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diff --git a/old/bcity10.txt b/old/bcity10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..118f939 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bcity10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5916 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext of Beyond the City, by A. Conan Doyle +#7 in our Arthur Conan Doyle Series + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Doyle died in 1930, we have cleared the copyright for the US. + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Thanks! mh + + + + +BEYOND THE CITY. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +THE NEW-COMERS. + + +"If you please, mum," said the voice of a domestic +from somewhere round the angle of the door, "number three +is moving in. + +Two little old ladies, who were sitting at either +side of a table, sprang to their feet with ejaculations +of interest, and rushed to the window of the +sitting-room. + +"Take care, Monica dear," said one, shrouding herself +in the lace curtain; "don't let them see us. + +"No, no, Bertha. We must not give them reason to say +that their neighbors are inquisitive. But I think that +we are safe if we stand like this." + +The open window looked out upon a sloping lawn, well +trimmed and pleasant, with fuzzy rosebushes and a +star-shaped bed of sweet-william. It was bounded by +a low wooden fence, which screened it off from a broad, +modern, new metaled road. At the other side of this road +were three large detached deep-bodied villas with peaky +eaves and small wooden balconies, each standing in its +own little square of grass and of flowers. All three +were equally new, but numbers one and two were curtained +and sedate, with a human, sociable look to them; while +number three, with yawning door and unkempt garden, had +apparently only just received its furniture and made +itself ready for its occupants. A four-wheeler had +driven up to the gate, and it was at this that the old +ladies, peeping out bird-like from behind their curtains, +directed an eager and questioning gaze. + +The cabman had descended, and the passengers within +were handing out the articles which they desired him to +carry up to the house. He stood red-faced and blinking, +with his crooked arms outstretched, while a male hand, +protruding from the window, kept piling up upon him a +series of articles the sight of which filled the curious +old ladies with bewilderment. + +"My goodness me!" cried Monica, the smaller, the +drier, and the more wizened of the pair. "What do you +call that, Bertha? It looks to me like four batter +puddings." + +"Those are what young men box each other with," +said Bertha, with a conscious air of superior worldly +knowledge. + +"And those?" + +Two great bottle-shaped pieces of yellow shining wood +had been heaped upon the cabman. + +"Oh, I don't know what those are," confessed Bertha. +Indian clubs had never before obtruded themselves upon +her peaceful and very feminine existence. + +These mysterious articles were followed, however, by +others which were more within their, range of +comprehension--by a pair of dumb-bells, a purple +cricket-bag, a set of golf clubs, and a tennis racket. +Finally, when the cabman, all top-heavy and bristling, +had staggered off up the garden path, there emerged in a +very leisurely way from the cab a big, powerfully built +young man, with a bull pup under one arm and a pink +sporting paper in his hand. The paper he crammed into +the pocket of his light yellow dust-coat, and extended +his hand as if to assist some one else from the vehicle. +To the surprise of the two old ladies, however, the only +thing which his open palm received was a violent slap, +and a tall lady bounded unassisted out of the cab. With +a regal wave she motioned the young man towards the door, +and then with one hand upon her hip she stood in a +careless, lounging attitude by the gate, kicking her +toe against the wall and listlessly awaiting the return +of the driver. + +As she turned slowly round, and the sunshine struck +upon her face, the two watchers were amazed to see that +this very active and energetic lady was far from being in +her first youth, so far that she had certainly come of +age again since she first passed that landmark in life's +journey. Her finely chiseled, clean-cut face, with +something red Indian about the firm mouth and strongly +marked cheek bones, showed even at that distance traces +of the friction of the passing years. And yet she was +very handsome. Her features were as firm in repose as +those of a Greek bust, and her great dark eyes were +arched over by two brows so black, so thick, and so +delicately curved, that the eye turned away from the +harsher details of the face to marvel at their grace and +strength. Her figure, too, was straight as a dart, a +little portly, perhaps, but curving into magnificent +outlines, which were half accentuated by the strange +costume which she wore. Her hair, black but plentifully +shot with grey, was brushed plainly back from her high +forehead, and was gathered under a small round felt hat, +like that of a man, with one sprig of feather in the band +as a concession to her sex. A double-breasted jacket of +some dark frieze-like material fitted closely to her +figure, while her straight blue skirt, untrimmed and +ungathered, was cut so short that the lower curve of her +finely-turned legs was plainly visible beneath it, +terminating in a pair of broad, flat, low-heeled and +square-toed shoes. Such was the lady who lounged at the +gate of number three, under the curious eyes of her two +opposite neighbors. + +But if her conduct and appearance had already +somewhat jarred upon their limited and precise sense of +the fitness of things, what were they to think of the +next little act in this tableau vivant? The cabman, +red and heavy-jowled, had come back from his labors, and +held out his hand for his fare. The lady passed him a +coin, there was a moment of mumbling and gesticulating, +and suddenly she had him with both hands by the red +cravat which girt his neck, and was shaking him as a +terrier would a rat. Right across the pavement she +thrust him, and, pushing him up against the wheel, she +banged his head three several times against the side of +his own vehicle. + +"Can I be of any use to you, aunt?" asked the large +youth, framing himself in the open doorway. + +"Not the slightest," panted the enraged lady. +"There, you low blackguard, that will teach you to be +impertinent to a lady." + +The cabman looked helplessly about him with a +bewildered, questioning gaze, as one to whom alone of +all men this unheard-of and extraordinary thing had +happened. Then, rubbing his head, he mounted slowly on +to the box and drove away with an uptossed hand appealing +to the universe. The lady smoothed down her dress, +pushed back her hair under her little felt hat, and +strode in through the hall-door, which was closed behind +her. As with a whisk her short skirts vanished into the +darkness, the two spectators--Miss Bertha and Miss Monica +Williams--sat looking at each other in speechless +amazement. For fifty years they had peeped through that +little window and across that trim garden, but never yet +had such a sight as this come to confound them. + +"I wish," said Monica at last, "that we had kept the +field." + +"I am sure I wish we had," answered her sister. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER II. + + +BREAKING THE ICE. + + +The cottage from the window of which the Misses +Williams had looked out stands, and has stood for many a +year, in that pleasant suburban district which lies +between Norwood, Anerley, and Forest Hill. Long +before there had been a thought of a township there, when +the Metropolis was still quite a distant thing, old Mr. +Williams had inhabited "The Brambles," as the little +house was called, and had owned all the fields about it. +Six or eight such cottages scattered over a rolling +country-side were all the houses to be found there in the +days when the century was young. From afar, when the +breeze came from the north, the dull, low roar of the +great city might be heard, like the breaking of the tide +of life, while along the horizon might be seen the dim +curtain of smoke, the grim spray which that tide threw +up. Gradually, however, as the years passed, the City +had thrown out a long brick-feeler here and there, +curving, extending, and coalescing, until at last the +little cottages had been gripped round by these red +tentacles, and had been absorbed to make room for the +modern villa. Field by field the estate of old Mr. +Williams had been sold to the speculative builder, and +had borne rich crops of snug suburban dwellings, arranged +in curving crescents and tree-lined avenues. The father +had passed away before his cottage was entirely bricked +round, but his two daughters, to whom the property had +descended, lived to see the last vestige of country taken +from them. For years they had clung to the one field +which faced their windows, and it was only after much +argument and many heartburnings, that they had at last +consented that it should share the fate of the others. +A broad road was driven through their quiet domain, the +quarter was re-named "The Wilderness," and three square, +staring, uncompromising villas began to sprout up on the +other side. With sore hearts, the two shy little old +maids watched their steady progress, and speculated as to +what fashion of neighbors chance would bring into the +little nook which had always been their own. + +And at last they were all three finished. Wooden +balconies and overhanging eaves had been added to them, +so that, in the language of the advertisement, there were +vacant three eligible Swiss-built villas, with sixteen +rooms, no basement, electric bells, hot and cold water, +and every modern convenience, including a common tennis +lawn, to be let at L100 a year, or L1,500 purchase. So +tempting an offer did not long remain open. Within a few +weeks the card had vanished from number one, and it was +known that Admiral Hay Denver, V. C., C. B., with Mrs. +Hay Denver and their only son, were about to move into +it. The news brought peace to the hearts of the Williams +sisters. They had lived with a settled conviction that +some wild impossible colony, some shouting, singing +family of madcaps, would break in upon their peace. +This establishment at least was irreproachable. A +reference to "Men of the Time" showed them that Admiral +Hay Denver was a most distinguished officer, who had +begun his active career at Bomarsund, and had ended it at +Alexandria, having managed between these two episodes to +see as much service as any man of his years. From the +Taku Forts and the _Shannon_ brigade, to dhow-harrying +off Zanzibar, there was no variety of naval work which +did not appear in his record; while the Victoria Cross, +and the Albert Medal for saving life, vouched for it that +in peace as in war his courage was still of the same true +temper. Clearly a very eligible neighbor this, the more +so as they had been confidentially assured by the estate +agent that Mr. Harold Denver, the son, was a most quiet +young gentleman, and that he was busy from morning to +night on the Stock Exchange. + +The Hay Denvers had hardly moved in before number two +also struck its placard, and again the ladies found that +they had no reason to be discontented with their +neighbors. Doctor Balthazar Walker was a very well-known +name in the medical world. Did not his qualifications, +his membership, and the record of his writings fill a +long half-column in the "Medical Directory," from his +first little paper on the "Gouty Diathesis" in 1859 to +his exhaustive treatise upon "Affections of the +Vaso-Motor System" in 1884? A successful medical career +which promised to end in a presidentship of a college and +a baronetcy, had been cut short by his sudden inheritance +of a considerable sum from a grateful patient, which had +rendered him independent for life, and had enabled him to +turn his attention to the more scientific part of his +profession, which had always had a greater charm for him +than its more practical and commercial aspect. To this +end he had given up his house in Weymouth Street, and had +taken this opportunity of moving himself, his scientific +instruments, and his two charming daughters (he had been +a widower for some years) into the more peaceful +atmosphere of Norwood. + +There was thus but one villa unoccupied, and it was +no wonder that the two maiden ladies watched with a keen +interest, which deepened into a dire apprehension, the +curious incidents which heralded the coming of the new +tenants. They had already learned from the agent that +the family consisted of two only, Mrs. Westmacott, a +widow, and her nephew, Charles Westmacott. How simple +and how select it had sounded! Who could have foreseen +from it these fearful portents which seemed to threaten +violence and discord among the dwellers in The +Wilderness? Again the two old maids cried in +heartfelt chorus that they wished they had not sold their +field. + +"Well, at least, Monica," remarked Bertha, as they +sat over their teacups that afternoon, "however strange +these people may be, it is our duty to be as polite to +them as to the others." + +"Most certainly," acquiesced her sister. + +"Since we have called upon Mrs. Hay Denver and upon +the Misses Walker, we must call upon this Mrs. Westmacott +also." + +"Certainly, dear. As long as they are living upon +our land I feel as if they were in a sense our guests, +and that it is our duty to welcome them." + +"Then we shall call to-morrow," said Bertha, with +decision. + +"Yes, dear, we shall. But, oh, I wish it was over!" + +At four o'clock on the next day, the two maiden +ladies set off upon their hospitable errand. In their +stiff, crackling dresses of black silk, with +jet-bespangled jackets, and little rows of cylindrical +grey curls drooping down on either side of their black +bonnets, they looked like two old fashion plates which +had wandered off into the wrong decade. Half curious and +half fearful, they knocked at the door of number three, +which was instantly opened by a red-headed page-boy. + +Yes, Mrs. Westmacott was at home. He ushered them +into the front room, furnished as a drawing-room, where +in spite of the fine spring weather a large fire was +burning in the grate. The boy took their cards, and +then, as they sat down together upon a settee, he set +their nerves in a thrill by darting behind a curtain with +a shrill cry, and prodding at something with his foot. +The bull pup which they had seen upon the day before +bolted from its hiding-place, and scuttled snarling from +the room. + +"It wants to get at Eliza," said the youth, in a +confidential whisper. "Master says she would give him +more'n he brought." He smiled affably at the two little +stiff black figures, and departed in search of his +mistress. + +"What--what did he say?" gasped Bertha. + +"Something about a---- Oh, goodness gracious! Oh, +help, help, help, help, help!" The two sisters had +bounded on to the settee, and stood there with staring +eyes and skirts gathered in, while they filled the whole +house with their yells. Out of a high wicker-work basket +which stood by the fire there had risen a flat +diamond-shaped head with wicked green eyes which came +flickering upwards, waving gently from side to side, +until a foot or more of glossy scaly neck was visible. +Slowly the vicious head came floating up, while at every +oscillation a fresh burst of shrieks came from +the settee. + + +"What in the name of mischief!" cried a voice, and +there was the mistress of the house standing in the +doorway. Her gaze at first had merely taken in the fact +that two strangers were standing screaming upon her red +plush sofa. A glance at the fireplace, however, showed +her the cause of the terror, and she burst into a hearty +fit of laughter. + +"Charley," she shouted, "here's Eliza misbehaving +again." + +"I'll settle her," answered a masculine voice, and +the young man dashed into the room. He had a brown +horse-cloth in his hand, which he threw over the basket, +making it fast with a piece of twine so as to effectually +imprison its inmate, while his aunt ran across to +reassure her visitors. + +"It is only a rock snake, " she explained. + +"Oh, Bertha!" "Oh, Monica!" gasped the poor +exhausted gentlewomen. + +"She's hatching out some eggs. That is why we have +the fire. Eliza always does better when she is warm. +She is a sweet, gentle creature, but no doubt she thought +that you had designs upon her eggs. I suppose that you +did not touch any of them?" + +"Oh, let us get away, Bertha!' cried Monica, with her +thin, black-gloved hands thrown forwards in abhorrence. + +"Not away, but into the next room," said Mrs. +Westmacott, with the air of one whose word was law. +"This way, if you please! It is less warm here." She +led the way into a very handsomely appointed library, +with three great cases of books, and upon the fourth side +a long yellow table littered over with papers and +scientific instruments. "Sit here, and you, there," she +continued. "That is right. Now let me see, which of you +is Miss Williams, and which Miss Bertha Williams?" + +"I am Miss Williams," said Monica, still palpitating, +and glancing furtively about in dread of some new horror. + +"And you live, as I understand, over at the pretty +little cottage. It is very nice of you to call so early. +I don't suppose that we shall get on, but still the +intention is equally good." She crossed her legs and +leaned her back against the marble mantelpiece. + +"We thought that perhaps we might be of some +assistance," said Bertha, timidly. "If there is anything +which we could do to make you feel more at home----" + +"Oh, thank you, I am too old a traveler to feel +anything but at home wherever I go. I've just come back +from a few months in the Marquesas Islands, where I had +a very pleasant visit. That was where I got Eliza. In +many respects the Marquesas Islands now lead the world." + +"Dear me!" ejaculated Miss Williams. "In what +respect?" + +"In the relation of the sexes. They have worked out +the great problem upon their own lines, and their +isolated geographical position has helped them to come to +a conclusion of their own. The woman there is, as she +should be, in every way the absolute equal of the male. +Come in, Charles, and sit down. Is Eliza all right?" + +"All right, aunt." + +"These are our neighbors, the Misses Williams. +Perhaps they will have some stout. You might bring in a +couple of bottles, Charles." + +"No, no, thank you! None for us!" cried her two +visitors, earnestly. + +"No? I am sorry that I have no tea to offer you. I +look upon the subserviency of woman as largely due to her +abandoning nutritious drinks and invigorating exercises +to the male. I do neither." She picked up a pair of +fifteen-pound dumb-bells from beside the fireplace and +swung them lightly about her head. "You see what may be +done on stout," said she. + +"But don't you think," the elder Miss Williams +suggested timidly, "don't you think, Mrs. Westmascott, +that woman has a mission of her own?" + +The lady of the house dropped her dumb-bells with a +crash upon the floor. + +"The old cant!" she cried. "The old shibboleth! +What is this mission which is reserved for woman? All +that is humble, that is mean, that is soul-killing, that +is so contemptible and so ill-paid that none other will +touch it. All that is woman's mission. And who imposed +these limitations upon her? Who cooped her up within +this narrow sphere? Was it Providence? Was it nature? +No, it was the arch enemy. It was man." + +"Oh, I say, auntie!" drawled her nephew. + +"It was man, Charles. It was you and your fellows I +say that woman is a colossal monument to the selfishness +of man. What is all this boasted chivalry--these fine +words and vague phrases? Where is it when we wish to put +it to the test? Man in the abstract will do anything to +help a woman. Of course. How does it work when his +pocket is touched? Where is his chivalry then? Will the +doctors help her to qualify? will the lawyers help her to +be called to the bar? will the clergy tolerate her in the +Church? Oh, it is close your ranks then and refer poor +woman to her mission! Her mission! To be thankful for +coppers and not to interfere with the men while they +grabble for gold, like swine round a trough, that is +man's reading of the mission of women. You may sit there +and sneer, Charles, while you look upon your victim, but +you know that it is truth, every word of it. + +Terrified as they were by this sudden torrent of +words, the two gentlewomen could not but smile at the +sight of the fiery, domineering victim and the big +apologetic representative of mankind who sat meekly +bearing all the sins of his sex. The lady struck a +match, whipped a cigarette from a case upon the +mantelpiece, and began to draw the smoke into her lungs. + +"I find it very soothing when my nerves are at all +ruffled," she explained. "You don't smoke? Ah, you miss +one of the purest of pleasures--one of the few pleasures +which are without a reaction." + +Miss Williams smoothed out her silken lap. + +"It is a pleasure," she said, with some approach to +self-assertion, "which Bertha and I are rather too +old-fashioned to enjoy." + +"No doubt, It would probably make you very ill if you +attempted it. By the way, I hope that you will come to +some of our Guild meetings. I shall see that tickets are +sent you." + +"Your Guild?" + +"It is not yet formed, but I shall lose no time in +forming a committee. It is my habit to establish a +branch of the Emancipation Guild wherever I go. There is +a Mrs. Sanderson in Anerley who is already one of the +emancipated, so that I have a nucleus. It is only by +organized resistance, Miss Williams, that we can hope to +hold our own against the selfish sex. Must you go, +then?" + +"Yes, we have one or two other visits to pay," said +the elder sister. "You will, I am sure, excuse us. I +hope that you will find Norwood a pleasant residence." + +"All places are to me simply a battle-field," she +answered, gripping first one and then the other with a +grip which crumpled up their little thin fingers. "The +days for work and healthful exercise, the evenings to +Browning and high discourse, eh, Charles? Good-bye!" +She came to the door with them, and as they glanced back +they saw her still standing there with the yellow bull +pup cuddled up under one forearm, and the thin blue reek +of her cigarette ascending from her lips. + +"Oh, what a dreadful, dreadful woman!" whispered +sister Bertha, as they hurried down the street. "Thank +goodness that it is over." + +"But she'll return the visit," answered the other. +"I think that we had better tell Mary that we are not at +home. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER III. + + +DWELLERS IN THE WILDERNESS. + + +How deeply are our destinies influenced by the most +trifling causes! Had the unknown builder who erected and +owned these new villas contented himself by simply +building each within its own grounds, it is probable that +these three small groups of people would have remained +hardly conscious of each other's existence, and that +there would have been no opportunity for that action and +reaction which is here set forth. But there was a common +link to bind them together. To single himself out from +all other Norwood builders the landlord had devised and +laid out a common lawn tennis ground, which stretched +behind the houses with taut-stretched net, green +close-cropped sward, and widespread whitewashed lines. +Hither in search of that hard exercise which is as +necessary as air or food to the English temperament, came +young Hay Denver when released from the toil of the City; +hither, too, came Dr. Walker and his two fair daughters, +Clara and Ida, and hither also, champions of the lawn, +came the short-skirted, muscular widow and her athletic +nephew. Ere the summer was gone they knew each other in +this quiet nook as they might not have done after years +of a stiffer and more formal acquaintance. + +And especially to the Admiral and the Doctor were +this closer intimacy and companionship of value. Each +had a void in his life, as every man must have who with +unexhausted strength steps out of the great race, but +each by his society might help to fill up that of his +neighbor. It is true that they had not much in +common, but that is sometimes an aid rather than a bar to +friendship. Each had been an enthusiast in his +profession, and had retained all his interest in it. The +Doctor still read from cover to cover his Lancet and +his Medical Journal, attended all professional +gatherings, worked himself into an alternate state of +exaltation and depression over the results of the +election of officers, and reserved for himself a den of +his own, in which before rows of little round bottles +full of glycerine, Canadian balsam, and staining agents, +he still cut sections with a microtome, and peeped +through his long, brass, old-fashioned microscope at the +arcana of nature. With his typical face, clean shaven on +lip and chin, with a firm mouth, a strong jaw, a steady +eye, and two little white fluffs of whiskers, he could +never be taken for anything but what he was, a high-class +British medical consultant of the age of fifty, or +perhaps just a year or two older. + +The Doctor, in his hey-day, had been cool over great +things, but now, in his retirement, he was fussy over +trifles. The man who had operated without the quiver of +a finger, when not only his patient's life but his own +reputation and future were at stake, was now shaken to +the soul by a mislaid book or a careless maid. He +remarked it himself, and knew the reason. "When Mary +was alive," he would say, "she stood between me and the +little troubles. I could brace myself for the big ones. +My girls are as good as girls can be, but who can know a +man as his wife knows him?" Then his memory would +conjure up a tuft of brown hair and a single white, thin +hand over a coverlet, and he would feel, as we have all +felt, that if we do not live and know each other after +death, then indeed we are tricked and betrayed by all the +highest hopes and subtlest intuitions of our nature. + +The Doctor had his compensations to make up for his +loss. The great scales of Fate had been held on a level +for him; for where in all great London could one find two +sweeter girls, more loving, more intelligent, and more +sympathetic than Clara and Ida Walker? So bright were +they, so quick, so interested in all which interested +him, that if it were possible for a man to be compensated +for the loss of a good wife then Balthazar Walker might +claim to be so. + +Clara was tall and thin and supple, with a graceful, +womanly figure. There was something stately and +distinguished in her carriage, "queenly" her friends +called her, while her critics described her as reserved +and distant. + +Such as it was, however, it was part and parcel of +herself, for she was, and had always from her +childhood been, different from any one around her. There +was nothing gregarious in her nature. She thought with +her own mind, saw with her own eyes, acted from her own +impulse. Her face was pale, striking rather than pretty, +but with two great dark eyes, so earnestly questioning, +so quick in their transitions from joy to pathos, so +swift in their comment upon every word and deed around +her, that those eyes alone were to many more attractive +than all the beauty of her younger sister. Hers was a +strong, quiet soul, and it was her firm hand which had +taken over the duties of her mother, had ordered the +house, restrained the servants, comforted her father, and +upheld her weaker sister, from the day of that great +misfortune. + +Ida Walker was a hand's breadth smaller than Clara, +but was a little fuller in the face and plumper in the +figure. She had light yellow hair, mischievous blue eyes +with the light of humor ever twinkling in their depths, +and a large, perfectly formed mouth, with that slight +upward curve of the corners which goes with a keen +appreciation of fun, suggesting even in repose that a +latent smile is ever lurking at the edges of the lips. +She was modern to the soles of her dainty little +high-heeled shoes, frankly fond of dress and of pleasure, +devoted to tennis and to comic opera, delighted with a +dance, which came her way only too seldom, longing +ever for some new excitement, and yet behind all this +lighter side of her character a thoroughly good, +healthy-minded English girl, the life and soul of the +house, and the idol of her sister and her father. Such +was the family at number two. A peep into the remaining +villa and our introductions are complete. + +Admiral Hay Denver did not belong to the florid, +white-haired, hearty school of sea-dogs which is more +common in works of fiction than in the Navy List. On the +contrary, he was the representative of a much more common +type which is the antithesis of the conventional sailor. +He was a thin, hard-featured man, with an ascetic, +acquiline cast of face, grizzled and hollow-cheeked, +clean-shaven with the exception of the tiniest curved +promontory of ash-colored whisker. An observer, +accustomed to classify men, might have put him down as a +canon of the church with a taste for lay costume and a +country life, or as the master of a large public school, +who joined his scholars in their outdoor sports. His +lips were firm, his chin prominent, he had a hard, dry +eye, and his manner was precise and formal. Forty years +of stern discipline had made him reserved and silent. +Yet, when at his ease with an equal, he could readily +assume a less quarter-deck style, and he had a fund of +little, dry stories of the world and its ways which were +of interest from one who had seen so many phases of +life. Dry and spare, as lean as a jockey and as tough as +whipcord, he might be seen any day swinging his +silver-headed Malacca cane, and pacing along the suburban +roads with the same measured gait with which he had been +wont to tread the poop of his flagship. He wore a good +service stripe upon his cheek, for on one side it was +pitted and scarred where a spurt of gravel knocked up by +a round-shot had struck him thirty years before, when he +served in the Lancaster gun-battery. Yet he was hale and +sound, and though he was fifteen years senior to his +friend the Doctor, he might have passed as the younger +man. + +Mrs. Hay Denver's life had been a very broken one, +and her record upon land represented a greater amount of +endurance and self-sacrifice than his upon the sea. They +had been together for four months after their marriage, +and then had come a hiatus of four years, during which he +was flitting about between St. Helena and the Oil Rivers +in a gunboat. Then came a blessed year of peace and +domesticity, to be followed by nine years, with only a +three months' break, five upon the Pacific station, and +four on the East Indian. After that was a respite in the +shape of five years in the Channel squadron, with +periodical runs home, and then again he was off to the +Mediterranean for three years and to Halifax for +four. Now, at last, however, this old married couple, +who were still almost strangers to one another, had come +together in Norwood, where, if their short day had been +chequered and broken, the evening at least promised to be +sweet and mellow. In person Mrs. Hay Denver was tall and +stout, with a bright, round, ruddy-cheeked face still +pretty, with a gracious, matronly comeliness. Her whole +life was a round of devotion and of love, which was +divided between her husband and her only son, Harold. + +This son it was who kept them in the neighborhood of +London, for the Admiral was as fond of ships and of salt +water as ever, and was as happy in the sheets of a +two-ton yacht as on the bridge of his sixteen-knot +monitor. Had he been untied, the Devonshire or Hampshire +coast would certainly have been his choice. There was +Harold, however, and Harold's interests were their chief +care. Harold was four-and-twenty now. Three years +before he had been taken in hand by an acquaintance of +his father's, the head of a considerable firm of +stock-brokers, and fairly launched upon 'Change. His +three hundred guinea entrance fee paid, his three +sureties of five hundred pounds each found, his name +approved by the Committee, and all other formalities +complied with, he found himself whirling round, an +insignificant unit, in the vortex of the money market +of the world. There, under the guidance of his father's +friend, he was instructed in the mysteries of bulling and +of bearing, in the strange usages of 'Change in the +intricacies of carrying over and of transferring. He +learned to know where to place his clients' money, which +of the jobbers would make a price in New Zealands, and +which would touch nothing but American rails, which might +be trusted and which shunned. All this, and much more, +he mastered, and to such purpose that he soon began to +prosper, to retain the clients who had been recommened to +him, and to attract fresh ones. But the work was never +congenial. He had inherited from his father his love of +the air of heaven, his affection for a manly and natural +existence. To act as middleman between the pursuer of +wealth, and the wealth which he pursued, or to stand as +a human barometer, registering the rise and fall of the +great mammon pressure in the markets, was not the work +for which Providence had placed those broad shoulders and +strong limbs upon his well knit frame. His dark open +face, too, with his straight Grecian nose, well opened +brown eyes, and round black-curled head, were all those +of a man who was fashioned for active physical work. +Meanwhile he was popular with his fellow brokers, +respected by his clients, and beloved at home, but his +spirit was restless within him and his mind chafed +unceasingly against his surroundings. + +"Do you know, Willy," said Mrs. Hay Denver one +evening as she stood behind her husband's chair, with her +hand upon his shoulder, "I think sometimes that Harold is +not quite happy." + +"He looks happy, the young rascal," answered the +Admiral, pointing with his cigar. It was after dinner, +and through the open French window of the dining-room a +clear view was to be had of the tennis court and the +players. A set had just been finished, and young Charles +Westmacott was hitting up the balls as high as he could +send them in the middle of the ground. Doctor Walker and +Mrs. Westmacott were pacing up and down the lawn, the +lady waving her racket as she emphasized her remarks, and +the Doctor listening with slanting head and little nods +of agreement. Against the rails at the near end Harold +was leaning in his flannels talking to the two sisters, +who stood listening to him with their long dark shadows +streaming down the lawn behind them. The girls were +dressed alike in dark skirts, with light pink tennis +blouses and pink bands on their straw hats, so that as +they stood with the soft red of the setting sun tinging +their faces, Clara, demure and quiet, Ida, mischievous +and daring, it was a group which might have pleased +the eye of a more exacting critic than the old sailor. + +"Yes, he looks happy, mother," he repeated, with a +chuckle. "It is not so long ago since it was you and I +who were standing like that, and I don't remember that we +were very unhappy either. It was croquet in our time, +and the ladies had not reefed in their skirts quite so +taut. What year would it be? Just before the commission +of the Penelope." + +Mrs. Hay Denver ran her fingers through his grizzled +hair. "It was when you came back in the Antelope, just +before you got your step." + +"Ah, the old Antelope! What a clipper she was! +She could sail two points nearer the wind than anything +of her tonnage in the service. You remember her, mother. +You saw her come into Plymouth Bay. Wasn't she a +beauty?" + +"She was indeed, dear. But when I say that I think +that Harold is not happy I mean in his daily life. Has +it never struck you how thoughtful, he is at times, and +how absent-minded?" + +"In love perhaps, the young dog. He seems to have +found snug moorings now at any rate." + +"I think that it is very likely that you are right, +Willy," answered the mother seriously. "But with which +of them?" + +"I cannot tell." + +"Well, they are very charming girls, both of +them. But as long as he hangs in the wind between +the two it cannot be serious. After all, the boy is +four-and-twenty, and he made five hundred pounds last +year. He is better able to marry than I was when I was +lieutenant." + +"I think that we can see which it is now," remarked +the observant mother. Charles Westmacott had ceased to +knock the tennis balls about, and was chatting with Clara +Walker, while Ida and Harold Denver were still talking by +the railing with little outbursts of laughter. Presently +a fresh set was formed, and Doctor Walker, the odd man +out, came through the wicket gate and strolled up the +garden walk. + +"Good evening, Mrs. Hay Denver," said he, raising his +broad straw hat. "May I come in?" + +"Good evening, Doctor! Pray do!" + +"Try one of these," said the Admiral, holding out his +cigar-case. "They are not bad. I got them on the +Mosquito Coast. I was thinking of signaling to you, but +you seemed so very happy out there." + +"Mrs. Westmacott is a very clever woman," said the +Doctor, lighting the cigar. "By the way, you spoke about +the Mosquito Coast just now. Did you see much of the +Hyla when you were out there?" + +"No such name on the list," answered the seaman, +with decision. "There's the Hydra, a harbor defense +turret-ship, but she never leaves the home waters." + +The Doctor laughed. "We live in two separate +worlds," said he. "The Hyla is the little green tree +frog, and Beale has founded some of his views on +protoplasm upon the appearancer, of its nerve cells. It +is a subject in which I take an interest." + +"There were vermin of all sorts in the woods. When +I have been on river service I have heard it at night +like the engine-room when you are on the measured mile. +You can't sleep for the piping, and croaking, and +chirping. Great Scott! what a woman that is! She was +across the lawn in three jumps. She would have made a +captain of the foretop in the old days." + +"She is a very remarkable woman. + +"A very cranky one." + +"A very sensible one in some things," remarked Mrs. +Hay Denver. + +"Look at that now!" cried the Admiral, with a lunge +of his forefinger at the Doctor. "You mark my words, +Walker, if we don't look out that woman will raise a +mutiny with her preaching. Here's my wife disaffected +already, and your girls will be no better. We must +combine, man, or there's an end of all discipline." + +"No doubt she is a little excessive in her views." +said the Doctor, "but in the main I think as she does." + +"Bravo, Doctor!" cried the lady. + +"What, turned traitor to your sex! We'll +court-martial you as a deserter." + +"She is quite right. The professions are not +sufficiently open to women. They are still far too much +circumscribed in their employments. They are a feeble +folk, the women who have to work for their bread--poor, +unorganized, timid, taking as a favor what they might +demand as a right. That is why their case is not more +constantly before the public, for if their cry for +redress was as great as their grievance it would fill the +world to the exclusion of all others. It is all very +well for us to be courteous to the rich, the refined, +those to whom life is already made easy. It is a mere +form, a trick of manner. If we are truly courteous, we +shall stoop to lift up struggling womanhood when she +really needs our help--when it is life and death to her +whether she has it or not. And then to cant about it +being unwomanly to work in the higher professions. It is +womanly enough to starve, but unwomanly to use the brains +which God has given them. Is it not a monstrous +contention?" + +The Admiral chuckled. "You are like one of these +phonographs, Walker," said he; "you have had all this +talked into you, and now you are reeling it off again. +It's rank mutiny, every word of it, for man has his +duties and woman has hers, but they are as separate +as their natures are. I suppose that we shall have a +woman hoisting her pennant on the flagship presently, and +taking command of the Channel Squadron." + +"Well, you have a woman on the throne taking command +of the whole nation," remarked his wife; "and everybody +is agreed that she does it better than any of the men." + +The Admiral was somewhat staggered by this +home-thrust. "That's quite another thing," said he. + +"You should come to their next meeting. I am to take +the chair. I have just promised Mrs. Westmacott that I +will do so. But it has turned chilly, and it is time +that the girls were indoors. Good night! I shall look +out for you after breakfast for our constitutional, +Admiral." + +The old sailor looked after his friend with a twinkle +in his eyes. + +"How old is he, mother?" + +"About fifty, I think." + +"And Mrs. Westmacott?" + +"I heard that she was forty-three." + +The Admiral rubbed his hands, and shook with +amusement. "We'll find one of these days that three and +two make one," said he. I'll bet you a new bonnet on it, +mother. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +A SISTER'S SECRET. + + +"Tell me, Miss Walker! You know how things should +be. What would you say was a good profession for a young +man of twenty-six who has had no education worth speaking +about, and who is not very quick by nature?" The speaker +was Charles Westmacott, and the time this same summer +evening in the tennis ground, though the shadows had +fallen now and the game been abandoned. + +The girl glanced up at him, amused and surprised. + +"Do you mean yourself?" + +"Precisely." + +"But how could I tell?" + +"I have no one to advise me. I believe that you +could do it better than any one. I feel confidence in +your opinion." + +"It is very flattering." She glanced up again at his +earnest, questioning face, with its Saxon eyes and +drooping flaxen mustache, in some doubt as to whether he +might be joking. On the contrary, all his attention +seemed to be concentrated upon her answer. + +"It depends so much upon what you can do, you +know. I do not know you sufficiently to be able to say +what natural gifts you have." They were walking slowly +across the lawn in the direction of the house. + +"I have none. That is to say none worth mentioning. +I have no memory and I am very slow." + +"But you are very strong." + +"Oh, if that goes for anything. I can put up a +hundred-pound bar till further orders; but what sort of +a calling is that?" + +Some little joke about being called to the bar +flickered up in Miss Walker's mind, but her companion was +in such obvious earnest that she stifled down her +inclination to laugh. + +"I can do a mile on the cinder-track in 4:50 and +across-country in 5:20, but how is that to help me? I +might be a cricket professional, but it is not a very +dignified position. Not that I care a straw about +dignity, you know, but I should not like to hurt the old +lady's feelings. + +"Your aunt's?" + +"Yes, my aunt's. My parents were killed in the +Mutiny, you know, when I was a baby, and she has looked +after me ever since. She has been very good to me. I'm +sorry to leave her." + +"But why should you leave her?" They had reached the +garden gate, and the girl leaned her racket upon the top +of it, looking up with grave interest at her big +white-flanneled companion. + +"It's, Browning," said he. + +"What!" + +"Don't tell my aunt that I said it"--he sank his +voice to a whisper--"I hate Browning." + +Clara Walker rippled off into such a merry peal of +laughter that he forgot the evil things which he had +suffered from the poet, and burst out laughing too. + +"I can't make him out," said he. "I try, but he is +one too many. No doubt it is very stupid of me; I don't +deny it. But as long as I cannot there is no use +pretending that I can. And then of course she feels +hurt, for she is very fond of him, and likes to read him +aloud in the evenings. She is reading a piece now `Pippa +Passes,' and I assure you, Miss Walker, that I don't even +know what the title means. You must think me a dreadful +fool." + +"But surely he is not so incomprehensible as all +that?" she said, as an attempt at encouragement. + +"He is very bad. There are some things, you know, +which are fine. That ride of the three Dutchmen, and +Herve Riel and others, they are all right. But there was +a piece we read last week. The first line stumped my +aunt, and it takes a good deal to do that, for she rides +very straight. `Setebos and Setebos and Setebos.' That +was the line." + +"It sounds like a charm." + +"No, it is a gentleman's name. Three gentlemen, I +thought, at first, but my aunt says one. Then he goes +on, `Thinketh he dwelleth in the light of the moon.' It +was a very trying piece." + +Clara Walker laughed again. + +"You must not think of leaving your aunt," she said. +"Think how lonely she would be without you." + +"Well, yes, I have thought of that. But you must +remember that my aunt is to all intents hardly +middle-aged, and a very eligible person. I don't think +that her dislike to mankind extends to individuals. She +might form new ties, and then I should be a third wheel +in the coach. It was all very well as long as I was only +a boy, when her first husband was alive." + +"But, good gracious, you don't mean that Mrs. +Westmacott is going to marry again?" gasped Clara. + +The young man glanced down at her with a question in +his eyes "Oh, it is only a remote, possibility, you +know," said he. "Still, of course, it might happen, and +I should like to know what I ought to turn my hand to." + +"I wish I could help you," said Clara. "But I really +know very little about such things. However, I could +talk to my father, who knows a very great deal of the +world." + +"I wish you would. I should be so glad if you +would." + +"Then I certainly will. And now I must say +good-night, Mr. Westmacott, for papa will be wondering +where I am." + +"Good night, Miss Walker." He pulled off his flannel +cap, and stalked away through the gathering darkness. + +Clara had imagined that they had been the last on the +lawn, but, looking back from the steps which led up to +the French windows, she saw two dark figures moving +across towards the house. As they came nearer she could +distinguish that they were Harold Denver and her sister +Ida. The murmur of their voices rose up to her ears, and +then the musical little child-like laugh which she knew +so well. "I am so delighted," she heard her sister say. +"So pleased and proud. I had no idea of it. Your words +were such a surprise and a joy to me. Oh, I am so glad." + +"Is that you, Ida?" + +"Oh, there is Clara. I must go in, Mr. Denver. +Good-night!" + +There were a few whispered words, a laugh from Ida, +and a "Good-night, Miss Walker," out of the darkness. +Clara took her sister's hand, and they passed together +through the long folding window. The Doctor had gone +into his study, and the dining-room was empty. A single +small red lamp upon the sideboard was reflected tenfold +by the plate about it and the mahogany beneath it, +though its single wick cast but a feeble light into the +large, dimly shadowed room. Ida danced off to the big +central lamp, but Clara put her hand upon her arm. "I +rather like this quiet light," said she. "Why should we +not have a chat?" She sat in the Doctor's large red +plush chair, and her sister cuddled down upon the +footstool at her feet, glancing up at her elder with a +smile upon her lips and a mischievous gleam in her eyes. +There was a shade of anxiety in Clara's face, which +cleared away as she gazed into her sister's frank blue +eyes. + +"Have you anything to tell me, dear?" she asked. + +Ida gave a little pout and shrug to her shoulder. +"The Solicitor-General then opened the case for the +prosecution," said she. "You are going to cross-examine +me, Clara, so don't deny it. I do wish you would have +that grey satin foulard of yours done up. With a little +trimming and a new white vest it would look as good as +new, and it is really very dowdy." + +"You were quite late upon the lawn," said the +inexorable Clara. + +"Yes, I was rather. So were you. Have you anything +to tell me?" She broke away into her merry musical +laugh. + +"I was chatting with Mr. Westmacott." + +"And I was chatting with Mr. Denver. By the way, +Clara, now tell me truly, what do you think of Mr. +Denver? Do you like him? Honestly now!" + +"I like him very much indeed. I think that he is one +of the most gentlemanly, modest, manly young men that I +have ever known. So now, dear, have you nothing to tell +me?" Clara smoothed down her sister's golden hair with +a motherly gesture, and stooped her face to catch the +expected confidence. She could wish nothing better than +that Ida should be the wife of Harold Denver, and from +the words which she had overheard as they left the lawn +that evening, she could not doubt that there was some +understanding between them. + +But there came no confession from Ida. Only the same +mischievous smile and amused gleam in her deep blue eyes. + +"That grey foulard dress----" she began. + +"Oh, you little tease! Come now, I will ask you what +you have just asked me. Do you like Harold Denver?" + +"Oh, he's a darling!" + +"Ida!" + +"Well, you asked me. That's what I think of him. +And now, you dear old inquisitive, you will get nothing +more out of me; so you must wait and not be too curious. +I'm going off to see what papa is doing." She sprang to +her feet, threw her arms round her sister's neck, +gave her a final squeeze, and was gone. A chorus from +Olivette, sung in her clear contralto, grew fainter and +fainter until it ended in the slam of a distant door. + +But Clara Walker still sat in the dim-lit room with +her chin upon her hands, and her dreamy eyes looking out +into the gathering gloom. It was the duty of her, a +maiden, to play the part of a mother--to guide another in +paths which her own steps had not yet trodden. Since her +mother died not a thought had been given to herself, all +was for her father and her sister. In her own eyes she +was herself very plain, and she knew that her manner was +often ungracious when she would most wish to be gracious. +She saw her face as the glass reflected it, but she did +not see the changing play of expression which gave it its +charm--the infinite pity, the sympathy, the sweet +womanliness which drew towards her all who were in doubt +and in trouble, even as poor slow-moving Charles +Westmacott had been drawn to her that night. She was +herself, she thought, outside the pale of love. But it +was very different with Ida, merry, little, quick-witted, +bright-faced Ida. She was born for love. It was her +inheritance. But she was young and innocent. She must +not be allowed to venture too far without help in those +dangerous waters. Some understanding there was between +her and Harold Denver. In her heart of hearts Clara, +like every good woman, was a match-maker, and already she +had chosen Denver of all men as the one to whom she could +most safely confide Ida. He had talked to her more than +once on the serious topics of life, on his aspirations, +on what a man could do to leave the world better for his +presence. She knew that he was a man of a noble nature, +high-minded and earnest. And yet she did not like this +secrecy, this disinclination upon the part of one so +frank and honest as Ida to tell her what was passing. +She would wait, and if she got the opportunity next day +she would lead Harold Denver himself on to this topic. +It was possible that she might learn from him what her +sister had refused to tell her. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER V. + + +A NAVAL CONQUEST. + + +It was the habit of the Doctor and the Admiral to +accompany each other upon a morning ramble between +breakfast and lunch. The dwellers in those quiet +tree-lined roads were accustomed to see the two figures, +the long, thin, austere seaman, and the short, bustling, +tweed-clad physician, pass and repass with such +regularity that a stopped clock has been reset by them. +The Admiral took two steps to his companion's three, but +the younger man was the quicker, and both were equal to +a good four and a half miles an hour. + +It was a lovely summer day which followed the events +which have been described. The sky was of the deepest +blue, with a few white, fleecy clouds drifting lazily +across it, and the air was filled with the low drone of +insects or with a sudden sharper note as bee or bluefly +shot past with its quivering, long-drawn hum, like an +insect tuning-fork. As the friends topped each rise +which leads up to the Crystal Palace, they could see the +dun clouds of London stretching along the northern +sky-line, with spire or dome breaking through the +low-lying haze. The Admiral was in high spirits, for the +morning post had brought good news to his son. + +"It is wonderful, Walker," he was saying, "positively +wonderful, the way that boy of mine has gone ahead during +the last three years. We heard from Pearson to-day. +Pearson is the senior partner, you know, and my boy the +junior--Pearson and Denver the firm. Cunning old dog is +Pearson, as cute and as greedy as a Rio shark. Yet he +goes off for a fortnight's leave, and puts my boy in full +charge, with all that immense business in his hands, +and a freehand to do what he likes with it. How's that +for confidence, and he only three years upon 'Change?" + +"Any one would confide in him. His face is a +surety," said the Doctor. + +"Go on, Walker!" The Admiral dug his elbow at him. +"You know my weak side. Still it's truth all the same. +I've been blessed with a good wife and a good son, and +maybe I relish them the more for having been cut off from +them so long. I have much to be thankful for!" + +"And so have I. The best two girls that ever +stepped. There's Clara, who has learned up as much +medicine as would give her the L.S.A., simply in order +that she may sympathize with me in my work. But hullo, +what is this coming along?" + +"All drawing and the wind astern!" cried the Admiral. +"Fourteen knots if it's one. Why, by George, it is that +woman!" + +A rolling cloud of yellow dust had streamed round the +curve of the road, and from the heart of it had emerged +a high tandem tricycle flying along at a breakneck pace. +In front sat Mrs. Westmacott clad in a heather tweed +pea-jacket, a skirt which just{?} passed her knees and a +pair of thick gaiters of the same material. She had a +great bundle of red papers under her arm, while +Charles, who sat behind her clad in Norfolk jacket and +knickerbockers, bore a similar roll protruding from +either pocket. Even as they watched, the pair eased up, +the lady sprang off, impaled one of her bills upon the +garden railing of an empty house, and then jumping on to +her seat again was about to hurry onwards when her nephew +drew her attention to the two gentlemen upon the +footpath. + +"Oh, now, really I didn't notice you," said she, +taking a few turns of the treadle and steering the +machine across to them. "Is it not a beautiful morning?" + +"Lovely," answered the Doctor. "You seem to be very +busy." + +"I am very busy." She pointed to the colored paper +which still fluttered from the railing. "We have been +pushing our propaganda, you see. Charles and I have been +at it since seven o'clock. It is about our meeting. I +wish it to be a great success. See!" She smoothed out +one of the bills, and the Doctor read his own name in +great black letters across the bottom. + +"We don't forget our chairman, you see. Everybody is +coming. Those two dear little old maids opposite, the +Williamses, held out for some time; but I have their +promise now. Admiral, I am sure that you wish us well." + +"Hum! I wish you no harm, ma'am." + +"You will come on the platform?" + +"I'll be---- No, I don't think I can do that." + +"To our meeting, then?" + +"No, ma'am; I don't go out after dinner." + +"Oh yes, you will come. I will call in if I may, and +chat it over with you when you come home. We have not +breakfasted yet. Goodbye!" There was a whir of wheels, +and the yellow cloud rolled away down the road again. By +some legerdemain the Admiral found that he was clutching +in his right hand one of the obnoxious bills. He +crumpled it up, and threw it into the roadway. + +"I'll be hanged if I go, Walker," said he, as be +resumed his walk. "I've never been hustled into doing a +thing yet, whether by woman or man." + +"I am not a betting man," answered the Doctor, "but +I rather think that the odds are in favor of your going." + +The Admiral had hardly got home, and had just seated +himself in his dining-room, when the attack upon him was +renewed. He was slowly and lovingly unfolding the +Times preparatory to the long read which led up to +luncheon, and had even got so far as to fasten his golden +pince-nez on to his thin, high-bridged nose, when he +heard a crunching of gravel, and, looking over the top of +his paper, saw Mrs. Westmacott coming up the garden walk. +She was still dressed in the singular costume which +offended the sailor's old-fashioned notions of propriety, +but he could not deny, as he looked at her, that she was +a very fine woman. In many climes he had looked upon +women of all shades and ages, but never upon a more +clearcut, handsome face, nor a more erect, supple, and +womanly figure. He ceased to glower as he gazed upon +her, and the frown smoothed away from his rugged brow. + +"May I come in?" said she, framing herself in the +open window, with a background of green sward and blue +sky. "I feel like an invader deep in an enemy's +country." + +"It is a very welcome invasion, ma'am," said he, +clearing his throat and pulling at his high collar. "Try +this garden chair. What is there that I can do for you? +Shall I ring and let Mrs. Denver know that you are here?" + +"Pray do not trouble, Admiral. I only looked in with +reference to our little chat this morning. I wish that +you would give us your powerful support at our coming +meeting for the improvement of the condition of woman." + +"No, ma'am, I can't do that." He pursed up his lips +and shook his grizzled head. + +"And why not?" + +"Against my principles, ma'am." + +"But why?" + +"Because woman has her duties and man has his. +I may be old-fashioned, but that is my view. Why, what +is the world coming to? I was saying to Dr. Walker only +last night that we shall have a woman wanting to command +the Channel Fleet next." + +"That is one of the few professions which cannot be +improved," said Mrs. Westmacott, with her sweetest smile. +"Poor woman must still look to man for protection." + +"I don't like these new-fangled ideas, ma'am. I tell +you honestly that I don't. I like discipline, and I +think every one is the better for it. Women have got a +great deal which they had not in the days of our fathers. +They have universities all for themselves, I am told, and +there are women doctors, I hear. Surely they should rest +contented. What more can they want?" + +"You are a sailor, and sailors are always chivalrous. +If you could see how things really are, you would change +your opinion. What are the poor things to do? There +are so many of them and so few things to which they can +turn their hands. Governesses? But there are hardly any +situations. Music and drawing? There is not one in +fifty who has any special talent in that direction. +Medicine? It is still surrounded with difficulties for +women, and it takes many years and a small fortune to +qualify. Nursing? It is hard work ill paid, and none +but the strongest can stand it. What would you have +them do then, Admiral? Sit down and starve?" + +"Tut, tut! It is not so bad as that." + +"The pressure is terrible. Advertise for a lady +companion at ten shillings a week, which is less than a +cook's wage, and see how many answers you get. There is +no hope, no outlook, for these struggling thousands. +Life is a dull, sordid struggle, leading down to a +cheerless old age. Yet when we try to bring some little +ray of hope, some chance, however distant, of something +better, we are told by chivalrous gentlemen that it is +against their principles to help." + +The Admiral winced, but shook his head in dissent. + +"There is banking, the law, veterinary surgery, +government offices, the civil service, all these at least +should be thrown freely open to women, if they have +brains enough to compete successfully for them. Then if +woman were unsuccessful it would be her own fault, and +the majority of the population of this country could no +longer complain that they live under a different law to +the minority, and that they are held down in poverty and +serfdom, with every road to independence sealed to them." + +"What would you propose to do, ma'am?" + +"To set the more obvious injustices right, and so +to pave the way for a reform. Now look at that man +digging in the field. I know him. He can neither read +nor write, he is steeped in whisky, and he has as much +intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging. Yet the +man has a vote, can possibly turn the scale of an +election, and may help to decide the policy of this +empire. Now, to take the nearest example, here am I, a +woman who have had some education, who have traveled, and +who have seen and studied the institutions of many +countries. I hold considerable property, and I pay more +in imperial taxes than that man spends in whisky, which +is saying a great deal, and yet I have no more direct +influence upon the disposal of the money which I pay than +that fly which creeps along the wall. Is that right? Is +it fair?" + +The Admiral moved uneasily in his chair. "Yours is +an exceptional case," said he. + +"But no woman has a voice. Consider that the women +are a majority in the nation. Yet if there was a +question of legislation upon which all women were agreed +upon one side and all the men upon the other, it would +appear that the matter was settled unanimously when more +than half the population were opposed to it. Is that +right?" + +Again the Admiral wriggled. It was very awkward for +the gallant seaman to have a handsome woman opposite +to him, bombarding him with questions to none of which he +could find an answer. "Couldn't even get the tompions +out of his guns," as he explained the matter to the +Doctor that evening. + +"Now those are really the points that we shall lay +stress upon at the meeting. The free and complete +opening of the professions, the final abolition of the +zenana I call it, and the franchise to all women who pay +Queen's taxes above a certain sum. Surely there is +nothing unreasonable in that. Nothing which could offend +your principles. We shall have medicine, law, and the +church all rallying that night for the protection of +woman. Is the navy to be the one profession absent?" + +The Admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil word +in his throat. "There, there, ma'am," he cried. "Drop +it for a time. I have heard enough. You've turned me a +point or two. I won't deny it. But let it stand at +that. I will think it over." + +"Certainly, Admiral. We would not hurry you in your +decision. But we still hope to see you on our platform." +She rose and moved about in her lounging masculine +fashion from one picture to another, for the walls were +thickly covered with reminiscences of the Admiral's +voyages. + +"Hullo!" said she. "Surely this ship would have +furled all her lower canvas and reefed her topsails if +she found herself on a lee shore with the wind on her +quarter." + +"Of course she would. The artist was never past +Gravesend, I swear. It's the Penelope as she was on +the 14th of June, 1857, in the throat of the Straits of +Banca, with the Island of Banca on the starboard bow, and +Sumatra on the port. He painted it from description, but +of course, as you very sensibly say, all was snug below +and she carried storm sails and double-reefed topsails, +for it was blowing a cyclone from the sou'east. I +compliment you, ma'am, I do indeed! " + +"Oh, I have done a little sailoring myself--as much +as a woman can aspire to, you know. This is the Bay of +Funchal. What a lovely frigate!" + +"Lovely, you say! Ah, she was lovely! That is the +Andromeda. I was a mate aboard of her--sub-lieutenant +they call it now, though I like the old name best." + +"What a lovely rake her masts have, and what a curve +to her bows! She must have been a clipper." + +The old sailor rubbed his hands and his eyes +glistened. His old ships bordered close upon his wife +and his son in his affections. + +"I know Funchal," said the lady carelessly. "A +couple of years ago I had a seven-ton cutter-rigged +yacht, the Banshee, and we ran over to Madeira from +Falmouth." + +"You ma'am, in a seven-tonner?" + +"With a couple of Cornish lads for a crew. Oh, it +was glorious! A fortnight right out in the open, with no +worries, no letters, no callers, no petty thoughts, +nothing but the grand works of God, the tossing sea and +the great silent sky. They talk of riding, indeed, I am +fond of horses, too, but what is there to compare with +the swoop of a little craft as she pitches down the long +steep side of a wave, and then the quiver and spring as +she is tossed upwards again? Oh, if our souls could +transmigrate I'd be a seamew above all birds that fly! +But I keep you, Admiral. Adieu!" + +The old sailor was too transported with sympathy to +say a word. He could only shake her broad muscular hand. +She was half-way down the garden path before she heard +him calling her, and saw his grizzled head and +weather-stained face looking out from behind the +curtains. + +"You may put me down for the platform," he cried, and +vanished abashed behind the I curtain of his Times, +where his wife found him at lunch time. + +"I hear that you have had quite a long chat with Mrs. +Westmacott," said she. + +"Yes, and I think that she is one of the most +sensible women that I ever knew. + +"Except on the woman's rights question, of course." + +"Oh, I don't know. She had a good deal to say for +herself on that also. In fact, mother, I have taken a +platfom ticket for her meeting." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +AN OLD STORY. + + +But this was not to be the only eventful conversation +which Mrs. Westmacott held that day, nor was the Admiral +the only person in the Wilderness who was destined to +find his opinions considerably changed. Two neighboring +families, the Winslows from Anerley, and the +Cumberbatches from Gipsy Hill, had been invited to tennis +by Mrs. Westmacott, and the lawn was gay in the evening +with the blazers of the young men and the bright dresses +of the girls. To the older people, sitting round in +their wicker-work garden chairs, the darting, stooping, +springing white figures, the sweep of skirts, and twinkle +of canvas shoes, the click of the rackets and sharp whiz +of the balls, with the continual "fifteen love--fifteen +all!" of the marker, made up a merry and exhilarating +scene. To see their sons and daughters so flushed and +healthy and happy, gave them also a reflected glow, +and it was hard to say who had most pleasure from the +game, those who played or those who watched. + +Mrs. Westmacott had just finished a set when she +caught a glimpse of Clara Walker sitting alone at the +farther end of the ground. She ran down the court, +cleared the net to the amazement of the visitors, and +seated herself beside her. Clara's reserved and refined +nature shrank somewhat from the boisterous frankness and +strange manners of the widow, and yet her feminine +instinct told her that beneath all her peculiarities +there lay much that was good and noble. She smiled up at +her, therefore, and nodded a greeting. + +"Why aren't you playing, then? Don't, for goodness' +sake, begin to be languid and young ladyish! When you +give up active sports you give up youth." + +"I have played a set, Mrs. Westmacott." + +"That's right, my dear." She sat down beside her, and +tapped her upon the arm with her tennis racket. "I like +you, my dear, and I am going to call you Clara. You are +not as aggressive as I should wish, Clara, but still I +like you very much. Self-sacrifice is all very well, you +know, but we have had rather too much of it on our side, +and should like to see a little on the other. What do +you think of my nephew Charles?" + +The question was so sudden and unexpected that Clara +gave quite a jump in her chair. "I--I--I hardly ever +have thought of your nephew Charles." + +"No? Oh, you must think him well over, for I want to +speak to you about him." + +"To me? But why?" + +"It seemed to me most delicate. You see, Clara, the +matter stands in this way. It is quite possible that I +may soon find myself in a completely new sphere of life, +which will involve fresh duties and make it impossible +for me to keep up a household which Charles can share." + +Clara stared. Did this mean that she was about to +marry again? What else could it point to? + +"Therefore Charles must have a household of his own. +That is obvious. Now, I don't approve of bachelor +establishments. Do you?" + +"Really, Mrs. Westmacott, I have never thought of the +matter." + +"Oh, you little sly puss! Was there ever a girl who +never thought of the matter? I think that a young man of +six-and-twenty ought to be married." + +Clara felt very uncomfortable. The awful thought had +come upon her that this ambassadress had come to her as +a proxy with a proposal of marriage. But how could that +be? She had not spoken more than three or four times +with her nephew, and knew nothing more of him than he had +told her on the evening before. It was impossible, then. +And yet what could his aunt mean by this discussion of +his private affairs? + +"Do you not think yourself," she persisted, "that a +young man of six-and-twenty is better married?" + +"I should think that he is old enough to decide for +himself." + +"Yes, yes. He has done so. But Charles is just a +little shy, just a little slow in expressing himself. I +thought that I would pave the way for him. Two women can +arrange these things so much better. Men sometimes have +a difficulty in making themselves clear." + +"I really hardly follow you, Mrs. Westmacott," cried +Clara in despair. + +"He has no profession. But he has nice tastes. He +reads Browning every night. And he is most amazingly +strong. When he was younger we used to put on the gloves +together, but I cannot persuade him to now, for he says +he cannot play light enough. I should allow him five +hundred, which should be enough at first." + +"My dear Mrs. Westmacott," cried Clara, "I assure you +that I have not the least idea what it is that you are +talking of." + +"Do you think your sister Ida would have my nephew +Charles?" + +Her sister Ida? Quite a little thrill of relief and +of pleasure ran through her at the thought. Ida and +Charles Westmacott. She had never thought of it. And +yet they had been a good deal together. They had played +tennis. They had shared the tandem tricycle. Again came +the thrill of joy, and close at its heels the cold +questionings of conscience. Why this joy? What was the +real source of it? Was it that deep down, somewhere +pushed back in the black recesses of the soul, there was +the thought lurking that if Charles prospered in his +wooing then Harold Denver would still be free? How mean, +how unmaidenly, how unsisterly the thought! She crushed +it down and thrust it aside, but still it would push up +its wicked little head. She crimsoned with shame at her +own baseness, as she turned once more to her companion. + +"I really do not know," she said. + +"She is not engaged?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"You speak hesitatingly." + +"Because I am not sure. But he may ask. She cannot +but be flattered." + +"Quite so. I tell him that it is the most practical +compliment which a man can pay to a woman. He is a +little shy, but when he sets himself to do it he will +do it. He is very much in love with her, I assure +you. These little lively people always do attract +the slow and heavy ones, which is nature's device for the +neutralizing of bores. But they are all going in. I +think if you will allow me that I will just take the +opportunity to tell him that, as far as you know, there +is no positive obstacle in the way." + +"As far as I know, "Clara repeated, as the widow +moved away to where the players were grouped round the +net, or sauntering slowly towards the house. She rose to +follow her, but her head was in a whirl with new +thoughts, and she sat down again. Which would be best +for Ida, Harold or Charles? She thought it over with as +much solicitude as a mother who plans for her only child. +Harold had seemed to her to be in many ways the noblest +and the best young man whom she had known. If ever she +was to love a man it would be such a man as that. But +she must not think of herself. She had reason to believe +that both these men loved her sister. Which would be the +best for her? But perhaps the matter was already +decided. She could not forget the scrap of conversation +which she had heard the night before, nor the secret +which her sister had refused to confide to her. If Ida +would not tell her, there was but one person who could. +She raised her eyes and there was Harold Denver +standing before her. + +"You were lost in your thoughts," said he, smiling. +"I hope that they were pleasant ones." + +"Oh, I was planning," said she, rising. "It seems +rather a waste of time as a rule, for things have a way +of working themselves out just as you least expect." + +"What were you planning, then?" + +"The future." + +"Whose?" + +"Oh, my own and Ida's." + +"And was I included in your joint futures? + +"I hope all our friends were included." + +"Don't go in," said he, as she began to move slowly +towards the house. "I wanted to have a word. Let us +stroll up and down the lawn. Perhaps you are cold. If +you are, I could bring you out a shawl." + +"Oh, no, I am not cold." + +"I was speaking to your sister Ida last night." She +noticed that there was a slight quiver in his voice, and, +glancing up at his dark, clear-cut face, she saw that he +was very grave. She felt that it was settled, that he +had come to ask her for her sister's hand. + +"She is a charming girl," said he, after a pause. + +"Indeed she is," cried Clara warmly. "And no one who +has not lived with her and known her intimately can +tell how charming and good she is. She is like a sunbeam +in the house." + +"No one who was not good could be so absolutely happy +as she seems to be. Heaven's last gift, I think, is a +mind so pure and a spirit so high that it is unable even +to see what is impure and evil in the world around us. +For as long as we can see it, how can we be truly happy?" + +"She has a deeper side also. She does not turn it to +the world, and it is not natural that she should, for she +is very young. But she thinks, and has aspirations of +her own." + +"You cannot admire her more than I do. Indeed, Miss +Walker, I only ask to be brought into nearer relationship +with her, and to feel that there is a permanent bond +between us." + +It had come at last. For a moment her heart was +numbed within her, and then a flood of sisterly love +carried all before it. Down with that dark thought which +would still try to raise its unhallowed head! She turned +to Harold with sparkling eyes and words of pleasure upon +her lips. + +"I should wish to be near and dear to both of you," +said he, as he took her hand. "I should wish Ida to be +my sister, and you my wife." + +She said nothing. She only stood looking at him with +parted lips and great, dark, questioning eyes. The +lawn had vanished away, the sloping gardens, the brick +villas, the darkening sky with half a pale moon beginning +to show over the chimney-tops. All was gone, and she was +only conscious of a dark, earnest, pleading face, and of +a voice, far away, disconnected from herself, the voice +of a man telling a woman how he loved her. He was +unhappy, said the voice, his life was a void; there was +but one thing that could save him; he had come to the +parting of the ways, here lay happiness and honor, and +all that was high and noble; there lay the soul-killing +round, the lonely life, the base pursuit of money, the +sordid, selfish aims. He needed but the hand of the +woman that he loved to lead him into the better path. +And how he loved her his life would show. He loved her +for her sweetness, for her womanliness, for her strength. +He had need of her. Would she not come to him? And then +of a sudden as she listened it came home to her that the +man was Harold Denver, and that she was the woman, and +that all God's work was very beautiful--the green sward +beneath her feet, the rustling leaves, the long orange +slashes in the western sky. She spoke; she scarce knew +what the broken words were, but she saw the light of joy +shine out on his face, and her hand was still in his as +they wandered amid the twilight. They said no more +now, but only wandered and felt each other's presence. +All was fresh around them, familiar and yet new, tinged +with the beauty of their new-found happiness. + +"Did you not know it before?" he asked. "I did not +dare to think it." + +"What a mask of ice I must wear! How could a man +feel as I have done without showing it? Your sister at +least knew." + +"Ida!" + +"It was last night. She began to praise you, I said +what I felt, and then in an instant it was all out." + +"But what could you--what could you see in me? Oh, +I do pray that you may not repent it!" The gentle heart +was ruffled amid its joy by the thought of its own +unworthiness. + +"Repent it! I feel that I am a saved man. You do +not know how degrading this city life is, how debasing, +and yet how absorbing. Money for ever clinks in your +ear. You can think of nothing else. From the bottom of +my heart I hate it, and yet how can I draw back without +bringing grief to my dear old father? There was but one +way in which I could defy the taint, and that was by +having a home influence so pure and so high that it may +brace me up against all that draws me down. I have felt +that influence already. I know that when I am talking to +you I am a better man. It is you who, must go with +me through life, or I must walk for ever alone." + +"Oh, Harold, I am so happy!" Still they wandered +amid the darkening shadows, while one by one the stars +peeped out in the blue black sky above them. At last a +chill night wind blew up from the east, and brought them +back to the realities of life. + +"You must go in. You will be cold." + +"My father will wonder where I am. Shall I say +anything to him?" + +"If you like, my darling. Or I will in the morning. +I must tell my mother to-night. I know how delighted she +will be." + +"I do hope so." + +"Let me take you up the garden path. It is so dark. +Your lamp is not lit yet. There is the window. Till +to-morrow, then, dearest." + +"Till to-morrow, Harold." + +"My own darling!" He stooped, and their lips met for +the first time. Then, as she pushed open the folding +windows she heard his quick, firm step as it passed down +the graveled path. A lamp was lit as she entered the +room, and there was Ida, dancing about like a mischievous +little fairy in front of her. + +"And have you anything to tell me?" she asked, with +a solemn face. Then, suddenly throwing her arms round +her sister's neck, "Oh, you dear, dear old Clara! I am +so pleased. I am so pleased." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +VENIT TANDEM FELICITAS. + + +It was just three days after the Doctor and the +Admiral had congratulated each other upon the closer tie +which was to unite their two families, and to turn their +friendship into something even dearer and more intimate, +that Miss Ida Walker received a letter which caused her +some surprise and considerable amusement. It was dated +from next door, and was handed in by the red-headed page +after breakfast. + +"Dear Miss Ida," began this curious document, and +then relapsed suddenly into the third person. "Mr. +Charles Westmacott hopes that he may have the extreme +pleasure of a ride with Miss Ida Walker upon his tandem +tricycle. Mr. Charles Westmacott will bring it round in +half an hour. You in front. Yours very truly, Charles +Westmacott." The whole was written in a large, +loose-jointed, and school-boyish hand, very thin on the +up strokes and thick on the down, as though care and +pains had gone to the fashioning of it. + +Strange as was the form, the meaning was clear +enough; so Ida hastened to her room, and had hardly +slipped on her light grey cycling dress when she +saw the tandem with its large occupant at the door. He +handed her up to her saddle with a more solemn and +thoughtful face than was usual with him, and a few +moments later they were flying along the beautiful, +smooth suburban roads in the direction of Forest Hill. +The great limbs of the athlete made the heavy machine +spring and quiver with every stroke; while the mignon +grey figure with the laughing face, and the golden curls +blowing from under the little pink-banded straw hat, +simply held firmly to her perch, and let the treadles +whirl round beneath her feet. Mile after mile they flew, +the wind beating in her face, the trees dancing past in +two long ranks on either side, until they had passed +round Croydon and were approaching Norwood once more from +the further side. + +"Aren't you tired?" she asked, glancing over her +shoulder and turning towards him a little pink ear, a +fluffy golden curl, and one blue eye twinkling from the +very corner of its lid. + +"Not a bit. I am just getting my swing." + +"Isn't it wonderful to be strong? You always remind +me of a steamengine." + +"Why a steamengine?" + +"Well, because it is so powerful, and reliable, and +unreasoning. Well, I didn't mean that last, you know, +but--but--you know what I mean. What is the matter with +you?" + +"Why?" + +"Because you have something on your mind. You have +not laughed once." + +He broke into a gruesome laugh. "I am quite jolly," +said he. + +"Oh, no, you are not. And why did you write me such +a dreadfully stiff letter?" + +"There now," he cried, "I was sure it was stiff. I +said it was absurdly stiff." + +"Then why write it?" + +"It wasn't my own composition." + +"Whose then? Your aunt's?" + +"Oh, no. It was a person of the name of Slattery." + +"Goodness! Who is he?" + +"I knew it would come out, I felt that it would. +You've heard of Slattery the author?" + +"Never." + +"He is wonderful at expressing himself. He wrote a +book called `The Secret Solved; or, Letter-writing Made +Easy.' It gives you models of all sorts of letters." + +Ida burst out laughing. "So you actually copied +one." + +"It was to invite a young lady to a picnic, but I set +to work and soon got it changed so that it would do very +well. Slattery seems never to have asked any one to ride +a tandem. But when I had written it, it seemed so +dreadfully stiff that I had to put a little beginning and +end of my own, which seemed to brighten it up a good +deal." + + +"I thought there was something funny about the +beginning and end." + +"Did you? Fancy your noticing the difference in +style. How quick you are! I am very slow at things like +that. I ought to have been a woodman, or game-keeper, or +something. I was made on those lines. But I have found +something now." + +"What is that, then?" + +"Ranching. I have a chum in Texas, and he says it is +a rare life. I am to buy a share in his business. It is +all in the open air--shooting, and riding, and sport. +Would it--would it inconvenience you much, Ida, to come +out there with me?" + +Ida nearly fell off her perch in her amazement. The +only words of which she could think were "My goodness +me!" so she said them. + +"If it would not upset your plans, or change your +arrangements in any way." He had slowed down and let go +of the steering handle, so that the great machine crawled +aimlessly about from one side of the road to the other. +"I know very well that I am not clever or anything of +that sort, but still I would do all I can to make you +very happy. Don't you think that in time you might come +to like me a little bit?" + +Ida gave a cry of fright. "I won't like you if you +run me against a brick wall," she said, as the machine +rasped up against the curb "Do attend to the steering." + +"Yes, I will. But tell me, Ida, whether you will +come with me." + +"Oh, I don't know. It's too absurd! How can we talk +about such things when I cannot see you? You speak to +the nape of my neck, and then I have to twist my head +round to answer." + +"I know. That was why I put `You in front' upon my +letter. I thought that it would make it easier. But if +you would prefer it I will stop the machine, and then you +can sit round and talk about it." + +"Good gracious!" cried Ida. "Fancy our sitting face +to face on a motionless tricycle in the middle of the +road, and all the people looking out of their windows at +us!" + +"It would look rather funny, wouldn't it? Well, +then, suppose that we both get off and push the tandem +along in front of us?" + +"Oh, no, this is better than that." + +"Or I could carry the thing." + +Ida burst out laughing. "That would be more absurd +still." + +"Then we will go quietly, and I will look out for the +steering. I won't talk about it at all if you would +rather not. But I really do love you very much, and you +would make me happy if you came to Texas with me, and I +think that perhaps after a time I could make you happy +too." + +"But your aunt?" + +"Oh, she would like it very much. I can understand +that your father might not like to lose you. I'm sure I +wouldn't either, if I were he. But after all, America is +not very far off nowadays, and is not so very wild. We +would take a grand piano, and--and--a copy of Browning. +And Denver and his wife would come over to see us. We +should be quite a family party. It would be jolly." + +Ida sat listening to the stumbling words and awkward +phrases which were whispered from the back of her, but +there was something in Charles Westmacott's clumsiness of +speech which was more moving than the words of the most +eloquent of pleaders. He paused, he stammered, he caught +his breath between the words, and he blurted out in +little blunt phrases all the hopes of his heart. If love +had not come to her yet, there was at least pity and +sympathy, which are nearly akin to it. Wonder there was +also that one so weak and frail as she should shake this +strong man so, should have the whole course of his life +waiting for her decision. Her left hand was on the +cushion at her side. He leaned forward and took it +gently in his own. She did not try to draw it back +from him. + +"May I have it," said he, "for life?" + +"Oh, do attend to your steering," said she, smiling +round at him; "and don't say any more about this to-day. +Please don't!" + +"When shall I know, then?" + +"Oh, to-night, to-morrow, I don't know. I must ask +Clara. Talk about something else." + +And they did talk about something else; but her left +hand was still enclosed in his, and he knew, without +asking again, that all was well. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +SHADOWS BEFORE. + + +Mrs. Westmacott's great meeting for the +enfranchisement of woman had passed over, and it had been +a triumphant success. All the maids and matrons of the +southern suburbs had rallied at her summons, there was an +influential platform with Dr. Balthazar Walker in the +chair, and Admiral Hay Denver among his more prominent +supporters. One benighted male had come in from the +outside darkness and had jeered from the further end of +the hall, but he had been called to order by the chair, +petrified by indignant glances from the unenfranchised +around him, and finally escorted to the door by Charles +Westmacott. Fiery resolutions were passed, to be +forwarded to a large number of leading statesmen, and the +meeting broke up with the conviction that a shrewd +blow had been struck for the cause of woman. + +But there was one woman at least to whom the meeting +and all that was connected with it had brought anything +but pleasure. Clara Walker watched with a heavy heart +the friendship and close intimacy which had sprung up +between her father and the widow. From week to week it +had increased until no day ever passed without their +being together. The coming meeting had been the excuse +for these continual interviews, but now the meeting was +over, and still the Doctor would refer every point which +rose to the judgment of his neighbor. He would talk, +too, to his two daughters of her strength of character, +her decisive mind, and of the necessity of their +cultivating her acquaintance and following her example, +until at last it had become his most common topic of +conversation. + +All this might have passed as merely the natural +pleasure which an elderly man might take in the society +of an intelligent and handsome woman, but there were +other points which seemed to Clara to give it a deeper +meaning. She could not forget that when Charles +Westmacott had spoken to her one night he had alluded to +the possibility of his aunt marrying again. He must have +known or noticed something before he would speak upon +such a subject. And then again Mrs. Westmacott had +herself said that she hoped to change her style of +living shortly and take over completely new duties. What +could that mean except that she expected to marry? And +whom? She seemed to see few friends outside their own +little circle. She must have alluded to her father. It +was a hateful thought, and yet it must be faced. + +One evening the Doctor had been rather late at his +neighbor's. He used to go into the Admiral's after +dinner, but now he turned more frequently in the other +direction. When he returned Clara was sitting alone in +the drawing-room reading a magazine. She sprang up as he +entered, pushed forward his chair, and ran to fetch his +slippers. + +"You are looking a little pale, dear," he remarked. + +"Oh, no, papa, I am very well." + +"All well with Harold?" + +"Yes. His partner, Mr. Pearson, is still away, and +he is doing all the work." + +"Well done. He is sure to succeed. Where is Ida?" + +"In her room, I think." + +"She was with Charles Westmacott on the lawn not very +long ago. He seems very fond of her. He is not very +bright, but I think he will make her a good husband." + +"I am sure of it, papa. He is very manly and +reliable." + +"Yes, I should think that he is not the sort of man +who goes wrong. There is nothing hidden about him. As +to his brightness, it really does not matter, for his +aunt, Mrs. Westmacott, is very rich, much richer than you +would think from her style of living, and she has made +him a handsome provision." + +"I am glad of that." + +"It is between ourselves. I am her trustee, and so +I know something of her arrangements. And when are you +going to marry, Clara?" + +"Oh, papa, not for some time yet. We have not +thought of a date. + +"Well, really, I don't know that there is any reason +for delay. He has a competence and it increases yearly. +As long as you are quite certain that your mind is made +up----" + +"Oh, papa!" + +"Well, then, I really do not know why there should be +any delay. And Ida, too, must be married within the next +few months. Now, what I want to know is what I am to do +when my two little companions run away from me." He +spoke lightly, but his eyes were grave as he looked +questioningly at his daughter. + +"Dear papa, you shall not be alone. It will be years +before Harold and I think of marrying, and when we do you +must come and live with us." + +"No, no, dear. I know that you mean what you +say, but I have seen something of the world, and I know +that such arrangements never answer. There cannot be two +masters in a house, and yet at my age my freedom is very +necessary to me." + +"But you would be completely free." + +"No, dear, you cannot be that if you are a guest in +another man's house. Can you suggest no other +alternative?" + +"That we remain with you." + +"No, no. That is out of the question. Mrs. +Westmacott herself says that a woman's first duty is to +marry. Marriage, however, should be an equal +partnership, as she points out. I should wish you both +to marry, but still I should like a suggestion from you, +Clara, as to what I should do." + +"But there is no hurry, papa. Let us wait. I do not +intend to marry yet." + +Doctor Walker looked disappointed. "Well, Clara, if +you can suggest nothing, I suppose that I must take the +initiative myself," said he. + +"Then what do you propose, papa?" She braced herself +as one who sees the blow which is about to fall. + +He looked at her and hesitated. "How like your poor +dear mother you are, Clara!" he cried. "As I looked at +you then it was as if she had come back from the grave." +He stooped towards her and kissed her. "There, run +away to your sister, my dear, and do not trouble yourself +about me. Nothing is settled yet, but you will find that +all will come right." + +Clara went upstairs sad at heart, for she was sure +now that what she had feared was indeed about to come to +pass, and that her father was going to take Mrs. +Westmacott to be his wife. In her pure and earnest mind +her mother's memory was enshrined as that of a saint, and +the thought that any one should take her place seemed a +terrible desecration. Even worse, however, did this +marriage appear when looked at from the point of view of +her father's future. The widow might fascinate him by +her knowledge of the world, her dash, her strength, her +unconventionality--all these qualities Clara was willing +to allow her--but she was convinced that she would be +unendurable as a life companion. She had come to an age +when habits are not lightly to be changed, nor was she a +woman who was at all likely to attempt to change them. +How would a sensitive man like her father stand the +constant strain of such a wife, a woman who was all +decision, with no softness, and nothing soothing in her +nature? It passed as a mere eccentricity when they heard +of her stout drinking, her cigarette smoking, her +occasional whiffs at a long clay pipe, her horsewhipping +of a drunken servant, and her companionship with the +snake Eliza, whom she was in the habit of bearing about +in her pocket. All this would become unendurable to her +father when his first infatuation was past. For his own +sake, then, as well as for her mother's memory, this +match must be prevented. And yet how powerless she was +to prevent it! What could she do? Could Harold aid her? +Perhaps. Or Ida? At least she would tell her sister and +see what she could suggest. + +Ida was in her boudoir, a tiny little tapestried +room, as neat and dainty as herself, with low walls hung +with Imari plaques and with pretty little Swiss brackets +bearing blue Kaga ware, or the pure white Coalport china. +In a low chair beneath a red shaded standing lamp sat +Ida, in a diaphanous evening dress of mousseline de +soie, the ruddy light tinging her sweet childlike face, +and glowing on her golden curls. She sprang up as her +sister entered, and threw her arms around her. + +"Dear old Clara! Come and sit down here beside me. +I have not had a chat for days. But, oh, what a troubled +face! What is it then?" She put up her forefinger and +smoothed her sister's brow with it. + +Clara pulled up a stool, and sitting down beside her +sister, passed her arm round her waist. "I am so sorry +to trouble you, dear Ida," she said. "But I do not know +what to do. + +"There's nothing the matter with Harold?" + +"Oh, no, Ida." + +"Nor with my Charles?" + +"No, no." + +Ida gave a sigh of relief. "You quite frightened me, +dear," said she. "You can't think how solemn you look. +What is it, then?" + +"I believe that papa intends to ask Mrs. Westmacott +to marry him." + +Ida burst out laughing. "What can have put such a +notion into your head, Clara?" + +"It is only too true, Ida. I suspected it before, +and he himself almost told me as much with his own lips +to-night. I don't think that it is a laughing matter." + +"Really, I could not help it. If you had told me +that those two dear old ladies opposite, the Misses +Williams, were both engaged, you would not have surprised +me more. It is really too funny." + +"Funny, Ida! Think of any one taking the place of +dear mother. + +But her sister was of a more practical and less +sentimental nature. "I am sure," said she, "that dear +mother would like papa to do whatever would make him most +happy. We shall both be away, and why should papa not +please himself?" + +"But think how unhappy he will be. You know how +quiet he is in his ways, and how even a little thing +will upset him. How could he live with a wife who would +make his whole life a series of surprises? Fancy what a +whirlwind she must be in a house. A man at his age +cannot change his ways. I am sure he would be +miserable." + +Ida's face grew graver, and she pondered over the +matter for a few minutes. "I really think that you are +right as usual," said she at last. "I admire Charlie's +aunt very much, you know, and I think that she is a very +useful and good person, but I don't think she would do as +a wife for poor quiet papa." + +"But he will certainly ask her, and I really think +that she intends to accept him. Then it would be too +late to interfere. We have only a few days at the most. +And what can we do? How can we hope to make him change +his mind?" + +Again Ida pondered. "He has never tried what it is +to live with a strong-minded woman," said she. "If we +could only get him to realize it in time. Oh, Clara, I +have it; I have it! Such a lovely plan!" She leaned +back in her chair and burst into a fit of laughter so +natural and so hearty that Clara had to forget her +troubles and to join in it. + +"Oh, it is beautiful!" she gasped at last. "Poor +papa! What a time he will have! But it's all for his +own good, as he used to say when we had to be +punished when we were little. Oh, Clara, I do hope your +heart won't fail you. + +"I would do anything to save him, dear." + +"That's it. You must steel yourself by that +thought." + +"But what is your plan?" + +"Oh, I am so proud of it. We will tire him for ever +of the widow, and of all emancipated women. Let me see, +what are Mrs. Westmacott's main ideas? You have listened +to her more than I. Women should attend less to +household duties. That is one, is it not?" + +"Yes, if they feel they have capabilities for higher +things. Then she thinks that every woman who has leisure +should take up the study of some branch of science, and +that, as far as possible, every woman should qualify +herself for some trade or profession, choosing for +preference those which have been hitherto monopolized by +men. To enter the others would only be to intensify the +present competition." + +" Quite so. That is glorious!" Her blue eyes were +dancing with mischief, and she clapped her hands in her +delight. "What else? She thinks that whatever a man +can do a woman should be allowed to do also--does she +not?" + +"She says so." + +"And about dress? The short skirt, and the +divided skirt are what she believes in?" + +"Yes." + +"We must get in some cloth." + +"Why?" + +"We must make ourselves a dress each. A brand-new, +enfranchised, emancipated dress, dear. Don't you see my +plan? We shall act up to all Mrs. Westmacott's views in +every respect, and improve them when we can. Then papa +will know what it is to live with a woman who claims all +her rights. Oh, Clara, it will be splendid." + +Her milder sister sat speechless before so daring a +scheme. "But it would be wrong, Ida!" she cried at last. + +"Not a bit. It is to save him." + +"I should not dare." + +"Oh, yes, you would. Harold will help. Besides, +what other plan have you?" + +"I have none." + +"Then you must take mine." + +"Yes. Perhaps you are right. Well, we do it for a +good motive. + +"You will do it?" + +"I do not see any other way." + +"You dear good Clara! Now I will show you what you +are to do. We must not begin too suddenly. It might +excite suspicion." + +"What would you do, then?" + +"To-morrow we must go to Mrs. Westmacott, and sit +at her feet and learn all her views." + +"What hypocrites we shall feel!" + +"We shall be her newest and most enthusiastic +converts. Oh, it will be such fun, Clara! Then we shall +make our plans and send for what we want, and begin our +new life." + +"I do hope that we shall not have to keep it up long. +It seems so cruel to dear papa. + +"Cruel! To save him!" + +"I wish I was sure that we were doing right. And yet +what else can we do? Well, then, Ida, the die is cast, +and we will call upon Mrs. Westmacott tomorrow. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +A FAMILY PLOT. + + +Little did poor Doctor Walker imagine as he sat at +his breakfast-table next morning that the two sweet girls +who sat on either side of him were deep in a conspiracy, +and that he, munching innocently at his muffins, was the +victim against whom their wiles were planned. Patiently +they waited until at last their opening came. + +"It is a beautiful day," he remarked. "It will do +for Mrs. Westmacott. She was thinking of having a spin +upon the tricycle." + +"Then we must call early. We both intended to see +her after breakfast." + +"Oh, indeed!" The Doctor looked pleased. + +"You know, pa," said Ida, "it seems to us that we +really have a very great advantage in having Mrs. +Westmacott living so near." + +"Why so, dear?" + +"Well, because she is so advanced, you know. If we +only study her ways we may advance ourselves also." + +"I think I have heard you say, papa," Clara remarked, +"that she is the type of the woman of the future." + +"I am very pleased to hear you speak so sensibly, my +dears. I certainly think that she is a woman whom you +may very well take as your model. The more intimate you +are with her the better pleased I shall be." + +"Then that is settled," said Clara demurely, and the +talk drifted to other matters. + +All the morning the two girls sat extracting from +Mrs. Westmacott her most extreme view as to the duty of +the one sex and the tyranny of the other. Absolute +equality, even in details, was her ideal. Enough of the +parrot cry of unwomanly and unmaidenly. It had been +invented by man to scare woman away when she poached too +nearly upon his precious preserves. Every woman should +be independent. Every woman should learn a trade. It +was their duty to push in where they were least +welcome. Then they were martyrs to the cause, and +pioneers to their weaker sisters. Why should the +wash-tub, the needle, and the housekeeper's book be +eternally theirs? Might they not reach higher, to the +consulting-room, to the bench, and even to the pulpit? +Mrs. Westmacott sacrificed her tricycle ride in her +eagerness over her pet subject, and her two fair +disciples drank in every word, and noted every suggestion +for future use. That afternoon they went shopping in +London, and before evening strange packages began to be +handed in at the Doctor's door. The plot was ripe for +execution, and one of the conspirators was merry and +jubilant, while the other was very nervous and troubled. + +When the Doctor came down to the dining-room next +morning, he was surprised to find that his daughters had +already been up some time. Ida was installed at one end +of the table with a spirit-lamp, a curved glass flask, +and several bottles in front of her. The contents of +the flask were boiling furiously, while a villainous +smell filled the room. Clara lounged in an arm-chair +with her feet upon a second one, a blue-covered book in +her hand, and a huge map of the British Islands spread +across her lap. "Hullo!" cried the Doctor, blinking and +sniffing, "where's the breakfast?" + +"Oh, didn't you order it?" asked Ida. + +"I! No; why should I?" He rang the bell. "Why have +you not laid the breakfast, Jane?" + +"If you please, sir, Miss Ida was a workin' at the +table." + +"Oh, of course, Jane," said the young lady calmly. +"I am so sorry. I shall be ready to move in a few +minutes." + +"But what on earth are you doing, Ida?" asked the +Doctor. "The smell is most offensive. And, good +gracious, look at the mess which you have made upon the +cloth! Why, you have burned a hole right through." + +"Oh, that is the acid," Ida answered contentedly. +"Mrs. Westmacott said that it would burn holes." + +"You might have taken her word for it without +trying," said her father dryly. + +"But look here, pa! See what the book says: `The +scientific mind takes nothing upon trust. Prove all +things!' I have proved that." + +"You certainly have. Well, until breakfast is ready +I'll glance over the Times. Have you seen it?" + +"The Times? Oh, dear me, this is it which I have +under my spirit-lamp. I am afraid there is some acid +upon that too, and it is rather damp and torn. Here it +is." + +The Doctor took the bedraggled paper with a rueful +face. "Everything seems to be wrong to-day," he +remarked. "What is this sudden enthusiasm about +chemistry, Ida?" + +"Oh, I am trying to live up to Mrs. Westmacott's +teaching." + +"Quite right! quite right!" said he, though perhaps +with less heartiness than he had shown the day before. +"Ah, here is breakfast at last!" + +But nothing was comfortable that morning. There were +eggs without egg-spoons, toast which was leathery from +being kept, dried-up rashers, and grounds in the coffee. +Above all, there was that dreadful smell which pervaded +everything and gave a horrible twang to every mouthful. + +"I don't wish to put a damper upon your studies, +Ida," said the Doctor, as he pushed back his chair. "But +I do think it would be better if you did your chemical +experiments a little later in the day." + +"But Mrs. Westmacott says that women should rise +early, and do their work before breakfast." + +"Then they should choose some other room besides the +breakfast-room." The Doctor was becoming just a little +ruffled. A turn in the open air would soothe him, he +thought. "Where are my boots?" he asked. + +But they were not in their accustomed corner by his +chair. Up and down he searched, while the three servants +took up the quest, stooping and peeping under +book-cases and drawers. Ida had returned to her studies, +and Clara to her blue-covered volume, sitting absorbed +and disinterested amid the bustle and the racket. At +last a general buzz of congratulation announced that the +cook had discovered the boots hung up among the hats in +the hall. The Doctor, very red and flustered, drew them +on, and stamped off to join the Admiral in his morning +walk. + +As the door slammed Ida burst into a shout of +laughter. "You see, Clara," she cried, "the charm works +already. He has gone to number one instead of to number +three. Oh, we shall win a great victory. You've been +very good, dear; I could see that you were on thorns to +help him when he was looking for his boots." + +"Poor papa! It is so cruel. And yet what are we to +do?" + +"Oh, he will enjoy being comfortable all the more if +we give him a little discomfort now. What horrible +work this chemistry is! Look at my frock! It is ruined. +And this dreadful smell!" She threw open the window, and +thrust her little golden-curled head out of it. Charles +Westmacott was hoeing at the other side of the garden +fence. + +"Good morning, sir," said Ida. + +"Good morning!" The big man leaned upon his hoe and +looked up at her. + +"Have you any cigarettes, Charles?" + +"Yes, certainly." + +"Throw me up two." + +"Here is my case. Can you catch!" + +A seal-skin case came with a soft thud on to the +floor. Ida opened it. It was full. + +"What are these?" she asked. + +"Egyptians." + +"What are some other brands?" + +"Oh, Richmond Gems, and Turkish, and Cambridge. But +why?" + +"Never mind!" She nodded to him and closed the +window. "We must remember all those, Clara," said she. +"We must learn to talk about such things. Mrs. +Westmacott knows all about the brands of cigarettes. Has +your rum come?" + +"Yes, dear. It is here." + +"And I have my stout. Come along up to my room now. +This smell is too abominable. But we must be ready for +him when he comes back. If we sit at the window we shall +see him coming down the road." + +The fresh morning air, and the genial company of the +Admiral had caused the Doctor to forget his troubles, and +he came back about midday in an excellent humor. As he +opened the hall door the vile smell of chemicals which +had spoilt his breakfast met him with a redoubled +virulence. He threw open the hall window, entered the +dining-room, and stood aghast at the sight which met his +eyes. + +Ida was still sitting among her bottles, with a lit +cigarette in her left hand and a glass of stout on the +table beside her. Clara, with another cigarette, was +lounging in the easy chair with several maps spread out +upon the floor around. Her feet were stuck up on the +coal scuttle, and she had a tumblerful of some +reddish-brown composition on the smoking table close at +her elbow. The Doctor gazed from one to the other of +them through the thin grey haze of smoke, but his eyes +rested finally in a settled stare of astonishment upon +his elder and more serious daughter. + +"Clara!" he gasped, "I could not have believed it!" + +"What is it, papa?" + +"You are smoking!" + +"Trying to, papa. I find it a little difficult, for +I have not been used to it." + +"But why, in the name of goodness--" + +"Mrs. Westmacott recommends it." + +"Oh, a lady of mature years may do many things which +a young girl must avoid." + +"Oh, no," cried Ida, "Mrs. Westmacott says that there +should be one law for all. Have a cigarette, pa?" + +"No, thank you. I never smoke in the morning." + +"No? Perhaps you don't care for the brand. What +are these, Clara?" + +"Egyptians." + +"Ah, we must have some Richmond Gems or Turkish. I +wish, pa, when you go into town, you would get me some +Turkish." + +"I will do nothing of the kind. I do not at all +think that it is a fitting habit for young ladies. I do +not agree with Mrs. Westmacott upon the point." + +"Really, pa! It was you who advised us to imitate +her." + +"But with discrimination. What is it that you are +drinking, Clara?" + +"Rum, papa." + +"Rum? In the morning?" He sat down and rubbed his +eyes as one who tries to shake off some evil dream. "Did +you say rum?" + +"Yes, pa. They all drink it in the profession which +I am going to take up." + +"Profession, Clara?" + +"Mrs. Westmacott says that every woman should follow +a calling, and that we ought to choose those which women +have always avoided." + +"Quite so." + +"Well, I am going to act upon her advice. I am going +to be a pilot." + +"My dear Clara! A pilot! This is too much." + +"This is a beautiful book, papa. `The Lights, +Beacons, Buoys, Channels, and Landmarks of Great +Britain.' Here is another, `The Master Mariner's +Handbook.' You can't imagine how interesting it is." + +"You are joking, Clara. You must be joking!" + +"Not at all, pa. You can't think what a lot I have +learned already. I'm to carry a green light to starboard +and a red to port, with a white light at the mast-head, +and a flare-up every fifteen minutes." + +"Oh, won't it look pretty at night!" cried her +sister. + +"And I know the fog-signals. One blast means that a +ship steers to starboard, two to port, three astern, four +that it is unmanageable. But this man asks such dreadful +questions at the end of each chapter. Listen to this: +`You see a red light. The ship is on the port tack and +the wind at north; what course is that ship steering to +a point?'" + +The Doctor rose with a gesture of despair. "I can't +imagine what has come over you both," said he. + +"My dear papa, we are trying hard to live up to Mrs. +Westmacott's standard." + +"Well, I must say that I do not admire the result. +Your chemistry, Ida, may perhaps do no harm; but your +scheme, Clara, is out of the question. How a girl of +your sense could ever entertain such a notion is more +than I can imagine. But I must absolutely forbid you to +go further with it." + +"But, pa," asked Ida, with an air of innocent +inquiry in her big blue eyes, "what are we to do when +your commands and Mrs. Westmacott's advice are opposed? +You told us to obey her. She says that when women try to +throw off their shackles, their fathers, brothers and +husbands are the very first to try to rivet them on +again, and that in such a matter no man has any +authority." + +"Does Mrs. Westmacott teach you that I am not the +head of my own house?" The Doctor flushed, and his +grizzled hair bristled in his anger. + +"Certainly. She says that all heads of houses are +relics of the dark ages." + +The Doctor muttered something and stamped his foot +upon the carpet. Then without a word he passed out into +the garden and his daughters could see him striding +furiously up and down, cutting off the heads of the +flowers with a switch. + +"Oh, you darling! You played your part so +splendidly!" cried Ida. + +"But how cruel it is! When I saw the sorrow and +surprise in his eyes I very nearly put my arms about him +and told him all. Don't you think we have done enough?" + +"No, no, no. Not nearly enough. You must not turn +weak now, Clara. It is so funny that I should be leading +you. It is quite a new experience. But I know I am +right. If we go an as we are doing, we shall be able +to say all our lives that we have saved him. And if we +don't, oh, Clara, we should never forgive ourselves." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER X. + + +WOMEN OF THE FUTURE. + + +From that day the Doctor's peace was gone. Never was +a quiet and orderly household transformed so suddenly +into a bear garden, or a happy man turned into such a +completely miserable one. He had never realized before +how entirely his daughters had shielded him from all the +friction of life. Now that they had not only ceased to +protect him, but had themselves become a source of +trouble to him, he began to understand how great the +blessing was which he had enjoyed, and to sigh for the +happy days before his girls had come under the influence +of his neighbor. + +"You don't look happy," Mrs. Westmacott had remarked +to him one morning. "You are pale and a little off +color. You should come with me for a ten mile spin upon +the tandem." + +"I am troubled about my girls." They were walking up +and down in the garden. From time to time there sounded +from the house behind them the long, sad wail of a French +horn. + +"That is Ida," said he. "She has taken to +practicing on that dreadful instrument in the +intervals of her chemistry. And Clara is quite as bad. +I declare it is getting quite unendurable." + +"Ah, Doctor, Doctor!" she cried, shaking her +forefinger, with a gleam of her white teeth. "You must +live up to your principles--you must give your daughters +the same liberty as you advocate for other women." + +"Liberty, madam, certainly! But this approaches to +license." + +"The same law for all, my friend." She tapped him +reprovingly on the arm with her sunshade. "When you were +twenty your father did not, I presume, object to your +learning chemistry or playing a musical instrument. You +would have thought it tyranny if he had." + +"But there is such a sudden change in them both." + +"Yes, I have noticed that they have been very +enthusiastic lately in the cause of liberty. Of all my +disciples I think that they promise to be the most +devoted and consistent, which is the more natural since +their father is one of our most trusted champions." + +The Doctor gave a twitch of impatience. "I seem to +have lost all authority," he cried. + +"No, no, my dear friend. They are a little exuberant +at having broken the trammels of custom. That is all." + +"You cannot think what I have had to put up with, +madam. It has been a dreadful experience. Last night, +after I had extinguished the candle in my bedroom, I +placed my foot upon something smooth and hard, which +scuttled from under me. Imagine my horror! I lit the +gas, and came upon a well-grown tortoise which Clara has +thought fit to introduce into the house. I call it a +filthy custom to have such pets." + +Mrs. Westmacott dropped him a little courtesy. +"Thank you, sir," said she. "That is a nice little side +hit at my poor Eliza." + +"I give you my word that I had forgotten about her," +cried the Doctor, flushing. "One such pet may no doubt +be endured, but two are more than I can bear. Ida has a +monkey which lives on the curtain rod. It is a most +dreadful creature. It will remain absolutely motionless +until it sees that you have forgotten its presence, and +then it will suddenly bound from picture to picture all +round the walls, and end by swinging down on the +bell-rope and jumping on to the top of your head. At +breakfast it stole a poached egg and daubed it all over +the door handle. Ida calls these outrages amusing +tricks." + +"Oh, all will come right," said the widow +reassuringly. + +"And Clara is as bad, Clara who used to be so +good and sweet, the very image of her poor mother. She +insists upon this preposterous scheme of being a pilot, +and will talk of nothing but revolving lights and hidden +rocks, and codes of signals, and nonsense of the kind." + +"But why preposterous?" asked his companion. "What +nobler occupation can there be than that of stimulating +commerce, and aiding the mariner to steer safely into +port? I should think your daughter admirably adapted for +such duties." + +"Then I must beg to differ from you, madam." + +"Still, you are inconsistent." + +"Excuse me, madam, I do not see the matter in the +same light. And I should be obliged to you if you would +use your influence with my daughter to dissuade her." + +"You wish to make me inconsistent too." + +"Then you refuse?" + +"I am afraid that I cannot interfere." + +The Doctor was very angry. "Very well, madam," said +he. "In that case I can only say that I have the honor +to wish you a very good morning." He raised his broad +straw hat and strode away up the gravel path, while the +widow looked after him with twinkling eyes. She was +surprised herself to find that she liked the Doctor +better the more masculine and aggressive he became. It +was unreasonable and against all principle, and yet so it +was and no argument could mend the matter. + +Very hot and angry, the Doctor retired into his room +and sat down to read his paper. Ida had retired, and the +distant wails of the bugle showed that she was upstairs +in her boudoir. Clara sat opposite to him with her +exasperating charts and her blue book. The Doctor +glanced at her and his eyes remained fixed in +astonishment upon the front of her skirt. + +"My dear Clara," he cried, "you have torn your +skirt!" + +His daughter laughed and smoothed out her frock. To +his horror he saw the red plush of the chair where the +dress ought to have been. "It is all torn!" he +cried. "What have you done?" + +"My dear papa!" said she, "what do you know about the +mysteries of ladies' dress? This is a divided skirt." + +Then he saw that it was indeed so arranged, and that +his daughter was clad in a sort of loose, extremely long +knickerbockers. + +"It will be so convenient for my sea-boots," she +explained. + +Her father shook his head sadly. "Your dear mother +would not have liked it, Clara," said he. + +For a moment the conspiracy was upon the point of +collapsing. There was something in the gentleness of his +rebuke, and in his appeal to her mother, which brought +the tears to her eyes, and in another instant she would +have been kneeling beside him with everything +confessed, when the door flew open and her sister Ida +came bounding into the room. She wore a short grey +skirt, like that of Mrs. Westmacott, and she held it up +in each hand and danced about among the furniture. + +"I feel quite the Gaiety girl!" she cried. "How +delicious it must be to be upon the stage! You can't +think how nice this dress is, papa. One feels so free in +it. And isn't Clara charming?" + +"Go to your room this instant and take it off!" +thundered the Doctor. "I call it highly improper, and no +daughter of mine shall wear it." + +"Papa! Improper! Why, it is the exact model of Mrs. +Westmacott's." + +"I say it is improper. And yours also, Clara! Your +conduct is really outrageous. You drive me out of the +house. I am going to my club in town. I have no comfort +or peace of mind in my own house. I will stand it no +longer. I may be late to-night--I shall go to the +British Medical meeting. But when I return I shall hope +to find that you have reconsidered your conduct, and that +you have shaken yourself clear of the pernicious +influences which have recently made such an alteration in +your conduct." He seized his hat, slammed the +dining-room door, and a few minutes later they heard the +crash of the big front gate. + +"Victory, Clara, victory!" cried Ida, still +pirouetting around the furniture. "Did you hear what he +said? Pernicious influences! Don't you understand, +Clara? Why do you sit there so pale and glum? Why don't +you get up and dance?" + +"Oh, I shall be so glad when it is over, Ida. I do +hate to give him pain. Surely he has learned now that it +is very unpleasant to spend one's life with reformers." + +"He has almost learned it, Clara. Just one more +little lesson. We must not risk all at this last +moment." + +"What would you do, Ida? Oh, don't do anything too +dreadful. I feel that we have gone too far already." + +"Oh, we can do it very nicely. You see we are both +engaged and that makes it very easy. Harold will do what +you ask him, especially as you have told him the reason +why, and my Charles will do it without even wanting to +know the reason. Now you know what Mrs. Westmacott +thinks about the reserve of young ladies. Mere prudery, +affectation, and a relic of the dark ages of the Zenana. +Those were her words, were they not?" + +"What then?" + +"Well, now we must put it in practice. We are +reducing all her other views to practice, and we must not +shirk this one. + +"But what would you do? Oh, don't look so wicked, +Ida! You look like some evil little fairy, with your +golden hair and dancing, mischievous eyes. I know that +you are going to propose something dreadful!" + +"We must give a little supper to-night." + +"We? A supper!" + +"Why not? Young gentlemen give suppers. Why not +young ladies?" + +"But whom shall we invite?" + +"Why, Harold and Charles of course." + +"And the Admiral and Mrs. Hay Denver?" + +"Oh, no. That would be very old-fashioned. We must +keep up with the times, Clara." + +"But what can we give them for supper?" + +"Oh, something with a nice, fast, rollicking, +late-at-night-kind of flavor to it. Let me see! +Champagne, of course--and oysters. Oysters will do. In +the novels, all the naughty people take champagne and +oysters. Besides, they won't need any cooking. How is +your pocket-money, Clara?" + +"I have three pounds." + +"And I have one. Four pounds. I have no idea how +much champagne costs. Have you?" + +"Not the slightest." + +"How many oysters does a man eat?" + +"I can't imagine." + +"I'll write and ask Charles. No, I won't. I'll ask +Jane. Ring for her, Clara. She has been a cook, and is +sure to know. + +Jane, on being cross-questioned, refused to commit +herself beyond the statement that it depended upon the +gentleman, and also upon the oysters. The united +experience of the kitchen, however, testified that three +dozen was a fair provision. + +"Then we shall have eight dozen altogether, said Ida, +jotting down all her requirements upon a sheet of paper. +"And two pints of champagne. And some brown bread, and +vinegar, and pepper. That's all, I think. It is not so +very difficult to give a supper after all, is it, Clara?" + +"I don't like it, Ida. It seems to me to be so very +indelicate." + +"But it is needed to clinch the matter. No, no, +there is no drawing back now, Clara, or we shall ruin +everything. Papa is sure to come back by the 9:45. He +will reach the door at 10. We must have everything ready +for him. Now, just sit down at once, and ask Harold to +come at nine o'clock, and I shall do the same to +Charles." + +The two invitations were dispatched, received and +accepted. Harold was already a confidant, and he +understood that this was some further development of the +plot. As to Charles, he was so accustomed to feminine +eccentricity, in the person of his aunt, that the only +thing which could surprise him would be a rigid +observance of etiquette. At nine o'clock they +entered the dining-room of Number 2, to find the master +of the house absent, a red-shaded lamp, a snowy cloth, a +pleasant little feast, and the two whom they would have +chosen, as their companions. A merrier party never met, +and the house rang with their laughter and their chatter. + +"It is three minutes to ten," cried Clara, suddenly, +glancing at the clock. + +"Good gracious! So it is! Now for our little +tableau!" Ida pushed the champagne bottles obtrusively +forward, in the direction of the door, and scattered +oyster shells over the cloth. + +"Have you your pipe, Charles?" + +"My pipe! Yes." + +"Then please smoke it. Now don't argue about it, but +do it, for you will ruin the effect otherwise." + +The large man drew out a red case, and extracted a +great yellow meerschaum, out of which, a moment later, he +was puffing thick wreaths of smoke. Harold had lit a +cigar, and both the girls had cigarettes. + +"That looks very nice and emancipated," said Ida, +glancing round. "Now I shall lie on this sofa. So! +Now, Charles, just sit here, and throw your arm +carelessly over the back of the sofa. No, don't stop +smoking. I like it. Clara, dear, put your feet upon the +coal-scuttle, and do try to look a little +dissipated. I wish we could crown ourselves with +flowers. There are some lettuces on the sideboard. Oh +dear, here he is! I hear his key." She began to sing in +her high, fresh voice a little snatch from a French song, +with a swinging tra la-la chorus. + +The Doctor had walked home from the station in a +peaceable and relenting frame of mind, feeling that, +perhaps, he had said too much in the morning, that his +daughters had for years been models in every way, and +that, if there had been any change of late, it was, as +they said themselves, on account of their anxiety to +follow his advice and to imitate Mrs. Westmacott. He +could see clearly enough now that that advice was unwise, +and that a world peopled with Mrs. Westmacotts would not +be a happy or a soothing one. It was he who was, +himself, to blame, and he was grieved by the thought that +perhaps his hot words had troubled and saddened his two +girls. + +This fear, however, was soon dissipated. As he +entered his hall he heard the voice of Ida uplifted in a +rollicking ditty, and a very strong smell of tobacco was +borne to his nostrils. He threw open the dining-room +door, and stood aghast at the scene which met his eyes. + +The room was full of the blue wreaths of smoke, and +the lamp-light shone through the thin haze upon +gold-topped bottles, plates, napkins, and a litter +of oyster shells and cigarettes. Ida, flushed and +excited, was reclining upon the settee, a wine-glass at +her elbow, and a cigarette between her fingers, while +Charles Westmacott sat beside her, with his arm thrown +over the head of the sofa, with the suggestion of a +caress. On the other side of the room, Clara was +lounging in an arm-chair, with Harold beside her, both +smoking, and both with wine-glasses beside them. The +Doctor stood speechless in the doorway, staring at the +Bacchanalian scene. + +"Come in, papa! Do!" cried Ida. "Won't you have a +glass of champagne?" + +"Pray excuse me," said her father, coldly, "I feel +that I am intruding. I did not know that you were +entertaining. Perhaps you will kindly let me know +when you have finished. You will find me in my study." +He ignored the two young men completely, and, closing the +door, retired, deeply hurt and mortified, to his room. +A quarter of an hour afterwards he heard the door slam, +and his two daughters came to announce that the guests +were gone. + +"Guests! Whose guests?" he cried angrily. "What is +the meaning of this exhibition?" + +"We have been giving a little supper, papa. They +were our guests." + +"Oh, indeed!" The Doctor laughed sarcastically. +"You think it right, then, to entertain young +bachelors late at night, to, smoke and drink with them, +to---- Oh, that I should ever have lived to blush for my +own daughters! I thank God that your dear mother never +saw the day." + +"Dearest papa," cried Clara, throwing her arms about +him. "Do not be angry with us. If you understood all, +you would see that there is no harm in it." + +"No harm, miss! Who is the best judge of that?" + +"Mrs. Westmacott," suggested Ida, slyly. + +The Doctor sprang from his chair. "Confound Mrs. +Westmacott!" he cried, striking frenziedly into the air +with his hands. "Am I to hear of nothing but this woman? +Is she to confront me at every turn? I will endure it no +longer." + +"But it was your wish, papa." + +"Then I will tell you now what my second and wiser +wish is, and we shall see if you will obey it as you have +the first." + +"Of course we will, papa." + +"Then my wish is, that you should forget these odious +notions which you have imbibed, that you should dress and +act as you used to do, before ever you saw this woman, +and that, in future, you confine your intercourse with +her to such civilities as are necessary between +neighbors." + +"We are to give up Mrs. Westmacott?" + +"Or give up me." + +"Oh, dear dad, how can you say anything so cruel?" +cried Ida, burrowing her towsy golden hair into her +father's shirt front, while Clara pressed her cheek +against his whisker. "Of course we shall give her up, if +you prefer it." + +"Of course we shall, papa." + +The Doctor patted the two caressing heads. "These +are my own two girls again," he cried. "It has been my +fault as much as yours. I have been astray, and you have +followed me in my error. It was only by seeing your +mistake that I have become conscious of my own. Let us +set it aside, and neither say nor think anything more +about it." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +A BLOT FROM THE BLUE. + + +So by the cleverness of two girls a dark cloud was +thinned away and turned into sunshine. Over one of them, +alas, another cloud was gathering, which could not be so +easily dispersed. Of these three households which fate +had thrown together, two had already been united by ties +of love. It was destined, however, that a bond of +another sort should connect the Westmacotts with the Hay +Denvers. + +Between the Admiral and the widow a very cordial +feeling had existed since the day when the old seaman had +hauled down his flag and changed his opinions; granting +to the yachts-woman all that he had refused to the +reformer. His own frank and downright nature respected +the same qualities in his neighbor, and a friendship +sprang up between them which was more like that which +exists between two men, founded upon esteem and a +community of tastes. + +"By the way, Admiral," said Mrs. Westmacott one +morning, as they walked together down to the station, "I +understand that this boy of yours in the intervals of +paying his devotions to Miss Walker is doing something +upon 'Change." + +"Yes, ma'am, and there is no man of his age who is +doing so well. He's drawing ahead, I can tell you, +ma'am. Some of those that started with him are hull down +astarn now. He touched his five hundred last year, and +before he's thirty he'll be making the four figures." + +"The reason I asked is that I have small investments +to make myself from time to time, and my present broker +is a rascal. I should be very glad to do it through your +son." + +"It is very kind of you, ma'am. His partner is away +on a holiday, and Harold would like to push on a bit and +show what he can do. You know the poop isn't big +enough to hold the lieutenant when the skipper's on +shore." + +"I suppose he charges the usual half per cent?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure, ma'am. I'll swear that he +does what is right and proper." + +"That is what I usually pay--ten shillings in the +hundred pounds. If you see him before I do just ask him +to get me five thousand in New Zealands. It is at four +just now, and I fancy it may rise." + +"Five thousand!" exclaimed the Admiral, reckoning it +in his own mind. "Lemme see! That's twenty-five pounds +commission. A nice day's work, upon my word. It is a +very handsome order, ma'am." + +"Well, I must pay some one, and why not him?" + +"I'll tell him, and I'm sure he'll lose no time." + +"Oh, there is no great hurry. By the way, I +understand from what you said just now that he has a +partner." + +"Yes, my boy is the junior partner. Pearson is the +senior. I was introduced to him years ago, and he +offered Harold the opening. Of course we had a pretty +stiff premium to pay." + +Mrs. Westmacott had stopped, and was standing very +stiffly with her Red Indian face even grimmer than usual. + +"Pearson?" said she. "Jeremiah Pearson?" + +"The same." + +"Then it's all off," she cried. "You need not carry +out that investment." + +"Very well, ma'am." + +They walked on together side by side, she brooding +over some thought of her own, and he a little crossed and +disappointed at her caprice and the lost commission for +Harold. + +"I tell you what, Admiral," she exclaimed suddenly, +"if I were you I should get your boy out of this +partnership." + +"But why, madam?" + +"Because he is tied to one of the deepest, slyest +foxes in the whole city of London." + +"Jeremiah Pearson, ma'am? What can you know of him? +He bears a good name." + +"No one in this world knows Jeremiah Pearson as I +know him, Admiral. I warn you because I have a friendly +feeling both for you and for your son. The man is a +rogue and you had best avoid him." + +"But these are only words, ma'am. Do you tell me +that you know him better than the brokers and jobbers in +the City?" + +"Man," cried Mrs. Westmacott, "will you allow that I +know him when I tell you that my maiden name was Ada +Pearson, and that Jeremiah is my only brother?" + +The Admiral whistled. "Whew! " cried he. "Now that +I think of it, there is a likeness." + +"He is a man of iron, Admiral--a man without a +heart. I should shock you if I were to tell you what I +have endured from my brother. My father's wealth was +divided equally between us. His own share he ran through +in five years, and he has tried since then by every trick +of a cunning, low-minded man, by base cajolery, by legal +quibbles, by brutal intimidation, to juggle me out of my +share as well. There is no villainy of which the man is +not capable. Oh, I know my brother Jeremiah. I know him +and I am prepared for him." + +"This is all new to me, ma'am. 'Pon my word, I +hardly know what to say to it. I thank you for having +spoken so plainly. From what you say, this is a poor +sort of consort for a man to sail with. Perhaps Harold +would do well to cut himself adrift." + +"Without losing a day." + +"Well, we shall talk it over. You may be sure of +that. But here we are at the station, so I will just see +you into your carriage and then home to see what my wife +says to the matter." + +As he trudged homewards, thoughtful and perplexed, he +was surprised to hear a shout behind him, and to see +Harold running down the road after him. + +"Why, dad," he cried, "I have just come from town, +and the first thing I saw was your back as you marched +away. But you are such a quick walker that I had to +run to catch you." + +The Admiral's smile of pleasure had broken his stern +face into a thousand wrinkles. "You are early to-day," +said he. + +"Yes, I wanted to consult you." + +"Nothing wrong?" + +"Oh no, only an inconvenience." + +"What is it, then?" + +"How much have we in our private account?" + +"Pretty fair. Some eight hundred, I think." + +"Oh, half that will be ample. It was rather +thoughtless of Pearson." + +"What then?" + +"Well, you see, dad, when he went away upon this +little holiday to Havre he left me to pay accounts and so +on. He told me that there was enough at the bank for all +claims. I had occasion on Tuesday to pay away two +cheques, one for L80, and the other for L120, and here +they are returned with a bank notice that we have already +overdrawn to the extent of some hundreds." + +The Admiral looked very grave. "What's the meaning +of that, then?" he asked. + +"Oh, it can easily be set right. You see Pearson +invests all the spare capital and keeps as small a margin +as possible at the bank. Still it was too bad for him to +allow me even to run a risk of having a cheque returned. +I have written to him and demanded his authority to +sell out some stock, and I have written an explanation to +these people. In the meantime, however, I have had to +issue several cheques; so I had better transfer part of +our private account to meet them." + +"Quite so, my boy. All that's mine is yours. But +who do you think this Pearson is? He is Mrs. +Westmacott's brother." + +"Really. What a singular thing! Well, I can see a +likeness now that you mention it. They have both the +same hard type of face." + +"She has been warning me against him--says he is the +rankest pirate in London. I hope that it is all right, +boy, and that we may not find ourselves in broken water." + +Harold had turned a little pale as he heard Mrs. +Westmacott's opinion of his senior partner. It gave +shape and substance to certain vague fears and suspicions +of his own which had been pushed back as often as they +obtruded themselves as being too monstrous and fantastic +for belief. + +"He is a well-known man in the City, dad," said he. + +"Of course he is--of course he is. That is what I +told her. They would have found him out there if +anything had been amiss with him. Bless you, there's +nothing so bitter as a family quarrel. Still it is just +as well that you have written about this affair, for +we may as well have all fair and aboveboard." + +But Harold's letter to his partner was crossed by a +letter from his partner to Harold. It lay awaiting him +upon the breakfast table next morning, and it sent the +heart into his mouth as he read it, and caused him to +spring up from his chair with a white face and staring +eyes. + +"My boy! My boy!" + +"I am ruined, mother--ruined!" He stood gazing +wildly in front of him, while the sheet of paper +fluttered down on the carpet. Then he dropped back into +the chair, and sank his face into his hands. His mother +had her arms round him in an instant, while the Admiral, +with shaking fingers, picked up the letter from the floor +and adjusted his glasses to read it. + + +"My DEAR DENVER," it ran. "By the time that this +reaches you I shall be out of the reach of yourself or of +any one else who may desire an interview. You need not +search for me, for I assure you that this letter is +posted by a friend, and that you will have your trouble +in vain if you try to find me. I am sorry to leave you +in such a tight place, but one or other of us must be +squeezed, and on the whole I prefer that it should be +you. You'll find nothing in the bank, and about L13,000 +unaccounted for. I'm not sure that the best thing you +can do is not to realize what you can, and imitate +your senior's example. If you act at once you may get +clean away. If not, it's not only that you must put up +your shutters, but I am afraid that this missing money +could hardly be included as an ordinary debt, and of +course you are legally responsible for it just as much as +I am. Take a friend's advice and get to America. A +young man with brains can always do something out there, +and you can live down this little mischance. It will be +a cheap lesson if it teaches you to take nothing upon +trust in business, and to insist upon knowing exactly +what your partner is doing, however senior he may be to +you. + +"Yours faithfully, + +"JEREMIAH PEARSON." + + +"Great Heavens!" groaned the Admiral, "he has +absconded." + +"And left me both a bankrupt and a thief." + +"No, no, Harold," sobbed his mother. "All will be +right. What matter about money!" + +"Money, mother! It is my honor." + +"The boy is right. It is his honor, and my honor, +for his is mine. This is a sore trouble, mother, when we +thought our life's troubles were all behind us, but we +will bear it as we have borne others." He held out his +stringy hand, and the two old folk sat with bowed +grey heads, their fingers intertwined, strong in +each other's love and sympathy. + +"We were too happy," she sighed. + +"But it is God's will, mother." + +"Yes, John, it is God's will." + +"And yet it is bitter to bear. I could have lost +all, the house, money, rank--I could have borne it. But +at my age--my honor--the honor of an admiral of the +fleet." + +"No honor can be lost, John, where no dishonor has +been done. What have you done? What has Harold done? +There is no question of honor." + +The old man shook his head, but Harold had already +called together his clear practical sense, which for an +instant in the presence of this frightful blow had +deserted him. + +"The mater is right, dad," said he. "It is bad +enough, Heaven knows, but we must not take too dark a +view of it. After all, this insolent letter is in itself +evidence that I had nothing to do with the schemes of the +base villain who wrote it." + +"They may think it prearranged." + +"They could not. My whole life cries out against the +thought. They could not look me in the face and +entertain it." + +"No, boy, not if they have eyes in their heads," +cried the Admiral, plucking up courage at the sight of +the flashing eyes and brave, defiant face. "We have +the letter, and we have your character. We'll weather it +yet between them. It's my fault from the beginning for +choosing such a land-shark for your consort. God help +me, I thought I was finding such an opening for you." + +"Dear dad! How could you possibly know? As he says +in his letter, it has given me a lesson. But he was so +much older and so much more experienced, that it was hard +for me to ask to examine his books. But we must waste no +time. I must go to the City." + +"What will you do?" + +"What an honest man should do. I will write to all +our clients and creditors, assemble them, lay the whole +matter before them, read them the letter and put myself +absolutely in their hands." + +"That's it, boy--yard-arm to yard-arm, and have it +over." + +"I must go at once." He put on his top-coat and his +hat. "But I have ten minutes yet before I can catch a +train. There is one little thing which I must do before +I start." + +He had caught sight through the long glass folding +door of the gleam of a white blouse and a straw hat in +the tennis ground. Clara used often to meet him there of +a morning to say a few words before he hurried away into +the City. He walked out now with the quick, firm +step of a man who has taken a momentous resolution, but +his face was haggard and his lips pale. + +"Clara," said he, as she came towards him with words +of greeting, "I am sorry to bring ill news to you, but +things have gone wrong in the City, and--and I think that +I ought to release you from your engagement." + +Clara stared at him with her great questioning dark +eyes, and her face became as pale as his. + +"How can the City affect you and me, Harold?" + +"It is dishonor. I cannot ask you to share it." + +"Dishonor! The loss of some miserable gold and +silver coins!" + +"Oh, Clara, if it were only that! We could be far +happier together in a little cottage in the country than +with all the riches of the City. Poverty could not cut +me to the heart, as I have been cut this morning. Why, +it is but twenty minutes since I had the letter, Clara, +and it seems to me to be some old, old thing which +happened far away in my past life, some horrid black +cloud which shut out all the freshness and the peace from +it." + +"But what is it, then? What do you fear worse than +poverty?" + +"To have debts that I cannot meet. To be +hammered upon 'Change and declared a bankrupt. To +know that others have a just claim upon me and to feel +that I dare not meet their eyes. Is not that worse than +poverty?" + +"Yes, Harold, a thousand fold worse! But all this +may be got over. Is there nothing more?" + +"My partner has fled and left me responsible for +heavy debts, and in such a position that I may be +required by the law to produce some at least of this +missing money. It has been confided to him to invest, +and he has embezzled it. I, as his partner, am liable +for it. I have brought misery on all whom I love--my +father, my mother. But you at least shall not be under +the shadow. You are free, Clara. There is no tie +between us." + +"It takes two to make such a tie, Harold," said she, +smiling and putting her hand inside his arm. "It takes +two to make it, dear, and also two to break it. Is that +the way they do business in the City, sir, that a man can +always at his own sweet will tear up his engagement?" + +"You hold me to it, Clara?" + +"No creditor so remorseless as I, Harold. Never, +never shall you get from that bond." + +"But I am ruined. My whole life is blasted." + +"And so you wish to ruin me, and blast my life also. +No indeed, sir, you shall not get away so lightly. But +seriously now, Harold, you would hurt me if it were +not so absurd. Do you think that a woman's love is like +this sunshade which I carry in my hand, a thing only +fitted for the sunshine, and of no use when the winds +blow and the clouds gather?" + +"I would not drag you down, Clara." + +"Should I not be dragged down indeed if I left your +side at such a time? It is only now that I can be of use +to you, help you, sustain you. You have always been so +strong, so above me. You are strong still, but then two +will be stronger. Besides, sir, you have no idea what a +woman of business I am. Papa says so, and he knows." + +Harold tried to speak, but his heart was too full. +He could only press the white hand which curled round his +sleeve. She walked up and down by his side, prattling +merrily, and sending little gleams of cheeriness through +the gloom which girt him in. To listen to her he might +have thought that it was Ida, and not her staid and +demure sister, who was chatting to him. + +"It will soon be cleared up," she said, "and then we +shall feel quite dull. Of course all business men have +these little ups and downs. Why, I suppose of all the +men you meet upon 'Change, there is not one who has not +some such story to tell. If everything was always +smooth, you know, then of course every one would +turn stockbroker, and you would have to hold your +meetings in Hyde Park. How much is it that you need?" + +"More than I can ever get. Not less than thirteen +thousand pounds." + +Clara's face fell as she heard the amount. "What do +you purpose doing?" + +"I shall go to the City now, and I shall ask all our +creditors to meet me to-morrow. I shall read them +Pearson's letter, and put myself into their hands." + +"And they, what will they do?" + +"What can they do? They will serve writs for their +money, and the firm will be declared bankrupt." + +"And the meeting will be to-morrow, you say. Will +you take my advice?" + +"What is it, Clara?" + +"To ask them for a few days of delay. Who knows what +new turn matters may take?" + +"What turn can they take? I have no means of raising +the money." + +"Let us have a few days." + +"Oh, we should have that in the ordinary course of +business. The legal formalities would take them some +little time. But I must go, Clara, I must not seem to +shirk. My place now must be at my offices." + +"Yes, dear, you are right. God bless you and guard +you! I shall be here in The Wilderness, but all day +I shall be by your office table at Throgmorton Street in +spirit, and if ever you should be sad you will hear my +little whisper in your ear, and know that there is one +client whom you will never be able to get rid of--never +as long as we both live, dear." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +FRIENDS IN NEED. + + +"Now, papa," said Clara that morning, wrinkling her +brows and putting her finger-tips together with the air +of an experienced person of business, "I want to have a +talk to you about money matters." + +"Yes, my dear." He laid down his paper, and looked +a question. + +"Kindly tell me again, papa, how much money I have in +my very own right. You have often told me before, but I +always forget figures." + +"You have two hundred and fifty pounds a year of your +own, under your aunt's will. + +"And Ida?" + +"Ida has one hundred and fifty." + +"Now, I think I can live very well on fifty pounds a +year, papa. I am not very extravagant, and I could +make my own dresses if I had a sewing-machine." + +"Very likely, dear." + +"In that case I have two hundred a year which I could +do without." + +"If it were necessary." + +"But it is necessary. Oh, do help me, like a good, +dear, kind papa, in this matter, for my whole heart is +set upon it. Harold is in sore need of money, and +through no fault of his own." With a woman's tact and +eloquence, she told the whole story. "Put yourself in my +place, papa. What is the money to me? I never think of +it from year's end to year's end. But now I know how +precious it is. I could not have thought that money +could be so valuable. See what I can do with it. It may +help to save him. I must have it by to-morrow. Oh, do, +do advise me as to what I should do, and how I should get +the money." + +The Doctor smiled at her eagerness. "You are as +anxious to get rid of money as others are to gain it," +said he. "In another case I might think it rash, but I +believe in your Harold, and I can see that he has had +villainous treatment. You will let me deal with the +matter." + +"You, papa?" + +"It can be done best between men. Your capital, +Clara, is some five thousand pounds, but it is out +on a mortgage, and you could not call it in." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" + +"But we can still manage. I have as much at my bank. +I will advance it to the Denvers as coming from you, and +you can repay it to me, or the interest of it, when your +money becomes due." + +"Oh, that is beautiful! How sweet and kind of you!" + +"But there is one obstacle: I do not think that you +would ever induce Harold to take this money." + +Clara's face fell. "Don't you think so, really?" + +"I am sure that he would not." + +"Then what are you to do? What horrid things money +matters are to arrange!" + +"I shall see his father. We can manage it all +between us." + +"Oh, do, do, papa! And you will do it soon?" + +"There is no time like the present. I will go in at +once." He scribbled a cheque, put it in an envelope, put +on his broad straw hat, and strolled in through the +garden to pay his morning call. + +It was a singular sight which met his eyes as he +entered the sitting-room of the Admiral. A great sea +chest stood open in the center, and allround upon +the carpet were little piles of jerseys, oil-skins, +books, sextant boxes, instruments, and sea-boots. The +old seaman sat gravely amidst this lumber, turning it +over, and examining it intently; while his wife, with the +tears running silently down her ruddy cheeks, sat upon +the sofa, her elbows upon her knees and her chin upon her +hands, rocking herself slowly backwards and forwards. + +"Hullo, Doctor," said the Admiral, holding out his +hand, "there's foul weather set in upon us, as you may +have heard, but I have ridden out many a worse squall, +and, please God, we shall all three of us weather this +one also, though two of us are a little more cranky than +we were." + +"My dear friends, I came in to tell you how deeply we +sympathize with you all. My girl has only just told me +about it." + +"It has come so suddenly upon us, Doctor," sobbed +Mrs. Hay Denver. "I thought that I had John to myself +for the rest of our lives--Heaven knows that we have not +seen very much of each other--but now he talks of going +to sea again. + +"Aye, aye, Walker, that's the only way out of it. +When I first heard of it I was thrown up in the wind with +all aback. I give you my word that I lost my bearings +more completely than ever since I strapped a middy's dirk +to my belt. You see, friend, I know something of +shipwreck or battle or whatever may come upon the waters, +but the shoals in the City of London on which my poor boy +has struck are clean beyond me. Pearson had been my +pilot there, and now I know him to be a rogue. But I've +taken my bearings now, and I see my course right before +me." + +"What then, Admiral?" + +"Oh, I have one or two little plans. I'll have some +news for the boy. Why, hang it, Walker man, I may be a +bit stiff in the joints, but you'll be my witness that I +can do my twelve miles under the three hours. What then? +My eyes are as good as ever except just for the +newspaper. My head is clear. I'm three-and-sixty, but +I'm as good a man as ever I was--too good a man to lie up +for another ten years. I'd be the better for a smack of +the salt water again, and a whiff of the breeze. Tut, +mother, it's not a four years' cruise this time. I'll be +back every month or two. It's no more than if I went for +a visit in the country." He was talking boisterously, +and heaping his sea-boots and sextants back into his +chest. + +"And you really think, my dear friend, of hoisting +your pennant again?" + +"My pennant, Walker? No, no. Her Majesty, God bless +her, has too many young men to need an old hulk like me. +I should be plain Mr. Hay Denver, of the merchant +service. I daresay that I might find some owner who +would give me a chance as second or third officer. It +will be strange to me to feel the rails of the bridge +under my fingers once more." + +"Tut! tut! this will never do, this will never do, +Admiral!" The Doctor sat down by Mrs. Hay Denver and +patted her hand in token of friendly sympathy. "We must +wait until your son has had it out with all these people, +and then we shall know what damage is done, and how best +to set it right. It will be time enough then to begin to +muster our resources to meet it." + +"Our resources!" The Admiral laughed. "There's the +pension. I'm afraid, Walker, that our resources won't +need much mustering." + +"Oh, come, there are some which you may not have +thought of. For example, Admiral, I had always intended +that my girl should have five thousand from me when she +married. Of course your boy's trouble is her trouble, +and the money cannot be spent better than in helping to +set it right. She has a little of her own which she +wished to contribute, but I thought it best to work it +this way. Will you take the cheque, Mrs. Denver, and I +think it would be best if you said nothing to Harold +about it, and just used it as the occasion served?" + +"God bless you, Walker, you are a true friend. I +won't forget this, Walker. "The Admiral sat down on his +sea chest and mopped his brow with his red handkerchief. + +"What is it to me whether you have it now or then? +It may be more useful now. There's only one stipulation. +If things should come to the worst, and if the business +should prove so bad that nothing can set it right, then +hold back this cheque, for there is no use in pouring +water into a broken basin, and if the lad should fall, he +will want something to pick himself up again with." + +"He shall not fall, Walker, and you shall not have +occasion to be ashamed of the family into which your +daughter is about to marry. I have my own plan. But we +shall hold your money, my friend, and it will strengthen +us to feel that it is there." + +"Well, that is all right," said Doctor Walker, +rising. "And if a little more should be needed, we must +not let him go wrong for the want of a thousand or two. +And now, Admiral, I'm off for my morning walk. Won't you +come too?" + +"No, I am going into town." + +"Well, good-bye. I hope to have better news, and +that all will come right. Good-bye, Mrs. Denver. I +feel as if the boy were my own, and I shall not be easy +until all is right with him." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +IN STRANGE WATERS. + + +When Doctor Walker had departed, the Admiral packed +all his possessions back into his sea chest with the +exception of one little brass-bound desk. This he +unlocked, and took from it a dozen or so blue sheets of +paper all mottled over with stamps and seals, with very +large V. R.'s printed upon the heads of them. He tied +these carefully into a small bundle, and placing them in +the inner pocket of his coat, he seized his stick and +hat. + +"Oh, John, don't do this rash thing," cried Mrs. +Denver, laying her hands upon his sleeve. "I have seen +so little of you, John. Only three years since you left +the service. Don't leave me again. I know it is weak of +me, but I cannot bear it." + +"There's my own brave lass," said he, smoothing down +the grey-shot hair. "We've lived in honor together, +mother, and please God in honor we'll die. No matter how +debts are made, they have got to be met, and what the boy +owes we owe. He has not the money, and how is he to find +it? He can't find it. What then? It becomes my +business, and there's only one way for it." + +"But it may not be so very bad, John. Had we not +best wait until after he sees these people to-morrow?" + +"They may give him little time, lass. But I'll have +a care that I don't go so far that I can't put back +again. Now, mother, there's no use holding me. It's got +to be done, and there's no sense in shirking it." He +detached her fingers from his sleeve, pushed her gently +back into an arm-chair, and hurried from the house. + +In less than half an hour the Admiral was whirled +into Victoria Station and found himself amid a dense +bustling throng, who jostled and pushed in the crowded +terminus. His errand, which had seemed feasible enough +in his own room, began now to present difficulties in the +carrying out, and he puzzled over how he should take the +first steps. Amid the stream of business men, each +hurrying on his definite way, the old seaman in his grey +tweed suit and black soft hat strode slowly along, his +head sunk and his brow wrinkled in perplexity. Suddenly +an idea occurred to him. He walked back to the railway +stall and bought a daily paper. This he turned and +turned until a certain column met his eye, when he +smoothed it out, and carrying it over to a seat, +proceeded to read it at his leisure. + +And, indeed, as a man read that column, it +seemed strange to him that there should still remain +any one in this world of ours who should be in straits +for want of money. Here were whole lines of gentlemen +who were burdened with a surplus in their incomes, and +who were loudly calling to the poor and needy to come and +take it off their hands. Here was the guileless person +who was not a professional moneylender, but who would be +glad to correspond, etc. Here too was the accommodating +individual who advanced sums from ten to ten thousand +pounds without expense, security, or delay. "The money +actually paid over within a few hours," ran this +fascinating advertisement, conjuring up a vision of swift +messengers rushing with bags of gold to the aid of the +poor struggler. A third gentleman did all business by +personal application, advanced money on anything or +nothing; the lightest and airiest promise was enough to +content him according to his circular, and finally he +never asked for more than five per cent. This struck the +Admiral as far the most promising, and his wrinkles +relaxed, and his frown softened away as he gazed at it. +He folded up the paper rose from the seat, and found +himself face to face with Charles Westmacott. + +"Hullo, Admiral!" + +"Hullo, Westmacott!" Charles had always been a +favorite of the seaman's. "What are you doing here?" + +"Oh, I have been doing a little business for my aunt. +But I have never seen you in London before." + +"I hate the place. It smothers me. There's not a +breath of clean air on this side of Greenwich. But maybe +you know your way about pretty well in the City?" + +"Well, I know something about it. You see I've never +lived very far from it, and I do a good deal of my aunt's +business." + +"Maybe you know Bread Street?" + +"It is out of Cheapside." + +"Well then, how do you steer for it from here? You +make me out a course and I'll keep to it." + +"Why, Admiral, I have nothing to do. I'll take you +there with pleasure." + +"Will you, though? Well, I'd take it very kindly if +you would. I have business there. Smith and Hanbury, +financial agents, Bread Street." + +The pair made their way to the river-side, and so +down the Thames to St. Paul's landing--a mode of travel +which was much more to the Admiral's taste than 'bus or +cab. On the way, he told his companion his mission and +the causes which had led to it. Charles Westmacott knew +little enough of City life and the ways of business, but +at least he had more experience in both than the Admiral, +and he made up his mind not to leave him until the +matter was settled. + +"These are the people," said the Admiral, twisting +round his paper, and pointing to the advertisement which +had seemed to him the most promising. "It sounds honest +and above-board, does it not? The personal interview +looks as if there were no trickery, and then no one could +object to five per cent." + +"No, it seems fair enough." + +"It is not pleasant to have to go hat in hand +borrowing money, but there are times, as you may find +before you are my age, Westmacott, when a man must stow +away his pride. But here's their number, and their plate +is on the corner of the door." + +A narrow entrance was flanked on either side by a row +of brasses, ranging upwards from the shipbrokers and the +solicitors who occupied the ground floors, through a long +succession of West Indian agents, architects, surveyors, +and brokers, to the firm of which they were in quest. A +winding stone stair, well carpeted and railed at first +but growing shabbier with every landing, brought them +past innumerable doors until, at last, just under the +ground-glass roofing, the names of Smith and Hanbury were +to be seen painted in large white letters across a panel, +with a laconic invitation to push beneath it. Following +out the suggestion, the Admiral and his companion +found themselves in a dingy apartment, ill lit from a +couple of glazed windows. An ink-stained table, littered +with pens, papers, and almanacs, an American cloth sofa, +three chairs of varying patterns, and a much-worn carpet, +constituted all the furniture, save only a very large and +obtrusive porcelain spittoon, and a gaudily framed and +very somber picture which hung above the fireplace. +Sitting in front of this picture, and staring gloomily at +it, as being the only thing which he could stare at, was +a small sallow-faced boy with a large head, who in the +intervals of his art studies munched sedately at an +apple. + +"Is Mr. Smith or Mr. Hanbury in?" asked the Admiral. + +"There ain't no such people," said the small boy. + +"But you have the names on the door." + +"Ah, that is the name of the firm, you see. It's +only a name. It's Mr. Reuben Metaxa that you wants." + +"Well then, is he in?" + +"No, he's not." + +"When will he be back?" + +"Can't tell, I'm sure. He's gone to lunch. +Sometimes he takes one hour, and sometimes two. It'll be +two to-day, I 'spect, for he said he was hungry afore he +went." + +"Then I suppose that we had better call again, " said +the Admiral. + +"Not a bit," cried Charles. "I know how to manage +these little imps. See here, you young varmint, here's +a shilling for you. Run off and fetch your master. If +you don't bring him here in five minutes I'll clump you +on the side of the head when you get back. Shoo! Scat!" +He charged at the youth, who bolted from the room and +clattered madly down-stairs. + +"He'll fetch him," said Charles. "Let us make +ourselves at home. This sofa does not feel over and +above safe. It was not meant for fifteen-stone men. +But this doesn't look quite the sort of place where one +would expect to pick up money." + +"Just what I was thinking," said the Admiral, looking +ruefully about him. + +"Ah, well! I have heard that the best furnished +offices generally belong to the poorest firms. Let us +hope it's the opposite here. They can't spend much on +the management anyhow. That pumpkin-headed boy was the +staff, I suppose. Ha, by Jove, that's his voice, and +he's got our man, I think!" + +As he spoke the youth appeared in the doorway with a +small, brown, dried-up little chip of a man at his heels. +He was clean-shaven and blue-chinned, with bristling +black hair, and keen brown eyes which shone out very +brightly from between pouched under-lids and drooping +upper ones. He advanced, glancing keenly from one +to the other of his visitors, and slowly rubbing together +his thin, blue-veined hands. The small boy closed the +door behind him, and discreetly vanished. + +"I am Mr. Reuben Metaxa," said the moneylender. "Was +it about an advance you wished to see me?" + +"Yes." + +"For you, I presume?" turning to Charles Westmacott. + +"No, for this gentleman." + +The moneylender looked surprised. "How much did you +desire?" + +"I thought of five thousand pounds," said the +Admiral. + +"And on what security?" + +"I am a retired admiral of the British navy. You +will find my name in the Navy List. There is my card. +I have here my pension papers. I get L850 a year. I +thought that perhaps if you were to hold these papers it +would be security enough that I should pay you. You +could draw my pension, and repay yourselves at the rate, +say, of L500 a year, taking your five per cent interest +as well." + +"What interest?" + +"Five per cent per annum. + +Mr. Metaxa laughed. "Per annum!" he said. "Five per +cent a month." + +"A month! That would be sixty per cent a year." + +"Precisely." + +"But that is monstrous." + +"I don't ask gentlemen to come to me. They come of +their own free will. Those are my terms, and they can +take it or leave it." + +"Then I shall leave it." The Admiral rose angrily +from his chair. + +"But one moment, sir. Just sit down and we shall +chat the matter over. Yours is a rather unusual case and +we may find some other way of doing what you wish. Of +course the security which you offer is no security at +all, and no sane man would advance five thousand pennies +on it." + +"No security? Why not, sir?" + +"You might die to-morrow. You are not a young man. +What age are you?" + +"Sixty-three." + +Mr. Metaxa turned over a long column of figures. +"Here is an actuary's table," said he. "At your time of +life the average expectancy of life is only a few years +even in a well-preserved man." + +"Do you mean to insinuate that I am not a +well-preserved man?" + +"Well, Admiral, it is a trying life at sea. Sailors +in their younger days are gay dogs, and take it out of +themselves. Then when they grow older thy are still hard +at it, and have no chance of rest or peace. I do not +think a sailor's life a good one." + +"I'll tell you what, sir," said the Admiral hotly. +"If you have two pairs of gloves I'll undertake to knock +you out under three rounds. Or I'll race you from here +to St. Paul's, and my friend here will see fair. I'll +let you see whether I am an old man or not." + +"This is beside the question," said the moneylender +with a deprecatory shrug. "The point is that if you died +to-morrow where would be the security then?" + +"I could insure my life, and make the policy over to +you." + +"Your premiums for such a sum, if any office would +have you, which I very much doubt, would come to close on +five hundred a year. That would hardly suit your book." + +"Well, sir, what do you intend to propose?" asked the +Admiral. + +"I might, to accommodate you, work it in another way. +I should send for a medical man, and have an opinion upon +your life. Then I might see what could be done." + +"That is quite fair. I have no objection to that." + +"There is a very clever doctor in the street here. +Proudie is his name. John, go and fetch Doctor Proudie." +The youth was dispatched upon his errand, while Mr. +Metaxa sat at his desk, trimming his nails, and shooting +out little comments upon the weather. Presently feet +were heard upon the stairs, the moneylender hurried +out, there was a sound of whispering, and he returned +with a large, fat, greasy-looking man, clad in a much +worn frock-coat, and a very dilapidated top hat. + +"Doctor Proudie, gentlemen," said Mr. Metaxa. + +The doctor bowed, smiled, whipped off his hat, and +produced his stethoscope from its interior with the air +of a conjurer upon the stage. "Which of these gentlemen +am I to examine?" he asked, blinking from one to the +other of them. "Ah, it is you! Only your waistcoat! +You need not undo your collar. Thank you! A full +breath! Thank you! Ninety-nine! Thank you! Now hold +your breath for a moment. Oh, dear, dear, what is this +I hear?" + +"What is it then?" asked the Admiral coolly. + +"Tut! tut! This is a great pity. Have you had +rheumatic fever?" + +"Never." + +"You have had some serious illness?" + +"Never." + +"Ah, you are an admiral. You have been abroad, +tropics, malaria, ague--I know." + +"I have never had a day's illness." + +"Not to your knowledge; but you have inhaled +unhealthy air, and it has left its effect. You have an +organic murmur--slight but distinct." + +"Is it dangerous?" + +"It might at anytime become so. You should not take +violent exercise." + +"Oh, indeed. It would hurt me to run a half mile?" + +"It would be very dangerous." + +"And a mile?" + +"Would be almost certainly fatal." + +"Then there is nothing else the matter?" + +"No. But if the heart is weak, then everything is +weak, and the life is not a sound one." + +"You see, Admiral," remarked Mr. Metaxa, as the +doctor secreted his stethoscope once more in his hat, "my +remarks were not entirely uncalled for. I am sorry that +the doctor's opinion is not more favorable, but this is +a matter of business, and certain obvious precautions +must be taken." + +"Of course. Then the matter is at an end." + +"Well, we might even now do business. I am most +anxious to be of use to you. How long do you think, +doctor, that this gentleman will in all probability +live?" + +"Well, well, it's rather a delicate question to +answer," said Dr. Proudie, with a show of embarrassment. + +"Not a bit, sir. Out with it! I have faced death +too often to flinch from it now, though I saw it as near +me as you are." + +"Well, well, we must go by averages of course. Shall +we say two years? I should think that you have a full +two years before you." + +"In two years your pension would bring you in L1,600. +Now I will do my very best for you, Admiral! I will +advance you L2,000, and you can make over to me your +pension for your life. It is pure speculation on my +part. If you die to-morrow I lose my money. If the +doctor's prophecy is correct I shall still be out of +pocket. If you live a little longer, then I may see my +money again. It is the very best I can do for you." + +"Then you wish to buy my pension?" + +"Yes, for two thousand down." + +"And if I live for twenty years?" + +"Oh, in that case of course my speculation would be +more successful. But you have heard the doctor's +opinion." + +"Would you advance the money instantly?" + +"You should have a thousand at once. The other +thousand I should expect you to take in furniture." + +"In furniture?" + +"Yes, Admiral. We shall do you a beautiful houseful +at that sum. It is the custom of my clients to take half +in furniture." + +The Admiral sat in dire perplexity. He had come out +to get money, and to go back without any, to be powerless +to help when his boy needed every shilling to save him +from disaster, that would be very bitter to him. On the +other hand, it was so much that he surrendered, and +so little that he received. Little, and yet +something. Would it not be better than going back +empty-handed? He saw the yellow backed cheque-book upon +the table. The moneylender opened it and dipped his pen +into the ink. + +"Shall I fill it up?" said he. + +"I think, Admiral," remarked Westmacott, "that we had +better have a little walk and some luncheon before we +settle this matter." + +"Oh, we may as well do it at once. It would be +absurd to postpone it now," Metaxa spoke with some heat, +and his eyes glinted angrily from between his narrow lids +at the imperturbable Charles. The Admiral was simple in +money matters, but he had seen much of men and had +learned to read them. He saw that venomous glance, and +saw too that intense eagerness was peeping out from +beneath the careless air which the agent had assumed. + +"You're quite right, Westmacott," said he. "We'll +have a little walk before we settle it." + +"But I may not be here this afternoon." + +"Then we must choose another day." + +"But why not settle it now?" + +"Because I prefer not," said the Admiral shortly. + +"Very well. But remember that my offer is only for +to-day. It is off unless you take it at once." + +"Let it be off, then. + +"There's my fee," cried the doctor. + +"How much?" + +"A guinea." + +The Admiral threw a pound and a shilling upon the +table. "Come, Westmacott," said he, and they walked +together from the room. + +"I don't like it," said Charles, when they found +themselves in the street once more; "I don't profess to +be a very sharp chap, but this is a trifle too thin. +What did he want to go out and speak to the doctor for? +And how very convenient this tale of a weak heart was! +I believe they are a couple of rogues, and in league with +each other." + +"A shark and a pilot fish," said the Admiral. + +"I'll tell you what I propose, sir. There's a lawyer +named McAdam who does my aunt's business. He is a very +honest fellow, and lives at the other side of Poultry. +We'll go over to him together and have his opinion about +the whole matter." + +"How far is it to his place?" + +"Oh, a mile at least. We can have a cab." + +"A mile? Then we shall see if there is any truth in +what that swab of a doctor said. Come, my boy, and clap +on all sail, and see who can stay the longest." + +Then the sober denizens of the heart of business +London saw a singular sight as they returned from their +luncheons. Down the roadway, dodging among cabs and +carts, ran a weather-stained elderly man, with wide +flapping black hat, and homely suit of tweeds. With +elbows braced back, hands clenched near his armpits, and +chest protruded, he scudded along, while close at his +heels lumbered a large-limbed, heavy, yellow mustached +young man, who seemed to feel the exercise a good deal +more than his senior. On they dashed, helter-skelter, +until they pulled up panting at the office where the +lawyer of the Westmacotts was to be found. + +"There now!" cried the Admiral in triumph. "What +d'ye think of that? Nothing wrong in the engine-room, +eh?" + +"You seem fit enough, sir. + +"Blessed if I believe the swab was a certificated +doctor at all. He was flying false colors, or I am +mistaken." + +"They keep the directories and registers in this +eating-house," said Westmacott. "We'll go and look him +out." + +They did so, but the medical rolls contained no such +name as that of Dr. Proudie, of Bread Street. + +"Pretty villainy this!" cried the Admiral, thumping +his chest. "A dummy doctor and a vamped up disease. +Well, we've tried the rogues, Westmacott! Let us see +what we can do with your honest man." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +EASTWARD HO! + + +Mr. McAdam, of the firm of McAdam and Squire, was a +highly polished man who dwelt behind a highly polished +table in the neatest and snuggest of offices. He was +white-haired and amiable, with a deep-lined aquiline +face, was addicted to low bows, and indeed, always seemed +to carry himself at half-cock, as though just descending +into one, or just recovering himself. He wore a +high-buckled stock, took snuff, and adorned his +conversation with little scraps from the classics. + +"My dear Sir," said he, when he had listened to their +story, "any friend of Mrs. Westmacott's is a friend of +mine. Try a pinch. I wonder that you should have gone +to this man Metaxa. His advertisement is enough to +condemn him. Habet foenum in cornu. They are all +rogues." + +"The doctor was a rogue too. I didn't like the look +of him at the time." + +"Arcades ambo. But now we must see what we can do +for you. Of course what Metaxa said was perfectly right. +The pension is in itself no security at all, unless it +were accompanied by a life assurance which would be +an income in itself. It is no good whatever." + +His clients' faces fell. + +"But there is the second alternative. You might sell +the pension right out. Speculative investors +occasionally deal in such things. I have one client, a +sporting man, who would be very likely to take it up if +we could agree upon terms. Of course, I must follow +Metaxa's example by sending for a doctor." + +For the second time was the Admiral punched and +tapped and listened to. This time, however, there could +be no question of the qualifications of the doctor, a +well-known Fellow of the College of Surgeons, and his +report was as favorable as the other's had been adverse. + +"He has the heart and chest of a man of forty," said +he. "I can recommend his life as one of the best of his +age that I have ever examined." + +"That's well," said Mr. McAdam, making a note of the +doctor's remarks, while the Admiral disbursed a second +guinea. "Your price, I understand, is five thousand +pounds. I can communicate with Mr. Elberry, my client, +and let you know whether he cares to touch the matter. +Meanwhile you can leave your pension papers here, and I +will give you a receipt for them." + +"Very well. I should like the money soon." + +"That is why I am retaining the papers. If I +can see Mr. Elberry to-day we may let you have a cheque +to-morrow. Try another pinch. No? Well, good-bye. I +am very happy to have been of service." Mr. McAdam bowed +them out, for he was a very busy man, and they found +themselves in the street once more with lighter hearts +than when they bad left it. + +"Well, Westmacott, I am sure I am very much obliged +to you," said the Admiral. "You have stood by me when I +was the better for a little help, for I'm clean out of my +soundings among these city sharks. But I've something to +do now which is more in my own line, and I need not +trouble you any more." + +"Oh, it is no trouble. I have nothing to do. I +never have anything to do. I don't suppose I could do it +if I had. I should be delighted to come with you, sir, +if I can be of any use." + +"No, no, my lad. You go home again. It would be +kind of you, though, if you would look in at number one +when you get back and tell my wife that all's well with +me, and that I'll be back in an hour or so." + +"All right, sir. I'll tell her." Westmacott raised +his hat and strode away to the westward, while the +Admiral, after a hurried lunch, bent his steps towards +the east. + +It was a long walk, but the old seaman swung along at +a rousing pace, leaving street after street behind him. +The great business places dwindled down into +commonplace shops and dwellings, which decreased and +became more stunted, even as the folk who filled them +did, until he was deep in the evil places of the eastern +end. It was a land of huge, dark houses and of garish +gin-shops, a land, too, where life moves irregularly and +where adventures are to be gained--as the Admiral was to +learn to his cost. + +He was hurrying down one of the long, narrow, +stone-flagged lanes between the double lines of +crouching, disheveled women and of dirty children who sat +on the hollowed steps of the houses, and basked in the +autumn sun. At one side was a barrowman with a load of +walnuts, and beside the barrow a bedraggled woman with a +black fringe and a chequered shawl thrown over her head. +She was cracking walnuts and picking them out of the +shells, throwing out a remark occasionally to a rough man +in a rabbit-skin cap, with straps under the knees of his +corduroy trousers, who stood puffing a black clay pipe +with his back against the wall. What the cause of the +quarrel was, or what sharp sarcasm from the woman's lips +pricked suddenly through that thick skin may never be +known, but suddenly the man took his pipe in his left +hand, leaned forward, and deliberately struck her across +the face with his right. It was a slap rather than a +blow, but the woman gave a sharp cry and cowered up +against the barrow with her hand to her cheek. + +"You infernal villain!" cried the Admiral, raising +his stick. "You brute and blackguard!" + +"Garn!" growled the rough, with the deep rasping +intonation of a savage. "Garn out o' this or I'll----" +He took a step forward with uplifted hand, but in an +instant down came cut number three upon his wrist, and +cut number five across his thigh, and cut number one +full in the center of his rabbit-skin cap. It was not a +heavy stick, but it was strong enough to leave a good red +weal wherever it fell. The rough yelled with pain, and +rushed in, hitting with both hands, and kicking with his +iron-shod boots, but the Admiral had still a quick foot +and a true eye, so that he bounded backwards and +sideways, still raining a shower, of blows upon his +savage antagonist. Suddenly, however, a pair of arms +closed round his neck, and glancing backwards he caught +a glimpse of the black coarse fringe of the woman whom he +had befriended, "I've got him!" she shrieked. "I'll 'old +'im. Now, Bill, knock the tripe out of him!" Her grip +was as strong as a man's, and her wrist pressed like an +iron bar upon the Admiral's throat. He made a +desperate effort to disengage himself, but the most that +he could do was to swing her round, so as to place her +between his adversary and himself. As it proved, it +was the very best thing that he could have done. The +rough, half-blinded and maddened by the blows which he +had received, struck out with all his ungainly strength, +just as his partner's head swung round in front of him. +There was a noise like that of a stone hitting a wall, a +deep groan, her grasp relaxed, and she dropped a dead +weight upon the pavement, while the Admiral sprang back +and raised his stick once more, ready either for attack +or defense. Neither were needed, however, for at that +moment there was a scattering of the crowd, and two +police constables, burly and helmeted, pushed their way +through the rabble. At the sight of them the rough took +to his heels, and was instantly screened from view by a +veil of his friends and neighbors. + +"I have been assaulted," panted the Admiral. "This +woman was attacked and I had to defend her." + +"This is Bermondsey Sal," said one police officer, +bending over the bedraggled heap of tattered shawl and +dirty skirt. "She's got it hot this time." + +"He was a shortish man, thick, with a beard." + +"Ah, that's Black Davie. He's been up four times for +beating her. He's about done the job now. If I were you +I would let that sort settle their own little affairs, +sir." + +"Do you think that a man who holds the Queen's +commission will stand by and see a woman struck?" cried +the Admiral indignantly. + +"Well, just as you like, sir. But you've lost your +watch, I see." + +"My watch!" He clapped his hand to his waistcoat. +The chain was hanging down in front, and the watch gone. + +He passed his hand over his forehead. "I would not +have lost that watch for anything," said he. "No money +could replace it. It was given me by the ship's company +after our African cruise. It has an inscription." + +The policeman shrugged his shoulders. "It comes from +meddling," said he. + +"What'll you give me if I tell yer where it is?" said +a sharp-faced boy among the crowd. "Will you gimme a +quid?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, where's the quid?" + +The Admiral took a sovereign from his pocket. "Here +it is." + +"Then 'ere's the ticker!" The boy pointed to the +clenched hand of the senseless woman. A glimmer of gold +shone out from between the fingers, and on opening them +up, there was the Admiral's chronometer. This +interesting victim had throttled her protector with one +hand, while she had robbed him with the other. + +The Admiral left his address with the policeman, +satisfied that the woman was only stunned, not dead, +and then set off upon his way once more, the poorer +perhaps in his faith in human nature, but in very good +spirits none the less. He walked with dilated nostrils +and clenched hands, all glowing and tingling with the +excitement of the combat, and warmed with the thought +that he could still, when there was need, take his own +part in a street brawl in spite of his three-score and +odd years. + +His way now led towards the river-side regions, and +a cleansing whiff of tar was to be detected in the +stagnant autumn air. Men with the blue jersey and peaked +cap of the boatman, or the white ducks of the dockers, +began to replace the cardurys and fustian of the +laborers. Shops with nautical instruments in the +windows, rope and paint sellers, and slop shops with long +rows of oilskins dangling from hooks, all proclaimed the +neighborhood of the docks. The Admiral quickened his +pace and straightened his figure as his surroundings +became more nautical, until at last, peeping between two +high, dingy wharfs, he caught a glimpse of the +mud-colored waters of the Thames, and of the bristle of +masts and funnels which rose from its broad bosom. To +the right lay a quiet street, with many brass plates upon +either side, and wire blinds in all of the windows. The +Admiral walked slowly down it until "The Saint Lawrence +Shipping Company" caught his eye. He crossed the +road, pushed open the door, and found himself in a +low-ceilinged office, with a long counter at one end and +a great number of wooden sections of ships stuck upon +boards and plastered all over the walls. + +"Is Mr. Henry in?" asked the Admiral. + +"No, sir," answered an elderly man from a high seat +in the corner. "He has not come into town to-day. I can +manage any business you may wish seen to." + +"You don't happen to have a first or second officer's +place vacant, do you?" + +The manager looked with a dubious eye at his singular +applicant. + +"Do you hold certificates?" he asked. + +"I hold every nautical certificate there is." + +"Then you won't do for us." + +"Why not?" + +"Your age, sir. + +"I give you my word that I can see as well as ever, +and am as good a man in every way." + +"I don't doubt it." + +"Why should my age be a bar, then?" + +"Well, I must put it plainly. If a man of your age, +holding certificates, has not got past a second officer's +berth, there must be a black mark against him somewhere. +I don't know what it is, drink or temper, or want of +judgment, but something there must be." + +"I assure you there is nothing, but I find myself +stranded, and so have to turn to the old business again." + +"Oh, that's it," said the manager, with suspicion in +his eye. "How long were you in your last billet?" + +"Fifty-one years." + +"What!" + +"Yes, sir, one-and-fifty years." + +"In the same employ?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, you must have begun as a child." + +"I was twelve when I joined." + +"It must be a strangely managed business," said the +manager, "which allows men to leave it who have served +for fifty years, and who are still as good as ever. Who +did you serve?" + +"The Queen. Heaven bless her!" + +"Oh, you were in the Royal Navy. What rating did you +hold?" + +"I am Admiral of the Fleet." + +The manager started, and sprang down from his high +stool. + +"My name is Admiral Hay Denver. There is my card. +And here are the records of my service. I don't, you +understand, want to push another man from his billet; but +if you should chance to have a berth open, I should be +very glad of it. I know the navigation from the Cod +Banks right up to Montreal a great deal better than I +know the streets of London." + +The astonished manager glanced over the blue papers +which his visitor had handed him. "Won't you take a +chair, Admiral?" said he. + +"Thank you! But I should be obliged if you would +drop my title now. I told you because you asked me, but +I've left the quarter-deck, and I am plain Mr. Hay Denver +now." + +"May I ask," said the manager, "are you the same +Denver who commanded at one time on the North American +station?" + +"I did." + +"Then it was you who got one of our boats, the +Comus, off the rocks in the Bay of Fundy? The +directors voted you three hundred guineas as salvage, and +you refused them." + +"It was an offer which should not have been made," +said the Admiral sternly. + +"Well, it reflects credit upon you that you should +think so. If Mr. Henry were here I am sure that he would +arrange this matter for you at once. As it is, I shall +lay it before the directors to-day, and I am sure that +they will be proud to have you in our employment, and, I +hope, in some more suitable position than that which you +suggest." + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the +Admiral, and started off again, well pleased, upon his +homeward journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +STILL AMONG SHOALS. + + +Next day brought the Admiral a cheque for L5,000 from +Mr. McAdam, and a stamped agreement by which he made over +his pension papers to the speculative investor. It +was not until he had signed and sent it off that the full +significance of all that he had done broke upon him. He +had sacrificed everything. His pension was gone. He had +nothing save only what he could earn. But the stout old +heart never quailed. He waited eagerly for a letter from +the Saint Lawrence Shipping Company, and in the meanwhile +he gave his landlord a quarter's notice. Hundred pound +a year houses would in future be a luxury which he could +not aspire to. A small lodging in some inexpensive part +of London must be the substitute for his breezy Norwood +villa. So be it, then! Better that a thousand fold than +that his name should be associated with failure and +disgrace. + +On that morning Harold Denver was to meet the +creditors of the firm, and to explain the situation to +them. It was a hateful task, a degrading task, but he +set himself to do it with quiet resolution. At home they +waited in intense anxiety to learn the result of the +meeting. It was late before he returned, +haggard pale, like a man who has done and suffered much. + +"What's this board in front of the house? he asked. + +"We are going to try a little change of scene," said +the Admiral. "This place is neither town nor +country. But never mind that, boy. Tell us what +happened in the City." + +"God help me! My wretched business driving you out +of house and home!" cried Harold, broken down by this +fresh evidence of the effects of his misfortunes. "It is +easier for me to meet my creditors than to see you two +suffering so patiently for my sake." + +"Tut, tut!" cried the Admiral. "There's no suffering +in the matter. Mother would rather be near the theaters. +That's at the bottom of it, isn't it, mother? You come +and sit down here between us and tell us all about it." + +Harold sat down with a loving hand in each of his. + +"It's not so bad as we thought," said he, "and yet it +is bad enough. I have about ten days to find the money, +but I don't know which way to turn for it. Pearson, +however, lied, as usual, when he spoke of L13,000. The +amount is not quite L7,000." + +The Admiral claped his hands. "I knew we should +weather it after all! Hurrah my boy! Hip, hip, hip, +hurrah!" + +Harold gazed at him in surprise, while the old seaman +waved his arm above his head and bellowed out three +stentorian cheers. "Where am I to get seven thousand +pounds from, dad?" he asked. + +"Never mind. You spin your yarn." + +"Well, they were very good and very kind, but of +course they must have either their money or their money's +worth. They passed a vote of sympathy with me, and +agreed to wait ten days before they took any proceedings. +Three of them, whose claim came to L3,500, told me that +if I would give them my personal I.O.U., and pay interest +at the rate of five per cent, their amounts might stand +over as long as I wished. That would be a charge of L175 +upon my income, but with economy I could meet it, and it +diminishes the debt by one-half." + +Again the Admiral burst out cheering. + +"There remains, therefore, about L3,200 which has to +be found within ten days. No man shall lose by me. I +gave them my word in the room that if I worked my soul +out of my body every one of them should be paid. I shall +not spend a penny upon myself until it is done. But some +of them can't wait. They are poor men themselves, and +must have their money. They have issued a warrant for +Pearson's arrest. But they think that he has got away +the States." + +"These men shall have their money," said the +Admiral. + +"Dad!" + +"Yes, my boy, you don't know the resources of the +family. One never does know until one tries. What have +you yourself now?" + +"I have about a thousand pounds invested." + +"All right. And I have about as much more. There's +a good start. Now, mother, it is your turn. What is +that little bit of paper of yours?" + +Mrs. Denver unfolded it, and placed it upon Harold's +knee. + +"Five thousand pounds!" he gasped. + +"Ah, but mother is not the only rich one. Look at +this!" And the Admiral unfolded his cheque, and placed +it upon the other knee. + +Harold gazed from one to the other in bewilderment. +"Ten thousand pounds!" he cried. "Good heavens! where +did these come from?" + +"You will not worry any longer, dear," murmured his +mother, slipping her arm round him. + +But his quick eye had caught the signature upon one +of the cheques. "Doctor Walker!" he cried, flushing. +"This is Clara's doing. Oh, dad, we cannot take this +money. It would not be right nor honorable." + +"No, boy, I am glad you think so. It is something, +however, to have proved one's friend, for a real good +friend he is. It was he who brought it in, though +Clara sent him. But this other money will be enough to +cover everything, and it is all my own." + +"Your own? Where did you get it, dad?" + +"Tut, tut! See what it is to have a City man to deal +with. It is my own, and fairly earned, and that is +enough." + +"Dear old dad!" Harold squeezed his gnarled hand. +"And you, mother! You have lifted the trouble from my +heart. I feel another man. You have saved my honor, my +good name, everything. I cannot owe you more, for I owe +you everything already." + +So while the autumn sunset shone ruddily through the +broad window these three sat together hand in hand, with +hearts which were too full to speak. Suddenly the soft +thudding of tennis balls was heard, and Mrs. Westmacott +bounded into view upon the lawn with brandished racket +and short skirts fluttering in the breeze. The sight +came as a relief to their strained nerves, and they burst +all three into a hearty fit of laughter. + +"She is playing with her nephew," said Harold at +last. "The Walkers have not come out yet. I think that +it would be well if you were to give me that cheque, +mother, and I were to return it in person." + +"Certainly, Harold. I think it would be very nice. + +He went in through the garden. Clara and the Doctor +were sitting together in the dining-room. She sprang to +her feet at the sight of him. + +"Oh, Harold, I have been waiting for you so +impatiently," she cried; "I saw you pass the front +windows half an hour ago. I would have come in if I +dared. Do tell us what has happened." + +"I have come in to thank you both. How can I repay +you for your kindness? Here is your cheque, Doctor. I +have not needed it. I find that I can lay my hands on +enough to pay my creditors." + +"Thank God!" said Clara fervently. + +"The sum is less than I thought, and our resources +considerably more. We have been able to do it with +ease." + +"With ease!" The Doctor's brow clouded and his +manner grew cold. "I think, Harold, that you would do +better to take this money of mine, than to use that which +seems to you to be gained with ease." + +"Thank you, sir. If I borrowed from any one it would +be from you. But my father has this very sum, five +thousand pounds, and, as I tell him, I owe him so much +that I have no compunction about owing him more." + +"No compunction! Surely there are some sacrifices +which a son should not allow his parents to make." + +"Sacrifices! What do you mean?" + +"Is it possible that you do not know how this money +has been obtained?" + +"I give you my word, Doctor Walker, that I have no +idea. I asked my father, but he refused to tell me." + +"I thought not," said the Doctor, the gloom clearing +from his brow. "I was sure that you were not a man who, +to clear yourself from a little money difficulty, would +sacrifice the happiness of your mother and the health of +your father." + +"Good gracious! what do you mean?" + +"It is only right that you should know. That money +represents the commutation of your father's pension. He +has reduced himself to poverty, and intends to go to sea +again to earn a living." + +"To sea again! Impossible!" + +"It is the truth. Charles Westmacott has told Ida. +He was with him in the City when he took his poor pension +about from dealer to dealer trying to sell it. He +succeeded at last, and hence the money." + +"He has sold his pension!" cried Harold, with his +hands to his face. "My dear old dad has sold his +pension!" He rushed from the room, and burst wildly into +the presence of his parents once more. "I cannot take +it, father," he cried. "Better bankruptcy than that. +Oh, if I had only known your plan! We must have +back the pension. Oh, mother, mother, how could you +think me capable of such selfishness? Give me the +cheque, dad, and I will see this man to-night, for I +would sooner die like a dog in the ditch than touch a +penny of this money." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. + + +Now all this time, while the tragi-comedy of life was +being played in these three suburban villas, while on a +commonplace stage love and humor and fears and lights and +shadows were so swiftly succeeding each other, and while +these three families, drifted together by fate, were +shaping each other's destinies and working out in their +own fashion the strange, intricate ends of human life, +there were human eyes which watched over every stage of +the performance, and which were keenly critical of every +actor on it. Across the road beyond the green palings +and the close-cropped lawn, behind the curtains of their +creeper-framed windows, sat the two old ladies, Miss +Bertha and Miss Monica Williams, looking out as from a +private box at all that was being enacted before +them. The growing friendship of the three families, the +engagement of Harold Denver with Clara Walker, the +engagement of Charles Westmacott with her sister, the +dangerous fascination which the widow exercised over the +Doctor, the preposterous behavior of the Walker girls and +the unhappiness which they had caused their father, not +one of these incidents escaped the notice of the two +maiden ladies. Bertha the younger had a smile or a sigh +for the lovers, Monica the elder a frown or a shrug for +the elders. Every night they talked over what they had +seen, and their own dull, uneventful life took a warmth +and a coloring from their neighbors as a blank wall +reflects a beacon fire. + +And now it was destined that they should experience +the one keen sensation of their later years, the one +memorable incident from which all future incidents should +be dated. + +It was on the very night which succeeded the events +which have just been narrated, when suddenly into Monica +William's head, as she tossed upon her sleepless bed, +there shot a thought which made her sit up with a thrill +and a gasp. + +"Bertha," said she, plucking at the shoulder of her +sister, "I have left the front window open." + +"No, Monica, surely not." Bertha sat up also, and +thrilled in sympathy. + +"I am sure of it. You remember I had forgotten to +water the pots, and then I opened the window, and Jane +called me about the jam, and I have never been in the +room since." + +"Good gracious, Monica, it is a mercy that we have +not been murdered in our beds. There was a house broken +into at Forest Hill last week. Shall we go down and shut +it?" + +"I dare not go down alone, dear, but if you will come +with me. Put on your slippers and dressing-gown. We do +not need a candle. Now, Bertha, we will go down +together." + +Two little white patches moved vaguely through the +darkness, the stairs creaked, the door whined, and they +were at the front room window. Monica closed it gently +down, and fastened the snib. + +"What a beautiful moon!" said she, looking out. "We +can see as clearly as if it were day. How peaceful and +quiet the three houses are over yonder! It seems quite +sad to see that `To Let' card upon number one. I wonder +how number two will like their going. For my part I +could better spare that dreadful woman at number three +with her short skirts and her snake. But, oh, Bertha, +look! look!! look!!!" Her voice had fallen suddenly to +a quivering whisper and she was pointing to the +Westmacotts' house. Her sister gave a gasp of horror, +and stood with a clutch at Monica's arm, staring in the +same direction. + +There was a light in the front room, a slight, +wavering light such as would be given by a small candle +or taper. The blind was down, but the light shone dimly +through. Outside in the garden, with his figure outlined +against the luminous square, there stood a man, his back +to the road, his two hands upon the window ledge, and his +body rather bent as though he were trying to peep in past +the blind. So absolutely still and motionless was he +that in spite of the moon they might well have overlooked +him were it not for that tell-tale light behind. + +"Good heaven!" gasped Bertha, "it is a burglar." + +But her sister set her mouth grimly and shook her +head. "We shall see," she whispered. "It may be +something worse." + +Swiftly and furtively the man stood suddenly erect, +and began to push the window slowly up. Then he put one +knee upon the sash, glanced round to see that all was +safe, and climbed over into the room. As he did so he +had to push the blind aside. Then the two spectators saw +where the light came from. Mrs. Westmacott was standing, +as rigid as a statue, in the center of the room, with a +lighted taper in her right hand. For an instant they +caught a glimpse of her stern face and her white collar. +Then the blind fell back into position, and the two +figures disappeared from their view. + +"Oh, that dreadful woman!" cried Monica. "That +dreadful, dreadful woman! She was waiting for him. You +saw it with your own eyes, sister Bertha!" + +"Hush, dear, hush and listen!" said her more +charitable companion. They pushed their own window up +once more, and watched from behind the curtains. + +For a long time all was silent within the house. The +light still stood motionless as though Mrs. Westmacott +remained rigidly in the one position, while from time to +time a shadow passed in front of it to show that her +midnight visitor was pacing up and down in front of her. +Once they saw his outline clearly, with his hands +outstretched as if in appeal or entreaty. Then suddenly +there was a dull sound, a cry, the noise of a fall, the +taper was extinguished, and a dark figure fled in the +moonlight, rushed across the garden, and vanished amid +the shrubs at the farther side. + +Then only did the two old ladies understand that they +had looked on whilst a tragedy had been enacted. "Help!" +they cried, and "Help!" in their high, thin voices, +timidly at first, but gathering volume as they went on, +until the Wilderness rang with their shrieks. Lights +shone in all the windows opposite, chains rattled, +bars were unshot, doors opened, and out rushed friends to +the rescue. Harold, with a stick; the Admiral, with his +sword, his grey head and bare feet protruding from either +end of a long brown ulster; finally, Doctor Walker, with +a poker, all ran to the help of the Westmacotts. Their +door had been already opened, and they crowded +tumultuously into the front room. + +Charles Westmacott, white to his lips, was kneeling +an the floor, supporting his aunt's head upon his knee. +She lay outstretched, dressed in her ordinary clothes, +the extinguished taper still grasped in her hand, no mark +or wound upon her--pale, placid, and senseless. + +"Thank God you are come, Doctor," said Charles, +looking up. "Do tell me how she is, and what I should +do." + +Doctor Walker kneeled beside her, and passed his left +hand over her head, while he grasped her pulse with the +right. + +"She has had a terrible blow," said he. "It must +have been with some blunt weapon. Here is the place +behind the ear. But she is a woman of extraordinary +physical powers. Her pulse is full and slow. There is +no stertor. It is my belief that she is merely stunned, +and that she is in no danger at all." + +"Thank God for that!" + +"We must get her to bed. We shall carry her +upstairs, and then I shall send my girls in to her. But +who has done this?" + +"Some robber" said Charles. "You see that the window +is open. She must have heard him and come down, for she +was always perfectly fearless. I wish to goodness she +had called me. + +"But she was dressed." + +"Sometimes she sits up very late." + +"I did sit up very late," said a voice. She had +opened her eyes, and was blinking at them in the +lamplight. "A villain came in through the window and +struck me with a life-preserver. You can tell the police +so when they come. Also that it was a little fat man. +Now, Charles, give me your arm and I shall go upstairs." + +But her spirit was greater than her strength, for, as +she staggered to her feet, her head swam round, and she +would have fallen again had her nephew not thrown his +arms round her. They carried her upstairs among them and +laid her upon the bed, where the Doctor watched beside +her, while Charles went off to the police-station, and +the Denvers mounted guard over the frightened maids. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +IN PORT AT LAST. + + +Day had broken before the several denizens of the +Wilderness had all returned to their homes, the police +finished their inquiries, and all come back to its normal +quiet. Mrs. Westmacott had been left sleeping peacefully +with a small chloral draught to steady her nerves and a +handkerchief soaked in arnica bound round her head. It +was with some surprise, therefore, that the Admiral +received a note from her about ten o'clock, asking him to +be good enough to step in to her. He hurried in, fearing +that she might have taken some turn for the worse, but he +was reassured to find her sitting up in her bed, with +Clara and Ida Walker in attendance upon her. She had +removed the handkerchief, and had put on a little cap +with pink ribbons, and a maroon dressing-jacket, daintily +fulled at the neck and sleeves. + +"My dear friend," said she as he entered, "I wish to +make a last few remarks to you. No, no," she continued, +laughing, as she saw a look of dismay upon his face. "I +shall not dream of dying for at least another thirty +years. A woman should be ashamed to die before she is +seventy. I wish, Clara, that you would ask +your father to step up. And you, Ida, just pass me +my cigarettes, and open me a bottle of stout." + +"Now then," she continued, as the doctor joined their +party. "I don't quite know what I ought to say to you, +Admiral. You want some very plain speaking to." + +"'Pon my word, ma'am, I don't know what you are +talking about." + +"The idea of you at your age talking of going to sea, +and leaving that dear, patient little wife of yours at +home, who has seen nothing of you all her life! It's all +very well for you. You have the life, and the change, +and the excitement, but you don't think of her eating her +heart out in a dreary London lodging. You men are all +the same." + +"Well, ma'am, since you know so much, you probably +know also that I have sold my pension. How am I to live +if I do not turn my hand to work?" + +Mrs. Westmacott produced a large registered envelope +from beneath the sheets and tossed it over to the old +seaman. + +"That excuse won't do. There are your pension +papers. Just see if they are right." + +He broke the seal, and out tumbled the very papers +which he had made over to McAdam two days before. + +"But what am I to do with these now?" he cried in +bewilderment. + +"You will put them in a safe place, or get a friend +to do so, and, if you do your duty, you will go to your +wife and beg her pardon for having even for an instant +thought of leaving her." + +The Admiral passed his hand over his rugged forehead. +"This is very good of you, ma'am" said he, "very good and +kind, and I know that you are a staunch friend, but for +all that these papers mean money, and though we may have +been in broken water lately, we are not quite in such +straits as to have to signal to our friends. When we do, +ma'am, there's no one we would look to sooner than to +you." + +"Don't be ridiculous!" said the widow. "You know +nothing whatever about it, and yet you stand there laying +down the law. I'll have my way in the matter, and you +shall take the papers, for it is no favor that I am doing +you, but simply a restoration of stolen property." + +"How that, ma'am?" + +"I am just going to explain, though you might take a +lady's word for it without asking any questions. Now, +what I am going to say is just between you four, and must +go no farther. I have my own reasons for wishing to keep +it from the police. Who do you think it was who struck +me last night, Admiral?" + +"Some villain, ma'am. I don't know his name." + +"But I do. It was the same man who ruined or tried +to ruin your son. It was my only brother, Jeremiah." + +"Ah!" + +"I will tell you about him--or a little about him, +for he has done much which I would not care to talk of, +nor you to listen to. He was always a villain, +smooth-spoken and plausible, but a dangerous, subtle +villain all the same. If I have some hard thoughts about +mankind I can trace them back to the childhood which I +spent with my brother. He is my only living relative, +for my other brother, Charles's father, was killed in the +Indian mutiny. + +"Our father was rich, and when he died he made a good +provision both for Jeremiah and for me. He knew Jeremiah +and he mistrusted him, however; so instead of giving him +all that he meant him to have he handed me over a part of +it, telling me, with what was almost his dying breath, to +hold it in trust for my brother, and to use it in his +behalf when he should have squandered or lost all that he +had. This arrangement was meant to be a secret between +my father and myself, but unfortunately his words were +overheard by the nurse, and she repeated them afterwards +to my brother, so that he came to know that I held some +money in trust for him. I suppose tobacco will not harm +my head, Doctor? Thank you, then I shall trouble +you for the matches, Ida." She lit a cigarette, and +leaned back upon the pillow, with the blue wreaths +curling from her lips. + +"I cannot tell you how often he has attempted to get +that money from me. He has bullied, cajoled, threatened, +coaxed, done all that a man could do. I still held it +with the presentiment that a need for it would come. +When I heard of this villainous business, his flight, and +his leaving his partner to face the storm, above all that +my old friend had been driven to surrender his income in +order to make up for my brother's defalcations, I felt +that now indeed I had a need for it. I sent in Charles +yesterday to Mr. McAdam, and his client, upon hearing the +facts of the case, very graciously consented to give back +the papers, and to take the money which he had advanced. +Not a word of thanks to me, Admiral. I tell you that it +was very cheap benevolence, for it was all done with his +own money, and how could I use it better? + +"I thought that I should probably hear from him soon, +and I did. Last evening there was handed in a note of +the usual whining, cringing tone. He had come back from +abroad at the risk of his life and liberty, just in order +that he might say good-bye to the only sister he ever +had, and to entreat my forgiveness for any pain +which he had caused me. He would never trouble me again, +and he begged only that I would hand over to him the sum +which I held in trust for him. That, with what he had +already, would be enough to start him as an honest man in +the new world, when he would ever remember and pray for +the dear sister who had been his savior. That was the +style of the letter, and it ended by imploring me to +leave the window-latch open, and to be in the front room +at three in the morning, when he would come to receive my +last kiss and to bid me farewell. + +"Bad as he was, I could not, when he trusted me, +betray him. I said nothing, but I was there at the hour. +He entered through the window, and implored me to give +him the money. He was terribly changed; gaunt, wolfish, +and spoke like a madman. I told him that I had spent the +money. He gnashed his teeth at me, and swore it was his +money. I told him that I had spent it on him. He asked +me how. I said in trying to make him an honest man, and +in repairing the results of his villainy. He shrieked +out a curse, and pulling something out of the breast of +his coat--a loaded stick, I think--he struck me with it, +and I remembered nothing more." + +"The blackguard!" cried the Doctor, "but the police +must be hot upon his track." + +"I fancy not," Mrs. Westmacott answered calmly. "As +my brother is a particularly tall, thin man, and as the +police are looking for a short, fat one, I do not think +that it is very probable that they will catch him. It is +best, I think, that these little family matters should be +adjusted in private." + +"My dear ma'am," said the Admiral, "if it is indeed +this man's money that has bought back my pension, then I +can have no scruples about taking it. You have brought +sunshine upon us, ma'am, when the clouds were at their +darkest, for here is my boy who insists upon returning +the money which I got. He can keep it now to pay his +debts. For what you have done I can only ask God to +bless you, ma'am, and as to thanking you I can't even----" + +"Then pray don't try," said the widow. "Now run +away, Admiral, and make your peace with Mrs. Denver. I +am sure if I were she it would be a long time before I +should forgive you. As for me, I am going to America +when Charles goes. You'll take me so far, won't you, +Ida? There is a college being built in Denver which is +to equip the woman of the future for the struggle of +life, and especially for her battle against man. Some +months ago the committee offered me a responsible +situation upon the staff, and I have decided now to +accept it, for Charles's marriage removes the last tie +which binds me to England. You will write to me +sometimes, my friends, and you will address your letters +to Professor Westmacott, Emancipation College, Denver. +From there I shall watch how the glorious struggle goes +in conservative old England, and if I am needed you will +find me here again fighting in the forefront of the fray. +Good-bye--but not you, girls; I have still a word I wish +to say to you. + +"Give me your hand, Ida, and yours, Clara," said she +when they were alone. "Oh, you naughty little pusses, +aren't you ashamed to look me in the face? Did you +think--did you really think that I was so very blind, and +could not see your little plot? You did it very well, I +must say that, and really I think that I like you better +as you are. But you had all your pains for nothing, you +little conspirators, for I give you my word that I had +quite made up my mind not to have him." + +And so within a few weeks our little ladies from +their observatory saw a mighty bustle in the Wilderness, +when two-horse carriages came, and coachmen with favors, +to bear away the twos who were destined to come back one. +And they themselves in their crackling silk dresses went +across, as invited, to the big double wedding breakfast +which was held in the house of Doctor Walker. Then there +was health-drinking, and laughter, and changing of +dresses, and rice-throwing when the carriages drove +up again, and two more couples started on that journey +which ends only with life itself. + +Charles Westmacott is now a flourishing ranchman in +the western part of Texas, where he and his sweet little +wife are the two most popular persons in all that county. +Of their aunt they see little, but from time to time they +see notices in the papers that there is a focus of light +in Denver, where mighty thunderbolts are being forged +which will one day bring the dominant sex upon their +knees. The Admiral and his wife still live at number +one, while Harold and Clara have taken number two, where +Doctor Walker continues to reside. As to the business, +it had been reconstructed, and the energy and ability of +the junior partner had soon made up for all the ill that +had been done by his senior. Yet with his sweet and +refined home atmosphere he is able to realize his wish, +and to keep himself free from the sordid aims and base +ambitions which drag down the man whose business lies too +exclusively in the money market of the vast Babylon. As +he goes back every evening from the crowds of Throgmorton +Street to the tree-lined peaceful avenues of Norwood, so +he has found it possible in spirit also to do one's +duties amidst the babel of the City, and yet to live +beyond it. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Beyond the City, by Doyle + + diff --git a/old/bcity10.zip b/old/bcity10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7939934 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bcity10.zip diff --git a/old/bcity11.txt b/old/bcity11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..335fa30 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bcity11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5140 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond the City, by Arthur Conan Doyle +#7 in our series by Arthur Conan Doyle + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Beyond the City + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Release Date: November, 1995 [EBook #356] +[This file was last updated on March 28, 2003] +[Date last updated: October 8, 2004] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE CITY *** + + + + +Updated by David Widger from the 1995 edition of Michael Hart +Additional proofreading by Trevor Carlson + + + + +BEYOND THE CITY. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +THE NEW-COMERS. + + +"If you please, mum," said the voice of a domestic from somewhere round +the angle of the door, "number three is moving in." + +Two little old ladies, who were sitting at either side of a table, +sprang to their feet with ejaculations of interest, and rushed to the +window of the sitting-room. + +"Take care, Monica dear," said one, shrouding herself in the lace +curtain; "don't let them see us. + +"No, no, Bertha. We must not give them reason to say that their +neighbors are inquisitive. But I think that we are safe if we stand +like this." + +The open window looked out upon a sloping lawn, well trimmed and +pleasant, with fuzzy rosebushes and a star-shaped bed of sweet-william. +It was bounded by a low wooden fence, which screened it off from a +broad, modern, new metaled road. At the other side of this road were +three large detached deep-bodied villas with peaky eaves and small +wooden balconies, each standing in its own little square of grass and of +flowers. All three were equally new, but numbers one and two were +curtained and sedate, with a human, sociable look to them; while number +three, with yawning door and unkempt garden, had apparently only just +received its furniture and made itself ready for its occupants. A four- +wheeler had driven up to the gate, and it was at this that the old +ladies, peeping out bird-like from behind their curtains, directed an +eager and questioning gaze. + +The cabman had descended, and the passengers within were handing out the +articles which they desired him to carry up to the house. He stood red- +faced and blinking, with his crooked arms outstretched, while a male +hand, protruding from the window, kept piling up upon him a series of +articles the sight of which filled the curious old ladies with +bewilderment. + +"My goodness me!" cried Monica, the smaller, the drier, and the more +wizened of the pair. "What do you call that, Bertha? It looks to me +like four batter puddings." + +"Those are what young men box each other with," said Bertha, with a +conscious air of superior worldly knowledge. + +"And those?" + +Two great bottle-shaped pieces of yellow shining wood had been heaped +upon the cabman. + +"Oh, I don't know what those are," confessed Bertha. Indian clubs had +never before obtruded themselves upon her peaceful and very feminine +existence. + +These mysterious articles were followed, however, by others which were +more within their, range of comprehension--by a pair of dumb-bells, a +purple cricket-bag, a set of golf clubs, and a tennis racket. Finally, +when the cabman, all top-heavy and bristling, had staggered off up the +garden path, there emerged in a very leisurely way from the cab a big, +powerfully built young man, with a bull pup under one arm and a pink +sporting paper in his hand. The paper he crammed into the pocket of his +light yellow dust-coat, and extended his hand as if to assist some one +else from the vehicle. To the surprise of the two old ladies, however, +the only thing which his open palm received was a violent slap, and a +tall lady bounded unassisted out of the cab. With a regal wave she +motioned the young man towards the door, and then with one hand upon her +hip she stood in a careless, lounging attitude by the gate, kicking her +toe against the wall and listlessly awaiting the return of the driver. + +As she turned slowly round, and the sunshine struck upon her face, the +two watchers were amazed to see that this very active and energetic lady +was far from being in her first youth, so far that she had certainly +come of age again since she first passed that landmark in life's +journey. Her finely chiseled, clean-cut face, with something red Indian +about the firm mouth and strongly marked cheek bones, showed even at +that distance traces of the friction of the passing years. And yet she +was very handsome. Her features were as firm in repose as those of a +Greek bust, and her great dark eyes were arched over by two brows so +black, so thick, and so delicately curved, that the eye turned away from +the harsher details of the face to marvel at their grace and strength. +Her figure, too, was straight as a dart, a little portly, perhaps, but +curving into magnificent outlines, which were half accentuated by the +strange costume which she wore. Her hair, black but plentifully shot +with grey, was brushed plainly back from her high forehead, and was +gathered under a small round felt hat, like that of a man, with one +sprig of feather in the band as a concession to her sex. A double- +breasted jacket of some dark frieze-like material fitted closely to her +figure, while her straight blue skirt, untrimmed and ungathered, was cut +so short that the lower curve of her finely-turned legs was plainly +visible beneath it, terminating in a pair of broad, flat, low-heeled and +square-toed shoes. Such was the lady who lounged at the gate of number +three, under the curious eyes of her two opposite neighbors. + +But if her conduct and appearance had already somewhat jarred upon their +limited and precise sense of the fitness of things, what were they to +think of the next little act in this tableau vivant? The cabman, red +and heavy-jowled, had come back from his labors, and held out his hand +for his fare. The lady passed him a coin, there was a moment of +mumbling and gesticulating, and suddenly she had him with both hands by +the red cravat which girt his neck, and was shaking him as a terrier +would a rat. Right across the pavement she thrust him, and, pushing him +up against the wheel, she banged his head three several times against +the side of his own vehicle. + +"Can I be of any use to you, aunt?" asked the large youth, framing +himself in the open doorway. + +"Not the slightest," panted the enraged lady. "There, you low +blackguard, that will teach you to be impertinent to a lady." + +The cabman looked helplessly about him with a bewildered, questioning +gaze, as one to whom alone of all men this unheard-of and extraordinary +thing had happened. Then, rubbing his head, he mounted slowly on to the +box and drove away with an uptossed hand appealing to the universe. The +lady smoothed down her dress, pushed back her hair under her little felt +hat, and strode in through the hall-door, which was closed behind her. +As with a whisk her short skirts vanished into the darkness, the two +spectators--Miss Bertha and Miss Monica Williams--sat looking at each +other in speechless amazement. For fifty years they had peeped through +that little window and across that trim garden, but never yet had such a +sight as this come to confound them. + +"I wish," said Monica at last, "that we had kept the field." + +"I am sure I wish we had," answered her sister. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER II. + + +BREAKING THE ICE. + + +The cottage from the window of which the Misses Williams had looked out +stands, and has stood for many a year, in that pleasant suburban +district which lies between Norwood, Anerley, and Forest Hill. Long +before there had been a thought of a township there, when the Metropolis +was still quite a distant thing, old Mr. Williams had inhabited "The +Brambles," as the little house was called, and had owned all the fields +about it. Six or eight such cottages scattered over a rolling country- +side were all the houses to be found there in the days when the century +was young. From afar, when the breeze came from the north, the dull, +low roar of the great city might be heard, like the breaking of the tide +of life, while along the horizon might be seen the dim curtain of smoke, +the grim spray which that tide threw up. Gradually, however, as the +years passed, the City had thrown out a long brick-feeler here and +there, curving, extending, and coalescing, until at last the little +cottages had been gripped round by these red tentacles, and had been +absorbed to make room for the modern villa. Field by field the estate +of old Mr. Williams had been sold to the speculative builder, and had +borne rich crops of snug suburban dwellings, arranged in curving +crescents and tree-lined avenues. The father had passed away before his +cottage was entirely bricked round, but his two daughters, to whom the +property had descended, lived to see the last vestige of country taken +from them. For years they had clung to the one field which faced their +windows, and it was only after much argument and many heartburnings, +that they had at last consented that it should share the fate of the +others. A broad road was driven through their quiet domain, the quarter +was re-named "The Wilderness," and three square, staring, uncompromising +villas began to sprout up on the other side. With sore hearts, the two +shy little old maids watched their steady progress, and speculated as to +what fashion of neighbors chance would bring into the little nook which +had always been their own. + +And at last they were all three finished. Wooden balconies and +overhanging eaves had been added to them, so that, in the language of +the advertisement, there were vacant three eligible Swiss-built villas, +with sixteen rooms, no basement, electric bells, hot and cold water, and +every modern convenience, including a common tennis lawn, to be let at +L100 a year, or L1,500 purchase. So tempting an offer did not long +remain open. Within a few weeks the card had vanished from number one, +and it was known that Admiral Hay Denver, V. C., C. B., with Mrs. Hay +Denver and their only son, were about to move into it. The news brought +peace to the hearts of the Williams sisters. They had lived with a +settled conviction that some wild impossible colony, some shouting, +singing family of madcaps, would break in upon their peace. This +establishment at least was irreproachable. A reference to "Men of the +Time" showed them that Admiral Hay Denver was a most distinguished +officer, who had begun his active career at Bomarsund, and had ended it +at Alexandria, having managed between these two episodes to see as much +service as any man of his years. From the Taku Forts and the _Shannon_ +brigade, to dhow-harrying off Zanzibar, there was no variety of naval +work which did not appear in his record; while the Victoria Cross, and +the Albert Medal for saving life, vouched for it that in peace as in war +his courage was still of the same true temper. Clearly a very eligible +neighbor this, the more so as they had been confidentially assured by +the estate agent that Mr. Harold Denver, the son, was a most quiet young +gentleman, and that he was busy from morning to night on the Stock +Exchange. + +The Hay Denvers had hardly moved in before number two also struck its +placard, and again the ladies found that they had no reason to be +discontented with their neighbors. Doctor Balthazar Walker was a very +well-known name in the medical world. Did not his qualifications, his +membership, and the record of his writings fill a long half-column in +the "Medical Directory," from his first little paper on the "Gouty +Diathesis" in 1859 to his exhaustive treatise upon "Affections of the +Vaso-Motor System" in 1884? A successful medical career which promised +to end in a presidentship of a college and a baronetcy, had been cut +short by his sudden inheritance of a considerable sum from a grateful +patient, which had rendered him independent for life, and had enabled +him to turn his attention to the more scientific part of his profession, +which had always had a greater charm for him than its more practical and +commercial aspect. To this end he had given up his house in Weymouth +Street, and had taken this opportunity of moving himself, his scientific +instruments, and his two charming daughters (he had been a widower for +some years) into the more peaceful atmosphere of Norwood. + +There was thus but one villa unoccupied, and it was no wonder that the +two maiden ladies watched with a keen interest, which deepened into a +dire apprehension, the curious incidents which heralded the coming of +the new tenants. They had already learned from the agent that the +family consisted of two only, Mrs. Westmacott, a widow, and her nephew, +Charles Westmacott. How simple and how select it had sounded! Who +could have foreseen from it these fearful portents which seemed to +threaten violence and discord among the dwellers in The Wilderness? +Again the two old maids cried in heartfelt chorus that they wished they +had not sold their field. + +"Well, at least, Monica," remarked Bertha, as they sat over their +teacups that afternoon, "however strange these people may be, it is our +duty to be as polite to them as to the others." + +"Most certainly," acquiesced her sister. + +"Since we have called upon Mrs. Hay Denver and upon the Misses Walker, +we must call upon this Mrs. Westmacott also." + +"Certainly, dear. As long as they are living upon our land I feel as if +they were in a sense our guests, and that it is our duty to welcome +them." + +"Then we shall call to-morrow," said Bertha, with decision. + +"Yes, dear, we shall. But, oh, I wish it was over!" + +At four o'clock on the next day, the two maiden ladies set off upon +their hospitable errand. In their stiff, crackling dresses of black +silk, with jet-bespangled jackets, and little rows of cylindrical grey +curls drooping down on either side of their black bonnets, they looked +like two old fashion plates which had wandered off into the wrong +decade. Half curious and half fearful, they knocked at the door of +number three, which was instantly opened by a red-headed page-boy. + +Yes, Mrs. Westmacott was at home. He ushered them into the front room, +furnished as a drawing-room, where in spite of the fine spring weather a +large fire was burning in the grate. The boy took their cards, and +then, as they sat down together upon a settee, he set their nerves in a +thrill by darting behind a curtain with a shrill cry, and prodding at +something with his foot. The bull pup which they had seen upon the day +before bolted from its hiding-place, and scuttled snarling from the +room. + +"It wants to get at Eliza," said the youth, in a confidential whisper. +"Master says she would give him more'n he brought." He smiled affably +at the two little stiff black figures, and departed in search of his +mistress. + +"What--what did he say?" gasped Bertha. + +"Something about a---- Oh, goodness gracious! Oh, help, help, help, +help, help!" The two sisters had bounded on to the settee, and stood +there with staring eyes and skirts gathered in, while they filled the +whole house with their yells. Out of a high wicker-work basket which +stood by the fire there had risen a flat diamond-shaped head with wicked +green eyes which came flickering upwards, waving gently from side to +side, until a foot or more of glossy scaly neck was visible. Slowly the +vicious head came floating up, while at every oscillation a fresh burst +of shrieks came from the settee. + + +"What in the name of mischief!" cried a voice, and there was the +mistress of the house standing in the doorway. Her gaze at first had +merely taken in the fact that two strangers were standing screaming upon +her red plush sofa. A glance at the fireplace, however, showed her the +cause of the terror, and she burst into a hearty fit of laughter. + +"Charley," she shouted, "here's Eliza misbehaving again." + +"I'll settle her," answered a masculine voice, and the young man dashed +into the room. He had a brown horse-cloth in his hand, which he threw +over the basket, making it fast with a piece of twine so as to +effectually imprison its inmate, while his aunt ran across to reassure +her visitors. + +"It is only a rock snake," she explained. + +"Oh, Bertha!" "Oh, Monica!" gasped the poor exhausted gentlewomen. + +"She's hatching out some eggs. That is why we have the fire. Eliza +always does better when she is warm. She is a sweet, gentle creature, +but no doubt she thought that you had designs upon her eggs. I suppose +that you did not touch any of them?" + +"Oh, let us get away, Bertha!" cried Monica, with her thin, black-gloved +hands thrown forwards in abhorrence. + +"Not away, but into the next room," said Mrs. Westmacott, with the air +of one whose word was law. "This way, if you please! It is less warm +here." She led the way into a very handsomely appointed library, with +three great cases of books, and upon the fourth side a long yellow table +littered over with papers and scientific instruments. "Sit here, and +you, there," she continued. "That is right. Now let me see, which of +you is Miss Williams, and which Miss Bertha Williams?" + +"I am Miss Williams," said Monica, still palpitating, and glancing +furtively about in dread of some new horror. + +"And you live, as I understand, over at the pretty little cottage. It +is very nice of you to call so early. I don't suppose that we shall get +on, but still the intention is equally good." She crossed her legs and +leaned her back against the marble mantelpiece. + +"We thought that perhaps we might be of some assistance," said Bertha, +timidly. "If there is anything which we could do to make you feel more +at home----" + +"Oh, thank you, I am too old a traveler to feel anything but at home +wherever I go. I've just come back from a few months in the Marquesas +Islands, where I had a very pleasant visit. That was where I got Eliza. +In many respects the Marquesas Islands now lead the world." + +"Dear me!" ejaculated Miss Williams. "In what respect?" + +"In the relation of the sexes. They have worked out the great problem +upon their own lines, and their isolated geographical position has +helped them to come to a conclusion of their own. The woman there is, +as she should be, in every way the absolute equal of the male. Come in, +Charles, and sit down. Is Eliza all right?" + +"All right, aunt." + +"These are our neighbors, the Misses Williams. Perhaps they will have +some stout. You might bring in a couple of bottles, Charles." + +"No, no, thank you! None for us!" cried her two visitors, earnestly. + +"No? I am sorry that I have no tea to offer you. I look upon the +subserviency of woman as largely due to her abandoning nutritious drinks +and invigorating exercises to the male. I do neither." She picked up a +pair of fifteen-pound dumb-bells from beside the fireplace and swung +them lightly about her head. "You see what may be done on stout," said +she. + +"But don't you think," the elder Miss Williams suggested timidly, "don't +you think, Mrs. Westmascott, that woman has a mission of her own?" + +The lady of the house dropped her dumb-bells with a crash upon the +floor. + +"The old cant!" she cried. "The old shibboleth! What is this mission +which is reserved for woman? All that is humble, that is mean, that is +soul-killing, that is so contemptible and so ill-paid that none other +will touch it. All that is woman's mission. And who imposed these +limitations upon her? Who cooped her up within this narrow sphere? Was +it Providence? Was it nature? No, it was the arch enemy. It was man." + +"Oh, I say, auntie!" drawled her nephew. + +"It was man, Charles. It was you and your fellows I say that woman is a +colossal monument to the selfishness of man. What is all this boasted +chivalry--these fine words and vague phrases? Where is it when we wish +to put it to the test? Man in the abstract will do anything to help a +woman. Of course. How does it work when his pocket is touched? Where +is his chivalry then? Will the doctors help her to qualify? will the +lawyers help her to be called to the bar? will the clergy tolerate her +in the Church? Oh, it is close your ranks then and refer poor woman to +her mission! Her mission! To be thankful for coppers and not to +interfere with the men while they grabble for gold, like swine round a +trough, that is man's reading of the mission of women. You may sit +there and sneer, Charles, while you look upon your victim, but you know +that it is truth, every word of it." + +Terrified as they were by this sudden torrent of words, the two +gentlewomen could not but smile at the sight of the fiery, domineering +victim and the big apologetic representative of mankind who sat meekly +bearing all the sins of his sex. The lady struck a match, whipped a +cigarette from a case upon the mantelpiece, and began to draw the smoke +into her lungs. + +"I find it very soothing when my nerves are at all ruffled," she +explained. "You don't smoke? Ah, you miss one of the purest of +pleasures--one of the few pleasures which are without a reaction." + +Miss Williams smoothed out her silken lap. + +"It is a pleasure," she said, with some approach to self-assertion, +"which Bertha and I are rather too old-fashioned to enjoy." + +"No doubt, It would probably make you very ill if you attempted it. By +the way, I hope that you will come to some of our Guild meetings. I +shall see that tickets are sent you." + +"Your Guild?" + +"It is not yet formed, but I shall lose no time in forming a committee. +It is my habit to establish a branch of the Emancipation Guild wherever +I go. There is a Mrs. Sanderson in Anerley who is already one of the +emancipated, so that I have a nucleus. It is only by organized +resistance, Miss Williams, that we can hope to hold our own against the +selfish sex. Must you go, then?" + +"Yes, we have one or two other visits to pay," said the elder sister. +"You will, I am sure, excuse us. I hope that you will find Norwood a +pleasant residence." + +"All places are to me simply a battle-field," she answered, gripping +first one and then the other with a grip which crumpled up their little +thin fingers. "The days for work and healthful exercise, the evenings +to Browning and high discourse, eh, Charles? Good-bye!" She came to the +door with them, and as they glanced back they saw her still standing +there with the yellow bull pup cuddled up under one forearm, and the +thin blue reek of her cigarette ascending from her lips. + +"Oh, what a dreadful, dreadful woman!" whispered sister Bertha, as they +hurried down the street. "Thank goodness that it is over." + +"But she'll return the visit," answered the other. "I think that we had +better tell Mary that we are not at home." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER III. + + +DWELLERS IN THE WILDERNESS. + + +How deeply are our destinies influenced by the most trifling causes! +Had the unknown builder who erected and owned these new villas contented +himself by simply building each within its own grounds, it is probable +that these three small groups of people would have remained hardly +conscious of each other's existence, and that there would have been no +opportunity for that action and reaction which is here set forth. But +there was a common link to bind them together. To single himself out +from all other Norwood builders the landlord had devised and laid out a +common lawn tennis ground, which stretched behind the houses with taut- +stretched net, green close-cropped sward, and widespread whitewashed +lines. Hither in search of that hard exercise which is as necessary as +air or food to the English temperament, came young Hay Denver when +released from the toil of the City; hither, too, came Dr. Walker and his +two fair daughters, Clara and Ida, and hither also, champions of the +lawn, came the short-skirted, muscular widow and her athletic nephew. +Ere the summer was gone they knew each other in this quiet nook as they +might not have done after years of a stiffer and more formal +acquaintance. + +And especially to the Admiral and the Doctor were this closer intimacy +and companionship of value. Each had a void in his life, as every man +must have who with unexhausted strength steps out of the great race, but +each by his society might help to fill up that of his neighbor. It is +true that they had not much in common, but that is sometimes an aid +rather than a bar to friendship. Each had been an enthusiast in his +profession, and had retained all his interest in it. The Doctor still +read from cover to cover his Lancet and his Medical Journal, attended +all professional gatherings, worked himself into an alternate state of +exaltation and depression over the results of the election of officers, +and reserved for himself a den of his own, in which before rows of +little round bottles full of glycerine, Canadian balsam, and staining +agents, he still cut sections with a microtome, and peeped through his +long, brass, old-fashioned microscope at the arcana of nature. With his +typical face, clean shaven on lip and chin, with a firm mouth, a strong +jaw, a steady eye, and two little white fluffs of whiskers, he could +never be taken for anything but what he was, a high-class British +medical consultant of the age of fifty, or perhaps just a year or two +older. + +The Doctor, in his hey-day, had been cool over great things, but now, in +his retirement, he was fussy over trifles. The man who had operated +without the quiver of a finger, when not only his patient's life but his +own reputation and future were at stake, was now shaken to the soul by a +mislaid book or a careless maid. He remarked it himself, and knew the +reason. "When Mary was alive," he would say, "she stood between me and +the little troubles. I could brace myself for the big ones. My girls +are as good as girls can be, but who can know a man as his wife knows +him?" Then his memory would conjure up a tuft of brown hair and a +single white, thin hand over a coverlet, and he would feel, as we have +all felt, that if we do not live and know each other after death, then +indeed we are tricked and betrayed by all the highest hopes and subtlest +intuitions of our nature. + +The Doctor had his compensations to make up for his loss. The great +scales of Fate had been held on a level for him; for where in all great +London could one find two sweeter girls, more loving, more intelligent, +and more sympathetic than Clara and Ida Walker? So bright were they, so +quick, so interested in all which interested him, that if it were +possible for a man to be compensated for the loss of a good wife then +Balthazar Walker might claim to be so. + +Clara was tall and thin and supple, with a graceful, womanly figure. +There was something stately and distinguished in her carriage, "queenly" +her friends called her, while her critics described her as reserved and +distant. + +Such as it was, however, it was part and parcel of herself, for she was, +and had always from her childhood been, different from any one around +her. There was nothing gregarious in her nature. She thought with her +own mind, saw with her own eyes, acted from her own impulse. Her face +was pale, striking rather than pretty, but with two great dark eyes, so +earnestly questioning, so quick in their transitions from joy to pathos, +so swift in their comment upon every word and deed around her, that +those eyes alone were to many more attractive than all the beauty of her +younger sister. Hers was a strong, quiet soul, and it was her firm hand +which had taken over the duties of her mother, had ordered the house, +restrained the servants, comforted her father, and upheld her weaker +sister, from the day of that great misfortune. + +Ida Walker was a hand's breadth smaller than Clara, but was a little +fuller in the face and plumper in the figure. She had light yellow +hair, mischievous blue eyes with the light of humor ever twinkling in +their depths, and a large, perfectly formed mouth, with that slight +upward curve of the corners which goes with a keen appreciation of fun, +suggesting even in repose that a latent smile is ever lurking at the +edges of the lips. She was modern to the soles of her dainty little +high-heeled shoes, frankly fond of dress and of pleasure, devoted to +tennis and to comic opera, delighted with a dance, which came her way +only too seldom, longing ever for some new excitement, and yet behind +all this lighter side of her character a thoroughly good, healthy-minded +English girl, the life and soul of the house, and the idol of her sister +and her father. Such was the family at number two. A peep into the +remaining villa and our introductions are complete. + +Admiral Hay Denver did not belong to the florid, white-haired, hearty +school of sea-dogs which is more common in works of fiction than in the +Navy List. On the contrary, he was the representative of a much more +common type which is the antithesis of the conventional sailor. He was a +thin, hard-featured man, with an ascetic, acquiline cast of face, +grizzled and hollow-cheeked, clean-shaven with the exception of the +tiniest curved promontory of ash-colored whisker. An observer, +accustomed to classify men, might have put him down as a canon of the +church with a taste for lay costume and a country life, or as the master +of a large public school, who joined his scholars in their outdoor +sports. His lips were firm, his chin prominent, he had a hard, dry eye, +and his manner was precise and formal. Forty years of stern discipline +had made him reserved and silent. Yet, when at his ease with an equal, +he could readily assume a less quarter-deck style, and he had a fund of +little, dry stories of the world and its ways which were of interest +from one who had seen so many phases of life. Dry and spare, as lean as +a jockey and as tough as whipcord, he might be seen any day swinging his +silver-headed Malacca cane, and pacing along the suburban roads with the +same measured gait with which he had been wont to tread the poop of his +flagship. He wore a good service stripe upon his cheek, for on one side +it was pitted and scarred where a spurt of gravel knocked up by a round- +shot had struck him thirty years before, when he served in the Lancaster +gun-battery. Yet he was hale and sound, and though he was fifteen years +senior to his friend the Doctor, he might have passed as the younger +man. + +Mrs. Hay Denver's life had been a very broken one, and her record upon +land represented a greater amount of endurance and self-sacrifice than +his upon the sea. They had been together for four months after their +marriage, and then had come a hiatus of four years, during which he was +flitting about between St. Helena and the Oil Rivers in a gunboat. Then +came a blessed year of peace and domesticity, to be followed by nine +years, with only a three months' break, five upon the Pacific station, +and four on the East Indian. After that was a respite in the shape of +five years in the Channel squadron, with periodical runs home, and then +again he was off to the Mediterranean for three years and to Halifax for +four. Now, at last, however, this old married couple, who were still +almost strangers to one another, had come together in Norwood, where, if +their short day had been chequered and broken, the evening at least +promised to be sweet and mellow. In person Mrs. Hay Denver was tall and +stout, with a bright, round, ruddy-cheeked face still pretty, with a +gracious, matronly comeliness. Her whole life was a round of devotion +and of love, which was divided between her husband and her only son, +Harold. + +This son it was who kept them in the neighborhood of London, for the +Admiral was as fond of ships and of salt water as ever, and was as happy +in the sheets of a two-ton yacht as on the bridge of his sixteen-knot +monitor. Had he been untied, the Devonshire or Hampshire coast would +certainly have been his choice. There was Harold, however, and Harold's +interests were their chief care. Harold was four-and-twenty now. Three +years before he had been taken in hand by an acquaintance of his +father's, the head of a considerable firm of stock-brokers, and fairly +launched upon 'Change. His three hundred guinea entrance fee paid, his +three sureties of five hundred pounds each found, his name approved by +the Committee, and all other formalities complied with, he found himself +whirling round, an insignificant unit, in the vortex of the money market +of the world. There, under the guidance of his father's friend, he was +instructed in the mysteries of bulling and of bearing, in the strange +usages of 'Change in the intricacies of carrying over and of +transferring. He learned to know where to place his clients' money, +which of the jobbers would make a price in New Zealands, and which would +touch nothing but American rails, which might be trusted and which +shunned. All this, and much more, he mastered, and to such purpose that +he soon began to prosper, to retain the clients who had been recommended +to him, and to attract fresh ones. But the work was never congenial. +He had inherited from his father his love of the air of heaven, his +affection for a manly and natural existence. To act as middleman +between the pursuer of wealth, and the wealth which he pursued, or to +stand as a human barometer, registering the rise and fall of the great +mammon pressure in the markets, was not the work for which Providence +had placed those broad shoulders and strong limbs upon his well knit +frame. His dark open face, too, with his straight Grecian nose, well +opened brown eyes, and round black-curled head, were all those of a man +who was fashioned for active physical work. Meanwhile he was popular +with his fellow brokers, respected by his clients, and beloved at home, +but his spirit was restless within him and his mind chafed unceasingly +against his surroundings. + +"Do you know, Willy," said Mrs. Hay Denver one evening as she stood +behind her husband's chair, with her hand upon his shoulder, "I think +sometimes that Harold is not quite happy." + +"He looks happy, the young rascal," answered the Admiral, pointing with +his cigar. It was after dinner, and through the open French window of +the dining-room a clear view was to be had of the tennis court and the +players. A set had just been finished, and young Charles Westmacott was +hitting up the balls as high as he could send them in the middle of the +ground. Doctor Walker and Mrs. Westmacott were pacing up and down the +lawn, the lady waving her racket as she emphasized her remarks, and the +Doctor listening with slanting head and little nods of agreement. +Against the rails at the near end Harold was leaning in his flannels +talking to the two sisters, who stood listening to him with their long +dark shadows streaming down the lawn behind them. The girls were +dressed alike in dark skirts, with light pink tennis blouses and pink +bands on their straw hats, so that as they stood with the soft red of +the setting sun tinging their faces, Clara, demure and quiet, Ida, +mischievous and daring, it was a group which might have pleased the eye +of a more exacting critic than the old sailor. + +"Yes, he looks happy, mother," he repeated, with a chuckle. "It is not +so long ago since it was you and I who were standing like that, and I +don't remember that we were very unhappy either. It was croquet in our +time, and the ladies had not reefed in their skirts quite so taut. What +year would it be? Just before the commission of the Penelope." + +Mrs. Hay Denver ran her fingers through his grizzled hair. "It was when +you came back in the Antelope, just before you got your step." + +"Ah, the old Antelope! What a clipper she was! She could sail two +points nearer the wind than anything of her tonnage in the service. You +remember her, mother. You saw her come into Plymouth Bay. Wasn't she a +beauty?" + +"She was indeed, dear. But when I say that I think that Harold is not +happy I mean in his daily life. Has it never struck you how thoughtful, +he is at times, and how absent-minded?" + +"In love perhaps, the young dog. He seems to have found snug moorings +now at any rate." + +"I think that it is very likely that you are right, Willy," answered the +mother seriously. "But with which of them?" + +"I cannot tell." + +"Well, they are very charming girls, both of them. But as long as he +hangs in the wind between the two it cannot be serious. After all, the +boy is four-and-twenty, and he made five hundred pounds last year. He +is better able to marry than I was when I was lieutenant." + +"I think that we can see which it is now," remarked the observant +mother. Charles Westmacott had ceased to knock the tennis balls about, +and was chatting with Clara Walker, while Ida and Harold Denver were +still talking by the railing with little outbursts of laughter. +Presently a fresh set was formed, and Doctor Walker, the odd man out, +came through the wicket gate and strolled up the garden walk. + +"Good evening, Mrs. Hay Denver," said he, raising his broad straw hat. +"May I come in?" + +"Good evening, Doctor! Pray do!" + +"Try one of these," said the Admiral, holding out his cigar-case. "They +are not bad. I got them on the Mosquito Coast. I was thinking of +signaling to you, but you seemed so very happy out there." + +"Mrs. Westmacott is a very clever woman," said the Doctor, lighting the +cigar. "By the way, you spoke about the Mosquito Coast just now. Did +you see much of the Hyla when you were out there?" + +"No such name on the list," answered the seaman, with decision. +"There's the Hydra, a harbor defense turret-ship, but she never leaves +the home waters." + +The Doctor laughed. "We live in two separate worlds," said he. "The +Hyla is the little green tree frog, and Beale has founded some of his +views on protoplasm upon the appearancer, of its nerve cells. It is a +subject in which I take an interest." + +"There were vermin of all sorts in the woods. When I have been on river +service I have heard it at night like the engine-room when you are on +the measured mile. You can't sleep for the piping, and croaking, and +chirping. Great Scott! what a woman that is! She was across the lawn +in three jumps. She would have made a captain of the foretop in the old +days." + +"She is a very remarkable woman." + +"A very cranky one." + +"A very sensible one in some things," remarked Mrs. Hay Denver. + +"Look at that now!" cried the Admiral, with a lunge of his forefinger at +the Doctor. "You mark my words, Walker, if we don't look out that woman +will raise a mutiny with her preaching. Here's my wife disaffected +already, and your girls will be no better. We must combine, man, or +there's an end of all discipline." + +"No doubt she is a little excessive in her views." said the Doctor, "but +in the main I think as she does." + +"Bravo, Doctor!" cried the lady. + +"What, turned traitor to your sex! We'll court-martial you as a +deserter." + +"She is quite right. The professions are not sufficiently open to +women. They are still far too much circumscribed in their employments. +They are a feeble folk, the women who have to work for their bread-- +poor, unorganized, timid, taking as a favor what they might demand as a +right. That is why their case is not more constantly before the public, +for if their cry for redress was as great as their grievance it would +fill the world to the exclusion of all others. It is all very well for +us to be courteous to the rich, the refined, those to whom life is +already made easy. It is a mere form, a trick of manner. If we are +truly courteous, we shall stoop to lift up struggling womanhood when she +really needs our help--when it is life and death to her whether she has +it or not. And then to cant about it being unwomanly to work in the +higher professions. It is womanly enough to starve, but unwomanly to +use the brains which God has given them. Is it not a monstrous +contention?" + +The Admiral chuckled. "You are like one of these phonographs, Walker," +said he; "you have had all this talked into you, and now you are reeling +it off again. It's rank mutiny, every word of it, for man has his duties +and woman has hers, but they are as separate as their natures are. I +suppose that we shall have a woman hoisting her pennant on the flagship +presently, and taking command of the Channel Squadron." + +"Well, you have a woman on the throne taking command of the whole +nation," remarked his wife; "and everybody is agreed that she does it +better than any of the men." + +The Admiral was somewhat staggered by this home-thrust. "That's quite +another thing," said he. + +"You should come to their next meeting. I am to take the chair. I have +just promised Mrs. Westmacott that I will do so. But it has turned +chilly, and it is time that the girls were indoors. Good night! I +shall look out for you after breakfast for our constitutional, Admiral." + +The old sailor looked after his friend with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"How old is he, mother?" + +"About fifty, I think." + +"And Mrs. Westmacott?" + +"I heard that she was forty-three." + +The Admiral rubbed his hands, and shook with amusement. "We'll find one +of these days that three and two make one," said he. "I'll bet you a +new bonnet on it, mother." + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +A SISTER'S SECRET. + + +"Tell me, Miss Walker! You know how things should be. What would you +say was a good profession for a young man of twenty-six who has had no +education worth speaking about, and who is not very quick by nature?" +The speaker was Charles Westmacott, and the time this same summer +evening in the tennis ground, though the shadows had fallen now and the +game been abandoned. + +The girl glanced up at him, amused and surprised. + +"Do you mean yourself?" + +"Precisely." + +"But how could I tell?" + +"I have no one to advise me. I believe that you could do it better than +any one. I feel confidence in your opinion." + +"It is very flattering." She glanced up again at his earnest, +questioning face, with its Saxon eyes and drooping flaxen mustache, in +some doubt as to whether he might be joking. On the contrary, all his +attention seemed to be concentrated upon her answer. + +"It depends so much upon what you can do, you know. I do not know you +sufficiently to be able to say what natural gifts you have." They were +walking slowly across the lawn in the direction of the house. + +"I have none. That is to say none worth mentioning. I have no memory +and I am very slow." + +"But you are very strong." + +"Oh, if that goes for anything. I can put up a hundred-pound bar till +further orders; but what sort of a calling is that?" + +Some little joke about being called to the bar flickered up in Miss +Walker's mind, but her companion was in such obvious earnest that she +stifled down her inclination to laugh. + +"I can do a mile on the cinder-track in 4:50 and across-country in 5:20, +but how is that to help me? I might be a cricket professional, but it +is not a very dignified position. Not that I care a straw about +dignity, you know, but I should not like to hurt the old lady's +feelings. + +"Your aunt's?" + +"Yes, my aunt's. My parents were killed in the Mutiny, you know, when I +was a baby, and she has looked after me ever since. She has been very +good to me. I'm sorry to leave her." + +"But why should you leave her?" They had reached the garden gate, and +the girl leaned her racket upon the top of it, looking up with grave +interest at her big white-flanneled companion. + +"It's, Browning," said he. + +"What!" + +"Don't tell my aunt that I said it"--he sank his voice to a whisper--"I +hate Browning." + +Clara Walker rippled off into such a merry peal of laughter that he +forgot the evil things which he had suffered from the poet, and burst +out laughing too. + +"I can't make him out," said he. "I try, but he is one too many. No +doubt it is very stupid of me; I don't deny it. But as long as I cannot +there is no use pretending that I can. And then of course she feels +hurt, for she is very fond of him, and likes to read him aloud in the +evenings. She is reading a piece now `Pippa Passes,' and I assure you, +Miss Walker, that I don't even know what the title means. You must +think me a dreadful fool." + +"But surely he is not so incomprehensible as all that?" she said, as an +attempt at encouragement. + +"He is very bad. There are some things, you know, which are fine. That +ride of the three Dutchmen, and Herve Riel and others, they are all +right. But there was a piece we read last week. The first line stumped +my aunt, and it takes a good deal to do that, for she rides very +straight. `Setebos and Setebos and Setebos.' That was the line." + +"It sounds like a charm." + +"No, it is a gentleman's name. Three gentlemen, I thought, at first, +but my aunt says one. Then he goes on, `Thinketh he dwelleth in the +light of the moon.' It was a very trying piece." + +Clara Walker laughed again. + +"You must not think of leaving your aunt," she said. "Think how lonely +she would be without you." + +"Well, yes, I have thought of that. But you must remember that my aunt +is to all intents hardly middle-aged, and a very eligible person. I +don't think that her dislike to mankind extends to individuals. She +might form new ties, and then I should be a third wheel in the coach. +It was all very well as long as I was only a boy, when her first husband +was alive." + +"But, good gracious, you don't mean that Mrs. Westmacott is going to +marry again?" gasped Clara. + +The young man glanced down at her with a question in his eyes. "Oh, it +is only a remote, possibility, you know," said he. "Still, of course, +it might happen, and I should like to know what I ought to turn my hand +to." + +"I wish I could help you," said Clara. "But I really know very little +about such things. However, I could talk to my father, who knows a very +great deal of the world." + +"I wish you would. I should be so glad if you would." + +"Then I certainly will. And now I must say good-night, Mr. Westmacott, +for papa will be wondering where I am." + +"Good night, Miss Walker." He pulled off his flannel cap, and stalked +away through the gathering darkness. + +Clara had imagined that they had been the last on the lawn, but, looking +back from the steps which led up to the French windows, she saw two dark +figures moving across towards the house. As they came nearer she could +distinguish that they were Harold Denver and her sister Ida. The murmur +of their voices rose up to her ears, and then the musical little child- +like laugh which she knew so well. "I am so delighted," she heard her +sister say. "So pleased and proud. I had no idea of it. Your words +were such a surprise and a joy to me. Oh, I am so glad." + +"Is that you, Ida?" + +"Oh, there is Clara. I must go in, Mr. Denver. Good-night!" + +There were a few whispered words, a laugh from Ida, and a "Good-night, +Miss Walker," out of the darkness. Clara took her sister's hand, and +they passed together through the long folding window. The Doctor had +gone into his study, and the dining-room was empty. A single small red +lamp upon the sideboard was reflected tenfold by the plate about it and +the mahogany beneath it, though its single wick cast but a feeble light +into the large, dimly shadowed room. Ida danced off to the big central +lamp, but Clara put her hand upon her arm. "I rather like this quiet +light," said she. "Why should we not have a chat?" She sat in the +Doctor's large red plush chair, and her sister cuddled down upon the +footstool at her feet, glancing up at her elder with a smile upon her +lips and a mischievous gleam in her eyes. There was a shade of anxiety +in Clara's face, which cleared away as she gazed into her sister's frank +blue eyes. + +"Have you anything to tell me, dear?" she asked. + +Ida gave a little pout and shrug to her shoulder. "The Solicitor-General +then opened the case for the prosecution," said she. "You are going to +cross-examine me, Clara, so don't deny it. I do wish you would have +that grey satin foulard of yours done up. With a little trimming and a +new white vest it would look as good as new, and it is really very +dowdy." + +"You were quite late upon the lawn," said the inexorable Clara. + +"Yes, I was rather. So were you. Have you anything to tell me?" She +broke away into her merry musical laugh. + +"I was chatting with Mr. Westmacott." + +"And I was chatting with Mr. Denver. By the way, Clara, now tell me +truly, what do you think of Mr. Denver? Do you like him? Honestly +now!" + +"I like him very much indeed. I think that he is one of the most +gentlemanly, modest, manly young men that I have ever known. So now, +dear, have you nothing to tell me?" Clara smoothed down her sister's +golden hair with a motherly gesture, and stooped her face to catch the +expected confidence. She could wish nothing better than that Ida should +be the wife of Harold Denver, and from the words which she had overheard +as they left the lawn that evening, she could not doubt that there was +some understanding between them. + +But there came no confession from Ida. Only the same mischievous smile +and amused gleam in her deep blue eyes. + +"That grey foulard dress----" she began. + +"Oh, you little tease! Come now, I will ask you what you have just +asked me. Do you like Harold Denver?" + +"Oh, he's a darling!" + +"Ida!" + +"Well, you asked me. That's what I think of him. And now, you dear old +inquisitive, you will get nothing more out of me; so you must wait and +not be too curious. I'm going off to see what papa is doing." She +sprang to her feet, threw her arms round her sister's neck, gave her a +final squeeze, and was gone. A chorus from Olivette, sung in her clear +contralto, grew fainter and fainter until it ended in the slam of a +distant door. + +But Clara Walker still sat in the dim-lit room with her chin upon her +hands, and her dreamy eyes looking out into the gathering gloom. It was +the duty of her, a maiden, to play the part of a mother--to guide +another in paths which her own steps had not yet trodden. Since her +mother died not a thought had been given to herself, all was for her +father and her sister. In her own eyes she was herself very plain, and +she knew that her manner was often ungracious when she would most wish +to be gracious. She saw her face as the glass reflected it, but she did +not see the changing play of expression which gave it its charm--the +infinite pity, the sympathy, the sweet womanliness which drew towards +her all who were in doubt and in trouble, even as poor slow-moving +Charles Westmacott had been drawn to her that night. She was herself, +she thought, outside the pale of love. But it was very different with +Ida, merry, little, quick-witted, bright-faced Ida. She was born for +love. It was her inheritance. But she was young and innocent. She +must not be allowed to venture too far without help in those dangerous +waters. Some understanding there was between her and Harold Denver. In +her heart of hearts Clara, like every good woman, was a match-maker, and +already she had chosen Denver of all men as the one to whom she could +most safely confide Ida. He had talked to her more than once on the +serious topics of life, on his aspirations, on what a man could do to +leave the world better for his presence. She knew that he was a man of +a noble nature, high-minded and earnest. And yet she did not like this +secrecy, this disinclination upon the part of one so frank and honest as +Ida to tell her what was passing. She would wait, and if she got the +opportunity next day she would lead Harold Denver himself on to this +topic. It was possible that she might learn from him what her sister had +refused to tell her. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER V. + + +A NAVAL CONQUEST. + + +It was the habit of the Doctor and the Admiral to accompany each other +upon a morning ramble between breakfast and lunch. The dwellers in +those quiet tree-lined roads were accustomed to see the two figures, the +long, thin, austere seaman, and the short, bustling, tweed-clad +physician, pass and repass with such regularity that a stopped clock has +been reset by them. The Admiral took two steps to his companion's three, +but the younger man was the quicker, and both were equal to a good four +and a half miles an hour. + +It was a lovely summer day which followed the events which have been +described. The sky was of the deepest blue, with a few white, fleecy +clouds drifting lazily across it, and the air was filled with the low +drone of insects or with a sudden sharper note as bee or bluefly shot +past with its quivering, long-drawn hum, like an insect tuning-fork. As +the friends topped each rise which leads up to the Crystal Palace, they +could see the dun clouds of London stretching along the northern skyline, +with spire or dome breaking through the low-lying haze. The +Admiral was in high spirits, for the morning post had brought good news +to his son. + +"It is wonderful, Walker," he was saying, "positively wonderful, the way +that boy of mine has gone ahead during the last three years. We heard +from Pearson to-day. Pearson is the senior partner, you know, and my boy +the junior--Pearson and Denver the firm. Cunning old dog is Pearson, as +cute and as greedy as a Rio shark. Yet he goes off for a fortnight's +leave, and puts my boy in full charge, with all that immense business in +his hands, and a freehand to do what he likes with it. How's that for +confidence, and he only three years upon 'Change?" + +"Any one would confide in him. His face is a surety," said the Doctor. + +"Go on, Walker!" The Admiral dug his elbow at him. "You know my weak +side. Still it's truth all the same. I've been blessed with a good wife +and a good son, and maybe I relish them the more for having been cut off +from them so long. I have much to be thankful for!" + +"And so have I. The best two girls that ever stepped. There's Clara, +who has learned up as much medicine as would give her the L.S.A., simply +in order that she may sympathize with me in my work. But hullo, what is +this coming along?" + +"All drawing and the wind astern!" cried the Admiral. "Fourteen knots if +it's one. Why, by George, it is that woman!" + +A rolling cloud of yellow dust had streamed round the curve of the road, +and from the heart of it had emerged a high tandem tricycle flying along +at a breakneck pace. In front sat Mrs. Westmacott clad in a heather +tweed pea-jacket, a skirt which just{?} passed her knees and a pair of +thick gaiters of the same material. She had a great bundle of red +papers under her arm, while Charles, who sat behind her clad in Norfolk +jacket and knickerbockers, bore a similar roll protruding from either +pocket. Even as they watched, the pair eased up, the lady sprang off, +impaled one of her bills upon the garden railing of an empty house, and +then jumping on to her seat again was about to hurry onwards when her +nephew drew her attention to the two gentlemen upon the footpath. + +"Oh, now, really I didn't notice you," said she, taking a few turns of +the treadle and steering the machine across to them. "Is it not a +beautiful morning?" + +"Lovely," answered the Doctor. "You seem to be very busy." + +"I am very busy." She pointed to the colored paper which still fluttered +from the railing. "We have been pushing our propaganda, you see. +Charles and I have been at it since seven o'clock. It is about our +meeting. I wish it to be a great success. See!" She smoothed out one +of the bills, and the Doctor read his own name in great black letters +across the bottom. + +"We don't forget our chairman, you see. Everybody is coming. Those two +dear little old maids opposite, the Williamses, held out for some time; +but I have their promise now. Admiral, I am sure that you wish us +well." + +"Hum! I wish you no harm, ma'am." + +"You will come on the platform?" + +"I'll be---- No, I don't think I can do that." + +"To our meeting, then?" + +"No, ma'am; I don't go out after dinner." + +"Oh yes, you will come. I will call in if I may, and chat it over with +you when you come home. We have not breakfasted yet. Goodbye!" There +was a whir of wheels, and the yellow cloud rolled away down the road +again. By some legerdemain the Admiral found that he was clutching in +his right hand one of the obnoxious bills. He crumpled it up, and threw +it into the roadway. + +"I'll be hanged if I go, Walker," said he, as he resumed his walk. +"I've never been hustled into doing a thing yet, whether by woman or +man." + +"I am not a betting man," answered the Doctor, "but I rather think that +the odds are in favor of your going." + +The Admiral had hardly got home, and had just seated himself in his +dining-room, when the attack upon him was renewed. He was slowly and +lovingly unfolding the Times preparatory to the long read which led up +to luncheon, and had even got so far as to fasten his golden pince-nez +on to his thin, high-bridged nose, when he heard a crunching of gravel, +and, looking over the top of his paper, saw Mrs. Westmacott coming up +the garden walk. She was still dressed in the singular costume which +offended the sailor's old-fashioned notions of propriety, but he could +not deny, as he looked at her, that she was a very fine woman. In many +climes he had looked upon women of all shades and ages, but never upon a +more clearcut, handsome face, nor a more erect, supple, and womanly +figure. He ceased to glower as he gazed upon her, and the frown +smoothed away from his rugged brow. + +"May I come in?" said she, framing herself in the open window, with a +background of green sward and blue sky. "I feel like an invader deep in +an enemy's country." + +"It is a very welcome invasion, ma'am," said he, clearing his throat and +pulling at his high collar. "Try this garden chair. What is there that +I can do for you? Shall I ring and let Mrs. Denver know that you are +here?" + +"Pray do not trouble, Admiral. I only looked in with reference to our +little chat this morning. I wish that you would give us your powerful +support at our coming meeting for the improvement of the condition of +woman." + +"No, ma'am, I can't do that." He pursed up his lips and shook his +grizzled head. + +"And why not?" + +"Against my principles, ma'am." + +"But why?" + +"Because woman has her duties and man has his. I may be old-fashioned, +but that is my view. Why, what is the world coming to? I was saying to +Dr. Walker only last night that we shall have a woman wanting to command +the Channel Fleet next." + +"That is one of the few professions which cannot be improved," said Mrs. +Westmacott, with her sweetest smile. "Poor woman must still look to man +for protection." + +"I don't like these new-fangled ideas, ma'am. I tell you honestly that +I don't. I like discipline, and I think every one is the better for it. +Women have got a great deal which they had not in the days of our +fathers. They have universities all for themselves, I am told, and there +are women doctors, I hear. Surely they should rest contented. What +more can they want?" + +"You are a sailor, and sailors are always chivalrous. If you could see +how things really are, you would change your opinion. What are the poor +things to do? There are so many of them and so few things to which they +can turn their hands. Governesses? But there are hardly any +situations. Music and drawing? There is not one in fifty who has any +special talent in that direction. Medicine? It is still surrounded with +difficulties for women, and it takes many years and a small fortune to +qualify. Nursing? It is hard work ill paid, and none but the strongest +can stand it. What would you have them do then, Admiral? Sit down and +starve?" + +"Tut, tut! It is not so bad as that." + +"The pressure is terrible. Advertise for a lady companion at ten +shillings a week, which is less than a cook's wage, and see how many +answers you get. There is no hope, no outlook, for these struggling +thousands. Life is a dull, sordid struggle, leading down to a cheerless +old age. Yet when we try to bring some little ray of hope, some chance, +however distant, of something better, we are told by chivalrous +gentlemen that it is against their principles to help." + +The Admiral winced, but shook his head in dissent. + +"There is banking, the law, veterinary surgery, government offices, the +civil service, all these at least should be thrown freely open to women, +if they have brains enough to compete successfully for them. Then if +woman were unsuccessful it would be her own fault, and the majority of +the population of this country could no longer complain that they live +under a different law to the minority, and that they are held down in +poverty and serfdom, with every road to independence sealed to them." + +"What would you propose to do, ma'am?" + +"To set the more obvious injustices right, and so to pave the way for a +reform. Now look at that man digging in the field. I know him. He can +neither read nor write, he is steeped in whisky, and he has as much +intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging. Yet the man has a +vote, can possibly turn the scale of an election, and may help to decide +the policy of this empire. Now, to take the nearest example, here am I, +a woman who have had some education, who have traveled, and who have +seen and studied the institutions of many countries. I hold +considerable property, and I pay more in imperial taxes than that man +spends in whisky, which is saying a great deal, and yet I have no more +direct influence upon the disposal of the money which I pay than that +fly which creeps along the wall. Is that right? Is it fair?" + +The Admiral moved uneasily in his chair. "Yours is an exceptional +case," said he. + +"But no woman has a voice. Consider that the women are a majority in +the nation. Yet if there was a question of legislation upon which all +women were agreed upon one side and all the men upon the other, it would +appear that the matter was settled unanimously when more than half the +population were opposed to it. Is that right?" + +Again the Admiral wriggled. It was very awkward for the gallant seaman +to have a handsome woman opposite to him, bombarding him with questions +to none of which he could find an answer. "Couldn't even get the +tompions out of his guns," as he explained the matter to the Doctor that +evening. + +"Now those are really the points that we shall lay stress upon at the +meeting. The free and complete opening of the professions, the final +abolition of the zenana I call it, and the franchise to all women who +pay Queen's taxes above a certain sum. Surely there is nothing +unreasonable in that. Nothing which could offend your principles. We +shall have medicine, law, and the church all rallying that night for the +protection of woman. Is the navy to be the one profession absent?" + +The Admiral jumped out of his chair with an evil word in his throat. +"There, there, ma'am," he cried. "Drop it for a time. I have heard +enough. You've turned me a point or two. I won't deny it. But let it +stand at that. I will think it over." + +"Certainly, Admiral. We would not hurry you in your decision. But we +still hope to see you on our platform." She rose and moved about in her +lounging masculine fashion from one picture to another, for the walls +were thickly covered with reminiscences of the Admiral's voyages. + +"Hullo!" said she. "Surely this ship would have furled all her lower +canvas and reefed her topsails if she found herself on a lee shore with +the wind on her quarter." + +"Of course she would. The artist was never past Gravesend, I swear. +It's the Penelope as she was on the 14th of June, 1857, in the throat of +the Straits of Banca, with the Island of Banca on the starboard bow, and +Sumatra on the port. He painted it from description, but of course, as +you very sensibly say, all was snug below and she carried storm sails +and double-reefed topsails, for it was blowing a cyclone from the +sou'east. I compliment you, ma'am, I do indeed!" + +"Oh, I have done a little sailoring myself--as much as a woman can +aspire to, you know. This is the Bay of Funchal. What a lovely +frigate!" + +"Lovely, you say! Ah, she was lovely! That is the Andromeda. I was a +mate aboard of her--sub-lieutenant they call it now, though I like the +old name best." + +"What a lovely rake her masts have, and what a curve to her bows! She +must have been a clipper." + +The old sailor rubbed his hands and his eyes glistened. His old ships +bordered close upon his wife and his son in his affections. + +"I know Funchal," said the lady carelessly. "A couple of years ago I +had a seven-ton cutter-rigged yacht, the Banshee, and we ran over to +Madeira from Falmouth." + +"You ma'am, in a seven-tonner?" + +"With a couple of Cornish lads for a crew. Oh, it was glorious! A +fortnight right out in the open, with no worries, no letters, no +callers, no petty thoughts, nothing but the grand works of God, the +tossing sea and the great silent sky. They talk of riding, indeed, I am +fond of horses, too, but what is there to compare with the swoop of a +little craft as she pitches down the long steep side of a wave, and then +the quiver and spring as she is tossed upwards again? Oh, if our souls +could transmigrate I'd be a seamew above all birds that fly! But I keep +you, Admiral. Adieu!" + +The old sailor was too transported with sympathy to say a word. He +could only shake her broad muscular hand. She was half-way down the +garden path before she heard him calling her, and saw his grizzled head +and weather-stained face looking out from behind the curtains. + +"You may put me down for the platform," he cried, and vanished abashed +behind the curtain of his Times, where his wife found him at lunch time. + +"I hear that you have had quite a long chat with Mrs. Westmacott," said +she. + +"Yes, and I think that she is one of the most sensible women that I ever +knew." + +"Except on the woman's rights question, of course." + +"Oh, I don't know. She had a good deal to say for herself on that also. +In fact, mother, I have taken a platform ticket for her meeting." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +AN OLD STORY. + + +But this was not to be the only eventful conversation which Mrs. +Westmacott held that day, nor was the Admiral the only person in the +Wilderness who was destined to find his opinions considerably changed. +Two neighboring families, the Winslows from Anerley, and the +Cumberbatches from Gipsy Hill, had been invited to tennis by Mrs. +Westmacott, and the lawn was gay in the evening with the blazers of the +young men and the bright dresses of the girls. To the older people, +sitting round in their wicker-work garden chairs, the darting, stooping, +springing white figures, the sweep of skirts, and twinkle of canvas +shoes, the click of the rackets and sharp whiz of the balls, with the +continual "fifteen love--fifteen all!" of the marker, made up a merry +and exhilarating scene. To see their sons and daughters so flushed and +healthy and happy, gave them also a reflected glow, and it was hard to +say who had most pleasure from the game, those who played or those who +watched. + +Mrs. Westmacott had just finished a set when she caught a glimpse of +Clara Walker sitting alone at the farther end of the ground. She ran +down the court, cleared the net to the amazement of the visitors, and +seated herself beside her. Clara's reserved and refined nature shrank +somewhat from the boisterous frankness and strange manners of the widow, +and yet her feminine instinct told her that beneath all her +peculiarities there lay much that was good and noble. She smiled up at +her, therefore, and nodded a greeting. + +"Why aren't you playing, then? Don't, for goodness' sake, begin to be +languid and young ladyish! When you give up active sports you give up +youth." + +"I have played a set, Mrs. Westmacott." + +"That's right, my dear." She sat down beside her, and tapped her upon +the arm with her tennis racket. "I like you, my dear, and I am going to +call you Clara. You are not as aggressive as I should wish, Clara, but +still I like you very much. Self-sacrifice is all very well, you know, +but we have had rather too much of it on our side, and should like to +see a little on the other. What do you think of my nephew Charles?" + +The question was so sudden and unexpected that Clara gave quite a jump +in her chair. "I--I--I hardly ever have thought of your nephew +Charles." + +"No? Oh, you must think him well over, for I want to speak to you about +him." + +"To me? But why?" + +"It seemed to me most delicate. You see, Clara, the matter stands in +this way. It is quite possible that I may soon find myself in a +completely new sphere of life, which will involve fresh duties and make +it impossible for me to keep up a household which Charles can share." + +Clara stared. Did this mean that she was about to marry again? What +else could it point to? + +"Therefore Charles must have a household of his own. That is obvious. +Now, I don't approve of bachelor establishments. Do you?" + +"Really, Mrs. Westmacott, I have never thought of the matter." + +"Oh, you little sly puss! Was there ever a girl who never thought of +the matter? I think that a young man of six-and-twenty ought to be +married." + +Clara felt very uncomfortable. The awful thought had come upon her that +this ambassadress had come to her as a proxy with a proposal of +marriage. But how could that be? She had not spoken more than three or +four times with her nephew, and knew nothing more of him than he had +told her on the evening before. It was impossible, then. And yet what +could his aunt mean by this discussion of his private affairs? + +"Do you not think yourself," she persisted, "that a young man of six- +and-twenty is better married?" + +"I should think that he is old enough to decide for himself." + +"Yes, yes. He has done so. But Charles is just a little shy, just a +little slow in expressing himself. I thought that I would pave the way +for him. Two women can arrange these things so much better. Men +sometimes have a difficulty in making themselves clear." + +"I really hardly follow you, Mrs. Westmacott," cried Clara in despair. + +"He has no profession. But he has nice tastes. He reads Browning every +night. And he is most amazingly strong. When he was younger we used to +put on the gloves together, but I cannot persuade him to now, for he +says he cannot play light enough. I should allow him five hundred, +which should be enough at first." + +"My dear Mrs. Westmacott," cried Clara, "I assure you that I have not +the least idea what it is that you are talking of." + +"Do you think your sister Ida would have my nephew Charles?" + +Her sister Ida? Quite a little thrill of relief and of pleasure ran +through her at the thought. Ida and Charles Westmacott. She had never +thought of it. And yet they had been a good deal together. They had +played tennis. They had shared the tandem tricycle. Again came the +thrill of joy, and close at its heels the cold questionings of +conscience. Why this joy? What was the real source of it? Was it that +deep down, somewhere pushed back in the black recesses of the soul, +there was the thought lurking that if Charles prospered in his wooing +then Harold Denver would still be free? How mean, how unmaidenly, how +unsisterly the thought! She crushed it down and thrust it aside, but +still it would push up its wicked little head. She crimsoned with shame +at her own baseness, as she turned once more to her companion. + +"I really do not know," she said. + +"She is not engaged?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"You speak hesitatingly." + +"Because I am not sure. But he may ask. She cannot but be flattered." + +"Quite so. I tell him that it is the most practical compliment which a +man can pay to a woman. He is a little shy, but when he sets himself to +do it he will do it. He is very much in love with her, I assure you. +These little lively people always do attract the slow and heavy ones, +which is nature's device for the neutralizing of bores. But they are +all going in. I think if you will allow me that I will just take the +opportunity to tell him that, as far as you know, there is no positive +obstacle in the way." + +"As far as I know," Clara repeated, as the widow moved away to where the +players were grouped round the net, or sauntering slowly towards the +house. She rose to follow her, but her head was in a whirl with new +thoughts, and she sat down again. Which would be best for Ida, Harold +or Charles? She thought it over with as much solicitude as a mother who +plans for her only child. Harold had seemed to her to be in many ways +the noblest and the best young man whom she had known. If ever she was +to love a man it would be such a man as that. But she must not think of +herself. She had reason to believe that both these men loved her +sister. Which would be the best for her? But perhaps the matter was +already decided. She could not forget the scrap of conversation which +she had heard the night before, nor the secret which her sister had +refused to confide to her. If Ida would not tell her, there was but one +person who could. She raised her eyes and there was Harold Denver +standing before her. + +"You were lost in your thoughts," said he, smiling. "I hope that they +were pleasant ones." + +"Oh, I was planning," said she, rising. "It seems rather a waste of +time as a rule, for things have a way of working themselves out just as +you least expect." + +"What were you planning, then?" + +"The future." + +"Whose?" + +"Oh, my own and Ida's." + +"And was I included in your joint futures? + +"I hope all our friends were included." + +"Don't go in," said he, as she began to move slowly towards the house. +"I wanted to have a word. Let us stroll up and down the lawn. Perhaps +you are cold. If you are, I could bring you out a shawl." + +"Oh, no, I am not cold." + +"I was speaking to your sister Ida last night." She noticed that there +was a slight quiver in his voice, and, glancing up at his dark, clearcut +face, she saw that he was very grave. She felt that it was settled, +that he had come to ask her for her sister's hand. + +"She is a charming girl," said he, after a pause. + +"Indeed she is," cried Clara warmly. "And no one who has not lived with +her and known her intimately can tell how charming and good she is. She +is like a sunbeam in the house." + +"No one who was not good could be so absolutely happy as she seems to +be. Heaven's last gift, I think, is a mind so pure and a spirit so high +that it is unable even to see what is impure and evil in the world +around us. For as long as we can see it, how can we be truly happy?" + +"She has a deeper side also. She does not turn it to the world, and it +is not natural that she should, for she is very young. But she thinks, +and has aspirations of her own." + +"You cannot admire her more than I do. Indeed, Miss Walker, I only ask +to be brought into nearer relationship with her, and to feel that there +is a permanent bond between us." + +It had come at last. For a moment her heart was numbed within her, and +then a flood of sisterly love carried all before it. Down with that +dark thought which would still try to raise its unhallowed head! She +turned to Harold with sparkling eyes and words of pleasure upon her +lips. + +"I should wish to be near and dear to both of you," said he, as he took +her hand. "I should wish Ida to be my sister, and you my wife." + +She said nothing. She only stood looking at him with parted lips and +great, dark, questioning eyes. The lawn had vanished away, the sloping +gardens, the brick villas, the darkening sky with half a pale moon +beginning to show over the chimney-tops. All was gone, and she was only +conscious of a dark, earnest, pleading face, and of a voice, far away, +disconnected from herself, the voice of a man telling a woman how he +loved her. He was unhappy, said the voice, his life was a void; there +was but one thing that could save him; he had come to the parting of the +ways, here lay happiness and honor, and all that was high and noble; +there lay the soul-killing round, the lonely life, the base pursuit of +money, the sordid, selfish aims. He needed but the hand of the woman +that he loved to lead him into the better path. And how he loved her his +life would show. He loved her for her sweetness, for her womanliness, +for her strength. He had need of her. Would she not come to him? And +then of a sudden as she listened it came home to her that the man was +Harold Denver, and that she was the woman, and that all God's work was +very beautiful--the green sward beneath her feet, the rustling leaves, +the long orange slashes in the western sky. She spoke; she scarce knew +what the broken words were, but she saw the light of joy shine out on +his face, and her hand was still in his as they wandered amid the +twilight. They said no more now, but only wandered and felt each +other's presence. All was fresh around them, familiar and yet new, +tinged with the beauty of their new-found happiness. + +"Did you not know it before?" he asked. "I did not dare to think it." + +"What a mask of ice I must wear! How could a man feel as I have done +without showing it? Your sister at least knew." + +"Ida!" + +"It was last night. She began to praise you, I said what I felt, and +then in an instant it was all out." + +"But what could you--what could you see in me? Oh, I do pray that you +may not repent it!" The gentle heart was ruffled amid its joy by the +thought of its own unworthiness. + +"Repent it! I feel that I am a saved man. You do not know how +degrading this city life is, how debasing, and yet how absorbing. Money +for ever clinks in your ear. You can think of nothing else. From the +bottom of my heart I hate it, and yet how can I draw back without +bringing grief to my dear old father? There was but one way in which I +could defy the taint, and that was by having a home influence so pure +and so high that it may brace me up against all that draws me down. I +have felt that influence already. I know that when I am talking to you +I am a better man. It is you who, must go with me through life, or I +must walk for ever alone." + +"Oh, Harold, I am so happy!" Still they wandered amid the darkening +shadows, while one by one the stars peeped out in the blue black sky +above them. At last a chill night wind blew up from the east, and +brought them back to the realities of life. + +"You must go in. You will be cold." + +"My father will wonder where I am. Shall I say anything to him?" + +"If you like, my darling. Or I will in the morning. I must tell my +mother to-night. I know how delighted she will be." + +"I do hope so." + +"Let me take you up the garden path. It is so dark. Your lamp is not +lit yet. There is the window. Till to-morrow, then, dearest." + +"Till to-morrow, Harold." + +"My own darling!" He stooped, and their lips met for the first time. +Then, as she pushed open the folding windows she heard his quick, firm +step as it passed down the graveled path. A lamp was lit as she entered +the room, and there was Ida, dancing about like a mischievous little +fairy in front of her. + +"And have you anything to tell me?" she asked, with a solemn face. +Then, suddenly throwing her arms round her sister's neck, "Oh, you dear, +dear old Clara! I am so pleased. I am so pleased." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +VENIT TANDEM FELICITAS. + + +It was just three days after the Doctor and the Admiral had +congratulated each other upon the closer tie which was to unite their +two families, and to turn their friendship into something even dearer +and more intimate, that Miss Ida Walker received a letter which caused +her some surprise and considerable amusement. It was dated from next +door, and was handed in by the red-headed page after breakfast. + +"Dear Miss Ida," began this curious document, and then relapsed suddenly +into the third person. "Mr. Charles Westmacott hopes that he may have +the extreme pleasure of a ride with Miss Ida Walker upon his tandem +tricycle. Mr. Charles Westmacott will bring it round in half an hour. +You in front. Yours very truly, Charles Westmacott." The whole was +written in a large, loose-jointed, and school-boyish hand, very thin on +the up strokes and thick on the down, as though care and pains had gone +to the fashioning of it. + +Strange as was the form, the meaning was clear enough; so Ida hastened +to her room, and had hardly slipped on her light grey cycling dress when +she saw the tandem with its large occupant at the door. He handed her +up to her saddle with a more solemn and thoughtful face than was usual +with him, and a few moments later they were flying along the beautiful, +smooth suburban roads in the direction of Forest Hill. The great limbs +of the athlete made the heavy machine spring and quiver with every +stroke; while the mignon grey figure with the laughing face, and the +golden curls blowing from under the little pink-banded straw hat, simply +held firmly to her perch, and let the treadles whirl round beneath her +feet. Mile after mile they flew, the wind beating in her face, the +trees dancing past in two long ranks on either side, until they had +passed round Croydon and were approaching Norwood once more from the +further side. + +"Aren't you tired?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder and turning +towards him a little pink ear, a fluffy golden curl, and one blue eye +twinkling from the very corner of its lid. + +"Not a bit. I am just getting my swing." + +"Isn't it wonderful to be strong? You always remind me of a +steamengine." + +"Why a steamengine?" + +"Well, because it is so powerful, and reliable, and unreasoning. Well, +I didn't mean that last, you know, but--but--you know what I mean. What +is the matter with you?" + +"Why?" + +"Because you have something on your mind. You have not laughed once." + +He broke into a gruesome laugh. "I am quite jolly," said he. + +"Oh, no, you are not. And why did you write me such a dreadfully stiff +letter?" + +"There now," he cried, "I was sure it was stiff. I said it was absurdly +stiff." + +"Then why write it?" + +"It wasn't my own composition." + +"Whose then? Your aunt's?" + +"Oh, no. It was a person of the name of Slattery." + +"Goodness! Who is he?" + +"I knew it would come out, I felt that it would. You've heard of +Slattery the author?" + +"Never." + +"He is wonderful at expressing himself. He wrote a book called `The +Secret Solved; or, Letter-writing Made Easy.' It gives you models of +all sorts of letters." + +Ida burst out laughing. "So you actually copied one." + +"It was to invite a young lady to a picnic, but I set to work and soon +got it changed so that it would do very well. Slattery seems never to +have asked any one to ride a tandem. But when I had written it, it +seemed so dreadfully stiff that I had to put a little beginning and end +of my own, which seemed to brighten it up a good deal." + + +"I thought there was something funny about the beginning and end." + +"Did you? Fancy your noticing the difference in style. How quick you +are! I am very slow at things like that. I ought to have been a +woodman, or game-keeper, or something. I was made on those lines. But +I have found something now." + +"What is that, then?" + +"Ranching. I have a chum in Texas, and he says it is a rare life. I am +to buy a share in his business. It is all in the open air--shooting, +and riding, and sport. Would it--would it inconvenience you much, Ida, +to come out there with me?" + +Ida nearly fell off her perch in her amazement. The only words of which +she could think were "My goodness me!" so she said them. + +"If it would not upset your plans, or change your arrangements in any +way." He had slowed down and let go of the steering handle, so that the +great machine crawled aimlessly about from one side of the road to the +other. "I know very well that I am not clever or anything of that sort, +but still I would do all I can to make you very happy. Don't you think +that in time you might come to like me a little bit?" + +Ida gave a cry of fright. "I won't like you if you run me against a +brick wall," she said, as the machine rasped up against the curb "Do +attend to the steering." + +"Yes, I will. But tell me, Ida, whether you will come with me." + +"Oh, I don't know. It's too absurd! How can we talk about such things +when I cannot see you? You speak to the nape of my neck, and then I +have to twist my head round to answer." + +"I know. That was why I put `You in front' upon my letter. I thought +that it would make it easier. But if you would prefer it I will stop +the machine, and then you can sit round and talk about it." + +"Good gracious!" cried Ida. "Fancy our sitting face to face on a +motionless tricycle in the middle of the road, and all the people +looking out of their windows at us!" + +"It would look rather funny, wouldn't it? Well, then, suppose that we +both get off and push the tandem along in front of us?" + +"Oh, no, this is better than that." + +"Or I could carry the thing." + +Ida burst out laughing. "That would be more absurd still." + +"Then we will go quietly, and I will look out for the steering. I won't +talk about it at all if you would rather not. But I really do love you +very much, and you would make me happy if you came to Texas with me, and +I think that perhaps after a time I could make you happy too." + +"But your aunt?" + +"Oh, she would like it very much. I can understand that your father +might not like to lose you. I'm sure I wouldn't either, if I were he. +But after all, America is not very far off nowadays, and is not so very +wild. We would take a grand piano, and--and--a copy of Browning. And +Denver and his wife would come over to see us. We should be quite a +family party. It would be jolly." + +Ida sat listening to the stumbling words and awkward phrases which were +whispered from the back of her, but there was something in Charles +Westmacott's clumsiness of speech which was more moving than the words +of the most eloquent of pleaders. He paused, he stammered, he caught +his breath between the words, and he blurted out in little blunt phrases +all the hopes of his heart. If love had not come to her yet, there was +at least pity and sympathy, which are nearly akin to it. Wonder there +was also that one so weak and frail as she should shake this strong man +so, should have the whole course of his life waiting for her decision. +Her left hand was on the cushion at her side. He leaned forward and +took it gently in his own. She did not try to draw it back from him. + +"May I have it," said he, "for life?" + +"Oh, do attend to your steering," said she, smiling round at him; "and +don't say any more about this to-day. Please don't!" + +"When shall I know, then?" + +"Oh, to-night, to-morrow, I don't know. I must ask Clara. Talk about +something else." + +And they did talk about something else; but her left hand was still +enclosed in his, and he knew, without asking again, that all was well. + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +SHADOWS BEFORE. + + +Mrs. Westmacott's great meeting for the enfranchisement of woman had +passed over, and it had been a triumphant success. All the maids and +matrons of the southern suburbs had rallied at her summons, there was an +influential platform with Dr. Balthazar Walker in the chair, and Admiral +Hay Denver among his more prominent supporters. One benighted male had +come in from the outside darkness and had jeered from the further end of +the hall, but he had been called to order by the chair, petrified by +indignant glances from the unenfranchised around him, and finally +escorted to the door by Charles Westmacott. Fiery resolutions were +passed, to be forwarded to a large number of leading statesmen, and the +meeting broke up with the conviction that a shrewd blow had been struck +for the cause of woman. + +But there was one woman at least to whom the meeting and all that was +connected with it had brought anything but pleasure. Clara Walker +watched with a heavy heart the friendship and close intimacy which had +sprung up between her father and the widow. From week to week it had +increased until no day ever passed without their being together. The +coming meeting had been the excuse for these continual interviews, but +now the meeting was over, and still the Doctor would refer every point +which rose to the judgment of his neighbor. He would talk, too, to his +two daughters of her strength of character, her decisive mind, and of +the necessity of their cultivating her acquaintance and following her +example, until at last it had become his most common topic of +conversation. + +All this might have passed as merely the natural pleasure which an +elderly man might take in the society of an intelligent and handsome +woman, but there were other points which seemed to Clara to give it a +deeper meaning. She could not forget that when Charles Westmacott had +spoken to her one night he had alluded to the possibility of his aunt +marrying again. He must have known or noticed something before he would +speak upon such a subject. And then again Mrs. Westmacott had herself +said that she hoped to change her style of living shortly and take over +completely new duties. What could that mean except that she expected to +marry? And whom? She seemed to see few friends outside their own +little circle. She must have alluded to her father. It was a hateful +thought, and yet it must be faced. + +One evening the Doctor had been rather late at his neighbor's. He used +to go into the Admiral's after dinner, but now he turned more frequently +in the other direction. When he returned Clara was sitting alone in the +drawing-room reading a magazine. She sprang up as he entered, pushed +forward his chair, and ran to fetch his slippers. + +"You are looking a little pale, dear," he remarked. + +"Oh, no, papa, I am very well." + +"All well with Harold?" + +"Yes. His partner, Mr. Pearson, is still away, and he is doing all the +work." + +"Well done. He is sure to succeed. Where is Ida?" + +"In her room, I think." + +"She was with Charles Westmacott on the lawn not very long ago. He +seems very fond of her. He is not very bright, but I think he will make +her a good husband." + +"I am sure of it, papa. He is very manly and reliable." + +"Yes, I should think that he is not the sort of man who goes wrong. +There is nothing hidden about him. As to his brightness, it really does +not matter, for his aunt, Mrs. Westmacott, is very rich, much richer +than you would think from her style of living, and she has made him a +handsome provision." + +"I am glad of that." + +"It is between ourselves. I am her trustee, and so I know something of +her arrangements. And when are you going to marry, Clara?" + +"Oh, papa, not for some time yet. We have not thought of a date." + +"Well, really, I don't know that there is any reason for delay. He has +a competence and it increases yearly. As long as you are quite certain +that your mind is made up----" + +"Oh, papa!" + +"Well, then, I really do not know why there should be any delay. And +Ida, too, must be married within the next few months. Now, what I want +to know is what I am to do when my two little companions run away from +me." He spoke lightly, but his eyes were grave as he looked +questioningly at his daughter. + +"Dear papa, you shall not be alone. It will be years before Harold and +I think of marrying, and when we do you must come and live with us." + +"No, no, dear. I know that you mean what you say, but I have seen +something of the world, and I know that such arrangements never answer. +There cannot be two masters in a house, and yet at my age my freedom is +very necessary to me." + +"But you would be completely free." + +"No, dear, you cannot be that if you are a guest in another man's house. +Can you suggest no other alternative?" + +"That we remain with you." + +"No, no. That is out of the question. Mrs. Westmacott herself says +that a woman's first duty is to marry. Marriage, however, should be an +equal partnership, as she points out. I should wish you both to marry, +but still I should like a suggestion from you, Clara, as to what I +should do." + +"But there is no hurry, papa. Let us wait. I do not intend to marry +yet." + +Doctor Walker looked disappointed. "Well, Clara, if you can suggest +nothing, I suppose that I must take the initiative myself," said he. + +"Then what do you propose, papa?" She braced herself as one who sees +the blow which is about to fall. + +He looked at her and hesitated. "How like your poor dear mother you +are, Clara!" he cried. "As I looked at you then it was as if she had +come back from the grave." He stooped towards her and kissed her. +"There, run away to your sister, my dear, and do not trouble yourself +about me. Nothing is settled yet, but you will find that all will come +right." + +Clara went upstairs sad at heart, for she was sure now that what she had +feared was indeed about to come to pass, and that her father was going +to take Mrs. Westmacott to be his wife. In her pure and earnest mind +her mother's memory was enshrined as that of a saint, and the thought +that any one should take her place seemed a terrible desecration. Even +worse, however, did this marriage appear when looked at from the point +of view of her father's future. The widow might fascinate him by her +knowledge of the world, her dash, her strength, her unconventionality-- +all these qualities Clara was willing to allow her--but she was +convinced that she would be unendurable as a life companion. She had +come to an age when habits are not lightly to be changed, nor was she a +woman who was at all likely to attempt to change them. How would a +sensitive man like her father stand the constant strain of such a wife, +a woman who was all decision, with no softness, and nothing soothing in +her nature? It passed as a mere eccentricity when they heard of her +stout drinking, her cigarette smoking, her occasional whiffs at a long +clay pipe, her horsewhipping of a drunken servant, and her companionship +with the snake Eliza, whom she was in the habit of bearing about in her +pocket. All this would become unendurable to her father when his first +infatuation was past. For his own sake, then, as well as for her +mother's memory, this match must be prevented. And yet how powerless +she was to prevent it! What could she do? Could Harold aid her? +Perhaps. Or Ida? At least she would tell her sister and see what she +could suggest. + +Ida was in her boudoir, a tiny little tapestried room, as neat and +dainty as herself, with low walls hung with Imari plaques and with +pretty little Swiss brackets bearing blue Kaga ware, or the pure white +Coalport china. In a low chair beneath a red shaded standing lamp sat +Ida, in a diaphanous evening dress of mousseline de soie, the ruddy +light tinging her sweet childlike face, and glowing on her golden curls. +She sprang up as her sister entered, and threw her arms around her. + +"Dear old Clara! Come and sit down here beside me. I have not had a +chat for days. But, oh, what a troubled face! What is it then?" She +put up her forefinger and smoothed her sister's brow with it. + +Clara pulled up a stool, and sitting down beside her sister, passed her +arm round her waist. "I am so sorry to trouble you, dear Ida," she +said. "But I do not know what to do. + +"There's nothing the matter with Harold?" + +"Oh, no, Ida." + +"Nor with my Charles?" + +"No, no." + +Ida gave a sigh of relief. "You quite frightened me, dear," said she. +"You can't think how solemn you look. What is it, then?" + +"I believe that papa intends to ask Mrs. Westmacott to marry him." + +Ida burst out laughing. "What can have put such a notion into your +head, Clara?" + +"It is only too true, Ida. I suspected it before, and he himself almost +told me as much with his own lips to-night. I don't think that it is a +laughing matter." + +"Really, I could not help it. If you had told me that those two dear +old ladies opposite, the Misses Williams, were both engaged, you would +not have surprised me more. It is really too funny." + +"Funny, Ida! Think of any one taking the place of dear mother." + +But her sister was of a more practical and less sentimental nature. "I +am sure," said she, "that dear mother would like papa to do whatever +would make him most happy. We shall both be away, and why should papa +not please himself?" + +"But think how unhappy he will be. You know how quiet he is in his +ways, and how even a little thing will upset him. How could he live +with a wife who would make his whole life a series of surprises? Fancy +what a whirlwind she must be in a house. A man at his age cannot change +his ways. I am sure he would be miserable." + +Ida's face grew graver, and she pondered over the matter for a few +minutes. "I really think that you are right as usual," said she at +last. "I admire Charlie's aunt very much, you know, and I think that +she is a very useful and good person, but I don't think she would do as +a wife for poor quiet papa." + +"But he will certainly ask her, and I really think that she intends to +accept him. Then it would be too late to interfere. We have only a few +days at the most. And what can we do? How can we hope to make him +change his mind?" + +Again Ida pondered. "He has never tried what it is to live with a +strong-minded woman," said she. "If we could only get him to realize it +in time. Oh, Clara, I have it; I have it! Such a lovely plan!" She +leaned back in her chair and burst into a fit of laughter so natural and +so hearty that Clara had to forget her troubles and to join in it. + +"Oh, it is beautiful!" she gasped at last. "Poor papa! What a time he +will have! But it's all for his own good, as he used to say when we had +to be punished when we were little. Oh, Clara, I do hope your heart +won't fail you." + +"I would do anything to save him, dear." + +"That's it. You must steel yourself by that thought." + +"But what is your plan?" + +"Oh, I am so proud of it. We will tire him for ever of the widow, and +of all emancipated women. Let me see, what are Mrs. Westmacott's main +ideas? You have listened to her more than I. Women should attend less +to household duties. That is one, is it not?" + +"Yes, if they feel they have capabilities for higher things. Then she +thinks that every woman who has leisure should take up the study of some +branch of science, and that, as far as possible, every woman should +qualify herself for some trade or profession, choosing for preference +those which have been hitherto monopolized by men. To enter the others +would only be to intensify the present competition." + +"Quite so. That is glorious!" Her blue eyes were dancing with +mischief, and she clapped her hands in her delight. "What else? She +thinks that whatever a man can do a woman should be allowed to do also-- +does she not?" + +"She says so." + +"And about dress? The short skirt, and the divided skirt are what she +believes in?" + +"Yes." + +"We must get in some cloth." + +"Why?" + +"We must make ourselves a dress each. A brand-new, enfranchised, +emancipated dress, dear. Don't you see my plan? We shall act up to all +Mrs. Westmacott's views in every respect, and improve them when we can. +Then papa will know what it is to live with a woman who claims all her +rights. Oh, Clara, it will be splendid." + +Her milder sister sat speechless before so daring a scheme. "But it +would be wrong, Ida!" she cried at last. + +"Not a bit. It is to save him." + +"I should not dare." + +"Oh, yes, you would. Harold will help. Besides, what other plan have +you?" + +"I have none." + +"Then you must take mine." + +"Yes. Perhaps you are right. Well, we do it for a good motive." + +"You will do it?" + +"I do not see any other way." + +"You dear good Clara! Now I will show you what you are to do. We must +not begin too suddenly. It might excite suspicion." + +"What would you do, then?" + +"To-morrow we must go to Mrs. Westmacott, and sit at her feet and learn +all her views." + +"What hypocrites we shall feel!" + +"We shall be her newest and most enthusiastic converts. Oh, it will be +such fun, Clara! Then we shall make our plans and send for what we +want, and begin our new life." + +"I do hope that we shall not have to keep it up long. It seems so cruel +to dear papa." + +"Cruel! To save him!" + +"I wish I was sure that we were doing right. And yet what else can we +do? Well, then, Ida, the die is cast, and we will call upon Mrs. +Westmacott tomorrow." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +A FAMILY PLOT. + + +Little did poor Doctor Walker imagine as he sat at his breakfast-table +next morning that the two sweet girls who sat on either side of him were +deep in a conspiracy, and that he, munching innocently at his muffins, +was the victim against whom their wiles were planned. Patiently they +waited until at last their opening came. + +"It is a beautiful day," he remarked. "It will do for Mrs. Westmacott. +She was thinking of having a spin upon the tricycle." + +"Then we must call early. We both intended to see her after breakfast." + +"Oh, indeed!" The Doctor looked pleased. + +"You know, pa," said Ida, "it seems to us that we really have a very +great advantage in having Mrs. Westmacott living so near." + +"Why so, dear?" + +"Well, because she is so advanced, you know. If we only study her ways +we may advance ourselves also." + +"I think I have heard you say, papa," Clara remarked, "that she is the +type of the woman of the future." + +"I am very pleased to hear you speak so sensibly, my dears. I certainly +think that she is a woman whom you may very well take as your model. +The more intimate you are with her the better pleased I shall be." + +"Then that is settled," said Clara demurely, and the talk drifted to +other matters. + +All the morning the two girls sat extracting from Mrs. Westmacott her +most extreme view as to the duty of the one sex and the tyranny of the +other. Absolute equality, even in details, was her ideal. Enough of +the parrot cry of unwomanly and unmaidenly. It had been invented by man +to scare woman away when she poached too nearly upon his precious +preserves. Every woman should be independent. Every woman should learn +a trade. It was their duty to push in where they were least welcome. +Then they were martyrs to the cause, and pioneers to their weaker +sisters. Why should the wash-tub, the needle, and the housekeeper's +book be eternally theirs? Might they not reach higher, to the +consulting-room, to the bench, and even to the pulpit? Mrs. Westmacott +sacrificed her tricycle ride in her eagerness over her pet subject, and +her two fair disciples drank in every word, and noted every suggestion +for future use. That afternoon they went shopping in London, and before +evening strange packages began to be handed in at the Doctor's door. +The plot was ripe for execution, and one of the conspirators was merry +and jubilant, while the other was very nervous and troubled. + +When the Doctor came down to the dining-room next morning, he was +surprised to find that his daughters had already been up some time. Ida +was installed at one end of the table with a spirit-lamp, a curved glass +flask, and several bottles in front of her. The contents of the flask +were boiling furiously, while a villainous smell filled the room. Clara +lounged in an arm-chair with her feet upon a second one, a blue-covered +book in her hand, and a huge map of the British Islands spread across +her lap. "Hullo!" cried the Doctor, blinking and sniffing, "where's the +breakfast?" + +"Oh, didn't you order it?" asked Ida. + +"I! No; why should I?" He rang the bell. "Why have you not laid the +breakfast, Jane?" + +"If you please, sir, Miss Ida was a workin' at the table." + +"Oh, of course, Jane," said the young lady calmly. "I am so sorry. I +shall be ready to move in a few minutes." + +"But what on earth are you doing, Ida?" asked the Doctor. "The smell is +most offensive. And, good gracious, look at the mess which you have +made upon the cloth! Why, you have burned a hole right through." + +"Oh, that is the acid," Ida answered contentedly. "Mrs. Westmacott said +that it would burn holes." + +"You might have taken her word for it without trying," said her father +dryly. + +"But look here, pa! See what the book says: `The scientific mind takes +nothing upon trust. Prove all things!' I have proved that." + +"You certainly have. Well, until breakfast is ready I'll glance over +the Times. Have you seen it?" + +"The Times? Oh, dear me, this is it which I have under my spirit-lamp. +I am afraid there is some acid upon that too, and it is rather damp and +torn. Here it is." + +The Doctor took the bedraggled paper with a rueful face. "Everything +seems to be wrong to-day," he remarked. "What is this sudden enthusiasm +about chemistry, Ida?" + +"Oh, I am trying to live up to Mrs. Westmacott's teaching." + +"Quite right! quite right!" said he, though perhaps with less heartiness +than he had shown the day before. "Ah, here is breakfast at last!" + +But nothing was comfortable that morning. There were eggs without egg- +spoons, toast which was leathery from being kept, dried-up rashers, and +grounds in the coffee. Above all, there was that dreadful smell which +pervaded everything and gave a horrible twang to every mouthful. + +"I don't wish to put a damper upon your studies, Ida," said the Doctor, +as he pushed back his chair. "But I do think it would be better if you +did your chemical experiments a little later in the day." + +"But Mrs. Westmacott says that women should rise early, and do their +work before breakfast." + +"Then they should choose some other room besides the breakfast-room." +The Doctor was becoming just a little ruffled. A turn in the open air +would soothe him, he thought. "Where are my boots?" he asked. + +But they were not in their accustomed corner by his chair. Up and down +he searched, while the three servants took up the quest, stooping and +peeping under book-cases and drawers. Ida had returned to her studies, +and Clara to her blue-covered volume, sitting absorbed and disinterested +amid the bustle and the racket. At last a general buzz of +congratulation announced that the cook had discovered the boots hung up +among the hats in the hall. The Doctor, very red and flustered, drew +them on, and stamped off to join the Admiral in his morning walk. + +As the door slammed Ida burst into a shout of laughter. "You see, +Clara," she cried, "the charm works already. He has gone to number one +instead of to number three. Oh, we shall win a great victory. You've +been very good, dear; I could see that you were on thorns to help him +when he was looking for his boots." + +"Poor papa! It is so cruel. And yet what are we to do?" + +"Oh, he will enjoy being comfortable all the more if we give him a +little discomfort now. What horrible work this chemistry is! Look at +my frock! It is ruined. And this dreadful smell!" She threw open the +window, and thrust her little golden-curled head out of it. Charles +Westmacott was hoeing at the other side of the garden fence. + +"Good morning, sir," said Ida. + +"Good morning!" The big man leaned upon his hoe and looked up at her. + +"Have you any cigarettes, Charles?" + +"Yes, certainly." + +"Throw me up two." + +"Here is my case. Can you catch!" + +A seal-skin case came with a soft thud on to the floor. Ida opened it. +It was full. + +"What are these?" she asked. + +"Egyptians." + +"What are some other brands?" + +"Oh, Richmond Gems, and Turkish, and Cambridge. But why?" + +"Never mind!" She nodded to him and closed the window. "We must +remember all those, Clara," said she. "We must learn to talk about such +things. Mrs. Westmacott knows all about the brands of cigarettes. Has +your rum come?" + +"Yes, dear. It is here." + +"And I have my stout. Come along up to my room now. This smell is too +abominable. But we must be ready for him when he comes back. If we sit +at the window we shall see him coming down the road." + +The fresh morning air, and the genial company of the Admiral had caused +the Doctor to forget his troubles, and he came back about midday in an +excellent humor. As he opened the hall door the vile smell of chemicals +which had spoilt his breakfast met him with a redoubled virulence. He +threw open the hall window, entered the dining-room, and stood aghast at +the sight which met his eyes. + +Ida was still sitting among her bottles, with a lit cigarette in her +left hand and a glass of stout on the table beside her. Clara, with +another cigarette, was lounging in the easy chair with several maps +spread out upon the floor around. Her feet were stuck up on the coal +scuttle, and she had a tumblerful of some reddish-brown composition on +the smoking table close at her elbow. The Doctor gazed from one to the +other of them through the thin grey haze of smoke, but his eyes rested +finally in a settled stare of astonishment upon his elder and more +serious daughter. + +"Clara!" he gasped, "I could not have believed it!" + +"What is it, papa?" + +"You are smoking!" + +"Trying to, papa. I find it a little difficult, for I have not been +used to it." + +"But why, in the name of goodness--" + +"Mrs. Westmacott recommends it." + +"Oh, a lady of mature years may do many things which a young girl must +avoid." + +"Oh, no," cried Ida, "Mrs. Westmacott says that there should be one law +for all. Have a cigarette, pa?" + +"No, thank you. I never smoke in the morning." + +"No? Perhaps you don't care for the brand. What are these, Clara?" + +"Egyptians." + +"Ah, we must have some Richmond Gems or Turkish. I wish, pa, when you +go into town, you would get me some Turkish." + +"I will do nothing of the kind. I do not at all think that it is a +fitting habit for young ladies. I do not agree with Mrs. Westmacott +upon the point." + +"Really, pa! It was you who advised us to imitate her." + +"But with discrimination. What is it that you are drinking, Clara?" + +"Rum, papa." + +"Rum? In the morning?" He sat down and rubbed his eyes as one who +tries to shake off some evil dream. "Did you say rum?" + +"Yes, pa. They all drink it in the profession which I am going to take +up." + +"Profession, Clara?" + +"Mrs. Westmacott says that every woman should follow a calling, and that +we ought to choose those which women have always avoided." + +"Quite so." + +"Well, I am going to act upon her advice. I am going to be a pilot." + +"My dear Clara! A pilot! This is too much." + +"This is a beautiful book, papa. `The Lights, Beacons, Buoys, Channels, +and Landmarks of Great Britain.' Here is another, `The Master Mariner's +Handbook.' You can't imagine how interesting it is." + +"You are joking, Clara. You must be joking!" + +"Not at all, pa. You can't think what a lot I have learned already. +I'm to carry a green light to starboard and a red to port, with a white +light at the mast-head, and a flare-up every fifteen minutes." + +"Oh, won't it look pretty at night!" cried her sister. + +"And I know the fog-signals. One blast means that a ship steers to +starboard, two to port, three astern, four that it is unmanageable. But +this man asks such dreadful questions at the end of each chapter. +Listen to this: `You see a red light. The ship is on the port tack and +the wind at north; what course is that ship steering to a point?'" + +The Doctor rose with a gesture of despair. "I can't imagine what has +come over you both," said he. + +"My dear papa, we are trying hard to live up to Mrs. Westmacott's +standard." + +"Well, I must say that I do not admire the result. Your chemistry, Ida, +may perhaps do no harm; but your scheme, Clara, is out of the question. +How a girl of your sense could ever entertain such a notion is more than +I can imagine. But I must absolutely forbid you to go further with it." + +"But, pa," asked Ida, with an air of innocent inquiry in her big blue +eyes, "what are we to do when your commands and Mrs. Westmacott's advice +are opposed? You told us to obey her. She says that when women try to +throw off their shackles, their fathers, brothers and husbands are the +very first to try to rivet them on again, and that in such a matter no +man has any authority." + +"Does Mrs. Westmacott teach you that I am not the head of my own house?" +The Doctor flushed, and his grizzled hair bristled in his anger. + +"Certainly. She says that all heads of houses are relics of the dark +ages." + +The Doctor muttered something and stamped his foot upon the carpet. +Then without a word he passed out into the garden and his daughters +could see him striding furiously up and down, cutting off the heads of +the flowers with a switch. + +"Oh, you darling! You played your part so splendidly!" cried Ida. + +"But how cruel it is! When I saw the sorrow and surprise in his eyes I +very nearly put my arms about him and told him all. Don't you think we +have done enough?" + +"No, no, no. Not nearly enough. You must not turn weak now, Clara. It +is so funny that I should be leading you. It is quite a new experience. +But I know I am right. If we go on as we are doing, we shall be able to +say all our lives that we have saved him. And if we don't, oh, Clara, +we should never forgive ourselves." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER X. + + +WOMEN OF THE FUTURE. + + +From that day the Doctor's peace was gone. Never was a quiet and +orderly household transformed so suddenly into a bear garden, or a happy +man turned into such a completely miserable one. He had never realized +before how entirely his daughters had shielded him from all the friction +of life. Now that they had not only ceased to protect him, but had +themselves become a source of trouble to him, he began to understand how +great the blessing was which he had enjoyed, and to sigh for the happy +days before his girls had come under the influence of his neighbor. + +"You don't look happy," Mrs. Westmacott had remarked to him one morning. +"You are pale and a little off color. You should come with me for a ten +mile spin upon the tandem." + +"I am troubled about my girls." They were walking up and down in the +garden. From time to time there sounded from the house behind them the +long, sad wail of a French horn. + +"That is Ida," said he. "She has taken to practicing on that dreadful +instrument in the intervals of her chemistry. And Clara is quite as +bad. I declare it is getting quite unendurable." + +"Ah, Doctor, Doctor!" she cried, shaking her forefinger, with a gleam of +her white teeth. "You must live up to your principles--you must give +your daughters the same liberty as you advocate for other women." + +"Liberty, madam, certainly! But this approaches to license." + +"The same law for all, my friend." She tapped him reprovingly on the +arm with her sunshade. "When you were twenty your father did not, I +presume, object to your learning chemistry or playing a musical +instrument. You would have thought it tyranny if he had." + +"But there is such a sudden change in them both." + +"Yes, I have noticed that they have been very enthusiastic lately in the +cause of liberty. Of all my disciples I think that they promise to be +the most devoted and consistent, which is the more natural since their +father is one of our most trusted champions." + +The Doctor gave a twitch of impatience. "I seem to have lost all +authority," he cried. + +"No, no, my dear friend. They are a little exuberant at having broken +the trammels of custom. That is all." + +"You cannot think what I have had to put up with, madam. It has been a +dreadful experience. Last night, after I had extinguished the candle in +my bedroom, I placed my foot upon something smooth and hard, which +scuttled from under me. Imagine my horror! I lit the gas, and came +upon a well-grown tortoise which Clara has thought fit to introduce into +the house. I call it a filthy custom to have such pets." + +Mrs. Westmacott dropped him a little courtesy. "Thank you, sir," said +she. "That is a nice little side hit at my poor Eliza." + +"I give you my word that I had forgotten about her," cried the Doctor, +flushing. "One such pet may no doubt be endured, but two are more than +I can bear. Ida has a monkey which lives on the curtain rod. It is a +most dreadful creature. It will remain absolutely motionless until it +sees that you have forgotten its presence, and then it will suddenly +bound from picture to picture all round the walls, and end by swinging +down on the bell-rope and jumping on to the top of your head. At +breakfast it stole a poached egg and daubed it all over the door handle. +Ida calls these outrages amusing tricks." + +"Oh, all will come right," said the widow reassuringly. + +"And Clara is as bad, Clara who used to be so good and sweet, the very +image of her poor mother. She insists upon this preposterous scheme of +being a pilot, and will talk of nothing but revolving lights and hidden +rocks, and codes of signals, and nonsense of the kind." + +"But why preposterous?" asked his companion. "What nobler occupation +can there be than that of stimulating commerce, and aiding the mariner +to steer safely into port? I should think your daughter admirably +adapted for such duties." + +"Then I must beg to differ from you, madam." + +"Still, you are inconsistent." + +"Excuse me, madam, I do not see the matter in the same light. And I +should be obliged to you if you would use your influence with my +daughter to dissuade her." + +"You wish to make me inconsistent too." + +"Then you refuse?" + +"I am afraid that I cannot interfere." + +The Doctor was very angry. "Very well, madam," said he. "In that case +I can only say that I have the honor to wish you a very good morning." +He raised his broad straw hat and strode away up the gravel path, while +the widow looked after him with twinkling eyes. She was surprised +herself to find that she liked the Doctor better the more masculine and +aggressive he became. It was unreasonable and against all principle, +and yet so it was and no argument could mend the matter. + +Very hot and angry, the Doctor retired into his room and sat down to +read his paper. Ida had retired, and the distant wails of the bugle +showed that she was upstairs in her boudoir. Clara sat opposite to him +with her exasperating charts and her blue book. The Doctor glanced at +her and his eyes remained fixed in astonishment upon the front of her +skirt. + +"My dear Clara," he cried, "you have torn your skirt!" + +His daughter laughed and smoothed out her frock. To his horror he saw +the red plush of the chair where the dress ought to have been. "It is +all torn!" he cried. "What have you done?" + +"My dear papa!" said she, "what do you know about the mysteries of +ladies' dress? This is a divided skirt." + +Then he saw that it was indeed so arranged, and that his daughter was +clad in a sort of loose, extremely long knickerbockers. + +"It will be so convenient for my sea-boots," she explained. + +Her father shook his head sadly. "Your dear mother would not have liked +it, Clara," said he. + +For a moment the conspiracy was upon the point of collapsing. There was +something in the gentleness of his rebuke, and in his appeal to her +mother, which brought the tears to her eyes, and in another instant she +would have been kneeling beside him with everything confessed, when the +door flew open and her sister Ida came bounding into the room. She wore +a short grey skirt, like that of Mrs. Westmacott, and she held it up in +each hand and danced about among the furniture. + +"I feel quite the Gaiety girl!" she cried. "How delicious it must be to +be upon the stage! You can't think how nice this dress is, papa. One +feels so free in it. And isn't Clara charming?" + +"Go to your room this instant and take it off!" thundered the Doctor. +"I call it highly improper, and no daughter of mine shall wear it." + +"Papa! Improper! Why, it is the exact model of Mrs. Westmacott's." + +"I say it is improper. And yours also, Clara! Your conduct is really +outrageous. You drive me out of the house. I am going to my club in +town. I have no comfort or peace of mind in my own house. I will stand +it no longer. I may be late to-night--I shall go to the British Medical +meeting. But when I return I shall hope to find that you have +reconsidered your conduct, and that you have shaken yourself clear of +the pernicious influences which have recently made such an alteration in +your conduct." He seized his hat, slammed the dining-room door, and a +few minutes later they heard the crash of the big front gate. + +"Victory, Clara, victory!" cried Ida, still pirouetting around the +furniture. "Did you hear what he said? Pernicious influences! Don't +you understand, Clara? Why do you sit there so pale and glum? Why +don't you get up and dance?" + +"Oh, I shall be so glad when it is over, Ida. I do hate to give him +pain. Surely he has learned now that it is very unpleasant to spend +one's life with reformers." + +"He has almost learned it, Clara. Just one more little lesson. We must +not risk all at this last moment." + +"What would you do, Ida? Oh, don't do anything too dreadful. I feel +that we have gone too far already." + +"Oh, we can do it very nicely. You see we are both engaged and that +makes it very easy. Harold will do what you ask him, especially as you +have told him the reason why, and my Charles will do it without even +wanting to know the reason. Now you know what Mrs. Westmacott thinks +about the reserve of young ladies. Mere prudery, affectation, and a +relic of the dark ages of the Zenana. Those were her words, were they +not?" + +"What then?" + +"Well, now we must put it in practice. We are reducing all her other +views to practice, and we must not shirk this one. + +"But what would you do? Oh, don't look so wicked, Ida! You look like +some evil little fairy, with your golden hair and dancing, mischievous +eyes. I know that you are going to propose something dreadful!" + +"We must give a little supper to-night." + +"We? A supper!" + +"Why not? Young gentlemen give suppers. Why not young ladies?" + +"But whom shall we invite?" + +"Why, Harold and Charles of course." + +"And the Admiral and Mrs. Hay Denver?" + +"Oh, no. That would be very old-fashioned. We must keep up with the +times, Clara." + +"But what can we give them for supper?" + +"Oh, something with a nice, fast, rollicking, late-at-night-kind of +flavor to it. Let me see! Champagne, of course--and oysters. Oysters +will do. In the novels, all the naughty people take champagne and +oysters. Besides, they won't need any cooking. How is your pocket- +money, Clara?" + +"I have three pounds." + +"And I have one. Four pounds. I have no idea how much champagne costs. +Have you?" + +"Not the slightest." + +"How many oysters does a man eat?" + +"I can't imagine." + +"I'll write and ask Charles. No, I won't. I'll ask Jane. Ring for +her, Clara. She has been a cook, and is sure to know." + +Jane, on being cross-questioned, refused to commit herself beyond the +statement that it depended upon the gentleman, and also upon the +oysters. The united experience of the kitchen, however, testified that +three dozen was a fair provision. + +"Then we shall have eight dozen altogether," said Ida, jotting down all +her requirements upon a sheet of paper. "And two pints of champagne. +And some brown bread, and vinegar, and pepper. That's all, I think. It +is not so very difficult to give a supper after all, is it, Clara?" + +"I don't like it, Ida. It seems to me to be so very indelicate." + +"But it is needed to clinch the matter. No, no, there is no drawing +back now, Clara, or we shall ruin everything. Papa is sure to come back +by the 9:45. He will reach the door at 10. We must have everything +ready for him. Now, just sit down at once, and ask Harold to come at +nine o'clock, and I shall do the same to Charles." + +The two invitations were dispatched, received and accepted. Harold was +already a confidant, and he understood that this was some further +development of the plot. As to Charles, he was so accustomed to +feminine eccentricity, in the person of his aunt, that the only thing +which could surprise him would be a rigid observance of etiquette. At +nine o'clock they entered the dining-room of Number 2, to find the +master of the house absent, a red-shaded lamp, a snowy cloth, a pleasant +little feast, and the two whom they would have chosen, as their +companions. A merrier party never met, and the house rang with their +laughter and their chatter. + +"It is three minutes to ten," cried Clara, suddenly, glancing at the +clock. + +"Good gracious! So it is! Now for our little tableau!" Ida pushed the +champagne bottles obtrusively forward, in the direction of the door, and +scattered oyster shells over the cloth. + +"Have you your pipe, Charles?" + +"My pipe! Yes." + +"Then please smoke it. Now don't argue about it, but do it, for you +will ruin the effect otherwise." + +The large man drew out a red case, and extracted a great yellow +meerschaum, out of which, a moment later, he was puffing thick wreaths +of smoke. Harold had lit a cigar, and both the girls had cigarettes. + +"That looks very nice and emancipated," said Ida, glancing round. "Now +I shall lie on this sofa. So! Now, Charles, just sit here, and throw +your arm carelessly over the back of the sofa. No, don't stop smoking. +I like it. Clara, dear, put your feet upon the coal-scuttle, and do +try to look a little dissipated. I wish we could crown ourselves with +flowers. There are some lettuces on the sideboard. Oh dear, here he +is! I hear his key." She began to sing in her high, fresh voice a +little snatch from a French song, with a swinging tra la-la chorus. + +The Doctor had walked home from the station in a peaceable and relenting +frame of mind, feeling that, perhaps, he had said too much in the +morning, that his daughters had for years been models in every way, and +that, if there had been any change of late, it was, as they said +themselves, on account of their anxiety to follow his advice and to +imitate Mrs. Westmacott. He could see clearly enough now that that +advice was unwise, and that a world peopled with Mrs. Westmacotts would +not be a happy or a soothing one. It was he who was, himself, to blame, +and he was grieved by the thought that perhaps his hot words had +troubled and saddened his two girls. + +This fear, however, was soon dissipated. As he entered his hall he +heard the voice of Ida uplifted in a rollicking ditty, and a very strong +smell of tobacco was borne to his nostrils. He threw open the dining- +room door, and stood aghast at the scene which met his eyes. + +The room was full of the blue wreaths of smoke, and the lamp-light shone +through the thin haze upon gold-topped bottles, plates, napkins, and a +litter of oyster shells and cigarettes. Ida, flushed and excited, was +reclining upon the settee, a wine-glass at her elbow, and a cigarette +between her fingers, while Charles Westmacott sat beside her, with his +arm thrown over the head of the sofa, with the suggestion of a caress. +On the other side of the room, Clara was lounging in an arm-chair, with +Harold beside her, both smoking, and both with wine-glasses beside them. +The Doctor stood speechless in the doorway, staring at the Bacchanalian +scene. + +"Come in, papa! Do!" cried Ida. "Won't you have a glass of champagne?" + +"Pray excuse me," said her father, coldly, "I feel that I am intruding. +I did not know that you were entertaining. Perhaps you will kindly let +me know when you have finished. You will find me in my study." He +ignored the two young men completely, and, closing the door, retired, +deeply hurt and mortified, to his room. A quarter of an hour afterwards +he heard the door slam, and his two daughters came to announce that the +guests were gone. + +"Guests! Whose guests?" he cried angrily. "What is the meaning of this +exhibition?" + +"We have been giving a little supper, papa. They were our guests." + +"Oh, indeed!" The Doctor laughed sarcastically. "You think it right, +then, to entertain young bachelors late at night, to, smoke and drink +with them, to---- Oh, that I should ever have lived to blush for my own +daughters! I thank God that your dear mother never saw the day." + +"Dearest papa," cried Clara, throwing her arms about him. "Do not be +angry with us. If you understood all, you would see that there is no +harm in it." + +"No harm, miss! Who is the best judge of that?" + +"Mrs. Westmacott," suggested Ida, slyly. + +The Doctor sprang from his chair. "Confound Mrs. Westmacott!" he cried, +striking frenziedly into the air with his hands. "Am I to hear of +nothing but this woman? Is she to confront me at every turn? I will +endure it no longer." + +"But it was your wish, papa." + +"Then I will tell you now what my second and wiser wish is, and we shall +see if you will obey it as you have the first." + +"Of course we will, papa." + +"Then my wish is, that you should forget these odious notions which you +have imbibed, that you should dress and act as you used to do, before +ever you saw this woman, and that, in future, you confine your +intercourse with her to such civilities as are necessary between +neighbors." + +"We are to give up Mrs. Westmacott?" + +"Or give up me." + +"Oh, dear dad, how can you say anything so cruel?" cried Ida, burrowing +her towsy golden hair into her father's shirt front, while Clara pressed +her cheek against his whisker. "Of course we shall give her up, if you +prefer it." + +"Of course we shall, papa." + +The Doctor patted the two caressing heads. "These are my own two girls +again," he cried. "It has been my fault as much as yours. I have been +astray, and you have followed me in my error. It was only by seeing +your mistake that I have become conscious of my own. Let us set it +aside, and neither say nor think anything more about it." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +A BLOT FROM THE BLUE. + + +So by the cleverness of two girls a dark cloud was thinned away and +turned into sunshine. Over one of them, alas, another cloud was +gathering, which could not be so easily dispersed. Of these three +households which fate had thrown together, two had already been united +by ties of love. It was destined, however, that a bond of another sort +should connect the Westmacotts with the Hay Denvers. + +Between the Admiral and the widow a very cordial feeling had existed +since the day when the old seaman had hauled down his flag and changed +his opinions; granting to the yachts-woman all that he had refused to +the reformer. His own frank and downright nature respected the same +qualities in his neighbor, and a friendship sprang up between them which +was more like that which exists between two men, founded upon esteem and +a community of tastes. + +"By the way, Admiral," said Mrs. Westmacott one morning, as they walked +together down to the station, "I understand that this boy of yours in +the intervals of paying his devotions to Miss Walker is doing something +upon 'Change." + +"Yes, ma'am, and there is no man of his age who is doing so well. He's +drawing ahead, I can tell you, ma'am. Some of those that started with +him are hull down astarn now. He touched his five hundred last year, +and before he's thirty he'll be making the four figures." + +"The reason I asked is that I have small investments to make myself from +time to time, and my present broker is a rascal. I should be very glad +to do it through your son." + +"It is very kind of you, ma'am. His partner is away on a holiday, and +Harold would like to push on a bit and show what he can do. You know +the poop isn't big enough to hold the lieutenant when the skipper's on +shore." + +"I suppose he charges the usual half per cent?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure, ma'am. I'll swear that he does what is right and +proper." + +"That is what I usually pay--ten shillings in the hundred pounds. If +you see him before I do just ask him to get me five thousand in New +Zealands. It is at four just now, and I fancy it may rise." + +"Five thousand!" exclaimed the Admiral, reckoning it in his own mind. +"Lemme see! That's twenty-five pounds commission. A nice day's work, +upon my word. It is a very handsome order, ma'am." + +"Well, I must pay some one, and why not him?" + +"I'll tell him, and I'm sure he'll lose no time." + +"Oh, there is no great hurry. By the way, I understand from what you +said just now that he has a partner." + +"Yes, my boy is the junior partner. Pearson is the senior. I was +introduced to him years ago, and he offered Harold the opening. Of +course we had a pretty stiff premium to pay." + +Mrs. Westmacott had stopped, and was standing very stiffly with her Red +Indian face even grimmer than usual. + +"Pearson?" said she. "Jeremiah Pearson?" + +"The same." + +"Then it's all off," she cried. "You need not carry out that +investment." + +"Very well, ma'am." + +They walked on together side by side, she brooding over some thought of +her own, and he a little crossed and disappointed at her caprice and the +lost commission for Harold. + +"I tell you what, Admiral," she exclaimed suddenly, "if I were you I +should get your boy out of this partnership." + +"But why, madam?" + +"Because he is tied to one of the deepest, slyest foxes in the whole +city of London." + +"Jeremiah Pearson, ma'am? What can you know of him? He bears a good +name." + +"No one in this world knows Jeremiah Pearson as I know him, Admiral. I +warn you because I have a friendly feeling both for you and for your +son. The man is a rogue and you had best avoid him." + +"But these are only words, ma'am. Do you tell me that you know him +better than the brokers and jobbers in the City?" + +"Man," cried Mrs. Westmacott, "will you allow that I know him when I +tell you that my maiden name was Ada Pearson, and that Jeremiah is my +only brother?" + +The Admiral whistled. "Whew!" cried he. "Now that I think of it, there +is a likeness." + +"He is a man of iron, Admiral--a man without a heart. I should shock +you if I were to tell you what I have endured from my brother. My +father's wealth was divided equally between us. His own share he ran +through in five years, and he has tried since then by every trick of a +cunning, low-minded man, by base cajolery, by legal quibbles, by brutal +intimidation, to juggle me out of my share as well. There is no +villainy of which the man is not capable. Oh, I know my brother +Jeremiah. I know him and I am prepared for him." + +"This is all new to me, ma'am. 'Pon my word, I hardly know what to say +to it. I thank you for having spoken so plainly. From what you say, +this is a poor sort of consort for a man to sail with. Perhaps Harold +would do well to cut himself adrift." + +"Without losing a day." + +"Well, we shall talk it over. You may be sure of that. But here we are +at the station, so I will just see you into your carriage and then home +to see what my wife says to the matter." + +As he trudged homewards, thoughtful and perplexed, he was surprised to +hear a shout behind him, and to see Harold running down the road after +him. + +"Why, dad," he cried, "I have just come from town, and the first thing I +saw was your back as you marched away. But you are such a quick walker +that I had to run to catch you." + +The Admiral's smile of pleasure had broken his stern face into a +thousand wrinkles. "You are early to-day," said he. + +"Yes, I wanted to consult you." + +"Nothing wrong?" + +"Oh no, only an inconvenience." + +"What is it, then?" + +"How much have we in our private account?" + +"Pretty fair. Some eight hundred, I think." + +"Oh, half that will be ample. It was rather thoughtless of Pearson." + +"What then?" + +"Well, you see, dad, when he went away upon this little holiday to Havre +he left me to pay accounts and so on. He told me that there was enough +at the bank for all claims. I had occasion on Tuesday to pay away two +cheques, one for L80, and the other for L120, and here they are returned +with a bank notice that we have already overdrawn to the extent of some +hundreds." + +The Admiral looked very grave. "What's the meaning of that, then?" he +asked. + +"Oh, it can easily be set right. You see Pearson invests all the spare +capital and keeps as small a margin as possible at the bank. Still it +was too bad for him to allow me even to run a risk of having a cheque +returned. I have written to him and demanded his authority to sell out +some stock, and I have written an explanation to these people. In the +meantime, however, I have had to issue several cheques; so I had better +transfer part of our private account to meet them." + +"Quite so, my boy. All that's mine is yours. But who do you think this +Pearson is? He is Mrs. Westmacott's brother." + +"Really. What a singular thing! Well, I can see a likeness now that +you mention it. They have both the same hard type of face." + +"She has been warning me against him--says he is the rankest pirate in +London. I hope that it is all right, boy, and that we may not find +ourselves in broken water." + +Harold had turned a little pale as he heard Mrs. Westmacott's opinion of +his senior partner. It gave shape and substance to certain vague fears +and suspicions of his own which had been pushed back as often as they +obtruded themselves as being too monstrous and fantastic for belief. + +"He is a well-known man in the City, dad," said he. + +"Of course he is--of course he is. That is what I told her. They would +have found him out there if anything had been amiss with him. Bless +you, there's nothing so bitter as a family quarrel. Still it is just as +well that you have written about this affair, for we may as well have +all fair and aboveboard." + +But Harold's letter to his partner was crossed by a letter from his +partner to Harold. It lay awaiting him upon the breakfast table next +morning, and it sent the heart into his mouth as he read it, and caused +him to spring up from his chair with a white face and staring eyes. + +"My boy! My boy!" + +"I am ruined, mother--ruined!" He stood gazing wildly in front of him, +while the sheet of paper fluttered down on the carpet. Then he dropped +back into the chair, and sank his face into his hands. His mother had +her arms round him in an instant, while the Admiral, with shaking +fingers, picked up the letter from the floor and adjusted his glasses to +read it. + + +"My DEAR DENVER," it ran. "By the time that this reaches you I shall be +out of the reach of yourself or of any one else who may desire an +interview. You need not search for me, for I assure you that this +letter is posted by a friend, and that you will have your trouble in +vain if you try to find me. I am sorry to leave you in such a tight +place, but one or other of us must be squeezed, and on the whole I +prefer that it should be you. You'll find nothing in the bank, and +about L13,000 unaccounted for. I'm not sure that the best thing you can +do is not to realize what you can, and imitate your senior's example. +If you act at once you may get clean away. If not, it's not only that +you must put up your shutters, but I am afraid that this missing money +could hardly be included as an ordinary debt, and of course you are +legally responsible for it just as much as I am. Take a friend's advice +and get to America. A young man with brains can always do something out +there, and you can live down this little mischance. It will be a cheap +lesson if it teaches you to take nothing upon trust in business, and to +insist upon knowing exactly what your partner is doing, however senior +he may be to you. + +"Yours faithfully, + +"JEREMIAH PEARSON." + + +"Great Heavens!" groaned the Admiral, "he has absconded." + +"And left me both a bankrupt and a thief." + +"No, no, Harold," sobbed his mother. "All will be right. What matter +about money!" + +"Money, mother! It is my honor." + +"The boy is right. It is his honor, and my honor, for his is mine. +This is a sore trouble, mother, when we thought our life's troubles were +all behind us, but we will bear it as we have borne others." He held +out his stringy hand, and the two old folk sat with bowed grey heads, +their fingers intertwined, strong in each other's love and sympathy. + +"We were too happy," she sighed. + +"But it is God's will, mother." + +"Yes, John, it is God's will." + +"And yet it is bitter to bear. I could have lost all, the house, money, +rank--I could have borne it. But at my age--my honor--the honor of an +admiral of the fleet." + +"No honor can be lost, John, where no dishonor has been done. What have +you done? What has Harold done? There is no question of honor." + +The old man shook his head, but Harold had already called together his +clear practical sense, which for an instant in the presence of this +frightful blow had deserted him. + +"The mater is right, dad," said he. "It is bad enough, Heaven knows, +but we must not take too dark a view of it. After all, this insolent +letter is in itself evidence that I had nothing to do with the schemes +of the base villain who wrote it." + +"They may think it prearranged." + +"They could not. My whole life cries out against the thought. They +could not look me in the face and entertain it." + +"No, boy, not if they have eyes in their heads," cried the Admiral, +plucking up courage at the sight of the flashing eyes and brave, defiant +face. "We have the letter, and we have your character. We'll weather +it yet between them. It's my fault from the beginning for choosing such +a land-shark for your consort. God help me, I thought I was finding +such an opening for you." + +"Dear dad! How could you possibly know? As he says in his letter, it +has given me a lesson. But he was so much older and so much more +experienced, that it was hard for me to ask to examine his books. But +we must waste no time. I must go to the City." + +"What will you do?" + +"What an honest man should do. I will write to all our clients and +creditors, assemble them, lay the whole matter before them, read them +the letter and put myself absolutely in their hands." + +"That's it, boy--yard-arm to yard-arm, and have it over." + +"I must go at once." He put on his top-coat and his hat. "But I have +ten minutes yet before I can catch a train. There is one little thing +which I must do before I start." + +He had caught sight through the long glass folding door of the gleam of +a white blouse and a straw hat in the tennis ground. Clara used often +to meet him there of a morning to say a few words before he hurried away +into the City. He walked out now with the quick, firm step of a man who +has taken a momentous resolution, but his face was haggard and his lips +pale. + +"Clara," said he, as she came towards him with words of greeting, "I am +sorry to bring ill news to you, but things have gone wrong in the City, +and--and I think that I ought to release you from your engagement." + +Clara stared at him with her great questioning dark eyes, and her face +became as pale as his. + +"How can the City affect you and me, Harold?" + +"It is dishonor. I cannot ask you to share it." + +"Dishonor! The loss of some miserable gold and silver coins!" + +"Oh, Clara, if it were only that! We could be far happier together in a +little cottage in the country than with all the riches of the City. +Poverty could not cut me to the heart, as I have been cut this morning. +Why, it is but twenty minutes since I had the letter, Clara, and it +seems to me to be some old, old thing which happened far away in my past +life, some horrid black cloud which shut out all the freshness and the +peace from it." + +"But what is it, then? What do you fear worse than poverty?" + +"To have debts that I cannot meet. To be hammered upon 'Change and +declared a bankrupt. To know that others have a just claim upon me and +to feel that I dare not meet their eyes. Is not that worse than +poverty?" + +"Yes, Harold, a thousand fold worse! But all this may be got over. Is +there nothing more?" + +"My partner has fled and left me responsible for heavy debts, and in +such a position that I may be required by the law to produce some at +least of this missing money. It has been confided to him to invest, and +he has embezzled it. I, as his partner, am liable for it. I have +brought misery on all whom I love--my father, my mother. But you at +least shall not be under the shadow. You are free, Clara. There is no +tie between us." + +"It takes two to make such a tie, Harold," said she, smiling and putting +her hand inside his arm. "It takes two to make it, dear, and also two +to break it. Is that the way they do business in the City, sir, that a +man can always at his own sweet will tear up his engagement?" + +"You hold me to it, Clara?" + +"No creditor so remorseless as I, Harold. Never, never shall you get +from that bond." + +"But I am ruined. My whole life is blasted." + +"And so you wish to ruin me, and blast my life also. No indeed, sir, you +shall not get away so lightly. But seriously now, Harold, you would +hurt me if it were not so absurd. Do you think that a woman's love is +like this sunshade which I carry in my hand, a thing only fitted for the +sunshine, and of no use when the winds blow and the clouds gather?" + +"I would not drag you down, Clara." + +"Should I not be dragged down indeed if I left your side at such a time? +It is only now that I can be of use to you, help you, sustain you. You +have always been so strong, so above me. You are strong still, but then +two will be stronger. Besides, sir, you have no idea what a woman of +business I am. Papa says so, and he knows." + +Harold tried to speak, but his heart was too full. He could only press +the white hand which curled round his sleeve. She walked up and down by +his side, prattling merrily, and sending little gleams of cheeriness +through the gloom which girt him in. To listen to her he might have +thought that it was Ida, and not her staid and demure sister, who was +chatting to him. + +"It will soon be cleared up," she said, "and then we shall feel quite +dull. Of course all business men have these little ups and downs. Why, +I suppose of all the men you meet upon 'Change, there is not one who has +not some such story to tell. If everything was always smooth, you know, +then of course every one would turn stockbroker, and you would have to +hold your meetings in Hyde Park. How much is it that you need?" + +"More than I can ever get. Not less than thirteen thousand pounds." + +Clara's face fell as she heard the amount. "What do you purpose doing?" + +"I shall go to the City now, and I shall ask all our creditors to meet +me to-morrow. I shall read them Pearson's letter, and put myself into +their hands." + +"And they, what will they do?" + +"What can they do? They will serve writs for their money, and the firm +will be declared bankrupt." + +"And the meeting will be to-morrow, you say. Will you take my advice?" + +"What is it, Clara?" + +"To ask them for a few days of delay. Who knows what new turn matters +may take?" + +"What turn can they take? I have no means of raising the money." + +"Let us have a few days." + +"Oh, we should have that in the ordinary course of business. The legal +formalities would take them some little time. But I must go, Clara, I +must not seem to shirk. My place now must be at my offices." + +"Yes, dear, you are right. God bless you and guard you! I shall be +here in The Wilderness, but all day I shall be by your office table at +Throgmorton Street in spirit, and if ever you should be sad you will +hear my little whisper in your ear, and know that there is one client +whom you will never be able to get rid of--never as long as we both +live, dear." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +FRIENDS IN NEED. + + +"Now, papa," said Clara that morning, wrinkling her brows and putting +her finger-tips together with the air of an experienced person of +business, "I want to have a talk to you about money matters." + +"Yes, my dear." He laid down his paper, and looked a question. + +"Kindly tell me again, papa, how much money I have in my very own right. +You have often told me before, but I always forget figures." + +"You have two hundred and fifty pounds a year of your own, under your +aunt's will. + +"And Ida?" + +"Ida has one hundred and fifty." + +"Now, I think I can live very well on fifty pounds a year, papa. I am +not very extravagant, and I could make my own dresses if I had a sewing- +machine." + +"Very likely, dear." + +"In that case I have two hundred a year which I could do without." + +"If it were necessary." + +"But it is necessary. Oh, do help me, like a good, dear, kind papa, in +this matter, for my whole heart is set upon it. Harold is in sore need +of money, and through no fault of his own." With a woman's tact and +eloquence, she told the whole story. "Put yourself in my place, papa. +What is the money to me? I never think of it from year's end to year's +end. But now I know how precious it is. I could not have thought that +money could be so valuable. See what I can do with it. It may help to +save him. I must have it by to-morrow. Oh, do, do advise me as to what +I should do, and how I should get the money." + +The Doctor smiled at her eagerness. "You are as anxious to get rid of +money as others are to gain it," said he. "In another case I might +think it rash, but I believe in your Harold, and I can see that he has +had villainous treatment. You will let me deal with the matter." + +"You, papa?" + +"It can be done best between men. Your capital, Clara, is some five +thousand pounds, but it is out on a mortgage, and you could not call it +in." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" + +"But we can still manage. I have as much at my bank. I will advance it +to the Denvers as coming from you, and you can repay it to me, or the +interest of it, when your money becomes due." + +"Oh, that is beautiful! How sweet and kind of you!" + +"But there is one obstacle: I do not think that you would ever induce +Harold to take this money." + +Clara's face fell. "Don't you think so, really?" + +"I am sure that he would not." + +"Then what are you to do? What horrid things money matters are to +arrange!" + +"I shall see his father. We can manage it all between us." + +"Oh, do, do, papa! And you will do it soon?" + +"There is no time like the present. I will go in at once." He +scribbled a cheque, put it in an envelope, put on his broad straw hat, +and strolled in through the garden to pay his morning call. + +It was a singular sight which met his eyes as he entered the sitting- +room of the Admiral. A great sea chest stood open in the center, and +all round upon the carpet were little piles of jerseys, oil-skins, books, +sextant boxes, instruments, and sea-boots. The old seaman sat gravely +amidst this lumber, turning it over, and examining it intently; while +his wife, with the tears running silently down her ruddy cheeks, sat +upon the sofa, her elbows upon her knees and her chin upon her hands, +rocking herself slowly backwards and forwards. + +"Hullo, Doctor," said the Admiral, holding out his hand, "there's foul +weather set in upon us, as you may have heard, but I have ridden out +many a worse squall, and, please God, we shall all three of us weather +this one also, though two of us are a little more cranky than we were." + +"My dear friends, I came in to tell you how deeply we sympathize with +you all. My girl has only just told me about it." + +"It has come so suddenly upon us, Doctor," sobbed Mrs. Hay Denver. "I +thought that I had John to myself for the rest of our lives--Heaven +knows that we have not seen very much of each other--but now he talks of +going to sea again. + +"Aye, aye, Walker, that's the only way out of it. When I first heard of +it I was thrown up in the wind with all aback. I give you my word that +I lost my bearings more completely than ever since I strapped a middy's +dirk to my belt. You see, friend, I know something of shipwreck or +battle or whatever may come upon the waters, but the shoals in the City +of London on which my poor boy has struck are clean beyond me. Pearson +had been my pilot there, and now I know him to be a rogue. But I've +taken my bearings now, and I see my course right before me." + +"What then, Admiral?" + +"Oh, I have one or two little plans. I'll have some news for the boy. +Why, hang it, Walker man, I may be a bit stiff in the joints, but you'll +be my witness that I can do my twelve miles under the three hours. What +then? My eyes are as good as ever except just for the newspaper. My +head is clear. I'm three-and-sixty, but I'm as good a man as ever I +was--too good a man to lie up for another ten years. I'd be the better +for a smack of the salt water again, and a whiff of the breeze. Tut, +mother, it's not a four years' cruise this time. I'll be back every +month or two. It's no more than if I went for a visit in the country." +He was talking boisterously, and heaping his sea-boots and sextants back +into his chest. + +"And you really think, my dear friend, of hoisting your pennant again?" + +"My pennant, Walker? No, no. Her Majesty, God bless her, has too many +young men to need an old hulk like me. I should be plain Mr. Hay Denver, +of the merchant service. I daresay that I might find some owner who +would give me a chance as second or third officer. It will be strange +to me to feel the rails of the bridge under my fingers once more." + +"Tut! tut! this will never do, this will never do, Admiral!" The Doctor +sat down by Mrs. Hay Denver and patted her hand in token of friendly +sympathy. "We must wait until your son has had it out with all these +people, and then we shall know what damage is done, and how best to set +it right. It will be time enough then to begin to muster our resources +to meet it." + +"Our resources!" The Admiral laughed. "There's the pension. I'm +afraid, Walker, that our resources won't need much mustering." + +"Oh, come, there are some which you may not have thought of. For +example, Admiral, I had always intended that my girl should have five +thousand from me when she married. Of course your boy's trouble is her +trouble, and the money cannot be spent better than in helping to set it +right. She has a little of her own which she wished to contribute, but +I thought it best to work it this way. Will you take the cheque, Mrs. +Denver, and I think it would be best if you said nothing to Harold about +it, and just used it as the occasion served?" + +"God bless you, Walker, you are a true friend. I won't forget this, +Walker." The Admiral sat down on his sea chest and mopped his brow with +his red handkerchief. + +"What is it to me whether you have it now or then? It may be more useful +now. There's only one stipulation. If things should come to the worst, +and if the business should prove so bad that nothing can set it right, +then hold back this cheque, for there is no use in pouring water into a +broken basin, and if the lad should fall, he will want something to pick +himself up again with." + +"He shall not fall, Walker, and you shall not have occasion to be +ashamed of the family into which your daughter is about to marry. I +have my own plan. But we shall hold your money, my friend, and it will +strengthen us to feel that it is there." + +"Well, that is all right," said Doctor Walker, rising. "And if a little +more should be needed, we must not let him go wrong for the want of a +thousand or two. And now, Admiral, I'm off for my morning walk. Won't +you come too?" + +"No, I am going into town." + +"Well, good-bye. I hope to have better news, and that all will come +right. Good-bye, Mrs. Denver. I feel as if the boy were my own, and I +shall not be easy until all is right with him." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +IN STRANGE WATERS. + + +When Doctor Walker had departed, the Admiral packed all his possessions +back into his sea chest with the exception of one little brass-bound +desk. This he unlocked, and took from it a dozen or so blue sheets of +paper all mottled over with stamps and seals, with very large V. R.'s +printed upon the heads of them. He tied these carefully into a small +bundle, and placing them in the inner pocket of his coat, he seized his +stick and hat. + +"Oh, John, don't do this rash thing," cried Mrs. Denver, laying her +hands upon his sleeve. "I have seen so little of you, John. Only three +years since you left the service. Don't leave me again. I know it is +weak of me, but I cannot bear it." + +"There's my own brave lass," said he, smoothing down the grey-shot hair. +"We've lived in honor together, mother, and please God in honor we'll +die. No matter how debts are made, they have got to be met, and what +the boy owes we owe. He has not the money, and how is he to find it? +He can't find it. What then? It becomes my business, and there's only +one way for it." + +"But it may not be so very bad, John. Had we not best wait until after +he sees these people to-morrow?" + +"They may give him little time, lass. But I'll have a care that I don't +go so far that I can't put back again. Now, mother, there's no use +holding me. It's got to be done, and there's no sense in shirking it." +He detached her fingers from his sleeve, pushed her gently back into an +arm-chair, and hurried from the house. + +In less than half an hour the Admiral was whirled into Victoria Station +and found himself amid a dense bustling throng, who jostled and pushed +in the crowded terminus. His errand, which had seemed feasible enough +in his own room, began now to present difficulties in the carrying out, +and he puzzled over how he should take the first steps. Amid the stream +of business men, each hurrying on his definite way, the old seaman in +his grey tweed suit and black soft hat strode slowly along, his head +sunk and his brow wrinkled in perplexity. Suddenly an idea occurred to +him. He walked back to the railway stall and bought a daily paper. +This he turned and turned until a certain column met his eye, when he +smoothed it out, and carrying it over to a seat, proceeded to read it at +his leisure. + +And, indeed, as a man read that column, it seemed strange to him that +there should still remain any one in this world of ours who should be in +straits for want of money. Here were whole lines of gentlemen who were +burdened with a surplus in their incomes, and who were loudly calling to +the poor and needy to come and take it off their hands. Here was the +guileless person who was not a professional moneylender, but who would +be glad to correspond, etc. Here too was the accommodating individual +who advanced sums from ten to ten thousand pounds without expense, +security, or delay. "The money actually paid over within a few hours," +ran this fascinating advertisement, conjuring up a vision of swift +messengers rushing with bags of gold to the aid of the poor struggler. +A third gentleman did all business by personal application, advanced +money on anything or nothing; the lightest and airiest promise was +enough to content him according to his circular, and finally he never +asked for more than five per cent. This struck the Admiral as far the +most promising, and his wrinkles relaxed, and his frown softened away as +he gazed at it. He folded up the paper rose from the seat, and found +himself face to face with Charles Westmacott. + +"Hullo, Admiral!" + +"Hullo, Westmacott!" Charles had always been a favorite of the seaman's. +"What are you doing here?" + +"Oh, I have been doing a little business for my aunt. But I have never +seen you in London before." + +"I hate the place. It smothers me. There's not a breath of clean air +on this side of Greenwich. But maybe you know your way about pretty +well in the City?" + +"Well, I know something about it. You see I've never lived very far +from it, and I do a good deal of my aunt's business." + +"Maybe you know Bread Street?" + +"It is out of Cheapside." + +"Well then, how do you steer for it from here? You make me out a course +and I'll keep to it." + +"Why, Admiral, I have nothing to do. I'll take you there with +pleasure." + +"Will you, though? Well, I'd take it very kindly if you would. I have +business there. Smith and Hanbury, financial agents, Bread Street." + +The pair made their way to the river-side, and so down the Thames to St. +Paul's landing--a mode of travel which was much more to the Admiral's +taste than 'bus or cab. On the way, he told his companion his mission +and the causes which had led to it. Charles Westmacott knew little +enough of City life and the ways of business, but at least he had more +experience in both than the Admiral, and he made up his mind not to +leave him until the matter was settled. + +"These are the people," said the Admiral, twisting round his paper, and +pointing to the advertisement which had seemed to him the most +promising. "It sounds honest and above-board, does it not? The +personal interview looks as if there were no trickery, and then no one +could object to five per cent." + +"No, it seems fair enough." + +"It is not pleasant to have to go hat in hand borrowing money, but there +are times, as you may find before you are my age, Westmacott, when a man +must stow away his pride. But here's their number, and their plate is +on the corner of the door." + +A narrow entrance was flanked on either side by a row of brasses, +ranging upwards from the shipbrokers and the solicitors who occupied the +ground floors, through a long succession of West Indian agents, +architects, surveyors, and brokers, to the firm of which they were in +quest. A winding stone stair, well carpeted and railed at first but +growing shabbier with every landing, brought them past innumerable doors +until, at last, just under the ground-glass roofing, the names of Smith +and Hanbury were to be seen painted in large white letters across a +panel, with a laconic invitation to push beneath it. Following out the +suggestion, the Admiral and his companion found themselves in a dingy +apartment, ill lit from a couple of glazed windows. An ink-stained +table, littered with pens, papers, and almanacs, an American cloth sofa, +three chairs of varying patterns, and a much-worn carpet, constituted +all the furniture, save only a very large and obtrusive porcelain +spittoon, and a gaudily framed and very somber picture which hung above +the fireplace. Sitting in front of this picture, and staring gloomily at +it, as being the only thing which he could stare at, was a small sallow- +faced boy with a large head, who in the intervals of his art studies +munched sedately at an apple. + +"Is Mr. Smith or Mr. Hanbury in?" asked the Admiral. + +"There ain't no such people," said the small boy. + +"But you have the names on the door." + +"Ah, that is the name of the firm, you see. It's only a name. It's Mr. +Reuben Metaxa that you wants." + +"Well then, is he in?" + +"No, he's not." + +"When will he be back?" + +"Can't tell, I'm sure. He's gone to lunch. Sometimes he takes one hour, +and sometimes two. It'll be two to-day, I 'spect, for he said he was +hungry afore he went." + +"Then I suppose that we had better call again," said the Admiral. + +"Not a bit," cried Charles. "I know how to manage these little imps. +See here, you young varmint, here's a shilling for you. Run off and +fetch your master. If you don't bring him here in five minutes I'll +clump you on the side of the head when you get back. Shoo! Scat!" He +charged at the youth, who bolted from the room and clattered madly down- +stairs. + +"He'll fetch him," said Charles. "Let us make ourselves at home. This +sofa does not feel over and above safe. It was not meant for fifteen- +stone men. But this doesn't look quite the sort of place where one would +expect to pick up money." + +"Just what I was thinking," said the Admiral, looking ruefully about +him. + +"Ah, well! I have heard that the best furnished offices generally +belong to the poorest firms. Let us hope it's the opposite here. They +can't spend much on the management anyhow. That pumpkin-headed boy was +the staff, I suppose. Ha, by Jove, that's his voice, and he's got our +man, I think!" + +As he spoke the youth appeared in the doorway with a small, brown, +dried-up little chip of a man at his heels. He was clean-shaven and +blue-chinned, with bristling black hair, and keen brown eyes which shone +out very brightly from between pouched under-lids and drooping upper +ones. He advanced, glancing keenly from one to the other of his +visitors, and slowly rubbing together his thin, blue-veined hands. The +small boy closed the door behind him, and discreetly vanished. + +"I am Mr. Reuben Metaxa," said the moneylender. "Was it about an +advance you wished to see me?" + +"Yes." + +"For you, I presume?" turning to Charles Westmacott. + +"No, for this gentleman." + +The moneylender looked surprised. "How much did you desire?" + +"I thought of five thousand pounds," said the Admiral. + +"And on what security?" + +"I am a retired admiral of the British navy. You will find my name in +the Navy List. There is my card. I have here my pension papers. I get +L850 a year. I thought that perhaps if you were to hold these papers it +would be security enough that I should pay you. You could draw my +pension, and repay yourselves at the rate, say, of L500 a year, taking +your five per cent interest as well." + +"What interest?" + +"Five per cent per annum." + +Mr. Metaxa laughed. "Per annum!" he said. "Five per cent a month." + +"A month! That would be sixty per cent a year." + +"Precisely." + +"But that is monstrous." + +"I don't ask gentlemen to come to me. They come of their own free will. +Those are my terms, and they can take it or leave it." + +"Then I shall leave it." The Admiral rose angrily from his chair. + +"But one moment, sir. Just sit down and we shall chat the matter over. +Yours is a rather unusual case and we may find some other way of doing +what you wish. Of course the security which you offer is no security at +all, and no sane man would advance five thousand pennies on it." + +"No security? Why not, sir?" + +"You might die to-morrow. You are not a young man. What age are you?" + +"Sixty-three." + +Mr. Metaxa turned over a long column of figures. "Here is an actuary's +table," said he. "At your time of life the average expectancy of life +is only a few years even in a well-preserved man." + +"Do you mean to insinuate that I am not a well-preserved man?" + +"Well, Admiral, it is a trying life at sea. Sailors in their younger +days are gay dogs, and take it out of themselves. Then when they grow +older they are still hard at it, and have no chance of rest or peace. I +do not think a sailor's life a good one." + +"I'll tell you what, sir," said the Admiral hotly. "If you have two +pairs of gloves I'll undertake to knock you out under three rounds. Or +I'll race you from here to St. Paul's, and my friend here will see fair. +I'll let you see whether I am an old man or not." + +"This is beside the question," said the moneylender with a deprecatory +shrug. "The point is that if you died to-morrow where would be the +security then?" + +"I could insure my life, and make the policy over to you." + +"Your premiums for such a sum, if any office would have you, which I +very much doubt, would come to close on five hundred a year. That would +hardly suit your book." + +"Well, sir, what do you intend to propose?" asked the Admiral. + +"I might, to accommodate you, work it in another way. I should send for +a medical man, and have an opinion upon your life. Then I might see +what could be done." + +"That is quite fair. I have no objection to that." + +"There is a very clever doctor in the street here. Proudie is his name. +John, go and fetch Doctor Proudie." The youth was dispatched upon his +errand, while Mr. Metaxa sat at his desk, trimming his nails, and +shooting out little comments upon the weather. Presently feet were +heard upon the stairs, the moneylender hurried out, there was a sound of +whispering, and he returned with a large, fat, greasy-looking man, clad +in a much worn frock-coat, and a very dilapidated top hat. + +"Doctor Proudie, gentlemen," said Mr. Metaxa. + +The doctor bowed, smiled, whipped off his hat, and produced his +stethoscope from its interior with the air of a conjurer upon the stage. +"Which of these gentlemen am I to examine?" he asked, blinking from one +to the other of them. "Ah, it is you! Only your waistcoat! You need +not undo your collar. Thank you! A full breath! Thank you! Ninety- +nine! Thank you! Now hold your breath for a moment. Oh, dear, dear, +what is this I hear?" + +"What is it then?" asked the Admiral coolly. + +"Tut! tut! This is a great pity. Have you had rheumatic fever?" + +"Never." + +"You have had some serious illness?" + +"Never." + +"Ah, you are an admiral. You have been abroad, tropics, malaria, ague-- +I know." + +"I have never had a day's illness." + +"Not to your knowledge; but you have inhaled unhealthy air, and it has +left its effect. You have an organic murmur--slight but distinct." + +"Is it dangerous?" + +"It might at anytime become so. You should not take violent exercise." + +"Oh, indeed. It would hurt me to run a half mile?" + +"It would be very dangerous." + +"And a mile?" + +"Would be almost certainly fatal." + +"Then there is nothing else the matter?" + +"No. But if the heart is weak, then everything is weak, and the life is +not a sound one." + +"You see, Admiral," remarked Mr. Metaxa, as the doctor secreted his +stethoscope once more in his hat, "my remarks were not entirely uncalled +for. I am sorry that the doctor's opinion is not more favorable, but +this is a matter of business, and certain obvious precautions must be +taken." + +"Of course. Then the matter is at an end." + +"Well, we might even now do business. I am most anxious to be of use to +you. How long do you think, doctor, that this gentleman will in all +probability live?" + +"Well, well, it's rather a delicate question to answer," said Dr. +Proudie, with a show of embarrassment. + +"Not a bit, sir. Out with it! I have faced death too often to flinch +from it now, though I saw it as near me as you are." + +"Well, well, we must go by averages of course. Shall we say two years? +I should think that you have a full two years before you." + +"In two years your pension would bring you in L1,600. Now I will do my +very best for you, Admiral! I will advance you L2,000, and you can make +over to me your pension for your life. It is pure speculation on my +part. If you die to-morrow I lose my money. If the doctor's prophecy +is correct I shall still be out of pocket. If you live a little longer, +then I may see my money again. It is the very best I can do for you." + +"Then you wish to buy my pension?" + +"Yes, for two thousand down." + +"And if I live for twenty years?" + +"Oh, in that case of course my speculation would be more successful. +But you have heard the doctor's opinion." + +"Would you advance the money instantly?" + +"You should have a thousand at once. The other thousand I should expect +you to take in furniture." + +"In furniture?" + +"Yes, Admiral. We shall do you a beautiful houseful at that sum. It is +the custom of my clients to take half in furniture." + +The Admiral sat in dire perplexity. He had come out to get money, and +to go back without any, to be powerless to help when his boy needed +every shilling to save him from disaster, that would be very bitter to +him. On the other hand, it was so much that he surrendered, and so +little that he received. Little, and yet something. Would it not be +better than going back empty-handed? He saw the yellow backed chequebook +upon the table. The moneylender opened it and dipped his pen into +the ink. + +"Shall I fill it up?" said he. + +"I think, Admiral," remarked Westmacott, "that we had better have a +little walk and some luncheon before we settle this matter." + +"Oh, we may as well do it at once. It would be absurd to postpone it +now," Metaxa spoke with some heat, and his eyes glinted angrily from +between his narrow lids at the imperturbable Charles. The Admiral was +simple in money matters, but he had seen much of men and had learned to +read them. He saw that venomous glance, and saw too that intense +eagerness was peeping out from beneath the careless air which the agent +had assumed. + +"You're quite right, Westmacott," said he. "We'll have a little walk +before we settle it." + +"But I may not be here this afternoon." + +"Then we must choose another day." + +"But why not settle it now?" + +"Because I prefer not," said the Admiral shortly. + +"Very well. But remember that my offer is only for to-day. It is off +unless you take it at once." + +"Let it be off, then. + +"There's my fee," cried the doctor. + +"How much?" + +"A guinea." + +The Admiral threw a pound and a shilling upon the table. "Come, +Westmacott," said he, and they walked together from the room. + +"I don't like it," said Charles, when they found themselves in the +street once more; "I don't profess to be a very sharp chap, but this is +a trifle too thin. What did he want to go out and speak to the doctor +for? And how very convenient this tale of a weak heart was! I believe +they are a couple of rogues, and in league with each other." + +"A shark and a pilot fish," said the Admiral. + +"I'll tell you what I propose, sir. There's a lawyer named McAdam who +does my aunt's business. He is a very honest fellow, and lives at the +other side of Poultry. We'll go over to him together and have his +opinion about the whole matter." + +"How far is it to his place?" + +"Oh, a mile at least. We can have a cab." + +"A mile? Then we shall see if there is any truth in what that swab of a +doctor said. Come, my boy, and clap on all sail, and see who can stay +the longest." + +Then the sober denizens of the heart of business London saw a singular +sight as they returned from their luncheons. Down the roadway, dodging +among cabs and carts, ran a weather-stained elderly man, with wide +flapping black hat, and homely suit of tweeds. With elbows braced back, +hands clenched near his armpits, and chest protruded, he scudded along, +while close at his heels lumbered a large-limbed, heavy, yellow +mustached young man, who seemed to feel the exercise a good deal more +than his senior. On they dashed, helter-skelter, until they pulled up +panting at the office where the lawyer of the Westmacotts was to be +found. + +"There now!" cried the Admiral in triumph. "What d'ye think of that? +Nothing wrong in the engine-room, eh?" + +"You seem fit enough, sir. + +"Blessed if I believe the swab was a certificated doctor at all. He was +flying false colors, or I am mistaken." + +"They keep the directories and registers in this eating-house," said +Westmacott. "We'll go and look him out." + +They did so, but the medical rolls contained no such name as that of Dr. +Proudie, of Bread Street. + +"Pretty villainy this!" cried the Admiral, thumping his chest. "A dummy +doctor and a vamped up disease. Well, we've tried the rogues, +Westmacott! Let us see what we can do with your honest man." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +EASTWARD HO! + + +Mr. McAdam, of the firm of McAdam and Squire, was a highly polished man +who dwelt behind a highly polished table in the neatest and snuggest of +offices. He was white-haired and amiable, with a deep-lined aquiline +face, was addicted to low bows, and indeed, always seemed to carry +himself at half-cock, as though just descending into one, or just +recovering himself. He wore a high-buckled stock, took snuff, and +adorned his conversation with little scraps from the classics. + +"My dear Sir," said he, when he had listened to their story, "any friend +of Mrs. Westmacott's is a friend of mine. Try a pinch. I wonder that +you should have gone to this man Metaxa. His advertisement is enough to +condemn him. Habet foenum in cornu. They are all rogues." + +"The doctor was a rogue too. I didn't like the look of him at the +time." + +"Arcades ambo. But now we must see what we can do for you. Of course +what Metaxa said was perfectly right. The pension is in itself no +security at all, unless it were accompanied by a life assurance which +would be an income in itself. It is no good whatever." + +His clients' faces fell. + +"But there is the second alternative. You might sell the pension right +out. Speculative investors occasionally deal in such things. I have +one client, a sporting man, who would be very likely to take it up if we +could agree upon terms. Of course, I must follow Metaxa's example by +sending for a doctor." + +For the second time was the Admiral punched and tapped and listened to. +This time, however, there could be no question of the qualifications of +the doctor, a well-known Fellow of the College of Surgeons, and his +report was as favorable as the other's had been adverse. + +"He has the heart and chest of a man of forty," said he. "I can +recommend his life as one of the best of his age that I have ever +examined." + +"That's well," said Mr. McAdam, making a note of the doctor's remarks, +while the Admiral disbursed a second guinea. "Your price, I understand, +is five thousand pounds. I can communicate with Mr. Elberry, my client, +and let you know whether he cares to touch the matter. Meanwhile you can +leave your pension papers here, and I will give you a receipt for them." + +"Very well. I should like the money soon." + +"That is why I am retaining the papers. If I can see Mr. Elberry to-day +we may let you have a cheque to-morrow. Try another pinch. No? Well, +good-bye. I am very happy to have been of service." Mr. McAdam bowed +them out, for he was a very busy man, and they found themselves in the +street once more with lighter hearts than when they had left it. + +"Well, Westmacott, I am sure I am very much obliged to you," said the +Admiral. "You have stood by me when I was the better for a little help, +for I'm clean out of my soundings among these city sharks. But I've +something to do now which is more in my own line, and I need not trouble +you any more." + +"Oh, it is no trouble. I have nothing to do. I never have anything to +do. I don't suppose I could do it if I had. I should be delighted to +come with you, sir, if I can be of any use." + +"No, no, my lad. You go home again. It would be kind of you, though, +if you would look in at number one when you get back and tell my wife +that all's well with me, and that I'll be back in an hour or so." + +"All right, sir. I'll tell her." Westmacott raised his hat and strode +away to the westward, while the Admiral, after a hurried lunch, bent his +steps towards the east. + +It was a long walk, but the old seaman swung along at a rousing pace, +leaving street after street behind him. The great business places +dwindled down into commonplace shops and dwellings, which decreased and +became more stunted, even as the folk who filled them did, until he was +deep in the evil places of the eastern end. It was a land of huge, dark +houses and of garish gin-shops, a land, too, where life moves +irregularly and where adventures are to be gained--as the Admiral was to +learn to his cost. + +He was hurrying down one of the long, narrow, stone-flagged lanes +between the double lines of crouching, disheveled women and of dirty +children who sat on the hollowed steps of the houses, and basked in the +autumn sun. At one side was a barrowman with a load of walnuts, and +beside the barrow a bedraggled woman with a black fringe and a chequered +shawl thrown over her head. She was cracking walnuts and picking them +out of the shells, throwing out a remark occasionally to a rough man in +a rabbit-skin cap, with straps under the knees of his corduroy trousers, +who stood puffing a black clay pipe with his back against the wall. +What the cause of the quarrel was, or what sharp sarcasm from the +woman's lips pricked suddenly through that thick skin may never be +known, but suddenly the man took his pipe in his left hand, leaned +forward, and deliberately struck her across the face with his right. It +was a slap rather than a blow, but the woman gave a sharp cry and +cowered up against the barrow with her hand to her cheek. + +"You infernal villain!" cried the Admiral, raising his stick. "You +brute and blackguard!" + +"Garn!" growled the rough, with the deep rasping intonation of a savage. +"Garn out o' this or I'll----" He took a step forward with uplifted +hand, but in an instant down came cut number three upon his wrist, and +cut number five across his thigh, and cut number one full in the center +of his rabbit-skin cap. It was not a heavy stick, but it was strong +enough to leave a good red weal wherever it fell. The rough yelled with +pain, and rushed in, hitting with both hands, and kicking with his ironshod +boots, but the Admiral had still a quick foot and a true eye, so +that he bounded backwards and sideways, still raining a shower, of blows +upon his savage antagonist. Suddenly, however, a pair of arms closed +round his neck, and glancing backwards he caught a glimpse of the black +coarse fringe of the woman whom he had befriended, "I've got him!" she +shrieked. "I'll 'old 'im. Now, Bill, knock the tripe out of him!" Her +grip was as strong as a man's, and her wrist pressed like an iron bar +upon the Admiral's throat. He made a desperate effort to disengage +himself, but the most that he could do was to swing her round, so as to +place her between his adversary and himself. As it proved, it was the +very best thing that he could have done. The rough, half-blinded and +maddened by the blows which he had received, struck out with all his +ungainly strength, just as his partner's head swung round in front of +him. There was a noise like that of a stone hitting a wall, a deep +groan, her grasp relaxed, and she dropped a dead weight upon the +pavement, while the Admiral sprang back and raised his stick once more, +ready either for attack or defense. Neither were needed, however, for +at that moment there was a scattering of the crowd, and two police +constables, burly and helmeted, pushed their way through the rabble. At +the sight of them the rough took to his heels, and was instantly +screened from view by a veil of his friends and neighbors. + +"I have been assaulted," panted the Admiral. "This woman was attacked +and I had to defend her." + +"This is Bermondsey Sal," said one police officer, bending over the +bedraggled heap of tattered shawl and dirty skirt. "She's got it hot +this time." + +"He was a shortish man, thick, with a beard." + +"Ah, that's Black Davie. He's been up four times for beating her. He's +about done the job now. If I were you I would let that sort settle +their own little affairs, sir." + +"Do you think that a man who holds the Queen's commission will stand by +and see a woman struck?" cried the Admiral indignantly. + +"Well, just as you like, sir. But you've lost your watch, I see." + +"My watch!" He clapped his hand to his waistcoat. The chain was hanging +down in front, and the watch gone. + +He passed his hand over his forehead. "I would not have lost that watch +for anything," said he. "No money could replace it. It was given me by +the ship's company after our African cruise. It has an inscription." + +The policeman shrugged his shoulders. "It comes from meddling," said +he. + +"What'll you give me if I tell yer where it is?" said a sharp-faced boy +among the crowd. "Will you gimme a quid?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, where's the quid?" + +The Admiral took a sovereign from his pocket. "Here it is." + +"Then 'ere's the ticker!" The boy pointed to the clenched hand of the +senseless woman. A glimmer of gold shone out from between the fingers, +and on opening them up, there was the Admiral's chronometer. This +interesting victim had throttled her protector with one hand, while she +had robbed him with the other. + +The Admiral left his address with the policeman, satisfied that the +woman was only stunned, not dead, and then set off upon his way once +more, the poorer perhaps in his faith in human nature, but in very good +spirits none the less. He walked with dilated nostrils and clenched +hands, all glowing and tingling with the excitement of the combat, and +warmed with the thought that he could still, when there was need, take +his own part in a street brawl in spite of his three-score and odd +years. + +His way now led towards the river-side regions, and a cleansing whiff of +tar was to be detected in the stagnant autumn air. Men with the blue +jersey and peaked cap of the boatman, or the white ducks of the dockers, +began to replace the cardurys and fustian of the laborers. Shops with +nautical instruments in the windows, rope and paint sellers, and slop +shops with long rows of oilskins dangling from hooks, all proclaimed the +neighborhood of the docks. The Admiral quickened his pace and +straightened his figure as his surroundings became more nautical, until +at last, peeping between two high, dingy wharfs, he caught a glimpse of +the mud-colored waters of the Thames, and of the bristle of masts and +funnels which rose from its broad bosom. To the right lay a quiet +street, with many brass plates upon either side, and wire blinds in all +of the windows. The Admiral walked slowly down it until "The Saint +Lawrence Shipping Company" caught his eye. He crossed the road, pushed +open the door, and found himself in a low-ceilinged office, with a long +counter at one end and a great number of wooden sections of ships stuck +upon boards and plastered all over the walls. + +"Is Mr. Henry in?" asked the Admiral. + +"No, sir," answered an elderly man from a high seat in the corner. "He +has not come into town to-day. I can manage any business you may wish +seen to." + +"You don't happen to have a first or second officer's place vacant, do +you?" + +The manager looked with a dubious eye at his singular applicant. + +"Do you hold certificates?" he asked. + +"I hold every nautical certificate there is." + +"Then you won't do for us." + +"Why not?" + +"Your age, sir." + +"I give you my word that I can see as well as ever, and am as good a man +in every way." + +"I don't doubt it." + +"Why should my age be a bar, then?" + +"Well, I must put it plainly. If a man of your age, holding +certificates, has not got past a second officer's berth, there must be a +black mark against him somewhere. I don't know what it is, drink or +temper, or want of judgment, but something there must be." + +"I assure you there is nothing, but I find myself stranded, and so have +to turn to the old business again." + +"Oh, that's it," said the manager, with suspicion in his eye. "How long +were you in your last billet?" + +"Fifty-one years." + +"What!" + +"Yes, sir, one-and-fifty years." + +"In the same employ?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, you must have begun as a child." + +"I was twelve when I joined." + +"It must be a strangely managed business," said the manager, "which +allows men to leave it who have served for fifty years, and who are +still as good as ever. Who did you serve?" + +"The Queen. Heaven bless her!" + +"Oh, you were in the Royal Navy. What rating did you hold?" + +"I am Admiral of the Fleet." + +The manager started, and sprang down from his high stool. + +"My name is Admiral Hay Denver. There is my card. And here are the +records of my service. I don't, you understand, want to push another +man from his billet; but if you should chance to have a berth open, I +should be very glad of it. I know the navigation from the Cod Banks +right up to Montreal a great deal better than I know the streets of +London." + +The astonished manager glanced over the blue papers which his visitor +had handed him. "Won't you take a chair, Admiral?" said he. + +"Thank you! But I should be obliged if you would drop my title now. I +told you because you asked me, but I've left the quarter-deck, and I am +plain Mr. Hay Denver now." + +"May I ask," said the manager, "are you the same Denver who commanded at +one time on the North American station?" + +"I did." + +"Then it was you who got one of our boats, the Comus, off the rocks in +the Bay of Fundy? The directors voted you three hundred guineas as +salvage, and you refused them." + +"It was an offer which should not have been made," said the Admiral +sternly. + +"Well, it reflects credit upon you that you should think so. If Mr. +Henry were here I am sure that he would arrange this matter for you at +once. As it is, I shall lay it before the directors to-day, and I am +sure that they will be proud to have you in our employment, and, I hope, +in some more suitable position than that which you suggest." + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir," said the Admiral, and started off +again, well pleased, upon his homeward journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +STILL AMONG SHOALS. + + +Next day brought the Admiral a cheque for L5,000 from Mr. McAdam, and a +stamped agreement by which he made over his pension papers to the +speculative investor. It was not until he had signed and sent it off +that the full significance of all that he had done broke upon him. He +had sacrificed everything. His pension was gone. He had nothing save +only what he could earn. But the stout old heart never quailed. He +waited eagerly for a letter from the Saint Lawrence Shipping Company, +and in the meanwhile he gave his landlord a quarter's notice. Hundred +pound a year houses would in future be a luxury which he could not +aspire to. A small lodging in some inexpensive part of London must be +the substitute for his breezy Norwood villa. So be it, then! Better +that a thousand fold than that his name should be associated with +failure and disgrace. + +On that morning Harold Denver was to meet the creditors of the firm, and +to explain the situation to them. It was a hateful task, a degrading +task, but he set himself to do it with quiet resolution. At home they +waited in intense anxiety to learn the result of the meeting. It was +late before he returned, haggard pale, like a man who has done and +suffered much. + +"What's this board in front of the house?" he asked. + +"We are going to try a little change of scene," said the Admiral. "This +place is neither town nor country. But never mind that, boy. Tell us +what happened in the City." + +"God help me! My wretched business driving you out of house and home!" +cried Harold, broken down by this fresh evidence of the effects of his +misfortunes. "It is easier for me to meet my creditors than to see you +two suffering so patiently for my sake." + +"Tut, tut!" cried the Admiral. "There's no suffering in the matter. +Mother would rather be near the theaters. That's at the bottom of it, +isn't it, mother? You come and sit down here between us and tell us all +about it." + +Harold sat down with a loving hand in each of his. + +"It's not so bad as we thought," said he, "and yet it is bad enough. I +have about ten days to find the money, but I don't know which way to +turn for it. Pearson, however, lied, as usual, when he spoke of +L13,000. The amount is not quite L7,000." + +The Admiral claped his hands. "I knew we should weather it after all! +Hurrah my boy! Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!" + +Harold gazed at him in surprise, while the old seaman waved his arm +above his head and bellowed out three stentorian cheers. "Where am I to +get seven thousand pounds from, dad?" he asked. + +"Never mind. You spin your yarn." + +"Well, they were very good and very kind, but of course they must have +either their money or their money's worth. They passed a vote of +sympathy with me, and agreed to wait ten days before they took any +proceedings. Three of them, whose claim came to L3,500, told me that if +I would give them my personal I.O.U., and pay interest at the rate of +five per cent, their amounts might stand over as long as I wished. That +would be a charge of L175 upon my income, but with economy I could meet +it, and it diminishes the debt by one-half." + +Again the Admiral burst out cheering. + +"There remains, therefore, about L3,200 which has to be found within ten +days. No man shall lose by me. I gave them my word in the room that if +I worked my soul out of my body every one of them should be paid. I +shall not spend a penny upon myself until it is done. But some of them +can't wait. They are poor men themselves, and must have their money. +They have issued a warrant for Pearson's arrest. But they think that he +has got away the States." + +"These men shall have their money," said the Admiral. + +"Dad!" + +"Yes, my boy, you don't know the resources of the family. One never +does know until one tries. What have you yourself now?" + +"I have about a thousand pounds invested." + +"All right. And I have about as much more. There's a good start. Now, +mother, it is your turn. What is that little bit of paper of yours?" + +Mrs. Denver unfolded it, and placed it upon Harold's knee. + +"Five thousand pounds!" he gasped. + +"Ah, but mother is not the only rich one. Look at this!" And the +Admiral unfolded his cheque, and placed it upon the other knee. + +Harold gazed from one to the other in bewilderment. "Ten thousand +pounds!" he cried. "Good heavens! where did these come from?" + +"You will not worry any longer, dear," murmured his mother, slipping her +arm round him. + +But his quick eye had caught the signature upon one of the cheques. +"Doctor Walker!" he cried, flushing. "This is Clara's doing. Oh, dad, +we cannot take this money. It would not be right nor honorable." + +"No, boy, I am glad you think so. It is something, however, to have +proved one's friend, for a real good friend he is. It was he who +brought it in, though Clara sent him. But this other money will be +enough to cover everything, and it is all my own." + +"Your own? Where did you get it, dad?" + +"Tut, tut! See what it is to have a City man to deal with. It is my +own, and fairly earned, and that is enough." + +"Dear old dad!" Harold squeezed his gnarled hand. "And you, mother! +You have lifted the trouble from my heart. I feel another man. You +have saved my honor, my good name, everything. I cannot owe you more, +for I owe you everything already." + +So while the autumn sunset shone ruddily through the broad window these +three sat together hand in hand, with hearts which were too full to +speak. Suddenly the soft thudding of tennis balls was heard, and Mrs. +Westmacott bounded into view upon the lawn with brandished racket and +short skirts fluttering in the breeze. The sight came as a relief to +their strained nerves, and they burst all three into a hearty fit of +laughter. + +"She is playing with her nephew," said Harold at last. "The Walkers +have not come out yet. I think that it would be well if you were to +give me that cheque, mother, and I were to return it in person." + +"Certainly, Harold. I think it would be very nice." + +He went in through the garden. Clara and the Doctor were sitting +together in the dining-room. She sprang to her feet at the sight of +him. + +"Oh, Harold, I have been waiting for you so impatiently," she cried; "I +saw you pass the front windows half an hour ago. I would have come in +if I dared. Do tell us what has happened." + +"I have come in to thank you both. How can I repay you for your +kindness? Here is your cheque, Doctor. I have not needed it. I find +that I can lay my hands on enough to pay my creditors." + +"Thank God!" said Clara fervently. + +"The sum is less than I thought, and our resources considerably more. +We have been able to do it with ease." + +"With ease!" The Doctor's brow clouded and his manner grew cold. "I +think, Harold, that you would do better to take this money of mine, than +to use that which seems to you to be gained with ease." + +"Thank you, sir. If I borrowed from any one it would be from you. But +my father has this very sum, five thousand pounds, and, as I tell him, I +owe him so much that I have no compunction about owing him more." + +"No compunction! Surely there are some sacrifices which a son should +not allow his parents to make." + +"Sacrifices! What do you mean?" + +"Is it possible that you do not know how this money has been obtained?" + +"I give you my word, Doctor Walker, that I have no idea. I asked my +father, but he refused to tell me." + +"I thought not," said the Doctor, the gloom clearing from his brow. "I +was sure that you were not a man who, to clear yourself from a little +money difficulty, would sacrifice the happiness of your mother and the +health of your father." + +"Good gracious! what do you mean?" + +"It is only right that you should know. That money represents the +commutation of your father's pension. He has reduced himself to +poverty, and intends to go to sea again to earn a living." + +"To sea again! Impossible!" + +"It is the truth. Charles Westmacott has told Ida. He was with him in +the City when he took his poor pension about from dealer to dealer +trying to sell it. He succeeded at last, and hence the money." + +"He has sold his pension!" cried Harold, with his hands to his face. +"My dear old dad has sold his pension!" He rushed from the room, and +burst wildly into the presence of his parents once more. "I cannot take +it, father," he cried. "Better bankruptcy than that. Oh, if I had only +known your plan! We must have back the pension. Oh, mother, mother, +how could you think me capable of such selfishness? Give me the cheque, +dad, and I will see this man to-night, for I would sooner die like a dog +in the ditch than touch a penny of this money." + + + +---- + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. + + +Now all this time, while the tragi-comedy of life was being played in +these three suburban villas, while on a commonplace stage love and humor +and fears and lights and shadows were so swiftly succeeding each other, +and while these three families, drifted together by fate, were shaping +each other's destinies and working out in their own fashion the strange, +intricate ends of human life, there were human eyes which watched over +every stage of the performance, and which were keenly critical of every +actor on it. Across the road beyond the green palings and the close- +cropped lawn, behind the curtains of their creeper-framed windows, sat +the two old ladies, Miss Bertha and Miss Monica Williams, looking out as +from a private box at all that was being enacted before them. The +growing friendship of the three families, the engagement of Harold +Denver with Clara Walker, the engagement of Charles Westmacott with her +sister, the dangerous fascination which the widow exercised over the +Doctor, the preposterous behavior of the Walker girls and the +unhappiness which they had caused their father, not one of these +incidents escaped the notice of the two maiden ladies. Bertha the +younger had a smile or a sigh for the lovers, Monica the elder a frown +or a shrug for the elders. Every night they talked over what they had +seen, and their own dull, uneventful life took a warmth and a coloring +from their neighbors as a blank wall reflects a beacon fire. + +And now it was destined that they should experience the one keen +sensation of their later years, the one memorable incident from which +all future incidents should be dated. + +It was on the very night which succeeded the events which have just been +narrated, when suddenly into Monica William's head, as she tossed upon +her sleepless bed, there shot a thought which made her sit up with a +thrill and a gasp. + +"Bertha," said she, plucking at the shoulder of her sister, "I have left +the front window open." + +"No, Monica, surely not." Bertha sat up also, and thrilled in sympathy. + +"I am sure of it. You remember I had forgotten to water the pots, and +then I opened the window, and Jane called me about the jam, and I have +never been in the room since." + +"Good gracious, Monica, it is a mercy that we have not been murdered in +our beds. There was a house broken into at Forest Hill last week. +Shall we go down and shut it?" + +"I dare not go down alone, dear, but if you will come with me. Put on +your slippers and dressing-gown. We do not need a candle. Now, Bertha, +we will go down together." + +Two little white patches moved vaguely through the darkness, the stairs +creaked, the door whined, and they were at the front room window. +Monica closed it gently down, and fastened the snib. + +"What a beautiful moon!" said she, looking out. "We can see as clearly +as if it were day. How peaceful and quiet the three houses are over +yonder! It seems quite sad to see that `To Let' card upon number one. +I wonder how number two will like their going. For my part I could +better spare that dreadful woman at number three with her short skirts +and her snake. But, oh, Bertha, look! look!! look!!!" Her voice had +fallen suddenly to a quivering whisper and she was pointing to the +Westmacotts' house. Her sister gave a gasp of horror, and stood with a +clutch at Monica's arm, staring in the same direction. + +There was a light in the front room, a slight, wavering light such as +would be given by a small candle or taper. The blind was down, but the +light shone dimly through. Outside in the garden, with his figure +outlined against the luminous square, there stood a man, his back to the +road, his two hands upon the window ledge, and his body rather bent as +though he were trying to peep in past the blind. So absolutely still +and motionless was he that in spite of the moon they might well have +overlooked him were it not for that tell-tale light behind. + +"Good heaven!" gasped Bertha, "it is a burglar." + +But her sister set her mouth grimly and shook her head. "We shall see," +she whispered. "It may be something worse." + +Swiftly and furtively the man stood suddenly erect, and began to push +the window slowly up. Then he put one knee upon the sash, glanced round +to see that all was safe, and climbed over into the room. As he did so +he had to push the blind aside. Then the two spectators saw where the +light came from. Mrs. Westmacott was standing, as rigid as a statue, in +the center of the room, with a lighted taper in her right hand. For an +instant they caught a glimpse of her stern face and her white collar. +Then the blind fell back into position, and the two figures disappeared +from their view. + +"Oh, that dreadful woman!" cried Monica. "That dreadful, dreadful +woman! She was waiting for him. You saw it with your own eyes, sister +Bertha!" + +"Hush, dear, hush and listen!" said her more charitable companion. They +pushed their own window up once more, and watched from behind the +curtains. + +For a long time all was silent within the house. The light still stood +motionless as though Mrs. Westmacott remained rigidly in the one +position, while from time to time a shadow passed in front of it to show +that her midnight visitor was pacing up and down in front of her. Once +they saw his outline clearly, with his hands outstretched as if in +appeal or entreaty. Then suddenly there was a dull sound, a cry, the +noise of a fall, the taper was extinguished, and a dark figure fled in +the moonlight, rushed across the garden, and vanished amid the shrubs at +the farther side. + +Then only did the two old ladies understand that they had looked on +whilst a tragedy had been enacted. "Help!" they cried, and "Help!" in +their high, thin voices, timidly at first, but gathering volume as they +went on, until the Wilderness rang with their shrieks. Lights shone in +all the windows opposite, chains rattled, bars were unshot, doors +opened, and out rushed friends to the rescue. Harold, with a stick; the +Admiral, with his sword, his grey head and bare feet protruding from +either end of a long brown ulster; finally, Doctor Walker, with a poker, +all ran to the help of the Westmacotts. Their door had been already +opened, and they crowded tumultuously into the front room. + +Charles Westmacott, white to his lips, was kneeling an the floor, +supporting his aunt's head upon his knee. She lay outstretched, dressed +in her ordinary clothes, the extinguished taper still grasped in her +hand, no mark or wound upon her--pale, placid, and senseless. + +"Thank God you are come, Doctor," said Charles, looking up. "Do tell me +how she is, and what I should do." + +Doctor Walker kneeled beside her, and passed his left hand over her +head, while he grasped her pulse with the right. + +"She has had a terrible blow," said he. "It must have been with some +blunt weapon. Here is the place behind the ear. But she is a woman of +extraordinary physical powers. Her pulse is full and slow. There is no +stertor. It is my belief that she is merely stunned, and that she is in +no danger at all." + +"Thank God for that!" + +"We must get her to bed. We shall carry her upstairs, and then I shall +send my girls in to her. But who has done this?" + +"Some robber" said Charles. "You see that the window is open. She must +have heard him and come down, for she was always perfectly fearless. I +wish to goodness she had called me." + +"But she was dressed." + +"Sometimes she sits up very late." + +"I did sit up very late," said a voice. She had opened her eyes, and +was blinking at them in the lamplight. "A villain came in through the +window and struck me with a life-preserver. You can tell the police so +when they come. Also that it was a little fat man. Now, Charles, give +me your arm and I shall go upstairs." + +But her spirit was greater than her strength, for, as she staggered to +her feet, her head swam round, and she would have fallen again had her +nephew not thrown his arms round her. They carried her upstairs among +them and laid her upon the bed, where the Doctor watched beside her, +while Charles went off to the police-station, and the Denvers mounted +guard over the frightened maids. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +IN PORT AT LAST. + + +Day had broken before the several denizens of the Wilderness had all +returned to their homes, the police finished their inquiries, and all +come back to its normal quiet. Mrs. Westmacott had been left sleeping +peacefully with a small chloral draught to steady her nerves and a +handkerchief soaked in arnica bound round her head. It was with some +surprise, therefore, that the Admiral received a note from her about ten +o'clock, asking him to be good enough to step in to her. He hurried in, +fearing that she might have taken some turn for the worse, but he was +reassured to find her sitting up in her bed, with Clara and Ida Walker +in attendance upon her. She had removed the handkerchief, and had put +on a little cap with pink ribbons, and a maroon dressing-jacket, +daintily fulled at the neck and sleeves. + +"My dear friend," said she as he entered, "I wish to make a last few +remarks to you. No, no," she continued, laughing, as she saw a look of +dismay upon his face. "I shall not dream of dying for at least another +thirty years. A woman should be ashamed to die before she is seventy. +I wish, Clara, that you would ask your father to step up. And you, Ida, +just pass me my cigarettes, and open me a bottle of stout." + +"Now then," she continued, as the doctor joined their party. "I don't +quite know what I ought to say to you, Admiral. You want some very +plain speaking to." + +"'Pon my word, ma'am, I don't know what you are talking about." + +"The idea of you at your age talking of going to sea, and leaving that +dear, patient little wife of yours at home, who has seen nothing of you +all her life! It's all very well for you. You have the life, and the +change, and the excitement, but you don't think of her eating her heart +out in a dreary London lodging. You men are all the same." + +"Well, ma'am, since you know so much, you probably know also that I have +sold my pension. How am I to live if I do not turn my hand to work?" + +Mrs. Westmacott produced a large registered envelope from beneath the +sheets and tossed it over to the old seaman. + +"That excuse won't do. There are your pension papers. Just see if they +are right." + +He broke the seal, and out tumbled the very papers which he had made +over to McAdam two days before. + +"But what am I to do with these now?" he cried in bewilderment. + +"You will put them in a safe place, or get a friend to do so, and, if +you do your duty, you will go to your wife and beg her pardon for having +even for an instant thought of leaving her." + +The Admiral passed his hand over his rugged forehead. "This is very good +of you, ma'am" said he, "very good and kind, and I know that you are a +staunch friend, but for all that these papers mean money, and though we +may have been in broken water lately, we are not quite in such straits +as to have to signal to our friends. When we do, ma'am, there's no one +we would look to sooner than to you." + +"Don't be ridiculous!" said the widow. "You know nothing whatever about +it, and yet you stand there laying down the law. I'll have my way in +the matter, and you shall take the papers, for it is no favor that I am +doing you, but simply a restoration of stolen property." + +"How's that, ma'am?" + +"I am just going to explain, though you might take a lady's word for it +without asking any questions. Now, what I am going to say is just +between you four, and must go no farther. I have my own reasons for +wishing to keep it from the police. Who do you think it was who struck +me last night, Admiral?" + +"Some villain, ma'am. I don't know his name." + +"But I do. It was the same man who ruined or tried to ruin your son. +It was my only brother, Jeremiah." + +"Ah!" + +"I will tell you about him--or a little about him, for he has done much +which I would not care to talk of, nor you to listen to. He was always +a villain, smooth-spoken and plausible, but a dangerous, subtle villain +all the same. If I have some hard thoughts about mankind I can trace +them back to the childhood which I spent with my brother. He is my only +living relative, for my other brother, Charles's father, was killed in +the Indian mutiny. + +"Our father was rich, and when he died he made a good provision both for +Jeremiah and for me. He knew Jeremiah and he mistrusted him, however; +so instead of giving him all that he meant him to have he handed me over +a part of it, telling me, with what was almost his dying breath, to hold +it in trust for my brother, and to use it in his behalf when he should +have squandered or lost all that he had. This arrangement was meant to +be a secret between my father and myself, but unfortunately his words +were overheard by the nurse, and she repeated them afterwards to my +brother, so that he came to know that I held some money in trust for +him. I suppose tobacco will not harm my head, Doctor? Thank you, then +I shall trouble you for the matches, Ida." She lit a cigarette, and +leaned back upon the pillow, with the blue wreaths curling from her +lips. + +"I cannot tell you how often he has attempted to get that money from me. +He has bullied, cajoled, threatened, coaxed, done all that a man could +do. I still held it with the presentiment that a need for it would +come. When I heard of this villainous business, his flight, and his +leaving his partner to face the storm, above all that my old friend had +been driven to surrender his income in order to make up for my brother's +defalcations, I felt that now indeed I had a need for it. I sent in +Charles yesterday to Mr. McAdam, and his client, upon hearing the facts +of the case, very graciously consented to give back the papers, and to +take the money which he had advanced. Not a word of thanks to me, +Admiral. I tell you that it was very cheap benevolence, for it was all +done with his own money, and how could I use it better? + +"I thought that I should probably hear from him soon, and I did. Last +evening there was handed in a note of the usual whining, cringing tone. +He had come back from abroad at the risk of his life and liberty, just +in order that he might say good-bye to the only sister he ever had, and +to entreat my forgiveness for any pain which he had caused me. He would +never trouble me again, and he begged only that I would hand over to him +the sum which I held in trust for him. That, with what he had already, +would be enough to start him as an honest man in the new world, when he +would ever remember and pray for the dear sister who had been his +savior. That was the style of the letter, and it ended by imploring me +to leave the window-latch open, and to be in the front room at three in +the morning, when he would come to receive my last kiss and to bid me +farewell. + +"Bad as he was, I could not, when he trusted me, betray him. I said +nothing, but I was there at the hour. He entered through the window, and +implored me to give him the money. He was terribly changed; gaunt, +wolfish, and spoke like a madman. I told him that I had spent the +money. He gnashed his teeth at me, and swore it was his money. I told +him that I had spent it on him. He asked me how. I said in trying to +make him an honest man, and in repairing the results of his villainy. +He shrieked out a curse, and pulling something out of the breast of his +coat--a loaded stick, I think--he struck me with it, and I remembered +nothing more." + +"The blackguard!" cried the Doctor, "but the police must be hot upon his +track." + +"I fancy not," Mrs. Westmacott answered calmly. "As my brother is a +particularly tall, thin man, and as the police are looking for a short, +fat one, I do not think that it is very probable that they will catch +him. It is best, I think, that these little family matters should be +adjusted in private." + +"My dear ma'am," said the Admiral, "if it is indeed this man's money +that has bought back my pension, then I can have no scruples about +taking it. You have brought sunshine upon us, ma'am, when the clouds +were at their darkest, for here is my boy who insists upon returning the +money which I got. He can keep it now to pay his debts. For what you +have done I can only ask God to bless you, ma'am, and as to thanking you +I can't even----" + +"Then pray don't try," said the widow. "Now run away, Admiral, and make +your peace with Mrs. Denver. I am sure if I were she it would be a long +time before I should forgive you. As for me, I am going to America when +Charles goes. You'll take me so far, won't you, Ida? There is a +college being built in Denver which is to equip the woman of the future +for the struggle of life, and especially for her battle against man. +Some months ago the committee offered me a responsible situation upon +the staff, and I have decided now to accept it, for Charles's marriage +removes the last tie which binds me to England. You will write to me +sometimes, my friends, and you will address your letters to Professor +Westmacott, Emancipation College, Denver. From there I shall watch how +the glorious struggle goes in conservative old England, and if I am +needed you will find me here again fighting in the forefront of the +fray. Good-bye--but not you, girls; I have still a word I wish to say to +you. + +"Give me your hand, Ida, and yours, Clara," said she when they were +alone. "Oh, you naughty little pusses, aren't you ashamed to look me in +the face? Did you think--did you really think that I was so very blind, +and could not see your little plot? You did it very well, I must say +that, and really I think that I like you better as you are. But you had +all your pains for nothing, you little conspirators, for I give you my +word that I had quite made up my mind not to have him." + +And so within a few weeks our little ladies from their observatory saw a +mighty bustle in the Wilderness, when two-horse carriages came, and +coachmen with favors, to bear away the twos who were destined to come +back one. And they themselves in their crackling silk dresses went +across, as invited, to the big double wedding breakfast which was held +in the house of Doctor Walker. Then there was health-drinking, and +laughter, and changing of dresses, and rice-throwing when the carriages +drove up again, and two more couples started on that journey which ends +only with life itself. + +Charles Westmacott is now a flourishing ranchman in the western part of +Texas, where he and his sweet little wife are the two most popular +persons in all that county. Of their aunt they see little, but from time +to time they see notices in the papers that there is a focus of light in +Denver, where mighty thunderbolts are being forged which will one day +bring the dominant sex upon their knees. The Admiral and his wife still +live at number one, while Harold and Clara have taken number two, where +Doctor Walker continues to reside. As to the business, it had been +reconstructed, and the energy and ability of the junior partner had soon +made up for all the ill that had been done by his senior. Yet with his +sweet and refined home atmosphere he is able to realize his wish, and to +keep himself free from the sordid aims and base ambitions which drag +down the man whose business lies too exclusively in the money market of +the vast Babylon. As he goes back every evening from the crowds of +Throgmorton Street to the tree-lined peaceful avenues of Norwood, so he +has found it possible in spirit also to do one's duties amidst the babel +of the City, and yet to live beyond it. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond the City, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE CITY *** + +This file should be named bcity11.txt or bcity11.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, bcity12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, bcity11a.txt + +Updated by David Widger from the 1995 production of Michael Hart +Additional proofreading by Trevor Carlson + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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