> + "I don't think he was," said Mrs. Ascher. "The elder brother may have been + doing what you say; but Tim wasn't." + </p> + <p> + "He was in the game," I said. + </p> + <p> + I spoke all the more obstinately because I knew that Tim was not in the + game, I was determined not to be hysterical again. + </p> + <p> + "I've had that poor boy here day after day," said Mrs. Ascher, "and I + really know him. He has the soul of an artist. He is a creator. He is one + of humanity's mother natures. You know how it is with us. Something + quickens in us. We travail and bring to the birth." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently included herself among the mother natures. It seemed + a pity that she had not gone about the business in the ordinary way. I + think she would have been happier if she had. However, the head of Tim + Gorman was something. She had produced it. + </p> + <p> + "That is art," she said dreamily, "conception, gestation, travail, birth. + It does not matter whether the thing born is a poem, a picture, a statue, + a sonata, a temple——" + </p> + <p> + "Or a cash register," I said. + </p> + <p> + The thing born might apparently be anything except an ordinary baby. The + true artist does not think much of babies. They are bourgeois things. + </p> + <p> + "Or a cash register," she said. "It makes no difference. The man who + creates, who brings into being, has only one desire, that his child, + whatever it may be, shall live. If it is stifled, killed, a sword goes + through his heart." + </p> + <p> + It seemed to me even then with Mrs. Ascher's eyes on me, that it was + rather absurd to talk about a cash register living. I do not think that + men have ever personified this machine. We talk of ships and engines by + the names we give them and use personal pronouns, generally feminine, when + we speak of them. But did any one ever call a cash register "Minnie" or + talk of it familiarly as "she"? + </p> + <p> + "He thinks," said Mrs. Ascher, "indeed he is sure—he says his + brother told him——" + </p> + <p> + "I know," I said. "The machine isn't going to be put on the market at all. + It is to be used simply as a threat to make other people pay what I should + call blackmail." + </p> + <p> + "That must not be," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her voice was pitched a couple of tones higher than usual. I might almost + say she shrieked. + </p> + <p> + "It must not be," she repeated, "must not. It is a crime, a vile act, the + murder of a soul." + </p> + <p> + Cash registers have not got souls. I am as sure of that as I am of + anything. + </p> + <p> + "That boy," she went on, "that passionate, brave, pure boy, he must not be + dragged down, defiled. His soul——" + </p> + <p> + It was Tim Gorman's soul then, not the cash registers, which she was + worrying about. Having seen her presentation of the boy's head, having it + at that moment before my eyes, I understood what she meant. But I was not + going to let myself be swept again into the regions of artistic passion to + please Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "it does seem rather a shady way of making money. But + after all——" + </p> + <p> + I have mentioned that Mrs. Ascher never stands upright. She went very near + it when I mentioned money. + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back, flung both her arms out wide, clenched her fists + tightly, and, if the expression is possible, drooped backwards from her + hips. A slightly soiled light-blue overall is not the garment best suited + to set off the airs and attitudes of high tragedy. But Mrs. Ascher's + feelings were strong enough to transfigure even her clothes. + </p> + <p> + "Money!" she said. "Oh, Money! Is there nothing else? Do you care for, + hope for, see nothing else in the world? What does it matter whether you + make money or not, or how you make it?" + </p> + <p> + It is only those who are very rich indeed or those who are on the outer + fringe of extreme poverty who can despise money in this whole-hearted way. + The wife of a millionaire—the millionaire himself probably attaches + some value to money because he has to get it—and the regular tramp + can say "Oh, money? Is there nothing else?" The rest of us find money a + useful thing and get what we can of it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher let her arms fall suddenly to her sides, folded herself up and + sat down, or rather crouched, on the floor. From that position she looked + up at me with the greatest possible intensity of eye. + </p> + <p> + "I know what you're thinking," she said. "You're thinking of my husband. + But he hates money just as much as I do. All he wants is to escape, to + have done with it, to live peaceably with me, somewhere far away, far, far + away from everywhere." + </p> + <p> + Her eyes softened as she spoke. They even filled with water, tears, I + suppose. But she seemed to me to be talking nonsense. Ascher was making + money, piling it up. He could stop if he liked. So I thought. So any + sensible man must think. And as for living somewhere far, far away, what + did the woman want to get away from? Every possible place of residence on + the earth's surface is near some other place. You cannot get far, far away + from everywhere. The thing is a physical impossibility. I made an effort + to get back to common sense. + </p> + <p> + "About Tim Gorman's cash register?" I said. "What would you suggest?" + </p> + <p> + "You mustn't let them do that hateful thing," she said. "You can stop them + if you will." + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe I can," I said. "I'm extraordinarily feeble and + ineffectual in every way. In business matters I'm a mere babe." + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Gorman will listen to you," she said. "He will understand if you + explain to him. He is a writer, an artist. He must understand." + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. Gorman can write. I admit that. His writing is a great + deal better than Mrs. Ascher's modelling, though she did do that head of + Tim. I do not hail Gorman's novels or his plays as great literature, + though they are good. But some of his criticism is the finest thing of its + kind that has been published in our time. But Gorman does not look at + these matters as Mrs. Ascher does. I do not believe he ever wrote a line + in his life without expecting to be paid for it. He would not write at all + if he could find any easier and pleasanter way of making money. There was + no use saying that to Mrs. Ascher. All I could do when she asked me to + appeal to Gorman's artistic soul was to shake my head. I shook it as + decisively as I could. + </p> + <p> + "And my husband will listen to you," she said. + </p> + <p> + "My dear lady! wouldn't he be much more likely to listen to you?" + </p> + <p> + "But we never talk about such things," she said. "Never, never. Our life + together is sacred, hallowed, a thing apart, + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="indent15"> + 'Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot + </p> + <p class="indent20"> + Which men call earth.'" + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + It surprised me to hear Mrs. Ascher quote Milton. I did not somehow expect + to find that she knew or liked that particular poet. I am nearly sure he + would not have liked her. + </p> + <p> + "We cannot desecrate our union," she said, "by talking about money." + </p> + <p> + The subject to be discussed with Ascher was plainly not money, but Tim + Gorman's soul. Money only came incidentally. However, there was no use + arguing a point like that. There was no use arguing any point. I gave in + and promised to see Ascher about the matter. I prefer Ascher to Gorman if + I have to persuade any one to act midwife at the birth of a cash register. + Gorman would be certain to laugh. Ascher would at all events listen to me + courteously. + </p> + <p> + "To-morrow," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly," I said. "To-morrow, quite early." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher uncoiled herself and rose from the floor. I struggled to my + feet rather stiffly, for my stool was far too low. She took my hand and + held it. I feared for a moment that she meant to kiss it. + </p> + <p> + "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you again and again." + </p> + <p> + I took a long walk after I left the studio. I wanted to assimilate a new + fact, to get my mental vision into focus again. + </p> + <p> + Ever since I thought about things at all, I have regarded the "artist" + outlook upon life as a pose, and the claim to artistic temperament as an + excuse for selfishness and bad temper in private life. Mrs. Ascher had + convinced me that, in her case at least, the artist soul is a reality. She + was hysterical and ridiculous when she talked to me, but she was sincere. + She was not posing even when she crumpled herself upon the floor and + looked like a sick serpent. She was in simple earnest when she mouthed her + lines about money, money. There might be, probably were, several other + people in the world like Mrs. Ascher, might even be many others. That was + the new fact which I wanted to digest. + </p> + <p> + I reflected that I myself was kin to her, had in me, latent and + undeveloped, an artist's soul. I had felt the thing fluttering when I lost + my self-control and talked flamboyantly about the head of Tim Gorman. It + was necessary that I should keep a firm grip on myself. I belong to a + class which has lost everything except its sanity. I think it is true of + the Irish aristocracy that even its period of greatest glory, even when + Grattan was waving his arms and shouting "Esto Perpetua!", it remained + sane. I have nothing else left of what my forefathers bequeathed to me, + but I still have this temperament. A man clings desperately to the last + remnants of his heritage. + </p> + <p> + The artist's soul is a reality. I admitted that. But it is also a disease. + I had learned to believe in it as a man learns to believe in influenza + when his temperature runs up to 104 degrees and his bones ache furiously. + But there is a difference between admitting the existence of a disease and + deliberately cultivating the germs of it. + </p> + <p> + I crossed 5th Avenue at 32nd Street in great peril of my life, for the + traffic at that point is as wild as the emotions of the artistic soul. + </p> + <p> + It came into my mind that quite possibly the thrills and throbs which Mrs. + Ascher enjoys, of which I myself had a brief and mild experience, are not + only real, but worth while. There may after all be something greater in + the world than common sense. I fell to dreaming of what life might be like + to the man who refused to take it as it is, who insisted on seeing above + him, not silly little twinkling stars, but great worlds coursing through + the infinite spaces of eternity. I ran into a boy carrying books, while I + was thinking about eternity. His books were scattered over the pavement + and I hurt my knee. I decided that my faint longing for what Mrs. Ascher + would call "higher possibilities" is a temptation, something to be + conquered. I finished my meditation with a "Retro Satanas", and returned + to my hotel for luncheon confident that I should come out victor in my + struggle. + </p> + <p> + Ascher has certainly far more determination and force of character than I + have; but he does not seem able to break himself of the habit of making + money. His wife says that he hates doing it and wants to stop. But he goes + on doing it. He has formed a habit of making money, and habit is almost + unconquerable. It was plainly the path of wisdom for me to check my + tendency towards art at the very beginning, not to allow the habit of + feeling artistically, indeed of feeling at all, to form itself. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> had no idea of + breaking the promise I made Mrs. Ascher; but I felt a certain hesitation + about entering again the Holiest of Holies in the office of Ascher, Stutz + & Co. I was a little afraid of Stutz, who seemed to me a severe man, + very little tolerant of human folly. Still I would have faced Stutz + without shrinking, especially in a good cause. What I really disliked was + the idea of suggesting a business policy to Ascher. The man was + immeasurably my superior in natural ability and in experience. I felt that + I should be guilty of insolence if I offered him any advice, and of + something worse than insolence if I insisted on my advice being taken. Yet + it was just this which Mrs. Ascher expected of me, and I did not want to + disappoint her. + </p> + <p> + It is true that I was a shareholder in the New Excelsior Cash Register + Company. I may have been a director. Gorman said something about my being + a director. I had accepted the office, pledged beforehand to the approval + of Gorman's policy and therefore had no right to intervene. What claim had + I to insist on Ascher's doing this or that? I should not feel myself + justified in calling on an archbishop and insisting on drastic alterations + in the Apostle's Creed. Ascher is at least an archbishop, possibly a + patriarch, or even a cardinal, in that truly catholic church which + worships Mammon. + </p> + <p> + But I had promised. + </p> + <p> + I went to the office next morning, early. Having forgotten to make an + appointment with Ascher beforehand I had to wait some time before I saw + him. I sat in the large anteroom through which I had passed when I first + visited the office with Gorman. Through the glass door I was able to see + the public office outside where men went busily to and fro. + </p> + <p> + I understood just enough about this business of Ascher's to be able to + read romance, the romance which was certainly there, in the movements of + the quiet men who passed and repassed before my eyes, or bent with rarely + lifted heads over huge ledgers, or turned over with deft fingers piles of + papers in stuffed filing boxes. These men were in touch with the furthest + ends of the earth. Coded telegrams fluttered from their hands and went + vibrating across thousands of miles of land or through the still depths of + oceans, over unlighted tracts of ooze on the sea-bottom. In London the + words were read and men set free pent up, dammed streams of money. In + Hongkong the words were read and some steamer went out, laden, from her + harbour. Gold was poured into the hands of tea-planters in Ceylon. Scanty + wages in strange coins, dribbled out to factory workers in Russian cotton + mills. Gangs of navvies went to work laying railway lines across the veldt + in Bechuanaland. There was no end to the energy controlled, directed by + these cable messages, nor any bounds to the field of their influence. + Somewhere in Ireland a farmer would go home along a desolate road, + crossing brown bogs, thirsty and disconsolate, his lean beasts unsold at a + fair where buyers were scarce or shy. What did he know of Ascher or Ascher + know of him? Yet the price which he might take or must refuse for those + hardly reared bullocks of his depended at the end of a long chain, on what + the Aschers in their offices said and did. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps hardly one of all the busy men I watched quite knew what he was + doing. They juggled with figures, made prcis of the reports of money + markets, dissected and analysed the balance sheets of railway companies, + decoded messages from London or from Paris, transcribed formulae as + abstract, as remote from tangible things as the x and y of algebraic + equations. These men all worked—the apologue of the quadratic + equation held my mind—moving their symbols here and there, + extracting roots, dissolving close-knit phrases into factors, cancelling, + simplifying, but always dealing with symbols meaningless, unreal in + themselves. Behind them was Ascher, Ascher and I suppose Stutz, who + expressed realities in formulae, and, when the sums were done, extracted + realities from the formulae again, achieving through the seemingly sterile + processes new facts, fresh grasp of the things which are, greater power to + deal with them. They knew and understood and held the whole world in + leading strings, delicate as silk, invisible, impalpable, but strong. + </p> + <p> + The door of Ascher's private office opened and a man passed out. I glanced + at him. He was a clean-shaved, keen-eyed, square-jawed man, the type which + American business methods have produced, a man of resource and quick + decision, but a man, so I guessed, who dealt with things, and money only + as the price of things, the reward of making them. He lacked, so I felt, + something of the fine spirituality of Ascher, the scientific abstraction + of the man who lives in a rarer atmosphere of pure finance. + </p> + <p> + A clerk at my elbow invited me to leave my place and take my turn with + Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I could not bring myself to plunge straightway into my business. I began + by pretending that I had no real business at all. + </p> + <p> + "Any chance," I asked, "of our being travelling companions again? I am + leaving New York almost at once." + </p> + <p> + "I'm afraid not," said Ascher. "I've a great deal to do here still." + </p> + <p> + "Those Mexican affairs?" + </p> + <p> + "Those among others." + </p> + <p> + "The Government here seems to be making rather a muddle of Mexico," I + said. + </p> + <p> + Opinion on this subject was, so far as I knew, nearly unanimous among + business men. Everyone who owned shares in Mexican companies, everyone who + had invested hopefully a little while before in Mexican railways, everyone + who had any kind of interest in Mexico was of the same opinion about the + inaction of the American Government. + </p> + <p> + "I think it is a muddle," said Ascher, "but the idea in the minds of the + men who are making the muddle is a fine one. If only the world could be + worked on those principles——" + </p> + <p> + "But it can't." + </p> + <p> + "Not yet," said Ascher. "Perhaps never. Yet the idea on which the + Government in Washington proceeds is a noble one. Respect for + constitutional order should be a greater thing as a principle of + statesmanship than obvious expediency." + </p> + <p> + The man's unnatural detachment of view worried me. It was the same when + Gorman blared out his stereotyped abuse of financiers, his well-worn + cliches about money kings and poison spiders. Ascher agreed with him. + Ascher, apparently, had some approval for the doctrinaire + constitutionalism of university professors turned diplomats. I could not + follow him to those heights of his. + </p> + <p> + "I was thinking," I said, "of going home by way of the West Indies." + </p> + <p> + "Yes? You will find it very agreeable. I was there in 1903 and remember + enjoying myself greatly." + </p> + <p> + "I wish you and Mrs. Ascher would come too. It would be much pleasanter + for me if I had you with me. + </p> + <p> + "It's very kind of you to say so; but——" + </p> + <p> + "Besides," I said, "I should see so much more. If I go by myself I shall + step from a steamer into an hotel and from an hotel into a steamer. I + shall be forced to buy a Baedeker, if there is a Baedeker for those + regions. I shall be a tourist of the ordinary kind. But if I travelled + with you I should really see things." + </p> + <p> + Ascher took up the telephone receiver. + </p> + <p> + "If you like," he said, "I can give you letters of introduction to our + correspondents wherever you go. They are bankers, of course, but you will + find them intelligent men." + </p> + <p> + He summoned a clerk. + </p> + <p> + "If you give me an idea of your route——" he said. + </p> + <p> + "At present," I said, "my plans are very vague. I haven't settled + anything. Perhaps you will give me your advice." + </p> + <p> + He drew a sheet of paper towards him and began to write. + </p> + <p> + "You ought to see the work at Panama," he said. "It is very interesting + and of course of immense importance. Certainly you must see that. + Afterwards——" + </p> + <p> + He scribbled on his sheet of paper, making lists of place names and adding + notes about ways of travelling. + </p> + <p> + "If you go further south still——" he said. "I don't recommend + the Amazon, a huge river of course, but unless you are interested in + rubber or entomology. The insect life I believe——" + </p> + <p> + "I'm interested in everything," I said, "even insects which bite." + </p> + <p> + "Well, Para, perhaps, then south again. The South American ports are worth + seeing." + </p> + <p> + A clerk entered while he was speaking. Ascher handed him the list he had + written. + </p> + <p> + "Look out the names of our agents in these places," he said, "and have + letters of introduction made out to them for Sir James Digby." + </p> + <p> + The clerk left the room and I thanked Ascher warmly. It seemed to me that + he was taking a great deal of trouble for which he could expect no kind of + reward. He waved my gratitude aside. + </p> + <p> + "I think," he said, "that our agents will be able to make your trip + interesting for you. They can tell you what you want to know about the + trade and the natural wealth of the places you visit. They will put you in + the way of finding out the trend of political feeling. It is their + business to know these things, and in visiting new countries—new in + the sense that they have only lately felt the influences of our + civilisation—it is just these things that you will want to know. If + you were going to Italy, or Egypt, or Greece——" + </p> + <p> + Ascher sighed. I felt that he would have preferred Italy to Brazil if he + had been travelling for pleasure. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, there," I said, "an artist or a scholar would be a better friend to + have than a banker." + </p> + <p> + "Even there," said Ascher, "the present and the future matter more than + the past, perhaps. But are you tied at all by time? The tour which I have + indicated will take some months." + </p> + <p> + "I am an idle man," I said. "I shall go on as long as your introductions + last, gathering knowledge which will not be the slightest use to me or any + one else." + </p> + <p> + "I had better provide you with a circular letter of credit," said Ascher. + "It is never wise to carry considerable sums about in your pocket." + </p> + <p> + We had got to money, to business in the strictest sense of the word. My + opportunity had plainly come for attacking the subject of the cash + register. Yet I hesitated. A banker ought to be the easiest man in the + world to talk business to. There is no awkwardness about the subject of + toothache in a dentist's parlour. He expects to be talked to about teeth. + It ought to have been an equally simple thing to speak to Ascher about the + future of a company in which we were both interested. Yet I hesitated. + There was something in his manner, a grave formality, which kept me miles + away from him. I thanked him for the promise of the letter of credit and + then sat silent for a minute. + </p> + <p> + "By the way," said Ascher, "I have just had a visit from a man on business + in which you are interested." + </p> + <p> + "Was that the man who passed me in the anteroom before I was shown in + here?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. He came to talk to me about Gorman's new cash register. He was not + an accredited agent, you will understand. He did not profess to represent + anybody. He was not empowered to treat with us in any way, but——" + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + "I understand," I said, "a sort of informal ambassador who could easily be + disowned if anything he said turned out to be inconvenient. In politics + men of that sort are very useful; but I somehow had the idea that business + methods are more straightforward." + </p> + <p> + "All negotiations," said Ascher, "whether in politics or business are + carried on in much the same way. But before I go into his suggestions I + had better tell you how the matter stands. Mildmay sent us his report and + it was entirely favourable to the new machine. I think the invention is + likely to turn out a valuable property. We have made inquiries and find + out that the patent rights are duly protected here and in all the chief + European countries. In fact——" + </p> + <p> + "It was really that and not my travels which I came to talk to you about + to-day. I may take it that we have got a good thing." + </p> + <p> + "We think so," said Ascher, "and our opinion is confirmed by the fact that + we are not the only people who think so. If I am right about the man who + visited me this morning we have very good evidence that our opinion is + sound. The men who are in the best position to know about cash registers, + who are most interested in their future——" + </p> + <p> + "The makers of the existing machines?" + </p> + <p> + "Exactly. That is to say, if I am right about my visitor." + </p> + <p> + "But how did they—how could any one know about Tim Gorman's + invention?" + </p> + <p> + Ascher shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + "Surely," I said, "Gorman can't have been such a fool as to talk to + newspaper reporters." + </p> + <p> + "We need not suppose so," said Ascher. "My experience is that anything + worth knowing always is known. The world of business is a vast whispering + gallery. There is no such thing as secrecy." + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "the main point is that this man did know. What did he + want?" + </p> + <p> + "He wanted us to sell the patent rights," said Ascher. "What he said was + that he had a client—he posed as some kind of commission agent—who + would pay a substantial sum for them." + </p> + <p> + "That is just what Gorman said would happen once it was understood that + your firm is behind the new company." + </p> + <p> + "Gorman is—well, astute. But you understand, I am sure, that we + cannot do that kind of business." + </p> + <p> + "I always had a suspicion," I said, "that Gorman's scheme was fishy." + </p> + <p> + "I do not say fishy," said Ascher. "Gorman's plan is legitimate, + legitimate business, but business of an unenlightened kind. What is wrong + with Gorman is that he does not see far enough, does not grasp the root + principle of all business. We have a valuable invention. I do not mean + merely an invention which will put money into the pocket of the inventor + and into our pockets. If it were valuable only in that way Gorman would be + quite right, and our wisest course would be to take what we could get with + the least amount of risk and trouble, in other words to accept the best + price which we could induce the buyers to give us. But this invention is + valuable in quite another way. The new machine, if we are right about it, + is going to facilitate the business of retail sellers all over the world. + It will save time, increase accuracy, and, being cheaper, make its way + into places where the old machines never went." + </p> + <p> + "Ah," I said, "curiously enough I looked at the matter in that way when + Gorman first mentioned it to me. I said that the world ought to get the + benefit of this invention." + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + "I see that," I went on. "I understand that way of looking at it. But + surely that's altruism, not business. Business men don't risk their money + with the general idea of benefiting humanity. That isn't the way things + are done." + </p> + <p> + "I agree," said Ascher. "It's not the way things are done or can be done + at present, though there is more altruism in business than most people + think. Even we financiers——" + </p> + <p> + "I know you subscribe to charity," I said, "largely, enormously." + </p> + <p> + "That's not what I mean," said Ascher. "But we need not go into that. I + believe that business is not philanthropy, finance is not altruism." + </p> + <p> + "Then why——?" I said. "On strict business principles, altruism + apart, why not take what we can get out of Tim Gorman's invention and let + the thing itself drop into the dustheap?" + </p> + <p> + "On business principles," said Ascher, "on the strictest business + principles, it would be foolish to do that. From time to time men hit on + some improvement in the way of making things or in the way of dealing with + things after they are made, that is to say in business methods. Every such + improvement increases the wealth of the world, tends to make everybody + richer. This invention which we have got hold of is a small thing. It's + only going to do a little, a very little to make the world richer, but it + is going to do something for it is going to lessen the labour required for + certain results and therefore is going to increase men's power, a little, + just a little. That is why we must make the thing available, if we can; in + order to add to the general wealth, and therefore to our own wealth. Those + are business principles." + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. I had nothing to say for a moment. Business principles as + he explained them were not the business principles I was accustomed to, + certainly not the business principles on which Gorman acted. After a + minute's silence Ascher went on. + </p> + <p> + "The mistake which is most often made in business," he said, "is to + suppose that we grow rich by taking riches from other men, or that nations + prosper by depriving other nations of prosperity. That would be true if + riches consisted of money, and if there were just so much money and no + more in the world. Then business and finance would be a scramble, in which + the roughest and strongest scrambler would get most. But that is not so." + </p> + <p> + "Isn't it?" I said. "I should have thought that business just is a + scramble." + </p> + <p> + "No," said Ascher, "it is not. Nations grow rich, that is to say, get + comfort, ease, and even luxury, only when other nations are growing rich + too, only because other nations are growing rich." + </p> + <p> + "The way to grow rich," I said, "is to make other people rich. Is that it? + It sounds rather like one of the—what do you call them?—counsels + of perfection in the Gospel." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps it is a religious truth too," said Ascher. "I don't know. I have + never studied religion. Some day I think I shall. There must be a great + deal that is very interesting in the New Testament." + </p> + <p> + "Confound you, Ascher! Is there anything in heaven or earth that you don't + look at from the outside, as if you were some kind of superior epicurean + god?" + </p> + <p> + "I beg your pardon. I ought not to have spoken in that way. You are, no + doubt, a Christian." + </p> + <p> + "Of course I am—in—in a general way." + </p> + <p> + "I have often thought," said Ascher slowly, "that I should like to be. But + from the little I know of that religion——" + </p> + <p> + "I expect you know as much as I do," I said. + </p> + <p> + "It must be," said Ascher, "very hard to be a Christian." + </p> + <p> + I was not going to discuss that point with Ascher. It was bad enough to + have an artistic soul awakened in me by Mrs. Ascher. I could not possibly + allow her husband to lead me to the discovery that I had the other kind of + soul. Nor was it any business of mine to work out harmonies between + Christian ethics and the principles of modern banking. I detest puzzles of + all kinds. It is far better, at all events far more comfortable, to take + life as one finds it, a straightforward, commonplace affair. I have the + greatest respect for Christianity of a moderate, sensible kind and I + subscribe to the funds of the Church of Ireland. But when it comes to + practical matters I find myself in agreement with Wordsworth's "Rob Roy", + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="indent20"> + "The good old rule + </p> + <p class="indent15"> + Sufficeth me, the simple plan, + </p> + <p class="indent15"> + That they should take who have the power + </p> + <p class="indent15"> + And they should keep who can." + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + So long, of course, as one does not do anything shady. I do not like lying + or theft. + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat looking at me as if he expected me to tell him exactly how hard + it is to be a Christian. I made a determined effort to get back again to + cash registers. + </p> + <p> + "Tim Gorman's invention will get its chance then?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. If we can manage it the thing will get its chance. It will be made + and, I think, people will use it." + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Ascher will be very pleased to hear that." + </p> + <p> + "Ah," said Ascher. "Is she interested? But I remember now. Young Gorman + has been sitting to her. She would naturally be interested in him." + </p> + <p> + "Her idea," I said, "is that Tim Gorman is producing a baby, with all the + usual accompaniments of that difficult business, labour, you know, and + pain. She regards you as the doctor in attendance, and she thinks it would + be exceedingly wrong of you to choke the little thing." + </p> + <p> + Ascher looked at me quite gravely. For a moment I was afraid that he was + going to say something about the paradoxical brilliance of the Irish mind. + I made haste to stop him. + </p> + <p> + "That's Mrs. Ascher's metaphor," I said, "not mine. I should never have + thought of it. I don't know enough about the artistic soul to appreciate + the feelings of people who give birth to cash registers. But the idea is + plain enough. Tim Gorman will be bitterly disappointed if he does not see + girls in cheap restaurants putting actual shillings into those machines of + his." + </p> + <p> + "From my wife's point of view," said Ascher, "and from mine, too, that + ought to be an important consideration. It's the artist's feeling; but + business and art—unfortunately business and art——" + </p> + <p> + "I don't see why they shouldn't kiss and be friends," I said. "They're not + nearly such irreconcilable enemies as business and religion. Now that + those two have lain down together like a lion and a lamb—I don't + quite see how they do it, but in that new philosophy of yours it seemed + quite a simple matter—there's no real reason why art shouldn't come + in too." + </p> + <p> + But Ascher shook his head. He did not seem hopeful of a marriage between + art and business. He knows a good deal about both of them, far more, by + his own confession, than he knows about religion. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>scher was very + generous to me in the matter of letters of introduction. A large bundle of + them arrived at my hotel two days after I paid my visit to his office. + There must have been fifty or sixty of them altogether. I sent for an + atlas and found that I had a friend ready made for me in every port of any + importance in the West Indies and on the east coast of South America as + far down as Buenos Aires, and in a good many places inland. I was + fascinated by the idea of such a tour; but it was plainly not an excursion + to be undertaken without care and consideration. I lingered in New York + for a fortnight, buying some additional clothes, getting together a few + books on the South American republics, and working out steamboat routes. + </p> + <p> + I saw young Tim Gorman. He called on me, sent by Mrs. Ascher, to thank me + for my good offices. I deserved no thanks; but on the general principle of + taking what I could get I allowed the boy to pour gratitude all over me. + </p> + <p> + "I think," I said, "you ought to do fairly well out of the thing, + financially, I mean." + </p> + <p> + "I don't care about that," said Tim, "at least not exactly. I—I——" + he hesitated for a moment and then blurted out, "I don't particularly want + to be rich." + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is precisely how you ought to feel at your age, but when + you get to be forty—I'm forty, so I know—you'll probably be + glad enough to have some money." + </p> + <p> + "I want some money now," said Tim. "Do you think I could get——? + How much do you think I'll get out of my cash register?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "it's hard to name an exact figure, but it will be + something pretty substantial." + </p> + <p> + "One thousand dollars?" said Tim anxiously. + </p> + <p> + "A great deal more than that. If Mr. Ascher makes the arrangements he + contemplates you'll get a great deal more." + </p> + <p> + I had only the vaguest idea what Ascher meant to do, and could make no + kind of guess at how much Tim would ultimately get, but I felt pretty safe + in promising two hundred pounds. + </p> + <p> + "Do you think I could get it at once?" said Tim. "Or even five hundred + dollars? I think I could manage with five hundred dollars. The fact is——" + </p> + <p> + "You want to get out of that circus," I said. "I don't wonder. It must be + a very tiresome job." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no. I don't mind the circus. It's rather a nuisance of course moving + about, and we always are moving. But I have plenty of time to myself. It + isn't to get away from the circus that I want the money. The fact is that + I'm making some experiments." + </p> + <p> + "Another invention?" I said. "What a prolific creature you are! No sooner + have you perfected a cash register than you start——" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I've been at this for some time, for years. I believe I've hit on a + dodge—— I say, do you know anything about movies?" + </p> + <p> + The word, though common on our side of the Atlantic now, was at that time + peculiar to the American language. + </p> + <p> + "Cinematographs?" I said. "I've seen them of course. You have them in your + circus, haven't you, as part of the show?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. That's what set me thinking about them. I've always felt that the + next step in perfecting the cinematograph would be doing away with the + screen, putting the figures on the stage, that is to say reflections of + them, so that they would actually move about backwards and forwards + instead of on a flat surface. You understand?" + </p> + <p> + When I was a boy there was a popular entertainment known as "Pepper's + Ghost." What appeared to be a real figure moved about before the eyes of + the audience, was pierced by swords and otherwise ill-treated without + suffering any inconvenience. The thing was worked by some arrangement of + mirrors. Tim evidently had a plan for combining this illusion with the + cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you think," he said, "that it would be a great thing?" + </p> + <p> + "It would be a perfectly beastly thing," I said. "The cinematograph is bad + enough already. If you add a grosser realism to it——" + </p> + <p> + Tim looked at me. I am nearly sure that there were tears in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + "That's just what Mrs. Ascher thinks," he said. + </p> + <p> + "I daresay she does. She probably regards the cinematograph as a sin + against art. What you propose would be an actual blasphemy." + </p> + <p> + "Oh," said Tim, "that's exactly what she said. Blasphemy! Do you really + think so too? I wouldn't go on with my experiments if I thought that. But + I don't believe you can be right. I—I went round to see Father + Bourke. That was after Mrs. Ascher said it was blasphemy and I really + wanted to know. Father Bourke is one of the priests at St. Gabriel's. I + consulted him." + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "what did he tell you?" + </p> + <p> + "He said it was all right and that I needn't bother about what Protestants + said was blasphemy. They don't know. At least Father Bourke seemed to + think they couldn't know." + </p> + <p> + "You go by what Father Bourke says and you'll be safe." + </p> + <p> + I should particularly like to hear Father Bourke and Mrs. Ascher arguing + out the subject of blasphemy together. They might go on for years and + years before either of them began to understand what the other meant by + the word. But it would be little less than a crime to involve the simple + soul of Tim Gorman in the maze of two separate kinds of casuistry. + </p> + <p> + "In any case," I said, "I don't take Mrs. Ascher's view of the matter. I + don't agree with her." + </p> + <p> + "I don't see," said Tim, "how cinematographs can be blasphemies so long as + there aren't any pictures of religious things. I'm sure it must be all + right and I can go on with what I want to do. If I can succeed in making + the figures stand out from one another, as if they were really there——" + </p> + <p> + "You'll add a new terror to life," I said. "But that needn't stop you + doing it if you can." + </p> + <p> + "I think I can," he said eagerly. "You see it's the next thing to be done. + The cinematograph is perfect up to that point. It must make a new start if + it's to go any further. I should like to be the man who makes the next + step possible. What's wanted now is—is——" + </p> + <p> + "The illusion of distance." + </p> + <p> + "That's it. That's what I mean. It's a matter of optics. Just making a few + adjustments, and I think I see the way to manage it." + </p> + <p> + "If you do," I said, "you'll make an immense fortune. The world will pay + anything, absolutely anything to the man who provides it with a new + torture. It's an odd twist in human nature—though I don't know why I + should say that. Oddness is really the normal thing in human nature." + </p> + <p> + "But I want a thousand dollars," said Tim, "or five hundred dollars at the + very least. I must try experiments." + </p> + <p> + "If you ask your brother——" I said. + </p> + <p> + "Michael isn't nice to me about it," said Tim. "He isn't nice at all. When + I asked him for a thousand dollars he said he'd get it for me on condition + that I allowed him to manage my cash register in his own way. But I won't + do that. I know what he wants to do." + </p> + <p> + "His idea," he said, "is to let your invention lapse." + </p> + <p> + "I know. The machine will never be made. But I want it to be made. I want + to see it working everywhere all over the world. You see I'm always + travelling about with the circus, sometimes in America, sometimes in + England. We go to a lot of different towns. We go to all the big towns + there are. I want to be able to go into shops everywhere, in every town in + the world and see my machine there. Don't you understand?" + </p> + <p> + "Perfectly," I said. "Mrs. Ascher explained the whole position to me + thoroughly. It's the artist's soul in you." + </p> + <p> + A look of puzzled annoyance came over the boy's face. His forehead + wrinkled and his fine eyes took an expression of painful doubt as they met + mine. + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Ascher says things like that," he said, "and I don't know what she + means. I am not an artist. I never learned to draw, even; at least not + pictures. I can do geometrical drawing, of course, and make plans of + machines; but that's not being an artist. I can't paint. Why does she say + I am an artist?" + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is one of her little mannerisms. You will have to put up + with it." + </p> + <p> + Tim uses the word artist in a simple old-fashioned way, very much as + Father Bourke uses "blasphemy." There is a good deal to be said for their + practice. People like Mrs. Ascher ought to invent new terms when they want + to express uncommon thoughts. They have no right to borrow words like + "artist" and "blasphemy" from common speech in order to set them parading + about the world with novel meanings attached to them. It is not fair to + people like Tim Gorman and his Father Bourke. It is not fair to the words + themselves. I should not like to be treated in that way if I were a word. + I cannot imagine anything more annoying to a respectable, steady-going + word than to be called upon suddenly to undertake work to which it is not + accustomed. The domestic housemaid is perfectly right in resisting any + effort to make her do new kinds of work. Her formula, "It's not my place," + used when she is asked to make a slice of toast, is unanswerable. Why + should words be worse treated than housemaids? It is the business of + "artist" to stand for the man who paints pictures in oils. "Blasphemy" + describes aggravated breaches of the third commandment. What right had + Mrs. Ascher or any one else to press them into new services? There ought + to be a strong trade union among words. + </p> + <p> + "And now," said Tim, "she says I'm not an artist after all because I want + to make movies more real. And she's angry with me. She turned me out of + her studio because I wouldn't promise not to. Of course, I wouldn't + promise such a thing. I think I see how it can be done. The great + difficulty is to secure an exact adjustment of the mirrors. There are + other difficulties. There's the awkwardness of transparent figures + crossing in front of each other. Also——" + </p> + <p> + "My dear boy," I said, "don't explain the thing to me. I am totally + incapable of understanding anything connected with mechanics, optics or + hydrostatics." + </p> + <p> + I can make as good an attempt as most men at replying intelligently to + Mrs. Ascher even when she talks of "values", "atmospheres", "feeling" and + "sympathy", though her use of these familiar words conveys only the + vaguest ideas to my mind. I can, after a period of intense mental effort, + understand what Ascher means by exchanges, premiums, discounts and bills, + though he uses these words in unfamiliar ways. But I am defeated utterly + by the man who talks about escapements, compensating balances and + clutches. I suspected that Tim Gorman would pelt me with even more + recondite scientific terms if I let things go on. + </p> + <p> + "You may take my word for it," I said, "that you'll get a thousand dollars + and more, in the end; but you may have to wait for it. In the meanwhile + keep on thinking out your plan for doubling the horrors of our places of + popular entertainment." + </p> + <p> + That was all I could do for Tim Gorman. I do not think that he deserved + more than cold comfort and disagreeable advice. I might have given him, or + lent him, a little money, if he had been at work on a really useful + invention, something which would benefit humanity. There are lots of such + things waiting to be invented. There ought to be some way of stabbing a + man who insists on ringing you up on the telephone at unreasonable hours + and saying tiresome things. We cannot claim to be civilised until we have + some weapon for legitimate self defence attached to every telephone, + something which could be operated easily and swiftly by pressing a button + at the side of the receiver. It is not necessary that the man at the other + end of the wire should be struck dead, but he ought to suffer severe + physical pain. If Tim Gorman would turn his inventive genius in that + direction, I should not hesitate to advance money to him, even to the half + of my possessions. + </p> + <p> + I called on Mrs. Ascher again before I left New York. I wanted to hear her + version of the misunderstanding with Tim. I went, of course, to the + studio, not to the hotel. Mrs. Ascher is at her best in the studio. + Besides I was much more likely to find her there than anywhere else. + </p> + <p> + She was hard at work when I entered on a figure, at least two feet high, + of a man of very fine muscular development. I glanced at it and then asked + where Tim Gorman's head was. + </p> + <p> + "You know," I said, "that I admired that piece of work greatly." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher waved her hand towards a table in the darkest corner of the + room. + </p> + <p> + "It's not finished," she said, "and never will be. I've lost all interest + in it. If you like it take it away. I'll give it to you with pleasure." + </p> + <p> + I found poor Tim, not even swathed in wet bandages, among a litter of half + finished fauns and nymphs and several attempts at a smooth-haired dog. + Mrs. Ascher had done very little work at him since I saw him before. She + had, in pursuance of her own idea, turned half the saucer on which the + head stood into a mat of water-lily leaves. The other half—and I + felt gratified when I saw this—was worked up into an unmistakable + hammer and a number of disproportionately large nails. Tim's face and head + still expressed lofty idealism in the way which had fascinated me when I + first saw the thing. But Mrs. Ascher had evidently neglected some + necessary precaution in dealing with her material. The neck—and + Tim's neck is an unusually long one—had collapsed. A jagged crack + ran half round it close under the right ear. The left side of the neck was + curiously crumpled. The head leaned rakishly towards the water-lily side + of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + I remember hearing once of an irreverent choir boy. At a Christmas party, + a sort of feast of an Abbot of Unreason held in the less sacred parts of + the cathedral precincts, the brat decorated the statue of an Archbishop + with a pink and blue paper cap taken from a cracker. The effect must have + been much the same as that produced by the subsidence of Tim Gorman's + neck. + </p> + <p> + "Do you really mean to give it to me?" I said. "I should like to have it + very much. I should set it up on my writing table and call it + 'Disillusion.' But do you think it will collapse any more?" + </p> + <p> + "Has it collapsed? I suppose it did not dry properly." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not even look at it. + </p> + <p> + "Oh," I said, "the present effect, the cynical contempt for the original + noble spirituality, is the result of an accident? What tricks + circumstances play on us! A slight irregularity in drying and a hero + becomes a clown. The case of 'Imperial Caesar dead and turned to clay' is + not so bad as that of an idealist whose neck has cracked." + </p> + <p> + "I'm dreadfully disappointed in that boy," said Mrs. Ascher. "Will you + forgive me if I do not talk of him? Even now I cannot bear to." + </p> + <p> + She sighed heavily, showing how much she felt the loss of Tim's soul. Then + she turned to me with one of those bright smiles, one of those charmingly + bright smiles, which are the greatest achievements of serious women. Very + religious women, women with artists' souls and the intenser suffragists + have these bright smiles. They work them up, I suppose, so as to show that + they can be as cheerful as any one else when they choose to try. + </p> + <p> + "Come and see what I'm doing now," she said. + </p> + <p> + I looked very carefully at the man's figure in front of her. + </p> + <p> + "This," she said, "is manhood, virility, energy, simple strength, + directness, all that this poor neurotic world is yearning for, the primal + force, uncomplex, untroubled, just the exultation of the delight of + being." + </p> + <p> + "It reminds me faintly of some one," I said, "the head and face, I mean; + but I can't quite fix the likeness." + </p> + <p> + She clapped her hands with delight. + </p> + <p> + "You see it," she said, "I am so glad. It's not meant to be a mere + likeness. I need not tell you that. Still I'm glad you see that it + resembles him. I am working to express his soul, the mere features, the + limbs, are nothing. The being which burns within, that is what I am trying + to express. But the fact that you see the external likeness makes me feel + more sure that my interpretation of the physical features is the right + one." + </p> + <p> + "Surely," I said, "it's not Gorman, the other Gorman, the elder Gorman, + Michael!" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she said. + </p> + <p> + "Has he been sitting for you?" I asked. + </p> + <p> + I stopped myself just in time. I was very nearly saying "sitting to you + like that?" The figure on which she was at work was entirely undraped. I + do not suppose that Mrs. Ascher would have been the least embarrassed even + if I had said "like that." The artist's soul scorns conventions. But I + should have felt awkward if she had answered "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "Not exactly sitting to me," she said. "He just comes here and talks. + While he talks I catch glimpses of his great, buoyant, joyous soul and + fashion the poor clay to express it." + </p> + <p> + "I did not know he was back in New York," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, he has been here a week, perhaps more. To me it seems as if he + had been here for ever." + </p> + <p> + I could not even guess at what she meant by that so I did not try to + answer her. + </p> + <p> + "I wonder he didn't look me up," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," said Mrs. Ascher, "he has had no time. That abundant, restless + energy of his is for ever pressing out into fresh activities." + </p> + <p> + I gathered, more from her tone than from her actual words that only an + effete, devitalised creature would call on me. A man of abundant energy + would naturally sit half the day in Mrs. Ascher's studio, while she made a + fancy body for him in damp clay. + </p> + <p> + She clasped her hands and gazed with rapt intensity at the statue of + Gorman's soul. + </p> + <p> + "His patriotism!" she said. "After living in that atmosphere of nebulous + cosmopolitanism which is what we hypercivilised people have created in the + world, it is everything to get back to the barbaric simplicity of the old + love for country." + </p> + <p> + "Did he happen to mention," I asked, "whether he succeeded in wheedling + five thousand dollars out of that Detroit man?" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not hear that; or if she did chose to ignore it. + </p> + <p> + "The splendid destiny of Ireland," she said, "has been to escape age after + age the malarial fever of culture. The Romans never touched her shores. + The renaissance passed her by. She has not bowed the knee to our modern + fetish of education. You and I have our blood diluted with——" + </p> + <p> + Gorman must have been at his very best while he talked to Mrs. Ascher. He + had evidently made a kind of whirlpool of her mind. Her version of his + philosophy of history and politics seemed to me to be going round and + round in narrowing circles with confusing speed. The conception of the + Romans as apostles of the more malarial kinds of culture was new to me. I + had been brought up to believe—not that any one does believe this as + an actual fact—that Ireland was once and to some extent still is, an + island of Saints and Scholars. I did not obtain any very clear idea of + what Mrs. Ascher's blood was diluted with, but there must have been + several ingredients, for she went on talking for quite a long time. When + she stopped I made a protest on behalf of my country. + </p> + <p> + "We're not so backward as all that," I said. "We have a Board of National + Education and quite a large number of technical schools. In the convents + they teach girls to play the piano." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shook her head slowly. I gathered that she knew much more + about Irish education than I did and regarded it as unworthy even of + serious contempt. + </p> + <p> + "Dear Ireland!" she said, "splendid Ireland!" + </p> + <p> + I suppose Gorman must have been talking to her about fairies, the + dignified, Celtic kind, and the dear dark head of Kathleen ni Houlihan. + Gorman is capable of anything. However as my country was being admired I + thought I might as well get a little of the credit for myself. + </p> + <p> + "I am an Irishman," I said. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at me with withering scorn. + </p> + <p> + "You," she said, "you—you—you are——" + </p> + <p> + She was evidently in difficulties. I helped her out as best I could. + </p> + <p> + "An Irish gentleman," I said. + </p> + <p> + "An alien," she replied, "a stranger in the land you call your own." + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is just what I say, put more forcibly and picturesquely." + </p> + <p> + Then Gorman came in, without knocking at the door. I was very glad to see + him. In another minute Mrs. Ascher and I would, perhaps, have quarrelled. + Gorman saved us from that catastrophe. I do not think I ever understood + before that moment the secret of Gorman's charm. He came into that studio, + a place charged with the smell of damp clay, like a breeze from a nice + green field. He was in a thoroughly good temper. I suspect that he hurt + Mrs. Ascher's hand when he shook it. + </p> + <p> + "I've just been looking at Mrs. Ascher's statue of your soul," I said. + "Splendid muscles in the calves of its legs. You must be enormously proud + of them." + </p> + <p> + Gorman, under pretence of seeking a place in which to put his hat, turned + his back on Mrs. Ascher for a minute. As he did so he deliberately winked + at me. + </p> + <p> + Some day I mean to get Gorman in a private place, "away from everywhere," + as Mrs. Ascher would say. When I get him there I shall ask him two + questions and insist on having an answer. First I shall ask him why he + devotes himself to Mrs. Ascher. He is not in love with her. We Irish have + not many virtues, but we can boast that we seldom make love to other men's + wives. Besides, Mrs. Ascher is not the kind of woman who allows strange + men to make love to her. She is, in essentials, far less emancipated than + she thinks. It is just possible that he finds her responsive to his + fondness for the more flamboyant kinds of rhetoric. Gorman really likes + talking about Ireland as an oppressed and desolated land. It is easy + enough to move large audiences to enthusiasm by that kind of oratory. It + is not so easy, I imagine, to get single, sympathetic listeners in private + life. Mrs. Ascher apparently laps up patriotic sentiment with loud purrs. + That may be why Gorman likes her. The next thing I mean to ask him is what + he means by patriotism. I can understand quite easily what Irish + patriotism meant ten years ago. Gorman's friends wanted my land, a + definite, tangible thing. I wanted it myself. But now they have got the + land, and yet Gorman goes on talking patriotism. It is not as if he had no + sense of humour. Gorman sees the absurdity of the things he says just as + plainly as I do. The ridiculous side of his own enthusiasm is never long + absent from his consciousness; yet he goes on just the same. I wish I + understood how he manages it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">N</span>ow that my leg has + been smashed up hopelessly, by that wretched German shell, I shall never + ride or shoot again. I have to content myself with writing books to occupy + my time, a very poor form of amusement compared to tramping the fields + after partridge. I suppose it is inevitable that a man in my position + should indulge in regretful memories. My mind goes back now and then to + certain days in my boyhood and I find myself picturing scenes through + which I shall not move again. + </p> + <p> + There are fields stretching back from the demesne which used to be mine. + In the autumn many of them were stubble fields and among them were gorse + covered hills. I used to go through them with my gun and dogs in early + October mornings. There were—no doubt there still are, though I + shall not see them—very fine threads of gossamer stretching across + astonishingly wide spaces. The dew hung on them in tiny drops and + glittered when the sun rose clear of the light mist and shone on them. + Sometimes the threads floated free in the air, attached to some object at + one end, the rest borne about by faint breaths of wind, waved to and fro, + seeking other attachment elsewhere. Some threads reached from tufts of + grass to little hummocks or to the twigs which form the boles of elm + trees. Others still, with less ambitious span, went only from one blade of + grass to another or united the thorns of whin bushes. The lower air, near + the earth, was full of these threads. They formed an indescribably + delicate net cast right over the fields and hills. I used to see them + glistening, rainbow coloured when the sun rays struck them. Oftener I was + aware of their presence only when my hands had touched and broken them or + when they clung to my clothes, dragged from their fastenings by my passing + through them. + </p> + <p> + I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy of + nature. I find it difficult to believe that the life of the fields and + gorsy hills and young plantations would be either better or worse if there + were no such thing as gossamer. But I am no longer contented with my + ignorance. I mean to find out all that is known about gossamer, and + satisfy myself of the truth of the tradition that the threads are spun by + tiny spiders, though surely with very little hope of snaring flies. + </p> + <p> + I spent six months making the tour which Ascher planned for me. I returned + to London in the spring of 1914, full of interest in what I had seen and + learned. I intend some day to write a book of travels, to give an account + of my experiences. I shall describe the long strip of the world over which + I wandered as a landscape on a quiet autumn morning, netted over with + gossamer. That is the way it strikes me now, looking back on it all. + Ascher and men like him have spun fine threads, covering every civilised + land with a web of credit, infinitely complex, so delicate that a child's + hand could tear it. + </p> + <p> + A storm, even a strong breeze comes, and the threads are dragged from + their holdings and waved in wild confusion through the air. A man, brutal + as war, goes striding through the land, and, without knowing what he does, + bursts the filaments and destroys the shimmering beauty which was before + he came. That, I suppose, is what happens. But the passing of a man, + however violent he is, is the passing of a man and no more. Even if a + troop of men marches across the land their marching is over and done with + soon. They have their day, but afterwards there are other days. Nature is + infinitely persistent and gossamer is spun again. + </p> + <p> + I remember meeting, quite by chance, on a coasting steamer on which I + travelled, a bishop. He was not, judged by strict ecclesiastical + standards, quite entitled to that rank. He belonged to some American + religious organisation of which I had no knowledge, but he called himself, + on the passenger list, Bishop Zacchary Brown. He was apostolic in his + devotion to the Gospel as he understood it. His particular field of work + lay in the northern part of South America. He ranged, so I understood, + through Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. He was full of hope for the + future of these lands, their spiritual future. I had long talks with him + and discovered that he regarded education, the American form of it, and + commerce, the fruit of American enterprise, as the enemies of superstition + and consequently the handmaids of the Gospel. + </p> + <p> + He wanted to see schools and colleges scattered over the republic in which + he was interested. He wanted to see these lands heavily fertilised with + capital. + </p> + <p> + "If you have any spare money," he said, "put it into——" + </p> + <p> + I think he said fruit farming in Colombia. Whatever the business was—I + forgot at the time to make a note of the particulars—he promised + that it would develop enormously when the Panama Canal was opened. The + advice may have been perfectly sound; but I do not think it was + disinterested. Bishop Zacchary Brown was not anxious about my future or my + fortune. He did not care, cannot have cared, whether the Panama Canal made + me rich or not. Nor did it seem to him an important thing that the fruit + trade of South America should develop. What he cared for was his + conception of religion. He saw in the inflow of capital the way of triumph + for his Gospel, the means of breaking up old careless, lazy creeds, the + infusion of energy and love of freedom. Ascher, so I conceived the + situation, was to stretch his threads from Calvary to the grapefruit trees + of Cartagena. + </p> + <p> + At Bahia I was introduced to a Brazilian statesman. I met him first at the + house of one of Ascher's banker friends. We talked to each other in + French, and, as we both spoke the language badly, understood each other + without much difficulty. It is one of the peculiarities of the French + language that the worse it is spoken the easier it is to understand. A + real Parisian baffles me completely. My Brazilian statesman was almost + always intelligible. + </p> + <p> + He was interested in international politics, the international politics of + the western hemisphere. I found that he was distrustful of the growing + power of the United States. He suspected a policy of Empire, a + far-reaching scheme of influence, if not actual dominion, centred in + Washington. He regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the root from which such an + extension of power might grow. It was no business of mine to argue with + him, though I am convinced that the citizens of the United States are of + all peoples the least obsessed by the imperial idea. I tried, by looking + sympathetic, to induce him to develop his theory. In the end I gathered + that he hoped for security from the imperial peril through the increase of + wealth and therefore power in the South American republics. + </p> + <p> + "Our natural resources," he said, "are enormous, but undeveloped. We + cannot become strong in a military sense. We cannot possess fleets with + which to negotiate——" + </p> + <p> + I should have said "threaten" instead of "negotiate" for that was plainly + what he meant. But statesmen have to be careful in their use of words. + </p> + <p> + "—Unless we can obtain capital with which to develop our wealth. The + great money-lending countries, England and France, ought in their own + interests to pour capital into our republics. The return, in the end, + would be enormous. But more important still, they would establish a + balance of power in the western world. Why do not your financiers + understand?" + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher. Battleships are to be towed across the ocean, from the ship + yards of the Clyde to these far-off seas, at the ends of the gossamer + threads which Ascher spins. The Gospel and international politics are + caught in the same web. I seemed to see Diocletian the Emperor and Saint + John, who said, "Love not the world," doing homage together to the power + of capital, leading each other by the hand through the mazes of the system + of credit. + </p> + <p> + I saw beautiful scenes, wide harbours where stately ships lay anchored, + through whose shining gates fleets of steamers trudged. I never escaped + from the knowledge that the gossamer threads stretched from mast to mast, + a rigging more essential than the ropes of hemp and wire. I saw the lines + of steel on which trains go, stretched out across vast prairies, and knew + that they were not in reality lines of steel at all but gossamer threads. + I saw torrents made the slaves of man, the weight of falling water + transmuted into light and heat and force to drive cars swiftly through + city streets; but all the wheels and giant masses of forged steel were + tied together by these same slender threads which Ascher spun in the + shrine of that Greek temple of his, Ascher and his fellow bankers. + </p> + <p> + Always the desire was for more capital. There was room for thousands of + ships instead of hundreds. There were whole territories over which no + trains ran. There was potentiality of wealth so great that, if it were + realised, men everywhere would be raised above the fear of want. A whole + continent was crying out to Ascher that he should fling his web across it, + join point to point with gossamer, in Amazonian jungles, Peruvian mountain + heights, Argentine plains and tropical fruit gardens. + </p> + <p> + I met and talked with many men whose outlook upon life was profoundly + interesting to me. Those whom I came to know best were Englishmen or men + of English origin. Some of them had built up flourishing businesses, + selling the products of English factories. Some acted as the agents of + steamboat companies, arranging for freights and settling the destinations + of ships which went voyaging. Some grew wheat or bred cattle. Like all + Englishmen whose lot is cast in far countries they retained their feeling + for England as a home and became conscious as Englishmen in England seldom + are, of love for their own land. Like all Englishmen they grumbled + ceaselessly at what they loved. + </p> + <p> + They spoke with contempt of everything English. They abused English + business methods and complained that Germans were ousting Englishmen from + the markets of the world. They derided English Government and English + statesmanship, ignoring party loyalties with a fine impartiality. They + decried English social customs, contrasting the freedom of life in the + land of their adoption with the convention-bound ways of their home. Yet + it always was their home. I felt that, even when their contempt expressed + itself in the bitterest words. + </p> + <p> + Whatever their opinions were or their affectations, however widely their + various activities were separated, these men were all consciously + dependent on the smooth working of the system of world-wide credit. + </p> + <p> + They were Ascher's clients, or if not Ascher's, the clients of others like + Ascher. They were in a sense Ascher's dependents. They were united to + England, to Europe, to each other, by Ascher's threads. Whether they bred + cattle and sold them, whether they grew corn, whether they shipped cargoes + or imported merchandise, the gossamer net was over them. + </p> + <p> + I returned to London with these impressions vivid in my mind, perhaps—I + tried to persuade myself of this—too vivid. I had travelled, so I + argued, under the shadow of a great banker. I had gone among bankers. It + was natural, inevitable, that I should see the world through bankers' + eyes. Perhaps credit was not after all the life blood of our civilisation. + I failed to convince myself. The very fact that I could go so far under + the shadow of a bank proves how large a shadow a bank throws. The fact + that Ascher's correspondents brought me into touch with every kind of man, + goes to show that banking has permeated, leavened life, that human society + is saturated with finance. + </p> + <p> + In a very few months, before the end of the summer which followed my + home-coming, I was to see the whole machine stop working suddenly. The war + god stalked across the world and brushed aside, broke, tore, tangled up, + the gossamer threads. Then, long before his march was done, while + awe-struck men and weeping women still listened to the strident clamour of + his arms, the spinners of the webs were at work again, patiently joining + broken threads, flinging fresh filaments across unbridged gulfs, + refastening to their points of attachment the gossamer which seemed so + frail, which yet the storm of violence failed to destroy utterly. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> reached home + early in May and underwent an experience common, I suppose, to all + travellers. + </p> + <p> + The city clerk, returning after a glorious week in Paris, finds that his + family is still interested in the peculiarities of the housemaid, the + Maud, or Ethel of the hour. To him, with his heart enlarged by nightly + visits to the Folies Bergres, it seems at first almost impossible that + any one can care to talk for hours about the misdeeds of Maud. He knows + that he himself was once excited over these domestic problems, but it + seems impossible that he ever can be again. Yet he is. A week passes, a + week of the old familiar life. The voluptuous joys of Parisian music halls + fade into dim memories. The realities of life, the things on which his + mind works, are the new lace curtains for the drawing-room window, the + ridiculous "swank" of young Jones in the office, and the question of the + dismissal of Maud the housemaid. + </p> + <p> + I found London humming with excitement over Irish affairs and for a while + I wondered how any one could think that Irish affairs mattered in the + least. Fresh from my wanderings over a huge continent, Ireland seemed to + me a small place. It took me a week to get my mind into focus again. Then + I began once more to see the Home Rule question as it should be seen. + South America and Ascher's web of international credit sank into their + proper insignificance. + </p> + <p> + I met Malcolmson in my club a week after my return. He very nearly pulled + the buttons off my waistcoat in his eagerness to explain the situation to + me. Malcolmson has a vile habit of grabbing the clothes of any one he + particularly wants to speak to. If the subject is only moderately + interesting he pulls a sleeve or a lappet of a coat. When he has something + very important to say, he inserts two fingers between the buttons of your + waistcoat and pulls. I knew I was in for something thrilling when he towed + me into a quiet corner of the smoking room by my two top buttons. + </p> + <p> + I have known Malcolmson for nearly twenty years. He was adjutant of my old + regiment when I joined. He was senior Major when I resigned my commission. + He became colonel a few years later and then retired to his place near + Belfast, where he has practised political Protestantism ever since. I have + never met any one more sincere than Malcolmson. He believes in civil and + religious liberty. He is prepared at any moment to do battle for his + faith. I do not know that he really deserves much credit for this, because + he is the sort of man who would do battle for the love of it, even if + there were no faith to be fought for. Still the fact remains that he has a + faith—rather a rare possession. + </p> + <p> + When he had me cornered near the window of the smoking room, he told me + that the hour of battle had almost come. Ulster was drilled, more or less + armed, and absolutely united. Rather than endure Home Rule Malcolmson and, + I think, a hundred thousand other men were going to lay down their lives. + It took Malcolmson more than an hour to tell me that because he kept + wandering from the main point in order to abuse the Government and the + Irish Party. Of the two he seemed to dislike the Government more. + </p> + <p> + Irish politics are of all subjects the most wearisome to me; but I must + admit that Malcolmson interested me before he stopped talking. I began to + wish to hear what Gorman had to say about the matter. I could not imagine + that he and his friends contemplated a siege of Belfast, to rank in + history alongside of the famous attempt to starve Derry. + </p> + <p> + There was no difficulty about getting hold of Gorman. In times of furious + political excitement he is sure to be found at the post of duty, that is + to say, in the smoking room of the House of Commons. I wrote to him and + invited him to dine with me in my rooms. It would have been much more + convenient to give him dinner at one of my clubs. But I was afraid to do + that. I belonged to two clubs in London and unfortunately Malcolmson is a + member of both of them. I do not know what would have happened if he had + found himself in the same room with Gorman. The threatened civil war might + have begun prematurely, and Malcolmson is such a determined warrior that a + table fork might easily have become a lethal weapon in his hands. I did + not want to have Gorman killed before I heard his opinion about the Ulster + situation and I disliked the thought of having to explain the + circumstances of his death to the club committee afterwards. There is + always an uncertainty about the view which a club committee will take of + any unusual event. I might very easily have been asked to resign my + membership. + </p> + <p> + Gorman accepted my invitation, but said he would have to be back in the + House of Commons at 9 o'clock. I fixed dinner for half past seven, which + gave me nearly an hour and a half with Gorman, more time than Malcolmson + had required to state his side of the case. + </p> + <p> + But Gorman was very much more difficult to deal with. He was not inclined + to discuss Home Rule or the Ulster situation. He wanted to talk about + Tim's cash register, and, later on, about the new way of putting + cinematograph pictures on the stage. + </p> + <p> + "I have been wandering about since I saw you last," I said, "and I've been + in all sorts of strange places. I've lost touch with things at home. + Hardly ever saw an English newspaper. I want you to tell me——" + </p> + <p> + "Interesting time you must have had," said Gorman. "Run across the trail + of our friend Ascher much? I expect you did." + </p> + <p> + Gorman very nearly sidetracked me there. I was strongly tempted to tell + him about the impression which Ascher's gossamer had made on me. + </p> + <p> + "The slime of the financier," said Gorman, "lies pretty thick over the + world. You've seen those large black slugs which come out in summer after + rain, big juicy fellows which crawl along and leave a shiny track on the + grass. They're financiers." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, "quite so. But tell me about Home Rule." + </p> + <p> + "It's all right. Can't help becoming law. We have it in our pockets." + </p> + <p> + "This time next year," I said, "you'll be sitting in a Parliament in + Dublin." + </p> + <p> + "There'll be a Parliament in Dublin all right this time next year; but I'm + not sure that I'll be in it. After all, you know, Dublin's rather a + one-horse place. I don't see how I could very well live there. I might run + over for an important debate now and then, but——. You see I've + a lot of interests in London. I suppose you've heard about the new Cash + Register Company and what Ascher's done." + </p> + <p> + "Not a word. Do I still hold those shares of mine?" + </p> + <p> + "Unless you've sold them you do; but they'll be very little good to you. + Ascher has simply thrown away a sure thing. We might have had—well, + I needn't mention the sum, but it was a pretty big one. I had the whole + business arranged. Those fellows would have paid up. But nothing would do + Ascher except to put in his spoon. I'm blest if I see what his game is. He + has one of course; but I don't see it." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," I said, "he wants to have your brother's invention worked for + what it's worth." + </p> + <p> + "Rot," said Gorman. "Why should he? I expect he has some dodge for + squeezing us out and then getting a bigger price all for himself; but I'm + damned if I see how he means to work it. These financial men are as + cunning as Satan and they all hang together. We outsiders don't have a + chance." + </p> + <p> + "What about Ulster?" I said. "I was talking to a man last week who told me——" + </p> + <p> + "All bluff," said Gorman. "Nothing in it. How can they do anything? What + Ascher says is that he wants the old company to take up Tim's invention + and work it. There's to be additional capital raised and we're to come in + as shareholders. Ascher, Stutz & Co. will underwrite the new issues + and take three and one-half per cent. That's what he says. But, of course, + that's not the real game. There's something behind." + </p> + <p> + "Doesn't it occur to you that there may be something behind the Ulster + movement too?" + </p> + <p> + "No. What can they do? The Bill will be law before the end of July." + </p> + <p> + "They say they'll fight." + </p> + <p> + "Oh," said Gorman, "we've heard all about that till we're sick of the + sound of it. There's nothing in it. The thing's as plain as anything can + be. We have a majority in Parliament and the bill will be passed. That's + all there is to say. I wish to goodness I saw my way as plainly in the + cash register affair." + </p> + <p> + Gorman's faith in parliamentary majorities is extremely touching. I + suppose that only politicians believe that the voting of men who are paid + to vote really affects things. I doubt whether men of any other profession + have the same whole-hearted faith in the efficacy of their own craft. + Doctors are often a little sceptical about the value of medicines and + operations. No barrister, that I ever met, thinks he achieves justice by + arguing points of law. But politicians, even quite intelligent politicians + like Gorman, seem really to hold that human life will be altered in some + way because they walk round the lobbies of a particular building in London + and have their heads counted three or four times an hour. To me it seemed + quite plain that Malcolmson would not bate an ounce of his devotion to + civil and religious liberty even if Gorman's head were counted every five + minutes for ten years and Gorman were paid a thousand a year instead of + four hundred a year for letting out his head for the purpose. Why should + Malcolmson care how often Gorman is counted? There is in the end only the + original Gorman with his single head. + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow," said Gorman, "I'm keeping in with Mrs. Ascher." + </p> + <p> + He winked at me as he said this. I like Gorman's way of adding explanatory + winks to his remarks. I should frequently miss the meaning, the full + meaning of what he says if he did not help out his words with these + expressive winks. This time he made me understand that he had no great + affection for Mrs. Ascher, regarded her rather as a joke which had worn + thin; but hoped to pick up from her some information about her husband's + subtle schemes. I knew his hopes were vain. In the first place the Aschers + do not talk business to each other and she knows nothing of what he is + doing. In the next place Ascher had no underhand plot with regard to the + cash register. He was acting in a perfectly open and straightforward way. + But Gorman cannot believe that any one is straightforward. That is one of + the drawbacks to the profession of politics. The practice of it destroys a + man's faith in human honesty. + </p> + <p> + "How's Tim?" I asked. "Last time I saw him he was in great trouble because + Mrs. Ascher said he was committing blasphemy." + </p> + <p> + "Tim's in England," said Gorman. "I was rather angry with him myself for a + while. If he had followed my advice about the cash register——. + But Tim always was a fool about money, though he has brains of a sort, + lots of them." + </p> + <p> + "Still working with that circus?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, dear no. Left that months ago. He got some money. No, I didn't give + it to him. I fancy it must have been Ascher. Anyhow he's got it. He's down + in Hertfordshire now, living in a barn." + </p> + <p> + "Why? A barn seems an odd place to live in. Draughty, I should think." + </p> + <p> + "He wanted space," said Gorman, "a great deal of space to work at his + experiments. I'm inclined to think there may be something in this new idea + of his." + </p> + <p> + "The living picture idea? Making real ghosts of the figures?" + </p> + <p> + "That's it. And, do you know, he's getting at it. He showed me some + perfectly astonishing results the other day. If he pulls it off——" + </p> + <p> + "You won't let Ascher get hold of it this time," I said. + </p> + <p> + Gorman frowned. + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't let Ascher touch it if I could help it, but what the devil can + I do? We shall want capital and I suppose Ascher is no worse than the rest + of them." + </p> + <p> + By "them" Gorman evidently meant capitalists in general and financiers in + particular. + </p> + <p> + "That's the way," he said. "Not only do these scoundrels control politics, + reducing the whole system of democracy to a farce——" + </p> + <p> + "Come now," I said, "don't blame the capitalists for that. Democracy would + be a farce if there never was such a thing as a capitalist." + </p> + <p> + "Not content with that," said Gorman, "they keep an iron grip upon + industry. They fatten on the fruits of other men's brains. They hold the + working man in thrall, exploiting his energy for their own selfish greed, + starving his women and children——" + </p> + <p> + Gorman ought to keep that sort of thing for public meetings. It is + thoroughly bad form to make speeches to an audience of one. I must say + that he seldom does. I suppose that his intimate association with Mrs. + Ascher had spoiled his manners in this respect. She encouraged him to be + oratorical. But I am not Mrs. Ascher, and I saw no reason why I should + stand that kind of thing at my own dinner table. + </p> + <p> + "But the day is coming," I said, "when organised labour will rise in its + might and claim its heritage in the fair world which lies bathed in the + sunlight of a nobler age." + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at me doubtfully for an instant, only for a single instant. + Almost immediately his eyes twinkled and he smiled good-humouredly. + </p> + <p> + "You ought to go in for politics," he said. "You really ought. I + apologise. Can't think what came over me to talk like that." + </p> + <p> + I cannot resist Gorman when he smiles. I felt that I too owed an apology. + </p> + <p> + "After all," I said, "you must practise somewhere. I don't blame you in + the least; though I don't profess to like it. No one can do that sort of + thing extempore and if it happens to suit you to rehearse at dinner——" + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense," said Gorman. "There's not the slightest necessity for + practice. I could do it by the hour and work sums in my head at the same + time. Any one could." + </p> + <p> + Gorman is modest. Very few people can make speeches like his, fortunately + for the world. + </p> + <p> + "All the same," he said, reverting abruptly to the starting point of his + speech, "it's a pity we have to let Ascher into this new cinematograph + racket; but we can't help it. In fact I expect he's in already." + </p> + <p> + "Lending money to Tim for experiments?" + </p> + <p> + "He wouldn't do that," said Gorman, "unless he'd made sure of his share of + the spoil afterwards." + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said, "why don't you make a law to suppress Ascher. You + believe in making laws, and, according to your own showing, that would be + a very useful one." + </p> + <p> + Gorman gave me no answer. I knew he could not, because there is no answer + to give. If laws had any effect on life, as Gorman pretends to believe, he + would make one which would do away with Ascher. But he knows in his heart + that he might just as well make a law forbidding the wind to blow from the + east. Instead of taking any notice of my question he pulled out his watch + and looked at it. + </p> + <p> + "Nine o'clock," he said. "I must be off to the House at once. An important + division has been arranged for a quarter past. Just ask your man to call a + taxi, will you?" + </p> + <p> + "Why go?" I said. "If the division is arranged the result will be arranged + too." + </p> + <p> + "Of course it is," said Gorman. "You don't suppose the Whips leave that to + chance." + </p> + <p> + "I must say you manage these things very badly. Here you are smoking + comfortably after dinner, not in the least inclined to stir, and yet you + say you have to go. Why don't you introduce a system of writing cheques? + 'Pay the Whip of my Party or bearer 150 votes. Signed Michael Gorman, M. + P.'" + </p> + <p> + "That's rather a good idea," said Gorman. "It would save a lot of + trouble." + </p> + <p> + "The cheque could be passed in to some sort of clearing house where a + competent clerk, after going over all the cheques, would strike a balance + and place it to the credit of your side or the other. That would be the + Government's Majority, and you wouldn't have to go near the House of + Commons at all except when you wanted to make a speech. I don't think you + need go even then. You might make your speeches quietly in your own home + to a couple of reporters." + </p> + <p> + "It would simplify parliamentary life enormously," said Gorman, "there's + no doubt of that. But I don't think it would do. I don't really. The + people wouldn't stand it." + </p> + <p> + "If the people stand the way you go on at present they'll stand anything." + </p> + <p> + "I wish," said Gorman, "that you'd ring for a taxi." I rang the bell and + five minutes later Gorman left me. He had not told me anything about Home + Rule, or how his party meant to deal with a recalcitrant Ulster. He seemed + very little interested in Ulster. Yet Malcolmson was indubitably in + earnest. I felt perfectly sure about that. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> intended to call + on the Aschers as soon as I could after I returned to London. I owed + Ascher some thanks for his kindness in providing me with letters of + introduction for my tour. However, they heard that I was home again before + I managed to pay my visit. I daresay Gorman told them. He sees Mrs. Ascher + two or three times a week and he must get tired talking about Ireland. A + little item of gossip, like the news of my return, would come as a relief + to Gorman, and perhaps even to Mrs. Ascher, after a long course of poetic + politics mixed with art. + </p> + <p> + I had a note from Mrs. Ascher, in which she invited me to dinner. + </p> + <p> + "Very quietly," she said. "I know my husband would like to have a talk + with you, so I shall not ask any one to meet you. Please fix your own + night. We have no engagements this week." + </p> + <p> + I got the note on Monday and fixed Wednesday for our dinner. I could not + think that Ascher really wanted to talk to me. I did not see what he had + to talk to me about; but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell him + about my tour and to give him some idea of the effect which my glimpse at + his business had produced on my mind. I also wanted to find out what he + thought about Irish affairs. I had heard a good deal more talk about the + Ulster situation. Malcolmson got at me nearly every day, and several other + men, much more level-headed than Malcolmson, seemed to regard the + situation as serious. I heard it hinted that the Army would not relish the + idea of shooting the Ulstermen. I understood the feeling. If I were still + in the Army I should not like to be told to kill Malcolmson. He was my + brother officer at one time, and I found him a good comrade. The same + feeling must exist among the rank and file. Northeast Ulster was, at one + time, a favourite recruiting ground for the Guards. Malcolmson's volunteer + army was leavened with old Guardsmen, reservists, many of them quite well + known to the men still serving in the Brigade. + </p> + <p> + I could not, of course, expect Ascher to be much interested in Irish + affairs. Ireland is the one country in the world over which financiers + have not cast their net, possibly because they would catch next to nothing + there. So we, who escaped the civilisation of Roman law, almost escaped + the philosophy of the mediaeval church, were entirely untouched by the + culture of the Renaissance, remained a kind of Gideon's fleece when the + dew of the industrial system of the 19th century was moistening Europe, + are now left untouched by the new civilisation of international finance. + Yet Ascher, if not personally interested in our destiny, has a cool and + unprejudiced mind. His opinion on Irish affairs would be of the greatest + interest to me. I was not satisfied with Gorman's reading of the + situation. Nor did I feel sure that Malcolmson, though he was certainly in + earnest, quite understood what a big thing he was letting himself in for. + </p> + <p> + The Aschers live near Golders Hill, a part of London totally unknown to + me. They have a large old-fashioned house with a considerable amount of + ground round it. Some day when Ascher is dead the house will be pulled + down and the grounds cut up into building plots. In the meanwhile Ascher + holds it. I suppose it suits him. Neither he nor Mrs. Ascher cares for + fashionable life, and a Mayfair address has no attraction for them. The + few artistic and musical people whom they wish to know are quite willing + to go to Hampstead. Everyone else who wants to see Ascher—and a good + many people do—calls at his office or dines with him in a club. + Ascher knows most of the chief men in the political world, for instance, + but even Prime Ministers are not often invited to the house at Golders + Hill. If Ascher really controls them, as Gorman says, he does so without + allowing them to interfere with his private life. + </p> + <p> + The house and its appointments impressed me greatly. The architecture was + Georgian, a style familiar to any one who has lived much in Dublin. It + gave me a feeling of spaciousness and dignity. The men who built these + houses knew what it was to live like gentlemen. I can imagine them guilty + of various offences against the code of Christian morality, but I do not + think they can ever have been either fussy or mean. There is a + restlessness about our fashionable imitations of the older kinds of + English domestic architecture. Our picturesque gables, dormer windows and + rooms with all sorts of odd angles, our finicky windows stuck high up in + unexpected parts of walls, our absurd leaded diamond panes and crooked + metal fastenings, all make for fussiness of soul. Nor can I believe that + people who live under ceilings which they can almost touch ever attain a + great and calm outlook upon life. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing "artistic" about Ascher's house. This surprised me at + first. I did not, of course, expect that Mrs. Ascher would have surrounded + herself with the maddening kind of furniture which is distinguished by its + crookedness and is designed by men who find their inspiration by + remembering the things which they see in nightmares. Nor did I think it + likely that she would have crammed her rooms with those products of the + east which are imported into this country by house furnishers with + reputations for aestheticism. I knew that she had passed that stage of + culture. But I did expect to find the house full of heavily embroidered + copes of mediaeval bishops, hung on screens; candlesticks looted from + Spanish monasteries, standing on curiously carved shelves; chairs and + cabinets which were genuine relics of the age of Louis XV.; and pictures + by artists who lived in Italy before the days when Italians learned to + paint. + </p> + <p> + I found myself in a house which was curiously bare of furniture. There + were a few pictures in each of the rooms I entered, modern pictures, and I + suppose good, but I am no judge of such things. There were scarcely any + ornaments to be seen and very few tables and chairs. My own feeling is + that a house should be furnished in such a way as to be thoroughly + comfortable. I like deep soft chairs and sofas to sit on. I like to have + many small tables on which to lay down books, newspapers and pipes. I like + thick carpets and curtains which keep out draughts. I would not live in + Ascher's house, even if I were paid for doing so by being given Ascher's + fortune. But I would rather live in Ascher's house than in one of those + overcrowded museums which are the delight of very wealthy New York Jews. I + should, in some moods, find a pleasure in the fine proportions of the + rooms which Ascher refuses to spoil. I could never, I know, be happy in a + place where I ran the risk of dropping tobacco ashes on thirteenth century + tapestry and dared not move suddenly lest I should knock over some + priceless piece of china. + </p> + <p> + We ate at a small table set at one end of a big dining-room, a dining-room + in which, I suppose, thirty people could have sat down together + comfortably. There was no affectation of shaded lights and gloomy, + mysterious spaces. Ascher had aimed at and achieved something like a + subdued daylight by means of electric lamps, shaded underneath, which + shone on the ceiling. I could see all the corners of the room, the walls + with their pictures and the broad floor across which the servants passed. + The dinner itself was very short and simple. If I had been actually + hungry, as I am in the country after shooting, I should have called the + dinner meagre. For a London appetite there was enough, but not more than + enough. I might, a younger and more vigorous man would, have got up from + the table hungry. But the food was exquisite. The cook must be a + descendant of one of those artists whom Lord Beaconsfield described in + "Tancred," and he has found in Ascher's house a situation which ought to + satisfy him. Ascher does not care for sumptuousness or abundance; but he + knows how to eat well. We had one wine, a very delicately flavoured white + Italian wine, perhaps from Capri, the juice of some rare crops of grapes + in that sunny island. + </p> + <p> + "We found ourselves in a little difficulty," said Ascher, "when you fixed + on to-night for your visit to us." + </p> + <p> + "I hope," I said, "that I haven't lit on an inconvenient evening. Had you + any other engagement?" + </p> + <p> + I was eating a very small piece of fish when he spoke to me, and was + trying to guess what the sauce was flavoured with. It occurred to me + suddenly that I might have broken in upon some sort of private + anniversary, a day which Ascher and his wife observed as one of + abstinence. There was, I could scarcely fail to notice it, a sense of + subdued melancholy about our proceedings. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," said Ascher, "but on Wednesdays we always have some music. I was + inclined to think that you might have preferred to spend the evening + talking, but my wife——" + </p> + <p> + He looked at Mrs. Ascher. I should very much have preferred talk to music. + It was chiefly in order to hear Ascher talk that I had accepted the + invitation. + </p> + <p> + "I know," said Mrs. Ascher, "that Sir James likes music." + </p> + <p> + She laid a strong emphasis on the word "know," and I felt that she was + paying me a nice compliment. What she said was true enough. I do like + music, some kinds of music. I had heard for the first time the night + before a song, then very popular, with a particularly attractive chorus. + It began to run through my head the moment Ascher mentioned music. "I + didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do it." I liked that song. I was + not sure that I should like the Aschers' music equally well. However, I + had no intention of contradicting Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "I'm passionately fond of music," I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher is a singularly guileless man. I cannot imagine how any one so + unsuspicious as he is can ever have succeeded as a financier, unless + indeed people are far honester about money than they are about anything + else. I do not think Mrs. Ascher believed that I am passionately fond of + music. Her husband did. The little shadow of anxiety which had rested on + his face cleared away. He became almost cheerful. + </p> + <p> + "To-night," he said, "we are going to hear some of the work of——" + </p> + <p> + He said a name, but I utterly failed to catch it. I had never heard it + before, and it sounded foreign, very foreign indeed, possibly Kurdish. + </p> + <p> + "———," said Ascher, "is one of the new Russian + composers." + </p> + <p> + I heard the name that time, but I can make no attempt, phonetic or other, + to spell it. I suppose it can be spelled, but the letters must be given + values quite new to me. The alphabet I am accustomed to is incapable of + representing that man's name. + </p> + <p> + "I daresay you know him," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I strongly suspected that she was trying to entrap me. I have never been + quite sure of Mrs. Ascher since the day she discovered that I was talking + nonsense about the statuette of Psyche. Sometimes she appears to be the + kind of foolish woman to whom anything may be said without fear. Sometimes + she displays most unexpected intelligence. I looked at her before I + answered. Her narrow, pale-green eyes expressed nothing but innocent + inquiry. She might conceivably think that I had already made a careful + study of the music of the new Russian composer. On the other hand, she + might be luring me on to say that I knew music which was to be played in + her house that night for the first time. I made up my mind to be safe. + </p> + <p> + "No," I said, "I never even heard of him." + </p> + <p> + Then Ascher began to talk about the man and his music. He became more + animated than I had ever seen him. It was evident that Russian music + interested Ascher far more than finance did—that it was a subject + which was capable of wakening real enthusiasm in him. I listened, eating + from time to time the delicate morsels of food offered to me and sipping + the delicious wine. I did not understand anything Ascher said, and all the + names he mentioned were new to me; but for a time I was content to sit in + a kind of half-conscious state, hypnotised by the sound of his voice and + the feeling that Mrs. Ascher's eyes were fixed on me. + </p> + <p> + Not until dinner was nearly over did I make an effort to assert myself. + </p> + <p> + "I was talking to Gorman the other day," I said, "about Irish affairs and + especially about the Ulster situation. I have also been hearing + Malcolmson's views. Malcolmson is a colonel and an Ulsterman. You know the + sort of views an Ulster Colonel would have." + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. He seemed no more than slightly amused at the turn + Irish affairs were taking. After all neither international finance nor + Russian music was likely to be profoundly affected by the Ulster + rebellion. (Malcolmson will not use the word rebellion, but I must. There + is no other word to describe the actions he contemplates.) No wonder + Ascher takes small interest in the matter. On the other hand, Mrs. Ascher + was profoundly moved by the mention of Ulster. I could see genuine passion + in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + "Belfast," she said, "stands for all that is vilest and most hateful in + the world. It is worse than Glasgow, worse than Manchester, worse than + Birmingham." + </p> + <p> + Belfast is, no doubt, the main difficulty. If there were no Belfast the + resistance of the rest of Ulster would be inconsiderable. I admired the + political instinct which enabled Mrs. Ascher to go straight to the very + centre of the situation. But, in all probability, Gorman gave her the + hint. Gorman does not seem to understand how real the Ulster opposition + is, but he has intelligence enough to grasp the importance of Belfast. + What puzzled me first was the extreme bitterness with which Mrs. Ascher + spoke. + </p> + <p> + "What has Belfast ever given to the world?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "ships are built there, and of course there's linen. I + believe they manufacture tobacco, and——" + </p> + <p> + "That," said Ascher, "is not quite what my wife means. The gifts which a + city or a country give to the world must be of a more permanent kind if + they are to be of real value. Ships, linen, tobacco, we use them, and in + using we destroy them. They have their value, but it is not a permanent + value. Ultimately a city will be judged not by its perishable products, + but by——" + </p> + <p> + "Art," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I might have known it. Mrs. Ascher would be sure to judge cities, as she + judges men, by their achievement in that particular line. I was bound to + admit that the reputation of Belfast falls some way short of that of + Athens as a centre of literature and art. + </p> + <p> + "Or thought," said Ascher, "or criticism. It is curious that a community + which is virile and fearless, which is able to look at the world and life + through its own eyes, which is indifferent to the general consensus of + opinion——" + </p> + <p> + "Belfast is all that," I said. "I never knew any one who cared less what + other people said and thought than Malcolmson." + </p> + <p> + "Yet," said Ascher, "Belfast has done nothing, thought nothing, seen + nothing. But perhaps that is all to come. The future may be, indeed I + think must be, very different." + </p> + <p> + Ascher will never be a real leader of men. His habit of seeing two sides + of every question is an incurable weakness in him. Mrs. Ascher does not + suffer in that way. She saw no good whatever in Belfast, nor any hope for + its future. + </p> + <p> + "Never," she said, "never. A people who have given themselves over to + material things, who accept frankly, without even the hypocrite's tribute + to virtue, the money standard of value, who ask 'Does it pay?' and ask + nothing else—— Have you ever been in Belfast?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, "often. The churches are ugly, decidedly ugly, though + comfortable." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered. + </p> + <p> + "Comfortable!" she said. "Yes. Comfortable! Think of it. Churches, + comfort! Irredeemable hideousness and the comfort of congregations as a + set-off to it." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher panted. I could see the front of her dress—she wore a + very floppy scarlet teagown—rising and falling rapidly in the + intensity of her passion. I understood more or less what she felt. If God + is at all what we think He is, sublime, then there is something a little + grotesque about requiring a cushioned pew, a good system of heating and a + nice fat footstool as aids to communion with Him. Yet I am not convinced + that man is incapable of the highest emotion when his body is at ease. + Some degree of physical comfort seems to be required if the excursions of + the soul are to be successful. I cannot, for instance, enjoy the finest + kinds of poetry when I am very thirsty; nor have I ever met any one who + found real pleasure in a statue when he had toothache. There is something + to be said for the theory of the sceptical bishop in Browning's poem, that + the soul is only free to muse of lofty things + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="indent15"> + "When body gets its sop and holds its noise." + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + "The whole Irish question," said Mrs. Ascher, and she spoke with the most + tremendous vehemence, "is a struggle not between political parties—what + are political parties?" + </p> + <p> + "Rotten things," I said. "I quite agree with you there." + </p> + <p> + "Not between conceptions of religion. What is religion but the blind + gropings of the human soul after some divine perfection vaguely guessed?" + </p> + <p> + That is not what religion is in Ireland. There is nothing either dim or + vague about it there, and nobody gropes. Everyone, from the infant school + child to the greatest of our six archbishops, is perfectly clear and + definite in his religious beliefs and suffers no doubts of any kind. That + is why Ireland is recognised everywhere as an island of saints. But of + course Mrs. Ascher could not be expected to know that. + </p> + <p> + "It is a struggle," she said, getting back to the Irish question as the + subject of her sentence, "between a people to whom art is an ideal and a + people who have accepted materialism and money for their gods, an atheist + people." + </p> + <p> + It has been the great misfortune of my life that I have never been able to + escape from the Irish question. It was discussed round my cradle by a + nurse whom my parents selected for her sound Protestant principles. The + undertaker will give his views of the Irish question to his assistant + while he drives the nails into the lid of my coffin. I should not have + supposed that any one could have hit on an aspect of it wholly new to me. + But Mrs. Ascher did. Never before had I heard the problem stated as she + stated it. + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is an extraordinarily interesting way of looking at it. + The only difficulty I see is——" + </p> + <p> + "It is true," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + That was precisely my difficulty. It was not true. I went back to my + recollections of old Dan Gorman, a man as intensely interested in the + struggle as ever any one was. I remembered his great pot belly, his flabby + skin, his whisky-sodden face. I remembered his grasping meanness, his + relentless hardness in dealing with those in his power. The most + thoroughly materialised business man in Belfast has more spirituality + about him than old Dan Gorman ever had. Nor did I believe that his son, + Michael Gorman, would have accepted Mrs. Ascher's account of his position. + He would have winked, humourously appreciative of an excellent joke, if + any one had told him that he was a crusader, out to wrest the sacred + sepulchre of art from the keeping of the Saracens of Ulster. + </p> + <p> + I did not, of course, attempt to reason with Mrs. Ascher. There is nothing + in the world more foolish than trying to reason with a woman who is + possessed by a cause. No good ever comes of it. But Mrs. Ascher is quite + clever enough to understand a man even if he does not speak. She felt that + I should have been glad to argue with her if I had not been afraid. She + entered on a long defence of her position. + </p> + <p> + She began with the Irish Players, and the moment she mentioned them I knew + what she was going to say. + </p> + <p> + "The one instance," she said, "the single example in the modern world of + peasant art, from the soil, of the soil, redolent, fragrant of the simple + life of men and women, in direct touch with the primal forces of nature + itself. There is nothing else quite like those players and their plays. + They are the self-revelation of the peasant soul. From the whitewashed + cabins of the country-side, from the streets of tiny, world-forgotten + villages, from the islands where the great Atlantic thunders ceaselessly, + these have come to call us back to the realities of life, to express again + the external verities of art." + </p> + <p> + That is all very well. I agreed with Mrs. Ascher thoroughly about the art + of Synge's plays, and Lady Gregory's and Yeats', and the art of the + players. But it is merely silly to talk about the soil and whitewashed + cottages, and self-revelation of peasant souls. Neither the dramatists nor + the players are peasants or ever were. They are very clever, sometimes + more than clever, members of the educated classes, who see the peasants + from outside just as I see them, as Mrs. Ascher would see them if she ever + got near enough to what she calls the soil to see a peasant at all. + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. Ascher had finished with the Irish Players she went on, still in + a white heat of excitement, to the attempt to revive the Irish language. + </p> + <p> + "Where else," she said, "will you find such devotion to a purely spiritual + ideal? Here you have a people rising enthusiastically to fight for the + preservation of the national language. And its language is the soul of a + nation. These splendid efforts are made in defiance of materialism, + without the remotest hope of gain, just to keep, to save from destruction, + a possession felt instinctively to be the most precious thing of all, far + above gold and rubies in price." + </p> + <p> + "The only flaw in that theory," I said, "is that the people who still have + this most precious possession don't want to keep it in the least. Nobody + ever heard of the Irish-speaking peasants taking the smallest interest in + their language. The whole revival business is the work of an + English-speaking middle class, who never stop asking the Government to pay + them for doing it." + </p> + <p> + That was the second occasion on which I came near quarrelling with Mrs. + Ascher. Yet I am not a man who quarrels easily. Like St. Paul's friends at + Corinth, I can suffer fools gladly. But Mrs. Ascher is not a fool. She is + a clever woman with a twist in her mind. That is why I find myself saying + nasty things to her now and then. I suppose it was Gorman who taught her + to be an Irish patriot. If she had been content to follow him as an + obedient disciple, I should have put up with all she said politely. But, + once started by Gorman, she thought out Ireland for herself and arrived at + this amazing theory of hers, her artistic children of light in death grips + with mercantile and manufacturing materialists. No wonder she irritated + me. + </p> + <p> + Ascher saved us from a heated argument. Dinner was over. He had smoked his + half cigarette. He rose from his chair. + </p> + <p> + "I expect Mr. Wendall is waiting for us," he said to Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her face softened as he spoke. The look of fanatical enthusiasm passed out + of her eyes. She got up quietly and left the room. Ascher held the door + open for her and motioned me to follow her. He took my arm as we passed + together down a long corridor. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Wendall," he said, "is a young musician who comes to play to us every + week. He is a man with a future before him. I think you will enjoy his + playing. We are going to the music room." + </p> + <p> + We went through a small sitting-room, more fully furnished than any other + in Ascher's house. It looked as if it were meant to be inhabited by + ordinary human beings. It was reserved, so I learned afterwards, for the + use of Ascher's guests. We ascended a short flight of stairs and entered + the music room. Unlike the dining-room it was only partially lit. A single + lamp stood on a little table near the fireplace, and there were two + candles on a grand piano in the middle of the room. These made small spots + of light in a space of gloom. I felt rather than saw that the room was a + large one. I discerned the shapes of four tall, curtainless windows. I saw + that except the piano and a few seats near the fireplace there was no + furniture. As we entered I heard the sound of an organ, played very + softly, somewhere above me. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Wendall is here," said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He led me over to the fireplace and put me in a deep soft chair. He laid a + box of cigarettes beside me and set a vase of spills at my right hand. I + gathered that I might smoke, so long as I lit my tobacco noiselessly, with + spills kindled in the fire; but that I must not make scratchy sounds by + striking matches. Mrs. Ascher sank down in a corner of a large sofa. She + lay there with parted lips and half-closed eyes, like some feline creature + expectant of sensuous delight. The light from the lamp behind her and the + flickering fire played a strange game of shadow-making and shadow-chasing + among the folds of her scarlet gown. Ascher sat down beside her. + </p> + <p> + The organ was played very softly. I found out that it was placed in a + gallery above the door by which we had entered. I saw the pipes, like a + clump of tall spears, barely discernible in the gloom. There was no light + in the gallery. Mr. Wendall was no doubt there and was able to play + without seeing a printed score. I supposed that he was playing the music + of the new Russian composer. Whatever he played he failed to catch my + attention, though the sounds were vaguely soothing. I found myself + thinking that Mrs. Ascher had no right to be furiously angry with the + people of Belfast for making their churches comfortable. This was her form + of worship, and never were any devotees more luxuriously placed than we + were. If her soul can soar to spiritual heights from the depths of silken + cushions, surely a linen-draper may find it possible to pray in a + cushioned pew. + </p> + <p> + I was mistaken about the music I was listening to. Mr. Wendall was only + soothing his nerves with organ sounds while he waited for us. When he + discovered our presence he left the gallery and descended to the room in + which we sat, by a narrow stairway. No greeting of any kind passed between + him and the Aschers. He went straight to the piano without giving any sign + that he knew of our presence. I lit a cigarette and prepared to endure + what was in store for me. + </p> + <p> + At first the new Russian music struck me as merely noisy. I found no sense + or rhythm in it. Then I began to feel slightly excited. The excitement + grew on me in a curious way. I looked at the Aschers. He was sitting + nearly bolt upright, very rigid, in a corner on the sofa. She lay back, as + she had lain before, with her hands on her lap. The only change that I + noted in her attitude was that her fists were clenched tightly. Mr. + Wendall stopped playing abruptly. There was a short interval of silence, + through which I seemed to feel the last chord that was struck vibrating in + my spine. + </p> + <p> + Then he began to play again. Once more the feeling of excitement came on + me. I am far from being a Puritan, but I suppose I have inherited from + generations of sternly Protestant ancestors some kind of moral prejudice. + I felt, as the excitement grew intenser, that I had discovered a new, + supremely delightful kind of sin. There came to my memory the names of + ancient gods and goddesses denounced by the prophets of Israel: Peor and + Baalim, Milcom, Moloch, Ashtaroth. I knew why the people loved to worship + them. I remembered that Milton had rejoiced in the names of these + half-forgotten deities, and that Milton loved music. No doubt he, too, + understood this way of sinning and, very rightly, he placed the gods of it + in hell. Wendall, at the piano, stopped and began again. He did this many + times. His music was loud sometimes, sometimes soft, but it did not fail + to create the sense of passionate deliciousness and, for a time, a longing + for more of it. + </p> + <p> + After a while my senses grew numb, sated I suppose. I looked over at the + Aschers. She still lay as she had lain at first, but her fists were no + longer clenched. All her muscles seemed to be relaxed. Ascher had crept + over close to her. He lay back beside her, and I saw that he held one of + her hands clasped in his. His eyes were fixed intently on hers, and even + as I watched I saw her lids droop before his gaze. She gave a long, soft + sigh of satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher and his wife were lovers still, though they had + been married for a score or more of years. That strange emotion, which + touches human life with romance for a year or two and then fades into a + tolerant companionship, had endured with them. In some way altogether + unknown to me the music and all the art in which they delighted had the + power of stimulating afresh or re-creating again and again the passion + which drew them together. Under the influence of art they enjoyed a + mystical communion with each other, not wholly spiritual, but like all + mysticism, a mixture of the physical, the ecstasy of contact, actual or + imagined, with yearnings and emotions in which the body has no part. + </p> + <p> + I suppose the music had its effect on me, too, gave me for a few moments a + power of sympathy not usually mine. I understood Ascher as I had never + understood him before. I knew that the man I had hitherto seen, austere, + calm, intellectual, the great financier whom the world sought, was a man + with a mask before his face; that accident and the excitement of the music + had enabled me to see the face behind the mask. I understood, or supposed + I understood, Mrs. Ascher, too. All her foolish fine phrases and absurd + enthusiasms were like cries in which tortured creatures find some kind of + relief from pain, or the low, crooning laughter of a young mother with her + baby at her breast. They were the inevitable, almost hysterical gaspings + of a spirit wrought upon over highly and over often by the passion of + romantic love. A mask hid the man's face. The woman was not strong enough + to wear it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span>t is difficult + now, in 1915, to regard the things which happened during the first half of + last year as events in any proper sense of the word. But at the time they + excited us all very much, and we felt that the whole future of the + country, the empire, perhaps of the human race, depended on how the + Government met the crisis with which it was faced. It seems curious that + we could have believed such a thing, but we did. + </p> + <p> + I remember quite distinctly the circumstances under which I first heard + the news of the protest made by certain cavalry officers against what they + supposed to be the Government's policy in Ulster. I am not, thank God, + called upon to pass a judgment on that very tangled business, or to give + any opinion about the rights or wrongs of either side. I do not even + profess to know the facts. Indeed I am inclined to doubt whether there + were any facts. In affairs conducted mainly by politicians there seldom + are facts. There are statements, explanations, pledges and recriminations + in great abundance; but facts are not to be discovered, for the sufficient + reason that they are not there. What happened or seemed to happen was + described as a plot, a mare's nest, an aristocratic conspiracy, an + assertion of principle, a mutiny, a declaration of loyalty, and a + newspaper scare, according to the taste of the person who was speaking. + The safest thing to call it, I think, is an incident. + </p> + <p> + I went down to the club at twelve o'clock, intending to smoke a cigar and + look at the picture papers before luncheon. I found Malcolmson in the + outer hall. His head was bent over the machine which reels off strips of + paper with the latest news printed on them. The machine was ticking + vigorously, and I knew by the tense attitude in which Malcolmson was + standing that something very important must have happened. My first + impulse was to slip quietly past and get away to the smoking room before + he saw me. I like Malcolmson, but he is tiresome, particularly tiresome + when there is important news. I crossed the hall cautiously, keeping an + eye on him, hoping that he would not look round till I was safe. + </p> + <p> + Malcolmson has reached that time of life at which a man's neck begins to + bulge over his collar at the back, forming a kind of roll of rather hairy + flesh, along which the starched linen marks a deep line from ear to ear. I + noticed as I passed that Malcolmson's neck was far more swollen than usual + and, that it was rapidly changing colour from its ordinary brick red to a + deep purple. The sight was so strange and startling that I stopped for a + minute to see what would happen next. I have never heard of a man's neck + bursting under pressure of strong excitement, but Malcolmson's looked as + if it must break out in some way. While I was watching, the machine + suddenly stopped ticking and Malcolmson turned round. His face was nearly + as purple as his neck. His moustache, always bristly, looked as if it was + composed of fine wires charged with electricity. His eyes were blazing + with excitement. + </p> + <p> + "Come here, Digby," he said. "Come here and read this." + </p> + <p> + He caught up the paper which the machine had disgorged and allowed it to + hang across his hands in graceful festoons. There seemed to me to be a + great deal of it. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you'd tell me about it," I said. "I hate reading those things. The + print is so queer." + </p> + <p> + I knew that Malcolmson would tell me about it whether I read it for myself + or not. There was no use getting a double dose of the news whatever it + was. + </p> + <p> + "The damned Government's done for at last," said Malcolmson triumphantly, + "and Home Rule's as dead as a door nail." + </p> + <p> + "Good," I said. "Now we shall all be able to settle down. How did it + happen? Earthquake in Dublin? But that would hardly do it. Cabinet + Ministers committed suicide unanimously?" + </p> + <p> + "The Army," said Malcolmson, "has refused to fire on us. I knew they would + and they have." + </p> + <p> + "Were they asked to?" I said. + </p> + <p> + "Asked to!" said Malcolmson. "They were told to, ordered to. We've had our + private information of what was going on. We've known all about it for a + week or more. Belfast was to be bombarded by the Fleet. Two brigades of + infantry were to cross the Boyne and march on Portadown. The cavalry, + supported by light artillery, were to take Enniskillen by surprise. We + were to be mowed down, mowed down and sabred before we had time to + mobilise. The most infamous plot in modern times. A second St. + Bartholomew's massacre. But thank God the Army is loyal. I cross to-night + to take my place with my men." + </p> + <p> + An ill-tempered, captious man might have suggested that Malcolmson ought + to have taken his place with his men—a regiment of volunteers I + suppose—a little sooner. According to his own account, the peril had + been real a week before, but was over before he told me about it. The + Government which had planned the massacre was dead and damned. The Army + had refused to carry out the infamous plot. It seemed a mere piece of + bravado, under the circumstances, to take up arms. But I knew Malcolmson + better than to suppose that he wanted to swagger when swaggering was safe. + His mind might be in a muddled state. Judging by the way he talked to me, + it was very muddled indeed. But his heart was sound, and no risk would + have daunted him. + </p> + <p> + "Let's have a glass of sherry and a biscuit," I said. "You'll want + something to steady your nerves." + </p> + <p> + But Malcolmson, for once, for the only time since I have known him, was + unwilling to sit down and talk. His train, supposing that he took the + quickest route to Belfast, did not leave Euston till 8 or 9 o'clock at + night; but he felt that he must be up and doing at once. He fussed out of + the club, and for some time I saw no more of him. + </p> + <p> + I waited until the hall porter had cut up the slips of paper which fell + from the clicking machine and pinned the bits to the notice boards. Then I + read the news for myself. These machines are singularly unintelligent. + They mix up the items of news in a very irritating way. Sometimes a sheet + begins with the assassination of a foreign prime minister, breaks off + suddenly to announce the name of a winning horse, goes back to the prime + minister, starts a divorce case abruptly and then gives a few Stock + Exchange quotations. I hate news which comes to me in this disjointed way, + and never attempt to learn anything from the machine until the hall porter + has edited the sheets. He cuts them up, gets all the racing news on one + board, the Stock Exchange and the Divorce Court on another and makes a + continuous narrative of political news, assassinations, picturesque + shipwrecks and such matters on the largest and most prominent of the + notice boards. + </p> + <p> + I found when I did read that Malcolmson had built up a lofty structure on + a very small foundation. Something had evidently happened among the + soldiers stationed at the Curragh Camp; but the first account telegraphed + over from Ireland left me in grave doubt. It was a question whether the + men had actually been told to shoot Malcolmson and refused to obey orders; + or had been asked, politely, if they would like to shoot Malcolmson and + said they would rather not. The one thing which emerged with any sort of + clearness was that Malcolmson would not be shot. This made my mind easy. I + went into the dining-room and had some luncheon. + </p> + <p> + Early in the afternoon I collected six evening papers, three belonging to + each side. I found the Unionist writers unanimous on two points. The Army + had saved the Empire and the Government would be obliged to resign. The + Liberal scribes took another view of the situation. According to them the + Army had been seduced from its loyalty by the intrigues of fascinating and + fashionable Delilahs, but the will of the people must, nevertheless, + prevail. Newspaper writers on the Liberal side are far more intelligent + than their opponents. It was a stupid thing, in the early part of 1914, to + talk about saving the Empire. No one at that time cared anything about the + Empire. Very few people believed that it existed. It was worse than stupid + to suggest that the Government would resign. The country was utterly weary + of General Elections and was planning its summer holiday. Public sympathy + was hopelessly alienated by that kind of talk. On the other hand, the + fashionable Delilah story was a brilliant invention. There is nothing + dearer to the heart of the English middle classes and working men than the + belief that every woman with a dress allowance of more than 200 a year is + a courtesan. The suggestion that these immoral Phrynes were bartering + their charms for power to thwart the will of the people was just the sort + of thing to raise a tempest of enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + Almost anything might have happened if the Government had had the courage + to follow up its advantage. Fortunately—from Malcolmson's point of + view—it did not venture to shut up all women of title, under fifty + years of age, in houses of correction; a course which would have convinced + the general public that Home Rule was a sound thing. It spent a fortnight + or so contradicting everybody who said anything, including itself, and + then apologised for being misunderstood. + </p> + <p> + However, that anti-climax was still some way off. + </p> + <p> + I stuffed the three Liberal papers into my pocket and went to call on Lady + Kingscourt. She is the only peeress I am intimate with who moves in really + fashionable circles and is both rich and beautiful. It would have been + interesting to hear what she said when I pointed out to her that she had + been seducing subalterns. She was not at home when I reached her house. + The butler told me that she had gone to a bazaar got up to raise funds for + the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families' Association, in itself a suspicious + circumstance. If I were Lady Kingscourt and my character was attacked as + hers was, I should keep clear of any charity with the word soldier in its + name. I was sorry to miss her, though I scarcely expected that she would + have tried to fascinate me. It is a good many years since I resigned my + commission. + </p> + <p> + The next person I thought of seeing was Gorman. It was nearly five + o'clock, so I went to the House of Commons. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, when I found him, seemed very much pleased to see me, and was in a + hospitable mood. He took me to a room, which must have originally been + meant for a cellar, and gave me tea. + </p> + <p> + "I've been ringing you up on the telephone all day," he said, "and + couldn't get you. Where have you been?" + </p> + <p> + "Down at the club," I said, "talking to Malcolmson about the plot—what + you'd call the situation I suppose. You can hardly be expected to admit + that there is a plot. Now, do tell me what you think about the situation." + </p> + <p> + "Damn the situation!" said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "seems the sensible view to take. Is it the one usually + held? Is that what they're saying up there?" + </p> + <p> + I pointed to the ceiling with my thumb. Somewhere above my head, it might + be supposed, statesmen with furrowed brows were taking anxious counsel + together for the safety of the nation, retiring now and then when utterly + exhausted, to damn the situation in private rooms. + </p> + <p> + "Some of them are a bit fussed," said Gorman. "Silly asses! But it isn't + that wretched business that I wanted to speak to you about." + </p> + <p> + "Good gracious! Do you mean to say that you can talk of anything else, + that you didn't ring me up to tell me what will happen?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing will happen," said Gorman. "Two or three muddled-headed young + fools at the Curragh will get court-martialed. That's all. What I wanted + to see you about is this new invention of Tim's. There's really something + in it." + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said. "You're fiddling while Rome is burning. How can you + reconcile it to your conscience to play with cinematographs when a + horrible conspiracy is threatening life and liberty?" + </p> + <p> + "Surely," said Gorman, "you don't really believe that we plotted, as they + call it, to murder people in Belfast?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know whether you did or not," I said. "But that's not the + conspiracy I'm alluding to. Look here." + </p> + <p> + I pulled out of my pocket the three papers which I had meant for Lady + Kingscourt and showed Gorman the articles about the fashionable ladies + seducing soldiers. + </p> + <p> + "You can't expect our side," I said, "to sit down under this kind of thing + without a struggle. We shall make counter-accusations. I shall do it + myself if nobody else does. I'm warning you beforehand, Gorman, so that + you won't be surprised when you find your character in rags." + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at his watch. + </p> + <p> + "I know you like talking that sort of nonsense," he said, "and I don't + mind listening, not a bit; but just let me ask you this before you start. + Will you come down with me this evening and see Tim's invention? If you + will I'll order a motor from Harrod's or somewhere, and we'll run down + after dinner. There's no use going in broad daylight, for we can't see the + thing properly till after dark." + </p> + <p> + "I shall be delighted," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Very well. Excuse me a moment while I go and get on the 'phone to engage + the motor." + </p> + <p> + I waited, feeling a little sore. I daresay I do talk nonsense and like + talking it, but no politician who ever lived has a right to tell me so. I + intended to greet Gorman when he returned with the proverb about living in + glass houses and throwing stones. He came back, smiling radiantly. My + ill-humour passed away at once. + </p> + <p> + "Now," he said, "go on with what you were telling me. + </p> + <p> + "I pointed out to you," I said, "that duchesses, marchionesses, + countesses, and other abandoned women of that kind have been flirting with + military officers in such a way as to interfere with the governing of this + country in accordance with the principles of democracy." + </p> + <p> + "Is that what they say?" said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He picked up one of the papers which I had laid on the table and satisfied + himself that the thing was really in print. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, "they had to say something. I daresay people will believe + them. The English are an extraordinarily credulous race, fools in fact. + That's why I'm a Home Ruler." + </p> + <p> + "You must remember," I said, "that I'm a Unionist." + </p> + <p> + "Are you? Speaking confidentially, now, are you really?" + </p> + <p> + "My father was," I said, "and I don't like to see these things in print + about the party without making some kind of reply. What I'm thinking of + doing is writing a sort of circular letter to all the papers on our side + and saying that to my certain knowledge you and Mrs. Ascher have been + using undue and unfair influence over each other for the last six months. + If it's wrong for a woman to talk politics to a soldier it must be much + more wrong for one to talk art to a politician." + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Ascher," said Gorman, "is an extraordinary woman. The more I see of + her, the less inclined I am to be surprised at anything she says or does. + She's tremendously keen just now on Home Rule and Ireland generally." + </p> + <p> + "That is amazing," I said. + </p> + <p> + "It isn't in itself," said Gorman, "but the way she gets at it is. I mean + that theory of hers about——" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. I know. She will insist on thinking that you and everybody else on + your side are artists." + </p> + <p> + "And yet," said Gorman, "I can't persuade her to look at Tim's new + invention." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher's prejudice against cinematographs, improved or unimproved, + was certainly strong. I found it hard to understand exactly how she felt. + She found no difficulty in regarding Gorman, a devoted politician, as a + hero. When she had no objection to the form of entertainment with which he + provided the public, it was difficult to see why she kicked against moving + pictures. I should have thought that the performances at Westminster were + considerably more vulgar, certainly far less original and striking, than + the things shown on the cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I dined at Scott's, chiefly on lobsters, at seven o'clock, an + uncomfortably early hour. We had a twenty-five-mile drive before us to + reach the farm, somewhere in the depths of Hertfordshire, where Tim was + making his experiments. The drive was a very pleasant one. The first part + of it lay along one of the great artery roads which lead from the centre + of London to the North. The evening was fine and warm without being + stuffy, one of those evenings which are the peculiar glory of the early + English summer. It seemed to me that many thousands of people were passing + along that road towards the country. Parties of laughing boys and girls + pedalled northwards on bicycles, swerving in and out through the traffic. + Stout, middle-aged men, with fat, middle-aged women beside them, drove + sturdy ponies, or lean, high-stepping horses, in curious old-fashioned + gigs. Motor cyclists, young men with outstretched chins and set faces, + sped by us, outstripping our car. Others we passed, riders who had side + cars attached to their cycles, young men these, too, but soberer, weighted + with responsibility. They had their wives in the side cars, wives who + looked little more than girls, though many of them held babies in their + arms, and one now and then had a well-grown child wrapped in rugs at her + feet. + </p> + <p> + "Life!" said Gorman, waving his cigar comprehensively towards the moving + crowds. "Wonderful thing life! Keeps going on. Don't know why it should, + but it does. Nothing seems to make any difference to it." + </p> + <p> + "Not even your politics," I said. "Curious thing, isn't it, how little all + that fuss of yours matters? It doesn't make any difference which of your + parties is in power. All this goes on just the same. That young fellow—there, + the one who didn't quite break his neck at the lamp post—would go + down to his office to-morrow exactly as he always does, if every member of + the House of Commons dies in the night. You see that girl with the baby—the + one on our left—she'd have had that baby just the same if the Long + Parliament were still sitting. None of your laws could have made her have + that baby, or stopped her. You are simply fussing in an unimportant way, + raising silly little clouds of dust which will settle down again at once. + She's keeping the world going and she probably doesn't even know the name + of the Prime Minister." + </p> + <p> + "That's all very well," said Gorman, "but we're seeing that these people + get their rights, their fair share of what's going. If it wasn't for us + and the laws we pass, the rich would grow richer and richer while these + men and women would gradually sink into the position of slaves. I'm not a + socialist. I don't believe in that theory; but capitalists have had things + far too much their own way in the past." + </p> + <p> + "Ascher!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Ascher! I like Ascher, of course, personally; but speaking of him as + a typical member of a class, he's simply a parasite. All financiers are. + He ought to be abolished, wiped out, done away with. He fulfils no useful + function." + </p> + <p> + Our motor sped along. A cycle with a side car just kept pace with us for a + while. A nice, clean-shaven, honest-looking young fellow was in the + saddle. His girl-wife sat beside him in the basket-work slipper which he + dragged along. It was her baby which I had pointed out to Gorman a moment + before. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," I said, "they have had tinned peaches for tea." + </p> + <p> + "Very likely," said Gorman, "just the sort of thing they would have. I + know that class. Lived among them for years. He comes home at half past + six. She has put on a clean blouse and tidied her hair so that he'll kiss + her, and he does. Then he kisses the baby, probably likes doing that, too, + as it's the first. Then he has a wash and she brings in the tea. Bread and + butter for her with a pot of marmalade, an egg—at this time of year + certainly an egg—for him." + </p> + <p> + "And tinned peaches." + </p> + <p> + "Eaten with teaspoons out of saucers," said Gorman, "and they'll enjoy + them far more than you did that lobster salad at Scott's." + </p> + <p> + "I'm sure they will. And that is just where Ascher comes in." + </p> + <p> + "I don't see it," said Gorman, "unless you mean that they'd be eating + hothouse peaches if there were no Aschers." + </p> + <p> + I did not mean that. I am, indeed, pretty sure that if there were no + Aschers, if Gorman succeeded in abolishing the class, neither the city + clerk, nor his pretty wife, nor any one else in England would eat hothouse + peaches. There would not be any. I am inclined to think that if Ascher + were done away with there would not even be any tinned peaches. Tinned + peaches come from California. Somebody grows them there. That man must be + kept going, fed, clothed sufficiently, housed, while the peach trees grow. + He must be financed. Somebody else collects the peaches, puts them into + tins, solders air-tight lids on them, pastes labels round them. He works + with borrowed money. Somebody packs the tins in huge cases, puts them in + trains, piles them into ships, despatches them to London, getting his + power to do these things in some mysterious way from Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "While she washes up the cups and saucers," said Gorman, "he brings round + that motor cycle." + </p> + <p> + "Paid for," I said, "in monthly instalments." + </p> + <p> + "Probably," said Gorman, "with a deposit of 25 to start with." + </p> + <p> + "It's Ascher," I said, "who makes that possible." + </p> + <p> + "It's Ascher," said Gorman, "who makes that necessary. If it were not for + Ascher's rake-off, the tax he levies on every industry, the machine could + be bought right out for the original 25 and there would be no instalments + to be paid." + </p> + <p> + Possibly. But the tires of the machine were made of rubber. I remembered + my visit to Para, the broad, steaming Amazon, the great ships crawling + slowly past walls of forest trees, the pallid white men, the melancholy + Indians. It may be possible to devise some other means of getting the + precious gum from the Brazilian forest; but at present the whole business + is dependent on Ascher. + </p> + <p> + We left that motor cycle behind us at last and sped faster along a stretch + of road where the traffic was less dense. + </p> + <p> + "You notice," said Gorman, "the way London is swallowing up the country. + That was once a rural inn." + </p> + <p> + I had observed what Gorman pointed out to me. Here and there along the + road, a mile or so apart from each other, we came on old buildings, a + group of cottages, a farm house, an inn. These were solidly built after + the good old fashion. It had seemed wasteful to pull them down. The waves + of the advancing tide of London reached them, passed them, swept beyond + them, left them standing. + </p> + <p> + "Quite a few years ago," said Gorman, "those houses stood in the middle of + fields, and the people who lived in them ate the food that grew at their + doors." + </p> + <p> + "No tinned peaches," I said, "no bicycles." + </p> + <p> + "And no Ascher," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "we can't go back." + </p> + <p> + "In Ireland," he said, "we needn't go on. If we can only get clear of this + cursed capitalistic civilisation of England—that's what I mean by + being a Home Ruler." + </p> + <p> + "You think," I said, "that we should be too wise to accept the yoke of + Ascher, to barter our freedom for tinned peaches." + </p> + <p> + "We'll get the tinned peaches, too." + </p> + <p> + "No, you won't. If you have civilisation—and that includes a lot of + things besides tinned peaches, tobacco for instance, Gorman. If you want a + cigar you'll have to put up with Ascher. But I daresay you'd be better + without it. Only I don't think I'll live in your Ireland, Gorman." + </p> + <p> + We passed away from London in the end, got out beyond the last tentative + reachings of the speculative builder, into country lane-ways. There were + hedges covered with hawthorn, and the scent of it reached us as we rushed + past. Gorman threw away a half-smoked cigar. Perhaps he wanted to enjoy + the country smells. Perhaps he was preparing himself for life in the new + Ireland which he hoped to bring into being. + </p> + <p> + We reached the barn in which Tim Gorman lived, at about nine o'clock. He + was waiting for us, dressed in his best clothes. I knew they were his best + clothes because they were creased all over in wrong places, showing that + they had been packed away tightly in some receptacle too small to hold + them. It is only holiday clothes which are treated in this way. Besides + putting on this suit, Tim had paid us the compliment of washing his face + and hands for the first time, I imagine, for many days. + </p> + <p> + He shook hands with me shyly, and greeted his brother with obvious + nervousness. + </p> + <p> + "I have everything ready," he said, "quite ready. But I can't promise—— + You may be disappointed—— I've had endless difficulties—— + If you will allow me to explain——" + </p> + <p> + "Not a bit of good explaining to us," said Gorman. "All we're capable of + judging is the results." + </p> + <p> + Tim sighed and led us into the barn. + </p> + <p> + It was a large, bare room, ventilated—no one could say it was lit—by + three or four unglazed openings in the wall. These Tim blocked with hay so + as to exclude the lingering twilight of the summer evening. + </p> + <p> + At one end of the building was a stage, built, I thought, of fragments of + packing cases. It was very hard to be sure about anything, for we had + nothing except the light of two candles to see by, but the stage looked + exceedingly frail. I should not have cared to walk across it. However, as + it turned out, that did not matter. The stage was used only by ghosts, the + phantoms which Tim created, and they weighed nothing. Tim himself, when it + became necessary for him to adjust some part of his apparatus, crept about + underneath the stage. + </p> + <p> + At the other end of the barn was an optical lantern, fitted with the usual + mechanism for the exhibition of films. Half way down the room was a camp + bedstead, covered with one brown blanket. Tim invited us to sit on it. + </p> + <p> + "It doesn't often break down," he said. + </p> + <p> + "If it breaks down at all," said Gorman, "I'll not risk it. I'd rather sit + on the floor." + </p> + <p> + Gorman is a heavy man. I think he was right to avoid the bed. I sat down + cautiously on one end of it. The middle part looked more comfortable, but + I felt more secure with the legs immediately underneath me. + </p> + <p> + "It's all right," said Tim, "quite all right. I fixed it just before you + came in." + </p> + <p> + That bed, a tin basin and two very dirty towels were the only articles of + household furniture in the place. I suppose Tim had his meals with the + farmer who owned the barn. No inspired artist, toiling frenziedly with a + masterpiece in a garret, ever lived a more Spartan life than Tim Gorman + did in that barn. Whatever money he had was certainly not spent on his + personal comfort. On the other hand, a good deal of money had been spent + on tools and material of various kinds. Packing cases stood piled together + against the walls. The straw in which their contents had been wrapped + littered the floor. I discerned, as my eyes got used to the gloom, a + quantity of carpenters' tools near the stage, and, beside them, a confused + heap of the mysterious implements of the plumber's trade. + </p> + <p> + While I was looking round me and the elder Gorman was wriggling about on + the floor, Tim worked the lantern behind our backs. The thing, or some + part of it, hissed in an alarming way. Then it made a whirring noise and a + bright beam of light shot across the room. A very curious thing happened + to that light. Instead of splashing against the far wall of the barn, + exhibiting the cracks and ridges of the masonry, it stopped at the stage + and spread itself in a kind of irregular globe. We sat in the dark. Across + the room stretched the shaft of intense light, making the dust particles + visible. Then, just as when a child blows soap bubbles through a tube, the + light became globular. + </p> + <p> + "Put out the candles," said Tim. + </p> + <p> + They stood, flaming feebly, on the floor between Gorman and me. I + extinguished them. Tim's machine gave a sharp click. Figures appeared + suddenly in the middle of the globe of light. A man, then two women, then + a dog. I do not know, and at the time I did not care in the least, what + the figures were supposed to be saying or doing. It was sufficient for me + that they were there. I saw them, not as flat, sharply outlined + silhouettes, but as if they had been solid bodies. I saw them with + softened outlines, through two eyes instead of a monocle. I saw them + surrounded by an atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + "Pretty good, isn't it?" said Gorman. "Tim, turn on that running girl. I + want Sir James to see how you get the effect of her going further and + further away." + </p> + <p> + The running girl was the best thing accomplished by the old cinematograph. + I never witness her race without a certain feeling of breathlessness. But + Tim's girl ran far better. She was amazingly real. When she had finished + her course, Gorman struck a match and lit the candles again. + </p> + <p> + "That'll do, Tim," he said. "We've seen enough." + </p> + <p> + "I'd like to show you the horses," said Tim. "I think the horses galloping + are the best thing I've got." + </p> + <p> + "We'll take your word for the horses," said Gorman. "Shut off that light + of yours and stop the whizzing noise. I want to talk." He turned to me. + "Well?" + </p> + <p> + "It's marvellous," I said. + </p> + <p> + "There's money in it," said Gorman. "Piles and piles of money. The only + question is, Who's to get it?" + </p> + <p> + "Tim," I said, "is the one who deserves it." + </p> + <p> + "Tim will get his share whatever happens. The real question is, How are we + to prevent Ascher grabbing all the rest?" + </p> + <p> + Tim had finished quieting his machine and came over to us. + </p> + <p> + "Michael," he said, "I want 100." + </p> + <p> + "What for?" + </p> + <p> + "I want more mirrors. The ones I'm using aren't perfect. I must have + others." + </p> + <p> + "The ones you have," said Gorman, "are good enough for the present. When + we get a bit further on and see how this business is going to be managed, + we may get you other mirrors." + </p> + <p> + "Very well," said Tim, "I'll ask Ascher for the money. He'll give it to + me. I'd have asked him a week ago only you made me promise not to take any + more money from him without telling you." + </p> + <p> + "If you take money from Ascher," said Gorman, "he'll simply collar your + whole invention. You'll find in the end that it will be his, not yours. + He'll get every penny that's made out of it, and then he'll tell you that + you owe him more than you can pay. I've told you all along that that's + what will happen if you go borrowing from Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "I don't care," said Tim, "so long as I get it perfected I don't care what + happens." + </p> + <p> + "Damn!" said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + There was some excuse for him. Tim's attitude was hopelessly unpractical. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you see," said Tim, "that this is a wonderful thing? It's one of + the greatest things that any one has done for a long time. It's a new + thing." + </p> + <p> + The note of weak obstinacy which was in his voice when he first spoke had + died out of it. He was pleading with his brother as a child might beg for + something from a grown-up man. + </p> + <p> + "That's exactly what I do see," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Then why won't you let me perfect it? It doesn't matter—sure, you + know yourself, Michael, that it doesn't matter what happens if only I get + it right." + </p> + <p> + I thought for a moment that the boy was going to cry. He pulled himself + together with a sort of choked sob and then suddenly flashed into a rage. + </p> + <p> + "I will ask Ascher for the money," he said. "I will, I will. Damn you, + Michael! I'll give it all to Ascher, everything I have. Everything I ever + invent. I'll tell him all I've found out. I'll make it his." + </p> + <p> + Then with another swift change of mood the boy turned to me and began to + plead again. + </p> + <p> + "Tell him to give me the money," he said. "Or make him let me ask Ascher + for it. He'll do it if you speak to him. I don't want to quarrel with + Michael. I don't want to do anything he says is wrong. But I must have + that money. Don't you see I must? I can't get on without it?" + </p> + <p> + "Listen to me, Tim," I said; "if I give you the 100 you want——" + </p> + <p> + "I could manage with 100," said Tim. "But it would be much better if I + had 150." + </p> + <p> + "A hundred," I said, "and no more. If I give it to you, will you promise + to bring that apparatus of yours up to London and exhibit your results to + a few friends of mine there?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I will. Of course I will. May I order the new mirrors to-morrow and + say that you'll pay for them?" + </p> + <p> + "You may. But remember——" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, that will be all right," said Tim. "As soon as ever it is perfected——" + </p> + <p> + "Perfect or imperfect," I said, "you've promised to show it off when I ask + you to." + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I drove home together. At first he would do nothing except + grumble about his brother's childish obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + "Can't understand," he said, "how any man with brains can be such a fool." + </p> + <p> + Then when he had worked off the fine edge of his irritation he began to + thank me. + </p> + <p> + "It was good of you, very," he said, "to put down the money. I'd have done + it myself, if I could have laid my hand on the amount he wanted. But just + at this moment I can't. All the same I don't see what good that 100 is + going to do. The thing's perfect enough for all practical purposes + already. I saw nothing wrong with it." + </p> + <p> + "Nor did I." + </p> + <p> + "Then what the devil does he want to do with it? If the thing works all + right, what's the sense of tinkering with it?" + </p> + <p> + "That's the artistic soul," I said, "never satisfied, always reaching + upwards towards the unattained. It's the same with Mrs. Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "Of all the damned idiocies," said Gorman, "that artistic soul is the + damnedest." + </p> + <p> + I said nothing more for several minutes. I knew it would take Gorman some + time to recover from the mention of the artistic soul. When I thought he + had regained his self-possession I went on speaking. + </p> + <p> + "My idea," I said, "is to hire a small hall, and to invite a number of + well-off people to see Tim's show. You'll want money in the end, you + know." + </p> + <p> + "Not much," said Gorman. "A few thousands will be enough. It isn't as if + we had to manufacture anything." + </p> + <p> + "If you get what you want," I said, "in small sums from a number of + people, you'll be able to keep control of the thing yourself, and you + needn't be afraid of Ascher. Not that I believe Ascher would swindle, you. + I think Ascher's an honest man." + </p> + <p> + "Ascher's a financier," said Gorman. "That's enough for me." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> never suspected + Malcolmson of the cheap kind of military ardour which shows itself in the + girding on of swords after the hour of danger is past. He is the kind of + man who likes taking risks, and I have not the slightest doubt that if he + had really known beforehand that the Government was "plotting" to invade + Ulster he would have been found entrenched, with a loaded rifle beside + him, on the north bank of the Boyne. What I did think, when he left London + suddenly to place himself at the head of his men, was that he had been a + little carried away by the excitement of the times; that he was moved, as + many people are, when startling events happen, to do something, without + any very distinct idea of what is to be done. But even that suspicion + wronged Malcolmson. Either he or some one else had devised an effective + counterplot; effective considered as a second act in a comic opera. + Perhaps I ought not to say comic opera. There is a certain reasonableness + in the schemes of every comic opera. Our affairs in the early part of 1914 + were moving through an atmosphere like that of "Alice in Wonderland." The + Government was a sort of Duchess, affecting to regard Ulster as the baby + which was beaten when it sneezed because it could if it chose thoroughly + enjoy the pepper of Home Rule. The Opposition, on the other hand, with its + eye also on Ulster, kept saying in tones of awestruck warning, "Beware the + Jabberwock, my son." Malcolmson seemed to be a kind of White Knight, + lovable, simple-minded, chivalrous, but a little out of place in the + world. + </p> + <p> + However, Malcolmson and his friends, considered as characters in "Alice in + Wonderland," were effective, far more effective than the poor White Knight + ever was. They bought a lot of guns somewhere, perhaps in Hamburg. They + hired a ship and loaded her with the guns. They sailed her into Larne + Harbour and said to the Government, "Now, come on if you dare." + </p> + <p> + The Government, having previously issued a solemn proclamation forbidding + the importation of arms into Ireland, took up the attitude of Mr. Winkle + and said it was just going to begin. It rolled up its sleeves and clenched + its fists and said for the second time and with considerable emphasis that + it was just going to begin, Malcolmson danced about, coat off, battle + light in eye, and kept shouting: "Come on!" The Government, taking off its + collar and tie, said: "Just you wait till I get at you." + </p> + <p> + Gorman took a sane, though I think incorrect, view of the situation. + </p> + <p> + "The English people," he said, "are hopeless fools. It's almost impossible + to deal with them. They are actually beginning to believe that Ulster is + in earnest." + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "that's only fair. They've been believing that you're in + earnest for quite a long time now. Ulster ought to have its turn." + </p> + <p> + Gorman, though a politician, is essentially a just man. He admitted the + truth of what I had said. He went further. He admitted that Malcolmson's + <i>coup</i> was exceedingly well conceived. + </p> + <p> + "It's just the sort of thing," he said, "which appeals to Englishmen. + Reason is wasted on them." + </p> + <p> + "Don't be too hard on the English," I said. "It's the same everywhere in + the world. Government through the people, of the people, by, with, from, + to and for the people, is always unreasonable." + </p> + <p> + "It's the theatrical which pays," said Gorman. "I didn't think those + fellows in Belfast had brains enough to grasp that fact, but apparently + they have. I must say that this gun-running performance of theirs is good. + It has the quality which Americans describe as 'punch.' It has stirred the + popular imagination. It has got right across the footlights. It has + fetched the audience." + </p> + <p> + "Awkward situation for you," I said. + </p> + <p> + "We'll have to do something," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?" + </p> + <p> + "Lord, no. We may be fools, but we're not such fools as that." + </p> + <p> + "Still," I said, "he's broken the law. After all, a party like yours in + close alliance with the Government of the country must do something to + maintain the majesty of the law." + </p> + <p> + "Law be damned," said Gorman. "What the devil does law matter to us or the + Government either? What we've got to consider is popular opinion." + </p> + <p> + "And that," I said, "seems to be setting against you. According to the + theory of democracy as I understand it, you're bound to go the way popular + opinion is blowing you. You can't, without gross inconsistency, start + beating to windward against it." + </p> + <p> + "Winds sometimes change," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "They do. This one has. It was all in your favour a fortnight ago. Now, + what with your 'plot' and this really striking little episode in Larne——" + </p> + <p> + "The art of government," said Gorman, "consists in manipulating the wind, + making it blow the way it's wanted to. What we've got to do is to go one + better than the Ulster men." + </p> + <p> + "Ah," I said, "they imported rifles. You might land a shipload of large + cannons. Is that the idea?" + </p> + <p> + "They needn't necessarily be real cannons. I don't think our funds would + run to real cannons. Besides, what good would they be when we had them? + But you've got the main idea all right. Our game is to pull off something + which will startle the blessed British public, impress it with the fact + that we're just as desperate as the other fellows." + </p> + <p> + "What about the police?" I said. "The police have always had a down on + your side. It's a tradition in the force." + </p> + <p> + "The police aren't fools," said Gorman. "They know jolly well that any + policemen who attempted to interfere with our <i>coup</i>, whatever it may + be, would simply be dismissed. After all, we're not doing any harm. We're + not going to shoot any one. We're simply going to influence public + opinion. Everyone has a right to do that. By the way, did I mention that + my play is being revived? Talking of public opinion reminded me of it. It + had quite a success when it was first put on." + </p> + <p> + Gorman is charming. He never sticks to one subject long enough to be + really tiresome. + </p> + <p> + "I'm delighted to hear it," I said. "I hope it will do even better this + time." + </p> + <p> + "It ought to," said Gorman. "We've got a capital press agent, and, of + course, my name is far better known than it was. It isn't every day the + public gets a play written by a Member of Parliament." + </p> + <p> + "Where is it to be produced?" + </p> + <p> + "The Parthenon. Good big house." + </p> + <p> + The Parthenon is one of the largest of the London Music Halls. Gorman's + play was, I suppose, to take its place in the usual way between an + exhibition of pretty frocks with orchestral accompaniment and an imitation + of the Russian dancers. + </p> + <p> + "I shall be there," I said, "on the first night. You can count on my + applause." + </p> + <p> + It occurred to me after Gorman left me that the revival of his play + offered me an excellent opportunity of entertaining the Aschers. Ascher + had been exceedingly kind to me in giving me letters of introduction to + all the leading bankers in South America. Mrs. Ascher had been steadily + friendly to me. I owed them something and had some difficulty about the + best way of paying the debt. I did not care to ask them to dinner in my + rooms in Clarges Street. My landlord keeps a fairly good cook, and I + could, I daresay, have bought some wine which Ascher would have drunk. But + I could not have managed any kind of entertainment afterwards. I did not + like to give them dinner at a restaurant without taking them on to the + theatre; and the Aschers are rather superior to most plays. I had no way + of knowing which they would regard as real drama. The revival of Gorman's + play solved my difficulty. I knew that Mrs. Ascher regarded him as an + artist and that Ascher had the highest respect for his brilliant and + paradoxical Irish mind. After luncheon I took a taxi and drove out to + Hampstead. I owed a call at the house in any case and, if Mrs. Ascher + happened to be at home, I could arrange the whole matter with her in the + way that would suit her best. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was at home. She was in the studio, a large bare room at the + back of the house. Gorman was with her. + </p> + <p> + I saw at once that Mrs. Ascher was in a highly emotional condition. I + suspected that Gorman had been talking to her about the latest wrong that + had been done to Ireland, his Ireland, by the other part of Ireland which + neither he nor Mrs. Ascher considered as Ireland at all. On the table in + the middle of the room there was a little group on which Mrs. Ascher had + been at work earlier in the day. A female figure stood with its right foot + on the neck of a very disagreeable beast, something like a pig, but + prick-eared and hairy. It had one horn in the middle of its forehead. The + female figure was rather well conceived. It was appealing, with a sort of + triumphant confidence, to some power above, heaven perhaps. The + prick-eared pig looked sulky. + </p> + <p> + "Emblematic," said Gorman, "symbolical." + </p> + <p> + "The Irish party," I said, "trampling on Belfast." + </p> + <p> + "The spirit of poetry in Ireland," said Mrs. Ascher, "defying + materialism." + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is a far nicer way of putting it." + </p> + <p> + I took another look at the spirit of poetry. Mrs. Ascher was evidently + beginning to understand Ireland. Instead of being nude, or nearly nude, as + spirits generally are, this one was draped from head to foot. In Ireland + we are very particular about decency, and we like everything to have on + lots of clothes. + </p> + <p> + "But now," said Mrs. Ascher, tragically, "the brief dream is over. + Materialism is triumphant, is armed, is mighty." + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman for some sort of explanation. + </p> + <p> + "I've just been telling Mrs. Ascher," he said, "about the gun-running at + Larne." + </p> + <p> + "The mailed fist," said Mrs. Ascher, "will beat into the dust the tender + shoots of poesy and all high imaginings; will crush the soul of Ireland, + and why? Oh, why?" + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps it won't," I said. "My own idea is that Malcolmson doesn't mean + to use those guns aggressively. He'll keep quite quiet unless the soul of + poetry in Ireland goes for him in some way." + </p> + <p> + "We can make no such compromise," said Mrs. Ascher. "Art must be all or + nothing, must be utterly triumphant or else perish with uncontaminated + soul." + </p> + <p> + "The exclusion of Ulster from the scope of the Bill," said Gorman, "is the + latest proposition; but we won't agree to it." + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "it's your affair, not mine. I mean to stay in London and + keep safe; but I warn you that if the spirit of poesy attempts to triumph + utterly over Malcolmson he'll shoot at it. I know him and you don't. You + think he's a long-eared pig, but that ought to make you all the more + careful. Pigs are noted for their obstinacy." + </p> + <p> + "What we've got to do," said Gorman, "is devise some way of countering + this new move. Something picturesque, something that newspapers will + splash with big headlines." + </p> + <p> + I do not think that Mrs. Ascher heard this. She was looking at the upper + part of the window with a sort of rapt, Joan of Arc expression of face. I + felt that she was meditating lofty things, probably trying to hit on some + appropriate form of self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + "I shall go among the people," she said, "your people, my people, for I am + spiritually one of them. I shall go from cottage to cottage, from village + to village, walking barefooted along the mountain roads, dressed in a + peasant woman's petticoat. They will take me for one of themselves and I + shall sing war songs to them, the great inspiring chants of the heroes of + old. I shall awake them to a sense of their high destiny. I shall set the + young men's feet marching, thousands and thousands of them. I shall fill + the women's hearts with pride." + </p> + <p> + Then, for the first and only time since I have known him, Gorman's + patience gave way. I do not blame him. The thought of Mrs. Ascher as an + Irish peasant, singing street ballads outside public houses, would have + upset the temper of Job. + </p> + <p> + "That's all very well," he said, "but the other people have the guns." + </p> + <p> + "We must have guns, too," said Mrs. Ascher, "and shining swords and long + spears tipped with light. Buy guns." + </p> + <p> + With a really impressive gesture she dragged the rings from the fingers, + first of one hand, then of the other, and flung them on the ground at + Gorman's feet. Even when working in her studio Mrs. Ascher wears a great + many rings. + </p> + <p> + "Buy, buy," she said. + </p> + <p> + She unclasped the necklace which she wore and flung it down beside the + rings. It was a pearl necklace, but not by any means the handsomest pearl + necklace she owned. + </p> + <p> + "More," she said, "you must have more." + </p> + <p> + She pranced out of the room, stepping high, like an actress taking a part + in one of Shakespeare's plays or a well-bred carriage horse. + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said, "you're not going to take her wedding ring, are you? I + don't think you ought to. Ascher's really fond of her and I'm sure he + wouldn't like it." + </p> + <p> + "I wish to goodness," said Gorman, "that she wouldn't behave in this wild + way. If she wants to subscribe to the party funds why doesn't she write a + cheque instead of shying jewellery at me? I should certainly be arrested + on suspicion if I went to try and pawn those things. Nobody would believe + that she gave them to me." + </p> + <p> + He picked up the rings as he spoke and laid them in a row on the table. + </p> + <p> + "If we don't get her stopped," he said, "she'll have everybody laughing at + us." + </p> + <p> + "Laughing at you, Gorman, not at me. I've nothing to do with the poetic + soul of Ireland. It's your property." + </p> + <p> + "The English have no real sense of humour," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "They've got quite enough to see this joke," I said. "An owl would giggle + if it saw Mrs. Ascher going barefoot about Ireland and you following her + round carrying a long spear tipped with light in your hand." + </p> + <p> + "We must stop her," said Gorman. "Oh, damn! Here she is again." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher came in carrying a large morocco leather covered box, her + jewel case, I suppose. She was a little calmer than when she left us but + still very determined. + </p> + <p> + "Take this," she said. "Take all there is in it. I give it gladly—to + Ireland." + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at the jewel case and then pulled himself together with an + effort. + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Ascher," he said, "your gift is princely, but——" + </p> + <p> + "I give it freely," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "And I shall receive it," said Gorman, "receive it as the gift of a queen, + given with queenly generosity. I shall receive it when the hour comes, but + the time is not yet." + </p> + <p> + Gorman rising to an occasion is a sight which fills me with admiration. + That promise of a time to come was masterly. I should never have thought + of it; but of course it came more easily to Gorman than it would to me. He + is a politician and accustomed to draw cheques on rather distant futures. + </p> + <p> + "Our people," said Gorman, "are as yet unprepared, not ready to face the + crisis of their destiny. Keep these." Gorman laid his hand on the jewel + box as if giving it a sort of benediction, consecrating its contents to + the service of Ireland. "Keep these as a sacred trust until the hour is + upon us." + </p> + <p> + I very nearly applauded. Mrs. Ascher seemed a little disappointed. + </p> + <p> + "Why not now?" she said. "Why should we delay any longer?" + </p> + <p> + "We must trust our leaders," said Gorman. "They will tell us when the time + for action comes." + </p> + <p> + That would have been good enough for any ordinary constituency. It did not + satisfy Mrs. Ascher. I saw her looking a little doubtfully at Gorman. She + is a curious woman. She uses the very finest kind of language herself; but + she always gets suspicious when any one else talks about sacred trusts and + things of that kind. The fact is, I suppose, that she means what she says, + lives, as well as talks, finely. Gorman and I do not—quite. + </p> + <p> + I felt that Gorman needed and deserved a little help. He had done well + enough so far, but he scarcely understood how near to the edge of Mrs. + Ascher's credulity he had gone. + </p> + <p> + "What Mr. Gorman means," I said, "is that you must have men, organised, + you know, and drilled, before you can give them guns. Just at present + there are very few volunteers in Mr. Gorman's part of Ireland. He's going + to enroll a lot more. When he has them he'll ask you for a subscription + for the gun fund." + </p> + <p> + I did not think that Mrs. Ascher was really satisfied. In the light of + subsequent events I found out that she certainly was not. But she said no + more at the moment and made no further effort to press her jewel case on + Gorman. I did not feel that the moment was a good one for giving her the + invitation I had planned. It is impossible, without something like + indecency, to invite a woman to dinner in a restaurant while she is + meditating a barefooted pilgrimage through the wild places of Holy + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I left the house together. I hired a taxi to take us home so + that we could talk comfortably. + </p> + <p> + "Extraordinary woman," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Very, very. But don't let's talk about her. That was rather a good idea + of yours. May be something in it. + </p> + <p> + "I didn't know I had an idea," I said. "Are you sure you're not mixing me + up with Mrs. Ascher? She has lots." + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," said Gorman. "It was you who suggested organising the + National Volunteers." + </p> + <p> + There was at that time in Ireland a small number of extreme patriots who + rather admired Malcolmson because they thought he was going to fight + against England, and despised Gorman because they knew he was not. These + men had enrolled themselves in a semi-military organisation and called + themselves the National Volunteers. Gorman and his friends did their best + to suppress them and kept all mention of their existence out of the + English papers as far as possible. It surprised me to hear him speak in a + casual way of organising these declared enemies of his. + </p> + <p> + "You can't do that," I said. "Those fellows hate you like poison, worse + than Malcolmson does. They're—well, I should call them rebels. They + certainly won't do what you tell them." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, they will, if treated properly. My idea is to flood the + organisation with reliable men, fellows we can trust. When we've got a + majority of our own people enrolled we'll tell them to elect their own + leaders, democratic idea. Army choosing its own officers. Sure to catch + on." + </p> + <p> + "Sure to, and then?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, then they'll elect us. See? Every member of Parliament will be a + colonel. We needn't drill or anything; but there's nothing to prevent our + saying that we have 200,000 trained men. The Ulster fellows have gone no + trumps on their 100,000——" + </p> + <p> + "I should be inclined to say gone No Home Rule." + </p> + <p> + Gorman grinned. + </p> + <p> + "Gone no something," he said, "and we double them. I expect that will set + English opinion swinging round again." + </p> + <p> + "It ought to," I said, "but why bother about all these preliminaries? Why + put everybody in Ireland to the trouble of enrolling themselves in a new + organisation and electing officers and all that? It's just as easy to say + you have 200,000 trained men before being made a colonel as afterwards." + </p> + <p> + "You don't understand politics," said Gorman. "In politics there must be a + foundation of some sort for every fact. It needn't be much of a + foundation, but there must be some." + </p> + <p> + "Hard on the Irish people," I said, "being put to all that trouble and + bother just to make a foundation." + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," said Gorman. "They'll like it. But I hope to goodness that + fanatic woman won't insist on our buying guns. It would be the devil and + all if the fellows I'm thinking about got guns in their hands. You simply + couldn't tell what they'd do. You'll have to try and keep Mrs. Ascher + quiet." + </p> + <p> + "I'm going to ask her to dine with me and go to see your play," I said. + "That may distract her mind from guns for a while." + </p> + <p> + "You use your influence with her," said Gorman. "I've the greatest belief + in influence." + </p> + <p> + He has. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">T</span>hat evening I + wrote my invitation to the Aschers. They immediately accepted it, + expressing the greatest pleasure at the prospect of seeing Gorman's play + again. + </p> + <p> + I arranged to have dinner at the Berkeley and ordered it with some care, + avoiding as far as I could the more sumptuous kinds of restaurant food, + and drawing on my recollection of the things Ascher used to eat when + Gorman ordered his dinner for him on the Cunard steamer. With the help of + the head waiter I chose a couple of wines and hoped that Ascher would + drink them. As it turned out he preferred Perrier water. But that was not + my fault. No restaurant in London could have supplied the delicate Italian + white wines which Ascher drinks in his own house. + </p> + <p> + We dawdled over dinner and I lengthened the business out as well as I + could by smoking three cigarettes afterwards, very slowly. I did not want + to reach the Parthenon in time for the musical display of new frocks. I + could not suppose that Ascher was interested in seeing a number of young + women parading along a platform through the middle of the theatre even + though they wore the latest creations of Paris fancy in silks and + lingerie. I knew that Mrs. Ascher would feel it her duty to make some sort + of protest against the music of the orchestra. + </p> + <p> + Gorman had told me the hour at which his play might be expected to begin + and my object was to hit off the time exactly. Unfortunately I + miscalculated and got to the theatre too soon. The last of the young women + was waving a well-formed leg at the audience as we entered the box I had + engaged. I realised that we should have to sit through a whole tune from + the orchestra before the curtain went up again for Gorman's play. I + expected trouble and was pleasantly surprised when none came. Mrs. Ascher + had a cold. I daresay that made her slightly deaf and mitigated the + torture of the music. + </p> + <p> + She sat forward in the box and looked round at the audience with some show + of interest. The audience looked at her with very great interest. Her + clothes that night were more startling than any I have ever seen her wear. + A young man in the stalls stared at her for some time, and then, just when + I thought he had fully taken her in, bowed to her. She turned to Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Who is that?" she said. "The man in the fifth row, three seats from the + end, yes, there. He has a lady with him." + </p> + <p> + I saw the man distinctly, a well-set-up young fellow with a carefully + waxed, fair moustache. The way his hair was brushed and something about + the cut of his clothes made me sure that he was not an Englishman. The + lady with him was, quite obviously, not a lady in the old-fashioned sense + of the word. She seemed to me the kind of woman who would have no scruples + about forming a temporary friendship with a man provided he would give her + dinner, wine, and some sort of entertainment. + </p> + <p> + Ascher fumbled for his pince-nez, which he carries attached to a black + silk ribbon. He fixed them on his nose and took a good look at the young + man. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," he said, "my nephew, Albrecht von Richter. You remember him. He + dined with us two or three times when we were in Berlin in 1912. I did not + know he was in London." + </p> + <p> + I somehow got the impression that Ascher was not particularly pleased to + see his nephew Albrecht. Ascher was not looking very well. I had not seen + him for some time, and I noticed even at dinner that his face was pale and + drawn. In the theatre he seemed worse and I thought that the sudden + appearance of his nephew had annoyed him. The young man whispered + something to his companion and left his seat. The orchestra was still + thrashing its way through its tune and there seemed no immediate prospect + of the curtain going up. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later there was a tap at the door of our box and Von Richter + came in. Mrs. Ascher held out her hand to him. He bent over it and kissed + it with very pretty courtesy. He shook hands with Ascher who introduced + him to me. + </p> + <p> + "Captain von Richter—Sir James Digby." + </p> + <p> + Von Richter bowed profoundly. I nodded. + </p> + <p> + "Have you been long in London?" said Ascher. "You did not let me know that + you were here." + </p> + <p> + "I arrived here this afternoon," said Von Richter, "only this afternoon, + at five o'clock." + </p> + <p> + He spoke English remarkably well, with no more than a trace of foreign + accent. + </p> + <p> + "I've been in Ireland," he said, "for six weeks." + </p> + <p> + "Indeed!" said Ascher. "In Ireland?" + </p> + <p> + He was looking at his nephew without any expression of surprise, + apparently without any suggestion of inquiry; but I could not help + noticing that his fingers were fidgeting with the ribbon of his pince-nez. + Ascher, as a rule, does not fidget. He has his nerves well under control. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was frankly excited when she heard that Von Richter had been + in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + "Tell me," she said, "all about Ireland. About the people, what they are + saying and thinking." + </p> + <p> + "We are all," I said, "tremendously interested in Irish politics at + present." + </p> + <p> + "Alas!" said Von Richter, "and I can tell you nothing. My business was + dull. I saw very little. I was in Dublin and Belfast, not in the + picturesque and beautiful parts of that charming country. I was buying + horses. Oh, there is no secret about it. I was buying horses for my + Government." + </p> + <p> + It is certainly possible to buy horses in Dublin and Belfast; but I was + slightly surprised to hear that Von Richter had not been further afield. + Any one who understood horse-buying in Ireland would have gone west to + County Galway or south to County Cork. + </p> + <p> + The band showed signs of getting to the end of its tune. Von Richter laid + his hand on the door of the box. + </p> + <p> + "Shall I see you to-morrow?" said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Unfortunately," said Von Richter, "I leave London early to-morrow + morning. Back to Berlin and the drill yard." He kissed Mrs. Ascher's hand + again. "We poor soldiers have to work hard." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," I said, "you can join us at the Carlton after the play. Mr. and + Mrs. Ascher have promised to have supper there with me. If you are not + engaged———?" + </p> + <p> + I glanced at the lady in the stalls. I was not going to ask her to supper. + </p> + <p> + "I shall be delighted," said Von Richter. "I have no engagement of any + importance." + </p> + <p> + The lady in the stalls was evidently the sort of lady who could be + dismissed without trouble. + </p> + <p> + "Good," I said, "we leave directly this play is over; but you may want to + see the rest of the performance. The dancing is good I am told. Join us at + the Carlton as soon as you're tired of this entertainment." + </p> + <p> + Von Richter slipped away. The curtain went up almost immediately. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in to receive our congratulations as soon as his play was + over. I asked him to join our supper party but he had an engagement of his + own, a supper at the Savoy. I do not blame him. The lady who acted the + principal part in his play had been very charming. She deserved any supper + that Gorman could give her. + </p> + <p> + We reached the Carlton very early, long before the rush of supper parties + began. Von Richter joined us as we sat down at the table. He was an + intelligent, agreeable young man with plenty of tact. He listened and was + apparently interested while Mrs. Ascher poured out her hopes and fears for + Ireland's future. When she came, as she did in the end, to her own plan of + buying guns for the Nationalist Volunteers Von Richter became almost + enthusiastic. + </p> + <p> + "You Americans," he said. "You are always on-the side of the oppressed. + Alone among the nations of the earth you have a pat for the head of the + bottom dog." + </p> + <p> + Von Richter's English is not only correct, it is highly idiomatic. Mrs. + Ascher bridled with pleasure. It pleased her to think that she was patting + the bottom dog's head. I did not remind her that in the group which she + had just modelled the Spirit of Irish Poetry, for whose benefit she + intended to buy guns, had got its foot firmly planted on the pig. That + animal—and I still believed it to represent Belfast—was the + one which a tender-hearted American ought to have patted. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps I may be able to assist you," said Von Richter, "I know something + of rifles. That is my trade, you know. If I can be of any help—there + is a firm in Hamburg——" + </p> + <p> + He was glancing at Ascher as he spoke. He wondered, I suppose, how far + Ascher was committed to the scheme of arming Gorman's constituents. But + Ascher did not appear to be listening to him. He had allowed me to pour + out some champagne for him and sat fingering the stem of his glass without + drinking. + </p> + <p> + No one was eating or drinking much. I proposed that we should leave the + supper room and have our coffee in the hall outside. I felt slightly + uncomfortable at the turn the conversation was taking. Mrs. Ascher was + very much in earnest about Ireland. Von Richter, I suppose, really knew + where to buy guns. I entirely agreed with Gorman that the distribution of + firearms in Ireland was a most undesirable thing. + </p> + <p> + "I always think," I said, "that one of the things to do in London is to + watch the people going in and out of the supper room here. There is + nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. It is the best example there + is of the pride of life,—<i>superbia vitae</i>.' I forget the Greek + words at the moment; but a bishop whom I happen to know once told me that + they mean the exultation of living. You know the sort of thing—gems + and glitter, colour, scent, beauty, stateliness, strength. 'The pride of + heraldry, the pomp of power.'" + </p> + <p> + I made way for Mrs. Ascher and followed her as she moved among the tables + towards the staircase at the end of the room. Von Richter hooked his arm + in Ascher's and spoke a few sentences to him rapidly in German. He spoke + without making any attempt to lower his voice. He evidently did not think + it likely that any one within earshot, except Ascher, would understand + German. We reached the hall and secured comfortable seats, from which we + could watch the long procession of men and women which was already + beginning to stream towards the supper room. I ordered coffee, brandy and + tobacco, cigars for Von Richter and myself, a box of cigarettes for Mrs. + Ascher. Ascher refused to smoke and did not touch his brandy. + </p> + <p> + Our little party divided itself into halves. I do not know how it happened + but Von Richter managed to get himself placed beside Mrs. Ascher in such a + way that his back was partly turned to me. General conversation became + impossible. Von Richter and Mrs. Ascher talked to each other eagerly and + somehow seemed to get further away from Ascher and me. They were still + discussing the landing of guns in Ireland—in Connaught, I think. + After a while I could no longer hear what they said. Ascher began to talk + to me. + </p> + <p> + A party, two young women and one older one with three men behind them, + passed us and ascended the staircase to the supper room. + </p> + <p> + "There is something very fine," said Ascher, "about the insolence of + well-bred Englishwomen. You see how they walk and how they look, straight + in front of them. It is not an easy thing to walk well across a long + brightly lighted space with many eyes watching." + </p> + <p> + "I am not sure that I like Ascher's word 'insolence.' I recognise the + quality which he intended to describe, which is, I think, the peculiar + possession of English women of a certain class; but I should not call it + insolence." + </p> + <p> + Another party fluttered past us, a man and a woman. + </p> + <p> + "There," said Ascher, "is a French woman. She is Madame de Berthier, the + wife of one of the Ministers in the last Government, a very prominent + woman in Paris. I know her pretty well, but even if I did not know her I + should recognise her as French. You see that she is conscious all the time + that she is a woman and therefore that men's eyes are on her. She does not + escape from that consciousness. If a German lady were to pass us we should + see that she also is sex conscious; but she would be aware that she is <i>only</i> + a woman, the inferior of the men with her. The Englishwoman does not + admit, does not feel, that she has any superiors and she can walk as if + she did not care whether people looked at her and admired her or not. Even + the American woman cannot or does not do that. She wants to please and is + always trying to please. The Englishwoman is not indifferent to admiration + and she tries to please if she thinks it worth while. But she has learnt + to bear herself as if she does not care; as if the world and all that is + in it were hers of right." + </p> + <p> + Two men—one of them almost forty years of age, the other much + younger—walked slowly up the hall looking to right and left of them. + They failed to find the friends whom they sought. The elder spoke a few + words and they sat down opposite to us, probably to wait until the rest of + their party should arrive. "The men of your English upper classes," said + Ascher, "are physically very splendid, the sons of the women we have been + looking at are sure to be that. They possess a curious code of honour, + very limited, very irrational, but certainly very fine as far as it goes. + And I think they are probably true to it." + </p> + <p> + "I should have said," I replied, "that the idea of honour had almost + disappeared, what used to be called the honour of a gentleman." + </p> + <p> + "You do not really think that," said Ascher. "Or perhaps you may. In a + certain sense honour has disappeared among your upper classes. It is no + longer displayed. To the outsider it is scarcely noticeable. It is covered + up by affectation of cynicism, of greed, of selfishness. To pose as + cynical and selfish is for the moment fashionable. But the sense of honour—of + that singular arbitrary English honour—is behind the pose, is the + reality. Look at those two men opposite us. They are probably—but + perhaps I offend you in talking this way. You yourself belong to the same + class as those men." + </p> + <p> + "You do not offend me in the least," I said. "I'm not an Englishman for + one thing. Gorman won't let me call myself Irish, but I stick to it that + I'm not English. Please go on with what you were saying." + </p> + <p> + "Those men," said Ascher slowly, "are probably self indulgent. Their + morality—sex morality—is most likely very low. We may suppose + that they have many prejudices and very few ideas. They—I do not + know those two personally; I take them simply as types of their class—they + are wholly indifferent to, even a little contemptuous of art and + literature. But if it happened that a duty claimed them, a duty which they + recognised, they would not fail to obey the call. I can believe for + instance that they would fight, would suffer the incredible hardships of a + soldier's life, would endure pain and would die, without any heroics or + fuss or shouting. Men of my class and my training could not do those + things without great effort. Those men would do them simply, naturally." + </p> + <p> + "Ascher," I said, "I have a confession to make to you. I understand + German. I happen to know the language, learned it as a boy." Ascher looked + at me curiously for a moment. I do not think that he was much surprised at + what I said or that my confession made him uneasy. + </p> + <p> + "Ah! You are thinking of what my nephew said to me as we left the supper + room. You heard?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, "I felt like an eavesdropper, but I couldn't help myself. + He spoke quite loudly." + </p> + <p> + "And you understood?" + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact I had not understood at the moment. Von Richter said + very little, and what little he said concerned Ascher's business and had + nothing to do with me. He told Ascher to move very cautiously, to risk as + little as possible, to keep the money of his firm within reach for a few + months. That, as well as I can remember, was all he said; but he repeated + it. "Your money should be realisable at a moment's notice." + </p> + <p> + "You understood?" said Ascher, patiently persistent. + </p> + <p> + "I don't understand yet," I said, "but what you have just said about + Englishmen being capable of fighting has put thoughts into my mind. Did + Captain von Richter mean——?" + </p> + <p> + "He meant to warn me," said Ascher, "that what I have always looked + forward to with horror and dread is imminent—a great war. You + remember a talk we had long ago in New York; the night we were at the + circus and saw the trapeze swingers. Well, if my nephew is right, the + whole delicate balance of that performance is going to be upset. There + will be a crash, inevitably." + </p> + <p> + "And you?" + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + "For me as well as for the others," he said. "The fact that my affairs are + greater than those of most men will only make my fall the worse." + </p> + <p> + "But you have been warned in time." + </p> + <p> + "I scarcely needed the warning. I was aware of the danger. My nephew only + told me what I knew. His warning, coming from him, an officer who stands + high in the German military service—it confirms my fears, no more." + </p> + <p> + "But you can save yourself and your business," I said. "Knowing what is + before you, you can—you need not lend money, accept obligations. You + can gradually draw out of the stream of credit in which your fortune is + involved, get into a backwater for a while. You have time enough. I am + expressing myself all wrong; but you know what I mean." + </p> + <p> + "I know. And you think I ought to do that?" + </p> + <p> + "There is no 'ought' about it," I said. "It is the natural thing to do." + </p> + <p> + "You were a soldier once. I think you told me so." + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + "Suppose," said Ascher, "that this warning had come to you then, while you + were still a soldier. Suppose that you had known what your brother + officers did not know, or the men under you, that war was coming, you + would have resigned your commission. Is it so?" + </p> + <p> + "No," I said, "I shouldn't." + </p> + <p> + "It would have been, from my point of view—for I am a coward—it + would have been the natural thing to do." + </p> + <p> + "It wouldn't have been natural to me," I said. "I couldn't have done it. I + don't know why, but I couldn't. I'm not professing to be particularly + brave or chivalrous or anything of that sort. But to resign under those + circumstances!—— Well, one doesn't do it." + </p> + <p> + "Nor do I know why," said Ascher, "but I cannot do it either. It is, you + see, the same thing. I must, of course, go on; just as you would have felt + yourself obliged to go on. The warning makes no difference." + </p> + <p> + The idea that a banker feels about his business as a soldier does about + his profession was new to me. But I understood more or less what Ascher + meant. If he had that kind of sense of obligation there was clearly no + more to be said about the point. + </p> + <p> + "And England?" I said. "Is she to be in it?" + </p> + <p> + "Who knows? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I hope not. The disaster will be far + less terrible if England is able to remain at peace." + </p> + <p> + "Tell me this," I said, "or if I am impertinent, say so, and I shall not + ask again. What was Captain von Richter doing in Ireland?" + </p> + <p> + "I do not know. I can only guess." + </p> + <p> + "Not buying horses?" + </p> + <p> + "I do not suppose he went there to buy horses though he may have bought + some. He went to see, to learn, to understand. That is what I guess. I do + not know." + </p> + <p> + "He has probably made up his mind," I said, "that in the course of the + next couple of months England will find herself with her hands full, so + full with Irish affairs that it will be impossible for her to act + elsewhere. A civil war in Ireland——" + </p> + <p> + "My nephew," said Ascher, "is not very clever. He may think that. He is, I + believe, an excellent soldier. But if he were a banker I should not employ + him to find out things for me. I should not rely on the reports he brought + me. He lacks intelligence. Very likely he believes what you have said." + </p> + <p> + "But you don't?" + </p> + <p> + "No. I do not. I do not believe that Irish affairs will be in such a state + that they will determine England's action. You see I have the privilege of + knowing Gorman." + </p> + <p> + "You don't know Malcolmson," I said, "and he's a most important factor in + the problem. He's like your nephew, an excellent soldier, but lacking in + intelligence. You don't realise what Malcolmson is capable of." + </p> + <p> + "I do not know Colonel Malcolmson personally," said Ascher. "I am right, + am I not, in styling him <i>Colonel</i> Malcolmson?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. He retired some years ago as Colonel of my old regiment" + </p> + <p> + "Does a man retire from his loyalty," said Ascher, "when he retires from + his regiment? Will your friend give up his honour because he has given up + his command? Will he aid the enemies of England?" + </p> + <p> + "Of course," I said, "if you put it to Malcolmson in that way—— + He's a positive fanatic on the subject of loyalty. But he doesn't know, he + doesn't understand. He hasn't had the warning that your nephew has just + given you." + </p> + <p> + "You are an Irishman," said Ascher, "and you ought to know your countrymen + better than I do. But it will surprise me very much if England finds + herself hampered by Ireland when the crisis comes." + </p> + <p> + It was Von Richter who broke up our party. He pleaded the necessity for + early rising next morning as his excuse for going away before the hour at + which the law obliges people to stop eating supper in restaurants. I + wondered whether he and Mrs. Ascher had made a satisfactory plan for + running guns into Galway. According to Ascher it did not make much + difference whether the Irish peasants had rifles in their hands or not. It + was soothing, though humbling, to feel that, guns or no guns, Volunteers + or no Volunteers, Ireland would not matter in the least. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">G</span>orman's play + achieved a second success. The Parthenon was crammed every night, and it + was the play, not the pretty dresses or the dancing, which filled the + house. Gorman made money, considerable sums of money. I know this because + he called on me one morning in the middle of July and told me so. He did + more. He offered me a very substantial and quite unanswerable proof that + he felt rich. + </p> + <p> + "If you don't mind," he said, "I'd like to pay you whatever you've spent + on this new invention of Tim's." + </p> + <p> + "I haven't spent anything," I said. "I've invested a little. I believe in + Tim's new cinematograph. I expect to get back every penny I've advanced to + him and more." + </p> + <p> + This did not satisfy Gorman. He got out his cheque book and a fountain + pen. + </p> + <p> + "There was the hundred pounds you gave him to buy looking glasses," he + said. "You didn't give him more than that, did you?" + </p> + <p> + "Not so much," I said. "The bill for those mirrors was only 98-7-6; and I + made the man knock off the seven and sixpence as discount for cash. I'm + learning to be a business man by degrees." + </p> + <p> + Gorman wrote down 98 on the cover of his cheque book. + </p> + <p> + "And the hire of the hall?" he said. "What will that come to?" + </p> + <p> + I had hired a small hall for the exhibition of Tim's moving picture + ghosts. I had invited about a hundred people to witness the show. Gorman + himself, a brother of the inventor, had promised to preside over the + gathering and to make a few introductory remarks on the progress of + science or anything else that occurred to him as appropriate to such an + occasion. But I could not possibly allow him to pay for the entertainment. + </p> + <p> + "My dear Gorman," I said, "it's my party. The people are my friends. At + least some of them are. The invitations have gone out in my name. You + might just as well propose to pay for the tea I mean to offer them to + drink as for the hire of the room in which I am going to receive them." + </p> + <p> + "Will 150 cover the whole show?" said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "If you insist on heaping insults on my head," I said, "I shall retire + into a nursing home and cancel all the invitations." + </p> + <p> + "You're an obstinate man," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Very. In matters of this kind." + </p> + <p> + "All the same," said Gorman, "I'll get rid of that money. I don't consider + it's mine. I ought to have paid for Tim, and I would, only that I hadn't a + penny at the time." + </p> + <p> + "If you like to give 150 to a charity," I said, "that's your affair." + </p> + <p> + "That," said Gorman, "would be waste. I rather think I'll give a party + myself." + </p> + <p> + He slipped his cheque book back into his pocket. + </p> + <p> + "Invite me to meet the lady who acts in your play," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Gibson?" said Gorman. "Right. Who else shall we have?" + </p> + <p> + "Why have anybody else?" + </p> + <p> + "There are difficulties," said Gorman, "about the rest of the party. You + wouldn't care to meet my friends." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, I would." + </p> + <p> + "No, you wouldn't. I know you. You don't consider Irish Nationalists fit + to associate with. We're not respectable." + </p> + <p> + That was putting it too strongly; but it is a fact that I do not know, or + particularly want to know, any of Gorman's political associates. + </p> + <p> + "And your friends," said Gorman, "wouldn't know me." + </p> + <p> + Again Gorman was guilty of over-statement; but my friends are, for the + most part, of conservative and slightly military tastes. They would not + get on well with Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "I'll think it over," said Gorman, "and let you know." + </p> + <p> + Two days later I got my invitation. Gorman, in the excitement of sudden + great possessions, had devised an expensive kind of party. The invited + guests were Mr. and Mrs. Ascher, Miss Gibson, Tim and myself. We were to + voyage off from Southampton in a motor yacht, hired by Gorman, to see the + Naval Review at Spithead. We were to start at ten o'clock from Waterloo + station in a saloon carriage reserved for our party. + </p> + <p> + "We have to be back in time for Miss Gibson to go to the theatre," Gorman + wrote, "so we must start early. I believe the show is to be worth seeing. + British Navy at its best. King there. Royal salutes from Dreadnoughts. + Rank, fashion and beauty in abundance." + </p> + <p> + The week was to be one of exciting festivities. Gorman had fixed his party + for the day before my exhibition of Tim's new invention. + </p> + <p> + I was shaving—shortly after eight o'clock on the morning of Gorman's + party—when my servant came into my room. + </p> + <p> + "I beg pardon, sir," he said, "but there's a young man waiting in the + hall, says that he wants to see you." + </p> + <p> + It seemed odd that anyone should want to see me at that hour. + </p> + <p> + "Who is he?" I said. + </p> + <p> + "Don't know, sir. Gives his name as Gorman. But he's not our Mr. Gorman." + </p> + <p> + "It may be Tim," I said. "Does he look as if he had an artistic soul?" + </p> + <p> + "Couldn't say, sir. Might have, sir. Artists is very various. Doesn't seem + to me, sir, as if his man looked after his clothes proper." + </p> + <p> + "Must be Tim," I said. "Show him in." + </p> + <p> + "In here, sir?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. And have an extra kidney cooked for breakfast." + </p> + <p> + Tim came in very shyly and sat down on a chair near the door. He certainly + did not look as if his clothes had been properly cared for. He was wearing + the blue suit which I suspected was the best he owned. It was even more + crumpled and worse creased than when I saw it down in Hertfordshire. + </p> + <p> + "I hope you don't mind my coming here," he said. "I didn't like to go to + Mr. Ascher, and I was afraid to go to Michael. He'd have been angry with + me." + </p> + <p> + "Has anything gone wrong with your apparatus? Smashed a mirror?" + </p> + <p> + Tim brightened up at the mention of his apparatus. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," he said. "That's all right. In fact I've been able to improve it + greatly. You remember the trouble I had with the refraction from the + second prism. The adjustment of the angles—— The way the light + fell——" + </p> + <p> + I could not, especially before breakfast, argue about prisms. + </p> + <p> + "If your machinery's all right," I said, "what's the matter with you?" + </p> + <p> + "It's this party of Michael's," he said. "I forgot all about it till + yesterday afternoon." + </p> + <p> + "Well, you remembered it then. If you'd forgotten it till this afternoon + it would have been a much more serious matter." + </p> + <p> + "But," said Tim, "Michael told me to get some new clothes. He said he'd + pay for them, which was very kind of him. But when I got up to London the + shops were shut. I hurried as much as I could, but there were one or two + things I had to do before I started. And now I'm afraid Michael will be + angry. He said most particularly that I must be well dressed because there + are ladies coming." + </p> + <p> + "Stand up," I said, "and let me have a look at you." + </p> + <p> + Poor Tim stood up, looking as if he expected me to box his ears. There was + no disguising the fact that his costume fell some way short of the + standard maintained by Cowes yachtsmen. + </p> + <p> + Tim surveyed himself with a rueful air. He was certainly aware of the + condition of his clothes. + </p> + <p> + "If I could even have got a ready made suit," he said, "it might have + fitted. But I couldn't do that. I didn't get to London till nearly ten + o'clock. There was a train at four. I wish now that I'd caught it. It was + only a few minutes after three when I remembered about the party and I + might have caught that train. But I didn't want to leave just then. There + were some things that I had to do. Perhaps now I'd better not go to the + party. Michael will be angry if I don't; but I expect he'll be angrier if + I go in these clothes. I think I'd better not go at all." + </p> + <p> + He looked at me wistfully. He was hoping, I am sure, that I might decide + that he was too disreputable to appear. + </p> + <p> + "No," I said, "you can't get out of it that way. You'll have to come." + </p> + <p> + "But can I? You know better than I do. I did brush my trousers a lot this + morning—really. I brushed them for quite half an hour; but there are + some marks——" + </p> + <p> + He held out his right leg and looked at it hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + "Stains, I suppose," he said. + </p> + <p> + "You'd be better," I said, "if you had a tie." + </p> + <p> + Tim put his hand up to his neck and felt about helplessly. + </p> + <p> + "I must have forgotten to put it on," he said. "I have one, I know. But + it's very hard to remember ties. They are such small things." + </p> + <p> + "Take one of mine," I said, "and put it on before you forget again." + </p> + <p> + "Anything else?" said Tim. + </p> + <p> + "I don't think," I said, "that there's anything else we can do. My clothes + wouldn't fit you. I might lend you a pair of boots but I doubt if you'd + get them on. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll get yours cleaned. Take + them off." + </p> + <p> + I do not think that my servant liked cleaning Tim's boots. But he did it + and I daresay it was good for him. + </p> + <p> + I was a little anxious about the meeting between Mrs. Ascher and Tim. When + they parted in New York she was deeply vexed with him and I could not + think it likely that a woman as devout as she is would readily forgive a + man who had been guilty of blasphemy. On the other hand she had very + graciously accepted my invitation to be present when the new invention was + shown off. She might, of course, only wish to hear the other Gorman making + a speech; but she might have forgotten Tim's offence, or changed her mind + about its heinousness. In any case Tim's clothes would make no difference + to her. Miss Gibson might think less of him for being shabby. But Mrs. + Ascher was quite likely to prefer him in rags. Many people regard + unkemptness as a sign of genius; which is, I daresay, the reason why poets + seldom wash their necks. + </p> + <p> + I need not have troubled myself about the matter. Mrs. Ascher took no + notice of Tim. She was sitting in the saloon carriage when we reached the + station and was surrounded with newspapers. She greeted me with effusion. + </p> + <p> + "Isn't it glorious?" she said. "Splendid. We have shown them that we too + can do daring things, even the sort of things in which they take a special + pride. The practical things which the world boasts of, which we artists + are not supposed to be able to do at all." + </p> + <p> + "I haven't seen a paper this morning," I said. "Has any one assassinated + the Prime Minister?" + </p> + <p> + "Look!" she said. + </p> + <p> + She held out one of the newspapers towards me. I did not have to take it + in my hand to see the news. I could have read the headlines from the far + side of the platform. + </p> + <p> + "Steam yacht lands guns on Galway Coast. National Volunteers muster to + receive Arms. Coastguards Paralysed. Police Helpless. Crushing Reply to + Ulster Lawlessness." + </p> + <p> + That, of course, was a Liberal paper. There was a Unionist paper open on + the floor at my feet. Its statement of the facts was almost identical; but + its interpretation was different Instead of regarding the incident as a + lesson in loyalty to Malcolmson it said: + </p> + <p> + "Act of Rebellion in Connaught. Civil War Breaks Out." + </p> + <p> + "In the broad light of day," said Mrs. Ascher, "at noon. Without an + attempt at concealment. Now, now at last, Ireland has asserted herself, + has shown that the idealism of the artist is a match for the sordid + materialism of the worshippers of efficiency." + </p> + <p> + I looked round for Gorman. I wanted to see how he was taking the news. He + was on the platform, talking seriously, I fear sternly, to Tim; no doubt + about his clothes. Ascher was standing near them; but was not, I think, + listening to Gorman. He had the air of patient politeness which is common + with him on pleasure parties and excursions of all kinds. + </p> + <p> + "I can't help hoping," I said, "that they haven't got any ammunition. It + sounds an unkind thing to say, but—I'm not much of a patriot, I + know, but I've just enough love of country in me to dislike the idea of + Irishmen shooting each other." + </p> + <p> + "Oh," said Mrs. Ascher, "there would be no risk of that if—if men + like you—the natural leaders—would place yourselves at the + head of the people. Think—think——" + </p> + <p> + I did think. The more I thought the less inclined I felt to agree with + Mrs. Ascher. It seemed to me that if I took to paralysing coastguards and + reducing policemen to helplessness there would be considerably more risk + of shooting than if I stayed quietly in London. The proper leaders of the + people—proper though perhaps not natural—are the politicians. + The only risk of real trouble in Ireland rose from the fact that men like + Malcolmson—natural leaders—had done what Mrs. Ascher wanted me + to do, put themselves at the head of the people. If they had been content + to leave the question of Home Rule to the politicians it could have been + settled quietly. Gorman, for instance, has an instinct for stopping in + time. Malcolmson and men like him confuse games with real affairs. I might + turn out to be just as bad as Malcolmson if I took to placing myself at + the head of the people. Besides I do not like the people. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in with Miss Gibson and I was introduced to her. She seemed a + nice, quiet little girl, and smiled rather shyly as we shook hands. She + sat down beside Mrs. Ascher and refused the cigarette which was offered + her. She did not in the least correspond to my idea of what a leading lady + in a popular play should be. However I had not much opportunity just then + of forming an opinion of her. Gorman, having settled the two ladies, took + Ascher and me to the far end of the carriage. The train started. + </p> + <p> + "That's a damned silly performance," said Gorman, "landing those guns in + Galway." + </p> + <p> + "I should have thought," I said, "that you'd have been pleased. You were + talking to me the other day about the necessity for pulling off some <i>coup</i> + of a striking and theatrical kind by way of diverting the sympathy of the + English people from Ulster." + </p> + <p> + "But this," said Gorman, "is a totally different thing. I happen to know + what I'm talking about. The fellows who've got these guns are wild, + irresponsible, unpractical fools. They've been giving us trouble for + years, far more trouble than all the Unionist party put together. They + don't understand politics in the least. They've no sense. They're like—like——" + he looked round for some comparison. "In some ways they're rather like + Tim." + </p> + <p> + "Dreamers," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," said Gorman. "They ought to be writing poetry." + </p> + <p> + "Lofty souls," I said, "idealists. Just exactly what Mrs. Ascher thinks + you are." + </p> + <p> + "Take the case of Tim," said Gorman. "You'll hardly believe it but—just + look at his clothes, will you?" + </p> + <p> + Tim was standing by himself in the middle of the carriage. He looked + forlorn. He was too shy, I imagine, to sit down beside Mrs. Ascher or Miss + Gibson, and too much afraid of his brother to join our group. We had every + opportunity of studying his clothes. + </p> + <p> + "And I told him to buy a new suit," said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "That," I said, "is just the kind of man that Mrs. Ascher believes in. She + was saying to me a few minutes ago that there is nothing more sordid and + detestable than the worship of efficiency in practical matters." + </p> + <p> + The mention of Mrs. Ascher's name recalled Gorman to a sense of his duties + as a host. The two ladies were not getting on very well together. I + imagine that Mrs. Ascher was too much excited by her Irish news to care + for talking about the Naval Review we were going to see, and that was a + topic which would inevitably suggest itself to Miss Gibson. Miss Gibson, + though anxious to be polite, was not likely to know or care anything about + Ireland. Gorman left us and joined them. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said to Ascher, "what do you think of this performance in + Galway?" + </p> + <p> + "Have you read the newspapers?" he said. + </p> + <p> + "The headlines," I replied. "I couldn't very well help reading them." + </p> + <p> + Ascher stepped across the carriage and picked up one of the papers from + the floor. It was the one which declared that civil war had broken out in + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + "I wish," he said, "that I knew exactly the measure of my nephew's + intelligence." + </p> + <p> + "Captain von Richter?" I said. + </p> + <p> + "Yes. He may—almost anything is possible with a man like him. He may + believe that." + </p> + <p> + Ascher pointed to the words, "Civil War." + </p> + <p> + "I don't think you need worry about that," I said. "Whatever Malcolmson + and his lot may do those fellows in Galway won't fight. Gorman and the + priests will stop them. You can always count on the politicians and the + priests. They'll prevent anything really serious. The Connaught Celt will + never start a civil war; at least not unless he gives up his religion and + takes to hanging Members of Parliament. He's a splendid fighting man—none + better—but he won't run the risk of losing his soul for the sake of + a battle. He must be told he ought to fight by some one whose authority he + recognises. That's where we're safe. All the authorities are against + violence." + </p> + <p> + "I have no doubt you are right," said Ascher. "No civil war will be + started in the way these papers suggest. I am not anxious about that. It + is impossible. But I am anxious lest it should be believed possible by men + who do not understand. My nephew, for instance. He will not know what you + know. He may believe—and those over him in Berlin—they will + not understand. They may think that the men in Ireland who have got the + guns will use them. They may even have had something to do with supplying + the guns. That is where the danger lies. A miscalculation—not in + Ireland—but elsewhere." + </p> + <p> + I did not like to ask whether Mrs. Ascher's enthusiasm for the cause of + Ireland had led her to finance the Galway gun-running. Nor did I care to + question Ascher about his suggestion that Von Richter had something to do + with buying and shipping that cargo or the other which was landed at + Larne. Ascher seemed disinclined to discuss the matter further. We joined + Gorman and the two ladies at the far end of the carriage, picking up Tim + on our way. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was sitting beside Miss Gibson. He was leaning forward, pointing + with outstretched hand to the country through which the train was passing. + </p> + <p> + "This is the playground of England," he said. "Here the rich and idle + build themselves beautiful houses, plant delightful gardens, live + surrounded by a parasitic class, servants, ministers to luxury; try to + shut out, succeed to a great extent in shutting out all sense and memory + of real things, of that England where the world's work is done, the + England which lies in the smoky hinterland." He waved his hand with a + comprehensive gesture towards the north. "Far from all the prettinesses of + glorified villadom." + </p> + <p> + "I do think," said Miss Gibson, "that Surrey and Hampshire are sweetly + pretty." + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson may be regarded, I suppose, as one of England's toys. It was + only natural that she should appreciate the playground. It was, so she + thought, a district very well suited to the enjoyment of life. She told us + how she had driven, in the motor of a wealthy member of Parliament, + through the New Forest. From time to time she had spent week-ends at + various well-appointed villas in different parts of the South of England, + and, as a nice-minded young woman should, had enjoyed these holidays of + hers. She frankly preferred the playground to that other, more "real" + England which Gorman contrasted with it, the England of the midlands, + where the toilers dwelt, in an atmosphere thick with smuts. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher, of course, took quite a different view. It filled her with + sadness to think that a small number of people should play amid beautiful + surroundings while a great number—she dwelt particularly on the case + of women who made chains—should live hard lives in hideous places. + Mrs. Ascher is more emotional than intellectual. The necessity for + consistency in a philosophy of life troubles her very little. As a devout + worshipper of art she ought to have realised that her goddess can only be + fitly honoured by people wealthy enough to buy leisure, that the toiling + millions want bread much more than they want beauty. I have no quarrel + with the description of the life of Birmingham as more "real"—both + Gorman and Mrs. Ascher kept using the word—than the life of the Isle + of Wight. Nor should I want to argue with any one who said that beauty and + art are the only true realities, and that the struggle of the + manufacturing classes for wealth is a striving after wind. But I felt + slightly irritated with Mrs. Ascher for not seeing that she cannot have it + both ways. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, of course, was simply trying to be agreeable. I pointed out—when + I succeeded in seizing a place in the conversation—that if Gorman's + theory were applied to Ireland, Belfast would come out as a reality while + Cork, Limerick, and other places like them would be as despicable as + Dorsetshire. + </p> + <p> + "Wicklow," I said, "is the playground of Ireland, and it returns nothing + but Nationalist members to Parliament. You ought not to go back on your + own side, Gorman." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered at the mention of Belfast and would not admit that + it could be as "real" as Manchester or Leeds. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson broke in with a reminiscence of her own. She told us that she + had been in Belfast once with a touring company, and thought it was duller + on Sunday than any other city in the British Isles. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, after winking at me, appealed to Ascher on the subject of + Belfast's prosperity. In his opinion the apparent wealth of that city is + built up on an insecure foundation of credit. There is no solidity about + it. The farmers of the south and west of Ireland, on the other hand, have + real wealth, actual savings, stored up in the Post Office Banks, or placed + on deposit, in other banks, or hoarded in stockings. + </p> + <p> + Ascher was most unwilling to join in the discussion. He noticed, as I did, + that Miss Gibson's attention was wandering. In the end, goaded by Gorman, + he said that someone ought to teach the Irish farmers to invest their + savings in high class international stocks and bonds. He added that 1 + notes kept in drawers and desks are not wealth but merely frozen + potentialities of credit. + </p> + <p> + After that, conversation, as might be expected, became impossible for some + time, although Ascher apologised humbly. + </p> + <p> + Gorman restored us to cheerfulness by opening a parcel and handing round + two enormous boxes of chocolates. One box was settled on the seat between + Miss Gibson and Tim. They ate with healthy appetites and obvious delight. + When we reached Southampton that box was nearly empty and neither of them + seemed any the worse. The other box lay on Mrs. Ascher's knee. She and I + and Gorman did our best, but we did not get through the top layer. Ascher + only took one small chocolate and, when he thought no one was looking, + dropped it out of the window. + </p> + <p> + The motor yacht which Gorman had hired for us turned out to be a swift and + well-found ship with a small cabin and possibilities of comfort in a large + cockpit aft. We sped down Southampton Water, one of a whole fleet of + pleasure vessels large and small. A racing cutter stooped under the + pressure of a fresh westerly breeze, to leeward of us. We slipped close + past a little brown-sailed yawl, steered by a man in white flannels. Two + laughing girls in bright red caps sat on the coach-roof cabin top. An + arrogant white steam yacht, flying the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron, + sliced her silent way through the water behind us. Shabby boats with + stained, discoloured sails and chipped paint bore large parties seaward. + The stiff front of Netley Hospital shone white in the sun. The conical + buoy at the entrance of Hamley river bent its head shorewards as the + strong tide swept past it. From the low point beneath Calshott Castle a + flying-machine rose suddenly, circled round in a wide sweep and then sped + swiftly eastwards towards Spithead. In the roads off Cowes we could + discern many yachts at anchor. One of the Hamburg-American lines crept + cautiously up the Solent. A belated cruiser, four-funneled, black and + grim, on her way to join the Fleet, followed the huge German steamer. The + waters of the Solent tumbled in irregular white-topped waves, tide and + wind opposed to each other, struggling for mastery. + </p> + <p> + Gorman hauled luncheon baskets from the cabin. He set Tim and me to open + them. The look of a ham which Tim thoughtlessly asked her to hold while he + unpacked the dish belonging to it, finished Mrs. Ascher. Our boat was + rolling quite appreciably. She retired to the cabin. Even the glass of + champagne with which Gorman hurriedly provided her failed to enable her to + eat. Miss Gibson fortunately was unaffected. She ate everything that was + offered to her and in the course of the afternoon finished Mrs. Ascher's + box of chocolates. + </p> + <p> + Before we stopped eating we caught our first sight of the Fleet. The ships + lay in three long, straight lines off Spithead; battleships, cruisers, + lean destroyers, submarines. A hydroplane raced past us, flinging showers + of spray and foam high on each side of her. Two naval aeroplanes, their + canoe-shaped floats plainly visible, hovered and circled overhead. + Pleasure-boats were everywhere, moving in and out among the motionless + ironclads. A handsome barque-rigged yacht, some very rich man's summer + home, came slowly towards us, her sails furled, using auxiliary steam + power. + </p> + <p> + We swiftly approached the Fleet. Already the vast bulk of the battleships + oppressed our spirits. We looked up from the cockpit of our dancing + pleasure boat and saw the huge misshapen iron monsters towering over us, + minatory, terrible. We swept in and out, across the sharp bows, under the + gloomy sterns of the ships of the first line. Ascher gazed at them. His + eyes were full of sorrow, sorrow and a patient resignation. + </p> + <p> + "Your protection," I said. "Because those ships are there, because they + are black and strong, stronger than any other ships, because men + everywhere are afraid of them, because this navy of England's is great, + your net of commerce and credit can trawl across the world and gather + wealth." + </p> + <p> + "Protection," said Ascher. "Protection and menace. This Navy is only one + of the world's guarantees of peace, of peace guaranteed by fear. It is + there as you say, and the German Army is there; that men may fear them and + peace be thus made sure. But can peace be secured through fear? Will not + these navies and armies some day fulfil the end of their being, rend all + our nets as they rush across the seas and desolate the lands? They are + more menace than protection." + </p> + <p> + Gorman was standing with his back to us. His elbows were resting on the + slide of the roof above the steps which led to the cabin. His chin was on + his hands and he was staring at the ships. Suddenly he turned. + </p> + <p> + "The world's great delusion," he said. "Hypnotised by the governing + classes the workers are everywhere bearing intolerable burdens in order to + provide statesmen and kings with these dangerous toys. Men toil, and the + fruits of their toil are taken from them to be squandered on vast engines + whose sole use is to destroy utterly in one awful moment what we have + spent the painful effort of ages in building up." + </p> + <p> + He swept his hand out towards the great ship under whose shadow we were + passing. + </p> + <p> + "Was there ever plainer proof," he said, "that men are mad?" + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson sat beside me. While Ascher spoke and while Gorman spoke, she + held my glasses in her hand and watched the ships through them. She + neither heard nor heeded the things they said. At last she laid the + glasses on my knee and began to recite Kipling's "Recessional." She spoke + low at first. Gradually her voice grew stronger, and a note of passion, + tense and restrained, came into it. She is more than a charming woman. She + has a great actress' capacity for emotion. + </p> + <p> + We moved through waters consecrate, and she expressed for us the spirit + which hovered over them. Here English guns raked the ships of Spain. Here, + staggering homewards, shot-riddled, came the frigates and privateers of + later centuries, their shattered prizes under their lee. Through these + waters men have sailed away to fight and conquer and rule in India and in + many distant lands. Back through these waters, some of them have come + again, generation after generation of them, their duty done, their + adventuring over, asking no more than to lay their bones at last in quiet + churchyards, under the shadow of the cross, near the grey walls of some + English church. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson's voice, resonant, passionate, devout, lingered on the last + syllables of the poem. + </p> + <p> + "The imperial idea," I said. "After all, Gorman, it has its greatness." + </p> + <p> + Then Tim spoke, shyly, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + "I wonder," he said, "if they would let us go on board one of the + submarines. I should like to see—oh, there are a lot of things I + should like to see in any of those ships. They must be nearly perfect, I + mean mechanically. The steering gear, for instance——" + </p> + <p> + His voice trailed off into silence. + </p> + <p> + "What a pity," said Miss Gibson, "that the King can't be here. I suppose + now there'll be no royal salutes fired, and we shan't see his yacht." + </p> + <p> + "All Mr. Gorman's fault," I said. "If he had not nagged on in the way he + has about Home Rule, the King would be here with the rest of us. As it is, + he has to stay in London while politicians abuse each other in Buckingham + Palace." + </p> + <p> + "That conference," said Gorman, "is an unconstitutional manoeuvre of the + Tory party." + </p> + <p> + "What's it all about?" said Miss Gibson. + </p> + <p> + "The dispute at present," I said, "centres round two parishes in County + Tyrone, and because of them a public holiday is being spoiled. All Mr. + Gorman's fault." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span>t must have been + the novelty of the thing which brought people flocking to the hall I hired + for the exhibition of Tim Gorman's new cinematograph. I was aware, in a + vague way, that my invitations had been very generally accepted; but I + made no list of my expected guests, and I did not for a moment suppose + that half the people who said they were coming would actually arrive. I + have some experience of social life and I have always found that it is far + easier to accept invitations than to invent plausible excuses for refusing + them. I do not consider that I am in any way bound by my acceptance in + most cases. Dinners are exceptional. It is not fair to say that you will + dine at a house unless you really mean to do it. But the givers of + miscellaneous entertainments, of dances, receptions, private concerts and + such things are best dealt with by accepting their invitations and then + consulting one's own convenience. That is what I thought people were doing + to me. + </p> + <p> + I had no reason to expect any other treatment. I was not offering food or + wine in large quantities or of fine kind. I was not a prominent figure in + London society. My party was of no importance from a political or a + financial point of view and I could scarcely expect the scientific world + to take a cinematograph seriously. Yet I found myself the host of a number + of very distinguished guests, many of whom I did not even know by sight. + </p> + <p> + Three Cabinet Ministers arrived, looking, as men immersed in great affairs + ought to look, slightly absent-minded and rather surprised to find + themselves where they were. They were Cabinet Ministers of a minor kind, + not men in the first flight. I owed their presence to Gorman's exertions + in the House of Commons. He told me that he intended to interest the + Government in Tim's invention on the ground that it promised an + opportunity of popularising and improving national education. I had a seat + kept for Ascher beside the Cabinet Ministers. I did not suppose that he + would particularly want to talk to them, but I was sure that they would + like to spend the evening in the company of one of our greatest + financiers. + </p> + <p> + No less than five members of the Royal Society came, bringing their wives + and a numerous flock of daughters. They were men of high scientific + attainments. One of them was engaged in some experiments with pigs, + experiments which were supposed to lead to important discoveries in the + science of eugenics. I cannot even imagine why he came to see a + cinematograph. Another of them had written a book to expound a new theory + of crystallisation. I have never studied crystallisation, but I believe it + is a process by which particles of solid matter, temporarily separated by + some liquid medium, draw together and coalesce. My scientists and their + families afforded a good example of the process. They arrived at different + times, went at first to different parts of the hall, got mixed up with all + sorts of other people, but long before the entertainment began they had + drawn together and formed a solid block among my guests. + </p> + <p> + Two Royal Academicians, one of them a well-known portrait painter, arrived + a little late. They were men whom I knew pretty well and liked. They have + urbane and pleasant manners, and are refreshingly free from affectations + and fads. In my opinion they both paint very good pictures. I introduced + them to Mrs. Ascher; but this, as I should have known if I had stopped to + think, was a mistake. Mrs. Ascher regards the Royal Academy as the home of + an artistic Antichrist and Academicians as the deadliest foes of art. Not + even the suave courtesy of my two friends saved them from the unpleasant + experience of hearing the truth about themselves. Mrs. Ascher was not, of + course, bluntly rude to them, and did not speak with offensive directness. + She poked the truth at them edgeways, the truth that is, as she saw it. + </p> + <p> + The church did not support me very well. I distinctly remember inviting + six bishops. Only one came and he was Irish. However, he wore silk + stockings and a violet coat of aggressively ecclesiastical cut, so he + looked quite as well as if he had had a seat in the House of Lords. I + introduced him to the eugenic pig breeder, but they did not seem to hit it + off together. After a few remarks, probably about the weather, they + separated. The eugenist is rather a shaggy man to look at. That may have + prejudiced the bishop against him. I imagine that most bishops feel + shagginess to be embarrassing. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt brought a large party, chiefly women in very splendid + attire. There were, I think, eight of them altogether, and they had only + one man with them, a subaltern in a Guards regiment. He slipped away + almost at once, telling me as he passed out, that he wanted to telephone + to a friend and that he would be back in a few minutes. I do not think he + came back at all. He probably went to his club. I do not know what was + said to him the next day by the ladies he deserted. I thanked Lady + Kingscourt for coming. I really think it was very good of her to come. She + had fair warning that Gorman was going to make a speech and she knew that + all Gorman's political friends, probably Gorman himself, regarded her as + an abandoned woman who played fast and loose with the morals of military + officers and undermined their naturally enthusiastic loyalty to Liberal + Governments. By way of acknowledgment of my quite sincere thanks Lady + Kingscourt squeezed my hand. + </p> + <p> + "I always make a point," she said, "of encouraging any movement for the + good of the masses. They are such deserving dear things, aren't they?" + </p> + <p> + It is impossible to guess at what Lady Kingscourt thought we were doing; + but her heart was warm and kind. If ever class hatred comes to play an + important part in English life it will not be the fault of the + aristocracy. I doubt whether any labourer would sacrifice his evening's + leisure to encourage a movement for the good of Lady Kingscourt. Nor would + the kindliest Socialist speak of women of the upper classes as "deserving + dear things." The nicest term used by progressive people to describe these + ladies is "parasites," and they often, as we had just been learning, call + them worse names than that. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt and her party represented the highest layer of fashionable + life. I had, besides her, a large number of women of slightly dimmer glory + who were yet quite as finely dressed as Lady Kingscourt, and were, I am + sure, equally eager for the good of the masses. My hall, not a very large + one, was well filled before nine o'clock. I had every reason to + congratulate myself on the success of my party, so far. It remained to be + seen whether Gorman would make a good speech and whether Tim's ghosts + would exhibit themselves satisfactorily. Between the speech and the ghosts + my guests would have an opportunity of drinking tea and champagne cup, + handed round by twelve nice looking girls wearing black and white dresses, + hired out to me (both the girls and the dresses) for the evening by the + firm which had undertaken to manage the refreshments. + </p> + <p> + According to my time table, Gorman ought to have begun his speech at nine + o'clock. Instead of doing so he came to me and whispered that he would + give late-comers ten minutes law. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing more unpleasant for an audience," he said, "than having their + toes trodden on by people who come in late, just as they are beginning to + get interested in what is going on." + </p> + <p> + Nothing, I imagine, is more unpleasant for a speaker than to have his + audience looking round to see who the newcomers are, just as he is + beginning to warm to his subject. I gathered from his anxiety about the + audience, that Gorman intended to make a great effort. I looked forward to + his speech. Gorman, at his best, is really a very fine speaker. + </p> + <p> + At ten minutes past nine Gorman mounted the platform, the narrow strip of + platform left for him in front of the pits occupied by Tim's apparatus. + The clatter of general conversation ceased, and the Cabinet Ministers, + sitting in the front row with Ascher, clapped their hands. The rest of the + audience, realising that applause was desirable, also clapped their hands. + Gorman bowed and smiled. + </p> + <p> + Then my elbow was jerked sharply. I looked round and saw Jack Heneage. + Jack is a nice boy, the son of an old friend of mine. I have known him + ever since he first went to school. About six months ago his father and I + between us secured a very nice appointment for the boy, a sort of private + secretaryship or something of that sort. I understood at the time that + Jack's business was to run messages for an important man's wife; and that + the appointment would lead on to something good in the political world. I + was surprised to see him standing beside me for I had not asked him to my + party and he was not wearing evening clothes. Jack would never go + anywhere, willingly, unless he were properly dressed. + </p> + <p> + "Sit down," I said, "and don't talk. Mr. Gorman is just going to make a + speech." + </p> + <p> + "Is Ascher here?" said Jack. + </p> + <p> + "He is; in the front row." + </p> + <p> + "Thank God. I've been chasing him all over London. Office, club, private + house, tearing round in a taxi for hours. My Chief wants him." + </p> + <p> + "Your chief can't get him now," I said. "Not for half an hour, perhaps + three quarters. Gorman isn't likely to stop under three quarters. Till he + does you can't get Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "I must," said Jack. "I simply must. It's—it's frightfully + important." + </p> + <p> + Gorman began his speech. I did not hear what he said because I was trying + to restrain Jack Heneage, but the audience laughed, so I suppose he began + with a joke. Jack shook off my hold on his arm and walked right up to the + front of the hall. I saw Gorman scowling at him but Jack did not seem to + mind that in the least. He handed a note to Ascher. Gorman said something + about the very distinguished audience before him, a remark plainly + intended to fill in the time while Jack and Ascher were finishing their + business. Ascher read the note, rose from his seat and came towards me. + Everybody looked at him and at Jack who was following him. Gorman repeated + what he had said about the distinguished audience. + </p> + <p> + "I find," Ascher said to me, "that I am obliged to leave you. I am very + sorry." + </p> + <p> + "I have a taxi outside," said Jack, pushing Ascher towards the door. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lingered, looking at me wistfully. "I may not be able to return," + he said. "If I cannot will you bring my wife home? The car will be here + and can drive you back to your rooms afterwards." + </p> + <p> + I was a little surprised at the request. Mrs. Ascher is, I should think, + pretty well able to take care of herself. + </p> + <p> + "I think we ought to start, sir," said Jack Heneage, taking Ascher by the + arm. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," said Ascher to me, "if you are kind enough to see my wife home + you will wait in my house till I get back. I may have something to say to + you. It is possible that I shall reach the house before you do, but I may + be late. I do not know. Will you wait for me?" + </p> + <p> + "Won't you come on, sir?" said Jack. + </p> + <p> + I noticed, then, that Jack was excited and nervous. I do not ever remember + having seen him excited or nervous before, not even when he went in second + wicket down in the Eton and Harrow match with seventy runs to make and an + hour left to play. I held Ascher's coat for him and watched them get into + the taxi together. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to the hall Gorman was well into his speech and had + captured the attention of his audience. I was able to pick up the thread + of what he was saying almost at once. He was discoursing on the arts of + peace, contrasting them with the arts of war. In past ages, so Gorman + said, the human intellect had occupied itself mainly in devising means for + destroying life and had been indifferent to the task of preserving it. + Gunpowder was invented long before the antitoxin for diphtheria was + discovered. Steel was used for swords ages before any one thought of + making it into motor cars. These were Gorman's illustrations. I should not + have thought that motor cars actually preserve life; but Gorman is a good + orator and a master in the art of concealing the weak points of his + argument. His hearers were quite ready to ignore the mortality statistics + of our new motor traffic. The pig-breeding scientist led a round of + applause. + </p> + <p> + Gorman developed his theme. The intellect of the modern world, he said, + was not only occupied with the problems of preserving life, but was bent + on making life more convenient and happier, especially the life of the + toiling masses of our people. The mediaeval world built cathedrals, fine + castles, Doge's palaces and such things. We have supplied mankind with + penny postage stamps. Which, Gorman asked, is the greater achievement: to + house a Doge or two in a building too big for them or to enable countless + mothers—sorrowing and lonely women—to communicate by letter + with the children who had left the maternal home? + </p> + <p> + After dwelling for some time on the conveniences Gorman passed on to speak + of the pleasures of modern life. He said that pleasures were more + important than work, because without pleasures no work could be really + well done. When he reached that point I began to see how he meant to work + up to the cinematograph and Tim's invention. I tried to get a glimpse of + Mrs. Ascher's face. I wanted to find out how she was taking this + glorification of Tim's blasphemy against art. Unfortunately I could only + see the back of her head. I moved along the side of the hall as much as I + dared in the hope of getting a sight of her face from some angle. I + failed. To this day I do not know whether Mrs. Ascher admired Gorman's art + as an orator enough to make her forgive the vile purpose for which it was + used. + </p> + <p> + When I began to listen to the speech again Gorman had reached his + peroration. + </p> + <p> + The arts of war, he said, were the natural fruits of the human intellect + in a society organised on an aristocratic basis. The development of the + arts of peace and pleasure followed the birth of democracy. Tyrants and + robber barons in old days loved to fight and lived to kill. The common, + kindly men and women of our time, the now at length sovereign people, + lived to love and desire peace above all things. + </p> + <p> + "The spirit of democracy," said Gorman, "is moving through the world. Its + coming is like the coming of the spring, gentle, kindly, gradual. We see + it not, but in the fields and hedgerows of the world, past which it moves, + we see the green buds bursting into leaf, the myriad-tinted flowers + opening their petals to the sunlight. We see the lives of humble men made + glad, and our hearts are established with strong faith; faith in the + spirit whose beneficence we recognise, the spirit which at last is guiding + the whole wide world into the way of peace." + </p> + <p> + I gathered from these concluding remarks that all danger of war had passed + from the horizon of humanity since the Liberal Government muzzled the + House of Lords. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not mention this great feat in plain words. He suggested it in + such a way that the Cabinet Ministers in front of him understood what he + meant, while Lady Kingscourt and her friends thought he was referring to a + revolution in China or Portugal or the establishment of some kind of + representative government in Thibet. Thus everyone was pleased and Gorman + climbed down from the platform amid a burst of applause. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt clapped her pretty hands as loudly as any one. Her husband + is a territorial magnate. Her brothers are soldiers. But she is prepared + to welcome democracy and universal peace as warmly as any of us. Perhaps + what attracted her in Gorman's programme was the prospect of a great + increase in the pleasures of life. + </p> + <p> + We drank tea, ate sandwiches, cheered our hearts with champagne cup, + chattered loudly, and, the men of the party, stretched our legs for half + an hour. Then we settled down again to gape at Tim's moving figures. The + new mirrors were well worth the money I spent on them. The thing worked + better, far better, than when I saw it in the barn. I think the audience + was greatly pleased. Everybody said so to me when the time came for escape + from the hall. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher and I drove back to Hampstead together. I told her how Ascher + had left the hall and that it might be late before he got home. She sat + silent beside me and I thought that she was wondering what had happened to + her husband. Just before we reached the house she spoke, and I discovered + that she had all the time been thinking of something else, not Ascher's + absence. + </p> + <p> + "I was wrong," she said, "in condemning the cinematograph and this new + invention. It is—at present it is vile beyond words, vile as I + thought it; but I see now that there are possibilities." + </p> + <p> + "May I tell Tim that?" I said. "It would cheer him greatly. The poor boy + has never really got over what you said to him in New York, about + blasphemy, you know." + </p> + <p> + "You may tell him," said Mrs. Ascher, "that his invention is capable of + being used for the ends of art; that he has created a mechanical body and + that <i>we</i>, the artists, must breathe into it the breath of life." + </p> + <p> + We reached the house. + </p> + <p> + "I am coming in, if I may," I said. "Mr. Ascher asked me to see him + to-night if possible. I promised to wait for him even if he does not get + home till very late." + </p> + <p> + "I shall not sit up with you," said Mrs. Ascher. "I want to be alone to + think. I want to discover the way in which art is to take possession of + mechanics, how it is to inspire all new discoveries, to raise them from + the level of material things up and up to the mountain tops of beautiful + emotion." + </p> + <p> + "I shall tell Tim that," I said. "He'll be awfully pleased." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher held my hand, bidding me an impressive good-night. + </p> + <p> + "There is a spirit," she said, "which moves among the multitudinous blind + gropings of humanity. It moves all unseen and unknown by men, guiding + their pitiful endeavours to the Great End. That End is Duty. That spirit + is Art. To recognise it is Faith." + </p> + <p> + The Irish bishop who attended my party is a liberal and highly educated + churchman. He once told me about a Spirit which moves very much as Mrs. + Ascher's does. Its aim was goodness and the bishop called it God. His + definition of faith was, except for the different object, precisely Mrs. + Ascher's. + </p> + <p> + Gorman propounds a somewhat similar philosophy of life, and occasionally + talks about faith in the same rapt way. I do not suppose that he actually + holds the faith he preaches, certainly not as Mrs. Ascher and the bishop + hold theirs. No Irishman is, or ever can be, a Liberal after the English + fashion; but Gorman does talk about the spirit of democracy and says he + looks forward to its guiding Humanity to a great end, universal peace. + </p> + <p> + I made my way into Ascher's study, wondering how long I should have to + wait for him. + </p> + <p> + I wondered where he was and what he was doing. Who sent Jack Heneage to + search for Ascher? I could not remember whose private secretary Jack was. + Mrs. Ascher was thinking of art and beauty, the bishop, no doubt about God + and goodness. Gorman was turning over in his mind nice new phrases about + democracy and peace. What was Ascher doing? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">A</span>scher's servant + followed me into the study. He placed a little table beside the chair on + which I sat. He set a decanter of whisky, a syphon of soda water and a box + of cigars at my elbow. He brought a reading lamp and put it behind me, + switching on the electric current so that the light fell brightly over my + shoulder. He turned off the other lights in the room. He asked me if there + were anything else he could do for me. Then he left me. + </p> + <p> + A clock, somewhere behind me, chimed. It was a quarter to twelve. I poured + out some whisky and lit a cigar. I sat wondering what Ascher was doing. + The clock chimed again and then it struck. It was twelve o'clock. It was a + clock with a singularly mellow gong. The sounds it made were soft and + unaggressive. There was no rude challenge in its assertion that time was + passing on, but the very gentleness of its warnings, a gentleness deeply + tinged with melancholy, infected me with a strange restlessness. When for + the third time its chiming broke the heavy silence of the room, I rose + from my chair. The gloom which surrounded the circle of light in which I + sat weighed on my spirits. I touched a switch and set the lights above the + fireplace shining. + </p> + <p> + Over the mantelpiece hung a picture, a landscape painting. A flock of + sheep wandered through a misty valley. There were great mountains in the + background, their slopes and tops dimly discernible through a haze. The + haze and the mist wreaths would certainly soon clear away, dispersed by a + rising sun. The whole scene would be stripped of its mystery. The mountain + sides, the valley stream and the grazing sheep would be seen clear and + bare in the merciless light of a summer morning. The painter had chosen + the moment while the mystery of dawn endured. I felt that he feared the + passing of it, that he shrank from the inevitable coming of the hour when + everything would be clear and all the outlines sharp, when the searching + sun would tear away the compassionate coverings, when nature would appear + less beautiful than his heart hoped it was. It was with this picture, with + this and one other, that Ascher chose to live. + </p> + <p> + I moved round the room, turning on yet other lights. Over Ascher's writing + desk hung a full length portrait of a woman, of Mrs. Ascher, but painted + many years ago. I have no idea who the artist was but he had seen his + sitter in no common way. The girl, she was no more than a girl when the + picture was painted, stood facing me from the canvas. She was dressed in a + long, trailing, pale green robe. Her hands were folded in front of her. + Her head was a little thrown back, so that her neck was visible. Her skin, + even then in the early days of her womanhood, was almost colourless. The + red colour of her hair saved the picture from deathly coldness, + contrasting sharply with the mass of pale green drapery and the pallid + skin. + </p> + <p> + I have never thought of Mrs. Ascher as a beautiful woman or one who at any + time of her life could have been beautiful. But the artist, whoever he + was, had seen in her a singular alluring charm. I cannot imagine that I + could ever have been affected by her even if I had seen her as the artist + did, as no doubt Ascher did. I like normal people and common things. I + should have been afraid of the woman in the picture. I am in no way like + Keats' "Knight at Arms." I should simply have run away from the "Belle + Dame sans merci," and no amount of fairy songs or manna dew would have + enabled her to have me in thrall. But I could understand how Ascher, who + evidently has a taste for that kind of thing, might have been fascinated + by the morbid beauty of the girl in the picture. I could understand how + the fascination might become an enduring thing; a great love; how Ascher + would still be drawn to the woman long after the elfishness of girlhood + passed away. The soul would still remain gleaming out of those narrow + eyes. + </p> + <p> + The clock chimed close beside me. It was a quarter to one. I sat down + again, poured out more whisky and lit a fresh cigar. I left all the lights + in the room shining. I was determined to drag myself back to the + commonplace and to cheerfulness. + </p> + <p> + I took a book from the table beside me. It was evidently a book which + Ascher had been reading. A thin ivory blade lay between the pages, marking + the place he had reached. The book was a prophetic forecast of the State + of the future, a record of one of those dreams of better, calmer times, + which haunt the spirits of brave and good men, to which cowards turn when + they are made faint by the contemplation of present evil things. I read a + page or two in one part of the book and a page or two in another. I read + in one place a whole chapter. I discerned in the author an underlying + faith in the natural goodness of man. He believed, his whole argument was + based on the belief, that all men, but especially common men, the manual + workers, would gladly turn away from greed and lust and envy, would live + in beauty and peace, naturally, without effort, if only they were set free + from the pressure of want and the threat of hunger. The evil which + troubles us, so this dreamer seemed to hold, is not in ourselves or of our + nature. It is the result of the conditions in which we live, conditions + created by our mistakes, not by our vices. I wondered if Ascher, with his + wide knowledge of the world, believed in such a creed or even cherished a + hope that it might be true. Do men, in fact, become saints straightway + when their bellies are full? + </p> + <p> + It is strange how childish memories awaken in us suddenly. As I laid down + Ascher's book there came to me a picture of a scene in my old home. We + were at prayers in the dining-room. My father sat at a little table with a + great heavy Bible before him. Ranged along the wall in front of him was + the long line of servants, the butler a little apart from the others as + befitted the chief of the staff. My governess and I sat together in a + corner near the fire. My father read, in a flat, unemotional voice; read + words which he absolutely believed to be the words of God. "Except a man + be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." + </p> + <p> + Well, that is a different creed. To me it seems more consonant with the + facts of life. Man as he is can neither enter into nor create a great + society nor enjoy peace which comes of love. Hitherto the new birth of the + Spirit, which bloweth where it listeth, has been for a few in every + generation. The hour of rebirth for the mass of men still lingers. Will it + ever come—the time when all the young men see visions and all the + old men dream dreams? + </p> + <p> + I stirred uneasily in my chair and looked up. I had not heard him enter + the room, but Ascher stood beside me. + </p> + <p> + "I am glad you are here," he said. "I hoped you would be; but I am very + late." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, "you are very late. It is long after midnight. Where have + you been? What have you been doing?" + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat down opposite to me, and for some time he did not speak. I made + no attempt to press my questions. If Ascher wanted to talk to me he would + do so in his own time and in the way he chose. I supposed that he did want + to talk to me. He had asked me to his house. He had bidden me wait for + him. + </p> + <p> + "I have no right," said Ascher at last, "to trouble you with my + difficulties. I ought to think them out and fight them out for myself; but + it will be a help to me if I can put them into words and feel that you are + listening to me." + </p> + <p> + He paused for so long that I felt I must make some reply to him, though I + did not know what to say. + </p> + <p> + "I don't suppose I can be of any use to you," I said, "but if I can——" + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps you can," said Ascher. "You can listen to me at least. Perhaps + you can do more. It is a large call to make upon your friendship to treat + you in this manner, but—I am in some ways a lonely man." + </p> + <p> + I have always, since the day I first met him, liked and respected Ascher. + When he spoke about his loneliness I felt a sudden wave of pity for him. + It seems a strange thing to say, but at that moment I had a strong + affection for the man. + </p> + <p> + "What I partly foresaw and greatly dreaded has come," he said. "I am + certain now that war is inevitable, a great war, almost perhaps in the end + quite world-wide." + </p> + <p> + "And England?" I said, "is England, too——?" + </p> + <p> + "Almost inevitably." + </p> + <p> + "Germany?" I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + I was throbbing with excitement. For the moment I felt nothing but a sense + of exultation, strangely out of harmony with the grave melancholy with + which Ascher spoke. I suppose the soldier instinct survives in me, an + inheritance from generations of my forefathers, all of whom have worn + swords, many of whom have fought. We have done our part in building up the + British Empire, we Irish gentlemen, fighting, as Virgil's bees worked, + ourselves in our own persons, but not for our own gain. There is surely + not one battlefield of all where the flag of England has flown on which we + have not led men, willing to fall at the head of them. It seems strange + now, looking back on it, that such an emotion should have been possible; + but at the moment I felt an overmastering sense of awful joy at Ascher's + news. + </p> + <p> + "I cannot tell you where I have been to-night," said Ascher, "nor with + whom I have been talking. Still less must I repeat what I have heard, but + this much I think I may say. I was sent for to give my advice on certain + matters connected with finance, to express an opinion about what will + happen, what dangers threaten in that world, my world, the world of + money." + </p> + <p> + "There'll be an infernal flurry on the Stock Exchange," I said. "Prices + will come tumbling down about men's ears. Fellows will go smash in every + direction." + </p> + <p> + "There will be much more than that," said Ascher. "The declaration of war + will not simply mean the ruin of a few speculators here and there. You + know enough about the modern system of credit to realise something of what + we have to face. There will be a sudden paralysis of the nerves and + muscles of the whole world-wide body of commercial and industrial life. + The heart will stop beating for a short time—only for a short time I + hope—and no blood will go through the veins and arteries." + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke very gravely. Yet, though I had spent months watching the + workings of his machine, I could not at the moment share his mood. The war + fever was in my blood. + </p> + <p> + "I should change my metaphor," said Ascher. "It is not a case of a body + where the heart pumps blood into the arteries, but of springs which make + brooks, brooks which flow into streams, which in their turn feed great + rivers. Now those springs will be frozen. In a million places, of which + you and I do not even know the names, credit will be frozen suddenly. + There will be no water in the brooks and streams. The rivers will run + dry." + </p> + <p> + Ascher had asked for my sympathy. I did my best to give it. + </p> + <p> + "It's a tremendous responsibility for you," I said, "and men like you. But + you'll pull through. The whole thing can't collapse, simply can't. It's + too big." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," said Ascher, "perhaps. But it is not that side of the matter + which I wish to speak to you about. You will forgive me if I say that you + can hardly understand or appreciate it. What I want to say to you is + something more personal. I want"—Ascher smiled wanly—"to talk + about myself." + </p> + <p> + "You stand to lose heavily," I said. "I see that." + </p> + <p> + "I do not know," said Ascher, "whether at the end of a week I shall own + one single penny in the world. I may very well have lost everything. But + if that were all I should not trouble much. Merely to lose money—but——" + </p> + <p> + He stopped speaking, and for a long while sat silent The clock behind me + chimed again. It was half past two. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose," said Ascher, "that you have always thought of me as an + Englishman." + </p> + <p> + "To tell you the truth," I said, "I've never thought whether you are an + Englishman or not. I wasn't interested. I suppose I took it for granted + that you were English." + </p> + <p> + "I am a German," said Ascher. "I was born in Hamburg, of German parents. + All my relations are Germans. I came over to England as a young man and + went into business here. My business—I do not know why—is one + to which Englishmen do not take readily. There are English bankers of + course, but not very many English financiers. Yet my particular kind of + banking, international banking, can best be carried on in England. That is + why I am here, why my business is centred in London, though I myself am + not an Englishman. I am a German. Please understand that. My brother is a + general in the German Army. My sister's sons are in the German Army and + Navy. My blood ties are with the people from whom I came." + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher was stating a case of conscience, was perhaps + asking my advice. It seemed to me that there was only one thing which I + could advise, only one possible course for Ascher to take. Whatever + happened to his business or his private fortune he must be true to his own + people. I was about to say this when Ascher raised his hand slightly and + stopped me. + </p> + <p> + "I want you to understand," he said, "my blood ties are with the people + from whom I came; but I am now wholly English in my sympathies. I see + things from the English point of view, not from the German. I am sure that + it will be a good thing for the world if England and her Allies win, a bad + thing if Germany is victorious in the war before us. Yet the blood tie + remains. Who was the Englishman who said, 'My country, may she always be + right, but my country right or wrong'? It seems to me a mean thing to + desert my country now, even although I have become a stranger to her. Is + it not a kind of disloyalty to range myself with her enemies?" + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher paused. This time I was less ready to answer him. + </p> + <p> + "I have also to consider this," he went on, "and here I get to the very + heart of my difficulty. I have lived most of my life here, and I have + built up my business on an English foundation. I have been able to build + it up because I had ready made for me that foundation of integrity which + your English merchants have established by centuries of honest dealing. + Without that—if the world had not believed that my business was + English, and therefore stable—I could not have built at all or + should have built with much greater difficulty. My bank is English, though + I, who control it, am not. If I go back to my own people now, now when it + seems treachery to desert them, the whole machinery of the vast system of + credit which I guide will cease to work, will break to fragments. Of my + own loss I say nothing, indeed I think nothing. But what of the other men, + thousands of them who are involved with me, whose affairs are inextricably + mixed with mine, who have trusted not me, but my bank, trusted it because + it is an English institution? And it is English. Have I the right to ruin + them and to break up my bank, which belongs to your nation, of which in a + sense I am no more than a trustee for England? You understand, do you not? + My bank is just as certainly of English birth as I am of German birth. Yet + it and I are one. We cannot be divided. What am I to do?" + </p> + <p> + Ascher was asking questions; but I did not think that he was asking them + of me. I felt that it was my part to listen, not to answer. Besides what + could I answer? Ascher had given me a glimpse of one of those intolerable + dilemmas from which there is no way of escape. The choice between right + and wrong, when the nobler and baser parts of our nature are in conflict, + is often very difficult and painful. But there are times—this was + one of them—when two of the nobler, two of the very noblest of our + instincts, are set against each other. When we can only do right by doing + wrong at the same time, when to be loyal we must turn traitors. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher spoke again he seemed to have drifted away from the subject of + the coming war, the financial catastrophe and his own trouble. I did not, + for some time, guess where his words were leading. + </p> + <p> + "I have been a very careful observer of English life," he said, "ever + since I first came to this country, and no class in your nation has + interested me more than you minor gentry, the second grade of your + aristocracy." + </p> + <p> + "Often spoken of as the squirearchy," I said. "It is generally supposed to + be the most useless and the least intelligent part of the community. It is + rapidly disappearing, which, I daresay, is a fortunate thing." + </p> + <p> + "Your greater nobility," said Ascher, "is modernised, is necessarily more + or less cosmopolitan. It has international interests and is occupied with + great affairs. It has been forced to accept the standard of ethics in + accordance with which great affairs are managed. Your merchants and + manufacturers have their own code, by no means a low one, and their theory + of right and wrong. Between these two classes come the men with lesser + titles or no titles at all, families which spring from roots centuries + deep in the soil of England, men of some wealth, but not of great riches. + They have their own standard, their code, their peculiar touchstone for + distinguishing fine conduct from its imitation, their ethic." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, "I can understand your being interested in that. It is a + survival of a certain antiquarian value. It is the quaintest standard of + conduct imaginable, totally unreasonable and inconsistent. But it exists. + There are some things which a gentleman of that class will not do." + </p> + <p> + "Exactly. These men—may I say you, for it is you I am thinking of. + You have your sense of honour." + </p> + <p> + I never was more surprised in my life than I was when Ascher said that to + me. Nothing that I have ever said or done in his company could possibly + have led him to suppose that I am a victim of that outworn superstition + known as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + "You have an instinct," said Ascher, "inherited through many generations, + a highly specialised sense, now nearly infallible, for knowing what is + honourable and what is base. I do not know that any of my countrymen have + that sense. I am sure that the class to which I belong has not. We look at + things in a different way." + </p> + <p> + "A much better way," I said, "more practical." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, more practical. Better perhaps in the sense of being wiser. But I + have a wish, an odd fancy if you like, to see things your way, to guide my + conduct according to your standard of honour." + </p> + <p> + As well as I could make out Ascher was asking me to decide for him on + which horn of his infernal dilemma he was to impale himself, and to base + my decision on a perfectly absurd and arbitrary set of rules for conduct, + none of which could by any possibility be made to apply to a situation + like his. + </p> + <p> + "My dear Ascher," I said, "I can't possibly judge for you." + </p> + <p> + "You could judge if it were your own case," he said. "You could certainly + judge then. Have you ever in your life been in the smallest doubt, even + for a moment, about the way of honour, which it is?" + </p> + <p> + "That is all very well," I said. "I quite admit I do know that. I + generally do the other thing, but I know what I ought to do according to + the ridiculous standard of my class. But I don't know what you ought to + do. That's a different thing altogether." + </p> + <p> + "Because I am not of your class? not a gentleman?" + </p> + <p> + "Don't talk nonsense," I said. "There aren't any gentlemen left. The + species is extinct. The very name of it is vulgarised. You're as near + being one as anybody I know. And that has nothing to do with it. Gentleman + or not, you've got to decide for yourself. No man living can do it for + you." + </p> + <p> + "Your class would decide for me if I belonged to it," said Ascher. "The + collective wisdom of your class, the class instinct. It would make me + certain, leave me in no doubt at all, if only I belonged to it, were one + of you. The choice I have to make——" + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. + </p> + <p> + "It's a nasty choice to have to make. You've got to be disloyal either way + you go. That's what it comes to." + </p> + <p> + "There is no other way," said Ascher sadly, "no third way." + </p> + <p> + "Not that I can see." + </p> + <p> + There was, in fact, a third way, though I did not see it at the time. Mrs. + Ascher discovered it. I heard of it two days later. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">N</span>o one has greater + respect and admiration for Ascher than I have. I respect his ability. I + admire his cool detachment of mind and his unfailing feeling for justice. + I recognise in him a magnanimity, a certain knightliness which is very + rare. But it is vain to pretend that I can ever regard Ascher as an + intimate friend. I am never quite comfortable in his company. He lacks + something, something essential. He lacks a sense of humour. + </p> + <p> + No one in England—no one I suppose in Europe—wanted to make + jokes during that critical week which followed my interview with Ascher. + The most abandoned buffoon shrank from jesting when every morning brought + a fresh declaration of war by one great power on another. But even under + such circumstances the sense of the ridiculous survives—a thing to + be carefully concealed—in those who are fortunate enough to possess + it Ascher has no sense of the ridiculous. He sees men and women clad in + long, stately robes moving through life with grave dignity like Arab + chiefs or caliphs of Bagdad. He sees their actions conditioned and to some + extent controlled by the influences of majestic inhuman powers, the genii + of eastern tales, huge, cloud-girt spirits of oppressive solemnity. In + reality most people wear motley all day long and the fairy powers are + leprechauns, tricksy, irresponsible sprites, willing enough to make merry + with those who can laugh with them; but players of all Puck's tricks on + "wisest aunts telling saddest tales." + </p> + <p> + I sometimes think that it is Ascher's chivalry, his fine knightliness, + which has killed his sense of humour. I cannot suppose that Sir Galahad + found any delight in the quips of fools. His owl-like eyes, large with the + wonder of Holy Grails, looked stupidly on faces wrinkled with merriment. + King Arthur could never have talked as he did to Guinevere—Tennyson + is my authority for the things he said—if he had not had in him the + soul of an earnest member of a league for the sympathetic study of social + problems. Ascher is as chivalrous as any member of King Arthur's + fellowship, and humour, if he ever had the sense of it, is dead in him. + But perhaps he was born without it and is by nature hopelessly serious + because he is a German. For the Germans never seem to be able to + appreciate the fact that the grandiose is invariably comic, and that + nothing in the world is more difficult than to stand toes to the line of + the high heroic without stepping across it into the region of the + ridiculous. I think of Wagner's "Parsifal," of Nietzsche's "Zarathrusta," + of the Kaiser Wilhelm's amazing "Weltauffassung," and it seems to me that + such things could not be in any nation where one single man knew how to + laugh. + </p> + <p> + If Ascher had in him the faintest glimmering of a sense of humour he would + never have appealed to me, choosing the silent and ghostly middle of the + night for the performance, to decide his point of honour for him. What am + I that he should imagine me capable of settling high questions of that + kind? An expatriated Irishman, a dispossessed landlord, a man without one + high ambition, a mere mocker of enthusiasm of every kind. No one, unless + he were absolutely blind to the ridiculous, would have consulted me on + such a subject as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + Yet, in her total lack of humour, Mrs. Ascher is as bad as her husband is. + If such a thing were possible I should say that she is worse. There is, at + all events, less excuse for her. She is not knightly, not very knightly, + though she did champion the cause of poor, oppressed Ireland. She is an + American, not a German, and the Americans pay high honour to their + humourists. Perhaps she has lived too long with Ascher. Perhaps she has + devoted herself too much to art and her steady contemplation of the + sublime has killed her sense of the ridiculous. At all events it is dead. + She has no humour now. + </p> + <p> + It is almost impossible to imagine that any woman would have been capable + of calling in Gorman and me as advisers and helpers at a critical moment + of her life. Yet that is what Mrs. Ascher did. + </p> + <p> + We obeyed the summons of course, both of us. + </p> + <p> + Gorman got there first. I found him seated opposite Mrs. Ascher in the + large drawing-room of the house in Hampstead. Mrs. Ascher is lacking in + humour, but she has a fine sense of dramatic propriety. Great decisions + can only be come to fittingly, mighty spiritual tragedies can only be + satisfactorily enacted, in spacious rooms. And there must be emptiness. + Knick-knacks and pretty ornaments kill high emotion. The chamber of a + dainty woman, the room which delicate feminity has made its own, will suit + a light flirtation, the love-making of a summer afternoon, but deep + passion is out of place in it. + </p> + <p> + I walked cautiously across a wide space of slippery floor in order to + shake hands with Mrs. Ascher. I saw that Gorman was sitting in a huge + straight-backed chair with heavily carved elbow rests. It was the sort of + chair which would have suited a bishop—in the chancel of his + cathedral, not in his private room—and a major excommunication might + very suitably have been delivered from it. + </p> + <p> + "I am in great trouble," said Mrs. Ascher, "and I have asked you two to + come to me because you are my friends. I was right to call you, was I + not?" + </p> + <p> + She looked at Gorman and then at me, evidently expecting us to make a + confession of friendship for her. Gorman wriggled in a way that made me + think the carving of the chair must be sticking into him somewhere. But he + did not fail Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "You were right," he said with deep feeling, "altogether right." + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be outdone by Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "'A friend,'" I said, "'must bear a friend's infirmities.'" + </p> + <p> + The quotation was not wholly happy, but Mrs. Ascher seemed to like it. She + smiled gratefully. + </p> + <p> + "My husband," she said. + </p> + <p> + I knew it must be her husband's affairs which were troubling her. + </p> + <p> + "He is in a very difficult position," I said. "I had a long talk with him + the other night. It seems to me that he has to choose between——" + </p> + <p> + Gorman interrupted me. + </p> + <p> + "He's in an infernally awkward hole," he said. "The English people will + lose their tempers to a certainty, not at first perhaps, but as soon as + anything goes against them. When they do they'll make things damnably + unpleasant for any one who's suspected of being German or even remotely + connected with Germany. That's the sort of people the English are. And + Ascher is just the man they'll fasten on at once. They'll hunt him down." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at Gorman while he spoke. Her face expressed a quiet + dignity. + </p> + <p> + "That is not the difficulty," she said. "What people say or think of us or + do to us does not matter. We live our own lives. We can always live them, + apart from, above the bitter voices of the crowd." + </p> + <p> + "All the same," said Gorman, "it will be unpleasant. It will be a great + deal worse than merely unpleasant. If I were Ascher I should get on the + safe side at once. I should give a thumping big subscription—50,000 + or something that will attract attention—to some popular fund. I + should offer to present the War Office with half a dozen aeroplanes to be + called 'The Ascher Flying Fleet'; or a first-rate cannon of the largest + size. A good deal can be done to shut people's mouths in that sort of + way." + </p> + <p> + "You do not understand," said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + She turned to me, evidently hoping that I would explain Ascher's real + difficulty to Gorman. I hesitated for a moment. It was plain to me that + though Gorman did not appreciate the reality of the spiritual crisis, he + did understand something which had escaped me and, so far as I knew, had + escaped Ascher also. I had a vivid recollection of the unenviable position + of men suspected of lukewarm patriotism during the Boer War. In the + struggle we were then entering upon popular passion would be far more + highly excited. The position of the Aschers in England might become + impossible. + </p> + <p> + Gorman with his highly developed faculty for gauging the force and + direction of popular opinion understood at once and thoroughly the + difficulties that lay before Ascher. What he did not understand was the + peculiar difficulty which Ascher felt. I responded to Mrs. Ascher's glance + of appeal and tried to explain things to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + "Ascher," I said, "is pulled two ways. His country is pulling him. That's + the call of patriotism. You ought to understand that, Gorman. You're a + tremendous patriot yourself. But if he goes back to his country now he + absolutely ruins his business. That means a lot more than merely losing + his money. It means more even than losing other people's money, the money + of the men who trusted him. It means that he must be false to his + commercial honour. You see that, don't you, Gorman? And there doesn't seem + any way out of the dilemma. He has got to go back on his patriotism or on + his honour. There is no other course." + </p> + <p> + I looked at Mrs. Ascher for approval. I had stated her husband's dilemma + clearly, I believed fairly. Gorman could hardly fail to understand. I + thought Mrs. Ascher would have been pleased with me. To my amazement she + acknowledged my efforts with a burst of indignation. + </p> + <p> + "Oh," she cried, "you do not understand, either of you. You do not even + begin to understand. I suppose you cannot, because you are men and not + women. You men! All of you, my husband, too, though he is far above the + rest of you—but even he! You concern yourselves about things which + are nothing. You argue about phantoms and discuss them as if they were + realities. And all the time you miss the things which are. You think"—she + spoke directly to Gorman and her voice expressed the utmost scorn—"you + think about reputation, the way men babble about each other and will + babble about us. Why should we care? Even if we were afraid of what men + say there are places in the world to which the voices of Europe cannot + reach. There are islands in the sea where the sun shines and palm trees + grow, to which the talk of men who dwell in cities never comes." + </p> + <p> + I recollected the desire which Mrs. Ascher had once expressed to me of + getting "far, far away from everywhere." She evidently hoped to be able to + try that experiment. + </p> + <p> + She turned from Gorman and faced me. + </p> + <p> + "You talk," she said, "about honour and patriotism. What are they? Words, + just words. It is only you men, slaves of your own conventions, who take + them for realities. We women know better. You go about life imagining that + your limbs are bound with fetters. They are bound with delusions. We women + know. Love and beauty are real. Nothing else is. All your fine words are + like the flags under which your dupes go out to die; fluttering rags to us + whose eyes are open. You talk—oh, so finely you talk—about the + shadows your own imaginings cast, and you end in being afraid of them. You + talk—you dare to talk to me of money——" + </p> + <p> + This was a totally unjust accusation. I had not talked about money. I had + more sense than to mention money to a woman in Mrs. Ascher's frame of + mind. + </p> + <p> + "I have money enough of my own," she said. "He and I want very little. + What do we care for except just to love each other and to see beautiful + things and to escape from all this nightmare of blood and hate and horror + and hideousness?" + </p> + <p> + I felt helpless. Mrs. Ascher had undoubtedly hit on a new solution of the + problem. She proposed that Ascher should impale himself not on one or + other, but on both horns of the dilemma, be false to every kind of honour + and loyalty. It was, I suppose, possible for Ascher to pack a bag and take + to flight, simply to disappear, leaving everything behind him. He and she + might go to some valley in the Rocky Mountains, to some unknown creek on + the Californian coast, to some island in the South Pacific. If she were + right about honour and faithfulness and patriotism, if these are, after + all, only idols of the tribe, then she and Ascher might be very happy. + They would have all that either of them required. + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman. He shrugged his shoulders, helpless as I was. Mrs. + Ascher began to plead with us in a way that was very strange to listen to. + </p> + <p> + "Life is so short," she said. "Already most of it is gone from us. We have + only a few years more, he and I. Why should we be miserable? There is + happiness waiting for us. There is nothing between us and happiness except + words, honor, patriotism, right, wrong. These are words, only words. They + are gossamer threads which we break as we go, break without feeling them + if only we go boldly. Will you not help me? Tell him that what I say is + true. He will listen to you because you are men; and you know in your + hearts that I speak what is true, that I have hold upon reality." + </p> + <p> + There was a moment's silence after she stopped speaking. Before either + Gorman or I attempted to make any answer Ascher himself came into the + room. I certainly did not expect to see him. Mrs. Ascher was, I am sure, + as much surprised as I was. It was about twelve o'clock and at that hour + Ascher is always in his office. He crossed the room quietly. He greeted + Gorman and me without a sign that our presence was unexpected or + unwelcome. He went to his wife and took her hand in his. She clung to him, + looking up into his face. She knew at once that he had something very + important to say to her. + </p> + <p> + "You have decided?" she said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher's eyes met hers. His face seemed to me full of tenderness and pity. + He held her hand tightly. He bowed his head, a silent "yes" to the + question she asked. + </p> + <p> + "To leave it all and come with me?" she said; "away, away." + </p> + <p> + Ascher did not speak; but she knew and I knew that his decision was not + that. + </p> + <p> + The scene was very painful. I felt that I had no right whatever to witness + it. Gorman, I am sure, would have been glad to escape. But it was very + difficult for us to get away. Neither Ascher nor his wife seemed, + conscious of our presence. We stood helpless a little apart from them. + Gorman, with that unfailing tact of his, did, or tried to do the only + thing which could have relieved the intolerable tension. He made an effort + to get us all back to the commonplace. + </p> + <p> + "You're in a devil of an awkward situation, Ascher," he said. "A good deal + seems to me to depend on whether you are a naturalised British subject or + not. If you have been naturalised you ought to be able to pull through, + though it won't be pleasant even then." + </p> + <p> + "I have not been naturalised," said Ascher. "I never thought of it." + </p> + <p> + "That's a pity," said Gorman. "Still—in the case of a man in your + position I daresay it can be managed even now. I'll use my influence. I + know most of the members of the Cabinet pretty well. I can put it to them + that, from an English point of view, considering the tremendous importance + of your business, considering the financial collapse which would follow—oh, + we'll be able to manage." + </p> + <p> + "Thank you," said Ascher, "but that purely legal aspect of the matter does + not at the moment strike me as the most important or the most pressing. No + doubt it is important and your kindness will be helpful. But just now I + cannot speak about that. There is, you see, my country and the loyalty I + owe to it. I do not seem to escape from that obligation by a process of + law. I may legalise, but do I really justify, treachery to the claim of + patriotism?" + </p> + <p> + I have always felt,—felt rather than known,—that there is a + queer strain of mysticism in Gorman. His arid common sense, his politics, + his rhetoric, his tricky money-making, are the outside, visible things + about him. Behind them, deep down, seldom seen, is a strange, emotional + love for his country. When Ascher spoke as he did about the claim of + patriotism Gorman understood. The innermost part of the man was reached. + Without hesitating for an instant, without consideration or debate, Gorman + leaped to a solution of the problem. + </p> + <p> + "Loyalty to your country comes first," he said; "it must. Everything else + goes by the board. I did not know you felt that way about Germany; but + since you do there is no more to be said. Go back to your own country of + course. You can't help yourself." + </p> + <p> + I have no doubt that Gorman meant exactly what he said. If he had been in + Ascher's position, if once the issue became quite plain to him and the + tangle of political alliances were swept away, he would have thrown all + his interests and every other kind of honour to the wind. He would have + sacrificed his business, would if necessary have parted with his wife; he + would have been loyal to the land of his birth, entirely contemptuous of + any other call or any claim. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher clung tightly to her husband's arm. "Words," she said, "words, + only words. You must not listen to him." + </p> + <p> + Ascher felt for her hands again, grasped them and held them pressed close + against him. He turned from Gorman to me. + </p> + <p> + "And you," he said, "what are you going to do?" + </p> + <p> + The question took me by surprise. I had no difficult decision to make. My + course was in clear daylight. Besides, it did not matter to anyone what I + did. + </p> + <p> + "You, yourself," said Ascher again. "What are you going to do?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh," I said, "I'm going back to my regiment. I suppose they'll take me. + Anyhow I shall offer myself." + </p> + <p> + "And fight?" said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + "Well, yes. I suppose I shall fight. This war won't be over in a week. I'm + pretty sure to get my turn. Yes, I shall almost certainly fight." + </p> + <p> + "Why?" said Ascher. "What will you fight for?" + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who answered the question. He had recovered from his brief + outburst, and had become the normal Gorman again. + </p> + <p> + "The war," he said, "is for the liberation of Europe. It is a vast + struggle, an Armageddon in which the forces of reaction, absolutism, + tyranny, a military caste are ranged against democracy. It is their last + appearance upon the stage of history. Vindicated now, the principles of + democracy——" + </p> + <p> + "If you think," I said, "that I'm going out to fight for the principles of + democracy, you're making a big mistake. There's nothing in the world I + dislike more than that absurd democracy of yours." + </p> + <p> + "Then why?" said Ascher, mildly persistent. "Why are you going to fight?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "I don't want to say anything offensive about your people, + Ascher. The Germans have a lot of fine qualities, but if they were to win + this war, if they were to succeed in imposing their civilisation and their + mentality on us all, if they were to Germanise the world, the sense of + humour would perish from among men. Nobody would any longer be able to + laugh. We—we should find ourselves taking governments and officials + seriously. Just imagine! To live under a bureaucracy and not to see that + it was funny! Surely it's worth while fighting for the right to laugh." + </p> + <p> + "You Irish!" said Ascher. "Even in times like this your love of paradox——" + </p> + <p> + "Don't say it," I said. "If you can possibly help it don't say that. I + admit that I brought it on myself and deserve it. I apologise. That is not + my real reason for going back to my regiment. I only gave it to you + because I don't know what my real reason is. It's not patriotism. I + haven't got any country to be patriotic about. It's not any silly belief + in liberty or democracy. I don't know why I'm doing it. I just have to. + That's all." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Noblesse oblige</i>," said Ascher. "Your honour as a gentleman." + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Ascher—there is no other way of putting it—is + grossly indecent. A woman has a sense of modesty about her body. It would + be considered an outrage to strip her and leave her stark naked in the + middle of the room. I cannot see why a man should not be credited with + some feeling of modesty about his soul. I detest having my last garments + plucked from me in public. Complete spiritual nudity causes me very great + embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + "You can put it that way if you like," I said. "The plain fact is I can't + help myself. I must go back to my regiment. I have no choice." + </p> + <p> + "I have come to see," said Ascher, "that I have no choice either. There is + such a thing—though perhaps Mr. Gorman will not believe me—there + is such a thing as the honour of a banker. It compels me." + </p> + <p> + He put his arm round his wife's waist as he spoke. Still holding her hands + in one of his, he led her from the room. Her head drooped against his + shoulder as they went out. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose that means," said Gorman, "that he's going to stick it out and + see the thing through. It will be infernally awkward for him. I don't + think he realises how nasty it will be. He hasn't considered that side of + it." + </p> + <p> + "A man doesn't consider that side of things," I said, "when he's up + against it as Ascher is." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'll do my best about the naturalisation papers. That'll be some + help." + </p> + <p> + "It's very hard to be sure," I said, "but I'm inclined to think that + Ascher is right." + </p> + <p> + "He's utterly wrong," said Gorman. "A man's country ought to come first + always. You don't understand that because you're denationalised; because, + as you say yourself, you have no country. But it's true, whether you + understand it or not." + </p> + <p> + "When I think of that business of his," I said, "the immense complexity of + it, the confidence of thousands of men in each other, all resting at last + on a faith in the integrity of one man, or rather of a firm—the + existence of such a business, world-wide, international, entirely + independent of all ties of race, nationality, language, religion, in a + certain sense wider than any of these—it's a great, human affair, + not English nor German, not the white man's nor the yellow man's, not + Christian nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan, just human. Ascher owes some kind + of loyalty to a thing like that. It's a frightfully complicated question; + but on the whole I think he is right." + </p> + <p> + Gorman was not listening to me. He had ceased, for the time, to be + interested in Ascher's decision. I tried to regain his attention. + </p> + <p> + "Ascher says," I said, "that there is such a thing as the honour of a + banker, of a financier." + </p> + <p> + That ought to have roused Gorman to a contradiction; but it did not. + </p> + <p> + "Do you think," he said, "that we could get them to take on Tim in any job + connected with flying machines? This war will knock all his inventions + into a cocked hat. He will simply be left, and he has a real turn for + mechanics. If he got messing about with aeroplanes he might do something + big, something really valuable. But I don't know how to go about getting + that sort of job for him. I'm not in with military people. Look here, + you've a lot of influence with the War Office——" + </p> + <p> + "No," I said. "None." + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense. You must have. A word from you—— I'll tell you what + we'll do. I'll work Ascher's naturalisation papers for him, and you get + Tim taken on by the Army Flying Corps people." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," I said, "you'd like me to get you a Staff appointment while I'm + at it." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," said Gorman. "I'm not a soldier, I'm a Member of Parliament. My + job is——" + </p> + <p> + Gorman hesitated. For a moment I thought that he was in real doubt, was + actually wondering what place he ought to take, what work he ought to do. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said. "You. Now, what is your idea for yourself?" + </p> + <p> + Gorman drew himself up to his full height, squared his shoulders and + puffed out his chest. + </p> + <p> + "My place," he said, "is in the great council of the Empire." + </p> + <p> + I gasped. + </p> + <p> + "Good Lord!" I said. "You don't really think—you <i>can't</i> think, + that your silly old Parliament is going to matter now; that you + politicians will be allowed to go on talking, that there will be divisions + in the House, and elections and all that foolishness." + </p> + <p> + Gorman, still heroically erect, still enormously swelled in chest, winked + at me with careful deliberation. I was immensely relieved. + </p> + <p> + "Thank God," I said. "For a moment I thought you really meant it—all + that great-council-of-the-Empire business, you know. It would have been a + horrible disappointment to me if you had. I've come to have a high regard + for you, Gorman, and I really could not have borne it. But of course I + ought to have known better. You couldn't have believed in that stuff, + simply couldn't. Nobody with your intelligence could. But seriously, now, + I should like to know—I'm sure you won't mind telling me—what + are you going to do? Your party, I mean. It seems to me you're in rather a + hole. The Irish people will expect you to take the regular line of backing + the enemy." + </p> + <p> + "The Irish people be damned," said Gorman; "our game is to support the + Government." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. + </h2> + <p class="pfirst"> + <span class="dropcap" style="font-size: 4.00em">I</span> look back on the + time I spent soldiering—soldiering under war conditions—as a + curious blank in an otherwise interesting and amusing life. From the day + on which I rejoined my regiment until the day, about five months later, + when I escaped from the hospital in which I was incarcerated, my mind + stopped working altogether. I took no interest whatever in any of the + things which used to excite me, which are now, I am thankful to say, + beginning to amuse me again. Politicians, I believe, pranced about with + fascinating agility. I did not care to look at them. Newspaper proprietors + demanded the immediate execution of one public man after another. I do not + believe I should have cared if a guillotine had been set up in Piccadilly + Circus and a regular reign of terror established. I lost sight of Gorman. + The Aschers faded from my memory. + </p> + <p> + I spent three months or so in camp with my old regiment. I worked + exceedingly hard. I ate enormously. I slept profoundly. I attained an + almost incredible perfection of physical health. I ceased to think about + anything. My experience of the business of actual fighting was brief. I + had little more than a month of it altogether. Then they sent me home with + a shattered leg. I worked harder than ever when I was at the Front. I was + often very uncomfortable. I remained amazingly healthy. I suffered at last + a good deal of physical pain. I did not think at all, even about the + progress of the war. + </p> + <p> + I date my awakening again to the interests of life from the day when + Gorman paid me his first visit. I was convalescent and had made myself + fairly comfortable in a cottage near Guildford. I had got rid of the last + of a long series of nurses. My leg had ceased to cause me any active + annoyance, but I was beginning to find myself a good deal bored and not a + little depressed. When Gorman walked in I was not, just at first, + particularly glad to see him. + </p> + <p> + "Let me congratulate you," he said. + </p> + <p> + "On being alive? Is that a blessing?" + </p> + <p> + I had been brooding over the fact that I was lame for life. Gorman's + breezy cheerfulness rather jarred me. + </p> + <p> + "Of course it's a blessing to be alive," said Gorman, "but I wasn't + thinking of that. What I was congratulating you on was being a hero. + D.S.O., isn't it? Tell me all about it, won't you?" + </p> + <p> + I have been given the right of appending those three letters to my name, + so I suppose I must have avoided the worst kinds of blundering and + incompetence. But I have no recollection of doing anything to deserve the + honour. I fear I answered Gorman rather ill-temperedly. + </p> + <p> + "There's nothing whatever to tell," I said. "I just crawled about in a + trench, generally muddy. Everybody else did exactly the same." + </p> + <p> + Gorman is still the same man he always was, amazingly tactful and + sympathetic. He realised at once that I hated talking about the war and + was in no mood for recounting my own experiences. Instead of pressing me + with silly questions until he drove me mad, he dropped the subject of my + D.S.O. and began to babble agreeably about other things. + </p> + <p> + "Politics," he said, "have got into a frightful state. In fact there are + hardly any politics at all. We haven't had a decent rag since the war + began. We all sit round cooing at each other like beastly little green + lovebirds in a cage. It can't last long, of course. Sooner or later + somebody's bound to break out and try to bite; but for the present + Parliament's the dullest place in Europe." + </p> + <p> + I began to feel slightly interested. + </p> + <p> + "I remember hearing," I said, "that you Nationalists promised not to cheer + for the Germans." + </p> + <p> + "We did more than that," said Gorman. "We rallied to the Empire at the + very start and have kept on rallying ever since. It felt odd at first, but + you get used to anything in time, even to being loyal. You'd have been + surprised if you'd heard me singing, 'God Save the King' in Dublin last + week." + </p> + <p> + "Did you really?" + </p> + <p> + "Twice," said Gorman, "on two consecutive days." + </p> + <p> + A world in which such things could happen might, I began to feel, be worth + living in after all. I smiled feebly at Gorman. He responded with a + delicious wink. + </p> + <p> + "What's happened to Home Rule?" I said. + </p> + <p> + "For the present it's hung up; a case of suspended animation; our idea is + that if we're thoroughly loyal now the English people will be so grateful + to us——" + </p> + <p> + "But they'll be just as grateful to the Ulstermen," I said. "They're + loyal, too, I suppose." + </p> + <p> + "That's the difficulty, of course," said Gorman. "But what else could we + do? If we'd allowed the Orangemen to make a corner in loyalty at the + present crisis——" + </p> + <p> + "Crisis!" I said. "How that word brings it all back to me? Are we still + going through a crisis? Fancy the word surviving!" + </p> + <p> + "It's about the only part of our old political system which does survive. + The rest's gone, hopelessly." + </p> + <p> + Gorman sighed, and I began to feel depressed again. But Gorman is not the + man to sorrow long, even over the decay of the British Constitution. He + dropped the unpleasant subject and started fresh. + </p> + <p> + "Tim," he said, "has been rather a disappointment to me. He hasn't + invented a single thing since the war began." + </p> + <p> + "I should have thought," I said, "that this would have been his + opportunity." + </p> + <p> + "So it is. The country's simply crying out for inventions. Aerial + torpedoes, traps for submarines, wireless methods of exploding the enemy's + ammunition, heaps of things of that sort. Tim might scoop up an immense + fortune and be made a baronet. But instead of inventing—and he could + if he chose—the young fool is flying about somewhere and dropping + bombs on German railways. I'm inclined to think it was a mistake putting + Tim into the Flying Corps at all. I wonder if we could get him out again. + Do you know any one you could write to about him?" + </p> + <p> + "No," I said, "not a soul." + </p> + <p> + "Pity," said Gorman. "A little personal influence helps a lot in things of + this sort, and a letter from you——" + </p> + <p> + I thought it time to change the subject. + </p> + <p> + "The Aschers?" I said. "Ever see them now?" + </p> + <p> + "I met her in the Park on Sunday. She's Red Crossing. Had on the most + elaborate costume you ever saw. Imagine a nurse's uniform brought up to + the standard of the highest art, or perhaps I ought to say an artistic + dress with the red cross for motif. She told me that she expects to go to + the Front next week." + </p> + <p> + "Thank God she didn't go sooner! She might have nursed me if she'd been + there in time." + </p> + <p> + "She'd have done it all right," said Gorman. "I hear she's a splendid + organiser in spite of her clothes. Always was a remarkable woman, though + you didn't care for her. There's been a lot of trouble about Ascher." + </p> + <p> + "Did he go bankrupt?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, dear no. Quite the contrary. All that financial part of the business + was well managed and there wasn't any serious smash-up. They say that + Ascher helped a lot, in fact that it was very largely his advice which the + Government took. All the same a lot of people turned on him afterwards, in + spite of all I did to get him naturalised. They wanted to imprison him; + but that was absurd. It's all very well to round up ordinary Germans, + barbers, waiters and people of that sort, and put them in concentration + camps. But you can't imprison a man who's worth millions. That sort of + thing isn't done in any civilised state." + </p> + <p> + "Besides," I said, "Ascher didn't deserve it." + </p> + <p> + "Of course not. But that wouldn't have saved him. In fact that has nothing + whatever to do with the matter. Popular opinion ran very strongly against + Germans, whether naturalised or not. And things were beginning to look + very nasty for Ascher. However, we managed all right." + </p> + <p> + "How?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh," said Gorman, "in the usual way. Diverted it." + </p> + <p> + "Gorman," I said, "I'm afraid I'm getting stupid. Fighting must have + muddled my brain. I don't quite follow you. What did you divert?" + </p> + <p> + "Popular opinion," said Gorman. "We turned it away from Ascher, started + everybody hunting a fresh hare. It wouldn't have done to imprison Ascher, + really wouldn't, for a lot of reasons; so we all began making speeches + about beer. Temperance, you know; I made one myself. Then everybody forgot + about Ascher and things settled down." + </p> + <p> + "Politics aren't as dead as you said they were, Gorman. You politicians——" + </p> + <p> + "It's all very well sneering at politicians, and I don't mind your doing + it, not a bit, especially as you're wounded. But if it hadn't been for us + politicians—— Tell me this now, is there anybody else in the + country who can divert popular opinion from an awkward subject?" + </p> + <p> + I do not suppose there is. But I did not care to argue about it. + </p> + <p> + "Do you think," I said, "that Ascher ever regretted his decision?" + </p> + <p> + "What decision? Oh, to stay in England? No. I don't think he ever has. + He's done pretty well for himself in spite of any little trouble there's + been. I should say he's no worse off than he was." + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't thinking of the matter from a business point of view," I said. + </p> + <p> + "From every other point of view," said Gorman, "he was wrong. A man ought + not to go back on his country under any circumstances whatever." + </p> + <p> + "I don't agree with you," I said. + </p> + <p> + "His conscience," said Gorman, "if financiers have consciences which I + doubt——" + </p> + <p> + "Some day," I said, "when I'm a bit stronger, we'll argue the whole thing + out." + </p> + <p> + We have argued it out, since then, twenty times at least. We are no nearer + reaching a conclusion than we were. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + +<pre> + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. 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Birmingham + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. Birmingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Gossamer + 1915 + +Author: George A. Birmingham + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [EBook #24394] +Last Updated: February 17, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOSSAMER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + GOSSAMER + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By G. A. Birmingham + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Copyright, 1915, George H. Doran Company + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + “For that mercy,” said Gorman, “you may thank with brief thanksgiving + whatever gods there be.” We were discussing, for perhaps the twentieth + time, the case of poor Ascher. Gorman had reminded me, as he often does, + that I am incapable of understanding Ascher or entering into his feelings, + because I am a man of no country and therefore know nothing of the emotion + of patriotism. This seems a curious thing to say to a man who has just had + his leg mangled in a battle; but I think Gorman is quite right about his + fact I went out to the fight, when the fight came on, but only because I + could not avoid going. I never supposed that I was fighting for my + country. But Gorman is wrong in his inference. I have no country, but I + believe I can understand Ascher quite as well as Gorman does. Nor am I + sure that I ought to be thankful for my immunity from the fever of + patriotism. Ascher suffered severely because at a critical moment in his + life a feeling of loyalty to his native land gripped him hard. I have also + suffered, a rending of the body at least comparable to Ascher’s rending of + the soul. But I have not the consolation of feeling that I am a hero. + </p> + <p> + I have often told Gorman that if he were as thorough-going as he pretends + to be he would call himself O’Gorabhain or at the very least, O’Gorman. He + is an Irishman by birth, sympathy and conviction. He is a Member of + Parliament, pledged to support the cause of Ireland, and this in spite of + the fact that he has brains. He might have been a brilliant, perhaps even + a successful and popular novelist. He wrote two stories which critics + acclaimed, which are still remembered and even occasionally read. He might + have risen to affluence as a dramatist. He was the author of one + single-act play which made the fortune of a very charming actress ten + years ago. He has made a name for himself as a journalist, and his + articles are the chief glory of a leading weekly paper. But the business + to which he has really devoted himself is that of an Irish patriot. He + says amazingly foolish things in public and, in private, is always quite + ready to laugh at his own speeches. He is a genuine lover of Ireland, an + inheritor of that curious tradition of Irish patriotism which has survived + centuries of disappointed hopes, and, a much stranger thing, has never + been quite asphyxiated by its own gases. + </p> + <p> + I happen to belong to that unfortunate class of Irishmen whom neither + Gorman nor any one else will recognise as being Irish at all. I owned, at + one time, a small estate in Co. Cork. I sold it to my tenants and became a + man of moderate income, encumbered with a baronetcy of respectable + antiquity and occupied chiefly in finding profitable investments for my + capital. By way of recreation I interest myself in my neighbours and + acquaintances, in the actual men and women rather than in their affairs. + No definition of the Irish people has yet been framed which would include + me, though I am indubitably a person—I take “person” to be the + singular of people which is a noun of multitude—and come of a family + which held on to an Irish property for 300 years. My religion consists + chiefly of a dislike of the Roman Catholic Church and an instinctive + distrust of the priests of all churches. My father was an active Unionist, + and I have no political opinions of any sort. I am therefore cut off, both + by religion and politics, from any chance of taking part in Irish affairs. + On the other hand I cannot manage to feel myself an Englishman. Even now, + though I have fought in their army without incurring the reproach of + cowardice, I cannot get out of the habit of looking at Englishmen from a + distance. This convinces me that I am not one of them. + </p> + <p> + I am thus—Gorman is quite right about this—a man of no + country. But I understand Ascher as well as Gorman does; though I take a + different view of Ascher’s ultimate decision. + </p> + <p> + I met Gorman first on board a Cunard steamer in the autumn of 1913. + </p> + <p> + I was on my way to Canada. My excuse, the reason I gave to myself for the + journey, was the necessity of looking into the affairs of certain Canadian + companies in which I had invested money. There were rumours current in + England at that time which led me to suspect that the boom in Canadian + securities had reached its height and was about to subside. I did not + really believe that I was likely to find out anything of value by stopping + in an hotel at Montreal or travelling in a train to Vancouver. But I was + tired of London and thought the trip might be pleasant. I went to Canada + by way of New York, partly because the big Cunarders are comfortable + steamers, partly because I find New York an agreeable city. I have several + friends there and I like the life of the place—for a fortnight at a + time. I do not know whether I should like it for a longer time because I + have never had money enough to live in New York for more than a fortnight. + As a regular place of residence it might be too stimulating for me; but I + shall probably never know how I should feel about it at the end of six + weeks. + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who took the initiative on board the steamer. I do not think + that I should ever have made his acquaintance if he had not forced himself + on me. He accosted me, introduced himself, carried the acquaintance + through to an intimacy by sheer force of personality, and ended by + inducing me to like him. He began his attack on me during that very + uncomfortable time just before the ship actually starts. It is never + possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the + screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers + have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, + are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the + corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile + energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows + of the purser’s office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching + telegrams. Women passengers eye other women passengers with suspicion and + distrust. It is very interesting to notice how people who scowl at each + other on the first day of a voyage exchange cards and promise to pay each + other visits after six days as fellow travellers. At the end of another + six days—such is the usual unfortunate experience—the cards + are lost and the promises forgotten. A poet and, following him, a novelist + have compared human intercourse to the “speaking” of ships that pass in + the night. They would have found a more forcible, though perhaps less + poetic, illustration of their idea in the friendships formed by passengers + in the same steamer. They are intimate, but they are as a rule utterly + transitory. However I have no right to complain. The friendship which + Gorman forced on me has lasted eighteen months and shows no sign yet of + wearing thin. + </p> + <p> + He caught me in the smoking room. I had settled down quietly in a + comfortable chair, and was wondering, as I always do in that smoking room, + at the grain of the wood in the panel above the fireplace. There was no + one else in the room except a steward who hovered near the door which + leads to the bar. Experience has taught me that the smoking room, the most + populous part of the ship during the voyage, is generally empty during the + two hours before the start. I thought I should have the place to myself. I + was half way through my cigar and had failed to decide whether the panel + is a fake or a natural curiosity when Gorman entered. He is a big man and + fat. He is clean shaved and has bushy grey eyebrows. Heavy rolls of skin + hang down from his jaws. He wears an unusually large gold signet ring. His + appearance is not attractive. He sat down beside me and addressed me at + once. + </p> + <p> + “Sir James Digby?” he said. + </p> + <p> + That is my name. I admitted it by nodding. + </p> + <p> + “I was glancing over the passenger list,” he said, “and saw you were on + board. The purser told me you were up here somewhere. My name’s Gorman, + Michael Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + The name gave me no information beyond the fact that the speaker was an + Irishman. There must be several thousand Gormans in Ireland and I could + not remember that I was acquainted with any one of them. I nodded again. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t suppose you remember me,” said Gorman, “but you used to see me + pretty frequently once, about twenty-five years ago. My father kept the + only shop in Curraghbeg, and you used to come in and buy sweets, a penny + worth at a time. You were a small boy then. I was a bit older, fifteen or + sixteen perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + Curraghbeg is a miserable village standing in the middle of the tract of + land which used to be my property. It is close to Curraghbeg House, where + my father kept up such state as befitted an Irish gentleman of his day. I + believe I was born there. If I thought of any place in the world as home I + suppose it would be Curraghbeg; but I have no feeling for the place except + a mild dislike. The House is now a nunnery, in better repair, but almost + certainly more gauntly hideous than when I owned it. The village, I + expect, is still as sordid as when I saw it last. I remembered Gorman’s + shop, a dirty little public house, where sacks of flour, tea and sugar + candy were sold, as well as whisky and emigration tickets. I also + remembered my father’s opinion of Gorman, old Dan Gorman, the father of + the man beside me. He was “one of the worst blackguards in the county, + mixed up with every kind of League and devilment.” Those were the days + when the land agitation was at its height and Irish gentlemen—they + were fighting for their existence as a class—felt rather strongly + about the leaders of the people. + </p> + <p> + Of any younger Gorman I had no recollection whatever. Nor did I at that + moment, or for some time afterwards, connect the son of the ruffianly old + publican with the journalist and politician of whom I had heard a good + deal. + </p> + <p> + “Funny thing,” he said, “running into you like this. Let’s have a drink of + some sort.” + </p> + <p> + He snapped his fingers to attract the attention of the steward. + </p> + <p> + I am not, I fear, thoroughly modernised. Though I like American social + life I have never been able to accept the theory of the wickedness of + class distinctions. As a political system democracy seems to me + extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest + against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many + votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could. + I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by + dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with + gentlemen in private life. I was not prepared to sit drinking with the son + of old Dan Gorman if I could help it. + </p> + <p> + I intended to say so, as politely as such a thing can be said. The man’s + face made me pause. He was looking at me with a curious smile, half + innocent, half whimsical. His eyes expressed friendliness of a perfectly + simple, unaffected kind. I realised that he was not a snob, that he was + not trying to push himself on me for the sake of my position and title, + the position of a disinherited Irish landlord and a title which, for all + any one could tell by hearing it, might be the reward of a successful + provincial doctor. I realised also, with an uncomfortable shiver, that he + understood my feeling and was slightly amused at it. It struck me suddenly + that I, and not Gorman, was the snob. + </p> + <p> + The steward stood at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “Whisky and soda?” said Gorman. “We are still in English waters. Or shall + I say cocktails, as we’re on our way to America?” + </p> + <p> + I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. + But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought + it well to break my rule. I should, under the circumstances, have + considered myself justified in breaking a temperance pledge, on the + principle, once explained to me by an archdeacon, that charity is above + rubrics. I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going + drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful. Gorman gave + the order. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be rather a good plan for us to + sit together at meals? I’ll make arrangements with the steward and have a + table reserved for us in the upper saloon. I can manage it all right. I + often cross on this boat and everybody knows me.” + </p> + <p> + Again he looked at me and again smiled in his fascinating childlike way. + </p> + <p> + “I’m A-1 at ordering meals,” he said, “and it really does make a + difference on these ships if you know how to get the best that’s going.” + </p> + <p> + That was the one attempt he made to justify himself in forcing his company + on me. But it was not the hope of better dinners, though I like good + dinners, which led me to agree to his proposal. I was captivated by his + smile. Besides, I had not, so far as I knew, a single acquaintance among + the passengers. I should be better off with Gorman as messmate than set + down beside some chance stranger who might smile in a disagreeable way, or + perhaps not smile at all. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” I said. “You arrange it.” + </p> + <p> + “It would be pleasant,” he said, “if we could get hold of a couple of + other interesting people, and make four at our table.” + </p> + <p> + I do not deny that Gorman is an interesting person, but I did not see what + right he had to put me in that select class. I could only hope that the + other interesting people would regard me as he did. He pulled a passenger + list out of his pocket and turned over the pages. + </p> + <p> + “What about the Aschers?” he said. + </p> + <p> + He handed the list to me. There was a pencil mark opposite the name of Mr. + Carl Ascher. Immediately below it was “Mrs. Ascher and maid.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know him,” I said. “Who is he? Has he done anything particular?” + </p> + <p> + “Heavens above!” said Gorman. “Who is Ascher! But perhaps you don’t + recognise him apart from the rest of the firm. Ever heard of Ascher, Stutz + & Co.?” + </p> + <p> + I recognised the name then. Ascher is a banker, one of those international + financiers who manage, chiefly from London offices, a complicated kind of + business which no ordinary man understands anything about, a kind of + foreign business which for some reason very few Englishmen undertake. + </p> + <p> + “If the man’s a millionaire,” I said, “he won’t care to dine with us—and + he’s probably a Jew—not that I’ve any particular prejudice against + Jews.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s not a Jew,” said Gorman. “He’s an Englishman. At least he’s as + English as any man with a name like that can be. I expect he’ll jump at + the chance of feeding with us. We’re the only people on board the least + likely to interest him.” + </p> + <p> + I admire Gorman’s splendid self-confidence, but I do not share it. I + shrank from seeking the friendship of a millionaire. + </p> + <p> + “He has his wife with him,” I said. “Perhaps she——” + </p> + <p> + I meant to suggest that Mrs. Ascher might not care to be thrown with a + couple of stray men of whom she knew nothing. Gorman thought I meant + something quite different. + </p> + <p> + “She’s an American,” he said, “or was before she married Ascher. I hear + she goes in for music and pictures and literature and all that sort of + thing, which may be boring. But I daresay we shan’t see very much of her. + She’ll probably be seasick the whole time.” + </p> + <p> + I have often wondered where Gorman gets all his astonishingly accurate + information about people whom he does not know. He was very nearly right + about Mrs. Ascher. She was seasick for four out of the six days of our + voyage. + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” he went on, “we must put up with her if we want to get hold of + the husband. And I should like to do that. I’ve never had a chance before + of being intimate with one of the big bugs of finance. I want to know what + it is that those fellows really do.” + </p> + <p> + When Gorman put it to me that way I withdrew all my objections to his + plan. I very much want to know “what those fellows really do.” I am filled + with curiosity and I want to know what every kind of fellow really does. I + want to have a long talk with a Parisian dressmaker, one of the men who + settles what shape women are to be for the next six months. I want to get + at the mind of a railway manager. I want to know how a detective goes + about the job of catching criminals. Of course I want to understand + international banking. + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” said Gorman, “a millionaire is a very useful kind of man to + know.” + </p> + <p> + Millionaires are useful acquaintances because there is always a chance of + getting money from them. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t count on me as a bridge player,” I said. “I’m no good at the game + and never play for high points. You wouldn’t win anything worth while with + me as one of the party.” + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t thinking of bridge,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He was not. He was thinking, I fancy, of his brother. But we did not get + to Gorman’s brother for more than a week. + </p> + <p> + Having got my consent, Gorman went off to “set” Ascher. I use the word + “set” deliberately, for Gorman, when bent on getting anything done, + reminds me of a well-trained sporting dog. He ranges, quarters the ground + in front of him and finally—well, he set me as if I had been a + grouse. He set Ascher, I have no doubt, in the same way. + </p> + <p> + I did not think it likely that he would secure the Aschers. Millionaires + are usually shy birds, well accustomed to being pursued by all sorts of + ordinary men. They develop, I suppose, a special cunning in avoiding + capture, a cunning which the rest of us never achieve. However Ascher’s + cunning was no use to him in this case. Gorman is an exceedingly clever + dog. + </p> + <p> + The trumpet, bugle, cornet, or whatever the instrument is which announces + meals at sea, was blaring out its luncheon tune when Gorman returned to + me. He was in high triumph. He had captured the Aschers, reserved the + nicest table in the upper saloon and secured the exclusive service of the + best table steward in the ship. I think he had interviewed the head cook. + I began to appreciate Gorman’s qualities as a travelling companion. His + handling of the servants of the Cunard Company during the voyage was + masterly. I never was so well looked after before, though I always make it + a practice to tip generously. + </p> + <p> + Gorman proposed that we should have another whisky and soda before going + down to luncheon. He is a genial soul. No churl would want to drink two + glasses of whisky in the early part of one day. When I refused he looked + disappointed. + </p> + <p> + On the way down to luncheon he asked the lift boy how his mother had got + over her operation. It would never have occurred to me that the lift boy + had a mother. If I had thought the matter out carefully I might have + reached the conclusion that there must be or at one time have been a + mother for every lift boy in the world. But Gorman did not reason. He + simply knew, and knew too that this particular lift boy’s mother had been + in a Liverpool hospital, a fact which no method of reasoning known to me + would have enabled him to arrive. + </p> + <p> + The lift boy loved Gorman. His grins of delight showed that. Our table + steward, a very competent young man, adored him. The head cook—I + judged by the meals we had sent up to us—had a very strong personal + affection for Gorman. I do not wonder. I am myself fond of Gorman now. So + is Ascher. Mrs. Ascher goes further still. She respects and admires + Gorman. But Mrs. Ascher is a peculiar woman. She respects people whom the + rest of us only like. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + We saw very little of Ascher and nothing at all of his wife during the + first two days of our voyage. My idea was that they stayed in their cabins—they + had engaged a whole suite of rooms—in order to avoid drifting into + an intimacy with Gorman and me. A millionaire would naturally, so I + supposed, be suspicious of the advance of any one who was not a fellow + millionaire. I was mistaken. Ascher was simply seasick. When he recovered, + two days before Mrs. Ascher raised her head from the pillow, he showed + every sign of wanting to know Gorman and had no objection to dining with + me. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile I found out a great deal about Gorman. He was + delightfully unreserved, not only about his own past, but about his + opinions of people and institutions. Old Dan Gorman had, it appeared, + married a new wife when he was about sixty. This lady turned Michael, then + a young man, out of the house. He bore her no ill will whatever, though + she deprived him in the end of his inheritance as well as his home. For + several years he “messed about”—the phrase is his—with + journalism, acting as reporter and leader writer for several Irish + provincial papers, a kind of work which requires no education or literary + talent. Then he, so to speak, emerged, becoming somehow, novelist, + playwright, politician. I have never made out how he achieved his success. + I do not think he himself knows that. According to his own account—and + I never could get him to go into details—“things just happened to + come along.” + </p> + <p> + He was entirely frank about his opinions. He regarded landlords as the + curse of Ireland and said so to me. He did not seem satisfied that they + are innocuous, even when, being deprived of their estates, they are no + longer landlords. I do not like being called a curse—hardly any one + does—but I found myself listening to the things which Gorman said + about the class to which I belong without any strong resentment. His + treatment of us reminded me of Robbie Burns’ address to the devil. The + poet recognised that the devil was a bad character and that the world + would be in every way a brighter and happier place if there were no such + person. But his condemnation was of a kindly sort, not wholly without + sympathy. He held out a hope that “ould Nickie Ben” might still “hae some + stake”—stake in the country I suppose—if he would take thought + and mend. The reformation would have to be a drastic one, nothing less + than a complete change of his habits, character and opinions. But such a + thing was not wholly impossible. That was very much what Gorman thought + about me. + </p> + <p> + Next to Irish landlords Gorman disliked financiers more than any other + people in the world. He did not, by his own confession, know anything + about them; but he had got into touch with a group of journalists in + London which specialises in abuse of the class. + Gorman repeated all the stock arguments to me and illuminated the subject + with some very well worn apologues. + </p> + <p> + “A financier,” he said, “is a bloated spider, which sits in a murky den + spinning webs and sucks the life-blood of its victims.” + </p> + <p> + I wondered how Ascher would like this kind of talk if he ever joined our + party. + </p> + <p> + There was not, of course, the same note of personal bitterness in Gorman’s + condemnation of financiers which I noticed in his attacks on landlords. He + had learned to hate my class during the impressionable years of childhood. + He had only found out about financiers when he was a grown man. And no + one, not even a convert to a new faith, ever believes anything with real + intensity except what he was taught before he was eight years old. But it + was not to be expected that Ascher would be as patient as I was, even if + the abuse with which Gorman assailed his class lacked something of the + conviction with which he attacked me. + </p> + <p> + I asked Gorman one evening why, holding the opinions he did, he had chosen + as his table mates a banker and an unrepentant landlord. He had a whole + shipload of passengers to choose from, most of them, no doubt believers in + democracy, some of them perhaps even socialists, the kind of socialists + who travel first class on crack Cunard steamers. He seemed surprised at + the question and did not answer me at once. An hour or so after we had + passed away from the subject he returned to it suddenly and explained that + it was necessary to distinguish between individuals and the classes to + which they belong. A class, so I understood, may be objectionable and + dangerous in every way though the men who form it are delightful. + </p> + <p> + “Take the Irish priests, for instance,” he said. “The minute we get Home + Rule, we’ll——” + </p> + <p> + He paused significantly. + </p> + <p> + “Deal with them?” I suggested. + </p> + <p> + He nodded with an emphasis which was positively vicious. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he said, “there are lots of priests whom I really like, + capital fellows that I’d be glad to dine with every day in the week—except + Friday.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently he was glad to dine with Ascher and me every day in the week, + including Friday. + </p> + <p> + “There’s no sense,” he said, “in refusing to talk to a man just because + you don’t like his opinions.” + </p> + <p> + I agreed. I even offered proof of my agreement. I was at that moment + talking to Gorman and I certainly did not like his opinions. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher joined us at dinner on the third evening of our voyage, he + turned out to be a very quiet, gentle little man with no outward sign of + great wealth about him. He drank nothing but Perrier Water which was a + surprise and, I fancy, something of a disappointment to Gorman. He + expected Ascher to order champagne and was quite ready to take his turn in + paying for the wine. Ascher smoked half a cigarette after dinner and + another half cigarette before he went to bed. Gorman confided to me that + millionaires and half-crown cigars had always been associated in his mind + before he met Ascher. To me the most surprising thing about the man was + the low opinion he had of himself and his own abilities. He was + deferential to Gorman and even seemed to think what I said worth listening + to. He knew all about Gorman’s two novels and his play. He had read many + of Gorman’s newspaper articles. He used to try and make Gorman talk about + literature and art. Gorman, being a man of great intelligence, hates + talking about literature, and suspects that any one who accuses him of art + is poking fun at him. Ascher took both literature and art quite seriously. + He evidently thought that men who write books belong to a superior class. + As a matter of fact Ascher has far more brains than any author I have ever + met; but he does not know this. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lay down without protest under all the outrageous things which + Gorman said about financiers. His extreme meekness seemed to stimulate + Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “No qualities,” said Gorman, “are required for success as a financier + except a low kind of cunning and a totally unscrupulous selfishness.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher seemed to agree with him. I wanted to point out that considering + the very large number of men who are cunning and the general prevalence of + selfishness the number of successful financiers is surprisingly small. But + Gorman did not give me a chance of speaking. + </p> + <p> + “Political life in every modern state,” said Gorman, “is poisoned, + poisoned at its source by the influence of the great financial houses. + Democracy is in shackles. Its leaders are gagged. Progress is stopped. + Politics are barren——” He delivered this oration at dinner one + night, and when he came to the barrenness of politics he knocked over + Ascher’s bottle of Perrier Water with a sweep of his hand “and it is the + subtle influence of the financiers, the money kings, what the Americans + used to call the Gold Bugs, which is responsible for the mischief.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher assented with a sort of wavering smile. + </p> + <p> + “The proof of what I say,” said Gorman, “is to be found in the well-known + fact——” + </p> + <p> + I interrupted him at this point. He had cited his well-known fact to me + several times. The son of a Liberal Cabinet Minister married the daughter + of a well-known Conservative who had been a Cabinet Minister. It may be my + stupidity but I cannot see how that union proves that financiers control + politics. I am not, and never shall be either a money king or a gold bug, + but in mere dread of hearing Gorman produce his well-known fact again I + took up the task of defending the class to which Ascher belongs. + </p> + <p> + “After all, Gorman,” I said, “you ought to be a little grateful. You know + perfectly well that there wouldn’t be any politics if financiers and other + capitalists did not pay for them.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s just what I say,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said. “That’s not what you say. You say that financiers poison + politics. But there’s the greatest difference between paying for a + performance and poisoning the performers. Take a theatre for instance——” + </p> + <p> + “Talking of theatres,” said Gorman, “there’s a rattling good circus going + on in New York at present. I’ll take you two men to see it some night.” + </p> + <p> + But I was not going to let Gorman ride away in this manner from an + argument in which he was being worsted. + </p> + <p> + “Do let me finish what I am saying,” I said. “All your Parliaments and + legislative assemblies are simply national theatres kept up for the + amusement of the people. Somebody has to put up the money to keep them + going. The ordinary man won’t do it. You can’t even get him to vote + without hypnotising him first by means of a lot of speeches and newspaper + articles and placards which stare at him from hoardings. Even after you’ve + hypnotised him you have to drag him to your polling booth in motor cars. + He wouldn’t go if you didn’t. As for paying for your show, you know + perfectly well that there’d be no money for the running of it if it + weren’t for a few financiers and rich men.” + </p> + <p> + One of Gorman’s most delightful characteristics is that he bears no malice + when an argument goes against him. + </p> + <p> + “Begad, you’re right,” he said. “Right all the way along. At the present + moment I’m on my way to America to get money for the Party. There’s a man + I have my eye on out in Detroit, a fellow with millions, and an Irishman. + I mean to get a good subscription out of him. That’s why I’m on this + ship.” + </p> + <p> + “Curious,” I said. “I’m after money too. I have some investments in + Canadian railway shares—nothing much, just a few thousands, but a + good deal to me. I’m a little uneasy——” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Ascher. A man in his position, the head of one of the great + financial houses, ought to be able to give very good advice about my + shares. A word from him about the prospects of Canada generally and the + companies in which I am interested in particular, would be very valuable + to me. Gorman was also looking inquiringly at Ascher. I daresay a tip on + the state of the stock market would be interesting to him. I do not know + whether party funds are invested or kept on deposit receipt on a bank; but + Gorman is likely to have a few pounds of his own. Ascher misinterpreted + our glances. He thought we wanted to know why he was going to America. + </p> + <p> + “The condition of Mexico at present,” he said, “is causing us all some + anxiety. My partner in New York wants to have a consultation with me. + That’s what’s bringing me over.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Gorman. “I rather respect those Mexicans. It’s pleasant to hear + of wealthy men like you being hit sometimes.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s not exactly that,” said Ascher. “As a firm we don’t lose directly + whatever happens in Mexico. What we have to consider is the interest of + our customers, the people, some of them quite small people, who went into + Mexican railways on our advice. Banking houses don’t put their money into + investments. That’s not our business. But banking is a very dull subject. + Let’s talk of something else.” + </p> + <p> + He turned to me as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + “You were speaking just now,” he said, “about the necessity of putting up + money for the support of theatres. If we are to have any real dramatic art + in England——” + </p> + <p> + Banking is a fascinatingly interesting subject compared to art; but Ascher + does not think so, and Ascher had taken hold of the conversation. He + appealed to Gorman as a man whose services to literature and drama had + never been properly recognised. He appealed to me as a member of a + cultured class. Neither of us was sympathetic or responsive. Gorman knows + that he has never rendered any service to literature at all, that he wrote + novels because he wanted money in the days before a grateful country paid + him £400 a year for walking round the lobbies of the House of Commons, + that he tumbled into his play by accident and made money out of it because + a very charming lady was more charming than usual in the part he wrote for + her. + </p> + <p> + Gorman—this is one of the advantages of being an Irishman—has + no illusions about himself. I have none about my class. It is not cultured + and does not want to be. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher had smoked his half cigarette we left the dining saloon and + went to our special corner in the lounge. Ascher talked on till nearly ten + o’clock about art and drama and music as if they were the only things of + any interest or importance in the world. Then he went to bed. Gorman and I + agreed that art, drama, and music are of very little importance and less + interesting than anything else. Gorman’s weekly articles, quite the best + things of their kind then being published, are all about art, so he has a + perfect right to express his opinion. What we wanted to hear Ascher talk + about was money. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve always wanted to know what high finance really is,” I said. “It + seems a pity not to be able to find out now we’ve got a man who + understands it.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll take him in hand to-morrow,” said Gorman. “There’s no use our having + him to dine with us and looking after him all the way across if we don’t + get anything out of him.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman’s words were cryptic. I wanted to get knowledge—the sort of + knowledge which would satisfy my curiosity—out of Ascher; chiefly + knowledge though I would not have refused a little inside information + about Canadian affairs. Gorman might very well want something more. He + might want a subscription to the funds of his party. I hoped he would not + get it; either out of Ascher or out of the man at Detroit of whom he + spoke. I am not a member of any political party but I hate that to which + Gorman belongs. If I were attached to a party and if Gorman’s friends + joined it in a body, I should leave it at once. My opinion, so far as I + have any opinion, is that what Ireland wants is to be let alone. But if + the Irish Nationalist Party were to adopt a policy of deliberately doing + nothing and preventing other people from doing anything I should not + support it. I should then search about for something revolutionary and try + to insist on carrying it out. Nothing would induce me to be on the same + side as Gorman and his friends. Such is the nature of an Irish gentleman. + </p> + <p> + I lay awake for a long time that night, smoking cigarettes in my berth and + meditating on the fact that, of the three of us I was the one who was + going to America for purely selfish purposes. Gorman was trying to get + money for his party, for his own ultimate advantage no doubt, but in the + first instance the money was not for himself but for a cause. And Gorman + is a politician, a member of a notoriously corrupt and unscrupulous + professional class. Ascher was taking a long journey in order to devise + some means of rescuing his clients’ property from the clutches of a people + which had carried the principles of democracy rather further than is + usual. And Ascher is a financier. No one expects anything but enlightened + greed from financiers. I belong by birth and education to an aristocracy, + a class which is supposed to justify its existence by its altruism. There + was no doubt a valuable lesson to be learned from these considerations. I + fell asleep before I found out exactly what it was. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did as he promised. He took Ascher in hand next day. He made the + poor man walk up and down the deck with him. There is nothing on shipboard + more detestable than that tramp along the deck. Only the strongest minded + man can avoid counting his steps, making an estimate of yards, and falling + into the bondage of trying to walk a fixed number of miles. Conversation + and even coherent thought become impossible when the mind is set on the + effort to keep count of the turns made at the end of the deck. I am sure + that Ascher did not enjoy himself; but Gorman kept him at it for more than + an hour. I watched them from the deck chair in which I sat, rolled up very + comfortably in my rug. At one o’clock, when we ought to have gone down to + lunch, Gorman stopped opposite my chair. He proclaimed his success + jubilantly. + </p> + <p> + “We’ve been talking about finance,” he said, “high finance. Pity you + wouldn’t join us.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher bowed towards me. Gorman described Ascher’s manners as foreign. I + daresay they are. There is a certain flavour of formal courtesy about them + which Englishmen rarely practise, of which Irishmen of my generation, + partly anglicised by their education, have lost the trick. + </p> + <p> + “Sir James would only have been bored,” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Not he,” said Gorman, “he’s just as keen as I am to know what bankers do + with money.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a dull trade,” said Ascher, “very dull. Some day I shall give it up + and devote the rest of my time to——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t say art,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + Ascher opened his eyes and looked at Gorman with a mild kind of wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” he said, “I can never be an artist. I haven’t got the + temperament, the soul, the capacity for abandon. But I might find + enjoyment, the highest pleasure, in understanding, in appreciating, + perhaps even in encouraging——” + </p> + <p> + “Sort of Mecenas,” said Gorman. “I wonder if Mecenas was a banker. He + seems to have been a rich man.” + </p> + <p> + “He was a descendant of kings,” I said, “but that’s no reason why he + shouldn’t have made money.” + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” said Gorman, “you’d find art just as dull as banking if you went + in for it systematically.” + </p> + <p> + “But artists——!” said Ascher, “genuine artists! Men with + inspiration!” + </p> + <p> + “Selfish conceited swine,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “you ought to know. You’re an artist yourself. Ascher told + me so yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember your two novels,” said Ascher, “and I recognised in them the + touch, the unmistakable touch.” + </p> + <p> + “Let’s go down to lunch,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He left the deck as he spoke. Even Gorman does not like to stand + self-convicted of being a selfish conceited swine. Ascher laid his hand on + my arm as we went down to the saloon. + </p> + <p> + “What a brilliant fellow he is,” he whispered. “I never realised before + how magnificently paradoxical your Irish minds are. That pose of abject + self depreciation which is in reality not wholly a pose but a vehement + protest against the shallow judgment of a conventionalised culture——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher’s language was a little confusing to me, but I could guess at what + he meant. Gorman appeared to him to be an unappreciated Oscar Wilde, one + of those geniuses—I am bound to admit that they are mostly Irish—who + delude the world into thinking they are uttering profound truths when they + are merely outraging common sense. + </p> + <p> + It would be going too far perhaps to say that Ascher fawned on Gorman + during luncheon. He certainly showed his admiration for him very plainly. + </p> + <p> + During the afternoon we talked finance again. Ascher did it because he + wanted to please Gorman. I listened and learned several things which + interested me very much. I got to understand, for instance, why a + sovereign is sometimes worth more, sometimes less, when you try to + exchange it for dollars or francs; a thing which had always puzzled me + before. I learned why gold has to be shipped in large quantities from one + country to another by bankers, whereas I, a private individual, need only + send a cheque to pay my modest debts. I learned what is meant by a bill + drawn on London. It took me nearly half an hour to grasp that. Gorman + pretended to see it sooner than I did, but when he tried to supplement + Ascher’s explanation with one of his own he floundered hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + It was while we were at tea that afternoon that Mrs. Ascher put in an + appearance for the first time. She was a tall, lean woman, with dark red + hair—Gorman called it bronze—and narrow eyes which never + seemed quite open. Her face was nearly colourless. I was inclined to + attribute this to her long suffering from seasickness, but when I got to + know her better I found out that she is never anything but pallid, even + when she has lived for months on land and has been able to eat all she + wants. The first thing she did after we were introduced to her was to put + her hands up to her ears and give a low moan, expressive of great anguish. + Ascher explained to us that she was very musical and suffered acutely from + the ship’s band. I made up my mind definitely that she was not the sort of + woman I like. Gorman, on the other hand, took to her at once. He could not + stop the band, but he led the lady away to a distant corner of the writing + room. + </p> + <p> + For the rest of the voyage Gorman devoted himself to her. I do not mean to + suggest that he flirted with her either frivolously, or with yearning + artistic seriousness. Gorman enjoys the society of women and is never long + happy without it, but I do not think he cares for love-making in any form. + Besides he spent most of his time in her company watching her playing + Patience. Owen Meredith wrote a poem in which he glorified the game of + chess as an aid to quiet conjugal love-making. But so far as I know no one + has suggested that Canfield—it was Mrs. Ascher’s favourite kind of + Patience—has ever been used as an excuse for flirtation. No woman, + not even if she has eyes of Japanese shape, can look tenderly at a man + when she has just buried a valuable two under a pile of kings and queens + in her rubbish heap. + </p> + <p> + The result of Gorman’s devotion to the lady was that I was left to improve + my acquaintance with her husband. The more I talked to Ascher the better I + liked him. His admiration for his wife’s sensitiveness to sound was very + touching. I am convinced that he knew a great deal more about music than + she did and appreciated it more. But her sudden outbursts of petulance + when the band played seemed to Ascher a plain proof that she had the + spirit of an artist. He confided in me that it gave him real pleasure to + see her and Gorman together because, as artists, they must have much in + common. Ascher has a very simple and beautiful nature. No one with any + other kind of nature could put up with Mrs. Ascher as a wife. + </p> + <p> + Mere simplicity of soul and beauty of character would not, I am afraid, + have kept me at Ascher’s side for the rest of the voyage. Virtue, like the + innocence of the young, is admirable but apt to be tiresome. What + attracted me most to Ascher was his ability, the last thing he recognised + in himself. When he found out that I was interested in his business he + talked to me quite freely about it, though always with a certain + suggestion of apology. There was no need for anything of the sort. He + revealed to me a whole world of fascinating romance of which I had never + before suspected the existence. Some day, perhaps, a poet—he will + have to be a great poet—will discover that the system of credit by + means of which our civilisation works, deserves an epic. Neither the + wanderings of Ulysses nor the discoveries of a traveller through Paradise + and Purgatory make so splendid an appeal to the imagination as this vastly + complex machine which Ascher and men like him guide. The oceans of the + world are covered thick with ships. Long freight trains wind like serpents + across continents. Kings build navies. Ploughmen turn up the clay. The + wheels of factories go round. The minds of men bend nature to their + purposes by fresh inventions. Science creeps forward inch by inch. Human + beings everywhere eat, drink and reproduce themselves. The myriad + activities of the whole wide world go profitably on. They can go on only + because the Aschers, sitting at their office desks in London or New York, + direct the purchase or sale of what are but scratches with a pen on bits + of paper. + </p> + <p> + There is, no doubt, another way of looking at the system. The ships, the + kings, the mighty minds, the common men, are all of them in bondage to + Ascher and his kind. He and his brother financiers are the unseen rulers, + the mysteriously shrouded tyrants of the world. This system of credit, + which need not be at all or might be quite other than it is, has given + them supreme, untempered power, which they use to the injury of men. This + is Gorman’s view. But is it any less romantic than the other? An epic can + be written round a devil as greatly as round a hero. Milton showed us + that. What is wanted in a poet’s theme is grandeur, either fine or + terrible. Ascher’s grip upon the world has surely that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + We landed in New York and to my satisfaction I secured the rooms I usually + occupy. They are in a small hotel off Fifth Avenue, half way between the + streets which boast of numbers higher than fifty, and those others which + follow the effete European customs of having names. It is one of the + paradoxes of New York that the parts of the city where fashionable people + live and spend their money are severely business-like in the treatment of + streets, laying them out so as to form correct parallelograms and + distinguishing them by numbers instead of names, as if terrified of + letting imagination loose for a moment. Down town where the money is made + and the offices of the money makers are piled one on top of another, the + streets are as irregular as those of London or Paris, and have all sorts + of fascinatingly suggestive names. My hotel stands in the debatable land + between the two districts. Fashionable life is ebbing away from its + neighbourhood. Business is, as yet, a little shy of invading it. The + situation makes an appeal to me. I may be, as Gorman says, a man of no + country, but I am a man of two worlds. I cling to the skirts of society, + something of an outsider, yet one who has the right of entry, if I choose + to take the trouble, the large amount of trouble necessary to exercise the + right. I am one who is trying to make money, scarcely more than an amateur + among business men, but deeply interested in their pursuits. This + particular hotel seems to me therefore a convenient, that is to say a + suitable place of residence for me. It is not luxurious, nor is it cheap, + but it is comfortable, which is perhaps the real reason why I go to it. + </p> + <p> + I gave Gorman my address before I left the ship, but I did not expect him + to make any use of it. I thought that I had seen the last of him when I + crossed the gangway and got caught in the whirlpool of fuss which eddied + round the custom house shed. I was very much surprised when he walked in + on me at breakfast time on the second morning after our arrival. I was + eating an omelette at the time. I offered him a share of it and a cup of + coffee. Gorman refused both; but he helped himself to a glass of iced + water. This shows how adaptable Gorman is. Hardly any European can drink + iced water at or immediately after breakfast during the first week he + spends in America. I do not take to the stuff till I have been there about + a fortnight. But Gorman, in spite of his patriotism, has a good deal of + the cosmopolitan about him. Strange foods and drinks upset him very + little. + </p> + <p> + “Doing anything this evening?” he asked. “If not will you spend it with + me? Ascher has promised to come. We’re going to a circus and on for supper + afterwards. You remember the circus I mentioned to you on the steamer.” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated before I answered. I suppose I looked a little astonished. + That Gorman should propose an evening out was natural enough. I should not + call him a dissipated man, but he has a great deal of vitality and he + likes what he calls “a racket” occasionally. What surprised me was that a + circus should be his idea of dissipation. A circus is the sort of + entertainment to which I send my nephew—a boy of eleven—when + he spends the night with me in London on his way to school. My servant, a + thoroughly trustworthy man, takes him there. I pay for the tickets. + Gorman, Ascher, and I were three grown men and we could not boast of a + child among us to serve as an excuse for going to a circus. + </p> + <p> + “It’s quite a good show,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + I tried to think of Ascher at a circus. I failed to picture him, a man + educated up to the highest forms of art, gazing in delight while a lady in + short petticoats jumps through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse. + I had not been at a circus for about thirty years, since my tenth birthday + indeed, but I do not believe that the form of entertainment has changed + much since then. The clowns’ jokes—I judge from my nephew’s reports—are + certainly the same as they were in my time. But even very great + improvements would not make circuses tolerable to really artistic people + like Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve got free passes for the best seats,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He had mistaken the cause of my hesitation. I was not thinking of the cost + of our evening’s amusement. + </p> + <p> + “You journalists,” I said, “are wonderful. You get into the front row + every time without paying, whether it’s a coronation or a funeral. How did + you manage it this time?” + </p> + <p> + “My brother Tim is connected with the show. I daresay you don’t remember + him at Curraghbeg. He was fifteen years younger than me. My father married + a second time, you know. Tim is my half-brother.” + </p> + <p> + I did not remember Gorman himself in Curraghbeg. I could not be expected + to remember Tim who must have been still unborn when I left home to join + the Army. + </p> + <p> + “Tim has the brains of our family,” said Gorman. “His mother was a very + clever woman.” + </p> + <p> + I never heard Gorman say anything worse than that about his step-mother, + and yet she certainly treated him very badly. + </p> + <p> + “You’re all clever,” I said. “Your father drove mine out of the country + and deprived him of his property. It took ability to do that. You are a + Member of Parliament and a brilliant journalist. Timothy—I hardly + like to speak of him as Tim—owns a splendid circus.” + </p> + <p> + “He doesn’t own it,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well, runs it,” I said. “I expect it takes more brains to run a circus + than to own one.” + </p> + <p> + “He doesn’t exactly run it,” said Gorman. “In fact he only takes the money + at the door. But he has brains. That’s why I want Ascher to meet him. I + didn’t ask Mrs. Ascher,” he added thoughtfully, “though she hinted for an + invitation, rather made a set at me, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + “Give her my ticket,” I said. “I don’t mind a bit. I’ll buy another for + myself in a cheap part of the house, and join you at supper afterwards. + You ought not to disappoint Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t want Mrs. Ascher this time. She’d be in the way. She’s a charming + woman, of course, though she does bore me a bit about music and talks of + her soul.” + </p> + <p> + “Good Heavens!” I said. “You haven’t been discussing religion with her, + surely. I didn’t think you’d do a thing like that, Gorman. You oughtn’t + to.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mentioned religion to her in my life. Nothing would induce me to. + For one thing I don’t believe she has any.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re a Roman Catholic yourself, aren’t you?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Gorman, “I don’t know that I can say that I am exactly; but + I’m not a Protestant or a Jew. But that’s nothing to do with it. Mrs. + Ascher doesn’t talk about her soul in a religious way. In fact—I + don’t know if you’ll understand, but what she means by a soul is something + quite different, not the same sort of soul.” + </p> + <p> + I understood perfectly. I have met several women of Mrs. Ascher’s kind. + They are rather boastful about their souls and even talk of saving or + losing them. But they do not mean what one of Gorman’s priests would mean, + or what my poor father, who was a strongly evangelical Protestant, meant + by the phrases. + </p> + <p> + “We are not accustomed to souls like hers in Ireland. We only go in for + the commonplace, old-fashioned sort.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. + </p> + <p> + “She wouldn’t be seen with one of them about her,” he said. “They’re + vulgar things. Everybody has one.” + </p> + <p> + “Soul or no soul,” I said, “you ought to invite Mrs. Ascher to your party. + Why not do the civil thing?” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll do the civil thing some other time. I’ll take her to a concert, but + I don’t want her to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “your brother’s circus is a little—shall we say + Parisian? I don’t think you need mind that. Mrs. Ascher isn’t exactly a + girl. It would take a lot to shock her. In fact, Gorman, my experience of + these women with artistic souls is that the riskier the thing is the + better they like it.” + </p> + <p> + That is, as I have noticed, one of the great differences between a + commonplace, so to speak, religious soul and a soul of the artistic kind. + You save the one by keeping it as clean as you can. The other seems to + thrive best when heavily manured. It is no disparagement of the artistic + soul to say that it likes manure. Some of the most delicious and beautiful + things in the world are like that, raspberries for instance, which make + excellent jam, roses about which poets write, and begonias. I knew a man + once who poured bedroom slops into his begonia bed every day and he had + the finest flowers I ever saw. + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “did it ever occur to you that Mrs. Ascher’s soul is + like a begonia?” + </p> + <p> + “Bother Mrs. Ascher’s soul!” said Gorman. “I’m not thinking about it. The + circus is a show you might take a nun to. Nobody could possibly object to + it. The reason I headed her off was because I wanted to talk business to + Ascher, very particular business and rather important. In fact,” here he + sank his voice to a confidential whisper, “I want you to help me to rope + him in.” + </p> + <p> + “If you’ve succeeded in roping him into a circus,” I said, “I should think + you could rope him into anything else without my help. Would you mind + telling me what the scheme is?” + </p> + <p> + “I’m trying to,” he said, “but you keep interrupting me with silly riddles + about begonias.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m sorry I mentioned begonias. All the same it’s a pity you wouldn’t + listen. You’d have liked the part about manure. But never mind. Go on + about Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “My brother Tim,” said Gorman, “has invented a new cash register. He’s + always inventing things; been at it ever since he was a boy. But they’re + mostly quite useless things though as cute as the devil. In fact I don’t + think he ever hit on anything the least bit of good till he got this cash + register.” + </p> + <p> + “Before we go further,” I said, “what is a cash register?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a machine used in shops and cheap tea-places for——” + </p> + <p> + “I know now,” I said. “It has keys like a typewriter. That’s all right. I + thought for a moment it might be a book, a ledger, you know. Go on.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Tim’s machine is out and away the best thing of its kind ever seen. + There’s simply no comparison between it and the existing cash registers. + I’ve had it tested in every way and I know.” + </p> + <p> + I began, so I thought, to see what Ascher was to be roped into. + </p> + <p> + “You want money to patent it, I suppose,” I said. + </p> + <p> + But that was not it. Gorman had scraped together whatever money was + necessary to make his brother’s invention secure in Europe and America. He + had done more, he had formed a small private company in which he held most + of the shares himself. He had manufactured a hundred of the new machines + and was prepared to put them on the market. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said. “Now I see what you’re at. You want more capital. You want + to work the thing on a big scale. I might take a share or two myself, just + for the sake of having a flutter.” + </p> + <p> + “We don’t want you,” said Gorman. “The fewer there are in it the better. I + don’t want to have to divide the profits with a whole townful of people. + But we might let you in if you get Ascher for us. You have a lot of + influence with Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + I had, of course, no influence whatever with Ascher. But Gorman, though he + is certainly a clever man, has the defects of his class and his race. He + was an Irish peasant to start with and there never was an Irish peasant + yet who did not believe in a mysterious power which he calls “influence.” + It is curious faith, though it justifies itself pretty well in Ireland. In + that country you can get nearly anything done, either good or bad, if you + persuade a sufficiently influential person to recommend it. Gorman’s + mistake, as it seemed to me, lay in supposing that influence is equally + potent outside Ireland. I am convinced that it is no use at all in dealing + with a man like Ascher. If a big financial magnate will not supply money + for an enterprise on the merits of the thing he is not likely to do so + because a friend asks him. Besides I cannot, or could not at that time, + boast of being Ascher’s intimate friend. However Gorman’s mistake was no + affair of mine. + </p> + <p> + “If Ascher goes in at all,” I said, “he’ll do it on a pretty big scale. + He’ll simply absorb the rest of you.” + </p> + <p> + “The fact is,” said Gorman, “I don’t want Ascher to join. I don’t want him + to put down a penny of money. All I want him to do is to back us. Of + course he’ll get his whack of whatever we make, and if he likes to be the + nominal owner of some bonus shares in our company he can. That would + regularise his position. The way the thing stands is this.” + </p> + <p> + I had finished my breakfast and lit a cigar. Gorman pulled out his pipe + and sat down opposite to me. I am not, I regret to say, a business man, + but I succeeded in understanding fairly well what he told me. + </p> + <p> + His brother’s cash register, if properly advertised and put on the market, + would drive out every other cash register in the world. In the long run + nothing could stand against it. Of that Gorman was perfectly convinced. + But the proprietors of the existing cash registers would not submit + without a struggle. + </p> + <p> + Gorman nodded gravely when he told me this. Evidently their struggles were + the very essence of the situation. + </p> + <p> + “What can they do?” I said. “If your machine is much better than theirs + surely——” + </p> + <p> + “They’ll do what people always do on these occasions. They’ll infringe our + patents.” + </p> + <p> + “But the law——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Gorman, “the law. It’s just winning law suits that would ruin + us. Every time we got a judgment in our favour the case would be appealed + to a higher court. That would happen here and in England and in France and + in every country in the world civilised enough to use cash registers. + Sooner or later, pretty soon too—we should have no money left to + fight with.” + </p> + <p> + “Bankrupt,” I said, “as a consequence of your own success. What an odd + situation!” + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said Gorman, “you see where Ascher comes in.” + </p> + <p> + “I do. But I don’t expect he’ll spend his firm’s money fighting + speculative law suits all over the world just to please you.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t see the position in the least. There’ll be no law suits and he + won’t spend a penny. Once it’s known that his firm is behind us no one + will attempt to touch our patent. People aren’t such fools as to start + playing beggar-my-neighbour with Ascher, Stutz & Co. The whole world + knows that their firm has money enough to go on paying lawyers right on + until the day of judgment.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope to goodness,” I said, “that we shan’t meet lawyers then.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman smiled. Up to that point it had been impossible to move him from + his desperate earnestness, but a joke at the expense of lawyers is sure of + a smile under any circumstances. With the possible exception of the + mother-in-law joke, the lawyer joke is the oldest in the world and like + all well tested jokes it may be relied on. + </p> + <p> + “There won’t be any lawyers then,” said Gorman. “They’ll go straight to + hell without the formality of a trial.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed to me to be carrying the joke too far. I have known several + lawyers who were no worse than other professional men, quite upright and + honourable compared to doctors. I should have liked to argue the point + with Gorman. But for the moment I was more interested in the future of the + new cash register than in the ultimate destiny of lawyers. + </p> + <p> + “If you get Ascher to back you,” I said, “and your patents are safe, + you’ll want to begin making machines on a big scale. Where will you get + the money for that?” + </p> + <p> + “You haven’t quite caught on yet,” said Gorman. “I don’t want to make the + things at all. Why should I? There would have to be a large company. I + have neither time nor inclination to manage it. Tim hasn’t that kind of + brains. Besides it would be risky. Somebody might come along any day with + a better machine and knock ours out. People are always inventing things, + you know. What I want is a nice large sum of hard cash without any bother + or risk. Don’t you see that the other people, the owners of the present + cash registers, will have to buy us out? If our machine is the best and + they daren’t go to law with us they must buy us out. There’s no other + course open to them. What’s more, they’ll have to pay pretty nearly what + we ask. In fact, if we put up a good bluff there’s hardly any end to the + extent to which we can bleed them. See?” + </p> + <p> + I saw something which looked to me like a modernised form of highway + robbery. + </p> + <p> + “Is that sort of thing common?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Done every day,” said Gorman. “It’s business.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “there’s one justification for your proceedings. If half + what you say about your brother’s invention is true the world will get the + benefit of a greatly improved cash register. I suppose that’s the way + civilisation advances.” + </p> + <p> + “The world be damned,” said Gorman. “It’ll get nothing. You don’t suppose + the people who buy us out are going to start making Tim’s machine. They + can if they like, of course, once they’ve paid us. But it will cost them + hundreds of thousands if they do. They’d have to scrap all their existing + plant and turn their factories inside out, and in the end they wouldn’t + make any more profit than they’re making now. No. They’ll simply suppress + Tim’s invention and the silly old world will go on with the machines it + has at present.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “you gave me to understand a minute or so ago that you + went in for the old-fashioned kind of soul, the kind we were both brought + up to. I’m not at all sure that I wouldn’t rather have Mrs. Ascher’s new + kind, even if it——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t start talking about begonias again,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t going to. I was only going to say that even plays in which + nothing happens and grimy women say indecent things—that’s art you + know—seem to me better than the sort of things your soul fattens + on.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see any good talking about souls,” said Gorman. “This is a matter + of business. The other people will crush us if they can. If they can’t, + and they won’t be able to if Ascher backs us, they’ll have to pay us. + There’s nothing wrong about that, is there? Look at it this way. We’ve got + something to sell——” + </p> + <p> + “Cash registers,” I said. “But you don’t propose to sell them.” + </p> + <p> + “Not cash registers, but the right to make a certain kind of cash + registers. That’s what we’re going to sell. We could sell it to the + public, form a company to use the rights. It suits us better for various + reasons to sell it to these people. It suits them to buy. They needn’t + unless they like. But they will like. Now if we want to sell and they want + to buy and we agree on the price where does anybody’s soul come in?” + </p> + <p> + “There is evidently,” I said, “a third kind of soul. The original, + religious kind, the artistic kind, and what we may call the business soul. + You have a mixture of all three in you, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you’d stop worrying about my soul and tell me this. Are you going + to help to rope in Ascher or not? He’ll come if you use your influence + with him.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow,” I said. “Of course I’m going to help. Haven’t you + offered me a share of the loot?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you would,” said Gorman triumphantly. “But what about your own + soul?” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t got one,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I used to have a sort of instinct called honour which served men of my + class instead of a soul. But Gorman and Gorman’s father before him and + their political associates have succeeded in abolishing gentlemen in + Ireland. There is no longer the class of gentry in that country and the + few surviving individuals have learned that honour is a silly + superstition. I am now a disinterested spectator of a game which my + ancestors played and lost. The virtue desirable in a spectator is not + honour but curiosity. I wanted very much to see how Ascher would take + Gorman’s proposal and how the whole thing would work out. I promised to + sit through the circus, to attend the supper party afterwards and to do + the best I could to persuade Ascher to join our robber band. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher is not the woman to miss an entertainment she desires merely + because she lacks an invitation. She arrived at the door of the circus in + a taxicab with Ascher. Gorman and I were there and when he first saw Mrs. + Ascher he swore. However he was forced to give her some sort of welcome + and he did it pretty well, though I fear Ascher might have noticed a note + of insincerity in his voice. But that was only at first. Gorman’s temper + changed when we reached our seats and Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak. + </p> + <p> + She was wearing an evening gown of the most startling design and colour. I + should have said beforehand that a woman with a skin as pallid as that of + a corpse and so little flesh that her bones stick up jaggedly would be + wise to avoid very low dresses. Mrs. Ascher displayed, when she took off + her cloak, as much skin and bone as she could without risking arrest at + the hands of the police. Her gown, what there was of it, was of a vivid + orange colour and she wore emeralds round her neck. If the main object of + wearing clothes is, as some philosophers maintain, to attract attention, + then Mrs. Ascher understands the art of dress. She created a sensation. + That was what pleased Gorman. He is a man who likes to be the centre of + interest wherever he is, or if that is not possible, to be attached to the + person who has secured that fortunate position. Mrs. Ascher attracts the + public gaze wherever she goes. I have seen people turn round to stare at + her in the dining room of the Ritz in New York and at supper in the + Carlton in London. The men and women who formed the audience in Gorman’s + circus were unaccustomed to daring splendour of raiment. They actually + gasped when Mrs. Ascher threw off her cloak and Gorman felt glad that she + had come. + </p> + <p> + She said a few words to me about the delight which an artist’s soul feels + in coming into direct contact with the seething life of the people, and + she mentioned with appreciation a French picture, one of Degas’ I think, + which represents ballet dancers practising their art. Then she and Gorman + settled down in two of the three seats reserved for us. Ascher and I + retired modestly to the back of what I may call the dress circle. After a + while when the performance was well under way, Gorman’s brother came in. I + suppose the greater part of his evening’s work was done and he was able to + leave the task of dealing with late comers to some subordinate clerk. He + looked a mere boy, younger than I expected, as he stood at the end of the + row of seats trying to attract his brother’s attention. Gorman was so much + occupied with Mrs. Ascher that for some time he did not notice Tim. I had + time to observe the boy. He had fair hair, and large, childlike blue eyes. + He was evidently nervous, for he shifted his weight from one leg to the + other. He kept pulling at his tie, and occasionally patting his hair. He + was quite right to be uncomfortable about his hair. It was very untidy and + one particular lock stood out stiffly at the back of his head. + </p> + <p> + Gorman saw him at last and immediately introduced him to Ascher and to me. + But Tim was far too nervous to sit down beside us. He crept after his + brother and took a chair, three seats beyond Gorman, away from Mrs. + Ascher. She spotted him directly and insisted on his sitting beside her. + She is a woman who likes to have a man of some sort on each side of her. + Tim Gorman was little more than a boy but he was plainly frightened of + her. I suppose that gave zest to the sport of annexing him. Besides, his + eyes are very fine, and, if souls really shine through eyes, showed that + he was refreshingly innocent. I expect, too, that there was something + piquant in the company of the clerk who takes the money at the door of a + second-rate entertainment. Mrs. Ascher has often told me that she is more + interested in life than in anything else, even art. She distinguishes + between life and real life. Mine, I gather, is not nearly so real as that + of a performer in a travelling circus. I do not know why this should be + so, but I have no doubt that it is. Mrs. Ascher is not by any means the + only person who thinks so. Tim Gorman’s life was apparently real enough to + attract her greatly. She paid him the compliment of talking a good deal to + the boy, though she was far too clever a woman to let the elder brother + feel himself neglected. + </p> + <p> + A learned horse had just begun its performance when Tim Gorman entered. It + went on for some time picking out large letters from a pile in front of it + and arranging them so as to spell out “yes” or “no” in answer to questions + asked by a man with a long whip in his hand. The animal used one of its + front hoofs in arranging the letters, and looked singularly undignified. + Ascher sat quite still with an air of grave politeness. I tried to get him + to tell me what he thought of the learned horse but could get nothing out + of him. Long silences make me uncomfortable. I felt at last that it was + better to talk nonsense than not to talk at all. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” I said, “that learned men look almost as grotesque to the + angels as learned horses do to us. I can fancy Raphael watching a German + professor writing a book on the origin of religion. He would feel all the + while that the creature’s front paw was meant by nature for nobler uses.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Ascher, “yes. Quite so.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke vaguely. I think he did not hear what I said. Or perhaps the + learned horse struck him differently. Or his mind may have been entirely + occupied with the problem of Mexican railways so that he could pay no + attention either to the learned horse or to me. If so, he was wakened from + his reverie by the next performance. + </p> + <p> + A company of acrobats in spangled tights, three men and one young woman, + took possession of the arena. At first they tumbled, turned somersaults, + climbed on each other’s shoulders and assumed attitudes which I should + have said beforehand were impossible for any creature with bones. Then a + large net was stretched some six feet from the ground and several trapezes + which had been tied to the roof were allowed to hang down. The acrobats + climbed up by a ladder and swung from one trapeze to another. The business + was commonplace enough, but I became aware that Ascher was very much + interested in it. He became actually excited when we reached the final + act, the climax of the performance. + </p> + <p> + The programme, at which I glanced, spoke of “The Flying Lady.” The woman, + her spangles aglitter in a blaze of lime light, did indubitably fly, if + rushing unsupported through the air at some height from solid ground is + the essence of flying. Two of the men hung on their trapezes, one by his + hands and the other by his legs. They swung backwards and forwards. The + length of the ropes was so great that they passed through large arcs, + approaching each other and then swinging back until there was a long space + between them. The young woman, standing on a third trapeze, swung too. + Suddenly, at the upward end of a swing, just as her trapeze hung + motionless for an instant, she launched herself into the air. The man on + the next trapeze came swinging towards her. She caught him by the feet at + the very moment when he was nearest to her. He swung back and she dangled + below him. When he reached the highest point of the half circle through + which he passed, she was stretched out, making with him a horizontal line. + At that moment she let go and shot, feet foremost, through the air. The + man who hung head downwards from the next trapeze came swiftly towards her + and caught her by the ankles. The two swung back together and at the end + of his course he let her go. The impulse of his swing sent her, turning + swiftly as she flew, towards a ladder at the end of the row. She alighted + on her feet on a little platform, high up near the roof of the building. + There she stood, bowing and smiling. + </p> + <p> + The people burst into a shout of cheering. Ascher leaned forward in his + seat and gazed at her. The two men still kept their trapezes in full + swing. The third man, standing on a platform at the other end of the row, + set the remaining trapeze swinging, that from which the woman had begun + her flight. A minute later she flung herself from the platform and the + whole performance was repeated. I could hear Ascher panting with + excitement beside me. + </p> + <p> + “A horribly risky business,” I said, “but wonderful, really wonderful. If + one of those swings were a fraction late—— But of course the + whole thing is exactly calculated.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes,” said Ascher, “calculated, of course. It’s a matter of + mathematics and accurate timing of effort. But if it were worked by + machinery, with lay figures, we should think nothing of it. Somebody would + do sums and there would be nothing particular in it. The wonderful thing + is the confidence. The timing of the swings might be all right; but if the + woman hesitated for an instant, or if one of the men felt the slightest + doubt about the thing’s coming off—If they didn’t all feel + absolutely sure that the hands would be there to grasp her at just the + proper moment—It’s the perfect trust which the people have, of each + other, of the calculations—Don’t you see?” + </p> + <p> + I began to see that Ascher was profoundly moved by this performance. I + also began to see why. + </p> + <p> + “It’s like—like some things in life,” I said, “or what some things + ought to be.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s like what my life is,” said Ascher. “Don’t you see it?” + </p> + <p> + “I should be rather stupid if I didn’t see it, considering the trouble you + took to explain the working of international credit to me for two whole + days.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you do understand.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” I said, “that you are that woman. Your whole complex + business is very like hers. It’s the meeting of obligations exactly at the + end of their swing, the fact that at the appointed moment there will be + something there for you to grasp.” + </p> + <p> + “And the confidence,” said Ascher. “If the bankers in any country doubt + the solvency of the bankers in another country, if there’s the smallest + hesitation, an instant’s pause of distrust or fear, then international + credit collapses and——” + </p> + <p> + He flung out his arm with a gesture of complete hopelessness. I realised + that if anything went wrong between bankers in their trapeze act there + would be a very ugly smash. + </p> + <p> + “And in your case,” I said, “there’s no net underneath.” + </p> + <p> + The girl and the three men were safe on firm ground again. They were + bowing final acknowledgments to the cheering crowd. I suppose they do the + same thing every night of their lives, but they were still able to enjoy + the cheering. Their faces were flushed and their eyes sparkled. They are + paid, perhaps pretty well paid, for risking their lives; but the applause + is the larger part of the reward. + </p> + <p> + “Also,” I said to Ascher, “nobody cheers you. Nobody knows you’re doing + it.” + </p> + <p> + “No. Nobody knows we’re doing it. Nobody sees our flights through the air + or guesses the supreme confidence we bankers must have in each other. When + anybody does notice us it’s—well, our friend Gorman, for instance.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman holds the theory that financial men, Ascher and the rest, are + bloated spiders who spend their time and energy in trapping the world’s + workers, poor flies, in gummy webs. + </p> + <p> + “And of course Gorman is right in a way,” said Ascher. “I can’t help + feeling that things ought to be better managed. But—but it’s a pity + that men like him don’t understand.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher is wonderful. I shall never attain his mental attitude of + philosophic tolerance. I do not feel that Gorman is in any way right about + the Irish landlords. I felt, though I like the man personally, that he and + his friends are deliberately and wickedly perverse. + </p> + <p> + “Some day,” said Ascher, “something will go wrong. A rope will break, or a + man will miss his grip, and then people in one place will be starving, + while people somewhere else have food all round them rotting in heaps. Men + will want all sorts of things and will not be able to get them, though + there will be plenty of them in the world. Men will think that the laws of + nature have stopped working, that God has gone mad. Hardly any one will + understand what has happened, just that one trapeze rope has broken, or + that one man has lost his nerve and missed his grip.” + </p> + <p> + “She might have fallen clear of the net,” I said, “and come down on the + audience.” + </p> + <p> + “When we slip a trick,” said Ascher, “it will be on the audience that we + shall come down; and the audience, the people, will be bruised and hurt, + won’t in the least know what has happened.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman—I suddenly recollected this—had an adventure in finance + to propose. If Ascher goes into the scheme I shall have an opportunity of + watching an interesting variant of the trapeze act. We shall get the + people, who own the existing cash registers on the swing and then hold + them to ransom. We shall set our small trapeze oscillating right across + their airy path and decline to remove it unless they agree to part with + some of the very shiniest of their spangles and hand them over to us for + our adornment. I wondered how Ascher, who is so deeply moved by the perils + of his own flights, would like the idea of destroying other people’s + confidence and upsetting their calculations. + </p> + <p> + I looked down and saw that Gorman had left his seat. Mrs. Ascher had been + making good progress with Tim. The boy was leaning towards her and talking + eagerly. She lay back in her seat and smiled at him. If she were not + interested in what he was saying she succeeded very well in pretending + that she was. All really charming women practise this form of deception + and all men are taken in by it if it is well done. Mrs. Ascher does it + very well. + </p> + <p> + When the net was cleared away and the trapezes slung up again in the roof, + we had a musical ride, performed by six men and six women mounted on very + shiny horses. Mrs. Ascher, of course, objected strongly to the music. I + could see her squirming in her seat. Ascher did not find the thing + interesting and began to fidget. It was, indeed, much less suggestive than + either the learned horse or the acrobats. You cannot discover in a musical + ride any parable with a meaning applicable to life. Nothing in the world + goes so smoothly and pleasantly. There are always risks even when there + are no catastrophes, and catastrophes are far too common. Ascher probably + felt that we were out of touch with humanity. He kept looking round, as if + seeking some way of escape. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately Gorman turned up again very soon. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you won’t mind,” he said, “but I have changed the arrangement for + supper. Mrs. Ascher,” he nodded towards the seat in which she was + writhing, “wants to meet the Galleotti family. They’re not a family, you + know, and of course they’re not called Galleotti. The woman is a Mrs. + Briggs, and the tallest of the men is her husband. The other two are no + relation. I don’t know their names, but Tim will introduce us.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at my programme again. It was under the name of the Galleotti + Family that the acrobats performed. + </p> + <p> + “That will be most interesting,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “I’m afraid it won’t,” said Gorman. “People like that are usually quite + stupid. However Mrs. Ascher wanted it, so of course I made arrangements.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently wanted to see life, the most real kind of life, + thoroughly. Not contented with having the doorkeeper of a cheap circus + sitting, so to speak, in her lap all evening, she was now bent on sharing + a meal with a troupe of acrobats. + </p> + <p> + “It’s rather unlucky,” Gorman went on, “but Mrs. Briggs simply refuses to + go to the Plaza. I had a table engaged there.” + </p> + <p> + “How regal of you, Gorman!” I said. + </p> + <p> + “You’d have thought she’d have liked it,” he said. “But she made a fuss + about clothes. It’s extraordinary how women will.” + </p> + <p> + “You can hardly blame her,” I said; “I expect the head waiter would turn + her out if she appeared in that get-up of hers. Very absurd of him, of + course, but——” + </p> + <p> + I was not conscious that my eyes had wandered to Mrs. Ascher’s dress until + Gorman winked at me. Fortunately Ascher noticed neither my glance nor + Gorman’s wink. I had not thought of suggesting that Mrs. Briggs’ stage + costume was no more daring than what Mrs. Ascher wore. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said Ascher, “she wouldn’t come to supper in tights. It’s her + other clothes she’s thinking of. I daresay they are shabby.” + </p> + <p> + I could understand what Mrs. Briggs felt. Gorman could not. I do not think + that any feeling about the shabbiness of his coat would make him hesitate + about dining with an Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you won’t mind,” he said to Ascher, “but we’re going to rather a + third-rate little place.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman had evidently meant to do us well in the way of supper, champagne + probably. He may have had the idea that good food would soften Ascher’s + heart towards the cash register scheme, but Mrs. Ascher’s insistence on + meeting the Galleotti family spoiled the whole plan. We could not talk + business across Mrs. Briggs, so it mattered little what sort of supper we + had. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher left her seat and joined us. Tim, looking more nervous than + ever, followed her at a distance. + </p> + <p> + “Take me out of this,” she said to me. “Take me out of this or I shall go + mad. That dreadful band!” + </p> + <p> + She spoke in a kind of intense hiss, and I took her out at once, leaving + the others to collect our hats and coats and to hunt up the Galleotti + family. When we reached the entrance hall she sank into a seat. I thought + she was going to faint and felt very uncomfortable. She shut her eyes and + murmured in a feeble way. I bent down to hear what she was trying to say, + and was relieved to find that she was asking for a cigarette. I gave her + one at once. I even lit it for her as she seemed very weak. It did her + good. When she had inhaled three or four mouthfuls of smoke she was able + to speak quite audibly and had forgotten all about the horror of the band. + Her mind went back to the Galleotti family. + </p> + <p> + “Did you notice the muscular development of those men?” she said. “I don’t + think I ever saw more perfect symmetry, the tallest of the three + especially. The play of his shoulder muscles was superb. I wonder if he + would sit for me. I do a little modelling, you know. Some day I must show + you my things. I did a baby faun just before I left London. It isn’t good, + of course; but I can’t help knowing that it has feeling.” + </p> + <p> + The tallest Galleotti probably has feeling too, of a different kind. I + expect he would have refused Gorman’s invitation to supper if he had known + that he was invited in order to give Mrs. Ascher an opportunity of + studying his muscular development at close quarters. Perhaps he had some + idea that he was to be on show and did not like it. Instead of wearing his + spangled tights he came to supper in a very ill-fitting tweed suit, which + completely concealed his symmetry. The other two men were equally + inconsiderate. Mrs. Briggs wore a rusty black skirt and a somewhat soiled + blouse. Mrs. Ascher was disappointed. + </p> + <p> + She showed her annoyance by ignoring the Galleotti Family. This was rather + hard on Gorman, who had invited the family solely to please her and then + found that she would not speak to them. She took a chair in a corner next + the wall, and beckoned to Tim Gorman to sit beside her. Tim was miserably + frightened and dodged about behind the tallest of the Galleottis to avoid + her eye. I expect her manner when the band was playing had terrified him. + I felt certain that I should be snubbed, but, to avoid general + awkwardness, I took the chair beside Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I tried to cheer her up a little. + </p> + <p> + “Just think,” I whispered, “if Mr. Briggs looks so commonplace in + every-day clothes, other men, even I perhaps, might be as splendid as he + was if we put on spangled tights.” + </p> + <p> + I had to whisper because Mr. Briggs was near me, and I did not want to + hurt his feelings. Mrs. Ascher may not have heard me. She certainly did + not answer; I went on: + </p> + <p> + “Thus there may be far more beauty in the world than we suspect. We may be + meeting men every day who have the figures of Greek gods underneath their + absurd coats. It’s a most consoling thought.” + </p> + <p> + It did not console Mrs. Ascher in the least; but I thought a little more + of it might be good for her. + </p> + <p> + “In the same way,” I said, “heroic hearts may be beating under the + trappings of conventionality and great souls may——” + </p> + <p> + I meant to work the idea out; but Mrs. Ascher cut me short by saying that + she had a headache. There was every excuse for her. She wanted to see the + muscles of Mr. Briggs’ shoulders and she wanted Tim Gorman to sit beside + her. Double disappointments of this kind often bring on the most violent + headaches. + </p> + <p> + The supper party was a failure. The Galleotti men would talk freely only + to Tim Gorman and relapsed into gaping silence when Ascher spoke to them. + Mrs. Briggs would not speak at all, until Gorman, who has the finest + social talent of any man I ever met, talked to her about her baby. On that + subject she actually chattered to the disgust of Mrs. Ascher, who has no + children herself and regards women who have as her personal enemies. We + had sausages and mashed potatoes to eat. We drank beer. Even Ascher drank + a little beer, though I know he hated it. + </p> + <p> + Not a word was said about Tim’s cash register until the Galleotti family + went away and the party broke up. Then Gorman suddenly sprang the subject + on Ascher. Mrs. Ascher, having snubbed me with her headache story, at last + captured Tim Gorman. She spoke quite kindly to him and tried to teach him + to help her on with her cloak, a garment which Tim was at first afraid to + touch. I heard her, when Tim was at last holding the cloak, asking him to + sit for her in her studio. Tim has no very noticeable physical + development, but he has very beautiful eyes. Mrs. Ascher may have wanted + him as a model for a figure of Sir Galahad. Her interest in the boy gave + us a chance of talking business. + </p> + <p> + It was not a chance that I should have used if I had been Gorman. It + seemed to me foolish to lay a complicated scheme before a man who has just + been severely tried in temper by unaccustomed kinds of food and drink. + However, Gorman set out the case of the cash register in a few words. He + did not go into details, and I do not know whether Ascher understood what + was expected of him. He invited Gorman to bring Tim and the machine to the + bank next day and promised to look into the matter. Gorman, still under + the delusion that influence matters, insisted on my being one of the + party. He described me as a shareholder in the company. Ascher said he + would be glad to see me, too, next day. My impression is that he would + have agreed to receive the whole circus company rather than stand any + longer in that grimy restaurant talking to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + Gorman called for me at my hotel next morning at 9 o’clock. + </p> + <p> + “Time to start,” he said, “if we’re to keep our appointment with Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + I was still at breakfast and did not want to start till I had finished. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” I said, “that it’s wise to tackle him quite so early? Most + men’s tempers improve as the day goes on,—up to a certain point, not + right into the evening. Now I should say that noon would be the very best + hour for business of our kind.” + </p> + <p> + But Gorman is very severe when he is doing business. He took no notice + whatever of my suggestion. He pulled a long envelope out of his pocket and + presented it to me. It contained a nicely printed certificate, which + assured me that I was the owner of one thousand ordinary shares in the New + Excelsior Cash Register Company, Ltd. The face value of the shares was + five dollars each. + </p> + <p> + “I did not mean to take quite so many shares,” I said. “However, I don’t + mind. If you will work out the rate of exchange while I finish my coffee, + I’ll give you an English cheque for the amount.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman laughed at the proposal. + </p> + <p> + “You needn’t pay anything,” he said. “All we want from you is your name on + our list of directors and your influence with Ascher. Those shares will be + worth a couple of hundred dollars each at least when we begin our squeeze + and you don’t run the slightest risk of losing anything.” + </p> + <p> + The owning of shares of this kind seems to me the easiest way there is of + making money. I thanked Gorman effusively and pocketed the certificate. + </p> + <p> + We went down town by the elevated railway, and got out at Rector Street. + Tim Gorman met us at the bottom of the steps which lead to the station. He + was carrying his cash register in his arms. We hurried across Broadway and + passed through the doors of a huge sky-scraper building. I thought we were + entering Ascher’s office. We were not. We were taking a short cut through + a kind of arcade like one of the covered shopping ways which one sees in + some English towns, especially in Birmingham. There was a large number of + little shops in it, luncheon places, barbers’ shops, newspaper stalls, + tobacconists’ stalls, florists’ stalls, and sweet shops, which displayed + an enormous variety of candies. We were in the very centre of the business + part of the city, a part to which women hardly ever go, unless they are + typists or manicure girls. Above our heads were offices, tiers and tiers + of them. I wondered why there were so many florists’ shops and sweet + shops. The American business man must, I imagine, have a gentle and + childlike heart. No one who has lost his first innocence would require + such a supply of flowers and chocolate at his office door. + </p> + <p> + There were lifts on each side of this arcade, dozens of them, in cages. + Some were labelled “Express” and warned passengers that they would make no + stop before the eleventh floor. I should have liked very much to make a + journey in an express lift, and I hoped that Ascher’s office might turn + out to be on the 25th or perhaps the 30th floor of the building. I was + disappointed. Gorman hurried us on. + </p> + <p> + We emerged into the open air and found ourselves in a narrow, crooked + street along which men were hurrying in great numbers and at high speed. + On both sides of it were enormously tall houses. There was just one + building, right opposite to us, which was of English height. It was not in + the least English in any other way. It was white and very dignified. Its + lines were severely classical. It had tall, narrow windows and a door + which somehow reminded me of portraits of the first Duke of Wellington. + The architect may perhaps have been thinking of the great soldier’s nose. + Gorman walked straight up to that door. + </p> + <p> + “Here we are,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “this Greek temple can’t be Ascher’s office?” + </p> + <p> + “This is the exact spot.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” I said, “do we take off our shoes at the threshold or say + grace, or perform some kind of ceremonial lustration? We can’t go in just + as we are.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not answer me. He went through the door, the terribly + impressive door, without even bowing. There was nothing for me to do but + follow him. Tim followed me, nursing his cash register as if it had been a + baby, a very heavy and awkwardly shaped baby. + </p> + <p> + We passed into the outer office. At the first glance it seemed to me like + a very orderly town. It was built over with small houses of polished + mahogany and plate glass. Through the plate-glass fronts—they were + more than windows—I could see the furniture of the houses, rolltop + desks of mahogany, broad mahogany tables, chairs and high stools. All the + mahogany was very highly polished. The citizens of this town flitted from + one glass-fronted house to another. They met in narrow streets and spoke + to each other with grave dignity. They spoke in four languages, and + English was the one used least. From the remoter parts of the place, the + slums, if such a polished town has slums, came the sound of typewriters + worked with extreme rapidity. The manual labourers, in this as in every + civilised community, are kept out of sight. Only the sound of their toil + is allowed to remind the other classes of their happier lot. Some of the + citizens—I took them to be men of very high standing, privy + counsellors or magistrates—held cigars in their mouths as they + walked about. These cigars are badges of office, like the stripes on + soldiers’ coats. No one was actually smoking. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was our spokesman. He explained who we were and what we wanted. We + were handed over to a clerk. I suppose he was a clerk, but to me he seemed + a gentleman in waiting of some mysterious monarch, or—my feeling + wavered—one of the inferior priests of a strange cult. He led us + through doors into a large room, impressively empty and silent. There for + a minute we left while he tapped reverently at another door. The supreme + moment arrived. We passed into the inmost shrine where Ascher sat. My + spirit quailed. + </p> + <p> + Every great profession has its own way of hypnotising the souls of simple + men. Indeed I think that professions are accounted great in accordance + with their power of impressing on the world a sense of their + mysteriousness. Ecclesiastics, those of them who know their business, + build altars in dim recesses of vast buildings, light them with flickering + tapers, and fill the air with clouds of stupefying incense smoke. Surgeons + and dentists allow us fleeting glimpses of bright steel instruments, very + strangely shaped. It is contrived that we see them in a cold, clear light, + the light of scientific relentlessness. There is a suggestion of torture, + not brutal but exquisitely refined, of perfected pain, achieved by the + stimulation of recondite nerves of very delicate sensibility. Lawyers wear + archaic robes and use a strange language in their mysteries, conveying to + us a belief that Justice is an ancient witch whose evil eye can be averted + only by the incantation and grotesque posturing of her initiate priests. + But I am not sure that financiers do not understand the art of hypnotic + suggestion best of all. I have worshipped in cathedrals, sweated cold in + operating theatres, trembled before judges, but there is something about + large surfaces of polished mahogany and very soft, dimly coloured turkey + carpets which quells my feeble spirit still more completely. + </p> + <p> + There was a heavy deadening silence in Ascher’s private office, and our + voices, when they broke it, sounded like the cheeping of ghosts. There was + an odour more oppressive than the smell of incense or the penetrating + fumes of iodoform. Some one, many hours before, must have smoked a very + good cigar in the room, and the scent of it lingered. The doors of huge + safes must have been opened. From the recesses of these steel chambers had + oozed air which had lain stagnant and lifeless round piles of gold bonds + and rich securities for years and years. The faint, sickly odour of + sealing wax must have been distilled from immense sticks of that substance + and sprinkled overnight upon the carpets and leather-seated chairs. I + breathed and my very limbs felt numb. + </p> + <p> + But certain souls are proof against the subtlest forms of hypnotism. + Gorman had escaped from the influence of his church. He would flip a + sterilised lancet across a glass slab with his finger and laugh in the + face of the surgeon who owned it. He walked with buoyant confidence into + Ascher’s office. My case was different. I stood and then sat, the victim + of a partial anaesthetic. I saw and heard dimly as if in a dream, or + through a mist. Poor Tim trembled as he laid his cash register down on one + of Ascher’s mahogany tables. I could hear the keys and bars of the machine + rattling together while he handled it. + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke through a telephone receiver which stood at his elbow. + Another man entered the room. We all shook hands with him. He was Stutz, + the New York partner of the firm. Then Ascher spoke through the receiver + again, and another man came in. + </p> + <p> + With him we did not shake hands, but he bowed to us and we to him. He was + Mr. Mildmay. He stood near the door, waiting for orders. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman unpacked his machine and exhibited it. I have not the remotest + idea what its peculiar virtues are, but Tim believed in them. His + nervousness seemed to pass away from him as he spoke about his invention + with simple-minded enthusiasm. Love casts out fear, and there is no doubt + that Tim loved every screw and lever of the complicated mechanism. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left his place near the door and came forward. His deferential + manner dropped off from him. He revealed himself as a mechanical expert + with a special knowledge of cash registers. He and Tim Gorman pressed + keys, twisted handles and bent together in absorbed contemplation over + some singular feature of the machine’s organism. Gorman, the elder + brother, watched them with a confident smile. Ascher and Stutz sat gravely + silent. They waited Mildmay’s opinion. He was the man of the moment. A few + minutes before he had bowed respectfully to Ascher. In half an hour he + would be bowing respectfully to Ascher again. Just then, while he handled + Tim Gorman’s machine, he was Ascher’s master, and mine of course. They + were all my masters. + </p> + <p> + The inspection of the machine was finished at last. Tim stood flushed and + triumphant. The child of his ingenious brain had survived the tests of an + expert. Mildmay turned to Ascher and bowed again. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a wonderful invention,” he said. “I see no reason why it should not + be a commercial success.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps, Mr. Mildmay,” said Ascher, “you will study the subject further + and submit a report to us in writing.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Mildmay left the room. I had no doubt that he would report + enthusiastically on the new cash register. Mechanical experts do not, I + suppose, write poetry, but there was without doubt a lyric in Mildmay’s + heart as he left the room. Tim packed the thing up again. Now that the + mechanical part of the business was over, he relapsed into shy silence in + a corner. His brother took out a cigarette and lit it. I would not have + ventured to light a cigarette in that sanctuary for a hundred pounds. But + Gorman is entirely without reverence. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “there’s no doubt about the value of the invention.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report,” said Ascher, “before we come to + any decision; but in the meanwhile we should like to hear any proposal you + have to make.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Stutz, “your proposals. We are prepared to listen to them.” + </p> + <p> + Stutz seemed to me to speak English with difficulty. His native language + was perhaps German, perhaps Hebrew or Yiddish or whatever the language is + which modern Jews speak in private life. + </p> + <p> + “The matter is simple enough,” said Gorman. “Our machine will drive any + other out of the market. There’s no possibility of competition. The thing + is simply a dead cert. It can’t help going.” + </p> + <p> + “A large capital would be required,” said Stutz, “a very large capital.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Gorman, “a very large capital, much larger than I should care + to see invested in the thing. I may as well be quite frank with you + gentlemen. At present the patents of my brother’s invention are owned by a + small company in which I am the chief shareholder. If we ask the public + for a million dollars and get them—I don’t say we can’t get them. We + may. But if we do I shall be a very small shareholder. I shall get 5 per + cent, or 6 per cent, or perhaps 10 per cent, on my money. Now I want more + than that. I’m speaking quite frankly, you see. I believe in frankness.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at Ascher for approval. Stutz bowed, with an impassive face. On + Ascher’s lips there was the ghost of a mournful little smile. I somehow + gathered that he had come across frankness like Gorman’s before and had + not altogether liked it. Gorman went on. He explained, as he had explained + to me, the plan he had made for forcing the owners of existing cash + registers to buy his company out. At last he got to the central, the + vitally important point. + </p> + <p> + “All we want, gentlemen, is your backing. You needn’t put down any money. + Your names will be enough. I will make over to you such bonus shares as + may be agreed upon. The only risk we run is lawsuits about our patent + rights. You understand how that game is worked. I needn’t explain.” + </p> + <p> + It was evident that both Ascher and Stutz understood that game thoroughly. + It was also plain to me, though not, I think, to Gorman, that it was a + game which neither one nor other of them would be willing to play. + </p> + <p> + “But if we have your names,” said Gorman, “that game’s off. It simply + wouldn’t pay. I don’t want to flatter you, gentlemen, but there isn’t a + firm in the world that would care to start feeing lawyers in competition + with Ascher, Stutz & Co.” + </p> + <p> + “That is so,” said Stutz. + </p> + <p> + “And your proposal?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “If they can’t crush us,” said Gorman, “and they can’t if you’re behind + us, they must buy us. I need scarcely say that your share in the profits + will be satisfactory to you. Sir James Digby is one of our directors. + There are only four others, and three of them scarcely count. There won’t + be many of us to divide what we get.” + </p> + <p> + I felt that my time had come to speak. If I was to justify Gorman’s + confidence in me as an “influence,” I must say something. Besides Ascher + was looking at me inquiringly. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not a business man,” I said, “and I’m afraid that my opinion isn’t + worth much, but I think——” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me, and there was a curiously + wistful expression in them. I could not understand what he wanted me to + say. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” I said, “that Gorman’s plan sounds feasible, that it ought to + work.” + </p> + <p> + “But your own opinion of it?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He spoke with a certain gentle insistency. I could not very well avoid + making some answer. + </p> + <p> + “We are able to judge for ourselves,” he said, “whether it will work. But + the plan itself—what do you think of it?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I’m a modern man. I have accepted all the ideas and + standards of my time and generation. I can hardly give you an opinion that + I could call my own, but if my father’s opinion would be of any use to you—— + He was an old-fashioned gentleman, with all the rather obsolete ideas + about honour which those people had.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s dead, isn’t he?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” I said. “He’s been dead for fifteen years. Still I’m sure I + could tell you what he’d have said about this.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think,” said Stutz, “that we need consider the opinion of Sir + James Digby’s father, who has been dead for fifteen years.” + </p> + <p> + “I quite agree with you,” I said. “It would be out of date, hopelessly.” + </p> + <p> + “But your own opinion?” said Ascher, still mildly insistent. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I’ve been robbed of my property—land in Ireland, + Mr. Stutz—by Gorman and his friends. Everybody says that they were + quite right and that I ought not to have objected; so, I suppose, robbery + must be a proper thing according to our contemporary ethics.” + </p> + <p> + “And that is your opinion of the scheme?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said. “I hope I’ve made myself clear. I think we are justified in + pillaging when we can.” + </p> + <p> + “You Irish,” said Ascher, “with your intellects of steel, your delight in + paradox and your reckless logic!” + </p> + <p> + Stutz was not interested in the peculiarities of the Irish mind. He went + back to the main point with a directness which I admired. + </p> + <p> + “This is not,” he said, “the kind of business we care to do.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Gorman,” said Ascher, “we shall wait for Mr. Mildmay’s report on your + brother’s invention. If it turns out to be favourable, as I confidently + expect, we may have a proposal to lay before you. Our firm cannot, you + will understand, take shares in your company. That is not a bank’s + business. But I myself, in my private capacity, will consider the matter. + So will Mr. Stutz. It may be possible to arrange that your brother’s + machine shall be put on the market.” + </p> + <p> + “But your proposal,” said Stutz obstinately. “It is not the kind of + business we undertake.” + </p> + <p> + The interview was plainly at an end. We rose and left the room. + </p> + <p> + Tim Gorman did not understand, perhaps did not hear, a word of what was + said. He followed us out of the office nursing his machine and plainly in + high delight. Curiously enough, the elder Gorman seemed equally pleased. + </p> + <p> + “We’ve got them,” he said when we reached the street. “We’ve got Ascher, + Stutz & Co quite safe. I don’t see what’s to stop us now.” + </p> + <p> + My own impression was that both Ascher & Stutz had definitely refused + to entertain our proposal or fall in with our plans. I said so to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” he said. “You don’t understand business or business men. + Ascher and Stutz are very big bugs, very big indeed, and they have to keep + up appearances. It wouldn’t do for them to admit to you and me, or even to + each other, that they were out for what they could get from the old + company. They have to keep up the pretence that they mean legitimate + business. That’s the way these things are always worked. But you’ll find + that they won’t object to pocketing their cheques when the time comes for + smashing up Tim’s machine and suppressing his patents.” + </p> + <p> + I turned, when I reached the far side of the street, to take another look + at Ascher’s office. I was struck again by the purity of line and the + severe simplicity of the building. Two thousand years ago men would have + had a statue of Pallas Athene in it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + I spent a very pleasant fortnight in New York among people entirely + unconnected with the Aschers or Gorman. I was kept busy dining, lunching, + going to the theatre, driving here and there in motor cars, and enjoying + the society of some of the least conventional and most brilliant women in + the world. I only found time to call on the Aschers once and then did not + see either of them. They were stopping in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the + young man in the office told me that Mrs. Ascher spent the whole of every + day in her studio. Her devotion to art was evidently very great. She could + not manage to spend a holiday in New York without hiring a studio. I + inquired whether any members of the Galleotti family were sitting for her, + but the hotel clerk did not know that. He told me, however, that Mr. + Ascher was in Washington. Gorman always says that the strings of + government in modern states are pulled by financiers. Ascher was probably + chucking at those which are fastened to the arms and legs of the President + of the United States, with a view to making that potentate dance + threateningly in the direction of Mexico. I am sure that Ascher does this + sort of thing very nicely and kindly if indeed he does it at all. He would + not willingly destroy the self-respect even of a marionette. + </p> + <p> + Of Gorman I saw nothing more before I left New York. I think he went off + to Detroit almost immediately after our interview with Ascher and Stutz. + Gorman is not exactly the man to put his public duties before his private + interests, but I am sure the public duties always come in a close second. + Having settled, or thought he had settled, the affair of the cash + register, he immediately turned his attention to that wealthy motor man in + Detroit from whom he meant to get a subscription. The future of the Irish + Party possibly, its comforts probably, depended on the success of Gorman’s + mission. And a party never deserved comfort more. The Home Rule Bill was + almost passed for the third and last time. Nothing stood between Ireland + and the realisation of Gorman’s hopes for her except the obstinate + perversity of the Ulster men. A few more subscriptions, generous + subscriptions, and that would be overcome. + </p> + <p> + After enjoying myself in New York for a fortnight I went to Canada. I did + not gather much information about the companies in which I was interested. + But I learned a good deal about Canadian politics. The men who play that + game out there are extraordinarily clearsighted and honest. They frankly + express lower opinions of each other than the politicians of any other + country would dare to hold of the players in their particular fields. In + the end the general frankness became monotonous and I tired of Canada. I + went back to New York, hoping to pick up someone there who would travel + home with me by way of the West Indies, islands which I had never seen. I + thought it possible that I might persuade the Aschers, if they were still + in New York, to make the tour with me. There was just a chance that I + might come across Gorman again and that he would be taken with the idea of + preaching the doctrines of Irish nationalism in Jamaica. I called on the + Aschers twice and missed them both times. But the second visit was not + fruitless. Mrs. Ascher rang me up on the telephone and asked me to go to + see her in her studio. She said that she particularly wanted to see me and + had something very important to say. + </p> + <p> + I obeyed the summons, of course. I found Mrs. Ascher clad in a long, + pale-blue pinafore. Over-all is, I believe, the proper name for the + garment. But it looked to me like a child’s pinafore, greatly enlarged. It + completely covered all her other clothes in front and almost completely + covered them behind. I recognised it as the sort of thing a really earnest + artist would wear while working. Her hair was hanging in loops and wisps + about her head, a disorder which was effective with dark-red hair. Her + hands were damp and dirty. Her face was smudged here and there, as if, in + moments of artistic travail, she had pressed her muddy fingers against her + forehead and chin. The room had very little furniture in it, but there + were several tables, large and small. On these stood what seemed to me + shapeless lumps of various sizes, swathed in damp rags. They reminded me a + little of the shrouded objects on the tables of dissecting rooms after the + students have gone home. There was the same suggestion of mutilated human + forms. Mrs. Archer saw me looking at them. + </p> + <p> + “Some of my little things,” she said, “but nothing finished. I don’t know + why it is, but here in New York I find it very difficult to finish + anything.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re not singular in that,” I said. “The New York people themselves + suffer in exactly the same way. There isn’t a street in their city that + they’ve finished or ever will finish. If anything begins to look like + completion they smash it up at once and start afresh. It must be something + in the air, a restlessness, a desire of the perfection which can never be + realised.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher very carefully unwrapped a succession of damp rags from one of + the largest of her lumps which was standing on a table by itself. I have, + since then, seen nurses unwrapping the bandages from the wounded limbs of + men. The way they did it always reminded me of Mrs. Ascher. The removal of + the last bandage revealed to me a figure about eighteen inches high of a + girl who seemed to me to be stretching herself after getting out of bed + before stepping into her bath. + </p> + <p> + “Psyche,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I had to show my admiration in some way. The proper thing, I believe, when + shown a statue by a sculptor, is to stroke it with your fingers and + murmur, “Ah!” I was afraid to stroke Psyche because she was certainly wet + and probably soft. A touch might have dinted her, made a dimple in a wrong + place. I dared not risk it. It became all the more necessary to speak. + </p> + <p> + The first thing I thought of was a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe. + </p> + <p> + “I pacified Psyche and kissed her,” I murmured, “and tempted her out of + the gloom.” + </p> + <p> + I said the lines in what I am convinced is the proper way, as if they were + forced from me, as if I spoke them to myself and did not mean them to be + heard. I do not think Mrs. Ascher knew them. I fear she suspected me of + making some sort of joke. I hastened to redeem my character. + </p> + <p> + “Psyche,” I said, “the soul.” + </p> + <p> + I was right so far. Psyche is the Greek for the soul. I ventured further. + </p> + <p> + “The human soul, the artistic soul.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher appeared to be absolutely hanging on my words. I plunged on. + </p> + <p> + “Aspiring,” I said, “reaching after the unattainable.” + </p> + <p> + I would not have said, “hoping for a yawn” for anything that could have + been offered me; but the young woman who stood for Mrs. Ascher’s Psyche + must have longed for that relief. The attitude in which she was posed + suggested yawning all the time, and we all know how fatal it is to think + of a yawn. + </p> + <p> + “Quite unfinished,” said Mrs. Ascher with a sigh. + </p> + <p> + “The fault of New York,” I said. “When you get home again——” + </p> + <p> + I hesitated. I did not wish to commit myself to a confession of ignorance, + and I do not know whether a damp, soft Psyche can be packed up and + transported across the Atlantic to be finished in London. + </p> + <p> + “But the aspiration is there,” I said, “and you owe that to New York. The + air, the very same air which forbids completion, is charged with + aspiration. We all feel it. The city itself aspires. Since the great days + when men set out to build a tower the top of which should reach unto + heaven, there has never been such aspiration anywhere in the world. Look + at the Woolworth Building.” + </p> + <p> + I was maundering and I knew it. Mrs. Ascher’s statuette was very nice and + graceful; a much better thing than I expected to see, but there was + nothing in it, nothing at all in the way of thought or emotion. There must + be hundreds of people who can turn out clay girls just as good as that + Psyche. Somehow I had expected something different from Mrs. Ascher, less + skill in modelling, less care, but more temperament. + </p> + <p> + “There’s nothing else worth showing,” she said, “except perhaps this. Yes, + except this.” + </p> + <p> + She unwrapped more bandages. A damp, pale-grey head appeared. It was + standing in a large saucer or soup plate. At first I thought she had been + at John the Baptist and had chosen the moment when his head lay in the + charger ready for the dancing girl to take to her mother. Fortunately I + looked at it carefully before speaking. I saw that it was Tim Gorman’s + head. + </p> + <p> + “He sat to me,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and by degrees I came to know him very + well. One does, one cannot help it, talking to a person every day and + watching, always watching. Do you think——?” + </p> + <p> + “I think it’s wonderful,” I said. + </p> + <p> + This time I spoke with real and entire conviction. I am no expert judge of + anything in the world except perhaps a horse or a bottle of claret, but I + was impressed by this piece of Mrs. Ascher’s work. Tim Gorman’s fine eyes + were the only things about him which struck me as noticeable. No artist + can model eyes in clay. But Mrs. Ascher had got all that I saw in his eyes + into the head before me—all and a great deal more. She had somehow + succeeded in making the lips, the nostrils, the forehead, the cheek-bones, + express the fact that Tim Gorman is an idealist, a dreamer of fine dreams + and at the same time innocent as a child which looks out at the world with + wonder. I do not know how the woman did it. I should not have supposed her + capable of even seeing what she had expressed in her clay, but there it + was. + </p> + <p> + “You really like it?” + </p> + <p> + She spoke with a curious note of humility in her voice. My impulse was to + say that I liked her, for the first time saw the real good in her; but I + could not say that. + </p> + <p> + “Like it!” I said. “It isn’t for me to like or dislike it. I don’t know + anything about those things. I am not capable of judging. But this seems + to me to be really great.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Mrs. Ascher, “and this time you are sincere.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me quite gravely as she spoke. Then a smile slowly broadened + her mouth. + </p> + <p> + “That’s not the way you spoke of poor Psyche’s aspiration,” she said, “you + were laughing at me then.” + </p> + <p> + A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The woman had understood every word + I said to her, understood what I meant as well as what I wanted to convey + to her, two very different things. She was immensely more clever than I + suspected or could have guessed. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” I said, “I beg your pardon.” + </p> + <p> + “You were quite right,” she said. “That other thing isn’t Psyche. It’s + just a silly little girl, the model—— There wasn’t anything + about her that I could see, nothing but just a pretty body.” + </p> + <p> + So she dismissed my apology and turned to Tim Gorman’s head again. She ran + her finger lightly round the rim of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I do with this?” she said. “What is his head to stand on, to + rise from? I was thinking of water-lily leaves, as if the head were + emerging——” + </p> + <p> + I felt that I owed Mrs. Ascher some frankness in return for my first + insult to her intelligence. Besides, I was moved. I was, as I had not been + for years, emotional. Tim Gorman’s head gripped me in a curious way. + </p> + <p> + “Good God, Woman,” I said, “anything in the world but that! Wrap up that + chorus girl of a Psyche in leaves if you like. Sprinkle rose petals over + her or any other damned sentimentalism. But this man is a mechanic. He has + invented a cash register. What in the name of all that’s holy has he got + to do with water-lily leaves? Put hammers round his head, and pincers, and + long nails.” + </p> + <p> + I stopped. I realised suddenly that I was making an unutterable fool of + myself. I was talking as I never talked in my life before, saying out loud + the sort of things I have carefully schooled myself neither to feel nor to + think. + </p> + <p> + “After all,” said Mrs. Ascher, “you have an artist’s soul.” + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Mrs. Ascher looked at me and smiled again, a half-pitiful + smile. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I must have,” I said. “But I won’t let it break loose in that + way again. I’ll suppress it. It’s—it’s—this is rather an + insulting thing to say to you, but it’s a humiliating discovery to make + that I have——” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + “My husband always says that you Irish——” + </p> + <p> + “He’s quite wrong,” I said; “quite wrong about me at all events. I hate + paradoxes. I’m a plain man. The only thing I really admire is common + sense.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” she said. “I understand exactly what you feel.” + </p> + <p> + She is a witch and very likely did understand. I did not. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” she said. “Now, I can talk to you. Sit down, please.” + </p> + <p> + She pulled over a low stool, the only seat in the room. I sat on it. Mrs. + Ascher stood, or rather drooped in front of me, leaning on one hand, which + rested, palm down, on the table where Tim Gorman’s image stood. I doubt + whether Mrs. Ascher ever stands straight or is capable of any kind of + stiffness. But even drooping, she had a distinct advantage over me. My + stool was very low and my legs are long. If I ventured to lean forwards, + my knees would have touched my chin, a position in which it is impossible + for a man to assert himself. + </p> + <p> + “I am so very glad,” she said, “that you like the little head.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be caught again. One lapse into artistic fervour was + enough for me. Even at the risk of offending Mrs. Ascher beyond + forgiveness, I was determined to preserve my self-respect. + </p> + <p> + “I wish you wouldn’t take my word for it’s being good,” I said. “Ask + somebody who knows. The fact that I like it is a proof that it’s bad, bad + art, if it’s a proof of anything. I never really admire anything good, + can’t bear, simply can’t bear old masters, or”—I dimly recollected + some witty essays by my brilliant fellow-countryman Mr. George Moore—“I + detest Corot. My favourite artist is Leader.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher smiled all the time I was speaking. + </p> + <p> + “I know quite well,” she said, “that my work isn’t good. But you saw what + I meant by it. You can’t deny it now, and you know that the boy is like + that.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know anything of the sort. I don’t know anything at all about + him. The only time I ever came into touch with him he was helping his + brother to persuade Mr. Ascher to go into a doubtful—well, to make + money by what I’d call sharp practice.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think he was,” said Mrs. Ascher. “The elder brother may have been + doing what you say; but Tim wasn’t.” + </p> + <p> + “He was in the game,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I spoke all the more obstinately because I knew that Tim was not in the + game, I was determined not to be hysterical again. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve had that poor boy here day after day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I + really know him. He has the soul of an artist. He is a creator. He is one + of humanity’s mother natures. You know how it is with us. Something + quickens in us. We travail and bring to the birth.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher evidently included herself among the mother natures. It seemed + a pity that she had not gone about the business in the ordinary way. I + think she would have been happier if she had. However, the head of Tim + Gorman was something. She had produced it. + </p> + <p> + “That is art,” she said dreamily, “conception, gestation, travail, birth. + It does not matter whether the thing born is a poem, a picture, a statue, + a sonata, a temple——” + </p> + <p> + “Or a cash register,” I said. + </p> + <p> + The thing born might apparently be anything except an ordinary baby. The + true artist does not think much of babies. They are bourgeois things. + </p> + <p> + “Or a cash register,” she said. “It makes no difference. The man who + creates, who brings into being, has only one desire, that his child, + whatever it may be, shall live. If it is stifled, killed, a sword goes + through his heart.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed to me even then with Mrs. Ascher’s eyes on me, that it was + rather absurd to talk about a cash register living. I do not think that + men have ever personified this machine. We talk of ships and engines by + the names we give them and use personal pronouns, generally feminine, when + we speak of them. But did any one ever call a cash register “Minnie” or + talk of it familiarly as “she”? + </p> + <p> + “He thinks,” said Mrs. Ascher, “indeed he is sure—he says his + brother told him——” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” I said. “The machine isn’t going to be put on the market at all. + It is to be used simply as a threat to make other people pay what I should + call blackmail.” + </p> + <p> + “That must not be,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her voice was pitched a couple of tones higher than usual. I might almost + say she shrieked. + </p> + <p> + “It must not be,” she repeated, “must not. It is a crime, a vile act, the + murder of a soul.” + </p> + <p> + Cash registers have not got souls. I am as sure of that as I am of + anything. + </p> + <p> + “That boy,” she went on, “that passionate, brave, pure boy, he must not be + dragged down, defiled. His soul——” + </p> + <p> + It was Tim Gorman’s soul then, not the cash registers, which she was + worrying about. Having seen her presentation of the boy’s head, having it + at that moment before my eyes, I understood what she meant. But I was not + going to let myself be swept again into the regions of artistic passion to + please Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it does seem rather a shady way of making money. But + after all——” + </p> + <p> + I have mentioned that Mrs. Ascher never stands upright. She went very near + it when I mentioned money. + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back, flung both her arms out wide, clenched her fists + tightly, and, if the expression is possible, drooped backwards from her + hips. A slightly soiled light-blue overall is not the garment best suited + to set off the airs and attitudes of high tragedy. But Mrs. Ascher’s + feelings were strong enough to transfigure even her clothes. + </p> + <p> + “Money!” she said. “Oh, Money! Is there nothing else? Do you care for, + hope for, see nothing else in the world? What does it matter whether you + make money or not, or how you make it?” + </p> + <p> + It is only those who are very rich indeed or those who are on the outer + fringe of extreme poverty who can despise money in this whole-hearted way. + The wife of a millionaire—the millionaire himself probably attaches + some value to money because he has to get it—and the regular tramp + can say “Oh, money? Is there nothing else?” The rest of us find money a + useful thing and get what we can of it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher let her arms fall suddenly to her sides, folded herself up and + sat down, or rather crouched, on the floor. From that position she looked + up at me with the greatest possible intensity of eye. + </p> + <p> + “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “You’re thinking of my husband. + But he hates money just as much as I do. All he wants is to escape, to have + done with it, to live peaceably with me, somewhere far away, far, far away + from everywhere.” + </p> + <p> + Her eyes softened as she spoke. They even filled with water, tears, I + suppose. But she seemed to me to be talking nonsense. Ascher was making + money, piling it up. He could stop if he liked. So I thought. So any + sensible man must think. And as for living somewhere far, far away, what + did the woman want to get away from? Every possible place of residence on + the earth’s surface is near some other place. You cannot get far, far away + from everywhere. The thing is a physical impossibility. I made an effort + to get back to common sense. + </p> + <p> + “About Tim Gorman’s cash register?” I said. “What would you suggest?” + </p> + <p> + “You mustn’t let them do that hateful thing,” she said. “You can stop them + if you will.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t believe I can,” I said. “I’m extraordinarily feeble and + ineffectual in every way. In business matters I’m a mere babe.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Gorman will listen to you,” she said. “He will understand if you + explain to him. He is a writer, an artist. He must understand.” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. Gorman can write. I admit that. His writing is a great + deal better than Mrs. Ascher’s modelling, though she did do that head of + Tim. I do not hail Gorman’s novels or his plays as great literature, + though they are good. But some of his criticism is the finest thing of its + kind that has been published in our time. But Gorman does not look at + these matters as Mrs. Ascher does. I do not believe he ever wrote a line + in his life without expecting to be paid for it. He would not write at all + if he could find any easier and pleasanter way of making money. There was + no use saying that to Mrs. Ascher. All I could do when she asked me to + appeal to Gorman’s artistic soul was to shake my head. I shook it as + decisively as I could. + </p> + <p> + “And my husband will listen to you,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “My dear lady! wouldn’t he be much more likely to listen to you?” + </p> + <p> + “But we never talk about such things,” she said. “Never, never. Our life + together is sacred, hallowed, a thing apart, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ‘Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot + Which men call earth.’” + </pre> + <p> + It surprised me to hear Mrs. Ascher quote Milton. I did not somehow expect + to find that she knew or liked that particular poet. I am nearly sure he + would not have liked her. + </p> + <p> + “We cannot desecrate our union,” she said, “by talking about money.” + </p> + <p> + The subject to be discussed with Ascher was plainly not money, but Tim + Gorman’s soul. Money only came incidentally. However, there was no use + arguing a point like that. There was no use arguing any point. I gave in + and promised to see Ascher about the matter. I prefer Ascher to Gorman if + I have to persuade any one to act midwife at the birth of a cash register. + Gorman would be certain to laugh. Ascher would at all events listen to me + courteously. + </p> + <p> + “To-morrow,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” I said. “To-morrow, quite early.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher uncoiled herself and rose from the floor. I struggled to my + feet rather stiffly, for my stool was far too low. She took my hand and + held it. I feared for a moment that she meant to kiss it. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you again and again.” + </p> + <p> + I took a long walk after I left the studio. I wanted to assimilate a new + fact, to get my mental vision into focus again. + </p> + <p> + Ever since I thought about things at all, I have regarded the “artist” + outlook upon life as a pose, and the claim to artistic temperament as an + excuse for selfishness and bad temper in private life. Mrs. Ascher had + convinced me that, in her case at least, the artist soul is a reality. She + was hysterical and ridiculous when she talked to me, but she was sincere. + She was not posing even when she crumpled herself upon the floor and + looked like a sick serpent. She was in simple earnest when she mouthed her + lines about money, money. There might be, probably were, several other + people in the world like Mrs. Ascher, might even be many others. That was + the new fact which I wanted to digest. + </p> + <p> + I reflected that I myself was kin to her, had in me, latent and + undeveloped, an artist’s soul. I had felt the thing fluttering when I lost + my self-control and talked flamboyantly about the head of Tim Gorman. It + was necessary that I should keep a firm grip on myself. I belong to a + class which has lost everything except its sanity. I think it is true of + the Irish aristocracy that even its period of greatest glory, even when + Grattan was waving his arms and shouting “Esto Perpetua!”, it remained + sane. I have nothing else left of what my forefathers bequeathed to me, + but I still have this temperament. A man clings desperately to the last + remnants of his heritage. + </p> + <p> + The artist’s soul is a reality. I admitted that. But it is also a disease. + I had learned to believe in it as a man learns to believe in influenza + when his temperature runs up to 104 degrees and his bones ache furiously. + But there is a difference between admitting the existence of a disease and + deliberately cultivating the germs of it. + </p> + <p> + I crossed 5th Avenue at 32nd Street in great peril of my life, for the + traffic at that point is as wild as the emotions of the artistic soul. + </p> + <p> + It came into my mind that quite possibly the thrills and throbs which Mrs. + Ascher enjoys, of which I myself had a brief and mild experience, are not + only real, but worth while. There may after all be something greater in + the world than common sense. I fell to dreaming of what life might be like + to the man who refused to take it as it is, who insisted on seeing above + him, not silly little twinkling stars, but great worlds coursing through + the infinite spaces of eternity. I ran into a boy carrying books, while I + was thinking about eternity. His books were scattered over the pavement + and I hurt my knee. I decided that my faint longing for what Mrs. Ascher + would call “higher possibilities” is a temptation, something to be + conquered. I finished my meditation with a “Retro Satanas”, and returned to + my hotel for luncheon, confident that I should come out victor in my + struggle. + </p> + <p> + Ascher has certainly far more determination and force of character than I + have; but he does not seem able to break himself of the habit of making + money. His wife says that he hates doing it and wants to stop. But he goes + on doing it. He has formed a habit of making money, and habit is almost + unconquerable. It was plainly the path of wisdom for me to check my + tendency towards art at the very beginning, not to allow the habit of + feeling artistically, indeed of feeling at all, to form itself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + I had no idea of breaking the promise I made Mrs. Ascher; but I felt a + certain hesitation about entering again the Holiest of Holies in the + office of Ascher, Stutz & Co. I was a little afraid of Stutz, who + seemed to me a severe man, very little tolerant of human folly. Still I + would have faced Stutz without shrinking, especially in a good cause. What + I really disliked was the idea of suggesting a business policy to Ascher. + The man was immeasurably my superior in natural ability and in experience. + I felt that I should be guilty of insolence if I offered him any advice, + and of something worse than insolence if I insisted on my advice being + taken. Yet it was just this which Mrs. Ascher expected of me, and I did + not want to disappoint her. + </p> + <p> + It is true that I was a shareholder in the New Excelsior Cash Register + Company. I may have been a director. Gorman said something about my being + a director. I had accepted the office, pledged beforehand to the approval + of Gorman’s policy and therefore had no right to intervene. What claim had + I to insist on Ascher’s doing this or that? I should not feel myself + justified in calling on an archbishop and insisting on drastic alterations + in the Apostle’s Creed. Ascher is at least an archbishop, possibly a + patriarch, or even a cardinal, in that truly catholic church which + worships Mammon. + </p> + <p> + But I had promised. + </p> + <p> + I went to the office next morning, early. Having forgotten to make an + appointment with Ascher beforehand I had to wait some time before I saw + him. I sat in the large anteroom through which I had passed when I first + visited the office with Gorman. Through the glass door I was able to see + the public office outside where men went busily to and fro. + </p> + <p> + I understood just enough about this business of Ascher’s to be able to + read romance, the romance which was certainly there, in the movements of + the quiet men who passed and repassed before my eyes, or bent with rarely + lifted heads over huge ledgers, or turned over with deft fingers piles of + papers in stuffed filing boxes. These men were in touch with the furthest + ends of the earth. Coded telegrams fluttered from their hands and went + vibrating across thousands of miles of land or through the still depths of + oceans, over unlighted tracts of ooze on the sea-bottom. In London the + words were read and men set free pent up, dammed streams of money. In + Hongkong the words were read and some steamer went out, laden, from her + harbour. Gold was poured into the hands of tea-planters in Ceylon. Scanty + wages in strange coins, dribbled out to factory workers in Russian cotton + mills. Gangs of navvies went to work laying railway lines across the veldt + in Bechuanaland. There was no end to the energy controlled, directed by + these cable messages, nor any bounds to the field of their influence. + Somewhere in Ireland a farmer would go home along a desolate road, + crossing brown bogs, thirsty and disconsolate, his lean beasts unsold at a + fair where buyers were scarce or shy. What did he know of Ascher or Ascher + know of him? Yet the price which he might take or must refuse for those + hardly reared bullocks of his depended at the end of a long chain, on what + the Aschers in their office said and did. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps hardly one of all the busy men I watched quite knew what he was + doing. They juggled with figures, made précis of the reports of money + markets, dissected and analysed the balance sheets of railway companies, + decoded messages from London or from Paris, transcribed formulae as + abstract, as remote from tangible things as the x and y of algebraic + equations. These men all worked—the apologue of the quadratic + equation held my mind—moving their symbols here and there, + extracting roots, dissolving close-knit phrases into factors, cancelling, + simplifying, but always dealing with symbols meaningless, unreal in + themselves. Behind them was Ascher, Ascher and I suppose Stutz, who + expressed realities in formulae, and, when the sums were done, extracted + realities from the formulae again, achieving through the seemingly sterile + processes new facts, fresh grasp of the things which are, greater power to + deal with them. They knew and understood and held the whole world in + leading strings, delicate as silk, invisible, impalpable, but strong. + </p> + <p> + The door of Ascher’s private office opened and a man passed out. I glanced + at him. He was a clean-shaved, keen-eyed, square-jawed man, the type which + American business methods have produced, a man of resource and quick + decision, but a man, so I guessed, who dealt with things, and money only + as the price of things, the reward of making them. He lacked, so I felt, + something of the fine spirituality of Ascher, the scientific abstraction + of the man who lives in a rarer atmosphere of pure finance. + </p> + <p> + A clerk at my elbow invited me to leave my place and take my turn with + Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I could not bring myself to plunge straightway into my business. I began + by pretending that I had no real business at all. + </p> + <p> + “Any chance,” I asked, “of our being travelling companions again? I am + leaving New York almost at once.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m afraid not,” said Ascher. “I’ve a great deal to do here still.” + </p> + <p> + “Those Mexican affairs?” + </p> + <p> + “Those among others.” + </p> + <p> + “The Government here seems to be making rather a muddle of Mexico,” I + said. + </p> + <p> + Opinion on this subject was, so far as I knew, nearly unanimous among + business men. Every one who owned shares in Mexican companies, every one + who had invested hopefully a little while before in Mexican railways, + every one who had any kind of interest in Mexico was of the same opinion + about the inaction of the American Government. + </p> + <p> + “I think it is a muddle,” said Ascher, “but the idea in the minds of the + men who are making the muddle is a fine one. If only the world could be + worked on those principles——” + </p> + <p> + “But it can’t.” + </p> + <p> + “Not yet,” said Ascher. “Perhaps never. Yet the idea on which the + Government in Washington proceeds is a noble one. Respect for + constitutional order should be a greater thing as a principle of + statesmanship than obvious expediency.” + </p> + <p> + The man’s unnatural detachment of view worried me. It was the same when + Gorman blared out his stereotyped abuse of financiers, his well-worn + cliches about money kings and poison spiders. Ascher agreed with him. + Ascher, apparently, had some approval for the doctrinaire + constitutionalism of university professors turned diplomats. I could not + follow him to those heights of his. + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking,” I said, “of going home by way of the West Indies.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes? You will find it very agreeable. I was there in 1903 and remember + enjoying myself greatly.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish you and Mrs. Ascher would come too. It would be much pleasanter + for me if I had you with me. + </p> + <p> + “It’s very kind of you to say so; but——” + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” I said, “I should see so much more. If I go by myself I shall + step from a steamer into an hotel and from an hotel into a steamer. I + shall be forced to buy a Baedeker, if there is a Baedeker for those + regions. I shall be a tourist of the ordinary kind. But if I travelled + with you I should really see things.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher took up the telephone receiver. + </p> + <p> + “If you like,” he said, “I can give you letters of introduction to our + correspondents wherever you go. They are bankers, of course, but you will + find them intelligent men.” + </p> + <p> + He summoned a clerk. + </p> + <p> + “If you give me an idea of your route——” he said. + </p> + <p> + “At present,” I said, “my plans are very vague. I haven’t settled + anything. Perhaps you will give me your advice.” + </p> + <p> + He drew a sheet of paper towards him and began to write. + </p> + <p> + “You ought to see the work at Panama,” he said. “It is very interesting + and of course of immense importance. Certainly you must see that. + Afterwards——” + </p> + <p> + He scribbled on his sheet of paper, making lists of place names and adding + notes about ways of travelling. + </p> + <p> + “If you go further south still——” he said. “I don’t recommend + the Amazon, a huge river of course, but unless you are interested in + rubber or entomology. The insect life I believe——” + </p> + <p> + “I’m interested in everything,” I said, “even insects which bite.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Para, perhaps, then south again. The South American ports are worth + seeing.” + </p> + <p> + A clerk entered while he was speaking. Ascher handed him the list he had + written. + </p> + <p> + “Look out the names of our agents in these places,” he said, “and have + letters of introduction made out to them for Sir James Digby.” + </p> + <p> + The clerk left the room and I thanked Ascher warmly. It seemed to me that + he was taking a great deal of trouble for which he could expect no kind of + reward. He waved my gratitude aside. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” he said, “that our agents will be able to make your trip + interesting for you. They can tell you what you want to know about the + trade and the natural wealth of the places you visit. They will put you in + the way of finding out the trend of political feeling. It is their + business to know these things, and in visiting new countries—new in + the sense that they have only lately felt the influences of our + civilisation—it is just these things that you will want to know. If + you were going to Italy, or Egypt, or Greece——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher sighed. I felt that he would have preferred Italy to Brazil if he + had been travelling for pleasure. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, there,” I said, “an artist or a scholar would be a better friend to + have than a banker.” + </p> + <p> + “Even there,” said Ascher, “the present and the future matter more than + the past, perhaps. But are you tied at all by time? The tour which I have + indicated will take some months.” + </p> + <p> + “I am an idle man,” I said. “I shall go on as long as your introductions + last, gathering knowledge which will not be the slightest use to me or any + one else.” + </p> + <p> + “I had better provide you with a circular letter of credit,” said Ascher. + “It is never wise to carry considerable sums about in your pocket.” + </p> + <p> + We had got to money, to business in the strictest sense of the word. My + opportunity had plainly come for attacking the subject of the cash + register. Yet I hesitated. A banker ought to be the easiest man in the + world to talk business to. There is no awkwardness about the subject of + toothache in a dentist’s parlour. He expects to be talked to about teeth. + It ought to have been an equally simple thing to speak to Ascher about the + future of a company in which we were both interested. Yet I hesitated. + There was something in his manner, a grave formality, which kept me miles + away from him. I thanked him for the promise of the letter of credit and + then sat silent for a minute. + </p> + <p> + “By the way,” said Ascher, “I have just had a visit from a man on business + in which you are interested.” + </p> + <p> + “Was that the man who passed me in the anteroom before I was shown in + here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He came to talk to me about Gorman’s new cash register. He was not + an accredited agent, you will understand. He did not profess to represent + anybody. He was not empowered to treat with us in any way, but——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” I said, “a sort of informal ambassador who could easily be + disowned if anything he said turned out to be inconvenient. In politics + men of that sort are very useful; but I somehow had the idea that business + methods are more straightforward.” + </p> + <p> + “All negotiations,” said Ascher, “whether in politics or business are + carried on in much the same way. But before I go into his suggestions I + had better tell you how the matter stands. Mildmay sent us his report and + it was entirely favourable to the new machine. I think the invention is + likely to turn out a valuable property. We have made inquiries and find + out that the patent rights are duly protected here and in all the chief + European countries. In fact——” + </p> + <p> + “It was really that and not my travels which I came to talk to you about + to-day. I may take it that we have got a good thing.” + </p> + <p> + “We think so,” said Ascher, “and our opinion is confirmed by the fact that + we are not the only people who think so. If I am right about the man who + visited me this morning we have very good evidence that our opinion is + sound. The men who are in the best position to know about cash registers, + who are most interested in their future——” + </p> + <p> + “The makers of the existing machines?” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. That is to say, if I am right about my visitor.” + </p> + <p> + “But how did they—how could any one know about Tim Gorman’s + invention?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “Gorman can’t have been such a fool as to talk to + newspaper reporters.” + </p> + <p> + “We need not suppose so,” said Ascher. “My experience is that anything + worth knowing always is known. The world of business is a vast whispering + gallery. There is no such thing as secrecy.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “the main point is that this man did know. What did he + want?” + </p> + <p> + “He wanted us to sell the patent rights,” said Ascher. “What he said was + that he had a client—he posed as some kind of commission agent—who + would pay a substantial sum for them.” + </p> + <p> + “That is just what Gorman said would happen once it was understood that + your firm is behind the new company.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman is—well, astute. But you understand, I am sure, that we + cannot do that kind of business.” + </p> + <p> + “I always had a suspicion,” I said, “that Gorman’s scheme was fishy.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not say fishy,” said Ascher. “Gorman’s plan is legitimate, + legitimate business, but business of an unenlightened kind. What is wrong + with Gorman is that he does not see far enough, does not grasp the root + principle of all business. We have a valuable invention. I do not mean + merely an invention which will put money into the pocket of the inventor + and into our pockets. If it were valuable only in that way Gorman would be + quite right, and our wisest course would be to take what we could get with + the least amount of risk and trouble, in other words to accept the best + price which we could induce the buyers to give us. But this invention is + valuable in quite another way. The new machine, if we are right about it, + is going to facilitate the business of retail sellers all over the world. + It will save time, increase accuracy, and, being cheaper, make its way + into places where the old machines never went.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said, “curiously enough I looked at the matter in that way when + Gorman first mentioned it to me. I said that the world ought to get the + benefit of this invention.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + “I see that,” I went on. “I understand that way of looking at it. But + surely that’s altruism, not business. Business men don’t risk their money + with the general idea of benefiting humanity. That isn’t the way things + are done.” + </p> + <p> + “I agree,” said Ascher. “It’s not the way things are done or can be done + at present, though there is more altruism in business than most people + think. Even we financiers——” + </p> + <p> + “I know you subscribe to charity,” I said, “largely, enormously.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s not what I mean,” said Ascher. “But we need not go into that. I + believe that business is not philanthropy, finance is not altruism.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why——?” I said. “On strict business principles, altruism + apart, why not take what we can get out of Tim Gorman’s invention and let + the thing itself drop into the dustheap?” + </p> + <p> + “On business principles,” said Ascher, “on the strictest business + principles, it would be foolish to do that. From time to time men hit on + some improvement in the way of making things or in the way of dealing with + things after they are made, that is to say in business methods. Every such + improvement increases the wealth of the world, tends to make everybody + richer. This invention which we have got hold of is a small thing. It’s + only going to do a little, a very little to make the world richer, but it + is going to do something for it is going to lessen the labour required for + certain results and therefore is going to increase men’s power, a little, + just a little. That is why we must make the thing available, if we can; in + order to add to the general wealth, and therefore to our own wealth. Those + are business principles.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. I had nothing to say for a moment. Business principles as + he explained them were not the business principles I was accustomed to, + certainly not the business principles on which Gorman acted. After a + minute’s silence Ascher went on. + </p> + <p> + “The mistake which is most often made in business,” he said, “is to + suppose that we grow rich by taking riches from other men, or that nations + prosper by depriving other nations of prosperity. That would be true if + riches consisted of money, and if there were just so much money and no + more in the world. Then business and finance would be a scramble, in which + the roughest and strongest scrambler would get most. But that is not so.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t it?” I said. “I should have thought that business just is a + scramble.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Ascher, “it is not. Nations grow rich, that is to say, get + comfort, ease, and even luxury, only when other nations are growing rich + too, only because other nations are growing rich.” + </p> + <p> + “The way to grow rich,” I said, “is to make other people rich. Is that it? + It sounds rather like one of the—what do you call them?—counsels + of perfection in the Gospel.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it is a religious truth too,” said Ascher. “I don’t know. I have + never studied religion. Some day I think I shall. There must be a great + deal that is very interesting in the New Testament.” + </p> + <p> + “Confound you, Ascher! Is there anything in heaven or earth that you don’t + look at from the outside, as if you were some kind of superior epicurean + god?” + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon. I ought not to have spoken in that way. You are, no + doubt, a Christian.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I am—in—in a general way.” + </p> + <p> + “I have often thought,” said Ascher slowly, “that I should like to be. But + from the little I know of that religion——” + </p> + <p> + “I expect you know as much as I do,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “It must be,” said Ascher, “very hard to be a Christian.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to discuss that point with Ascher. It was bad enough to + have an artistic soul awakened in me by Mrs. Ascher. I could not possibly + allow her husband to lead me to the discovery that I had the other kind of + soul. Nor was it any business of mine to work out harmonies between + Christian ethics and the principles of modern banking. I detest puzzles of + all kinds. It is far better, at all events far more comfortable, to take + life as one finds it, a straightforward, commonplace affair. I have the + greatest respect for Christianity of a moderate, sensible kind and I + subscribe to the funds of the Church of Ireland. But when it comes to + practical matters I find myself in agreement with Wordsworth’s “Rob Roy,” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The good old rule + Sufficeth me, the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power + And they should keep who can. +</pre> + <p> + So long, of course, as one does not do anything shady. I do not like lying + or theft. + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat looking at me as if he expected me to tell him exactly how hard + it is to be a Christian. I made a determined effort to get back again to + cash registers. + </p> + <p> + “Tim Gorman’s invention will get its chance then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. If we can manage it the thing will get its chance. It will be made + and, I think, people will use it.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher will be very pleased to hear that.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Ascher. “Is she interested? But I remember now. Young Gorman + has been sitting to her. She would naturally be interested in him.” + </p> + <p> + “Her idea,” I said, “is that Tim Gorman is producing a baby, with all the + usual accompaniments of that difficult business, labour, you know, and + pain. She regards you as the doctor in attendance, and she thinks it would + be exceedingly wrong of you to choke the little thing.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher looked at me quite gravely. For a moment I was afraid that he was + going to say something about the paradoxical brilliance of the Irish mind. + I made haste to stop him. + </p> + <p> + “That’s Mrs. Ascher’s metaphor,” I said, “not mine. I should never have + thought of it. I don’t know enough about the artistic soul to appreciate + the feelings of people who give birth to cash registers. But the idea is + plain enough. Tim Gorman will be bitterly disappointed if he does not see + girls in cheap restaurants putting actual shillings into those machines of + his.” + </p> + <p> + “From my wife’s point of view,” said Ascher, “and from mine, too, that + ought to be an important consideration. It’s the artist’s feeling; but + business and art—unfortunately business and art——” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see why they shouldn’t kiss and be friends,” I said. “They’re not + nearly such irreconcilable enemies as business and religion. Now that + those two have lain down together like a lion and a lamb—I don’t + quite see how they do it, but in that new philosophy of yours it seemed + quite a simple matter—there’s no real reason why art shouldn’t come + in too.” + </p> + <p> + But Ascher shook his head. He did not seem hopeful of a marriage between + art and business. He knows a good deal about both of them, far more, by + his own confession, than he knows about religion. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Ascher was very generous to me in the matter of letters of introduction. A + large bundle of them arrived at my hotel two days after I paid my visit to + his office. There must have been fifty or sixty of them altogether. I sent + for an atlas and found that I had a friend ready made for me in every port + of any importance in the West Indies and on the east coast of South + America as far down as Buenos Aires, and in a good many places inland. I + was fascinated by the idea of such a tour; but it was plainly not an + excursion to be undertaken without care and consideration. I lingered in + New York for a fortnight, buying some additional clothes, getting together + a few books on the South American republics, and working out steamboat + routes. + </p> + <p> + I saw young Tim Gorman. He called on me, sent by Mrs. Ascher, to thank me + for my good offices. I deserved no thanks; but on the general principle of + taking what I could get I allowed the boy to pour gratitude all over me. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” I said, “you ought to do fairly well out of the thing, + financially, I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care about that,” said Tim, “at least not exactly. I—I——” + he hesitated for a moment and then blurted out, “I don’t particularly want + to be rich.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is precisely how you ought to feel at your age, but when + you get to be forty—I’m forty, so I know—you’ll probably be + glad enough to have some money.” + </p> + <p> + “I want some money now,” said Tim. “Do you think I could get——? + How much do you think I’ll get out of my cash register?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it’s hard to name an exact figure, but it will be + something pretty substantial.” + </p> + <p> + “One thousand dollars?” said Tim anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “A great deal more than that. If Mr. Ascher makes the arrangements he + contemplates you’ll get a great deal more.” + </p> + <p> + I had only the vaguest idea what Ascher meant to do, and could make no + kind of guess at how much Tim would ultimately get, but I felt pretty safe + in promising two hundred pounds. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think I could get it at once?” said Tim. “Or even five hundred + dollars? I think I could manage with five hundred dollars. The fact is——” + </p> + <p> + “You want to get out of that circus,” I said. “I don’t wonder. It must be + a very tiresome job.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no. I don’t mind the circus. It’s rather a nuisance of course moving + about, and we always are moving. But I have plenty of time to myself. It + isn’t to get away from the circus that I want the money. The fact is that + I’m making some experiments.” + </p> + <p> + “Another invention?” I said. “What a prolific creature you are! No sooner + have you perfected a cash register than you start——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I’ve been at this for some time, for years. I believe I’ve hit on a + dodge—— I say, do you know anything about Movies?” + </p> + <p> + The word, though common on our side of the Atlantic now, was at that time + peculiar to the American language. + </p> + <p> + “Cinematographs?” I said. “I’ve seen them of course. You have them in your + circus, haven’t you, as part of the show?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. That’s what set me thinking about them. I’ve always felt that the + next step in perfecting the cinematograph would be doing away with the + screen, putting the figures on the stage, that is to say reflections of + them, so that they would actually move about backwards and forwards + instead of on a flat surface. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + When I was a boy there was a popular entertainment known as “Pepper’s + Ghost.” What appeared to be a real figure moved about before the eyes of + the audience, was pierced by swords and otherwise ill-treated without + suffering any inconvenience. The thing was worked by some arrangement of + mirrors. Tim evidently had a plan for combining this illusion with the + cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you think,” he said, “that it would be a great thing?” + </p> + <p> + “It would be a perfectly beastly thing,” I said. “The cinematograph is bad + enough already. If you add a grosser realism to it——” + </p> + <p> + Tim looked at me. I am nearly sure that there were tears in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “That’s just what Mrs. Ascher thinks,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “I daresay she does. She probably regards the cinematograph as a sin + against art. What you propose would be an actual blasphemy.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Tim, “that’s exactly what she said. Blasphemy! Do you really + think so too? I wouldn’t go on with my experiments if I thought that. But + I don’t believe you can be right. I—I went round to see Father + Bourke. That was after Mrs. Ascher said it was blasphemy and I really + wanted to know. Father Bourke is one of the priests at St. Gabriel’s. I + consulted him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “what did he tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “He said it was all right and that I needn’t bother about what Protestants + said was blasphemy. They don’t know. At least Father Bourke seemed to + think they couldn’t know.” + </p> + <p> + “You go by what Father Bourke says and you’ll be safe.” + </p> + <p> + I should particularly like to hear Father Bourke and Mrs. Ascher arguing + out the subject of blasphemy together. They might go on for years and + years before either of them began to understand what the other meant by + the word. But it would be little less than a crime to involve the simple + soul of Tim Gorman in the maze of two separate kinds of casuistry. + </p> + <p> + “In any case,” I said, “I don’t take Mrs. Ascher’s view of the matter. I + don’t agree with her.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see,” said Tim, “how cinematographs can be blasphemies so long as + there aren’t any pictures of religious things. I’m sure it must be all + right and I can go on with what I want to do. If I can succeed in making + the figures stand out from one another, as if they were really there——” + </p> + <p> + “You’ll add a new terror to life,” I said. “But that needn’t stop you + doing it if you can.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I can,” he said eagerly. “You see it’s the next thing to be done. + The cinematograph is perfect up to that point It must make a new start if + it’s to go any further. I should like to be the man who makes the next + step possible. What’s wanted now is—is——” + </p> + <p> + “The illusion of distance.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. That’s what I mean. It’s a matter of optics. Just making a few + adjustments, and I think I see the way to manage it.” + </p> + <p> + “If you do,” I said, “you’ll make an immense fortune. The world will pay + anything, absolutely anything to the man who provides it with a new + torture. It’s an odd twist in human nature—though I don’t know why I + should say that. Oddness is really the normal thing in human nature.” + </p> + <p> + “But I want a thousand dollars,” said Tim, “or five hundred dollars at the + very least. I must try experiments.” + </p> + <p> + “If you ask your brother——” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Michael isn’t nice to me about it,” said Tim. “He isn’t nice at all. When + I asked him for a thousand dollars he said he’d get it for me on condition + that I allowed him to manage my cash register in his own way. But I won’t + do that. I know what he wants to do.” + </p> + <p> + “His idea,” he said, “is to let your invention lapse.” + </p> + <p> + “I know. The machine will never be made. But I want it to be made. I want + to see it working everywhere all over the world. You see I’m always + travelling about with the circus, sometimes in America, sometimes in + England. We go to a lot of different towns. We go to all the big towns + there are. I want to be able to go into shops everywhere, in every town in + the world and see my machine there. Don’t you understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” I said. “Mrs. Ascher explained the whole position to me + thoroughly. It’s the artist’s soul in you.” + </p> + <p> + A look of puzzled annoyance came over the boy’s face. His forehead + wrinkled and his fine eyes took an expression of painful doubt as they met + mine. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher says things like that,” he said, “and I don’t know what she + means. I am not an artist. I never learned to draw, even; at least not + pictures. I can do geometrical drawing, of course, and make plans of + machines; but that’s not being an artist. I can’t paint. Why does she say + I am an artist?” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is one of her little mannerisms. You will have to put up + with it.” + </p> + <p> + Tim uses the word artist in a simple old-fashioned way, very much as + Father Bourke uses “blasphemy.” There is a good deal to be said for their + practice. People like Mrs. Ascher ought to invent new terms when they want + to express uncommon thoughts. They have no right to borrow words like + “artist” and “blasphemy” from common speech in order to set them parading + about the world with novel meanings attached to them. It is not fair to + people like Tim Gorman and his Father Bourke. It is not fair to the words + themselves. I should not like to be treated in that way if I were a word. + I cannot imagine anything more annoying to a respectable, steady-going + word than to be called upon suddenly to undertake work to which it is not + accustomed. The domestic housemaid is perfectly right in resisting any + effort to make her do new kinds of work. Her formula, “It’s not my place,” + used when she is asked to make a slice of toast, is unanswerable. Why + should words be worse treated than housemaids? It is the business of + “artist” to stand for the man who paints pictures in oils. “Blasphemy” + describes aggravated breaches of the third commandment. What right had + Mrs. Ascher or any one else to press them into new services? There ought + to be a strong trade union among words. + </p> + <p> + “And now,” said Tim, “she says I’m not an artist after all because I want + to make movies more real. And she’s angry with me. She turned me out of + her studio because I wouldn’t promise not to. Of course, I wouldn’t + promise such a thing. I think I see how it can be done. The great + difficulty is to secure an exact adjustment of the mirrors. There are + other difficulties. There’s the awkwardness of transparent figures + crossing in front of each other. Also——” + </p> + <p> + “My dear boy,” I said, “don’t explain the thing to me. I am totally + incapable of understanding anything connected with mechanics, optics or + hydrostatics.” + </p> + <p> + I can make as good an attempt as most men at replying intelligently to + Mrs. Ascher even when she talks of “values,” atmospheres, feeling and + sympathy, though her use of these familiar words conveys only the vaguest + ideas to my mind. I can, after a period of intense mental effort, + understand what Ascher means by exchanges, premiums, discounts and bills, + though he uses these words in unfamiliar ways. But I am defeated utterly + by the man who talks about escapements, compensating balances and + clutches. I suspected that Tim Gorman would pelt me with even more + recondite scientific terms if I let things go on. + </p> + <p> + “You may take my word for it,” I said, “that you’ll get a thousand dollars + and more, in the end; but you may have to wait for it. In the meanwhile + keep on thinking out your plan for doubling the horrors of our places of + popular entertainment.” + </p> + <p> + That was all I could do for Tim Gorman. I do not think that he deserved + more than cold comfort and disagreeable advice. I might have given him, or + lent him, a little money, if he had been at work on a really useful + invention, something which would benefit humanity. There are lots of such + things waiting to be invented. There ought to be some way of stabbing a + man who insists on ringing you up on the telephone at unreasonable hours + and saying tiresome things. We cannot claim to be civilised until we have + some weapon for legitimate self defence attached to every telephone, + something which could be operated easily and swiftly by pressing a button + at the side of the receiver. It is not necessary that the man at the other + end of the wire should be struck dead, but he ought to suffer severe + physical pain. If Tim Gorman would turn his inventive genius in that + direction, I should not hesitate to advance money to him, even to the half + of my possessions. + </p> + <p> + I called on Mrs. Ascher again before I left New York. I wanted to hear her + version of the misunderstanding with Tim. I went, of course, to the + studio, not to the hotel. Mrs. Ascher is at her best in the studio. + Besides I was much more likely to find her there than anywhere else. + </p> + <p> + She was hard at work when I entered on a figure, at least two feet high, + of a man of very fine muscular development. I glanced at it and then asked + where Tim Gorman’s head was. + </p> + <p> + “You know,” I said, “that I admired that piece of work greatly.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher waved her hand towards a table in the darkest corner of the + room. + </p> + <p> + “It’s not finished,” she said, “and never will be. I’ve lost all interest + in it. If you like it take it away. I’ll give it to you with pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + I found poor Tim, not even swathed in wet bandages, among a litter of half + finished fauns and nymphs and several attempts at a smooth-haired dog. + Mrs. Ascher had done very little work at him since I saw him before. She + had, in pursuance of her own idea, turned half the saucer on which the + head stood into a mat of water-lily leaves. The other half—and I + felt gratified when I saw this—was worked up into an unmistakable + hammer and a number of disproportionately large nails. Tim’s face and head + still expressed lofty idealism in the way which had fascinated me when I + first saw the thing. But Mrs. Ascher had evidently neglected some + necessary precaution in dealing with her material. The neck—and + Tim’s neck is an unusually long one—had collapsed. A jagged crack + ran half round it close under the right ear. The left side of the neck was + curiously crumpled. The head leaned rakishly towards the water-lily side + of the saucer. + </p> + <p> + I remember hearing once of an irreverent choir boy. At a Christmas party, + a sort of feast of an Abbot of Unreason held in the less sacred parts of + the cathedral precincts, the brat decorated the statue of an Archbishop + with a pink and blue paper cap taken from a cracker. The effect must have + been much the same as that produced by the subsidence of Tim Gorman’s + neck. + </p> + <p> + “Do you really mean to give it to me?” I said. “I should like to have it + very much. I should set it up on my writing table and call it + ‘Disillusion.’ But do you think it will collapse any more?” + </p> + <p> + “Has it collapsed? I suppose it did not dry properly.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not even look at it. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” I said, “the present effect, the cynical contempt for the original + noble spirituality, is the result of an accident? What tricks + circumstances play on us! A slight irregularity in drying and a hero + becomes a clown. The case of ‘Imperial Caesar dead and turned to clay’ is + not so bad as that of an idealist whose neck has cracked.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m dreadfully disappointed in that boy,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Will you + forgive me if I do not talk of him? Even now I cannot bear to.” + </p> + <p> + She sighed heavily, showing how much she felt the loss of Tim’s soul. Then + she turned to me with one of those bright smiles, one of those charmingly + bright smiles, which are the greatest achievements of serious women. Very + religious women, women with artists’ souls and the intenser suffragists + have these bright smiles. They work them up, I suppose, so as to show that + they can be as cheerful as any one else when they choose to try. + </p> + <p> + “Come and see what I’m doing now,” she said. + </p> + <p> + I looked very carefully at the man’s figure in front of her. + </p> + <p> + “This,” she said, “is manhood, virility, energy, simple strength, + directness, all that this poor neurotic world is yearning for, the primal + force, uncomplex, untroubled, just the exultation of the delight of + being.” + </p> + <p> + “It reminds me faintly of some one,” I said, “the head and face, I mean; + but I can’t quite fix the likeness.” + </p> + <p> + She clapped her hands with delight. + </p> + <p> + “You see it,” she said, “I am so glad. It’s not meant to be a mere + likeness. I need not tell you that. Still I’m glad you see that it + resembles him. I am working to express his soul, the mere features, the + limbs, are nothing. The being which burns within, that is what I am trying + to express. But the fact that you see the external likeness makes me feel + more sure that my interpretation of the physical features is the right + one.” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” I said, “it’s not Gorman, the other Gorman, the elder Gorman, + Michael!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Has he been sitting for you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + I stopped myself just in time. I was very nearly saying “sitting to you + like that?” The figure on which she was at work was entirely undraped. I + do not suppose that Mrs. Ascher would have been the least embarrassed even + if I had said “like that.” The artist’s soul scorns conventions. But I + should have felt awkward if she had answered “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Not exactly sitting to me,” she said. “He just comes here and talks. + While he talks I catch glimpses of his great, buoyant, joyous soul and + fashion the poor clay to express it.” + </p> + <p> + “I did not know he was back in New York,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, he has been here a week, perhaps more. To me it seems as if he + had been here for ever.” + </p> + <p> + I could not even guess at what she meant by that so I did not try to + answer her. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder he didn’t look me up,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Mrs. Ascher, “he has had no time. That abundant, restless + energy of his is for ever pressing out into fresh activities.” + </p> + <p> + I gathered, more from her tone than from her actual words that only an + effete, devitalised creature would call on me. A man of abundant energy + would naturally sit half the day in Mrs. Ascher’s studio, while she made a + fancy body for him in damp clay. + </p> + <p> + She clasped her hands and gazed with rapt intensity at the statue of + Gorman’s soul. + </p> + <p> + “His patriotism!” she said. “After living in that atmosphere of nebulous + cosmopolitanism which is what we hypercivilised people have created in the + world, it is everything to get back to the barbaric simplicity of the old + love for country.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he happen to mention,” I asked, “whether he succeeded in wheedling + five thousand dollars out of that Detroit man?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher did not hear that; or if she did chose to ignore it. + </p> + <p> + “The splendid destiny of Ireland,” she said, “has been to escape age after + age the malarial fever of culture. The Romans never touched her shores. + The renaissance passed her by. She has not bowed the knee to our modern + fetish of education. You and I have our blood diluted with——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman must have been at his very best while he talked to Mrs. Ascher. He + had evidently made a kind of whirlpool of her mind. Her version of his + philosophy of history and politics seemed to me to be going round and + round in narrowing circles with confusing speed. The conception of the + Romans as apostles of the more malarial kinds of culture was new to me. I + had been brought up to believe—not that any one does believe this as + an actual fact—that Ireland was once and to some extent still is, an + island of Saints and Scholars. I did not obtain any very clear idea of + what Mrs. Ascher’s blood was diluted with, but there must have been + several ingredients, for she went on talking for quite a long time. When + she stopped I made a protest on behalf of my country. + </p> + <p> + “We’re not so backward as all that,” I said. “We have a Board of National + Education and quite a large number of technical schools. In the convents + they teach girls to play the piano.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shook her head slowly. I gathered that she knew much more + about Irish education than I did and regarded it as unworthy even of + serious contempt. + </p> + <p> + “Dear Ireland!” she said, “splendid Ireland!” + </p> + <p> + I suppose Gorman must have been talking to her about fairies, the + dignified, Celtic kind, and the dear dark head of Kathaleen ni Houlihan. + Gorman is capable of anything. However as my country was being admired I + thought I might as well get a little of the credit for myself. + </p> + <p> + “I am an Irishman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at me with withering scorn. + </p> + <p> + “You,” she said, “you—you—you are——” + </p> + <p> + She was evidently in difficulties. I helped her out as best I could. + </p> + <p> + “An Irish gentleman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “An alien,” she replied, “a stranger in the land you call your own.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is just what I say, put more forcibly and picturesquely.” + </p> + <p> + Then Gorman came in, without knocking at the door. I was very glad to see + him. In another minute Mrs. Ascher and I would, perhaps, have quarrelled. + Gorman saved us from that catastrophe. I do not think I ever understood + before that moment the secret of Gorman’s charm. He came into that studio, + a place charged with the smell of damp clay, like a breeze from a nice + green field. He was in a thoroughly good temper. I suspect that he hurt + Mrs. Ascher’s hand when he shook it. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just been looking at Mrs. Ascher’s statue of your soul,” I said. + “Splendid muscles in the calves of its legs. You must be enormously proud + of them.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, under pretence of seeking a place in which to put his hat, turned + his back on Mrs. Ascher for a minute. As he did so he deliberately winked + at me. + </p> + <p> + Some day I mean to get Gorman in a private place, “away from everywhere,” + as Mrs. Ascher would say. When I get him there I shall ask him two + questions and insist on having an answer. First I shall ask him why he + devotes himself to Mrs. Ascher. He is not in love with her. We Irish have + not many virtues, but we can boast that we seldom make love to other men’s + wives. Besides, Mrs. Ascher is not the kind of woman who allows strange + men to make love to her. She is, in essentials, far less emancipated than + she thinks. It is just possible that he finds her responsive to his + fondness for the more flamboyant kinds of rhetoric. Gorman really likes + talking about Ireland as an oppressed and desolated land. It is easy + enough to move large audiences to enthusiasm by that kind of oratory. It + is not so easy, I imagine, to get single, sympathetic listeners in private + life. Mrs. Ascher apparently laps up patriotic sentiment with loud purrs. + That may be why Gorman likes her. The next thing I mean to ask him is what + he means by patriotism. I can understand quite easily what Irish + patriotism meant ten years ago. Gorman’s friends wanted my land, a + definite, tangible thing. I wanted it myself. But now they have got the + land, and yet Gorman goes on talking patriotism. It is not as if he had no + sense of humour. Gorman sees the absurdity of the things he says just as + plainly as I do. The ridiculous side of his own enthusiasm is never long + absent from his consciousness; yet he goes on just the same. I wish I + understood how he manages it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p> + Now that my leg has been smashed up hopelessly, by that wretched German + shell, I shall never ride or shoot again. I have to content myself with + writing books to occupy my time, a very poor form of amusement compared to + tramping the fields after partridge. I suppose it is inevitable that a man + in my position should indulge in regretful memories. My mind goes back now + and then to certain days in my boyhood and I find myself picturing scenes + through which I shall not move again. + </p> + <p> + There are fields stretching back from the demesne which used to be mine. + In the autumn many of them were stubble fields and among them were gorse + covered hills. I used to go through them with my gun and dogs in early + October mornings. There were—no doubt there still are—though I + shall not see them—very fine threads of gossamer stretching across + astonishingly wide spaces. The dew hung on them in tiny drops and + glittered when the sun rose clear of the light mist and shone on them. + Sometimes the threads floated free in the air, attached to some object at + one end, the rest borne about by faint breaths of wind, waved to and fro, + seeking other attachment elsewhere. Some threads reached from tufts of + grass to little hummocks or to the twigs which form the boles of elm + trees. Others still, with less ambitious span, went only from one blade of + grass to another or united the thorns of whin bushes. The lower air, near + the earth, was full of these threads. They formed an indescribably + delicate net cast right over the fields and hills. I used to see them + glistening, rainbow coloured when the sun rays struck them. Oftener I was + aware of their presence only when my hands had touched and broken them or + when they clung to my clothes, dragged from their fastenings by my passing + through them. + </p> + <p> + I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy of + nature. I find it difficult to believe that the life of the fields and + gorsy hills and young plantations would be either better or worse if there + were no such thing as gossamer. But I am no longer contented with my + ignorance. I mean to find out all that is known about gossamer, and + satisfy myself of the truth of the tradition that the threads are spun by + tiny spiders, though surely with very little hope of snaring flies. + </p> + <p> + I spent six months making the tour which Ascher planned for me. I returned + to London in the spring of 1914, full of interest in what I had seen and + learned. I intend some day to write a book of travels, to give an account + of my experiences. I shall describe the long strip of the world over which + I wandered as a landscape on a quiet autumn morning, netted over with + gossamer. That is the way it strikes me now, looking back on it all. + Ascher and men like him have spun fine threads, covering every civilised + land with a web of credit, infinitely complex, so delicate that a child’s + hand could tear it. + </p> + <p> + A storm, even a strong breeze comes, and the threads are dragged from + their holdings and waved in wild confusion through the air. A man, brutal + as war, goes striding through the land, and, without knowing what he does, + bursts the filaments and destroys the shimmering beauty which was before + he came. That, I suppose, is what happens. But the passing of a man, + however violent he is, is the passing of a man and no more. Even if a + troop of men marches across the land their marching is over and done with + soon. They have their day, but afterwards there are other days. Nature is + infinitely persistent and gossamer is spun again. + </p> + <p> + I remember meeting, quite by chance, on a coasting steamer on which I + travelled, a bishop. He was not, judged by strict ecclesiastical + standards, quite entitled to that rank. He belonged to some American + religious organisation of which I had no knowledge, but he called himself, + on the passenger list, Bishop Zacchary Brown. He was apostolic in his + devotion to the Gospel as he understood it. His particular field of work + lay in the northern part of South America. He ranged, so I understood, + through Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. He was full of hope for the + future of these lands, their spiritual future. I had long talks with him + and discovered that he regarded education, the American form of it, and + commerce, the fruit of American enterprise, as the enemies of superstition + and consequently the handmaids of the Gospel. + </p> + <p> + He wanted to see schools and colleges scattered over the republic in which + he was interested. He wanted to see these lands heavily fertilised with + capital. + </p> + <p> + “If you have any spare money,” he said, “put it into——” + </p> + <p> + I think he said fruit farming in Colombia. Whatever the business was—I + forgot at the time to make a note of the particulars—he promised + that it would develop enormously when the Panama Canal was opened. The + advice may have been perfectly sound; but I do not think it was + disinterested. Bishop Zacchary Brown was not anxious about my future or my + fortune. He did not care, cannot have cared, whether the Panama Canal made + me rich or not. Nor did it seem to him an important thing that the fruit + trade of South America should develop. What he cared for was his + conception of religion. He saw in the inflow of capital the way of triumph + for his Gospel, the means of breaking up old careless, lazy creeds, the + infusion of energy and love of freedom. Ascher, so I conceived the + situation, was to stretch his threads from Calvary to the grapefruit trees + of Cartagena. + </p> + <p> + At Bahia I was introduced to a Brazilian statesman. I met him first at the + house of one of Ascher’s banker friends. We talked to each other in + French, and, as we both spoke the language badly, understood each other + without much difficulty. It is one of the peculiarities of the French + language that the worse it is spoken the easier it is to understand. A + real Parisian baffles me completely. My Brazilian statesman was almost + always intelligible. + </p> + <p> + He was interested in international politics, the international politics of + the western hemisphere. I found that he was distrustful of the growing + power of the United States. He suspected a policy of Empire, a + far-reaching scheme of influence, if not actual dominion, centred in + Washington. He regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the root from which such an + extension of power might grow. It was no business of mine to argue with + him, though I am convinced that the citizens of the United States are of + all peoples the least obsessed by the imperial idea. I tried, by looking + sympathetic, to induce him to develop his theory. In the end I gathered + that he hoped for security from the imperial peril through the increase of + wealth and therefore power in the South American republics. + </p> + <p> + “Our natural resources,” he said, “are enormous, but undeveloped. We + cannot become strong in a military sense. We cannot possess fleets with + which to negotiate——” + </p> + <p> + I should have said “threaten” instead of “negotiate” for that was plainly + what he meant. But statesmen have to be careful in their use of words. + </p> + <p> + “—Unless we can obtain capital with which to develop our wealth. The + great money-lending countries, England and France, ought in their own + interests to pour capital into our republics. The return, in the end, + would be enormous. But more important still, they would establish a + balance of power in the western world. Why do not your financiers + understand?” + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher. Battleships are to be towed across the ocean, from the ship + yards of the Clyde to these far-off seas, at the ends of the gossamer + threads which Ascher spins. The Gospel and international politics are + caught in the same web. I seemed to see Diocletian the Emperor and Saint + John, who said, “Love not the world,” doing homage together to the power + of capital, leading each other by the hand through the mazes of the system + of credit. + </p> + <p> + I saw beautiful scenes, wide harbours where stately ships lay anchored, + through whose shining gates fleets of steamers trudged. I never escaped + from the knowledge that the gossamer threads stretched from mast to mast, + a rigging more essential than the ropes of hemp and wire. I saw the lines + of steel on which trains go, stretched out across vast prairies, and knew + that they were not in reality lines of steel at all but gossamer threads. + I saw torrents made the slaves of man, the weight of falling water + transmuted into light and heat and force to drive cars swiftly through + city streets; but all the wheels and giant masses of forged steel were + tied together by these same slender threads which Ascher spun in the + shrine of that Greek temple of his, Ascher and his fellow bankers. + </p> + <p> + Always the desire was for more capital. There was room for thousands of + ships instead of hundreds. There were whole territories over which no + trains ran. There was potentiality of wealth so great that, if it were + realised, men everywhere would be raised above the fear of want. A whole + continent was crying out to Ascher that he should fling his web across it, + join point to point with gossamer, in Amazonian jungles, Peruvian mountain + heights, Argentine plains and tropical fruit gardens. + </p> + <p> + I met and talked with many men whose outlook upon life was profoundly + interesting to me. Those whom I came to know best were Englishmen or men + of English origin. Some of them had built up flourishing businesses, + selling the products of English factories. Some acted as the agents of + steamboat companies, arranging for freights and settling the destinations + of ships which went voyaging. Some grew wheat or bred cattle. Like all + Englishmen whose lot is cast in far countries they retained their feeling + for England as a home and became conscious as Englishmen in England seldom + are, of love for their own land. Like all Englishmen they grumbled + ceaselessly at what they loved. + </p> + <p> + They spoke with contempt of everything English. They abused English + business methods and complained that Germans were ousting Englishmen from + the markets of the world. They derided English Government and English + statesmanship, ignoring party loyalties with a fine impartiality. They + decried English social customs, contrasting the freedom of life in the + land of their adoption with the convention-bound ways of their home. Yet + it always was their home. I felt that, even when their contempt expressed + itself in the bitterest words. + </p> + <p> + Whatever their opinions were or their affectations, however widely their + various activities were separated, these men were all consciously + dependent on the smooth working of the system of world-wide credit. + </p> + <p> + They were Ascher’s clients, or if not Ascher’s, the clients of others like + Ascher. They were in a sense Ascher’s dependents. They were united to + England, to Europe, to each other, by Ascher’s threads. Whether they bred + cattle and sold them, whether they grew corn, whether they shipped cargoes + or imported merchandise, the gossamer net was over them. + </p> + <p> + I returned to London with these impressions vivid in my mind, perhaps—I + tried to persuade myself of this—too vivid. I had travelled, so I + argued, under the shadow of a great banker. I had gone among bankers. It + was natural, inevitable, that I should see the world through bankers’ + eyes. Perhaps credit was not after all the life blood of our civilisation. + I failed to convince myself. The very fact that I could go so far under + the shadow of a bank proves how large a shadow a bank throws. The fact + that Ascher’s correspondents brought me into touch with every kind of man, + goes to show that banking has permeated, leavened life, that human society + is saturated with finance. + </p> + <p> + In a very few months, before the end of the summer which followed my + home-coming, I was to see the whole machine stop working suddenly. The war + god stalked across the world and brushed aside, broke, tore, tangled up, + the gossamer threads. Then, long before his march was done, while + awe-struck men and weeping women still listened to the strident clamour of + his arms, the spinners of the webs were at work again, patiently joining + broken threads, flinging fresh filaments across unbridged gulfs, + refastening to their points of attachment the gossamer which seemed so + frail, which yet the storm of violence failed to destroy utterly. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p> + I reached home early in May and underwent an experience common, I suppose, + to all travellers. + </p> + <p> + The city clerk, returning after a glorious week in Paris, finds that his + family is still interested in the peculiarities of the housemaid, the + Maud, or Ethel of the hour. To him, with his heart enlarged by nightly + visits to the Folies Bergères, it seems at first almost impossible that + any one can care to talk for hours about the misdeeds of Maud. He knows + that he himself was once excited over these domestic problems, but it + seems impossible that he ever can be again. Yet he is. A week passes, a + week of the old familiar life. The voluptuous joys of Parisian music halls + fade into dim memories. The realities of life, the things on which his + mind works, are the new lace curtains for the drawing-room window, the + ridiculous “swank” of young Jones in the office, and the question of the + dismissal of Maud the housemaid. + </p> + <p> + I found London humming with excitement over Irish affairs and for a while + I wondered how any one could think that Irish affairs mattered in the + least. Fresh from my wanderings over a huge continent Ireland seemed to me + a small place. It took me a week to get my mind into focus again. Then I + began once more to see the Home Rule question as it should be seen. South + America and Ascher’s web of international credit sank into their proper + insignificance. + </p> + <p> + I met Malcolmson in my club a week after my return. He very nearly pulled + the buttons off my waistcoat in his eagerness to explain the situation to + me. Malcolmson has a vile habit of grabbing the clothes of any one he + particularly wants to speak to. If the subject is only moderately + interesting he pulls a sleeve or a lappet of a coat. When he has something + very important to say, he inserts two fingers between the buttons of your + waistcoat and pulls. I knew I was in for something thrilling when he towed + me into a quiet corner of the smoking room by my two top buttons. + </p> + <p> + I have known Malcolmson for nearly twenty years. He was adjutant of my old + regiment when I joined. He was senior Major when I resigned my commission. + He became colonel a few years later and then retired to his place near + Belfast, where he has practised political Protestanism ever since. I have + never met any one more sincere than Malcolmson. He believes in civil and + religious liberty. He is prepared at any moment to do battle for his + faith. I do not know that he really deserves much credit for this, because + he is the sort of man who would do battle for the love of it, even if + there were no faith to be fought for. Still the fact remains that he has a + faith, rather a rare possession. + </p> + <p> + When he had me cornered near the window of the smoking room, he told me + that the hour of battle had almost come. Ulster was drilled, more or less + armed, and absolutely united. Rather than endure Home Rule Malcolmson and, + I think, a hundred thousand other men were going to lay down their lives. + It took Malcolmson more than an hour to tell me that because he kept + wandering from the main point in order to abuse the Government and the + Irish Party. Of the two he seemed to dislike the Government more. + </p> + <p> + Irish politics are of all subjects the most wearisome to me; but I must + admit that Malcolmson interested me before he stopped talking. I began to + wish to hear what Gorman had to say about the matter. I could not imagine + that he and his friends contemplated a siege of Belfast, to rank in + history alongside of the famous attempt to starve Derry. + </p> + <p> + There was no difficulty about getting hold of Gorman. In times of furious + political excitement he is sure to be found at the post of duty, that is + to say, in the smoking room of the House of Commons. I wrote to him and + invited him to dine with me in my rooms. It would have been much more + convenient to give him dinner at one of my clubs. But I was afraid to do + that. I belonged to two clubs in London and unfortunately Malcolmson is a + member of both of them. I do not know what would have happened if he had + found himself in the same room with Gorman. The threatened civil war might + have begun prematurely, and Malcolmson is such a determined warrior that a + table fork might easily have become a lethal weapon in his hands. I did + not want to have Gorman killed before I heard his opinion about the Ulster + situation and I disliked the thought of having to explain the + circumstances of his death to the club committee afterwards. There is + always an uncertainty about the view which a club committee will take of + any unusual event. I might very easily have been asked to resign my + membership. + </p> + <p> + Gorman accepted my invitation, but said he would have to be back in the + House of Commons at 9 o’clock. I fixed dinner for half past seven, which + gave me nearly an hour and a half with Gorman, more time than Malcolmson + had required to state his side of the case. + </p> + <p> + But Gorman was very much more difficult to deal with. He was not inclined + to discuss Home Rule or the Ulster situation. He wanted to talk about + Tim’s cash register, and, later on, about the new way of putting + cinematograph pictures on the stage. + </p> + <p> + “I have been wandering about since I saw you last,” I said, “and I’ve been + in all sorts of strange places. I’ve lost touch with things at home. + Hardly ever saw an English newspaper. I want you to tell me——” + </p> + <p> + “Interesting time you must have had,” said Gorman. “Run across the trail + of our friend Ascher much? I expect you did.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman very nearly sidetracked me there. I was strongly tempted to tell + him about the impression which Ascher’s gossamer had made on me. + </p> + <p> + “The slime of the financier,” said Gorman, “lies pretty thick over the + world. You’ve seen those large black slugs which come out in summer after + rain, big juicy fellows which crawl along and leave a shiny track on the + grass. They’re financiers.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “quite so. But tell me about Home Rule.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right. Can’t help becoming law. We have it in our pockets.” + </p> + <p> + “This time next year,” I said, “you’ll be sitting in a Parliament in + Dublin.” + </p> + <p> + “There’ll be a Parliament in Dublin all right this time next year; but I’m + not sure that I’ll be in it. After all, you know, Dublin’s rather a + one-horse place. I don’t see how I could very well live there. I might run + over for an important debate now and then, but—— You see I’ve + a lot of interests in London. I suppose you’ve heard about the new Cash + Register Company and what Ascher’s done.” + </p> + <p> + “Not a word. Do I still hold those shares of mine?” + </p> + <p> + “Unless you’ve sold them you do, but they’ll be very little good to you. + Ascher has simply thrown away a sure thing. We might have had—well, + I needn’t mention the sum, but it was a pretty big one. I had the whole + business arranged. Those fellows would have paid up. But nothing would do + Ascher except to put in his spoon. I’m blest if I see what his game is. He + has one of course; but I don’t see it.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “he wants to have your brother’s invention worked for + what it’s worth.” + </p> + <p> + “Rot,” said Gorman. “Why should he? I expect he has some dodge for + squeezing us out and then getting a bigger price all for himself; but I’m + damned if I see how he means to work it. These financial men are as + cunning as Satan and they all hang together. We outsiders don’t have a + chance.” + </p> + <p> + “What about Ulster?” I said. “I was talking to a man last week who told me——” + </p> + <p> + “All bluff,” said Gorman. “Nothing in it. How can they do anything? What + Ascher says is that he wants the old company to take up Tim’s invention + and work it. There’s to be additional capital raised and we’re to come in + as shareholders. Ascher, Stutz & Co. will underwrite the new issues + and take three and one-half per cent. That’s what he says. But, of course, + that’s not the real game. There’s something behind.” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn’t it occur to you that there may be something behind the Ulster + movement too?” + </p> + <p> + “No. What can they do? The Bill will be law before the end of July.” + </p> + <p> + “They say they’ll fight.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Gorman, “we’ve heard all about that till we’re sick of the + sound of it. There’s nothing in it. The thing’s as plain as anything can + be. We have a majority in Parliament and the bill will be passed. That’s + all there is to say. I wish to goodness I saw my way as plainly in the + cash register affair.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman’s faith in parliamentary majorities is extremely touching. I + suppose that only politicians believe that the voting of men who are paid + to vote really affects things. I doubt whether men of any other profession + have the same whole-hearted faith in the efficacy of their own craft. + Doctors are often a little sceptical about the value of medicines and + operations. No barrister, that I ever met, thinks he achieves justice by + arguing points of law. But politicians, even quite intelligent politicians + like Gorman, seem really to hold that human life will be altered in some + way because they walk round the lobbies of a particular building in London + and have their heads counted three or four times an hour. To me it seemed + quite plain that Malcolmson would not bate an ounce of his devotion to + civil and religious liberty even if Gorman’s head were counted every five + minutes for ten years and Gorman were paid a thousand a year instead of + four hundred a year for letting out his head for the purpose. Why should + Malcolmson care how often Gorman is counted? There is in the end only the + original Gorman with his single head. + </p> + <p> + “Anyhow,” said Gorman, “I’m keeping in with Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + He winked at me as he said this. I like Gorman’s way of adding explanatory + winks to his remarks. I should frequently miss the meaning, the full + meaning of what he says if he did not help out his words with these + expressive winks. This time he made me understand that he had no great + affection for Mrs. Ascher, regarded her rather as a joke which had worn + thin; but hoped to pick up from her some information about her husband’s + subtle schemes. I knew his hopes were vain. In the first place the Aschers + do not talk business to each other and she knows nothing of what he is + doing. In the next place Ascher had no underhand plot with regard to the + cash register. He was acting in a perfectly open and straightforward way. + But Gorman cannot believe that any one is straightforward. That is one of + the drawbacks to the profession of politics. The practice of it destroys a + man’s faith in human honesty. + </p> + <p> + “How’s Tim?” I asked. “Last time I saw him he was in great trouble because + Mrs. Ascher said he was committing blasphemy.” + </p> + <p> + “Tim’s in England,” said Gorman. “I was rather angry with him myself for a + while. If he had followed my advice about the cash register——. + But Tim always was a fool about money, though he has brains of a sort, + lots of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Still working with that circus?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear no. Left that months ago. He got some money. No, I didn’t give + it to him. I fancy it must have been Ascher. Anyhow he’s got it. He’s down + in Hertfordshire now, living in a barn.” + </p> + <p> + “Why? A barn seems an odd place to live in. Draughty, I should think.” + </p> + <p> + “He wanted space,” said Gorman, “a great deal of space to work at his + experiments. I’m inclined to think there may be something in this new idea + of his.” + </p> + <p> + “The living picture idea? Making real ghosts of the figures?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. And, do you know, he’s getting at it. He showed me some + perfectly astonishing results the other day. If he pulls it off——” + </p> + <p> + “You won’t let Ascher get hold of it this time,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Gorman frowned. + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn’t let Ascher touch it if I could help it, but what the devil can + I do? We shall want capital and I suppose Ascher is no worse than the rest + of them.” + </p> + <p> + By “them” Gorman evidently meant capitalists in general and financiers in + particular. + </p> + <p> + “That’s the way,” he said. “Not only do these scoundrels control politics, + reducing the whole system of democracy to a farce——” + </p> + <p> + “Come now,” I said, “don’t blame the capitalists for that. Democracy would + be a farce if there never was such a thing as a capitalist.” + </p> + <p> + “Not content with that,” said Gorman, “they keep an iron grip upon + industry. They fatten on the fruits of other men’s brains. They hold the + working man in thrall, exploiting his energy for their own selfish greed, + starving his women and children——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman ought to keep that sort of thing for public meetings. It is + thoroughly bad form to make speeches to an audience of one. I must say + that he seldom does. I suppose that his intimate association with Mrs. + Ascher had spoiled his manners in this respect. She encouraged him to be + oratorical. But I am not Mrs. Ascher, and I saw no reason why I should + stand that kind of thing at my own dinner table. + </p> + <p> + “But the day is coming,” I said, “when organised labour will rise in its + might and claim its heritage in the fair world which lies bathed in the + sunlight of a nobler age.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at me doubtfully for an instant, only for a single instant. + Almost immediately his eyes twinkled and he smiled good-humouredly. + </p> + <p> + “You ought to go in for politics,” he said. “You really ought. I + apologise. Can’t think what came over me to talk like that.” + </p> + <p> + I cannot resist Gorman when he smiles. I felt that I too owed an apology. + </p> + <p> + “After all,” I said, “you must practise somewhere. I don’t blame you in + the least; though I don’t profess to like it. No one can do that sort of + thing extempore and if it happens to suit you to rehearse at dinner——” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense,” said Gorman. “There’s not the slightest necessity for + practice. I could do it by the hour and work sums in my head at the same + time. Any one could.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is modest. Very few people can make speeches like his, fortunately + for the world. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he said, reverting abruptly to the starting point of his + speech, “it’s a pity we have to let Ascher into this new cinematograph + racket; but we can’t help it. In fact I expect he’s in already.” + </p> + <p> + “Lending money to Tim for experiments?” + </p> + <p> + “He wouldn’t do that,” said Gorman, “unless he’d made sure of his share of + the spoil afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “why don’t you make a law to suppress Ascher. You + believe in making laws, and, according to your own showing, that would be + a very useful one.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman gave me no answer. I knew he could not, because there is no answer + to give. If laws had any effect on life, as Gorman pretends to believe, he + would make one which would do away with Ascher. But he knows in his heart + that he might just as well make a law forbidding the wind to blow from the + east. Instead of taking any notice of my question he pulled out his watch + and looked at it. + </p> + <p> + “Nine o’clock,” he said. “I must be off to the House at once. An important + division has been arranged for a quarter past. Just ask your man to call a + taxi, will you?” + </p> + <p> + “Why go?” I said. “If the division is arranged the result will be arranged + too.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course it is,” said Gorman. “You don’t suppose the Whips leave that to + chance.” + </p> + <p> + “I must say you manage these things very badly. Here you are smoking + comfortably after dinner, not in the least inclined to stir, and yet you + say you have to go. Why don’t you introduce a system of writing cheques? + ‘Pay the Whip of my Party or bearer 150 votes. Signed Michael Gorman, M. + P.’” + </p> + <p> + “That’s rather a good idea,” said Gorman. “It would save a lot of + trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “The cheque could be passed in to some sort of clearing house where a + competent clerk, after going over all the cheques, would strike a balance + and place it to the credit of your side or the other. That would be the + Government’s Majority, and you wouldn’t have to go near the House of + Commons at all except when you wanted to make a speech. I don’t think you + need go even then. You might make your speeches quietly in your own home + to a couple of reporters.” + </p> + <p> + “It would simplify parliamentary life enormously,” said Gorman, “there’s + no doubt of that. But I don’t think it would do. I don’t really. The + people wouldn’t stand it.” + </p> + <p> + “If the people stand the way you go on at present they’ll stand anything.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” said Gorman, “that you’d ring for a taxi.” I rang the bell and + five minutes later Gorman left me. He had not told me anything about Home + Rule, or how his party meant to deal with a recalcitrant Ulster. He seemed + very little interested in Ulster. Yet Malcolmson was indubitably in + earnest. I felt perfectly sure about that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p> + I intended to call on the Aschers as soon as I could after I returned to + London. I owed Ascher some thanks for his kindness in providing me with + letters of introduction for my tour. However, they heard that I was home + again before I managed to pay my visit. I daresay Gorman told them. He + sees Mrs. Ascher two or three times a week and he must get tired talking + about Ireland. A little item of gossip, like the news of my return, would + come as a relief to Gorman, and perhaps even to Mrs. Ascher, after a long + course of poetic politics mixed with art. + </p> + <p> + I had a note from Mrs. Ascher, in which she invited me to dinner. + </p> + <p> + “Very quietly,” she said. “I know my husband would like to have a talk + with you, so I shall not ask any one to meet you. Please fix your own + night. We have no engagements this week.” + </p> + <p> + I got the note on Monday and fixed Wednesday for our dinner. I could not + think that Ascher really wanted to talk to me. I did not see what he had + to talk to me about; but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell him + about my tour and to give him some idea of the effect which my glimpse at + his business had produced on my mind. I also wanted to find out what he + thought about Irish affairs. I had heard a good deal more talk about the + Ulster situation. Malcolmson got at me nearly every day, and several other + men, much more level-headed than Malcolmson, seemed to regard the + situation as serious. I heard it hinted that the Army would not relish the + idea of shooting the Ulstermen. I understood the feeling. If I were still + in the Army I should not like to be told to kill Malcolmson. He was my + brother officer at one time, and I found him a good comrade. The same + feeling must exist among the rank and file. Northeast Ulster was, at one + time, a favourite recruiting ground for the Guards. Malcolmson’s volunteer + army was leavened with old Guardsmen, reservists, many of them quite well + known to the men still serving in the Brigade. + </p> + <p> + I could not, of course, expect Ascher to be much interested in Irish + affairs. Ireland is the one country in the world over which financiers + have not cast their net, possibly because they would catch next to nothing + there. So we, who escaped the civilisation of Roman law, almost escaped + the philosophy of the mediaeval church, were entirely untouched by the + culture of the Renaissance, remained a kind of Gideon’s fleece when the + dew of the industrial system of the 19th century was moistening Europe, + are now left untouched by the new civilisation of international finance. + Yet Ascher, if not personally interested in our destiny, has a cool and + unprejudiced mind. His opinion on Irish affairs would be of the greatest + interest to me. I was not satisfied with Gorman’s reading of the + situation. Nor did I feel sure that Malcolmson, though he was certainly in + earnest, quite understood what a big thing he was letting himself in for. + </p> + <p> + The Aschers live near Golders Hill, a part of London totally unknown to + me. They have a large old-fashioned house with a considerable amount of + ground round it. Some day when Ascher is dead the house will be pulled + down and the grounds cut up into building plots. In the meanwhile Ascher + holds it. I suppose it suits him. Neither he nor Mrs. Ascher cares for + fashionable life, and a Mayfair address has no attraction for them. The + few artistic and musical people whom they wish to know are quite willing + to go to Hampstead. Every one else who wants to see Ascher, and a good + many people do, calls at his office or dines with him in a club. Ascher + knows most of the chief men in the political world, for instance, but even + Prime Ministers are not often invited to the house at Golders Hill. If + Ascher really controls them, as Gorman says, he does so without allowing + them to interfere with his private life. + </p> + <p> + The house and its appointments impressed me greatly. The architecture was + Georgian, a style familiar to any one who has lived much in Dublin. It + gave me a feeling of spaciousness and dignity. The men who built these + houses knew what it was to live like gentlemen. I can imagine them guilty + of various offences against the code of Christian morality, but I do not + think they can ever have been either fussy or mean. There is a + restlessness about our fashionable imitations of the older kinds of + English domestic architecture. Our picturesque gables, dormer windows and + rooms with all sorts of odd angles, our finicky windows stuck high up in + unexpected parts of walls, our absurd leaded diamond panes and crooked + metal fastenings, all make for fussiness of soul. Nor can I believe that + people who live under ceilings which they can almost touch ever attain a + great and calm outlook upon life. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing “artistic” about Ascher’s house. This surprised me at + first. I did not, of course, expect that Mrs. Ascher would have surrounded + herself with the maddening kind of furniture which is distinguished by its + crookedness and is designed by men who find their inspiration by + remembering the things which they see in nightmares. Nor did I think it + likely that she would have crammed her rooms with those products of the + east which are imported into this country by house furnishers with + reputations for aestheticism. I knew that she had passed that stage of + culture. But I did expect to find the house full of heavily embroidered + copes of mediaeval bishops, hung on screens; candlesticks looted from + Spanish monasteries, standing on curiously carved shelves; chairs and + cabinets which were genuine relics of the age of Louis XV.; and pictures + by artists who lived in Italy before the days when Italians learned to + paint. + </p> + <p> + I found myself in a house which was curiously bare of furniture. There + were a few pictures in each of the rooms I entered, modern pictures, and I + suppose good, but I am no judge of such things. There were scarcely any + ornaments to be seen and very few tables and chairs. My own feeling is + that a house should be furnished in such a way as to be thoroughly + comfortable. I like deep soft chairs and sofas to sit on. I like to have + many small tables on which to lay down books, newspapers and pipes. I like + thick carpets and curtains which keep out draughts. I would not live in + Ascher’s house, even if I were paid for doing so by being given Ascher’s + fortune. But I would rather live in Ascher’s house than in one of those + overcrowded museums which are the delight of very wealthy New York Jews. I + should, in some moods, find a pleasure in the fine proportions of the + rooms which Ascher refuses to spoil. I could never, I know, be happy in a + place where I ran the risk of dropping tobacco ashes on thirteenth century + tapestry and dared not move suddenly lest I should knock over some + priceless piece of china. + </p> + <p> + We ate at a small table set at one end of a big dining-room, a dining-room + in which, I suppose, thirty people could have sat down together + comfortably. There was no affectation of shaded lights and gloomy, + mysterious spaces. Ascher had aimed at and achieved something like a + subdued daylight by means of electric lamps, shaded underneath, which + shone on the ceiling. I could see all the corners of the room, the walls + with their pictures and the broad floor across which the servants passed. + The dinner itself was very short and simple. If I had been actually + hungry, as I am in the country after shooting, I should have called the + dinner meagre. For a London appetite there was enough, but not more than + enough. I might, a younger and more vigorous man would, have got up from + the table hungry. But the food was exquisite. The cook must be a + descendant of one of those artists whom Lord Beaconsfield described in + “Tancred,” and he has found in Ascher’s house a situation which ought to + satisfy him. Ascher does not care for sumptuousness or abundance; but he + knows how to eat well. We had one wine, a very delicately flavoured white + Italian wine, perhaps from Capri, the juice of some rare crops of grapes + in that sunny island. + </p> + <p> + “We found ourselves in a little difficulty,” said Ascher, “when you fixed + on to-night for your visit to us.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope,” I said, “that I haven’t lit on an inconvenient evening. Had you + any other engagement?” + </p> + <p> + I was eating a very small piece of fish when he spoke to me, and was + trying to guess what the sauce was flavoured with. It occurred to me + suddenly that I might have broken in upon some sort of private + anniversary, a day which Ascher and his wife observed as one of + abstinence. There was, I could scarcely fail to notice it, a sense of + subdued melancholy about our proceedings. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” said Ascher, “but on Wednesdays we always have some music. I was + inclined to think that you might have preferred to spend the evening + talking, but my wife——” + </p> + <p> + He looked at Mrs. Ascher. I should very much have preferred talk to music. + It was chiefly in order to hear Ascher talk that I had accepted the + invitation. + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that Sir James likes music.” + </p> + <p> + She laid a strong emphasis on the word “know,” and I felt that she was + paying me a nice compliment. What she said was true enough. I do like + music, some kinds of music. I had heard for the first time the night + before a song, then very popular, with a particularly attractive chorus. + It began to run through my head the moment Ascher mentioned music. “I + didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it.” I liked that song. I was + not sure that I should like the Aschers’ music equally well. However, I + had no intention of contradicting Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “I’m passionately fond of music,” I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher is a singularly guileless man. I cannot imagine how any one so + unsuspicious as he is can ever have succeeded as a financier, unless + indeed people are far honester about money than they are about anything + else. I do not think Mrs. Ascher believed that I am passionately fond of + music. Her husband did. The little shadow of anxiety which had rested on + his face cleared away. He became almost cheerful. + </p> + <p> + “To-night,” he said, “we are going to hear some of the work of——” + </p> + <p> + He said a name, but I utterly failed to catch it. I had never heard it + before, and it sounded foreign, very foreign indeed, possibly Kurdish. + </p> + <p> + “———,” said Ascher, “is one of the new Russian + composers.” + </p> + <p> + I heard the name that time, but I can make no attempt, phonetic or other, + to spell it. I suppose it can be spelled, but the letters must be given + values quite new to me. The alphabet I am accustomed to is incapable of + representing that man’s name. + </p> + <p> + “I daresay you know him,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I strongly suspected that she was trying to entrap me. I have never been + quite sure of Mrs. Ascher since the day she discovered that I was talking + nonsense about the statuette of Psyche. Sometimes she appears to be the + kind of foolish woman to whom anything may be said without fear. Sometimes + she displays most unexpected intelligence. I looked at her before I + answered. Her narrow, pale-green eyes expressed nothing but innocent + inquiry. She might conceivably think that I had already made a careful + study of the music of the new Russian composer. On the other hand, she + might be luring me on to say that I knew music which was to be played in + her house that night for the first time. I made up my mind to be safe. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “I never even heard of him.” + </p> + <p> + Then Ascher began to talk about the man and his music. He became more + animated than I had ever seen him. It was evident that Russian music + interested Ascher far more than finance did; that it was a subject which + was capable of wakening real enthusiasm in him. I listened, eating from + time to time the delicate morsels of food offered to me and sipping the + delicious wine. I did not understand anything Ascher said, and all the + names he mentioned were new to me; but for a time I was content to sit in + a kind of half-conscious state, hypnotised by the sound of his voice and + the feeling that Mrs. Ascher’s eyes were fixed on me. + </p> + <p> + Not until dinner was nearly over did I make an effort to assert myself. + </p> + <p> + “I was talking to Gorman the other day,” I said, “about Irish affairs and + especially about the Ulster situation. I have also been hearing + Malcolmson’s views. Malcolmson is a colonel and an Ulsterman. You know the + sort of views an Ulster Colonel would have.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. He seemed no more than slightly amused at the turn + Irish affairs were taking. After all neither international finance nor + Russian music was likely to be profoundly affected by the Ulster + rebellion. (Malcolmson will not use the word rebellion, but I must. There + is no other word to describe the actions he contemplates.) No wonder + Ascher takes small interest in the matter. On the other hand, Mrs. Ascher + was profoundly moved by the mention of Ulster. I could see genuine passion + in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Belfast,” she said, “stands for all that is vilest and most hateful in + the world. It is worse than Glasgow, worse than Manchester, worse than + Birmingham.” + </p> + <p> + Belfast is, no doubt, the main difficulty. If there were no Belfast the + resistance of the rest of Ulster would be inconsiderable. I admired the + political instinct which enabled Mrs. Ascher to go straight to the very + centre of the situation. But, in all probability, Gorman gave her the + hint. Gorman does not seem to understand how real the Ulster opposition + is, but he has intelligence enough to grasp the importance of Belfast. + What puzzled me first was the extreme bitterness with which Mrs. Ascher + spoke. + </p> + <p> + “What has Belfast ever given to the world?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “ships are built there, and of course there’s linen. I + believe they manufacture tobacco, and——” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Ascher, “is not quite what my wife means. The gifts which a + city or a country give to the world must be of a more permanent kind if + they are to be of real value. Ships, linen, tobacco, we use them, and in + using we destroy them. They have their value, but it is not a permanent + value. Ultimately a city will be judged not by its perishable products, + but by——” + </p> + <p> + “Art,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + I might have known it. Mrs. Ascher would be sure to judge cities, as she + judges men, by their achievement in that particular line. I was bound to + admit that the reputation of Belfast falls some way short of that of + Athens as a centre of literature and art. + </p> + <p> + “Or thought,” said Ascher, “or criticism. It is curious that a community + which is virile and fearless, which is able to look at the world and life + through its own eyes, which is indifferent to the general consensus of + opinion——” + </p> + <p> + “Belfast is all that,” I said. “I never knew any one who cared less what + other people said and thought than Malcolmson.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet,” said Ascher, “Belfast has done nothing, thought nothing, seen + nothing. But perhaps that is all to come. The future may be, indeed I + think must be, very different.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher will never be a real leader of men. His habit of seeing two sides + of every question is an incurable weakness in him. Mrs. Ascher does not + suffer in that way. She saw no good whatever in Belfast, nor any hope for + its future. + </p> + <p> + “Never,” she said, “never. A people who have given themselves over to + material things, who accept frankly, without even the hypocrite’s tribute + to virtue, the money standard of value, who ask ‘Does it pay?’ and ask + nothing else—— Have you ever been in Belfast?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “often. The churches are ugly, decidedly ugly, though + comfortable.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered. + </p> + <p> + “Comfortable!” she said. “Yes. Comfortable! Think of it. Churches, + comfort! Irredeemable hideousness and the comfort of congregations as a + set-off to it.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher panted. I could see the front of her dress—she wore a + very floppy scarlet teagown—rising and falling rapidly in the + intensity of her passion. I understood more or less what she felt. If God + is at all what we think He is, sublime, then there is something a little + grotesque about requiring a cushioned pew, a good system of heating and a + nice fat footstool as aids to communion with Him. Yet I am not convinced + that man is incapable of the highest emotion when his body is at ease. + Some degree of physical comfort seems to be required if the excursions of + the soul are to be successful. I cannot, for instance, enjoy the finest + kinds of poetry when I am very thirsty; nor have I ever met any one who + found real pleasure in a statue when he had toothache. There is something + to be said for the theory of the sceptical bishop in Browning’s poem, that + the soul is only free to muse of lofty things + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “When body gets its sop and holds its noise.” + </pre> + <p> + “The whole Irish question,” said Mrs. Ascher, and she spoke with the most + tremendous vehemence, “is a struggle not between political parties—what + are political parties?” + </p> + <p> + “Rotten things,” I said. “I quite agree with you there.” + </p> + <p> + “Not between conceptions of religion—— What is religion but + the blind gropings of the human soul after some divine perfection vaguely + guessed?” + </p> + <p> + That is not what religion is in Ireland. There is nothing either dim or + vague about it there, and nobody gropes. Every one, from the infant school + child to the greatest of our six archbishops, is perfectly clear and + definite in his religious beliefs and suffers no doubts of any kind. That + is why Ireland is recognised everywhere as an island of saints. But of + course Mrs. Ascher could not be expected to know that. + </p> + <p> + “It is a struggle,” she said, getting back to the Irish question as the + subject of her sentence, “between a people to whom art is an ideal and a + people who have accepted materialism and money for their gods, an atheist + people.” + </p> + <p> + It has been the great misfortune of my life that I have never been able to + escape from the Irish question. It was discussed round my cradle by a + nurse whom my parents selected for her sound Protestant principles. The + undertaker will give his views of the Irish question to his assistant + while he drives the nails into the lid of my coffin. I should not have + supposed that any one could have hit on an aspect of it wholly new to me. + But Mrs. Ascher did. Never before had I heard the problem stated as she + stated it. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is an extraordinarily interesting way of looking at it. + The only difficulty I see is——” + </p> + <p> + “It is true,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + That was precisely my difficulty. It was not true. I went back to my + recollections of old Dan Gorman, a man as intensely interested in the + struggle as ever any one was. I remembered his great pot belly, his flabby + skin, his whisky-sodden face. I remembered his grasping meanness, his + relentless hardness in dealing with those in his power. The most + thoroughly materialised business man in Belfast has more spirituality + about him than old Dan Gorman ever had. Nor did I believe that his son, + Michael Gorman, would have accepted Mrs. Ascher’s account of his position. + He would have winked, humourously appreciative of an excellent joke, if + any one had told him that he was a crusader, out to wrest the sacred + sepulchre of art from the keeping of the Saracens of Ulster. + </p> + <p> + I did not, of course, attempt to reason with Mrs. Ascher. There is nothing + in the world more foolish than trying to reason with a woman who is + possessed by a cause. No good ever comes of it. But Mrs. Ascher is quite + clever enough to understand a man even if he does not speak. She felt that + I should have been glad to argue with her if I had not been afraid. She + entered on a long defence of her position. + </p> + <p> + She began with the Irish Players, and the moment she mentioned them I knew + what she was going to say. + </p> + <p> + “The one instance,” she said, “the single example in the modern world of + peasant art, from the soil, of the soil, redolent, fragrant of the simple + life of men and women, in direct touch with the primal forces of nature + itself. There is nothing else quite like those players and their plays. + They are the self-revelation, of the peasant soul. From the whitewashed + cabins of the country-side, from the streets of tiny, world-forgotten + villages, from the islands where the great Atlantic thunders ceaselessly, + these have come to call us back to the realities of life, to express again + the external verities of art.” + </p> + <p> + That is all very well. I agreed with Mrs. Ascher thoroughly about the art + of Synge’s plays, and Lady Gregory’s and Yeats’, and the art of the + players. But it is merely silly to talk about the soil and whitewashed + cottages, and self-revelation of peasant souls. Neither the dramatists nor + the players are peasants or ever were. They are very clever, sometimes + more than clever, members of the educated classes, who see the peasants + from outside just as I see them, as Mrs. Ascher would see them if she ever + got near enough to what she calls the soil to see a peasant at all. + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. Ascher had finished with the Irish Players she went on, still in + a white heat of excitement, to the attempt to revive the Irish language. + </p> + <p> + “Where else,” she said, “will you find such devotion to a purely spiritual + ideal? Here you have a people rising enthusiastically to fight for the + preservation of the national language. And its language is the soul of a + nation. These splendid efforts are made in defiance of materialism, + without the remotest hope of gain, just to keep, to save from destruction, + a possession felt instinctively to be the most precious thing of all, far + above gold and rubies in price.” + </p> + <p> + “The only flaw in that theory,” I said, “is that the people who still have + this most precious possession don’t want to keep it in the least. Nobody + ever heard of the Irish-speaking peasants taking the smallest interest in + their language. The whole revival business is the work of an + English-speaking middle class, who never stop asking the Government to pay + them for doing it.” + </p> + <p> + That was the second occasion on which I came near quarrelling with Mrs. + Ascher. Yet I am not a man who quarrels easily. Like St. Paul’s friends at + Corinth, I can suffer fools gladly. But Mrs. Ascher is not a fool. She is + a clever woman with a twist in her mind. That is why I find myself saying + nasty things to her now and then. I suppose it was Gorman who taught her + to be an Irish patriot. If she had been content to follow him as an + obedient disciple, I should have put up with all she said politely. But, + once started by Gorman, she thought out Ireland for herself and arrived at + this amazing theory of hers, her artistic children of light in death grips + with mercantile and manufacturing materialists. No wonder she irritated + me. + </p> + <p> + Ascher saved us from a heated argument. Dinner was over. He had smoked his + half cigarette. He rose from his chair. + </p> + <p> + “I expect Mr. Wendall is waiting for us,” he said to Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + Her face softened as he spoke. The look of fanatical enthusiasm passed out + of her eyes. She got up quietly and left the room. Ascher held the door + open for her and motioned me to follow her. He took my arm as we passed + together down a long corridor. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Wendall,” he said, “is a young musician who comes to play to us every + week. He is a man with a future before him. I think you will enjoy his + playing. We are going to the music room.” + </p> + <p> + We went through a small sitting-room, more fully furnished than any other + in Ascher’s house. It looked as if it were meant to be inhabited by + ordinary human beings. It was reserved, so I learned afterwards, for the + use of Ascher’s guests. We ascended a short flight of stairs and entered + the music room. Unlike the dining-room it was only partially lit. A single + lamp stood on a little table near the fireplace, and there were two + candles on a grand piano in the middle of the room. These made small spots + of light in a space of gloom. I felt rather than saw that the room was a + large one. I discerned the shapes of four tall, curtainless windows. I saw + that except the piano and a few seats near the fireplace there was no + furniture. As we entered I heard the sound of an organ, played very + softly, somewhere above me. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Wendall is here,” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + He led me over to the fireplace and put me in a deep soft chair. He laid a + box of cigarettes beside me and set a vase of spills at my right hand. I + gathered that I might smoke, so long as I lit my tobacco noiselessly, with + spills kindled in the fire; but that I must not make scratchy sounds by + striking matches. Mrs. Ascher sank down in a corner of a large sofa. She + lay there with parted lips and half-closed eyes, like some feline creature + expectant of sensuous delight. The light from the lamp behind her and the + flickering fire played a strange game of shadow-making and shadow-chasing + among the folds of her scarlet gown. Ascher sat down beside her. + </p> + <p> + The organ was played very softly. I found out that it was placed in a + gallery above the door by which we had entered. I saw the pipes, like a + clump of tall spears, barely discernible in the gloom. There was no light + in the gallery. Mr. Wendall was no doubt there and was able to play + without seeing a printed score. I supposed that he was playing the music + of the new Russian composer. Whatever he played he failed to catch my + attention, though the sounds were vaguely soothing. I found myself + thinking that Mrs. Ascher had no right to be furiously angry with the + people of Belfast for making their churches comfortable. This was her form + of worship, and never were any devotees more luxuriously placed than we + were. If her soul can soar to spiritual heights from the depths of silken + cushions, surely a linen-draper may find it possible to pray in a + cushioned pew. + </p> + <p> + I was mistaken about the music I was listening to. Mr. Wendall was only + soothing his nerves with organ sounds while he waited for us. When he + discovered our presence he left the gallery and descended to the room in + which we sat, by a narrow stairway. No greeting of any kind passed between + him and the Aschers. He went straight to the piano without giving any sign + that he knew of our presence. I lit a cigarette and prepared to endure + what was in store for me. + </p> + <p> + At first the new Russian music struck me as merely noisy. I found no sense + or rhythm in it. Then I began to feel slightly excited. The excitement + grew on me in a curious way. I looked at the Aschers. He was sitting + nearly bolt upright, very rigid, in a corner on the sofa. She lay back, as + she had lain before, with her hands on her lap. The only change that I + noted in her attitude was that her fists were clenched tightly. Mr. + Wendall stopped playing abruptly. There was a short interval of silence, + through which I seemed to feel the last chord that was struck vibrating in + my spine. + </p> + <p> + Then he began to play again. Once more the feeling of excitement came on + me. I am far from being a Puritan, but I suppose I have inherited from + generations of sternly Protestant ancestors some kind of moral prejudice. + I felt, as the excitement grew intenser, that I had discovered a new, + supremely delightful kind of sin. There came to my memory the names of + ancient gods and goddesses denounced by the prophets of Israel: Peor and + Baalim, Milcom, Moloch, Ashtaroth. I knew why the people loved to worship + them. I remembered that Milton had rejoiced in the names of these + half-forgotten deities, and that Milton loved music. No doubt he, too, + understood this way of sinning and, very rightly, he placed the gods of it + in hell. Wendall, at the piano, stopped and began again. He did this many + times. His music was loud sometimes, sometimes soft, but it did not fail + to create the sense of passionate deliciousness and, for a time, a longing + for more of it. + </p> + <p> + After a while my senses grew numb, sated I suppose. I looked over at the + Aschers. She still lay as she had lain at first, but her fists were no + longer clenched. All her muscles seemed to be relaxed. Ascher had crept + over close to her. He lay back beside her, and I saw that he held one of + her hands clasped in his. His eyes were fixed intently on hers, and even + as I watched I saw her lids droop before his gaze. She gave a long, soft + sigh of satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher and his wife were lovers still, though they had + been married for a score or more of years. That strange emotion, which + touches human life with romance for a year or two and then fades into a + tolerant companionship, had endured with them. In some way altogether + unknown to me the music and all the art in which they delighted had the + power of stimulating afresh or re-creating again and again the passion + which drew them together. Under the influence of art they enjoyed a + mystical communion with each other, not wholly spiritual, but like all + mysticism, a mixture of the physical, the ecstasy of contact, actual or + imagined, with yearnings and emotions in which the body has no part. + </p> + <p> + I suppose the music had its effect on me, too, gave me for a few moments a + power of sympathy not usually mine. I understood Ascher as I had never + understood him before. I knew that the man I had hitherto seen, austere, + calm, intellectual, the great financier whom the world sought, was a man + with a mask before his face; that accident and the excitement of the music + had enabled me to see the face behind the mask. I understood, or supposed + I understood, Mrs. Ascher, too. All her foolish fine phrases and absurd + enthusiasms were like cries in which tortured creatures find some kind of + relief from pain, or the low, crooning laughter of a young mother with her + baby at her breast. They were the inevitable, almost hysterical gaspings + of a spirit wrought upon over highly and over often by the passion of + romantic love. A mask hid the man’s face. The woman was not strong enough + to wear it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p> + It is difficult now, in 1915, to regard the things which happened during + the first half of last year as events in any proper sense of the word. But + at the time they excited us all very much, and we felt that the whole + future of the country, the empire, perhaps of the human race, depended on + how the Government met the crisis with which it was faced. It seems + curious that we could have believed such a thing, but we did. + </p> + <p> + I remember quite distinctly the circumstances under which I first heard + the news of the protest made by certain cavalry officers against what they + supposed to be the Government’s policy in Ulster. I am not, thank God, + called upon to pass a judgment on that very tangled business, or to give + any opinion about the rights or wrongs of either side. I do not even + profess to know the facts. Indeed I am inclined to doubt whether there + were any facts. In affairs conducted mainly by politicians there seldom + are facts. There are statements, explanations, pledges and recriminations + in great abundance; but facts are not to be discovered, for the sufficient + reason that they are not there. What happened or seemed to happen was + described as a plot, a mare’s nest, an aristocratic conspiracy, an + assertion of principle, a mutiny, a declaration of loyalty, and a + newspaper scare, according to the taste of the person who was speaking. + The safest thing to call it, I think, is an incident. + </p> + <p> + I went down to the club at twelve o’clock, intending to smoke a cigar and + look at the picture papers before luncheon. I found Malcolmson in the + outer hall. His head was bent over the machine which reels off strips of + paper with the latest news printed on them. The machine was ticking + vigorously, and I knew by the tense attitude in which Malcolmson was + standing that something very important must have happened. My first + impulse was to slip quietly past and get away to the smoking room before + he saw me. I like Malcolmson, but he is tiresome, particularly tiresome + when there is important news. I crossed the hall cautiously, keeping an + eye on him, hoping that he would not look round till I was safe. + </p> + <p> + Malcolmson has reached that time of life at which a man’s neck begins to + bulge over his collar at the back, forming a kind of roll of rather hairy + flesh, along which the starched linen marks a deep line from ear to ear. I + noticed as I passed that Malcolmson’s neck was far more swollen than usual + and, that it was rapidly changing colour from its ordinary brick red to a + deep purple. The sight was so strange and startling that I stopped for a + minute to see what would happen next. I have never heard of a man’s neck + bursting under pressure of strong excitement, but Malcolmson’s looked as + if it must break out in some way. While I was watching, the machine + suddenly stopped ticking and Malcolmson turned round. His face was nearly + as purple as his neck. His moustache, always bristly, looked as if it was + composed of fine wires charged with electricity. His eyes were blazing + with excitement. + </p> + <p> + “Come here, Digby,” he said. “Come here and read this.” + </p> + <p> + He caught up the paper which the machine had disgorged and allowed it to + hang across his hands in graceful festoons. There seemed to me to be a + great deal of it. + </p> + <p> + “I wish you’d tell me about it,” I said. “I hate reading those things. The + print is so queer.” + </p> + <p> + I knew that Malcolmson would tell me about it whether I read it for myself + or not. There was no use getting a double dose of the news whatever it + was. + </p> + <p> + “The damned Government’s done for at last,” said Malcolmson triumphantly, + “and Home Rule’s as dead as a door nail.” + </p> + <p> + “Good,” I said. “Now we shall all be able to settle down. How did it + happen? Earthquake in Dublin? But that would hardly do it. Cabinet + Ministers committed suicide unanimously?” + </p> + <p> + “The Army,” said Malcolmson, “has refused to fire on us. I knew they would + and they have.” + </p> + <p> + “Were they asked to?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Asked to!” said Malcolmson. “They were told to, ordered to. We’ve had our + private information of what was going on. We’ve known all about it for a + week or more. Belfast was to be bombarded by the Fleet. Two brigades of + infantry were to cross the Boyne and march on Portadown. The cavalry, + supported by light artillery, were to take Enniskillen by surprise. We + were to be mowed down, mowed down and sabred before we had time to + mobilise. The most infamous plot in modern times. A second St. + Bartholomew’s massacre. But thank God the Army is loyal. I cross to-night + to take my place with my men.” + </p> + <p> + An ill-tempered, captious man might have suggested that Malcolmson ought + to have taken his place with his men—a regiment of volunteers I + suppose—a little sooner. According to his own account, the peril had + been real a week before, but was over before he told me about it. The + Government which had planned the massacre was dead and damned. The Army + had refused to carry out the infamous plot. It seemed a mere piece of + bravado, under the circumstances, to take up arms. But I knew Malcolmson + better than to suppose that he wanted to swagger when swaggering was safe. + His mind might be in a muddled state. Judging by the way he talked to me, + it was very muddled indeed. But his heart was sound, and no risk would + have daunted him. + </p> + <p> + “Let’s have a glass of sherry and a biscuit,” I said. “You’ll want + something to steady your nerves.” + </p> + <p> + But Malcolmson, for once, for the only time since I have known him, was + unwilling to sit down and talk. His train, supposing that he took the + quickest route to Belfast, did not leave Euston till 8 or 9 o’clock at + night; but he felt that he must be up and doing at once. He fussed out of + the club, and for some time I saw no more of him. + </p> + <p> + I waited until the hall porter had cut up the slips of paper which fell + from the clicking machine and pinned the bits to the notice boards. Then I + read the news for myself. These machines are singularly unintelligent. + They mix up the items of news in a very irritating way. Sometimes a sheet + begins with the assassination of a foreign prime minister, breaks off + suddenly to announce the name of a winning horse, goes back to the prime + minister, starts a divorce case abruptly and then gives a few Stock + Exchange quotations. I hate news which comes to me in this disjointed way, + and never attempt to learn anything from the machine until the hall porter + has edited the sheets. He cuts them up, gets all the racing news on one + board, the Stock Exchange and the Divorce Court on another and makes a + continuous narrative of political news, assassinations, picturesque + shipwrecks and such matters on the largest and most prominent of the + notice boards. + </p> + <p> + I found when I did read that Malcolmson had built up a lofty structure on + a very small foundation. Something had evidently happened among the + soldiers stationed at the Curragh Camp; but the first account telegraphed + over from Ireland left me in grave doubt. It was a question whether the + men had actually been told to shoot Malcolmson and refused to obey orders; + or had been asked, politely, if they would like to shoot Malcolmson and + said they would rather not. The one thing which emerged with any sort of + clearness was that Malcolmson would not be shot. This made my mind easy. I + went into the dining-room and had some luncheon. + </p> + <p> + Early in the afternoon I collected six evening papers, three belonging to + each side. I found the Unionist writers unanimous on two points. The Army + had saved the Empire and the Government would be obliged to resign. The + Liberal scribes took another view of the situation. According to them the + Army had been seduced from its loyalty by the intrigues of fascinating and + fashionable Delilahs, but the will of the people must, nevertheless, + prevail. Newspaper writers on the Liberal side are far more intelligent + than their opponents. It was a stupid thing, in the early part of 1914, to + talk about saving the Empire. No one at that time cared anything about the + Empire. Very few people believed that it existed. It was worse than stupid + to suggest that the Government would resign. The country was utterly weary + of General Elections and was planning its summer holiday. Public sympathy + was hopelessly alienated by that kind of talk. On the other hand, the + fashionable Delilah story was a brilliant invention. There is nothing + dearer to the heart of the English middle classes and working men than the + belief that every woman with a dress allowance of more than £200 a year is + a courtesan. The suggestion that these immoral Phrynes were bartering + their charms for power to thwart the will of the people was just the sort + of thing to raise a tempest of enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + Almost anything might have happened if the Government had had the courage + to follow up its advantage. Fortunately—from Malcolmson’s point of + view—it did not venture to shut up all women of title, under fifty + years of age, in houses of correction; a course which would have convinced + the general public that Home Rule was a sound thing. It spent a fortnight + or so contradicting everybody who said anything, including itself, and + then apologised for being misunderstood. + </p> + <p> + However, that anti-climax was still some way off. + </p> + <p> + I stuffed the three Liberal papers into my pocket and went to call on Lady + Kingscourt. She is the only peeress I am intimate with who moves in really + fashionable circles and is both rich and beautiful. It would have been + interesting to hear what she said when I pointed out to her that she had + been seducing subalterns. She was not at home when I reached her house. + The butler told me that she had gone to a bazaar got up to raise funds for + the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families’ Association, in itself a suspicious + circumstance. If I were Lady Kingscourt and my character was attacked as + hers was, I should keep clear of any charity with the word soldier in its + name. I was sorry to miss her, though I scarcely expected that she would + have tried to fascinate me. It is a good many years since I resigned my + commission. + </p> + <p> + The next person I thought of seeing was Gorman. It was nearly five + o’clock, so I went to the House of Commons. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, when I found him, seemed very much pleased to see me, and was in a + hospitable mood. He took me to a room, which must have originally been + meant for a cellar, and gave me tea. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been ringing you up on the telephone all day,” he said, “and + couldn’t get you. Where have you been?” + </p> + <p> + “Down at the club,” I said, “talking to Malcolmson about the plot—what + you’d call the situation I suppose. You can hardly be expected to admit + that there is a plot. Now, do tell me what you think about the situation.” + </p> + <p> + “Damn the situation!” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “seems the sensible view to take. Is it the one usually + held? Is that what they’re saying up there?” + </p> + <p> + I pointed to the ceiling with my thumb. Somewhere above my head, it might + be supposed, statesmen with furrowed brows were taking anxious counsel + together for the safety of the nation, retiring now and then when utterly + exhausted, to damn the situation in private rooms. + </p> + <p> + “Some of them are a bit fussed,” said Gorman. “Silly asses! But it isn’t + that wretched business that I wanted to speak to you about.” + </p> + <p> + “Good gracious! Do you mean to say that you can talk of anything else? + that you didn’t ring me up to tell me what will happen?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing will happen,” said Gorman. “Two or three muddled-headed young + fools at the Curragh will get court-martialled. That’s all. What I wanted + to see you about is this new invention of Tim’s. There’s really something + in it.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said. “You’re fiddling while Rome is burning. How can you + reconcile it to your conscience to play with cinematographs when a + horrible conspiracy is threatening life and liberty?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” said Gorman, “you don’t really believe that we plotted, as they + call it, to murder people in Belfast?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know whether you did or not,” I said. “But that’s not the + conspiracy I’m alluding to. Look here.” + </p> + <p> + I pulled out of my pocket the three papers which I had meant for Lady + Kingscourt and showed Gorman the articles about the fashionable ladies + seducing soldiers. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t expect our side,” I said, “to sit down under this kind of thing + without a struggle. We shall make counter accusations. I shall do it + myself if nobody else does. I’m warning you beforehand, Gorman, so that + you won’t be surprised when you find your character in rags.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at his watch. + </p> + <p> + “I know you like talking that sort of nonsense,” he said, “and I don’t + mind listening, not a bit; but just let me ask you this before you start. + Will you come down with me this evening and see Tim’s invention? If you + will I’ll order a motor from Harrod’s or somewhere, and we’ll run down + after dinner. There’s no use going in broad daylight, for we can’t see the + thing properly till after dark.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be delighted,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Very well. Excuse me a moment while I go and get on the ‘phone to engage + the motor.” + </p> + <p> + I waited, feeling a little sore. I daresay I do talk nonsense and like + talking it, but no politician who ever lived has a right to tell me so. I + intended to greet Gorman when he returned with the proverb about living in + glass houses and throwing stones. He came back, smiling radiantly. My + ill-humour passed away at once. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” he said, “go on with what you were telling me. + </p> + <p> + “I pointed out to you,” I said, “that duchesses, marchionesses, + countesses, and other abandoned women of that kind have been flirting with + military officers in such a way as to interfere with the governing of this + country in accordance with the principles of democracy.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that what they say?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + He picked up one of the papers which I had laid on the table and satisfied + himself that the thing was really in print. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “they had to say something. I daresay people will believe + them. The English are an extraordinarily credulous race, fools in fact. + That’s why I’m a Home Ruler.” + </p> + <p> + “You must remember,” I said, “that I’m a Unionist.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you? Speaking confidentially, now, are you really?” + </p> + <p> + “My father was,” I said, “and I don’t like to see these things in print + about the party without making some kind of reply. What I’m thinking of + doing is writing a sort of circular letter to all the papers on our side + and saying that to my certain knowledge you and Mrs. Ascher have been + using undue and unfair influence over each other for the last six months. + If it’s wrong for a woman to talk politics to a soldier it must be much + more wrong for one to talk art to a politician.” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” said Gorman, “is an extraordinary woman. The more I see of + her, the less inclined I am to be surprised at anything she says or does. + She’s tremendously keen just now on Home Rule and Ireland generally.” + </p> + <p> + “That is amazing,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “It isn’t in itself,” said Gorman, “but the way she gets at it is. I mean + that theory of hers about——” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. I know. She will insist on thinking that you and everybody else on + your side are artists.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet,” said Gorman, “I can’t persuade her to look at Tim’s new + invention.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher’s prejudice against cinematographs, improved or unimproved, + was certainly strong. I found it hard to understand exactly how she felt. + She found no difficulty in regarding Gorman, a devoted politician, as a + hero. When she had no objection to the form of entertainment with which he + provided the public, it was difficult to see why she kicked against moving + pictures. I should have thought that the performances at Westminster were + considerably more vulgar, certainly far less original and striking, than + the things shown on the cinematograph. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I dined at Scott’s, chiefly on lobsters, at seven o’clock, an + uncomfortably early hour. We had a twenty-five-mile drive before us to + reach the farm, somewhere in the depths of Hertfordshire, where Tim was + making his experiments. The drive was a very pleasant one. The first part + of it lay along one of the great artery roads which lead from the centre + of London to the North. The evening was fine and warm without being + stuffy, one of those evenings which are the peculiar glory of the early + English summer. It seemed to me that many thousands of people were passing + along that road towards the country. Parties of laughing boys and girls + pedalled northwards on bicycles, swerving in and out through the traffic. + Stout, middle-aged men, with fat, middle-aged women beside them, drove + sturdy ponies, or lean, high-stepping horses, in curious old-fashioned + gigs. Motor cyclists, young men with outstretched chins and set faces, + sped by us, outstripping our car. Others we passed, riders who had side + cars attached to their cycles, young men these, too, but soberer, weighted + with responsibility. They had their wives in the side cars, wives who + looked little more than girls, though many of them held babies in their + arms, and one now and then had a well-grown child wrapped in rugs at her + feet. + </p> + <p> + “Life!” said Gorman, waving his cigar comprehensively towards the moving + crowds. “Wonderful thing life! Keeps going on. Don’t know why it should, + but it does. Nothing seems to make any difference to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Not even your politics,” I said. “Curious thing, isn’t it, how little all + that fuss of yours matters? It doesn’t make any difference which of your + parties is in power. All this goes on just the same. That young fellow—there, + the one who didn’t quite break his neck at the lamp post—would go + down to his office to-morrow exactly as he always does, if every member of + the House of Commons dies in the night. You see that girl with the baby—the + one on our left—she’d have had that baby just the same if the Long + Parliament were still sitting. None of your laws could have made her have + that baby, or stopped her. You are simply fussing in an unimportant way, + raising silly little clouds of dust which will settle down again at once. + She’s keeping the world going and she probably doesn’t even know the name + of the Prime Minister.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s all very well,” said Gorman, “but we’re seeing that these people + get their rights, their fair share of what’s going. If it wasn’t for us + and the laws we pass, the rich would grow richer and richer while these + men and women would gradually sink into the position of slaves. I’m not a + socialist. I don’t believe in that theory; but capitalists have had things + far too much their own way in the past.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Ascher! I like Ascher, of course, personally; but speaking of him as + a typical member of a class, he’s simply a parasite. All financiers are. + He ought to be abolished, wiped out, done away with. He fulfils no useful + function.” + </p> + <p> + Our motor sped along. A cycle with a side car just kept pace with us for a + while. A nice, clean-shaven, honest-looking young fellow was in the + saddle. His girl-wife sat beside him in the basket-work slipper which he + dragged along. It was her baby which I had pointed out to Gorman a moment + before. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “they have had tinned peaches for tea.” + </p> + <p> + “Very likely,” said Gorman, “just the sort of thing they would have. I + know that class. Lived among them for years. He comes home at half past + six. She has put on a clean blouse and tidied her hair so that he’ll kiss + her, and he does. Then he kisses the baby, probably likes doing that, too, + as it’s the first. Then he has a wash and she brings in the tea. Bread and + butter for her with a pot of marmalade, an egg—at this time of year + certainly an egg—for him.” + </p> + <p> + “And tinned peaches.” + </p> + <p> + “Eaten with teaspoons out of saucers,” said Gorman, “and they’ll enjoy + them far more than you did that lobster salad at Scott’s.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m sure they will. And that is just where Ascher comes in.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t see it,” said Gorman, “unless you mean that they’d be eating + hothouse peaches if there were no Aschers.” + </p> + <p> + I did not mean that. I am, indeed, pretty sure that if there were no + Aschers, if Gorman succeeded in abolishing the class, neither the city + clerk, nor his pretty wife, nor any one else in England would eat hothouse + peaches. There would not be any. I am inclined to think that if Ascher + were done away with there would not even be any tinned peaches. Tinned + peaches come from California. Somebody grows them there. That man must be + kept going, fed, clothed sufficiently, housed, while the peach trees grow. + He must be financed. Somebody else collects the peaches, puts them into + tins, solders air-tight lids on them, pastes labels round them. He works + with borrowed money. Somebody packs the tins in huge cases, puts them in + trains, piles them into ships, despatches them to London, getting his + power to do these things in some mysterious way from Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “While she washes up the cups and saucers,” said Gorman, “he brings round + that motor cycle.” + </p> + <p> + “Paid for,” I said, “in monthly instalments.” + </p> + <p> + “Probably,” said Gorman, “with a deposit of £25 to start with.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s Ascher,” I said, “who makes that possible.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s Ascher,” said Gorman, “who makes that necessary. If it were not for + Ascher’s rake-off, the tax he levies on every industry, the machine could + be bought right out for the original £25 and there would be no instalments + to be paid.” + </p> + <p> + Possibly. But the tires of the machine were made of rubber. I remembered + my visit to Para, the broad, steaming Amazon, the great ships crawling + slowly past walls of forest trees, the pallid white men, the melancholy + Indians. It may be possible to devise some other means of getting the + precious gum from the Brazilian forest; but at present the whole business + is dependent on Ascher. + </p> + <p> + We left that motor cycle behind us at last and sped faster along a stretch + of road where the traffic was less dense. + </p> + <p> + “You notice,” said Gorman, “the way London is swallowing up the country. + That was once a rural inn.” + </p> + <p> + I had observed what Gorman pointed out to me. Here and there along the + road, a mile or so apart from each other, we came on old buildings, a + group of cottages, a farm house, an inn. These were solidly built after + the good old fashion. It had seemed wasteful to pull them down. The waves + of the advancing tide of London reached them, passed them, swept beyond + them, left them standing. + </p> + <p> + “Quite a few years ago,” said Gorman, “those houses stood in the middle of + fields, and the people who lived in them ate the food that grew at their + doors.” + </p> + <p> + “No tinned peaches,” I said, “no bicycles.” + </p> + <p> + “And no Ascher,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “we can’t go back.” + </p> + <p> + “In Ireland,” he said, “we needn’t go on. If we can only get clear of this + cursed capitalistic civilisation of England—that’s what I mean by + being a Home Ruler.” + </p> + <p> + “You think,” I said, “that we should be too wise to accept the yoke of + Ascher, to barter our freedom for tinned peaches.” + </p> + <p> + “We’ll get the tinned peaches, too.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you won’t. If you have civilisation—and that includes a lot of + things besides tinned peaches, tobacco for instance, Gorman. If you want a + cigar you’ll have to put up with Ascher. But I daresay you’d be better + without it. Only I don’t think I’ll live in your Ireland, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + We passed away from London in the end, got out beyond the last tentative + reachings of the speculative builder, into country lane-ways. There were + hedges covered with hawthorn, and the scent of it reached us as we rushed + past. Gorman threw away a half-smoked cigar. Perhaps he wanted to enjoy + the country smells. Perhaps he was preparing himself for life in the new + Ireland which he hoped to bring into being. + </p> + <p> + We reached the barn in which Tim Gorman lived, at about nine o’clock. He + was waiting for us, dressed in his best clothes. I knew they were his best + clothes because they were creased all over in wrong places, showing that + they had been packed away tightly in some receptacle too small to hold + them. It is only holiday clothes which are treated in this way. Besides + putting on this suit, Tim had paid us the compliment of washing his face + and hands for the first time, I imagine, for many days. + </p> + <p> + He shook hands with me shyly, and greeted his brother with obvious + nervousness. + </p> + <p> + “I have everything ready,” he said, “quite ready. But I can’t promise—— + You may be disappointed—— I’ve had endless difficulties—— + If you will allow me to explain——” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit of good explaining to us,” said Gorman. “All we’re capable of + judging is the results.” + </p> + <p> + Tim sighed and led us into the barn. + </p> + <p> + It was a large, bare room, ventilated—no one could say it was lit—by + three or four unglazed openings in the wall. These Tim blocked with hay so + as to exclude the lingering twilight of the summer evening. + </p> + <p> + At one end of the building was a stage, built, I thought, of fragments of + packing cases. It was very hard to be sure about anything, for we had + nothing except the light of two candles to see by, but the stage looked + exceedingly frail. I should not have cared to walk across it. However, as + it turned out, that did not matter. The stage was used only by ghosts, the + phantoms which Tim created, and they weighed nothing. Tim himself, when it + became necessary for him to adjust some part of his apparatus, crept about + underneath the stage. + </p> + <p> + At the other end of the barn was an optical lantern, fitted with the usual + mechanism for the exhibition of films. Half way down the room was a camp + bedstead, covered with one brown blanket. Tim invited us to sit on it. + </p> + <p> + “It doesn’t often break down,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “If it breaks down at all,” said Gorman, “I’ll not risk it. I’d rather sit + on the floor.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is a heavy man. I think he was right to avoid the bed. I sat down + cautiously on one end of it. The middle part looked more comfortable, but + I felt more secure with the legs immediately underneath me. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all right,” said Tim, “quite all right. I fixed it just before you + came in.” + </p> + <p> + That bed, a tin basin and two very dirty towels were the only articles of + household furniture in the place. I suppose Tim had his meals with the + farmer who owned the barn. No inspired artist, toiling frenziedly with a + masterpiece in a garret, ever lived a more Spartan life than Tim Gorman + did in that barn. Whatever money he had was certainly not spent on his + personal comfort. On the other hand, a good deal of money had been spent + on tools and material of various kinds. Packing cases stood piled together + against the walls. The straw in which their contents had been wrapped + littered the floor. I discerned, as my eyes got used to the gloom, a + quantity of carpenters’ tools near the stage, and, beside them, a confused + heap of the mysterious implements of the plumber’s trade. + </p> + <p> + While I was looking round me and the elder Gorman was wriggling about on + the floor, Tim worked the lantern behind our backs. The thing, or some + part of it, hissed in an alarming way. Then it made a whirring noise and a + bright beam of light shot across the room. A very curious thing happened + to that light. Instead of splashing against the far wall of the barn, + exhibiting the cracks and ridges of the masonry, it stopped at the stage + and spread itself in a kind of irregular globe. We sat in the dark. Across + the room stretched the shaft of intense light, making the dust particles + visible. Then, just as when a child blows soap bubbles through a tube, the + light became globular. + </p> + <p> + “Put out the candles,” said Tim. + </p> + <p> + They stood, flaming feebly, on the floor between Gorman and me. I + extinguished them. Tim’s machine gave a sharp click. Figures appeared + suddenly in the middle of the globe of light. A man, then two women, then + a dog. I do not know, and at the time I did not care in the least, what + the figures were supposed to be saying or doing. It was sufficient for me + that they were there. I saw them, not as flat, sharply outlined + silhouettes, but as if they had been solid bodies. I saw them with + softened outlines, through two eyes instead of a monocle. I saw them + surrounded by an atmosphere. + </p> + <p> + “Pretty good, isn’t it?” said Gorman. “Tim, turn on that running girl. I + want Sir James to see how you get the effect of her going further and + further away.” + </p> + <p> + The running girl was the best thing accomplished by the old cinematograph. + I never witness her race without a certain feeling of breathlessness. But + Tim’s girl ran far better. She was amazingly real. When she had finished + her course, Gorman struck a match and lit the candles again. + </p> + <p> + “That’ll do, Tim,” he said. “We’ve seen enough.” + </p> + <p> + “I’d like to show you the horses,” said Tim. “I think the horses galloping + are the best thing I’ve got.” + </p> + <p> + “We’ll take your word for the horses,” said Gorman. “Shut off that light + of yours and stop the whizzing noise. I want to talk.” He turned to me. + “Well?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s marvellous,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “There’s money in it,” said Gorman. “Piles and piles of money. The only + question is, Who’s to get it?” + </p> + <p> + “Tim,” I said, “is the one who deserves it.” + </p> + <p> + “Tim will get his share whatever happens. The real question is, How are we + to prevent Ascher grabbing all the rest?” + </p> + <p> + Tim had finished quieting his machine and came over to us. + </p> + <p> + “Michael,” he said, “I want £100.” + </p> + <p> + “What for?” + </p> + <p> + “I want more mirrors. The ones I’m using aren’t perfect. I must have + others.” + </p> + <p> + “The ones you have,” said Gorman, “are good enough for the present. When + we get a bit further on and see how this business is going to be managed, + we may get you other mirrors.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said Tim, “I’ll ask Ascher for the money. He’ll give it to + me. I’d have asked him a week ago only you made me promise not to take any + more money from him without telling you.” + </p> + <p> + “If you take money from Ascher,” said Gorman, “he’ll simply collar your + whole invention. You’ll find in the end that it will be his, not yours. + He’ll get every penny that’s made out of it, and then he’ll tell you that + you owe him more than you can pay. I’ve told you all along that that’s + what will happen if you go borrowing from Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care,” said Tim, “so long as I get it perfected I don’t care what + happens.” + </p> + <p> + “Damn!” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + There was some excuse for him. Tim’s attitude was hopelessly unpractical. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you see,” said Tim, “that this is a wonderful thing? It’s one of + the greatest things that any one has done for a long time. It’s a new + thing.” + </p> + <p> + The note of weak obstinacy which was in his voice when he first spoke had + died out of it. He was pleading with his brother as a child might beg for + something from a grown-up man. + </p> + <p> + “That’s exactly what I do see,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Then why won’t you let me perfect it? It doesn’t matter—sure, you + know yourself, Michael, that it doesn’t matter what happens if only I get + it right.” + </p> + <p> + I thought for a moment that the boy was going to cry. He pulled himself + together with a sort of choked sob and then suddenly flashed into a rage. + </p> + <p> + “I will ask Ascher for the money,” he said. “I will, I will. Damn you, + Michael! I’ll give it all to Ascher, everything I have. Everything I ever + invent. I’ll tell him all I’ve found out. I’ll make it his.” + </p> + <p> + Then with another swift change of mood the boy turned to me and began to + plead again. + </p> + <p> + “Tell him to give me the money,” he said. “Or make him let me ask Ascher + for it. He’ll do it if you speak to him. I don’t want to quarrel with + Michael. I don’t want to do anything he says is wrong. But I must have + that money. Don’t you see I must? I can’t get on without it?” + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me, Tim,” I said; “if I give you the £100 you want——” + </p> + <p> + “I could manage with £100,” said Tim. “But it would be much better if I + had £150.” + </p> + <p> + “A hundred,” I said, “and no more. If I give it to you, will you promise + to bring that apparatus of yours up to London and exhibit your results to + a few friends of mine there?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I will. Of course I will. May I order the new mirrors to-morrow and + say that you’ll pay for them?” + </p> + <p> + “You may. But remember——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that will be all right,” said Tim. “As soon as ever it is perfected——” + </p> + <p> + “Perfect or imperfect,” I said, “you’ve promised to show it off when I ask + you to.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I drove home together. At first he would do nothing except + grumble about his brother’s childish obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + “Can’t understand,” he said, “how any man with brains can be such a fool.” + </p> + <p> + Then when he had worked off the fine edge of his irritation he began to + thank me. + </p> + <p> + “It was good of you, very,” he said, “to put down the money. I’d have done + it myself, if I could have laid my hand on the amount he wanted. But just + at this moment I can’t. All the same I don’t see what good that £100 is + going to do. The thing’s perfect enough for all practical purposes + already. I saw nothing wrong with it.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor did I.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what the devil does he want to do with it? If the thing works all + right, what’s the sense of tinkering with it?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s the artistic soul,” I said, “never satisfied, always reaching + upwards towards the unattained. It’s the same with Mrs. Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “Of all the damned idiocies,” said Gorman, “that artistic soul is the + damnedest.” + </p> + <p> + I said nothing more for several minutes. I knew it would take Gorman some + time to recover from the mention of the artistic soul. When I thought he + had regained his self-possession I went on speaking. + </p> + <p> + “My idea,” I said, “is to hire a small hall, and to invite a number of + well-off people to see Tim’s show. You’ll want money in the end, you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “Not much,” said Gorman. “A few thousands will be enough. It isn’t as if + we had to manufacture anything.” + </p> + <p> + “If you get what you want,” I said, “in small sums from a number of + people, you’ll be able to keep control of the thing yourself, and you + needn’t be afraid of Ascher. Not that I believe Ascher would swindle, you. + I think Ascher’s an honest man.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher’s a financier,” said Gorman. “That’s enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. + </h2> + <p> + I never suspected Malcolmson of the cheap kind of military ardour which + shows itself in the girding on of swords after the hour of danger is past. + He is the kind of man who likes taking risks, and I have not the slightest + doubt that if he had really known beforehand that the Government was + “plotting” to invade Ulster he would have been found entrenched, with a + loaded rifle beside him, on the north bank of the Boyne. What I did think, + when he left London suddenly to place himself at the head of his men, was + that he had been a little carried away by the excitement of the times; + that he was moved, as many people are, when startling events happen, to do + something, without any very distinct idea of what is to be done. But even + that suspicion wronged Malcolmson. Either he or some one else had devised + an effective counterplot; effective considered as a second act in a comic + opera. Perhaps I ought not to say comic opera. There is a certain + reasonableness in the schemes of every comic opera. Our affairs in the + early part of 1914 were moving through an atmosphere like that of “Alice + in Wonderland.” The Government was a sort of Duchess, affecting to regard + Ulster as the baby which was beaten when it sneezed because it could if it + chose thoroughly enjoy the pepper of Home Rule. The Opposition, on the + other hand, with its eye also on Ulster, kept saying in tones of awestruck + warning, “Beware the Jabberwock, my son.” Malcolmson seemed to be a kind + of White Knight, lovable, simple-minded, chivalrous, but a little out of + place in the world. + </p> + <p> + However, Malcolmson and his friends, considered as characters in “Alice in + Wonderland,” were effective, far more effective than the poor White Knight + ever was. They bought a lot of guns somewhere, perhaps in Hamburg. They + hired a ship and loaded her with the guns. They sailed her into Larne + Harbour and said to the Government, “Now, come on if you dare.” + </p> + <p> + The Government, having previously issued a solemn proclamation forbidding + the importation of arms into Ireland, took up the attitude of Mr. Winkle + and said it was just going to begin. It rolled up its sleeves and clenched + its fists and said for the second time and with considerable emphasis that + it was just going to begin, Malcolmson danced about, coat off, battle + light in eye, and kept shouting: “Come on!” The Government, taking off its + collar and tie, said: “Just you wait till I get at you.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman took a sane, though I think incorrect, view of the situation. + </p> + <p> + “The English people,” he said, “are hopeless fools. It’s almost impossible + to deal with them. They are actually beginning to believe that Ulster is + in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “that’s only fair. They’ve been believing that you’re in + earnest for quite a long time now. Ulster ought to have its turn.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, though a politician, is essentially a just man. He admitted the + truth of what I had said. He went further. He admitted that Malcolmson’s + coup was exceedingly well conceived. + </p> + <p> + “It’s just the sort of thing,” he said, “which appeals to Englishmen. + Reason is wasted on them.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be too hard on the English,” I said. “It’s the same everywhere in + the world. Government through the people, of the people, by, with, from, + to and for the people, is always unreasonable.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s the theatrical which pays,” said Gorman. “I didn’t think those + fellows in Belfast had brains enough to grasp that fact, but apparently + they have. I must say that this gun-running performance of theirs is good. + It has the quality which Americans describe as ‘punch.’ It has stirred the + popular imagination. It has got right across the footlights. It has + fetched the audience.” + </p> + <p> + “Awkward situation for you,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “We’ll have to do something,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?” + </p> + <p> + “Lord, no. We may be fools, but we’re not such fools as that.” + </p> + <p> + “Still,” I said, “he’s broken the law. After all, a party like yours in + close alliance with the Government of the country must do something to + maintain the majesty of the law.” + </p> + <p> + “Law be damned,” said Gorman. “What the devil does law matter to us or the + Government either? What we’ve got to consider is popular opinion.” + </p> + <p> + “And that,” I said, “seems to be setting against you. According to the + theory of democracy as I understand it, you’re bound to go the way popular + opinion is blowing you. You can’t, without gross inconsistency, start + beating to windward against it.” + </p> + <p> + “Winds sometimes change,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “They do. This one has. It was all in your favour a fortnight ago. Now, + what with your ‘plot’ and this really striking little episode in Larne——” + </p> + <p> + “The art of government,” said Gorman, “consists in manipulating the wind, + making it blow the way it’s wanted to. What we’ve got to do is to go one + better than the Ulster men.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” I said, “they imported rifles. You might land a shipload of large + cannons. Is that the idea?” + </p> + <p> + “They needn’t necessarily be real cannons. I don’t think our funds would + run to real cannons. Besides, what good would they be when we had them? + But you’ve got the main idea all right. Our game is to pull off something + which will startle the blessed British public, impress it with the fact + that we’re just as desperate as the other fellows.” + </p> + <p> + “What about the police?” I said. “The police have always had a down on + your side. It’s a tradition in the force.” + </p> + <p> + “The police aren’t fools,” said Gorman. “They know jolly well that any + policemen who attempted to interfere with our coup, whatever it may be, + would simply be dismissed. After all, we’re not doing any harm. We’re not + going to shoot any one. We’re simply going to influence public opinion. + Every one has a right to do that. By the way, did I mention that my play + is being revived? Talking of public opinion reminded me of it. It had + quite a success when it was first put on.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is charming. He never sticks to one subject long enough to be + really tiresome. + </p> + <p> + “I’m delighted to hear it,” I said. “I hope it will do even better this + time.” + </p> + <p> + “It ought to,” said Gorman. “We’ve got a capital press agent, and, of + course, my name is far better known than it was. It isn’t every day the + public gets a play written by a Member of Parliament.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is it to be produced?” “The Parthenon. Good big house.” + </p> + <p> + The Parthenon is one of the largest of the London Music Halls. Gorman’s + play was, I suppose, to take its place in the usual way between an + exhibition of pretty frocks with orchestral accompaniment and an imitation + of the Russian dancers. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be there,” I said, “on the first night. You can count on my + applause.” + </p> + <p> + It occurred to me after Gorman left me that the revival of his play + offered me an excellent opportunity of entertaining the Aschers. Ascher + had been exceedingly kind to me in giving me letters of introduction to + all the leading bankers in South America. Mrs. Ascher had been steadily + friendly to me. I owed them something and had some difficulty about the + best way of paying the debt. I did not care to ask them to dinner in my + rooms in Clarges Street. My landlord keeps a fairly good cook, and I + could, I daresay, have bought some wine which Ascher would have drunk. But + I could not have managed any kind of entertainment afterwards. I did not + like to give them dinner at a restaurant without taking them on to the + theatre; and the Aschers are rather superior to most plays. I had no way + of knowing which they would regard as real drama. The revival of Gorman’s + play solved my difficulty. I knew that Mrs. Ascher regarded him as an + artist and that Ascher had the highest respect for his brilliant and + paradoxical Irish mind. After luncheon I took a taxi and drove out to + Hampstead. I owed a call at the house in any case and, if Mrs. Ascher + happened to be at home, I could arrange the whole matter with her in the + way that would suit her best. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was at home. She was in the studio, a large bare room at the + back of the house. Gorman was with her. + </p> + <p> + I saw at once that Mrs. Ascher was in a highly emotional condition. I + suspected that Gorman had been talking to her about the latest wrong that + had been done to Ireland, his Ireland, by the other part of Ireland which + neither he nor Mrs. Ascher considered as Ireland at all. On the table in + the middle of the room there was a little group on which Mrs. Ascher had + been at work earlier in the day. A female figure stood with its right foot + on the neck of a very disagreeable beast, something like a pig, but + prick-eared and hairy. It had one horn in the middle of its forehead. The + female figure was rather well conceived. It was appealing, with a sort of + triumphant confidence, to some power above, heaven perhaps. The + prick-eared pig looked sulky. + </p> + <p> + “Emblematic,” said Gorman, “symbolical.” + </p> + <p> + “The Irish party,” I said, “trampling on Belfast.” + </p> + <p> + “The spirit of poetry in Ireland,” said Mrs. Ascher, “defying + materialism.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is a far nicer way of putting it.” + </p> + <p> + I took another look at the spirit of poetry. Mrs. Ascher was evidently + beginning to understand Ireland. Instead of being nude, or nearly nude, as + spirits generally are, this one was draped from head to foot. In Ireland + we are very particular about decency, and we like everything to have on + lots of clothes. + </p> + <p> + “But now,” said Mrs. Ascher, tragically, “the brief dream is over. + Materialism is triumphant, is armed, is mighty.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman for some sort of explanation. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just been telling Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “about the gun-running at + Larne.” + </p> + <p> + “The mailed fist,” said Mrs. Ascher, “will beat into the dust the tender + shoots of poesy and all high imaginings; will crush the soul of Ireland, + and why? Oh, why?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it won’t,” I said. “My own idea is that Malcolmson doesn’t mean + to use those guns aggressively. He’ll keep quite quiet unless the soul of + poetry in Ireland goes for him in some way.” + </p> + <p> + “We can make no such compromise,” said Mrs. Ascher. “Art must be all or + nothing, must be utterly triumphant or else perish with uncontaminated + soul.” + </p> + <p> + “The exclusion of Ulster from the scope of the Bill,” said Gorman, “is the + latest proposition; but we won’t agree to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “it’s your affair, not mine. I mean to stay in London and + keep safe; but I warn you that if the spirit of poesy attempts to triumph + utterly over Malcolmson he’ll shoot at it. I know him and you don’t. You + think he’s a long-eared pig, but that ought to make you all the more + careful. Pigs are noted for their obstinacy.” + </p> + <p> + “What we’ve got to do,” said Gorman, “is devise some way of countering + this new move. Something picturesque, something that newspapers will + splash with big headlines.” + </p> + <p> + I do not think that Mrs. Ascher heard this. She was looking at the upper + part of the window with a sort of rapt, Joan of Arc expression of face. I + felt that she was meditating lofty things, probably trying to hit on some + appropriate form of self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + “I shall go among the people,” she said, “your people, my people, for I am + spiritually one of them. I shall go from cottage to cottage, from village + to village, walking barefooted along the mountain roads, dressed in a + peasant woman’s petticoat. They will take me for one of themselves and I + shall sing war songs to them, the great inspiring chants of the heroes of + old. I shall awake them to a sense of their high destiny. I shall set the + young men’s feet marching, thousands and thousands of them. I shall fill + the women’s hearts with pride.” + </p> + <p> + Then, for the first and only time since I have known him, Gorman’s + patience gave way. I do not blame him. The thought of Mrs. Ascher as an + Irish peasant, singing street ballads outside public houses, would have + upset the temper of Job. + </p> + <p> + “That’s all very well,” he said, “but the other people have the guns.” + </p> + <p> + “We must have guns, too,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and shining swords and long + spears tipped with light. Buy guns.” + </p> + <p> + With a really impressive gesture she dragged the rings from the fingers, + first of one hand, then of the other, and flung them on the ground at + Gorman’s feet. Even when working in her studio Mrs. Ascher wears a great + many rings. + </p> + <p> + “Buy. Buy,” she said. + </p> + <p> + She unclasped the necklace which she wore and flung it down beside the + rings. It was a pearl necklace, but not by any means the handsomest pearl + necklace she owned. + </p> + <p> + “More,” she said, “you must have more.” + </p> + <p> + She pranced out of the room, stepping high, like an actress taking a part + in one of Shakespeare’s plays or a well-bred carriage horse. + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “you’re not going to take her wedding ring, are you? I + don’t think you ought to. Ascher’s really fond of her and I’m sure he + wouldn’t like it.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish to goodness,” said Gorman, “that she wouldn’t behave in this wild + way. If she wants to subscribe to the party funds why doesn’t she write a + cheque instead of shying jewellery at me? I should certainly be arrested + on suspicion if I went to try and pawn those things. Nobody would believe + that she gave them to me.” + </p> + <p> + He picked up the rings as he spoke and laid them in a row on the table. + </p> + <p> + “If we don’t get her stopped,” he said, “she’ll have everybody laughing at + us.” + </p> + <p> + “Laughing at you, Gorman, not at me. I’ve nothing to do with the poetic + soul of Ireland. It’s your property.” + </p> + <p> + “The English have no real sense of humour,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “They’ve got quite enough to see this joke,” I said. “An owl would giggle + if it saw Mrs. Ascher going barefoot about Ireland and you following her + round carrying a long spear tipped with light in your hand.” + </p> + <p> + “We must stop her,” said Gorman. “Oh, damn! Here she is again.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher came in carrying a large morocco leather covered box, her + jewel case, I suppose. She was a little calmer than when she left us but + still very determined. + </p> + <p> + “Take this,” she said. “Take all there is in it. I give it gladly—to + Ireland.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman looked at the jewel case and then pulled himself together with an + effort. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Ascher,” he said, “your gift is princely, but——” + </p> + <p> + “I give it freely,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “And I shall receive it,” said Gorman, “receive it as the gift of a queen, + given with queenly generosity. I shall receive it when the hour comes, but + the time is not yet.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman rising to an occasion is a sight which fills me with admiration. + That promise of a time to come was masterly. I should never have thought + of it; but of course it came more easily to Gorman than it would to me. He + is a politician and accustomed to draw cheques on rather distant futures. + </p> + <p> + “Our people,” said Gorman, “are as yet unprepared, not ready to face the + crisis of their destiny. Keep these.” Gorman laid his hand on the jewel + box as if giving it a sort of benediction, consecrating its contents to + the service of Ireland. “Keep these as a sacred trust until the hour is + upon us.” + </p> + <p> + I very nearly applauded. Mrs. Ascher seemed a little disappointed. + </p> + <p> + “Why not now?” she said. “Why should we delay any longer?” + </p> + <p> + “We must trust our leaders,” said Gorman. “They will tell us when the time + for action comes.” + </p> + <p> + That would have been good enough for any ordinary constituency. It did not + satisfy Mrs. Ascher. I saw her looking a little doubtfully at Gorman. She + is a curious woman. She uses the very finest kind of language herself; but + she always gets suspicious when any one else talks about sacred trusts and + things of that kind. The fact is, I suppose, that she means what she says, + lives, as well as talks, finely. Gorman and I do not—quite. + </p> + <p> + I felt that Gorman needed and deserved a little help. He had done well + enough so far, but he scarcely understood how near to the edge of Mrs. + Ascher’s credulity he had gone. + </p> + <p> + “What Mr. Gorman means,” I said, “is that you must have men, organised, + you know, and drilled, before you can give them guns. Just at present + there are very few volunteers in Mr. Gorman’s part of Ireland. He’s going + to enroll a lot more. When he has them he’ll ask you for a subscription + for the gun fund.” + </p> + <p> + I did not think that Mrs. Ascher was really satisfied. In the light of + subsequent events I found out that she certainly was not. But she said no + more at the moment and made no further effort to press her jewel case on + Gorman. I did not feel that the moment was a good one for giving her the + invitation I had planned. It is impossible, without something like + indecency, to invite a woman to dinner in a restaurant while she is + meditating a barefooted pilgrimage through the wild places of Holy + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + Gorman and I left the house together. I hired a taxi to take us home so + that we could talk comfortably. + </p> + <p> + “Extraordinary woman,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Very, very. But don’t let’s talk about her. That was rather a good idea + of yours. May be something in it. + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t know I had an idea,” I said. “Are you sure you’re not mixing me + up with Mrs. Ascher? She has lots.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Gorman. “It was you who suggested organising the + National Volunteers.” + </p> + <p> + There was at that time in Ireland a small number of extreme patriots who + rather admired Malcolmson because they thought he was going to fight + against England, and despised Gorman because they knew he was not. These + men had enrolled themselves in a semi-military organisation and called + themselves the National Volunteers. Gorman and his friends did their best + to suppress them and kept all mention of their existence out of the + English papers as far as possible. It surprised me to hear him speak in a + casual way of organising these declared enemies of his. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t do that,” I said. “Those fellows hate you like poison, worse + than Malcolmson does. They’re—well, I should call them rebels. They + certainly won’t do what you tell them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, they will, if treated properly. My idea is to flood the + organisation with reliable men, fellows we can trust. When we’ve got a + majority of our own people enrolled we’ll tell them to elect their own + leaders, democratic idea. Army choosing its own officers. Sure to catch + on.” + </p> + <p> + “Sure to, and then?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, then they’ll elect us. See? Every member of Parliament will be a + colonel. We needn’t drill or anything; but there’s nothing to prevent our + saying that we have 200,000 trained men. The Ulster fellows have gone no + trumps on their 100,000——” + </p> + <p> + “I should be inclined to say gone No Home Rule.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman grinned. + </p> + <p> + “Gone no something,” he said, “and we double them. I expect that will set + English opinion swinging round again.” + </p> + <p> + “It ought to,” I said, “but why bother about all these preliminaries? Why + put everybody in Ireland to the trouble of enrolling themselves in a new + organisation and electing officers and all that? It’s just as easy to say + you have 200,000 trained men before being made a colonel as afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t understand politics,” said Gorman. “In politics there must be a + foundation of some sort for every fact. It needn’t be much of a + foundation, but there must be some.” + </p> + <p> + “Hard on the Irish people,” I said, “being put to all that trouble and + bother just to make a foundation.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” said Gorman. “They’ll like it. But I hope to goodness that + fanatic woman won’t insist on our buying guns. It would be the devil and + all if the fellows I’m thinking about got guns in their hands. You simply + couldn’t tell what they’d do. You’ll have to try and keep Mrs. Ascher + quiet.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m going to ask her to dine with me and go to see your play,” I said. + “That may distract her mind from guns for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “You use your influence with her,” said Gorman. “I’ve the greatest belief + in influence.” + </p> + <p> + He has. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. + </h2> + <p> + That evening I wrote my invitation to the Aschers. They immediately + accepted it, expressing the greatest pleasure at the prospect of seeing + Gorman’s play again. + </p> + <p> + I arranged to have dinner at the Berkeley and ordered it with some care, + avoiding as far as I could the more sumptuous kinds of restaurant food, + and drawing on my recollection of the things Ascher used to eat when + Gorman ordered his dinner for him on the Cunard steamer. With the help of + the head waiter I chose a couple of wines and hoped that Ascher would + drink them. As it turned out he preferred Perrier water. But that was not + my fault. No restaurant in London could have supplied the delicate Italian + white wines which Ascher drinks in his own house. + </p> + <p> + We dawdled over dinner and I lengthened the business out as well as I + could by smoking three cigarettes afterwards, very slowly. I did not want + to reach the Parthenon in time for the musical display of new frocks. I + could not suppose that Ascher was interested in seeing a number of young + women parading along a platform through the middle of the theatre even + though they wore the latest creations of Paris fancy in silks and + lingerie. I knew that Mrs. Ascher would feel it her duty to make some sort + of protest against the music of the orchestra. + </p> + <p> + Gorman had told me the hour at which his play might be expected to begin + and my object was to hit off the time exactly. Unfortunately I + miscalculated and got to the theatre too soon. The last of the young women + was waving a well-formed leg at the audience as we entered the box I had + engaged. I realised that we should have to sit through a whole tune from + the orchestra before the curtain went up again for Gorman’s play. I + expected trouble and was pleasantly surprised when none came. Mrs. Ascher + had a cold. I daresay that made her slightly deaf and mitigated the + torture of the music. + </p> + <p> + She sat forward in the box and looked round at the audience with some show + of interest. The audience looked at her with very great interest. Her + clothes that night were more startling than any I have ever seen her wear. + A young man in the stalls stared at her for some time, and then, just when + I thought he had fully taken her in, bowed to her. She turned to Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Who is that?” she said. “The man in the fifth row, three seats from the + end, yes, there. He has a lady with him.” + </p> + <p> + I saw the man distinctly, a well-set-up young fellow with a carefully + waxed, fair moustache. The way his hair was brushed and something about + the cut of his clothes made me sure that he was not an Englishman. The + lady with him was, quite obviously, not a lady in the old-fashioned sense + of the word. She seemed to me the kind of woman who would have no scruples + about forming a temporary friendship with a man provided he would give her + dinner, wine, and some sort of entertainment. + </p> + <p> + Ascher fumbled for his pince-nez, which he carries attached to a black + silk ribbon. He fixed them on his nose and took a good look at the young + man. + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” he said, “my nephew, Albrecht von Richter. You remember him. He + dined with us two or three times when we were in Berlin in 1912. I did not + know he was in London.” + </p> + <p> + I somehow got the impression that Ascher was not particularly pleased to + see his nephew Albrecht. Ascher was not looking very well. I had not seen + him for some time, and I noticed even at dinner that his face was pale and + drawn. In the theatre he seemed worse and I thought that the sudden + appearance of his nephew had annoyed him. The young man whispered + something to his companion and left his seat. The orchestra was still + thrashing its way through its tune and there seemed no immediate prospect + of the curtain going up. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later there was a tap at the door of our box and Von Richter + came in. Mrs. Ascher held out her hand to him. He bent over it and kissed + it with very pretty courtesy. He shook hands with Ascher who introduced + him to me. + </p> + <p> + “Captain von Richter—Sir James Digby.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter bowed profoundly. I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Have you been long in London?” said Ascher. “You did not let me know that + you were here.” + </p> + <p> + “I arrived here this afternoon,” said Von Richter, “only this afternoon, + at five o’clock.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke English remarkably well, with no more than a trace of foreign + accent. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been in Ireland,” he said, “for six weeks.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” said Ascher. “In Ireland?” + </p> + <p> + He was looking at his nephew without any expression of surprise, + apparently without any suggestion of inquiry; but I could not help + noticing that his fingers were fidgeting with the ribbon of his pince-nez. + Ascher, as a rule, does not fidget. He has his nerves well under control. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher was frankly excited when she heard that Von Richter had been + in Ireland. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me,” she said, “all about Ireland. About the people, what they are + saying and thinking.” + </p> + <p> + “We are all,” I said, “tremendously interested in Irish politics at + present.” + </p> + <p> + “Alas!” said Von Richter, “and I can tell you nothing. My business was + dull. I saw very little. I was in Dublin and Belfast, not in the + picturesque and beautiful parts of that charming country. I was buying + horses. Oh, there is no secret about it. I was buying horses for my + Government.” + </p> + <p> + It is certainly possible to buy horses in Dublin and Belfast; but I was + slightly surprised to hear that Von Richter had not been further afield. + Any one who understood horse-buying in Ireland would have gone west to + County Galway or south to County Cork. + </p> + <p> + The band showed signs of getting to the end of its tune. Von Richter laid + his hand on the door of the box. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I see you to-morrow?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Unfortunately,” said Von Richter, “I leave London early to-morrow + morning. Back to Berlin and the drill yard.” He kissed Mrs. Ascher’s hand + again. “We poor soldiers have to work hard.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “you can join us at the Carlton after the play. Mr. and + Mrs. Ascher have promised to have supper there with me. If you are not + engaged———?” + </p> + <p> + I glanced at the lady in the stalls. I was not going to ask her to supper. + </p> + <p> + “I shall be delighted,” said Von Richter. “I have no engagement of any + importance.” + </p> + <p> + The lady in the stalls was evidently the sort of lady who could be + dismissed without trouble. + </p> + <p> + “Good,” I said, “we leave directly this play is over; but you may want to + see the rest of the performance. The dancing is good I am told. Join us at + the Carlton as soon as you’re tired of this entertainment.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter slipped away. The curtain went up almost immediately. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in to receive our congratulations as soon as his play was + over. I asked him to join our supper party but he had an engagement of his + own, a supper at the Savoy. I do not blame him. The lady who acted the + principle part in his play had been very charming. She deserved any supper + that Gorman could give her. + </p> + <p> + We reached the Carlton very early, long before the rush of supper parties + began. Von Richter joined us as we sat down at the table. He was an + intelligent, agreeable young man with plenty of tact. He listened and was + apparently interested while Mrs. Ascher poured out her hopes and fears for + Ireland’s future. When she came, as she did in the end, to her own plan of + buying guns for the Nationalist Volunteers Von Richter became almost + enthusiastic. + </p> + <p> + “You Americans,” he said. “You are always on the side of the oppressed. + Alone among the nations of the earth you have a pat for the head of the + bottom dog.” + </p> + <p> + Von Richter’s English is not only correct, it is highly idiomatic. Mrs. + Ascher bridled with pleasure. It pleased her to think that she was patting + the bottom dog’s head. I did not remind her that in the group which she + had just modelled the Spirit of Irish Poetry, for whose benefit she + intended to buy guns, had got its foot firmly planted on the pig. That + animal—and I still believed it to represent Belfast—was the + one which a tender-hearted American ought to have patted. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I may be able to assist you,” said Von Richter, “I know something + of rifles. That is my trade, you know. If I can be of any help—there + is a firm in Hamburg——” + </p> + <p> + He was glancing at Ascher as he spoke. He wondered, I suppose, how far + Ascher was committed to the scheme of arming Gorman’s constituents. But + Ascher did not appear to be listening to him. He had allowed me to pour + out some champagne for him and sat fingering the stem of his glass without + drinking. + </p> + <p> + No one was eating or drinking much. I proposed that we should leave the + supper room and have our coffee in the hall outside. I felt slightly + uncomfortable at the turn the conversation was taking. Mrs. Ascher was + very much in earnest about Ireland. Von Richter, I suppose, really knew + where to buy guns. I entirely agreed with Gorman that the distribution of + firearms in Ireland was a most undesirable thing. + </p> + <p> + “I always think,” I said, “that one of the things to do in London is to + watch the people going in and out of the supper room here. There is + nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. It is the best example there + is of the pride of life, ‘superbia vitae.’ I forget the Greek words at the + moment; but a bishop whom I happen to know once told me that they mean the + exultation of living. You know the sort of thing—gems and glitter, + colour, scent, beauty, stateliness, strength. ‘The pride of heraldry, the + pomp of power.’” + </p> + <p> + I made way for Mrs. Ascher and followed her as she moved among the tables + towards the staircase at the end of the room. Von Richter hooked his arm + in Ascher’s and spoke a few sentences to him rapidly in German. He spoke + without making any attempt to lower his voice. He evidently did not think + it likely that any one within earshot, except Ascher, would understand + German. We reached the hall and secured comfortable seats, from which we + could watch the long procession of men and women which was already + beginning to stream towards the supper room. I ordered coffee, brandy and + tobacco, cigars for Von Richter and myself, a box of cigarettes for Mrs. + Ascher. Ascher refused to smoke and did not touch his brandy. + </p> + <p> + Our little party divided itself into halves. I do not know how it happened + but Von Richter managed to get himself placed beside Mrs. Ascher in such a + way that his back was partly turned to me. General conversation became + impossible. Von Richter and Mrs. Ascher talked to each other eagerly and + somehow seemed to get further away from Ascher and me. They were still + discussing the landing of guns in Ireland, in Connaught, I think. After a + while I could no longer hear what they said. Ascher began to talk to me. + </p> + <p> + A party, two young women and one older one with three men behind them, + passed us and ascended the staircase to the supper room. + </p> + <p> + “There is something very fine,” said Ascher, “about the insolence of + well-bred Englishwomen. You see how they walk and how they look, straight + in front of them. It is not an easy thing to walk well across a long + brightly lighted space with many eyes watching.” I am not sure that I like + Ascher’s word “insolence.” I recognise the quality which he intended to + describe, which is, I think, the peculiar possession of English women of a + certain class; but I should not call it insolence. + </p> + <p> + Another party fluttered past us, a man and a woman. + </p> + <p> + “There,” said Ascher, “is a French woman. She is Madame de Berthier, the + wife of one of the Ministers in the last Government, a very prominent + woman in Paris. I know her pretty well, but even if I did not know her I + should recognise her as French. You see that she is conscious all the time + that she is a woman and therefore that men’s eyes are on her. She does not + escape from that consciousness. If a German lady were to pass us we should + see that she also is sex conscious; but she would be aware that she is <i>only</i> + a woman, the inferior of the men with her. The Englishwoman does not + admit, does not feel, that she has any superiors and she can walk as if + she did not care whether people looked at her and admired her or not. Even + the American woman cannot or does not do that. She wants to please and is + always trying to please. The Englishwoman is not indifferent to admiration + and she tries to please if she thinks it worth while. But she has learnt + to bear herself as if she does not care; as if the world and all that is + in it were hers of right.” + </p> + <p> + Two men—one of them almost forty years of age, the other much + younger—walked slowly up the hall looking to right and left of them. + They failed to find the friends whom they sought. The elder spoke a few + words and they sat down opposite to us, probably to wait until the rest of + their party should arrive. “The men of your English upper classes,” said + Ascher, “are physically very splendid, the sons of the women we have been + looking at are sure to be that. They possess a curious code of honour, + very limited, very irrational, but certainly very fine as far as it goes. + And I think they are probably true to it.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have said,” I replied, “that the idea of honour had almost + disappeared, what used to be called the honour of a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not really think that,” said Ascher. “Or perhaps you may. In a + certain sense honour has disappeared among your upper classes. It is no + longer displayed. To the outsider it is scarcely noticeable. It is covered + up by affectation of cynicism, of greed, of selfishness. To pose as + cynical and selfish is for the moment fashionable. But the sense of honour—of + that singular arbitrary English honour—is behind the pose, is the + reality. Look at those two men opposite us. They are probably—but + perhaps I offend you in talking this way. You yourself belong to the same + class as those men.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not offend me in the least,” I said. “I’m not an Englishman for + one thing. Gorman won’t let me call myself Irish, but I stick to it that + I’m not English. Please go on with what you were saying.” + </p> + <p> + “Those men,” said Ascher slowly, “are probably self indulgent. Their + morality—sex morality—is most likely very low. We may suppose + that they have many prejudices and very few ideas. They—I do not + know those two personally. I take them simply as types of their class. + They are wholly indifferent to, even a little contemptuous of art and + literature. But if it happened that a duty claimed them, a duty which they + recognised, they would not fail to obey the call. I can believe for + instance that they would fight, would suffer the incredible hardships of a + soldier’s life, would endure pain and would die, without any heroics or + fuss or shouting. Men of my class and my training could not do those + things without great effort. Those men would do them simply, naturally.” + </p> + <p> + “Ascher,” I said, “I have a confession to make to you. I understand + German. I happen to know the language, learned it as a boy.” Ascher looked + at me curiously for a moment. I do not think that he was much surprised at + what I said or that my confession made him uneasy. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! You are thinking of what my nephew said to me as we left the supper + room. You heard?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “I felt like an eavesdropper, but I couldn’t help myself. + He spoke quite loudly.” + </p> + <p> + “And you understood?” + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact I had not understood at the moment. Von Richter said + very little, and what little he said concerned Ascher’s business and had + nothing to do with me. He told Ascher to move very cautiously, to risk as + little as possible, to keep the money of his firm within reach for a few + months. That, as well as I can remember, was all he said; but he repeated + it. “Your money should be realisable at a moment’s notice.” + </p> + <p> + “You understood?” said Ascher, patiently persistent. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t understand yet,” I said, “but what you have just said about + Englishmen being capable of fighting has put thoughts into my mind. Did + Captain von Richter mean——?” + </p> + <p> + “He meant to warn me,” said Ascher, “that what I have always looked + forward to with horror and dread is imminent—a great war. You + remember a talk we had long ago in New York; the night we were at the + circus and saw the trapeze swingers. Well, if my nephew is right, the + whole delicate balance of that performance is going to be upset. There + will be a crash, inevitably.” + </p> + <p> + “And you?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher smiled faintly. + </p> + <p> + “For me as well as for the others,” he said. “The fact that my affairs are + greater than those of most men will only make my fall the worse.” + </p> + <p> + “But you have been warned in time.” + </p> + <p> + “I scarcely needed the warning. I was aware of the danger. My nephew only + told me what I knew. His warning, coming from him, an officer who stands + high in the German military service—it confirms my fears, no more.” + </p> + <p> + “But you can save yourself and your business,” I said. “Knowing what is + before you, you can—you need not lend money, accept obligations. You + can gradually draw out of the stream of credit in which your fortune is + involved, get into a backwater for a while. You have time enough. I am + expressing myself all wrong; but you know what I mean.” + </p> + <p> + “I know. And you think I ought to do that?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no ‘ought’ about it,” I said. “It is the natural thing to do.” + </p> + <p> + “You were a soldier once. I think you told me so.” + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” said Ascher, “that this warning had come to you then, while you + were still a soldier. Suppose that you had known what your brother + officers did not know, or the men under you, that war was coming, you + would have resigned your commission. Is it so?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “I shouldn’t.” + </p> + <p> + “It would have been, from my point of view—for I am a coward—it + would have been the natural thing to do.” + </p> + <p> + “It wouldn’t have been natural to me,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it. I + don’t know why, but I couldn’t. I’m not professing to be particularly + brave or chivalrous or anything of that sort. But to resign under those + circumstances——! Well, one doesn’t do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor do I know why,” said Ascher, “but I cannot do it either. It is, you + see, the same thing. I must, of course, go on; just as you would have felt + yourself obliged to go on. The warning makes no difference.” + </p> + <p> + The idea that a banker feels about his business as a soldier does about + his profession was new to me. But I understood more or less what Ascher + meant. If he had that kind of sense of obligation there was clearly no + more to be said about the point. + </p> + <p> + “And England?” I said. “Is she to be in it?” + </p> + <p> + “Who knows? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I hope not. The disaster will be far + less terrible if England is able to remain at peace.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me this,” I said, “or if I am impertinent, say so, and I shall not + ask again. What was Captain von Richter doing in Ireland?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know. I can only guess.” + </p> + <p> + “Not buying horses?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not suppose he went there to buy horses though he may have bought + some. He went to see, to learn, to understand. That is what I guess. I do + not know.” + </p> + <p> + “He has probably made up his mind,” I said, “that in the course of the + next couple of months England will find herself with her hands full, so + full with Irish affairs that it will be impossible for her to act + elsewhere. A civil war in Ireland——” + </p> + <p> + “My nephew,” said Ascher, “is not very clever. He may think that. He is, I + believe, an excellent soldier. But if he were a banker I should not employ + him to find out things for me. I should not rely on the reports he brought + me. He lacks intelligence. Very likely he believes what you have said.” + </p> + <p> + “But you don’t?” + </p> + <p> + “No. I do not. I do not believe that Irish affairs will be in such a state + that they will determine England’s action. You see I have the privilege of + knowing Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t know Malcolmson,” I said, “and he’s a most important factor in + the problem. He’s like your nephew, an excellent soldier, but lacking in + intelligence. You don’t realise what Malcolmson is capable of.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know Colonel Malcolmson personally,” said Ascher. “I am right, + am I not, in styling him <i>Colonel</i> Malcolmson?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He retired some years ago as Colonel of my old regiment” + </p> + <p> + “Does a man retire from his loyalty,” said Ascher, “when he retires from + his regiment? Will your friend give up his honour because he has given up + his command? Will he aid the enemies of England?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” I said, “if you put it to Malcolmson in that way—— + He’s a positive fanatic on the subject of loyalty. But he doesn’t know, he + doesn’t understand. He hasn’t had the warning that your nephew has just + given you.” + </p> + <p> + “You are an Irishman,” said Ascher, “and you ought to know your countrymen + better than I do. But it will surprise me very much if England finds + herself hampered by Ireland when the crisis comes.” + </p> + <p> + It was Von Richter who broke up our party. He pleaded the necessity for + early rising next morning as his excuse for going away before the hour at + which the law obliges people to stop eating supper in restaurants. I + wondered whether he and Mrs. Ascher had made a satisfactory plan for + running guns into Galway. According to Ascher it did not make much + difference whether the Irish peasants had rifles in their hands or not. It + was soothing, though humbling, to feel that, guns or no guns, Volunteers + or no Volunteers, Ireland would not matter in the least. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. + </h2> + <p> + Gorman’s play achieved a second success. The Parthenon was crammed every + night, and it was the play, not the pretty dresses or the dancing, which + filled the house. Gorman made money, considerable sums of money. I know + this because he called on me one morning in the middle of July and told me + so. He did more. He offered me a very substantial and quite unanswerable + proof that he felt rich. + </p> + <p> + “If you don’t mind,” he said, “I’d like to pay you whatever you’ve spent + on this new invention of Tim’s.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t spent anything,” I said. “I’ve invested a little. I believe in + Tim’s new cinematograph. I expect to get back every penny I’ve advanced to + him and more.” + </p> + <p> + This did not satisfy Gorman. He got out his cheque book and a fountain + pen. + </p> + <p> + “There was the hundred pounds you gave him to buy looking glasses,” he + said. “You didn’t give him more than that, did you?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so much,” I said. “The bill for those mirrors was only £98-7-6; and I + made the man knock off the seven and sixpence as discount for cash. I’m + learning to be a business man by degrees.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman wrote down £98 on the cover of his cheque book. + </p> + <p> + “And the hire of the hall?” he said. “What will that come to?” + </p> + <p> + I had hired a small hall for the exhibition of Tim’s moving picture + ghosts. I had invited about a hundred people to witness the show. Gorman + himself, a brother of the inventor, had promised to preside over the + gathering and to make a few introductory remarks on the progress of + science or anything else that occurred to him as appropriate to such an + occasion. But I could not possibly allow him to pay for the entertainment. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Gorman,” I said, “it’s my party. The people are my friends. At + least some of them are. The invitations have gone out in my name. You + might just as well propose to pay for the tea I mean to offer them to + drink as for the hire of the room in which I am going to receive them.” + </p> + <p> + “Will £150 cover the whole show?” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “If you insist on heaping insults on my head,” I said, “I shall retire + into a nursing home and cancel all the invitations.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re an obstinate man,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Very. In matters of this kind.” + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” said Gorman, “I’ll get rid of that money. I don’t consider + it’s mine. I ought to have paid for Tim, and I would, only that I hadn’t a + penny at the time.” + </p> + <p> + “If you like to give £150 to a charity,” I said, “that’s your affair.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Gorman, “would be waste. I rather think I’ll give a party + myself.” + </p> + <p> + He slipped his cheque book back into his pocket. + </p> + <p> + “Invite me to meet the lady who acts in your play,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Gibson?” said Gorman. “Right. Who else shall we have?” + </p> + <p> + “Why have anybody else?” + </p> + <p> + “There are difficulties,” said Gorman, “about the rest of the party. You + wouldn’t care to meet my friends.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I would.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you wouldn’t. I know you. You don’t consider Irish Nationalists fit + to associate with. We’re not respectable.” + </p> + <p> + That was putting it too strongly; but it is a fact that I do not know, or + particularly want to know, any of Gorman’s political associates. + </p> + <p> + “And your friends,” said Gorman, “wouldn’t know me.” + </p> + <p> + Again Gorman was guilty of over-statement; but my friends are, for the + most part, of conservative and slightly military tastes. They would not + get on well with Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll think it over,” said Gorman, “and let you know.” + </p> + <p> + Two days later I got my invitation. Gorman, in the excitement of sudden + great possessions, had devised an expensive kind of party. The invited + guests were Mr. and Mrs. Ascher, Miss Gibson, Tim and myself. We were to + voyage off from Southampton in a motor yacht, hired by Gorman, to see the + Naval Review at Spithead. We were to start at ten o’clock from Waterloo + station in a saloon carriage reserved for our party. + </p> + <p> + “We have to be back in time for Miss Gibson to go to the theatre,” Gorman + wrote, “so we must start early. I believe the show is to be worth seeing. + British Navy at its best. King there. Royal salutes from Dreadnoughts. + Rank, fashion and beauty in abundance.” + </p> + <p> + The week was to be one of exciting festivities. Gorman had fixed his party + for the day before my exhibition of Tim’s new invention. + </p> + <p> + I was shaving—shortly after eight o’clock on the morning of Gorman’s + party—when my servant came into my room. + </p> + <p> + “I beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but there’s a young man waiting in the + hall, says that he wants to see you.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed odd that any one should want to see me at that hour. + </p> + <p> + “Who is he?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t know, sir. Gives his name as Gorman. But he’s not our Mr. Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + “It may be Tim,” I said. “Does he look as if he had an artistic soul?” + </p> + <p> + “Couldn’t say, sir. Might have, sir. Artists is very various. Doesn’t seem + to me, sir, as if his man looked after his clothes proper.” + </p> + <p> + “Must be Tim,” I said. “Show him in.” + </p> + <p> + “In here, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. And have an extra kidney cooked for breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + Tim came in very shyly and sat down on a chair near the door. He certainly + did not look as if his clothes had been properly cared for. He was wearing + the blue suit which I suspected was the best he owned. It was even more + crumpled and worse creased than when I saw it down in Hertfordshire. + </p> + <p> + “I hope you don’t mind my coming here,” he said. “I didn’t like to go to + Mr. Ascher, and I was afraid to go to Michael. He’d have been angry with + me.” + </p> + <p> + “Has anything gone wrong with your apparatus? Smashed a mirror?” + </p> + <p> + Tim brightened up at the mention of his apparatus. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” he said. “That’s all right. In fact I’ve been able to improve it + greatly. You remember the trouble I had with the refraction from the + second prism. The adjustment of the angles—— The way the light + fell——” + </p> + <p> + I could not, especially before breakfast, argue about prisms. + </p> + <p> + “If your machinery’s all right,” I said, “what’s the matter with you?” + </p> + <p> + “It’s this party of Michael’s,” he said. “I forgot all about it till + yesterday afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you remembered it then. If you’d forgotten it till this afternoon + it would have been a much more serious matter.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Tim, “Michael told me to get some new clothes. He said he’d + pay for them, which was very kind of him. But when I got up to London the + shops were shut. I hurried as much as I could, but there were one or two + things I had to do before I started. And now I’m afraid Michael will be + angry. He said most particularly that I must be well dressed because there + are ladies coming.” + </p> + <p> + “Stand up,” I said, “and let me have a look at you.” + </p> + <p> + Poor Tim stood up, looking as if he expected me to box his ears. There was + no disguising the fact that his costume fell some way short of the + standard maintained by Cowes yachtsmen. + </p> + <p> + Tim surveyed himself with a rueful air. He was certainly aware of the + condition of his clothes. + </p> + <p> + “If I could even have got a ready made suit,” he said, “it might have + fitted. But I couldn’t do that. I didn’t get to London till nearly ten + o’clock. There was a train at four. I wish now that I’d caught it. It was + only a few minutes after three when I remembered about the party and I + might have caught that train. But I didn’t want to leave just then. There + were some things that I had to do. Perhaps now I’d better not go to the + party. Michael will be angry if I don’t; but I expect he’ll be angrier if + I go in these clothes. I think I’d better not go at all.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at me wistfully. He was hoping, I am sure, that I might decide + that he was too disreputable to appear. + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “you can’t get out of it that way. You’ll have to come.” + </p> + <p> + “But can I? You know better than I do. I did brush my trousers a lot this + morning—really. I brushed them for quite half an hour; but there are + some mark——” + </p> + <p> + He held out his right leg and looked at it hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + “Stains, I suppose,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “You’d be better,” I said, “if you had a tie.” + </p> + <p> + Tim put his hand up to his neck and felt about helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “I must have forgotten to put it on,” he said. “I have one, I know. But + it’s very hard to remember ties. They are such small things.” + </p> + <p> + “Take one of mine,” I said, “and put it on before you forget again.” + </p> + <p> + “Anything else?” said Tim. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think,” I said, “that there’s anything else we can do. My clothes + wouldn’t fit you. I might lend you a pair of boots but I doubt if you’d + get them on. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll get yours cleaned. Take + them off.” + </p> + <p> + I do not think that my servant liked cleaning Tim’s boots. But he did it + and I daresay it was good for him. + </p> + <p> + I was a little anxious about the meeting between Mrs. Ascher and Tim. When + they parted in New York she was deeply vexed with him and I could not + think it likely that a woman as devout as she is would readily forgive a + man who had been guilty of blasphemy. On the other hand she had very + graciously accepted my invitation to be present when the new invention was + shown off. She might, of course, only wish to hear the other Gorman making + a speech; but she might have forgotten Tim’s offence, or changed her mind + about its heinousness. In any case Tim’s clothes would make no difference + to her. Miss Gibson might think less of him for being shabby. But Mrs. + Ascher was quite likely to prefer him in rags. Many people regard + unkemptness as a sign of genius; which is, I daresay, the reason why poets + seldom wash their necks. + </p> + <p> + I need not have troubled myself about the matter. Mrs. Ascher took no + notice of Tim. She was sitting in the saloon carriage when we reached the + station and was surrounded with newspapers. She greeted me with effusion. + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t it glorious?” she said. “Splendid. We have shown them that we too + can do daring things, even the sort of things in which they take a special + pride. The practical things which the world boasts of, which we artists + are not supposed to be able to do at all.” + </p> + <p> + “I haven’t seen a paper this morning,” I said. “Has any one assassinated + the Prime Minister?” + </p> + <p> + “Look!” she said. + </p> + <p> + She held out one of the newspapers towards me. I did not have to take it + in my hand to see the news. I could have read the headlines from the far + side of the platform. + </p> + <p> + “Steam yacht lands guns on Galway Coast. National Volunteers muster to + receive Arms. Coastguards Paralysed. Police Helpless. Crushing Reply to + Ulster Lawlessness.” + </p> + <p> + That, of course, was a Liberal paper. There was a Unionist paper open on + the floor at my feet. Its statement of the facts was almost identical; but + its interpretation was different Instead of regarding the incident as a + lesson in loyalty to Malcolmson it said: + </p> + <p> + “Act of Rebellion in Connaught. Civil War Breaks Out.” + </p> + <p> + “In the broad light of day,” said Mrs. Ascher, “at noon. Without an + attempt at concealment. Now, now at last, Ireland has asserted herself, + has shown that the idealism of the artist is a match for the sordid + materialism of the worshippers of efficiency.” + </p> + <p> + I looked round for Gorman. I wanted to see how he was taking the news. He + was on the platform, talking seriously, I fear sternly, to Tim; no doubt + about his clothes. Ascher was standing near them; but was not, I think, + listening to Gorman. He had the air of patient politeness which is common + with him on pleasure parties and excursions of all kinds. + </p> + <p> + “I can’t help hoping,” I said, “that they haven’t got any ammunition. It + sounds an unkind thing to say, but—I’m not much of a patriot, I + know, but I’ve just enough love of country in me to dislike the idea of + Irishmen shooting each other.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Mrs. Ascher, “there would be no risk of that if—if men + like you—the natural leaders—would place yourselves at the + head of the people. Think—think——” + </p> + <p> + I did think. The more I thought the less inclined I felt to agree with + Mrs. Ascher. It seemed to me that if I took to paralysing coastguards and + reducing policemen to helplessness there would be considerably more risk + of shooting than if I stayed quietly in London. The proper leaders of the + people—proper though perhaps not natural—are the politicians. + The only risk of real trouble in Ireland rose from the fact that men like + Malcolmson—natural leaders—had done what Mrs. Ascher wanted me + to do, put themselves at the head of the people. If they had been content + to leave the question of Home Rule to the politicians it could have been + settled quietly. Gorman, for instance, has an instinct for stopping in + time. Malcolmson and men like him confuse games with real affairs. I + might turn out to be just as bad as Malcolmson if I took to placing myself + at the head of the people. Besides I do not like the people. + </p> + <p> + Gorman came in with Miss Gibson and I was introduced to her. She seemed a + nice, quiet little girl, and smiled rather shyly as we shook hands. She + sat down beside Mrs. Ascher and refused the cigarette which was offered + her. She did not in the least correspond to my idea of what a leading lady + in a popular play should be. However I had not much opportunity just then + of forming an opinion of her. Gorman, having settled the two ladies, took + Ascher and me to the far end of the carriage. The train started. + </p> + <p> + “That’s a damned silly performance,” said Gorman, “landing those guns in + Galway.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” I said, “that you’d have been pleased. You were + talking to me the other day about the necessity for pulling off some coup + of a striking and theatrical kind by way of diverting the sympathy of the + English people from Ulster.” + </p> + <p> + “But this,” said Gorman, “is a totally different thing. I happen to know + what I’m talking about. The fellows who’ve got these guns are wild, + irresponsible, unpractical fools. They’ve been giving us trouble for + years, far more trouble than all the Unionist party put together. They + don’t understand politics in the least. They’ve no sense. They’re like—like——” + he looked round for some comparison, “in some ways they’re rather like + Tim.” + </p> + <p> + “Dreamers,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly,” said Gorman. “They ought to be writing poetry.” + </p> + <p> + “Lofty souls,” I said, “idealists. Just exactly what Mrs. Ascher thinks + you are.” + </p> + <p> + “Take the case of Tim,” said Gorman. “You’ll hardly believe it but—just + look at his clothes, will you?” + </p> + <p> + Tim was standing by himself in the middle of the carriage. He looked + forlorn. He was too shy, I imagine, to sit down beside Mrs. Ascher or Miss + Gibson, and too much afraid of his brother to join our group. We had every + opportunity of studying his clothes. + </p> + <p> + “And I told him to buy a new suit,” said Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “That,” I said, “is just the kind of man that Mrs. Ascher believes in. She + was saying to me a few minutes ago that there is nothing more sordid and + detestable than the worship of efficiency in practical matters.” + </p> + <p> + The mention of Mrs. Ascher’s name recalled Gorman to a sense of his duties + as a host. The two ladies were not getting on very well together. I + imagine that Mrs. Ascher was too much excited by her Irish news to care + for talking about the Naval Review we were going to see, and that was a + topic which would inevitably suggest itself to Miss Gibson. Miss Gibson, + though anxious to be polite, was not likely to know or care anything about + Ireland. Gorman left us and joined them. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said to Ascher, “what do you think of this performance in + Galway?” + </p> + <p> + “Have you read the newspapers?” he said. + </p> + <p> + “The headlines,” I replied. “I couldn’t very well help reading them.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher stepped across the carriage and picked up one of the papers from + the floor. It was the one which declared that civil war had broken out in + Ireland. + </p> + <p> + “I wish,” he said, “that I knew exactly the measure of my nephew’s + intelligence.” + </p> + <p> + “Captain von Richter?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He may—almost anything is possible with a man like him. He may + believe that.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher pointed to the words, “Civil War.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t think you need worry about that,” I said. “Whatever Malcolmson + and his lot may do those fellows in Galway won’t fight. Gorman and the + priests will stop them. You can always count on the politicians and the + priests. They’ll prevent anything really serious. The Connaught Celt will + never start a civil war; at least not unless he gives up his religion and + takes to hanging Members of Parliament. He’s a splendid fighting man—none + better—but he won’t run the risk of losing his soul for the sake of + a battle. He must be told he ought to fight by some one whose authority he + recognises. That’s where we’re safe. All the authorities are against + violence.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no doubt you are right,” said Ascher. “No civil war will be + started in the way these papers suggest. I am not anxious about that. It + is impossible. But I am anxious lest it should be believed possible by men + who do not understand. My nephew, for instance. He will not know what you + know. He may believe—and those over him in Berlin—they will + not understand. They may think that the men in Ireland who have got the + guns will use them. They may even have had something to do with supplying + the guns. That is where the danger lies. A miscalculation—not in + Ireland—but elsewhere.” + </p> + <p> + I did not like to ask whether Mrs. Ascher’s enthusiasm for the cause of + Ireland had led her to finance the Galway gun-running. Nor did I care to + question Ascher about his suggestion that Von Richter had something to do + with buying and shipping that cargo or the other which was landed at + Larne. Ascher seemed disinclined to discuss the matter further. We joined + Gorman and the two ladies at the far end of the carriage, picking up Tim + on our way. + </p> + <p> + Gorman was sitting beside Miss Gibson. He was leaning forward, pointing + with outstretched hand to the country through which the train was passing. + </p> + <p> + “This is the playground of England,” he said. “Here the rich and idle + build themselves beautiful houses, plant delightful gardens, live + surrounded by a parasitic class, servants, ministers to luxury; try to + shut out, succeed to a great extent in shutting out all sense and memory + of real things, of that England where the world’s work is done, the + England which lies in the smoky hinterland.” He waved his hand with a + comprehensive gesture towards the north. “Far from all the prettinesses of + glorified villadom.” + </p> + <p> + “I do think,” said Miss Gibson, “that Surrey and Hampshire are sweetly + pretty.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson may be regarded, I suppose, as one of England’s toys. It was + only natural that she should appreciate the playground. It was, so she + thought, a district very well suited to the enjoyment of life. She told us + how she had driven, in the motor of a wealthy member of Parliament, + through the New Forest. From time to time she had spent week-ends at + various well-appointed villas in different parts of the South of England, + and, as a nice-minded young woman should, had enjoyed these holidays of + hers. She frankly preferred the playground to that other, more “real” + England which Gorman contrasted with it, the England of the midlands, + where the toilers dwelt, in an atmosphere thick with smuts. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher, of course, took quite a different view. It filled her with + sadness to think that a small number of people should play amid beautiful + surroundings while a great number—she dwelt particularly on the case + of women who made chains—should live hard lives in hideous places. + Mrs. Ascher is more emotional than intellectual. The necessity for + consistency in a philosophy of life troubles her very little. As a devout + worshipper of art she ought to have realised that her goddess can only be + fitly honoured by people wealthy enough to buy leisure, that the toiling + millions want bread much more than they want beauty. I have no quarrel + with the description of the life of Birmingham as more “real”—both + Gorman and Mrs. Ascher kept using the word—than the life of the Isle + of Wight. Nor should I want to argue with any one who said that beauty and + art are the only true realities, and that the struggle of the + manufacturing classes for wealth is a striving after wind. But I felt + slightly irritated with Mrs. Ascher for not seeing that she cannot have it + both ways. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, of course, was simply trying to be agreeable. I pointed out—when + I succeeded in seizing a place in the conversation—that if Gorman’s + theory were applied to Ireland Belfast would come out as a reality while + Cork, Limerick, and other places like them would be as despicable as + Dorsetshire. + </p> + <p> + “Wicklow,” I said, “is the playground of Ireland, and it returns nothing + but Nationalist members to Parliament. You ought not to go back on your + own side, Gorman.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher shuddered at the mention of Belfast and would not admit that + it could be as “real” as Manchester or Leeds. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson broke in with a reminiscence of her own. She told us that she + had been in Belfast once with a touring company, and thought it was duller + on Sunday than any other city in the British Isles. + </p> + <p> + Gorman, after winking at me, appealed to Ascher on the subject of + Belfast’s prosperity. In his opinion the apparent wealth of that city is + built up on an insecure foundation of credit. There is no solidity about + it. The farmers of the south and west of Ireland, on the other hand, have + real wealth, actual savings, stored up in the Post Office Banks, or placed + on deposit, in other banks, or hoarded in stockings. + </p> + <p> + Ascher was most unwilling to join in the discussion. He noticed, as I did, + that Miss Gibson’s attention was wandering. In the end, goaded by Gorman, + he said that some one ought to teach the Irish farmers to invest their + savings in high class international stocks and bonds. He added that £1 + notes kept in drawers and desks are not wealth but merely frozen + potentialities of credit. + </p> + <p> + After that, conversation, as might be expected, became impossible for some + time, although Ascher apologised humbly. + </p> + <p> + Gorman restored us to cheerfulness by opening a parcel and handing round + two enormous boxes of chocolates. One box was settled on the seat between + Miss Gibson and Tim. They ate with healthy appetites and obvious delight. + When we reached Southampton that box was nearly empty and neither of them + seemed any the worse. The other box lay on Mrs. Ascher’s knee. She and I + and Gorman did our best, but we did not get through the top layer. Ascher + only took one small chocolate and, when he thought no one was looking, + dropped it out of the window. + </p> + <p> + The motor yacht which Gorman had hired for us turned out to be a swift and + well-found ship with a small cabin and possibilities of comfort in a large + cockpit aft. We sped down Southampton Water, one of a whole fleet of + pleasure vessels large and small. A racing cutter stooped under the + pressure of a fresh westerly breeze, to leeward of us. We slipped close + past a little brown sailed yawl, steered by a man in white flannels. Two + laughing girls in bright red caps sat on the coachroof cabin top. An + arrogant white steam yacht, flying the ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron, + sliced her silent way through the water behind us. Shabby boats with + stained, discoloured sails and chipped paint bore large parties seaward. + The stiff front of Netley Hospital shone white in the sun. The conical + buoy at the entrance of Hamley river bent its head shorewards as the + strong tide swept past it. From the low point beneath Calshott Castle a + flying machine rose suddenly, circled round in a wide sweep and then sped + swiftly eastwards towards Spit-head. In the roads off Cowes we could + discern many yachts at anchor. One of the Hamburg-American lines crept + cautiously up the Solent. A belated cruiser, four-funneled, black and + grim, on her way to join the Fleet, followed the huge German steamer. The + waters of the Solent tumbled in irregular white-topped waves, tide and + wind opposed to each other, struggling for mastery. + </p> + <p> + Gorman hauled luncheon baskets from the cabin. He set Tim and me to open + them. The look of a ham which Tim thoughtlessly asked her to hold while he + unpacked the dish belonging to it, finished Mrs. Ascher. Our boat was + rolling quite appreciably. She retired to the cabin. Even the glass of + champagne with which Gorman hurriedly provided her failed to enable her to + eat. Miss Gibson fortunately was unaffected. She ate everything that was + offered to her and in the course of the afternoon finished Mrs. Ascher’s + box of chocolates. + </p> + <p> + Before we stopped eating we caught our first sight of the Fleet. The ships + lay in three long, straight lines off Spithead; battleships, cruisers, + lean destroyers, submarines. A hydroplane raced past us, flinging showers + of spray and foam high on each side of her. Two naval aeroplanes, their + canoe-shaped floats plainly visible, hovered and circled overhead. + Pleasure boats were everywhere, moving in and out among the motionless + ironclads. A handsome barque-rigged yacht, some very rich man’s summer + home, came slowly towards us, her sails furled, using auxiliary steam + power. + </p> + <p> + We swiftly approached the Fleet. Already the vast bulk of the battleships + oppressed our spirits. We looked up from the cockpit of our dancing + pleasure boat and saw the huge misshapen iron monsters towering over us, + minatory, terrible. We swept in and out, across the sharp bows, under the + gloomy sterns of the ships of the first line. Ascher gazed at them. His + eyes were full of sorrow, sorrow and a patient resignation. + </p> + <p> + “Your protection,” I said. “Because those ships are there, because they + are black and strong, stronger than any other ships, because men + everywhere are afraid of them, because this navy of England’s is great, + your net of commerce and credit can trawl across the world and gather + wealth.” + </p> + <p> + “Protection,” said Ascher. “Protection and menace. This Navy is only one + of the world’s guarantees of peace, of peace guaranteed by fear. It is + there as you say, and the German Army is there; that men may fear them and + peace be thus made sure. But can peace be secured through fear? Will not + these navies and armies some day fulfil the end of their being, rend all + our nets as they rush across the seas and desolate the lands? They are + more menace than protection.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman was standing with his back to us. His elbows were resting on the + slide of the roof above the steps which led to the cabin. His chin was on + his hands and he was staring at the ships. Suddenly he turned. + </p> + <p> + “The world’s great delusion,” he said. “Hypnotised by the governing + classes the workers are everywhere bearing intolerable burdens in order to + provide statesmen and kings with these dangerous toys. Men toil, and the + fruits of their toil are taken from them to be squandered on vast engines + whose sole use is to destroy utterly in one awful moment what we have + spent the painful effort of ages in building up.” + </p> + <p> + He swept his hand out towards the great ship under whose shadow we were + passing. + </p> + <p> + “Was there ever plainer proof,” he said, “that men are mad?” + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson sat beside me. While Ascher spoke and while Gorman spoke, she + held my glasses in her hand and watched the ships through them. She + neither heard nor heeded the things they said. At last she laid the + glasses on my knee and began to recite Kipling’s “Recessional.” She spoke + low at first. Gradually her voice grew stronger, and a note of passion, + tense and restrained, came into it. She is more than a charming woman. She + has a great actress’ capacity for emotion. + </p> + <p> + We moved through waters consecrate, and she expressed for us the spirit + which hovered over them. Here English guns raked the ships of Spain. Here, + staggering homewards, shot-riddled, came the frigates and privateers of + later centuries, their shattered prizes under their lee. Through these + waters men have sailed away to fight and conquer and rule in India and in + many distant lands. Back through these waters, some of them have come + again, generation after generation of them, their duty done, their + adventuring over, asking no more than to lay their bones at last in quiet + churchyards, under the shadow of the cross, near the grey walls of some + English church. + </p> + <p> + Miss Gibson’s voice, resonant, passionate, devout, lingered on the last + syllables of the poem. + </p> + <p> + “The imperial idea,” I said, “after all, Gorman, it has its greatness.” + </p> + <p> + Then Tim spoke, shyly, eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” he said, “if they would let us go on board one of the + submarines. I should like to see—— Oh, there are a lot of + things I should like to see in any of those ships. They must be nearly + perfect, I mean mechanically. The steering gear, for instance——” + </p> + <p> + His voice trailed off into silence. + </p> + <p> + “What a pity,” said Miss Gibson, “that the King can’t be here. I suppose + now there’ll be no royal salutes fired and we shan’t see his yacht.” + </p> + <p> + “All Mr. Gorman’s fault,” I said. “If he had not nagged on in the way he + has about Home Rule, the King would be here with the rest of us. As it is + he has to stay in London while politicians abuse each other in Buckingham + Palace.” + </p> + <p> + “That conference,” said Gorman, “is an unconstitutional manoeuvre of the + Tory party.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s it all about?” said Miss Gibson. + </p> + <p> + “The dispute at present,” I said, “centres round two parishes in County + Tyrone and because of them a public holiday is being spoiled. All Mr. + Gorman’s fault.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. + </h2> + <p> + It must have been the novelty of the thing which brought people flocking + to the hall I hired for the exhibition of Tim Gorman’s new cinematograph. + I was aware, in a vague way, that my invitations had been very generally + accepted; but I made no list of my expected guests, and I did not for a + moment suppose that half the people who said they were coming would + actually arrive. I have some experience of social life and I have always + found that it is far easier to accept invitations than to invent plausible + excuses for refusing them. I do not consider that I am in any way bound by + my acceptance in most cases. Dinners are exceptional. It is not fair to + say that you will dine at a house unless you really mean to do it. But the + givers of miscellaneous entertainments, of dances, receptions, private + concerts and such things are best dealt with by accepting their + invitations and then consulting one’s own convenience. That is what I + thought people were doing to me. + </p> + <p> + I had no reason to expect any other treatment. I was not offering food or + wine in large quantities or of fine kind. I was not a prominent figure in + London society. My party was of no importance from a political or a + financial point of view and I could scarcely expect the scientific world + to take a cinematograph seriously. Yet I found myself the host of a number + of very distinguished guests, many of whom I did not even know by sight. + </p> + <p> + Three Cabinet Ministers arrived, looking, as men immersed in great affairs + ought to look, slightly absent-minded and rather surprised to find + themselves where they were. They were Cabinet Ministers of a minor kind, + not men in the first flight. I owed their presence to Gorman’s exertions + in the House of Commons. He told me that he intended to interest the + Government in Tim’s invention on the ground that it promised an + opportunity of popularising and improving national education. I had a seat + kept for Ascher beside the Cabinet Ministers. I did not suppose that he + would particularly want to talk to them, but I was sure that they would + like to spend the evening in the company of one of our greatest + financiers. + </p> + <p> + No less than five members of the Royal Society came, bringing their wives + and a numerous flock of daughters. They were men of high scientific + attainments. One of them was engaged in some experiments with pigs, + experiments which were supposed to lead to important discoveries in the + science of eugenics. I cannot even imagine why he came to see a + cinematograph. Another of them had written a book to expound a new theory + of crystallisation. I have never studied crystallisation, but I believe it + is a process by which particles of solid matter, temporarily separated by + some liquid medium, draw together and coalesce. My scientists and their + families afforded a good example of the process. They arrived at different + times, went at first to different parts of the hall, got mixed up with all + sorts of other people, but long before the entertainment began they had + drawn together and formed a solid block among my guests. + </p> + <p> + Two Royal Academicians, one of them a well-known portrait painter, arrived + a little late. They were men whom I knew pretty well and liked. They have + urbane and pleasant manners, and are refreshingly free from affectations + and fads. In my opinion they both paint very good pictures. I introduced + them to Mrs. Ascher; but this, as I should have known if I had stopped to + think, was a mistake. Mrs. Ascher regards the Royal Academy as the home of + an artistic anti-Christ and Academicians as the deadliest foes of art. Not + even the suave courtesy of my two friends saved them from the unpleasant + experience of hearing the truth about themselves. Mrs. Ascher was not, of + course, bluntly rude to them, and did not speak with offensive directness. + She poked the truth at them edgeways, the truth that is, as she saw it. + </p> + <p> + The church did not support me very well. I distinctly remember inviting + six bishops. Only one came and he was Irish. However, he wore silk + stockings and a violet coat of aggressively ecclesiastical cut, so he + looked quite as well as if he had had a seat in the House of Lords. I + introduced him to the eugenic pig breeder, but they did not seem to hit it + off together. After a few remarks, probably about the weather, they + separated. The eugenist is rather a shaggy man to look at. That may have + prejudiced the bishop against him. I imagine that most bishops feel + shagginess to be embarrassing. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt brought a large party, chiefly women in very splendid + attire. There were, I think, eight of them altogether, and they had only + one man with them, a subaltern in a Guards regiment. He slipped away + almost at once, telling me as he passed out, that he wanted to telephone + to a friend and that he would be back in a few minutes. I do not think he + came back at all. He probably went to his club. I do not know what was + said to him the next day by the ladies he deserted. I thanked Lady + Kingscourt for coming. I really think it was very good of her to come. She + had fair warning that Gorman was going to make a speech and she knew that + all Gorman’s political friends, probably Gorman himself, regarded her as + an abandoned woman who played fast and loose with the morals of military + officers and undermined their naturally enthusiastic loyalty to Liberal + Governments. By way of acknowledgment of my quite sincere thanks Lady + Kingscourt squeezed my hand. + </p> + <p> + “I always make a point,” she said, “of encouraging any movement for the + good of the masses. They are such deserving dear things, aren’t they?” + </p> + <p> + It is impossible to guess at what Lady Kingscourt thought we were doing; + but her heart was warm and kind. If ever class hatred comes to play an + important part in English life it will not be the fault of the + aristocracy. I doubt whether any labourer would sacrifice his evening’s + leisure to encourage a movement for the good of Lady Kingscourt. Nor would + the kindliest Socialist speak of women of the upper classes as “deserving + dear things.” The nicest term used by progressive people to describe these + ladies is “parasites,” and they often, as we had just been learning, call + them worse names than that. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt and her party represented the highest layer of fashionable + life. I had, besides her, a large number of women of slightly dimmer glory + who were yet quite as finely dressed as Lady Kings-court, and were, I am + sure, equally eager for the good of the masses. My hall, not a very large + one, was well filled before nine o’clock. I had every reason to + congratulate myself on the success of my party, so far. It remained to be + seen whether Gorman would make a good speech and whether Tim’s ghosts + would exhibit themselves satisfactorily. Between the speech and the ghosts + my guests would have an opportunity of drinking tea and champagne cup, + handed round by twelve nice looking girls wearing black and white dresses, + hired out to me (both the girls and the dresses) for the evening by the + firm which had undertaken to manage the refreshments. + </p> + <p> + According to my time table Gorman ought to have begun his speech at nine + o’clock. Instead of doing so he came to me and whispered that he would + give late comers ten minutes law. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing more unpleasant for an audience,” he said, “than having their + toes trodden on by people who come in late, just as they are beginning to + get interested in what is going on.” + </p> + <p> + Nothing, I imagine, is more unpleasant for a speaker than to have his + audience looking round to see who the newcomers are, just as he is + beginning to warm to his subject. I gathered from his anxiety about the + audience, that Gorman intended to make a great effort. I looked forward to + his speech. Gorman, at his best, is really a very fine speaker. + </p> + <p> + At ten minutes past nine Gorman mounted the platform, the narrow strip of + platform left for him in front of the pits occupied by Tim’s apparatus. + The clatter of general conversation ceased, and the Cabinet Ministers, + sitting in the front row with Ascher, clapped their hands. The rest of the + audience, realising that applause was desirable, also clapped their hands. + Gorman bowed and smiled. + </p> + <p> + Then my elbow was jerked sharply. I looked round and saw Jack Heneage. + Jack is a nice boy, the son of an old friend of mine. I have known him + ever since he first went to school. About six months ago his father and I + between us secured a very nice appointment for the boy, a sort of private + secretaryship or something of that sort. I understood at the time that + Jack’s business was to run messages for an important man’s wife; and that + the appointment would lead on to something good in the political world. I + was surprised to see him standing beside me for I had not asked him to my + party and he was not wearing evening clothes. Jack would never go + anywhere, willingly, unless he were properly dressed. + </p> + <p> + “Sit down,” I said, “and don’t talk. Mr. Gorman is just going to make a + speech.” + </p> + <p> + “Is Ascher here?” said Jack. + </p> + <p> + “He is; in the front row.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God. I’ve been chasing him all over London. Office, club, private + house, tearing round in a taxi for hours. My Chief wants him.” + </p> + <p> + “Your chief can’t get him now,” I said. “Not for half an hour, perhaps + three quarters. Gorman isn’t likely to stop under three quarters. Till he + does you can’t get Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “I must,” said Jack. “I simply must. It’s—it’s frightfully + important.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman began his speech. I did not hear what he said because I was trying + to restrain Jack Heneage, but the audience laughed, so I suppose he began + with a joke. Jack shook off my hold on his arm and walked right up to the + front of the hall. I saw Gorman scowling at him but Jack did not seem to + mind that in the least. He handed a note to Ascher. Gorman said something + about the very distinguished audience before him, a remark plainly + intended to fill in the time while Jack and Ascher were finishing their + business. Ascher read the note, rose from his seat and came towards me. + Everybody looked at him and at Jack who was following him. Gorman repeated + what he had said about the distinguished audience. + </p> + <p> + “I find,” Ascher said to me, “that I am obliged to leave you. I am very + sorry.” + </p> + <p> + “I have a taxi outside,” said Jack, pushing Ascher towards the door. + </p> + <p> + Ascher lingered, looking at me wistfully. “I may not be able to return,” + he said. “If I cannot will you bring my wife home? The car will be here + and can drive you back to your rooms afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + I was a little surprised at the request. Mrs. Ascher is, I should think, + pretty well able to take care of herself. + </p> + <p> + “I think we ought to start, sir,” said Jack Heneage, taking Ascher by the + arm. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Ascher to me, “if you are kind enough to see my wife home + you will wait in my house till I get back. I may have something to say to + you. It is possible that I shall reach the house before you do, but I may + be late. I do not know. Will you wait for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Won’t you come on, sir?” said Jack. + </p> + <p> + I noticed, then, that Jack was excited and nervous. I do not ever remember + having seen him excited or nervous before, not even when he went in second + wicket down in the Eton and Harrow match with seventy runs to make and an + hour left to play. I held Ascher’s coat for him and watched them get into + the taxi together. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to the hall Gorman was well into his speech and had + captured the attention of his audience. I was able to pick up the thread + of what he was saying almost at once. He was discoursing on the arts of + peace, contrasting them with the arts of war. In past ages, so Gorman + said, the human intellect had occupied itself mainly in devising means for + destroying life and had been indifferent to the task of preserving it. + Gunpowder was invented long before the antitoxin for diphtheria was + discovered. Steel was used for swords ages before any one thought of + making it into motor cars. These were Gorman’s illustrations. I should not + have thought that motor cars actually preserve life; but Gorman is a good + orator and a master in the art of concealing the weak points of his + argument. His hearers were quite ready to ignore the mortality statistics + of our new motor traffic. The pig-breeding scientist led a round of + applause. + </p> + <p> + Gorman developed his theme. The intellect of the modern world, he said, + was not only occupied with the problems of preserving life, but was bent + on making life more convenient and happier, especially the life of the + toiling masses of our people. The mediaeval world built cathedrals, fine + castles, Doge’s palaces and such things. We have supplied mankind with + penny postage stamps. Which, Gorman asked, is the greater achievement: to + house a Doge or two in a building too big for them or to enable countless + mothers—sorrowing and lonely women—to communicate by letter + with the children who had left the maternal home? + </p> + <p> + After dwelling for some time on the conveniences Gorman passed on to speak + of the pleasures of modern life. He said that pleasures were more + important than work, because without pleasures no work could be really + well done. When he reached that point I began to see how he meant to work + up to the cinematograph and Tim’s invention. I tried to get a glimpse of + Mrs. Ascher’s face. I wanted to find out how she was taking this + glorification of Tim’s blasphemy against art. Unfortunately I could only + see the back of her head. I moved along the side of the hall as much as I + dared in the hope of getting a sight of her face from some angle. I + failed. To this day I do not know whether Mrs. Ascher admired Gorman’s art + as an orator enough to make her forgive the vile purpose for which it was + used. + </p> + <p> + When I began to listen to the speech again Gorman had reached his + peroration. + </p> + <p> + The arts of war, he said, were the natural fruits of the human intellect + in a society organised on an aristocratic basis. The development of the + arts of peace and pleasure followed the birth of democracy. Tyrants and + robber barons in old days loved to fight and lived to kill. The common, + kindly men and women of our time, the now at length sovereign people, + lived to love and desire peace above all things. + </p> + <p> + “The spirit of democracy,” said Gorman, “is moving through the world. Its + coming is like the coming of the spring, gentle, kindly, gradual. We see + it not, but in the fields and hedgerows of the world, past which it moves, + we see the green buds bursting into leaf, the myriad-tinted flowers + opening their petals to the sunlight. We see the lives of humble men made + glad, and our hearts are established with strong faith; faith in the + spirit whose beneficence we recognise, the spirit which at last is guiding + the whole wide world into the way of peace.” + </p> + <p> + I gathered from these concluding remarks that all danger of war had passed + from the horizon of humanity since the Liberal Government muzzled the + House of Lords. + </p> + <p> + Gorman did not mention this great feat in plain words. He suggested it in + such a way that the Cabinet Ministers in front of him understood what he + meant, while Lady Kingscourt and her friends thought he was referring to a + revolution in China or Portugal or the establishment of some kind of + representative government in Thibet. Thus every one was pleased and Gorman + climbed down from the platform amid a burst of applause. + </p> + <p> + Lady Kingscourt clapped her pretty hands as loudly as any one. Her husband + is a territorial magnate. Her brothers are soldiers. But she is prepared + to welcome democracy and universal peace as warmly as any of us. Perhaps + what attracted her in Gorman’s programme was the prospect of a great + increase in the pleasures of life. + </p> + <p> + We drank tea, ate sandwiches, cheered our hearts with champagne cup, + chattered loudly, and, the men of the party, stretched our legs for half + an hour. Then we settled down again to gape at Tim’s moving figures. The + new mirrors were well worth the money I spent on them. The thing worked + better, far better, than when I saw it in the barn. I think the audience + was greatly pleased. Everybody said so to me when the time came for escape + from the hall. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher and I drove back to Hampstead together. I told her how Ascher + had left the hall and that it might be late before he got home. She sat + silent beside me and I thought that she was wondering what had happened to + her husband. Just before we reached the house she spoke, and I discovered + that she had all the time been thinking of something else, not Ascher’s + absence. + </p> + <p> + “I was wrong,” she said, “in condemning the cinematograph and this new + invention. It is—at present it is vile beyond words, vile as I + thought it; but I see now that there are possibilities.” + </p> + <p> + “May I tell Tim that?” I said. “It would cheer him greatly. The poor boy + has never really got over what you said to him in New York, about + blasphemy, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “You may tell him,” said Mrs. Ascher, “that his invention is capable of + being used for the ends of art; that he has created a mechanical body and + that <i>we</i>, the artists, must breathe into it the breath of life.” + </p> + <p> + We reached the house. + </p> + <p> + “I am coming in, if I may,” I said. “Mr. Ascher asked me to see him + to-night if possible. I promised to wait for him even if he does not get + home till very late.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not sit up with you,” said Mrs. Ascher. “I want to be alone to + think. I want to discover the way in which art is to take possession of + mechanics, how it is to inspire all new discoveries, to raise them from + the level of material things up and up to the mountain tops of beautiful + emotion.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall tell Tim that,” I said. “He’ll be awfully pleased.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher held my hand, bidding me an impressive good-night. + </p> + <p> + “There is a spirit,” she said, “which moves among the multitudinous blind + gropings of humanity. It moves all unseen and unknown by men, guiding + their pitiful endeavours to the Great End. That End is Duty. That spirit + is Art. To recognise it is Faith.” + </p> + <p> + The Irish bishop who attended my party is a liberal and highly educated + churchman. He once told me about a Spirit which moves very much as Mrs. + Ascher’s does. Its aim was goodness and the bishop called it God. His + definition of faith was, except for the different object, precisely Mrs. + Ascher’s. + </p> + <p> + Gorman propounds a somewhat similar philosophy of life, and occasionally + talks about faith in the same rapt way. I do not suppose that he actually + holds the faith he preaches, certainly not as Mrs. Ascher and the bishop + hold theirs. No Irishman is, or ever can be, a Liberal after the English + fashion; but Gorman does talk about the spirit of democracy and says he + looks forward to its guiding Humanity to a great end, universal peace. + </p> + <p> + I made my way into Ascher’s study, wondering how long I should have to + wait for him. + </p> + <p> + I wondered where he was and what he was doing. Who sent Jack Heneage to + search for Ascher? I could not remember whose private secretary Jack was. + Mrs. Ascher was thinking of art and beauty, the bishop, no doubt about God + and goodness. Gorman was turning over in his mind nice new phrases about + democracy and peace. What was Ascher doing? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. + </h2> + <p> + Ascher’s servant followed me into the study. He placed a little table + beside the chair on which I sat. He set a decanter of whisky, a syphon of + soda water and a box of cigars at my elbow. He brought a reading lamp and + put it behind me, switching on the electric current so that the light fell + brightly over my shoulder. He turned off the other lights in the room. He + asked me if there were anything else he could do for me. Then he left me. + </p> + <p> + A clock, somewhere behind me, chimed. It was a quarter to twelve. I poured + out some whisky and lit a cigar. I sat wondering what Ascher was doing. + The clock chimed again and then it struck. It was twelve o’clock. It was a + clock with a singularly mellow gong. The sounds it made were soft and + unaggressive. There was no rude challenge in its assertion that time was + passing on, but the very gentleness of its warnings, a gentleness deeply + tinged with melancholy, infected me with a strange restlessness. When for + the third time its chiming broke the heavy silence of the room, I rose + from my chair. The gloom which surrounded the circle of light in which I + sat weighed on my spirits. I touched a switch and set the lights above the + fireplace shining. + </p> + <p> + Over the mantelpiece hung a picture, a landscape painting. A flock of + sheep wandered through a misty valley. There were great mountains in the + background, their slopes and tops dimly, discernible through a haze. The + haze and the mist wreaths would certainly soon clear away, dispersed by a + rising sun. The whole scene would be stripped of its mystery. The mountain + sides, the valley stream and the grazing sheep would be seen clear and + bare in the merciless light of a summer morning. The painter had chosen + the moment while the mystery of dawn endured. I felt that he feared the + passing of it, that he shrank from the inevitable coming of the hour when + everything would be clear and all the outlines sharp, when the searching + sun would tear away the compassionate coverings, when nature would appear + less beautiful than his heart hoped it was. It was with this picture, with + this and one other, that Ascher chose to live. + </p> + <p> + I moved round the room, turning on yet other lights. Over Ascher’s writing + desk hung a full length portrait of a woman, of Mrs. Ascher, but painted + many years ago. I have no idea who the artist was but he had seen his + sitter in no common way. The girl, she was no more than a girl when the + picture was painted, stood facing me from the canvas. She was dressed in a + long, trailing, pale green robe. Her hands were folded in front of her. + Her head was a little thrown back, so that her neck was visible. Her skin, + even then in the early days of her womanhood, was almost colourless. The + red colour of her hair saved the picture from deathly coldness, + contrasting sharply with the mass of pale green drapery and the pallid + skin. + </p> + <p> + I have never thought of Mrs. Ascher as a beautiful woman or one who at any + time of her life could have been beautiful. But the artist, whoever he + was, had seen in her a singular alluring charm. I cannot imagine that I + could ever have been affected by her even if I had seen her as the artist + did, as no doubt Ascher did. I like normal people and common things. I + should have been afraid of the woman in the picture. I am in no way like + Keats’ “Knight at Arms.” I should simply have run away from the “Belle + Dame sans merci,” and no amount of fairy songs or manna dew would have + enabled her to have me in thrall. But I could understand how Ascher, who + evidently has a taste for that kind of thing, might have been fascinated + by the morbid beauty of the girl in the picture. I could understand how + the fascination might become an enduring thing; a great love; how Ascher + would still be drawn to the woman long after the elfishness of girlhood + passed away. The soul would still remain gleaming out of those narrow + eyes. + </p> + <p> + The clock chimed close beside me. It was a quarter to one. I sat down + again, poured out more whisky and lit a fresh cigar. I left all the lights + in the room shining. I was determined to drag myself back to the + commonplace and to cheerfulness. + </p> + <p> + I took a book from the table beside me. It was evidently a book which + Ascher had been reading. A thin ivory blade lay between the pages, marking + the place he had reached. The book was a prophetic forecast of the State + of the future, a record of one of those dreams of better, calmer times, + which haunt the spirits of brave and good men, to which cowards turn when + they are made faint by the contemplation of present evil things. I read a + page or two in one part of the book and a page or two in another. I read + in one place a whole chapter. I discerned in the author an underlying + faith in the natural goodness of man. He believed, his whole argument was + based on the belief, that all men, but especially common men, the manual + workers, would gladly turn away from greed and lust and envy, would live + in beauty and peace, naturally, without effort, if only they were set free + from the pressure of want and the threat of hunger. The evil which + troubles us, so this dreamer seemed to hold, is not in ourselves or of our + nature. It is the result of the conditions in which we live, conditions + created by our mistakes, not by our vices. I wondered if Ascher, with his + wide knowledge of the world, believed in such a creed or even cherished a + hope that it might be true. Do men, in fact, become saints straightway + when their bellies are full? + </p> + <p> + It is strange how childish memories awaken in us suddenly. As I laid down + Ascher’s book there came to me a picture of a scene in my old home. We + were at prayers in the dining-room. My father sat at a little table with a + great heavy Bible before him. Ranged along the wall in front of him was + the long line of servants, the butler a little apart from the others as + befitted the chief of the staff. My governess and I sat together in a + corner near the fire. My father read, in a flat, unemotional voice, read + words which he absolutely believed to be the words of God. “Except a man + be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” + </p> + <p> + Well, that is a different creed. To me it seems more consonant with the + facts of life. Man as he is can neither enter into nor create a great + society nor enjoy peace which comes of love. Hitherto the new birth of the + Spirit, which bloweth where it listeth, has been for a few in every + generation. The hour of rebirth for the mass of men still lingers. Will it + ever come—the time when all the young men see visions and all the + old men dream dreams? + </p> + <p> + I stirred uneasily in my chair and looked up. I had not heard him enter + the room, but Ascher stood beside me. + </p> + <p> + “I am glad you are here,” he said. “I hoped you would be; but I am very + late.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “you are very late. It is long after midnight. Where have + you been? What have you been doing?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher sat down opposite to me, and for some time he did not speak. I made + no attempt to press my questions. If Ascher wanted to talk to me he would + do so in his own time and in the way he chose. I supposed that he did want + to talk to me. He had asked me to his house. He had bidden me wait for + him. + </p> + <p> + “I have no right,” said Ascher at last, “to trouble you with my + difficulties. I ought to think them out and fight them out for myself; but + it will be a help to me if I can put them into words and feel that you are + listening to me.” + </p> + <p> + He paused for so long that I felt I must make some reply to him, though I + did not know what to say. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t suppose I can be of any use to you,” I said, “but if I can——” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps you can,” said Ascher. “You can listen to me at least. Perhaps + you can do more. It is a large call to make upon your friendship to treat + you in this manner, but—I am in some ways a lonely man.” + </p> + <p> + I have always, since the day I first met him, liked and respected Ascher. + When he spoke about his loneliness I felt a sudden wave of pity for him. + It seems a strange thing to say, but at that moment I had a strong + affection for the man. + </p> + <p> + “What I partly foresaw and greatly dreaded has come,” he said. “I am + certain now that war is inevitable, a great war, almost perhaps in the end + quite worldwide.” + </p> + <p> + “And England?” I said, “is England, too——?” + </p> + <p> + “Almost inevitably.” + </p> + <p> + “Germany?” I said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher nodded. + </p> + <p> + I was throbbing with excitement. For the moment I felt nothing but a sense + of exultation, strangely out of harmony with the grave melancholy with + which Ascher spoke. I suppose the soldier instinct survives in me, an + inheritance from generations of my forefathers, all of whom have worn + swords, many of whom have fought. We have done our part in building up the + British Empire, we Irish gentlemen, fighting, as Virgil’s bees worked, + ourselves in our own persons, but not for our own gain. There is surely + not one battlefield of all where the flag of England has flown on which we + have not led men, willing to fall at the head of them. It seems strange + now, looking back on it, that such an emotion should have been possible; + but at the moment I felt an overmastering sense of awful joy at Ascher’s + news. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell you where I have been to-night,” said Ascher, “nor with + whom I have been talking. Still less must I repeat what I have heard, but + this much I think I may say. I was sent for to give my advice on certain + matters connected with finance, to express an opinion about what will + happen, what dangers threaten in that world, my world, the world of + money.” + </p> + <p> + “There’ll be an infernal flurry on the Stock Exchange,” I said. “Prices + will come tumbling down about men’s ears. Fellows will go smash in every + direction.” + </p> + <p> + “There will be much more than that,” said Ascher. “The declaration of war + will not simply mean the ruin of a few speculators here and there. You + know enough about the modern system of credit to realise something of what + we have to face. There will be a sudden paralysis of the nerves and + muscles of the whole world-wide body of commercial and industrial life. + The heart will stop beating for a short time—only for a short time I + hope—and no blood will go through the veins and arteries.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher spoke very gravely. Yet, though I had spent months watching the + workings of his machine, I could not at the moment share his mood. The war + fever was in my blood. + </p> + <p> + “I should change my metaphor,” said Ascher. “It is not a case of a body + where the heart pumps blood into the arteries, but of springs which make + brooks, brooks which flow into streams, which in their turn feed great + rivers. Now those springs will be frozen. In a million places of which you + and I do not even know the names, credit will be frozen suddenly. There + will be no water in the brooks and streams. The rivers will run dry.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher had asked for my sympathy. I did my best to give it. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a tremendous responsibility for you,” I said, “and men like you. But + you’ll pull through. The whole thing can’t collapse, simply can’t. It’s + too big.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said Ascher, “perhaps. But it is not that side of the matter + which I wish to speak to you about. You will forgive me if I say that you + can hardly understand or appreciate it. What I want to say to you is + something more personal. I want”—Ascher smiled wanly—“to talk + about myself.” + </p> + <p> + “You stand to lose heavily,” I said. “I see that.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not know,” said Ascher, “whether at the end of a week I shall own + one single penny in the world. I may very well have lost everything. But + if that were all I should not trouble much. Merely to lose money—but——” + </p> + <p> + He stopped speaking, and for a long while sat silent The clock behind me + chimed again. It was half past two. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” said Ascher, “that you have always thought of me as an + Englishman.” + </p> + <p> + “To tell you the truth,” I said, “I’ve never thought whether you are an + Englishman or not. I wasn’t interested. I suppose I took it for granted + that you were English.” + </p> + <p> + “I am a German,” said Ascher. “I was born in Hamburg, of German parents. + All my relations are Germans. I came over to England as a young man and + went into business here. My business—I do not know why—is one + to which Englishmen do not take readily. There are English bankers of + course, but not very many English financiers. Yet my particular kind of + banking, international banking, can best be carried on in England. That is + why I am here, why my business is centred in London, though I myself am + not an Englishman. I am a German. Please understand that. My brother is a + general in the German Army. My sister’s sons are in the German Army and + Navy. My blood ties are with the people from whom I came.” + </p> + <p> + I realised that Ascher was stating a case of conscience, was perhaps + asking my advice. It seemed to me that there was only one thing which I + could advise, only one possible course for Ascher to take. Whatever + happened to his business or his private fortune he must be true to his own + people. I was about to say this when Ascher raised his hand slightly and + stopped me. + </p> + <p> + “I want you to understand,” he said, “my blood ties are with the people + from whom I came; but I am now wholly English in my sympathies. I see + things from the English point of view, not from the German. I am sure that + it will be a good thing for the world if England and her Allies win, a bad + thing if Germany is victorious in the war before us. Yet the blood tie + remains. Who was the Englishman who said, ‘My country, may she always be + right, but my country right or wrong’? It seems to me a mean thing to + desert my country now, even although I have become a stranger to her. Is + it not a kind of disloyalty to range myself with her enemies?” + </p> + <p> + Again Ascher paused. This time I was less ready to answer him. + </p> + <p> + “I have also to consider this,” he went on, “and here I get to the very + heart of my difficulty. I have lived most of my life here, and I have + built up my business on an English foundation. I have been able to build + it up because I had ready made for me that foundation of integrity which + your English merchants have established by centuries of honest dealing. + Without that—if the world had not believed that my business was + English, and therefore stable, I could not have built at all or should + have built with much greater difficulty. My bank is English, though I, who + control it, am not. If I go back to my own people now, now when it seems + treachery to desert them, the whole machinery of the vast system of credit + which I guide will cease to work, will break to fragments. Of my own loss + I say nothing, indeed I think nothing. But what of the other men, + thousands of them who are involved with me, whose affairs are inextricably + mixed with mine, who have trusted not me, but my bank, trusted it because + it is an English institution? And it is English. Have I the right to ruin + them and to break up my bank, which belongs to your nation, of which in a + sense I am no more than a trustee for England? You understand, do you not? + My bank is just as certainly of English birth as I am of German birth. Yet + it and I are one. We cannot be divided. What am I to do?” + </p> + <p> + Ascher was asking questions; but I did not think that he was asking them + of me. I felt that it was my part to listen, not to answer. Besides what + could I answer? Ascher had given me a glimpse of one of those intolerable + dilemmas from which there is no way of escape. The choice between right + and wrong, when the nobler and baser parts of our nature are in conflict, + is often very difficult and painful. But there are times—this was + one of them—when two of the nobler, two of the very noblest of our + instincts, are set against each other. When we can only do right by doing + wrong at the same time, when to be loyal we must turn traitors. + </p> + <p> + When Ascher spoke again he seemed to have drifted away from the subject of + the coming war, the financial catastrophe and his own trouble. I did not, + for some time, guess where his words were leading. + </p> + <p> + “I have been a very careful observer of English life,” he said, “ever + since I first came to this country, and no class in your nation has + interested me more than you minor gentry, the second grade of your + aristocracy.” + </p> + <p> + “Often spoken of as the squirearchy,” I said. “It is generally supposed to + be the most useless and the least intelligent part of the community. It is + rapidly disappearing, which, I daresay, is a fortunate thing.” + </p> + <p> + “Your greater nobility,” said Ascher, “is modernised, is necessarily more + or less cosmopolitan. It has international interests and is occupied with + great affairs. It has been forced to accept the standard of ethics in + accordance with which great affairs are managed. Your merchants and + manufacturers have their own code, by no means a low one, and their theory + of right and wrong. Between these two classes come the men with lesser + titles or no titles at all, families which spring from roots centuries + deep in the soil of England, men of some wealth, but not of great riches. + They have their own standard, their code, their peculiar touchstone for + distinguishing fine conduct from its imitation, their ethic.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said, “I can understand your being interested in that. It is a + survival of a certain antiquarian value. It is the quaintest standard of + conduct imaginable, totally unreasonable and inconsistent. But it exists. + There are some things which a gentleman of that class will not do.” + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. These men—may I say you, for it is you I am thinking of. + You have your sense of honour.” + </p> + <p> + I never was more surprised in my life than I was when Ascher said that to + me. Nothing that I have ever said or done in his company could possibly + have led him to suppose that I am a victim of that outworn superstition + known as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + “You have an instinct,” said Ascher, “inherited through many generations, + a highly specialised sense, now nearly infallible, for knowing what is + honourable and what is base. I do not know that any of my countrymen have + that sense. I am sure that the class to which I belong has not. We look at + things in a different way.” + </p> + <p> + “A much better way,” I said, “more practical.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, more practical. Better perhaps in the sense of being wiser. But I + have a wish, an odd fancy if you like, to see things your way, to guide my + conduct according to your standard of honour.” + </p> + <p> + As well as I could make out Ascher was asking me to decide for him on + which horn of his infernal dilemma he was to impale himself, and to base + my decision on a perfectly absurd and arbitrary set of rules for conduct, + none of which could by any possibility be made to apply to a situation + like his. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Ascher,” I said, “I can’t possibly judge for you.” + </p> + <p> + “You could judge if it were your own case,” he said. “You could certainly + judge then. Have you ever in your life been in the smallest doubt, even + for a moment, about the way of honour, which it is?” + </p> + <p> + “That is all very well,” I said; “I quite admit I do know that. I + generally do the other thing, but I know what I ought to do according to + the ridiculous standard of my class. But I don’t know what you ought to + do. That’s a different thing altogether.” + </p> + <p> + “Because I am not of your class? not a gentleman?” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t talk nonsense,” I said. “There aren’t any gentlemen left. The + species is extinct. The very name of it is vulgarised. You’re as near + being one as anybody I know. And that has nothing to do with it. Gentleman + or not, you’ve go to decide for yourself. No man living can do it for + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Your class would decide for me if I belonged to it,” said Ascher. “The + collective wisdom of your class, the class instinct. It would make me + certain, leave me in no doubt at all, if only I belonged to it, were one + of you. The choice I have to make——” + </p> + <p> + Ascher paused. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a nasty choice to have to make. You’ve got to be disloyal either way + you go. That’s what it comes to.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no other way,” said Ascher sadly, “no third way.” + </p> + <p> + “Not that I can see.” + </p> + <p> + There was, in fact, a third way, though I did not see it at the time. Mrs. + Ascher discovered it. I heard of it two days later. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + No one has greater respect and admiration for Ascher than I have. I + respect his ability. I admire his cool detachment of mind and his + unfailing feeling for justice. I recognise in him a magnanimity, a certain + knightliness which is very rare. But it is vain to pretend that I can ever + regard Ascher as an intimate friend. I am never quite comfortable in his + company. He lacks something, something essential. He lacks a sense of + humour. + </p> + <p> + No one in England—no one I suppose in Europe—wanted to make + jokes during that critical week which followed my interview with Ascher. + The most abandoned buffoon shrank from jesting when every morning brought + a fresh declaration of war by one great power on another. But even under + such circumstances the sense of the ridiculous survives—a thing to + be carefully concealed—in those who are fortunate enough to possess + it. Ascher has no sense of the ridiculous. He sees men and women clad in + long, stately robes moving through life with grave dignity like Arab + chiefs or caliphs of Bagdad. He sees their actions conditioned and to some + extent controlled by the influences of majestic inhuman powers, the genii + of eastern tales, huge, cloud-girt spirits of oppressive solemnity. In + reality most people wear motley all day long and the fairy powers are + leprechauns, tricksy, irresponsible sprites, willing enough to make merry + with those who can laugh with them; but players of all Puck’s tricks on + “wisest aunts telling saddest tales.” + </p> + <p> + I sometimes think that it is Ascher’s chivalry, his fine knightliness, + which has killed his sense of humour. I cannot suppose that Sir Galahad + found any delight in the quips of fools. His owl-like eyes, large with the + wonder of Holy Grails, looked stupidly on faces wrinkled with merriment. + King Arthur could never have talked as he did to Guinevere—Tennyson + is my authority for the things he said—if he had not had in him the + soul of an earnest member of a league for the sympathetic study of social + problems. Ascher is as chivalrous as any member of King Arthur’s + fellowship, and humour, if he ever had the sense of it, is dead in him. + But perhaps he was born without it and is by nature hopelessly serious + because he is a German. For the Germans never seem to be able to + appreciate the fact that the grandiose is invariably comic, and that + nothing in the world is more difficult than to stand toes to the line of + the high heroic without stepping across it into the region of the + ridiculous. I think of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” of Nietzsche’s “Zara-thrusta,” + of the Kaiser Wilhelm’s amazing “Weltauf-fassung,” and it seems to me that + such things could not be in any nation where one single man knew how to + laugh. + </p> + <p> + If Ascher had in him the faintest glimmering of a sense of humour he would + never have appealed to me, choosing the silent and ghostly middle of the + night for the performance, to decide his point of honour for him. What am + I that he should imagine me capable of settling high questions of that + kind? An expatriated Irishman, a dispossessed landlord, a man without one + high ambition, a mere mocker of enthusiasm of every kind. No one, unless + he were absolutely blind to the ridiculous, would have consulted me on + such a subject as the honour of a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + Yet, in her total lack of humour, Mrs. Ascher is as bad as her husband is. + If such a thing were possible I should say that she is worse. There is, at + all events, less excuse for her. She is not knightly, not very knightly, + though she did champion the cause of poor, oppressed Ireland. She is an + American, not a German, and the Americans pay high honour to their + humourists. Perhaps she has lived too long with Ascher. Perhaps she has + devoted herself too much to art and her steady contemplation of the + sublime has killed her sense of the ridiculous. At all events it is dead. + She has no humour now. + </p> + <p> + It is almost impossible to imagine that any woman would have been capable + of calling in Gorman and me as advisers and helpers at a critical moment + of her life. Yet that is what Mrs. Ascher did. + </p> + <p> + We obeyed the summons of course, both of us. + </p> + <p> + Gorman got there first. I found him seated opposite Mrs. Ascher in the + large drawing-room of the house in Hampstead. Mrs. Ascher is lacking in + humour, but she has a fine sense of dramatic propriety. Great decisions + can only be come to fittingly, mighty spiritual tragedies can only be + satisfactorily enacted, in spacious rooms. And there must be emptiness. + Knicknacks and pretty ornaments kill high emotion. The chamber of a dainty + woman, the room which delicate feminity has made its own, will suit a + light flirtation, the love-making of a summer afternoon, but deep passion + is out of place in it. + </p> + <p> + I walked cautiously across a wide space of slippery floor in order to + shake hands with Mrs. Ascher. I saw that Gorman was sitting in a huge + straight-backed chair with heavily carved elbow rests. It was the sort of + chair which would have suited a bishop—in the chancel of his + cathedral, not in his private room—and a major excommunication + might very suitably have been delivered from it. + </p> + <p> + “I am in great trouble,” said Mrs. Ascher, “and I have asked you two to + come to me because you are my friends. I was right to call you, was I + not?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at Gorman and then at me, evidently expecting us to make a + confession of friendship for her. Gorman wriggled in a way that made me + think the carving of the chair must be sticking into him somewhere. But he + did not fail Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “You were right,” he said with deep feeling, “altogether right.” + </p> + <p> + I was not going to be outdone by Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “‘A friend,’” I said, “‘must bear a friend’s infirmities.’” + </p> + <p> + The quotation was not wholly happy, but Mrs. Ascher seemed to like it. She + smiled gratefully. + </p> + <p> + “My husband,” she said. + </p> + <p> + I knew it must be her husband’s affairs which were troubling her. + </p> + <p> + “He is in a very difficult position,” I said. “I had a long talk with him + the other night. It seems to me that he has to choose between——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman interrupted me. + </p> + <p> + “He’s in an infernally awkward hole,” he said. “The English people will + lose their tempers to a certainty, not at first perhaps, but as soon as + anything goes against them. When they do they’ll make things damnably + unpleasant for any one who’s suspected of being German or even remotely + connected with Germany. That’s the sort of people the English are. And + Ascher is just the man they’ll fasten on at once. They’ll hunt him down.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher looked at Gorman while he spoke. Her face expressed a quiet + dignity. + </p> + <p> + “That is not the difficulty,” she said. “What people say or think of us or + do to us does not matter. We live our own lives. We can always live them, + apart from, above the bitter voices of the crowd.” + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” said Gorman, “it will be unpleasant. It will be a great + deal worse than merely unpleasant. If I were Ascher I should get on the + safe side at once. I should give a thumping big subscription—£50,000 + or something that will attract attention—to some popular fund. I + should offer to present the War Office with half a dozen aeroplanes to be + called ‘The Ascher Flying Fleet’; or a first-rate cannon of the largest + size. A good deal can be done to shut people’s mouths in that sort of + way.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not understand,” said Mrs. Ascher. + </p> + <p> + She turned to me, evidently hoping that I would explain Ascher’s real + difficulty to Gorman. I hesitated for a moment. It was plain to me that + though Gorman did not appreciate the reality of the spiritual crisis, he + did understand something which had escaped me and, so far as I knew, had + escaped Ascher also. I had a vivid recollection of the unenviable position + of men suspected of lukewarm patriotism during the Boer War. In the + struggle we were then entering upon popular passion would be far more + highly excited. The position of the Aschers in England might become + impossible. + </p> + <p> + Gorman with his highly developed faculty for gauging the force and + direction of popular opinion understood at once and thoroughly the + difficulties that lay before Ascher. What he did not understand was the + peculiar difficulty which Ascher felt. I responded to Mrs. Ascher’s glance + of appeal and tried to explain things to Gorman. + </p> + <p> + “Ascher,” I said, “is pulled two ways. His country is pulling him. That’s + the call of patriotism. You ought to understand that, Gorman. You’re a + tremendous patriot yourself. But if he goes back to his country now he + absolutely ruins his business. That means a lot more than merely losing + his money. It means more even than losing other people’s money, the money + of the men who trusted him. It means that he must be false to his + commercial honour. You see that, don’t you, Gorman? And there doesn’t seem + any way out of the dilemma. He has got to go back on his patriotism or on + his honour. There is no other course.” + </p> + <p> + I looked at Mrs. Ascher for approval. I had stated her husband’s dilemma + clearly, I believed fairly. Gorman could hardly fail to understand. I + thought Mrs. Ascher would have been pleased with me. To my amazement she + acknowledged my efforts with a burst of indignation. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” she cried, “you do not understand, either of you. You do not even + begin to understand. I suppose you cannot, because you are men and not + women. You men! All of you, my husband, too, though he is far above the + rest of you—but even he! You concern yourselves about things which + are nothing. You argue about phantoms and discuss them as if they were + realities. And all the time you miss the things which are. You think”—she + spoke directly to Gorman and her voice expressed the utmost scorn—“you + think about reputation, the way men babble about each other and will + babble about us. Why should we care? Even if we were afraid of what men + say there are places in the world to which the voices of Europe cannot + reach. There are islands in the sea where the sun shines and palm trees + grow, to which the talk of men who dwell in cities never comes.” + </p> + <p> + I recollected the desire which Mrs. Ascher had once expressed to me of + getting “far, far away from everywhere.” She evidently hoped to be able to + try that experiment. + </p> + <p> + She turned from Gorman and faced me. + </p> + <p> + “You talk,” she said, “about honour and patriotism. What are they? Words, + just words. It is only you men, slaves of your own conventions, who take + them for realities. We women know better. You go about life imagining that + your limbs are bound with fetters. They are bound with delusions. We women + know. Love and beauty are real. Nothing else is. All your fine words are + like the flags under which your dupes go out to die; fluttering rags to us + whose eyes are open. You talk—oh, so finely you talk—about the + shadows your own imaginings cast, and you end in being afraid of them. You + talk—you dare to talk to me of money——” + </p> + <p> + This was a totally unjust accusation. I had not talked about money. I had + more sense than to mention money to a woman in Mrs. Ascher’s frame of + mind. + </p> + <p> + “I have money enough of my own,” she said. “He and I want very little. + What do we care for except just to love each other and to see beautiful + things and to escape from all this nightmare of blood and hate and horror + and hideousness?” + </p> + <p> + I felt helpless. Mrs. Ascher had undoubtedly hit on a new solution of the + problem. She proposed that Ascher should impale himself not on one or + other, but on both horns of the dilemma, be false to every kind of honour + and loyalty. It was, I suppose, possible for Ascher to pack a bag and take + to flight, simply to disappear, leaving everything behind him. He and she + might go to some valley in the Rocky Mountains, to some unknown creek on + the Californian coast, to some island in the South Pacific. If she were + right about honour and faithfulness and patriotism, if these are, after + all, only idols of the tribe, then she and Ascher might be very happy. + They would have all that either of them required. + </p> + <p> + I looked at Gorman. He shrugged his shoulders, helpless as I was. Mrs. + Ascher began to plead with us in a way that was very strange to listen to. + </p> + <p> + “Life is so short,” she said. “Already most of it is gone from us. We have + only a few years more, he and I. Why should we be miserable? There is + happiness waiting for us. There is nothing between us and happiness except + words, honor, patriotism, right, wrong. These are words, only words. They + are gossamer threads which we break as we go, break without feeling them + if only we go boldly. Will you not help me? Tell him that what I say is + true. He will listen to you because you are men; and you know in your + hearts that I speak what is true, that I have hold upon reality.” + </p> + <p> + There was a moment’s silence after she stopped speaking. Before either + Gorman or I attempted to make any answer Ascher himself came into the + room. I certainly did not expect to see him. Mrs. Ascher was, I am sure, + as much surprised as I was. It was about twelve o’clock and at that hour + Ascher is always in his office. He crossed the room quietly. He greeted + Gorman and me without a sign that our presence was unexpected or + unwelcome. He went to his wife and took her hand in his. She clung to him, + looking up into his face. She knew at once that he had something very + important to say to her. + </p> + <p> + “You have decided?” she said. + </p> + <p> + Ascher’s eyes met hers. His face seemed to me full of tenderness and pity. + He held her hand tightly. He bowed his head, a silent “yes” to the + question she asked. + </p> + <p> + “To leave it all and come with me?” she said; “away, away.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher did not speak; but she knew and I knew that his decision was not + that. + </p> + <p> + The scene was very painful. I felt that I had no right whatever to witness + it Gorman, I am sure, would have been glad to escape. But it was very + difficult for us to get away. Neither Ascher nor his wife seemed, + conscious of our presence. We stood helpless a little apart from them. + Gorman, with that unfailing tact of his, did, or tried to do the only + thing which could have relieved the intolerable tension. He made an effort + to get us all back to the commonplace. + </p> + <p> + “You’re in a devil of an awkward situation, Ascher,” he said. “A good deal + seems to me to depend on whether you are a naturalised British subject or + not. If you have been naturalised you ought to be able to pull through, + though it won’t be pleasant even then.” + </p> + <p> + “I have not been naturalised,” said Ascher. “I never thought of it.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s a pity,” said Gorman. “Still—in the case of a man in your + position I daresay it can be managed even now. I’ll use my influence. I + know most of the members of the Cabinet pretty well. I can put it to them + that, from an English point of view, considering the tremendous importance + of your business, considering the financial collapse which would follow—oh, + we’ll be able to manage.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said Ascher, “but that purely legal aspect of the matter does + not at the moment strike me as the most important or the most pressing. No + doubt it is important and your kindness will be helpful. But just now I + cannot speak about that. There is, you see, my country and the loyalty I + owe to it. I do not seem to escape from that obligation by a process of + law. I may legalise, but do I really justify, treachery to the claim of + patriotism?” + </p> + <p> + I have always felt,—felt rather than known,—that there is a + queer strain of mysticism in Gorman. His arid common sense, his politics, + his rhetoric, his tricky money-making, are the outside, visible things + about him. Behind them, deep down, seldom seen, is a strange, emotional + love for his country. When Ascher spoke as he did about the claim of + patriotism Gorman understood. The innermost part of the man was reached. + Without hesitating for an instant, without consideration or debate, Gorman + leaped to a solution of the problem. + </p> + <p> + “Loyalty to your country comes first,” he said; “it must. Everything else + goes by the board. I did not know you felt that way about Germany; but + since you do There is no more to be said. Go back to your own country of + course. You can’t help yourself.” + </p> + <p> + I have no doubt that Gorman meant exactly what he said. If he had been in + Ascher’s position, if once the issue became quite plain to him and the + tangle of political alliances were swept away, he would have thrown all + his interests and every other kind of honour to the wind. He would have + sacrificed his business, would if necessary have parted with his wife; he + would have been loyal to the land of his birth, entirely contemptuous of + any other call or any claim. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ascher clung tightly to her husband’s arm. “Words,” she said, “words, + only words. You must not listen to him.” + </p> + <p> + Ascher felt for her hands again, grasped them and held them pressed close + against him. He turned from Gorman to me. + </p> + <p> + “And you,” he said, “what are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + The question took me by surprise. I had no difficult decision to make. My + course was in clear daylight. Besides, it did not matter to any one what I + did. + </p> + <p> + “You, yourself,” said Ascher again. “What are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” I said, “I’m going back to my regiment. I suppose they’ll take me. + Anyhow I shall offer myself.” + </p> + <p> + “And fight?” said Ascher. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes. I suppose I shall fight. This war won’t be over in a week. I’m + pretty sure to get my turn. Yes, I shall almost certainly fight.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” said Ascher. “What will you fight for?” + </p> + <p> + It was Gorman who answered the question. He had recovered from his brief + outburst, and had become the normal Gorman again. + </p> + <p> + “The war,” he said, “is for the liberation of Europe. It is a vast + struggle, an Armageddon in which the forces of reaction, absolutism, + tyranny, a military caste are ranged against democracy. It is their last + appearance upon the stage of history. Vindicated now, the principles of + democracy——” + </p> + <p> + “If you think,” I said, “that I’m going out to fight for the principles of + democracy, you’re making a big mistake. There’s nothing in the world I + dislike more than that absurd democracy of yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why?” said Ascher, mildly persistent. “Why are you going to fight?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” I said, “I don’t want to say anything offensive about your people, + Ascher. The Germans have a lot of fine qualities, but if they were to win + this war, if they were to succeed in imposing their civilisation and their + mentality on us all, if they were to Germanise the world, the sense of + humour would perish from among men. Nobody would any longer be able to + laugh. We—we should find ourselves taking governments and officials + seriously. Just imagine! To live under a bureaucracy and not to see that + it was funny! Surely it’s worth while fighting for the right to laugh.” + </p> + <p> + “You Irish!” said Ascher. “Even in times like this your love of paradox——” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t say it,” I said. “If you can possibly help it don’t say that. I + admit that I brought it on myself and deserve it. I apologise. That is not + my real reason for going back to my regiment. I only gave it to you + because I don’t know what my real reason is. It’s not patriotism. I + haven’t got any country to be patriotic about. It’s not any silly belief + in liberty or democracy. I don’t know why I’m doing it. I just have to. + That’s all.” + </p> + <p> + “Noblesse oblige,” said Ascher. “Your honour as a gentleman.” + </p> + <p> + I shuddered. Ascher—there is no other way of putting it—is + grossly indecent. A woman has a sense of modesty about her body. It would + be considered an outrage to strip her and leave her stark naked in the + middle of the room. I cannot see why a man should not be credited with + some feeling of modesty about his soul. I detest having my last garments + plucked from me in public. Complete spiritual nudity causes me very great + embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + “You can put it that way if you like,” I said. “The plain fact is I can’t + help myself. I must go back to my regiment. I have no choice.” + </p> + <p> + “I have come to see,” said Ascher, “that I have no choice either. There is + such a thing, though perhaps Mr. Gorman will not believe me—there is + such a thing as the honour of a banker. It compels me.” + </p> + <p> + He put his arm round his wife’s waist as he spoke. Still holding her hands + in one of his, he led her from the room. Her head drooped against his + shoulder as they went out. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose that means,” said Gorman, “that he’s going to stick it out and + see the thing through. It will be infernally awkward for him. I don’t + think he realises how nasty it will be. He hasn’t considered that side of + it.” + </p> + <p> + “A man doesn’t consider that side of things,” I said, “when he’s up + against it as Ascher is.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I’ll do my best about the naturalisation papers. That’ll be some + help.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s very hard to be sure,” I said, “but I’m inclined to think that + Ascher is right.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s utterly wrong,” said Gorman. “A man’s country ought to come first + always. You don’t understand that because you’re denationalised; because, + as you say yourself, you have no country. But it’s true, whether you + understand it or not.” + </p> + <p> + “When I think of that business of his,” I said, “the immense complexity of + it, the confidence of thousands of men in each other, all resting at last + on a faith in the integrity of one man, or rather of a firm—the + existence of such a business, world-wide, international, entirely + independent of all ties of race, nationality, language, religion, in a + certain sense wider than any of these—it’s a great, human affair, + not English nor German, not the white man’s nor the yellow man’s, not + Christian nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan, just human. Ascher owes some kind + of loyalty to a thing like that. It’s a frightfully complicated question; + but on the whole I think he is right.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman was not listening to me. He had ceased, for the time, to be + interested in Ascher’s decision. I tried to regain his attention. + </p> + <p> + “Ascher says,” I said, “that there is such a thing as the honour of a + banker, of a financier.” + </p> + <p> + That ought to have roused Gorman to a contradiction; but it did not. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” he said, “that we could get them to take on Tim in any job + connected with flying machines? This war will knock all his inventions + into a cocked hat. He will simply be left, and he has a real turn for + mechanics. If he got messing about with aeroplanes he might do something + big, something really valuable. But I don’t know how to go about getting + that sort of job for him. I’m not in with military people. Look here, + you’ve a lot of influence with the War Office——” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said. “None.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense. You must have. A word from you—— I’ll tell you what + we’ll do. I’ll work Ascher’s naturalisation papers for him, and you get + Tim taken on by the Army Flying Corps people.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” I said, “you’d like me to get you a Staff appointment while I’m + at it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no,” said Gorman. “I’m not a soldier, I’m a Member of Parliament. My + job is——” + </p> + <p> + Gorman hesitated. For a moment I thought that he was in real doubt, was + actually wondering what place he ought to take, what work he ought to do. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I said. “You. Now, what is your idea for yourself?” + </p> + <p> + Gorman drew himself up to his full height, squared his shoulders and + puffed out his chest. + </p> + <p> + “My place,” he said, “is in the great council of the Empire.” + </p> + <p> + I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord!” I said. “You don’t really think—you <i>can’t</i> think, + that your silly old Parliament is going to matter now; that you + politicians will be allowed to go on talking, that there will be divisions + in the House, and elections and all that foolishness.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman, still heroically erect, still enormously swelled in chest, winked + at me with careful deliberation. I was immensely relieved. + </p> + <p> + “Thank God,” I said. “For a moment I thought you really meant it—all + that great-council-of-the-Empire business, you know. It would have been a + horrible disappointment to me if you had. I’ve come to have a high regard + for you, Gorman, and I really could not have borne it. But of course I + ought to have known better. You couldn’t have believed in that stuff, + simply couldn’t. Nobody with your intelligence could. But seriously, now, + I should like to know—I’m sure you won’t mind telling me—— + What are you going to do? Your party, I mean. It seems to me you’re in + rather a hole. The Irish people will expect you to take the regular line + of backing the enemy.” + </p> + <p> + “The Irish people be damned,” said Gorman; “our game is to support the + Government.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX. + </h2> + <p> + I look back on the time I spent soldiering—soldiering under war + conditions—as a curious blank in an otherwise interesting and + amusing life. From the day on which I rejoined my regiment until the day, + about five months later, when I escaped from the hospital in which I was + incarcerated, my mind stopped working altogether. I took no interest + whatever in any of the things which used to excite me, which are now, I am + thankful to say, beginning to amuse me again. Politicians, I believe, + pranced about with fascinating agility. I did not care to look at them. + Newspaper proprietors demanded the immediate execution of one public man + after another. I do not believe I should have cared if a guillotine had + been set up in Piccadilly Circus and a regular reign of terror + established. I lost sight of Gorman. The Aschers faded from my memory. + </p> + <p> + I spent three months or so in camp with my old regiment. I worked + exceedingly hard. I ate enormously. I slept profoundly. I attained an + almost incredible perfection of physical health. I ceased to think about + anything. My experience of the business of actual fighting was brief. I + had little more than a month of it altogether. Then they sent me home with + a shattered leg. I worked harder than ever when I was at the Front. I was + often very uncomfortable. I remained amazingly healthy. I suffered at last + a good deal of physical pain. I did not think at all, even about the + progress of the war. + </p> + <p> + I date my awakening again to the interests of life from the day when + Gorman paid me his first visit. I was convalescent and had made myself + fairly comfortable in a cottage near Guildford. I had got rid of the last + of a long series of nurses. My leg had ceased to cause me any active + annoyance, but I was beginning to find myself a good deal bored and not a + little depressed. When Gorman walked in I was not, just at first, + particularly glad to see him. + </p> + <p> + “Let me congratulate you,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “On being alive? Is that a blessing?” + </p> + <p> + I had been brooding over the fact that I was lame for life. Gorman’s + breezy cheerfulness rather jarred me. + </p> + <p> + “Of course it’s a blessing to be alive,” said Gorman, “but I wasn’t + thinking of that. What I was congratulating you on was being a hero. + D.S.O., isn’t it? Tell me all about it, won’t you?” + </p> + <p> + I have been given the right of appending those three letters to my name, + so I suppose I must have avoided the worst kinds of blundering and + incompetence. But I have no recollection of doing anything to deserve the + honour. I fear I answered Gorman rather ill-temperedly. + </p> + <p> + “There’s nothing whatever to tell,” I said. “I just crawled about in a + trench, generally muddy. Everybody else did exactly the same.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman is still the same man he always was, amazingly tactful and + sympathetic. He realised at once that I hated talking about the war and + was in no mood for recounting my own experiences. Instead of pressing me + with silly questions until he drove me mad, he dropped the subject of my + D.S.O. and began to babble agreeably about other things. + </p> + <p> + “Politics,” he said, “have got into a frightful state. In fact there are + hardly any politics at all. We haven’t had a decent rag since the war + began. We all sit round cooing at each other like beastly little green + lovebirds in a cage. It can’t last long, of course. Sooner or later + somebody’s bound to break out and try to bite; but for the present + Parliament’s the dullest place in Europe.” + </p> + <p> + I began to feel slightly interested. + </p> + <p> + “I remember hearing,” I said, “that you Nationalists promised not to cheer + for the Germans.” + </p> + <p> + “We did more than that,” said Gorman. “We rallied to the Empire at the + very start and have kept on rallying ever since. It felt odd at first, but + you get used to anything in time, even to being loyal. You’d have been + surprised if you’d heard me singing, ‘God Save the King’ in Dublin last + week.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you really?” + </p> + <p> + “Twice,” said Gorman, “on two consecutive days.” + </p> + <p> + A world in which such things could happen might, I began to feel, be worth + living in after all. I smiled feebly at Gorman. He responded with a + delicious wink. + </p> + <p> + “What’s happened to Home Rule?” I said. + </p> + <p> + “For the present it’s hung up; a case of suspended animation; our idea is + that if we’re thoroughly loyal now the English people will be so grateful + to us——” + </p> + <p> + “But they’ll be just as grateful to the Ulstermen,” I said. “They’re + loyal, too, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s the difficulty, of course,” said Gorman. “But what else could we + do? If we’d allowed the Orangemen to make a corner in loyalty at the + present crisis——” + </p> + <p> + “Crisis!” I said. “How that word brings it all back to me? Are we still + going through a crisis? Fancy the word surviving!” + </p> + <p> + “It’s about the only part of our old political system which does survive. + The rest’s gone, hopelessly.” + </p> + <p> + Gorman sighed, and I began to feel depressed again: But Gorman is not the + man to sorrow long, even over the decay of the British Constitution. He + dropped the unpleasant subject and started fresh. + </p> + <p> + “Tim,” he said, “has been rather a disappointment to me. He hasn’t + invented a single thing since the war began.” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” I said, “that this would have been his + opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + “So it is. The country’s simply crying out for inventions. Aerial + torpedoes, traps for submarines, wireless methods of exploding the enemy’s + ammunition, heaps of things of that sort. Tim might scoop up an immense + fortune and be made a baronet. But instead of inventing—and he could + if he chose—the young fool is flying about somewhere and dropping + bombs on German railways. I’m inclined to think it was a mistake putting + Tim into the Flying Corps at all. I wonder if we could get him out again. + Do you know any one you could write to about him?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” I said, “not a soul.” + </p> + <p> + “Pity,” said Gorman. “A little personal influence helps a lot in things of + this sort, and a letter from you——” + </p> + <p> + I thought it time to change the subject. + </p> + <p> + “The Aschers?” I said. “Ever see them now?” + </p> + <p> + “I met her in the Park on Sunday. She’s Red Crossing. Had on the most + elaborate costume you ever saw. Imagine a nurse’s uniform brought up to + the standard of the highest art, or perhaps I ought to say an artistic + dress with the red cross for motif. She told me that she expects to go to + the Front next week.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God she didn’t go sooner! She might have nursed me if she’d been + there in time.” + </p> + <p> + “She’d have done it all right,” said Gorman. “I hear she’s a splendid + organiser in spite of her clothes. Always was a remarkable woman, though + you didn’t care for her. There’s been a lot of trouble about Ascher.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he go bankrupt?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear no. Quite the contrary. All that financial part of the business + was well managed and there wasn’t any serious smash-up. They say that + Ascher helped a lot, in fact that it was very largely his advice which the + Government took. All the same a lot of people turned on him afterwards, in + spite of all I did to get him naturalised. They wanted to imprison him; + but that was absurd. It’s all very well to round up ordinary Germans, + barbers, waiters and people of that sort, and put them in concentration + camps. But you can’t imprison a man who’s worth millions. That sort of + thing isn’t done in any civilised state.” + </p> + <p> + “Besides,” I said, “Ascher didn’t deserve it.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course not. But that wouldn’t have saved him. In fact that has nothing + whatever to do with the matter. Popular opinion ran very strongly against + Germans, whether naturalised or not. And things were beginning to look + very nasty for Ascher. However, we managed all right.” + </p> + <p> + “How?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Gorman, “in the usual way. Diverted it.” + </p> + <p> + “Gorman,” I said, “I’m afraid I’m getting stupid. Fighting must have + muddled my brain. I don’t quite follow you. What did you divert?” + </p> + <p> + “Popular opinion,” said Gorman. “We turned it away from Ascher, started + everybody hunting a fresh hare. It wouldn’t have done to imprison Ascher, + really wouldn’t, for a lot of reasons; so we all began making speeches + about beer. Temperance, you know; I made one myself. Then everybody forgot + about Ascher and things settled down.” + </p> + <p> + “Politics aren’t as dead as you said they were, Gorman. You politicians——” + </p> + <p> + “It’s all very well sneering at politicians, and I don’t mind your doing + it, not a bit, especially as you’re wounded. But if it hadn’t been for us + politicians—— Tell me this now, is there anybody else in the + country who can divert popular opinion from an awkward subject?” + </p> + <p> + I do not suppose there is. But I did not care to argue about it. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” I said, “that Ascher ever regretted his decision?” + </p> + <p> + “What decision? Oh, to stay in England? No. I don’t think he ever has. + He’s done pretty well for himself in spite of any little trouble there’s + been. I should say he’s no worse off than he was.” + </p> + <p> + “I wasn’t thinking of the matter from a business point of view,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “From every other point of view,” said Gorman, “he was wrong. A man ought + not to go back on his country under any circumstances whatever.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t agree with you,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “His conscience,” said Gorman, “if financiers have consciences which I + doubt——” + </p> + <p> + “Some day,” I said, “when I’m a bit stronger, we’ll argue the whole thing + out.” + </p> + <p> + We have argued it out, since then, twenty times at least. We are no nearer + reaching a conclusion than we were. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gossamer, by George A. 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