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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de72bd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66671 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66671) diff --git a/old/66671-0.txt b/old/66671-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 56ba763..0000000 --- a/old/66671-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8339 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mr. Clutterbuck’s Election, by H. -Belloc - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Mr. Clutterbuck’s Election - -Author: H. Belloc - -Release Date: November 5, 2021 [eBook #66671] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. CLUTTERBUCK’S -ELECTION *** - - - - - - -MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S ELECTION - -[Illustration] - - - - -NEW SIX-SHILLING NOVELS - - -THE MAGIC OF MAY - -By "Iota," Author of "The Yellow Aster," etc. - - "A document of the hour."--_Times._ - - -THE THIEF ON THE CROSS - -By Mrs. Harold Gorst, Author of "This Our Sister," etc. - - "'The Jungle' of London."--_Daily Graphic._ - - -THE KISS OF HELEN - -By Charles Marriott, Author of "The Wondrous Wife." - - "A book to read slowly and remember long." _Evening Standard._ - - -THE FIFTH QUEEN CROWNED - -By Ford Madox Hueffer, Author of "The Fifth Queen," etc. - - "A wonderful picture of the time."--_Daily Mail._ - - -A GENTLEMAN OF LONDON - -By Morice Gerard, Author of "Rose of Blenheim," etc. - - "A pleasure to read."--_Globe._ - - - - - MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S - ELECTION - - BY - - H. BELLOC - - AUTHOR OF "EMANUEL BURDEN" - - - LONDON - EVELEIGH NASH - FAWSIDE HOUSE - 1908 - - - - - To - - GILBERT CHESTERTON - - _Idem Sentire de Republicâ_ ... - - - - -MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S ELECTION - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -Towards the end of the late Queen Victoria's reign there resided in the -suburban town of Croydon a gentleman of the name of Clutterbuck, who, -upon a modest capital inherited from his father, contrived by various -negotiations at his office in the City of London to gain an income of -now some seven hundred, now more nearly a thousand, pounds in the year. - -It will be remembered that a war of unprecedented dimensions was -raging, at the time of which I speak, in the sub-continent of South -Africa. - -The President of the South African Republic, thinking the moment -propitious for a conquest of our dominions, had invaded our territory -after an ultimatum of incredible insolence, and, as though it were -not sufficient that we should grapple foe to foe upon equal terms, -the whole weight of the Orange Free State was thrown into the scale -against us. - -The struggle against the combined armies which had united to destroy -this country was long and arduous, and had we been compelled to rely -upon our regular forces alone things might have gone ill. As it was, -the enthusiasm of Colonial manhood and the genius of the generals -prevailed. The names of Kitchener, Methuen, Baden-Powell, and Rhodes -will ever remain associated with that of the Commander-in-Chief -himself, Lord Roberts, who in less than three years from the decisive -victory of Paardeburg imposed peace upon the enemy. Their territories -were annexed in a series of thirty-seven proclamations, and form to-day -the brightest jewel in the Imperial crown. - -These facts--which must be familiar to many of my readers--I only -recall in order to show what influence they had in the surprising -revolutions of fortune which enabled Mr. Clutterbuck to pass from ease -to affluence, and launched him upon public life. - -The business which Mr. Clutterbuck had inherited from his father was -a small agency chiefly concerned with the Baltic trade. This business -had declined; for Mr. Clutterbuck's father had failed to follow the -rapid concentration of commercial effort which is the mark of our -time. But Mr. Clutterbuck had inherited, besides the business, a sum -of close upon ten thousand pounds in various securities: it was upon -the manipulation of this that he principally depended, and though -he maintained the sign of the old agency at the office, it was the -cautious buying and selling of stocks which he carefully watched, -various opportunities of promotion in a small way, commissions, and -occasional speculations in kind, that procured his constant though -somewhat irregular income. To these sources he would sometimes add -private advances or covering mortgages upon the stock of personal -friends. - -It was a venture of the latter sort which began the transformation of -his life. - -The last negotiations of the war were not yet wholly completed, nor had -the coronation of his present Majesty taken place when, in the early -summer of 1902, a neighbour of the name of Boyle called one evening at -Mr. Clutterbuck's house. - -Mr. Boyle, a man of Mr. Clutterbuck's own age, close upon fifty, -and himself a bachelor, had long enjoyed the acquaintance both of -Mr. Clutterbuck and of his wife. Some years ago, indeed, when Mr. -Boyle resided at the Elms, the acquaintance had almost ripened into -friendship, but Mr. Boyle's ill-health, not unconnected with financial -worries, and later his change of residence to 15 John Bright -Gardens had somewhat estranged the two households. It was therefore -with a certain solemnity that Mr. Boyle was received into the neat -sitting-room where the Clutterbucks were accustomed to pass the time -between tea and the hour of their retirement. - -They were shocked to see how aged Mr. Boyle appeared: he formed, as -he sat there opposite them, the most complete contrast with the man -whose counsel and support he had come to seek. For Mr. Clutterbuck was -somewhat stout in figure, of a roundish face with a thick and short -moustache making a crescent upon it. He was bald as to the top of his -head, and brushed across it a large thin fan of his still dark hair. -His forehead was high, since he was bald; his complexion healthy. But -Mr. Boyle, clean-shaven, with deep-set, restless grey eyes, and a -forehead ornamented with corners, seemed almost foreign; so hard were -the lines of his face and so abundant his curly and crisp grey hair. -His gestures also were nervous. He clasped and unclasped his hands, and -as he delivered--at long intervals--his first common-place remarks, his -eyes darted from one object to another, but never met his host's: he -was very ill. - -His evident hesitation instructed Mrs. Clutterbuck that he had come -upon some important matter; she therefore gathered up the yellow -satin centre, upon the embroidery of which she had been engaged, and -delicately left the room. - -When she had noiselessly shut the door behind her, Mr. Boyle, looking -earnestly at the fire, said abruptly: - -"What I have come about to-night, Mr. Clutterbuck, is a business -proposition." Having said this, he extended the fore and middle fingers -of his right hand in the gesture of an episcopal benediction, and -tapped them twice upon the palm of his left; which done, he repeated -his phrase: "A business proposition"; cleared his throat and said no -more. - -Mr. Clutterbuck's reply to this was to approach a chiffonier, to squat -down suddenly before it in the attitude of a frog, to unlock it, and -to bring out a cut glass decanter containing whiskey. The whiskey was -Scotch; and as Mr. Clutterbuck straightened himself and set it upon -the table, he looked down upon Mr. Boyle with a look of property and -knowledge, winked solemnly and said: - -"Now, Mr. Boyle! This is something you won't get everywhere. Pitt put -me up to it." He made a slight gesture with his left hand. "Simply -couldn't be bought; that's what Pitt said. Not in the market! Say -when"--and with a firm smile he poured the whiskey into a glass which -he set by Mr. Boyle's side, and next poured a far smaller amount into -his own. Indeed it was a feature of this epoch-making interview that -the sound business instinct of Mr. Clutterbuck restrained him to a -great moderation as he listened to his guest's advances. - -When Mr. Boyle had drunk the first glass of that whiskey which Mr. Pitt -had so kindly recommended to Mr. Clutterbuck, he was moved to continue: - -"It's like this: if you'll meet me man to man, we can do business." He -then murmured: "I've thought a good deal about this"--and while Mr. -Boyle was indulging in these lucid preliminaries, Mr. Clutterbuck, who -thoroughly approved of them, nodded solemnly several times. - -"What I've got to put before you," said Mr. Boyle, shifting in -his seat, gazing earnestly at Mr. Clutterbuck and speaking with -concentrated emphasis, "is eggs!" - -"Eggs?" said Mr. Clutterbuck with just that tone of contempt which the -other party to a bargain should assume, and with just as much curiosity -as would permit the conversation to continue. - -"Yes, eggs," said Mr. Boyle firmly; then in a grand tone he added, -"a million of 'em.... There!" And Mr. Boyle turned his head round as -triumphantly as a sick man can, and filled up his glass again with -whiskey and water. - -"Well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "what about your million eggs? What you -want? Are you buying 'em or selling 'em, or what?" - -The somewhat unconventional rapidity of Mr. Clutterbuck did not disturb -Mr. Boyle. He leaned forward again and said: "I've only come to you -because it's you. I knew you'd see it if any man would, and I thought -I'd give you the first chance." - -"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck slowly, "but how do you mean? Is it buying -or selling, or what?" - -"Neither," said Mr. Boyle, and then like a horse taking a hedge, he out -with the whole business and said: - -"It's cover. I want to carry on." - -"Oh!" said Mr. Clutterbuck deliberately cold, "that's a question of -how much and on what terms. Though for the matter of business from one -gentleman to another, I don't see what a million eggs anyhow, if you -understand me...." - -Here he began to think, and Mr. Boyle nodded intelligently to show that -he completely followed the train of Mr. Clutterbuck's thought. - -Mr. Boyle filled his glass again with whiskey and waited, but Mr. -Clutterbuck, who had ever appreciated the importance of sobriety in -the relations of commerce, confined himself to occasional sips at his -original allowance. When some intervals of silence had passed between -them in this manner, and when Mr. Boyle had, now for the fourth time, -replenished his glass, Mr. Clutterbuck, who could by this time survey -the whole scheme in a lucid and organised fashion, repeated the number -of eggs, to wit, one million, and after a considerable pause repeated -also the fundamental proposition that it was a question of how much and -upon what terms. - -Mr. Boyle, staring at the fire and apparently obtaining some help from -it, made answer: "A thousand." - -A lesser man than Mr. Clutterbuck would perhaps have professed -astonishment at so large a sum; he, however, like all men destined for -commercial greatness at any period, however tardy, in their lives, said -quietly: - -"More like five hundred." - -Mr. Clutterbuck had not yet divided one million by a thousand or by -five hundred; still less had he estimated the probable selling value -of an egg; but he was a little astonished to hear Mr. Boyle say with -lifted eyebrows and a haughty expression: "Done with you!" - -"It is not done with me at all," said Mr. Clutterbuck hotly, as Mr. -Boyle poured out a fifth glass of whiskey and water. "It's not done -with me at all! Wait till you see my bit of paper!" - -Mr. Boyle assumed a look of weariness. "My dear sir," he said, "I was -only speaking as one gentleman would to another." - -Mr. Clutterbuck nodded solemnly. - -"It's not a matter of five hundred or a thousand between men like you -and me." - -Mr. Clutterbuck still nodded. - -"I'm not here to see your name in ink. I'm here to make a business -proposition." - -Having said so much he rose to go. And Mr. Clutterbuck, appreciating -that he had gained one of those commercial victories which are often -the foundation of a great fortune, said: "I'll come and see 'em -to-morrow. Current rate." - -"One above the Bank," said Mr. Boyle, and they parted friends. - -When Mr. Boyle was gone, Mr. Clutterbuck reclined some little time in -a complete blank: a form of repose in which men of high capacity in -organisation often recuperate from moments of intense activity. In this -posture he remained for perhaps half an hour, and then went in, not -without hesitation, to see his wife. - -Eighteen years of married life had rendered Mrs. Clutterbuck's features -and manner familiar to her husband. It is well that the reader also -should have some idea of her presence. She habitually dressed in black; -her hair, which had never been abundant, was of the same colour, and -shone with extraordinary precision. She was accustomed to part it in -the middle, and to bring it down upon either side of her forehead. -It was further to be remarked that round her neck, which was long -and slender, she wore a velvet band after a fashion which royalty -itself had not disdained to inaugurate. At her throat was a locket -of considerable size containing initials worked in human hair; upon -her wrists, according to the severity of the season, she wore or -did not wear mittens as dark as the rest of her raiment. She spoke -but little, save in the presence of her husband; her gestures were -restrained and purposeful, her walk somewhat rapid; and her accent that -of a cultivated gentlewoman of the middle sort; her grammar perfect. -Her idiom, however, when it was not a trifle selected, occasionally -erred. Her hours and diet are little to my purpose, but it is perhaps -worth while to note that she rose at seven, and was accustomed to eat -breakfast an hour afterwards, while hot meat in the middle of the day -and cold meat after her husband's office hours, formed her principal -meals. Her recreations were few but decided, and she had the method to -attack them at regular seasons. She left Croydon three times in the -year, once to visit her family at Berkhampstead, to which rural village -her father had retired after selling his medical practice; once to the -seaside, and once to spend a few days in the heart of London, during -which holiday it was her custom to visit the principal theatres in the -company of her husband. - -She had no children, and was active upon those four societies which, at -the time of which I speak, formed a greater power for social good than -any others in Croydon--the Charity Organisation Society, the Society -for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a similar society which -guaranteed a similar immunity to the children of the poor, and the -Association for the Reform of the Abuses prevalent in the Congo "Free" -State. - -Though often solicited to give her aid, experience and subscriptions -to many another body intent upon the uplifting of the lower classes, -she had ever strictly confined herself to these four alone, which, she -felt, absorbed the whole of her available energy. She had, however, -upon two occasions, consented to take a stall for our Dumb Friends' -League, and had once been patroness of a local ball given in support of -the Poor Brave Things. In religion she was, I need hardly add, of the -Anglican persuasion, in which capacity she attended the church of the -Rev. Isaac Fowle; though she was not above worshipping with her fellow -citizens of other denominations when social duty or the accident of -hospitality demanded such a courtesy. - -As Mr. Clutterbuck entered, Mrs. Clutterbuck continued her work of -embroidery at the yellow centre, putting her needle through the fabric -with a vigour and decision which spoke volumes for the restrained -energy of her character; nor was she the first to speak. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, standing at the fire parting his coat tails and -looking up toward that ornament in the ceiling whence depended the gas -pipe, said boldly: "Well, he got nothing out of _me_!" - -Mrs. Clutterbuck, without lifting her eyes, replied as rapidly as her -needlework: "I don't want to hear about your business affairs, Mr. -Clutterbuck. I leave gentlemen to what concerns gentlemen. I hope I -know _my_ work, and that I don't interfere where I might only make -trouble." It is remarkable that after this preface she should have -added: "Though why you let every beggar who darkens this door make a -fool of you is more than I can understand." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was at some pains and at great length to explain that -the imaginary transaction which disturbed his wife's equanimity had -not taken place, but his volubility had no other effect than to call -from her, under a further misapprehension, a rebuke with regard to his -excess in what she erroneously called "wine." Her sympathetic remarks -upon Mr. Boyle's state of health and her trust that her husband had not -too much taxed his failing energies, did little to calm that business -man's now legitimate irritation, and it must be confessed that when -his wife rose in a commanding manner and left the room to put all in -order before retiring, a dark shadow of inner insecurity overcast the -merchant's mind. - -It was perhaps on this account that he left next day for the City by -the 8.32 instead of taking, as was his custom, the 9.17; and that, -still moody after dealing with his correspondence, he sought the office -of Mr. Boyle in Mark Lane. - -As he went through the cold and clear morning with the activity and -hurry of the City about him, he could review the short episode of the -night before in a clearer light and with more justice. His irritation -at his wife's remarks had largely disappeared; he had recognised that -such irritation is always the worst of counsellors in a business -matter; he remembered Mr. Boyle's long career, and though that career -had been checkered, and though of late they had seen less of each -other, he could not but contrast the smallness of the favour demanded -with the still substantial household and the public name of his friend. -He further recollected, as he went rapidly eastward, more than one such -little transaction which had proved profitable to him in the past, -not only in cash, but, what was more important to him, in business -relations. - -It was in such a mood that he reached Mr. Boyle's office: his first -emotion was one of surprise at the fineness of the place. He had -not entered it for many years, but during those years he had hardly -represented Mr. Boyle to himself as a man rising in the world. He was -surprised, and agreeably surprised; and when one of the many clerks -informed him that Mr. Boyle was down at the docks seeing to the -warehouse, he took accurate directions of the place where he might find -him, and went off in a better frame of mind; nay, in some readiness to -make an advance upon that original quotation of five hundred which, -he was now free to admit, had been accepted by Mr. Boyle with more -composure than he had expected. - -He was further impressed as he left the office to see upon a brass -plate the new name of Czernwitz added to Mr. Boyle's and to note the -several lines of telephone which radiated from the central cabin that -served the whole premises. - -Commercial requirements are many, complicated, delicate and often -secret; nor was Mr. Clutterbuck so simple as to contrast the excellent -appointments of the office and the air of prosperity which permeated -it, with the personal and private offer for an advance which Mr. Boyle -had been good enough to make. - -The partnership of which Mr. Boyle was a member was evidently -sound--the name of Czernwitz was enough to show that; there could -be little doubt of the banking support behind such an establishment; -but the relations between partners often involve special details of -which the outside world is ignorant, the moment might be one in which -it was inconvenient to approach the bank in the name of the firm; a -large concession might, for all he knew, have just been obtained for -some common purpose; Mr. Boyle himself might have in hand a personal -venture bearing no relation to the transactions of the partnership; -he might even very probably be gathering, from more than one quarter, -such small sums as he required for the moment. A man must have but -little acquaintance with the City whose imagination could not suggest -such contingencies, and upon an intimate acquaintance with the City and -all its undercurrents Mr. Clutterbuck very properly prided himself. -During that brief walk all these considerations were at work in Mr. -Clutterbuck's mind, and severally leading him to an act of generosity -which the future was amply to justify. - -He went down to the docks; he entered the warehouse, and was there -astonished to observe so many cases, each so full of brine, and that -brine so packed with such a vast assemblage of eggs held beneath the -surface by wire lattices, that an impression of incalculable wealth -soon occupied the whole of his spirit; for he perceived not only the -paltry million in which Mr. Boyle had apparently embarked some private -moneys (the boxes were marked with his name), but the vast stores of -perhaps twenty other merchants who had rallied round England in her -hour of need and had prepared an inexhaustible supply of sterilised -organic albumenoids for the gallant lads at the front. - -He went up several stairs through what must have been three hundred -yards of corridor with eggs and eggs and eggs on every side--it seemed -to him a mile--he pushed through a dusty door and saw at last the goal -of his journey: Mr. Boyle himself. Mr. Boyle was wearing a dazzling -top hat, he was dressed in a brilliant cashmere twill relieved by a -large yellow flower in his buttonhole, and was seated before a little -instrument wherein an electric lamp, piercing the translucency of a -sample egg, determined whether it were or were not still suitable for -human food. - -Mr. Boyle recognised his visitor, nodded in a courteous but not -effusive way, and continued his observations. He rose at last, and -offered Mr. Clutterbuck a squint (an offer which that gentleman was -glad to accept), and explained to him the working of the test; then he -removed the egg from its position before the electric lamp, deposited -it with care beneath the brine under that section of the lattice to -which it belonged, and said with a heartiness which his illness could -not entirely destroy: "What brings you here?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck in some astonishment referred to their conversation of -the night before. - -Mr. Boyle laughed as soundly as a sick man can, coughed rather -violently after the laugh, and said: "Oh, I'd forgotten all about -it--it doesn't matter. I've seen Benskin this morning, and there's no -hurry." - -"My dear Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck warmly. - -Mr. Boyle waved him away with his hand. "My dear fellow," he said, -"don't let's have any explanations. I saw you didn't like the look of -it, and, after all, what does it matter? If one has to carry on for a -day or two one can always find what one wants. It was silly of me to -have talked to you about it. But when a man's ill he sometimes does -injudicious things." - -Here Mr. Boyle was again overcome with a very sharp and hacking cough -which was pitiful to hear. - -"You don't understand me, Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck with dignity -and yet with assurance. "If it was a matter of friendship I'd do it at -once; but I can see perfectly well it's a matter of business as well, -and you ought to allow me to combine both: I've known you long enough!" - -Mr. Boyle, after a further fit of coughing, caught his breath and said: -"You mean I ought to go to Benskin and let you in for part of it?" - -"My dear Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck, now quite at his ease, "let me -in for the whole of it, or what you like. After all, when you spoke -about the matter last night it was sudden, and----" - -"Yes, I know, I know," said Mr. Boyle, impatiently, "that's what I'm -like.... You see I've twenty things to think of--these eggs are only -part of it; and if I were to realise, as I could...." - -Mr. Clutterbuck cut him short: "Don't talk like that, Boyle," he said, -"I'll sign it here and now; and you shall send me the papers when you -like." - -"No, no," said Mr. Boyle, "that's not business. I'll introduce you to -Benskin and you can talk it over." - -With that he began to lead the way towards Mr. Benskin's office, when -he suddenly thought better of it, and said: "Look here, Clutterbuck, -this is the best way: I'll send you the papers. I'm in for a lot more -than a million, but I'll earmark that million--eggs I mean. I won't -bring Benskin into it, I'll send you the papers and when your six and -eight-penny has passed 'em, you can hand over the risk if you like. I -want it, I tell you frankly, I want several of 'em, and I'm getting 'em -all round; but there's no good letting everybody know. I won't touch -your envelope or your pink slip till you've had the papers and got them -passed. They're all made up, I'll send them round." - -In vain did Mr. Clutterbuck protest that for so small a sum as £500 -it was ridiculous that there should be formalities between friends. -Mr. Boyle, alternately coughing and wagging his head, was adamant upon -the matter. He led Mr. Clutterbuck back through the acres of preserved -eggs, choosing such avenues as afforded the best perspective of these -innumerable supplies, crossed with him the space before the Minories, -re-entered, still coughing, the narrowness of Mark Lane, and promising -Mr. Clutterbuck the papers within a few hours, turned into his own -great doors. - -Long before those hours were expired Mr. Clutterbuck had made up his -mind: he knew the value of informal promptitude in such cases. He had -hardly reached his own offices in Leadenhall Street, he had barely had -time to take off his overcoat, to hang his hat upon a peg, to cover his -cuffs with paper, to change into his office coat, and to take his seat -at his desk, when he dictated a note relative to an advance in Perus, -signed his cheque for five hundred and sent it round by a private -messenger with a few warm lines in his own handwriting such as should -accompany a good deed wisely done. - -He was contented with himself, he appreciated, not without justice, the -rapidity and the sureness of his judgment; he withdrew the paper from -his cuffs, put on his City coat and his best City hat, and determined -to afford himself a meal worthy of so excellent a transaction. But -genius, however lucid and immediate, is fated to endure toil as much -as it is to enjoy vision; and this excellent speculation, greatly -and deservedly as it was to enhance Mr. Clutterbuck's commercial -reputation, was not yet safe in harbour. - -He returned late from his lunch, which he had rounded up with coffee in -the company of a few friends. It was nearly four. He asked carelessly -if any papers had reached him from Mr. Boyle's office or elsewhere, -and, finding they had been delayed, he went home without more ado, -to return for them in the morning. He reached Croydon not a little -exhilarated and pleased at the successes of the day--for he had had -minor successes also; he had sold Pernambucos at 16-1/2 just before -they fell. In such a mood he committed the imprudence of making Mrs. -Clutterbuck aware, though in the vaguest terms, that her opinion of Mr. -Boyle was harsh, and that his own judgment of the man had risen not a -little from what he had seen that day. The lady's virtuous silence -spurred him to further arguments, and though his confidences entered -into no details and certainly betrayed nothing of the main business, -yet the next morning as he reviewed the conversation in his mind, he -regretted it. - -He approached his office on that second day in a sober mood, prepared -to scan the document which he awaited, and, if necessary, to visit his -lawyer. No document was there; but Mr. Clutterbuck had had experience -of the leisure of a solicitor's office, and, in youth, too many -reminders of the results of interference to hasten its operation. What -did surprise him, however, and that most legitimately, was the absence -of any word of acknowledgment from his friend, in spite of the fact -that the cheque had been cashed, as he discovered, the day before at -a few minutes past twelve. Of all courses precipitation is the worst. -Mr. Clutterbuck occupied himself with other matters; worked hard at -the Warra-Mugga report, mastered it; sold Perterssens for Warra-Muggas -(a very wise transaction); and returned home in a thoughtful mood by a -late train. - -The first news with which Mrs. Clutterbuck greeted him was the sudden -and serious illness of Mr. Boyle, who was lying between life and death -at 15 John Bright Gardens. As she announced this fact to her husband, -she looked at him in a manner suggestive neither of conciliation, nor -of violence, nor of weakness, but, as it were, of calm control; and Mr. -Clutterbuck, acting upon mixed emotions, among which anxiety was not -the least, went out at once to have news of his friend. All that he -could hear from the servant at the door was that the doctor would admit -no visitor; that her master was extremely ill, but that he was expected -to survive the night. - -Mr. Clutterbuck hurried back home in a considerable confusion of mind, -and was glad to find, as he approached his house, that everything was -dark. - -Next morning he postponed his journey to the City to call again as -early as he decently could at 15 John Bright Gardens. Alas! the blinds -were drawn at every window. The Dread Reaper had passed. - -The effect produced by this calamity upon Mr. Clutterbuck was such -as would have thrown a more emotional man quite off his balance. The -loss of so near a neighbour, the death of a man with whom but fifty -hours ago he had been in intimate conversation, was in itself a shock -of dangerous violence. When there was added to this shock his natural -doubts upon the status of the Million Eggs, it is not to be wondered -that a sort of distraction followed. He ran, quite forgetful of his -dignity, to the nearest telephone cabin, rang up his office in the -City, was given the wrong number, in his agony actually forgot to -repeat the right number again, dashed out without paying, returned -to fulfil this formality, pelted away toward the station, missed the -11.28, and, such was his bewildered mood, leapt upon a tram as though -this were the quickest means of reaching information. - -In a quarter of an hour a little calm was restored to him, though by -this time the rapid electric service of the Electric Traction Syndicate -had carried him far beyond the limits of Croydon. He got out at a -roadside office, wrote out and tore up again half a dozen telegrams, -seized a time-table, determined that after all the train was his best -refuge, and catching the 12.17 at Norwood Junction, found himself -in the heart of the City before half-past one. A hansom took him to -his office after several intolerable but unavoidable delays in the -half-mile it had to traverse. His visible perturbation was a matter of -comment to his subordinates, who were not slow to inform him before he -opened his mouth that the documents had not yet arrived. - -Exhaustion followed so much feverish activity, an anxiety, deeper if -possible than any he had yet shown, settled upon Mr. Clutterbuck's -features. He forgot to lunch, he walked deliberately to the warehouse, -only to be asked what his business might be, and to be told that the -particular section of eggs which he named were the property of Messrs. -Czernwitz and Boyle, and could be visited by no one without their -written order. - -The tone in which this astonishing message was delivered would have -stung a man of less sensitiveness and breeding than Mr. Clutterbuck; -he turned upon his heel in a mood to which anger was now added, and -immediately sought the office of that firm. But he was doomed to yet -further delay. No one was in who could give him any useful information, -nor even any one of so much responsibility as to be able to explain to -him the extraordinary occurrences of the last few days. - -He was at the point of a very grave decision--I mean of going on to -his lawyers and perhaps disturbing to no sort of purpose the most -delicate of commercial relations--when there moved past him into the -office the ponderous and well-clad form of a gentleman past middle age, -with such magnificent white whiskers as adorn the faces of too many -Continental bankers, and wearing a simple bowler hat of exquisite shape -and workmanship. He was smoking a cigar of considerable size and of -delicious flavour, and by the deference immediately paid to him upon -his entry, Mr. Clutterbuck, as he stood in nervous anxiety by the door, -could distinguish the head of the firm. - -It was characteristic of the Baron de Czernwitz, and in some sort -an explanation of his future success in our business world, ever -so suspicious of the foreigner, that the moment he had heard Mr. -Clutterbuck's name and business, he turned to him, in spite of his many -preoccupations, with the utmost courtesy and said: - -"It iss myself you want? You shall come hier." - -With these words he put his arm in the most gentlemanly manner through -that of his exhausted visitor, and led him into an inner room furnished -with all the taste and luxury which the Baron had learnt in Naples, -Wurtemburg, Dantzig, Paris, and New York. - -"Mr. Clottorbug, Mr. Clottorbug," he said leaning backwards and -surveying the English merchant with an almost paternal interest, "what -iss it I can do for you?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck, quite won by such a manner, unfolded the whole -business. As he did so the Baron's face became increasingly grave. At -last he took a slip of paper and noted on it one or two points--the -amount, the date, and time of the transaction. This he gravely folded -into four, and as gravely placed within a Russian leather pocket-book -which contained, apart from certain masonic engagements, a considerable -quantity of bank notes wrapped round an inner core of letter paper. - -I cannot deny that Mr. Clutterbuck expected little from this just if -good-natured man. The Baron, with whose name he was familiar, had no -concern with, and no responsibility in, the most unfortunate accident -which had befallen him. To make the interview (whose inevitable -termination he thought he could foresee) the easier, Mr. Clutterbuck -murmured that no doubt the firm of solicitors were preparing the -papers, and that they would be in his hands within a brief delay. The -Baron smiled largely and wagged his ponderous head. - -"Oh! noh!" he said, and then added, as though he were summing up the -thoughts of many years, "He voss a bad egg!" - -Such an epithet applied to a friend but that moment dead might have -shocked Mr. Clutterbuck under other circumstances; as things were, he -could not entirely disagree with the verdict; and when he had informed -the financier that Mr. Boyle's name had been placed separately from -his partner's upon the boxes of the firm, even that expression seemed -hardly strong enough to voice M. de Czernwitz's feelings. - -He next learned from the Baron's own lips how from senior partner Mr. -Boyle had sunk to a salaried position; how even so he had but been -retained through the kindness of the Baron; how he had more than once -involved himself in petty gambling, and how the Baron had more than -once actually paid the debts resulting from that mania; how his name -had been kept upon the plate only after the most urgent entreaties -and to save his pride; and how the Baron now saw that this act of -generosity had been not only unwise but perhaps unjust in its effect -upon the outer world. - -When he had concluded his statement the nobleman knocked the ash from -his cigar in such a manner that part of it fell upon Mr. Clutterbuck's -trousers, and surveyed that gentleman with a shade of sadness for some -moments. - -Mr. Clutterbuck rose as though to go, saying, as he did so, that he had -no business to detain his host, that he must bear his own loss, and -that there was no more to be done. But the Baron, half rising, placed -upon his shoulder a hand of such weight as compelled him to be seated. - -"You shall _not_ soffer!" he exclaimed to Mr. Clutterbuck's mingled -amazement and delight. He spent the next few minutes in devising a -plan, and at last suggested that Mr. Clutterbuck should be permitted -to purchase at a nominal price, the unhappy Million Eggs which were at -the root of all this tragedy. He rang the bell for certain quotations -and letters recently despatched by his firm; he satisfied the merchant -of the prices to be obtained from Government under contracts which, -he was careful to point out, ran "until hostilities in South Africa -should have ceased"; he pointed out the advantages which so distant and -indeterminate a date offered to the seller; and he concluded by putting -the stock at Mr. Clutterbuck's disposal for £250. - -Mr. Clutterbuck's gratitude knew no bounds. He was accustomed to the -hard, dry, unimaginative temper of our English houses, and there swam -in his eyes that salt humour which survives, alas! so rarely in the -eyes of men over forty. He shook the Baron's left hand warmly--the -right was occupied with the stump of the cigar--he reiterated his -obligation, and came back to his own office with the gaiety of boyhood. - -He found M. de Czernwitz a very different man of business from the -unhappy fellow who had now gone to his account. Before five o'clock -everything was in order, and he slept that night the possessor in -law (and, as his solicitor was careful to advise him, in fact also) -of One Million Eggs, supply for the army in South Africa during -the continuance of hostilities, and acquired by the substantial but -moderate total investment of £750. - -So true is it that probity and generosity go hand in hand with success -in the world-wide commerce of our land. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -There are accidents in business against which no good fortune nor even -the largest generosity can protect us. - -Mr. Clutterbuck woke the next morning, after a night of such repose as -he had not lately enjoyed. The June morning in that delightful Surrey -air awoke all the perfumes of his small but well-ordered garden, and -he sauntered with a light step down its neat gravel paths, reflecting -upon his new property, considering what advice he should take, whether -to hold it for the necessities that might arise later in the year if -the campaign should take a more difficult turn, or whether it would -be found the experience of such of his friends as held Government -contracts, that he had better offer at once in the expectation of an -immediate demand. - -To settle such questions needed some conversation with men back from -the front, a certain knowledge of the conditions in South Africa -(where, he was informed, the month of June was the depth of winter), -and many another point upon which a sound decision should repose. - -As he mapped out his consequent activity for the coming day, he heard -the postman opening the gate in front of his villa, and went out to -intercept the daily paper which he delivered. - -Mr. Clutterbuck tore its cover thoughtlessly enough in the expectation -of discovering some minor successes or perhaps an unfortunate but -necessary surrender of men and guns, when a leaded paragraph in large -type and at the very head of the first column, struck him almost as -with a blow. With a dramatic suddenness that none save a very few in -the highest financial world could have expected, negotiations for peace -had opened and the enemy had laid down their arms. - -Mr. Clutterbuck sat down upon the steps of his house, oblivious of the -giggling maid who was washing the stone behind him, and gazed blankly -at the two Wellingtonias and the Japanese arbutus which dignified -his patch of lawn. He left the paper lying where it was, and moved -miserably into the house. - -During the meal Mrs. Clutterbuck made no more allusion to his business -than was her wont, and was especially careful to say nothing in regard -to the deceased friend, whose relations with her husband she knew -had latterly been more than those of an ordinary acquaintance. She -did, however, permit herself to suggest that there must be something -extraordinary in the fact that the blinds in Mr. Boyle's house were now -lifted, that there had been no orders for a funeral, and that her own -investigations among her neighbours made it more than probable that no -such ceremony would be needed. - -The candid character of her husband was slow to seize the significance -of this last item, but when in the course of the forenoon a police -inspector, accompanied by a less exalted member of the force, -respectfully desired an interview with him, Mr. Clutterbuck could not -but experience such emotions as men do who find themselves engulfed in -darkness by a sudden flood. - -He was happy to find, after the first few moments, that it was not -with him these bulwarks of public order were concerned, but with that -faithless man whose name he had determined never again to pronounce. - -Did Mr. Clutterbuck know anything of Mr. Boyle's movements? When had -he last seen him? Had Mr. Boyle, to his knowledge, taken the train for -Croydon as usual on the day he cashed the cheque? Had he any knowledge -of Mr. Boyle's intentions? Had Mr. Boyle shown him, by accident or by -design, a ticket for any foreign port? And if so (added the official -with the singular finesse of his profession) was that ticket made out -for Buenos Ayres? - -To all of these questions Mr. Clutterbuck was happily able to give a -frank, straightforward, English answer such as satisfied his visitors. -Nor did he dismiss them without offering, in spite of the matutinal -hour, to the more exalted one a glass of wine, to the lesser a tumbler -of ale. To see them march in step out of his carriage gate was the -first relief he had obtained that morning. - -He comforted his sad heart by the very object of his sadness, as is -our pathetic human way. He took a sort of mournful pride in handling -the great key that gave him access to the warehouse, and a peculiar -pleasure in snubbing the servant who had denied him when he had called -before. - -These eggs after all were a possession; they were a tangible thing, -a million was their number; the very boxes in which they soaked were -property; and it cannot be denied that Mr. Clutterbuck, who had -hitherto possessed no real thing nor extended his personality to any -visible objects beyond his furniture, his clothes, his pipe, his -bicycle, and his wife, could not but be influenced by the sense of -ownership. Sometimes he would select an egg at random, and placing -it in the machine which had been witness of his first decisive -interview, he would examine whether or no it were still transparent; -but the occupation was but a pastime. Often he did not really note -their condition, and when he did note it, whether that condition were -satisfactory or no, he would replace the sample as solemnly as he had -chosen it. - -Day after day it was Mr. Clutterbuck's mournful occupation to regard -them as they lay stilly in their brine, these eggs that had so long -awaited the call to arms from South Africa; that call which never came. -To complete his despair the rumours of a full treaty of peace, which -had tortured him for a whole week, were finally confirmed. He seemed -irrecoverably lost, and though a preserved egg will always fetch its -price in this country, yet the distribution of so vast a number, the -search for a market, and the presence of such considerable competitors -on every side--the total length of the boxes in which the eggs were -stored amounted to no less than six miles and one-third--made him -despair of recovering even one-half of the original sum which he had -risked. - -Mr. Clutterbuck must not be blamed for an anxiety common to every man -of affairs in speculations which have not yet matured: and those who, -from a more exalted position in society, or from a more profound study -of our institutions would have reposed confidence in the equity of the -Government, must not blame the humble merchant of Croydon if in his -bewilderment he misjudged for a moment the temper of a British Cabinet. - -That temper did not betray him. The Government, at the close of the -war were more than just--they were bountiful to those who, in the -expectation of a prolonged conflict, had accumulated stores for the -army. - -No one recognised better than the Cabinet of the day under what an -obligation they lay to the mercantile world which had seen them through -the short but grave crisis in South Africa, nor did any men appreciate -better than they the contract into which they had virtually if not -technically entered, to recoup those whom their abrupt negotiations for -peace had left in the lurch. It could not be denied that the published -despatches of Lord Milner and the frequently expressed determination of -the Government never to treat with the Dutch rebels in the Transvaal, -had led the community in general to imagine a conflict of indefinite -duration. And if, for reasons which it is not my duty to criticise -here, they saw fit to reverse this policy and to put their names to a -regular treaty, the least they could do for those whose patriotism had -accumulated provisions to continue the struggle, was to recompense them -not only equitably but largely for their sacrifice. - -The decision so to act and to repurchase, with a special generosity, -the eggs accumulated for our forces, was reinforced by many other -considerations besides those of political equity. It was recognised -that for some time to come a considerable garrison would be necessary -to constrain the terrible foe whom we had so recently vanquished; it -was recognised that of all articles of diet the egg has recently been -proved the most sustaining for its weight and price; the perishable -nature of the commodity, though it had been counteracted by the -scientific methods of the packers, was another consideration of great -weight, certain as it was that the preservation of these supplies could -not be indefinitely continued, and that the moment they were moved -dissolution would be at hand; finally, the Government could not forget -that these eggs, worth but a paltry farthing apiece upon the shores of -the Baltic or in the frozen deserts of Siberia, would exchange in the -arid waste of the veldt for fifty times that sum. - -My readers will have guessed the conclusion: in spite of the fact that -the chief packer was no less than Sir Henry Nathan, a man willing to -wait, well able to do so, a continual and generous subscriber to the -Relief Funds; in spite of a letter to the _Times_ signed by Baron de -Czernwitz himself in the name of the larger holders, and professing -every willingness to accept bonds at 3-1/2 per cent., the condition of -the smaller men was enough to decide the Government. Within a week of -the cessation of hostilities, offers had been issued to all the owners -at the rate, less carriage, of one shilling for each egg which should -be found actually present beneath the surface of the brine; for here, -as in every other matter, our Government regulations are strict and -minute; there was no intention of paying in the rough for a vague or -computed number: it was necessary that every egg should be counted, -and its preservation determined, before a shilling of public money -should be exchanged for it. The inspection, the cost of which fell, -as was only just, upon the public purse, was rapidly and efficiently -accomplished by a large body of experts chosen for the purpose, and -organised under the direction of Lord Henry Townley, whose name and -salary alone are a guarantee of scientific excellence and accuracy. -Thus it was that a group of merchants who had in no way pressed the -authorities, who had stood the stress and strain of waiting during -those last critical days before the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed, -obtained, as such men always will from our Commonwealth, the just -reward of their public spirit and endurance. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was perhaps not so fortunate as some others. Of the -million eggs which he nominally controlled, no less than 8306 were -rejected upon examination, and the bonds he received, so far from -amounting to a full £5000, fell short of that sum by over £415. Certain -expenses incidental to the transaction further lowered the net amount -paid over, but even under these circumstances Mr. Clutterbuck was not -disappointed to receive over £4500 as his share of compensation for -loss and delay. - -Those who are willing to see in human affairs the guiding hand of -Providence and who cannot admit into their vocabulary the meaningless -expression "coincidence," will reverently note the part which an -English Government played in the foundation of a private fortune. - -Elated, and (it must be admitted) rendered a little wayward in judgment -by this accession of wealth, Mr. Clutterbuck was more deeply convinced -of advancing prosperity when the rise of Government credit during -the next weeks still further increased the value of the bonds which -his bank held for him. He sold in July, and with the sum he realised -entered upon yet another venture, which must be briefly reviewed. Upon -the advice of an old and dear friend he purchased no less than 72,000 -shares in the discredited property of the Curicanti Docks. The one -pound shares of that unhappy concern had fallen steadily since 1897, -when the whaling station had been removed to Dolores; but even here, -imprudent as the speculation may appear, his good fortune followed him. - -The friend whose advice Mr. Clutterbuck had followed--a private -gentleman--had himself long held shares in the property of that -distant port; its continued misfortune had raised in him such doubts -as to its future that he thought it better a solid brain such as Mr. -Clutterbuck's should help to direct its fortunes, than that he and -others like him should be at the loss of their small capital. He -arranged with an intermediary for the sale of the shares should Mr. -Clutterbuck desire to purchase in the open market, and was relieved -beyond measure to find his advice followed and Mr. Clutterbuck -in possession of the whole parcel at one and a penny each. To -the astonishment, however, of the friend, and still more of the -intermediary whom that friend had employed, the difficulties of the -Curicanti Docks were in the very next month submitted to arbitration; a -man of Cabinet rank, whose name I honour too much to mention here, was -appointed arbitrator. The help of the Imperial Government was afforded -to re-establish a concern whose failings were purely commercial, but -whose strategic importance to the Empire it needs but a glance at the -map to perceive. The shares which had dropped some days after Mr. -Clutterbuck's purchase to between ninepence ha'pennny and ninepence -three farthings, rose at once upon the news of this Imperial Decision -to half a crown. The negotiations were conducted by that tried -statesman with so much skill and integrity that, before September, the -same shares were at eight and fourpence, and though the commercial -transactions of the port and the grant of Government money upon the -Admiralty vote did not warrant the public excitement in this particular -form of investment, it was confidently prophesied they would go to par. -They did not do so, but when they had reached, and were passing, ten -shillings Mr. Clutterbuck sold. - -He had not intended to dispose of them at so early a date, for he -was confident, as was the rest of the public, that they would go to -par. His action, due to a sudden accession of nervousness and to a -contemplation of the large profit already acquired, turned out, however -(as is so often the case with the sudden decisions of men with business -instinct!) profoundly just. In one transaction, indeed, a few days -later, Curicantis were quoted at ten shillings and sixpence, but it is -not certain that they really changed hands at that price, and certainly -they went no higher.[1] - -As the autumn thus turned to winter, Mr. Clutterbuck found himself -possessed, somewhat to his bewilderment and greatly to the increase of -his manhood, of over £50,000. - -It has often been remarked by men of original genius as they look back -in old age upon their careers, that some one turning point of fortune -established in them a trust in themselves and determined the future -conduct of their minds, strengthening all that was in them and almost -compelling them to the highest achievement. In that autumn this turning -point had come for Mr. Clutterbuck. - -There were subtle signs of change about the man: he would come home -earlier than usual; the four o'clock train in which the great Princes -of Commerce are so often accommodated would receive him from time to -time; there were whole Saturdays on which he did not leave for the -City at all. He was kinder to his wife and less careful whether he -were shaved or no before ten o'clock in the morning. Other papers than -the _Times_ found entry to his villa: he was open to discuss political -matters with a broad mind, and had more than once before the year was -ended read articles in the _Daily Chronicle_ and the _Westminster -Gazette_. He had also attended not a few profane concerts, and had -bought, at the recommendation of a local dealer, six etchings, one -after Whistler, the other five original. - -But, such is the effect of fortune upon wise and balanced men, he did -not immediately proceed to use his greatly increased financial power -in the way of further speculation; he retained his old offices, he -invested, sold, and reinvested upon a larger scale indeed than he -had originally been accustomed to, but much in the same manner. A -cheeriness developed in his manner towards his dependents, notably -towards his clerk and towards the office boy, a staff which he saw no -reason to increase. He would speak to them genially of their affairs -at home, and when he had occasion to reprimand or mulct them, a thing -which in earlier days he had never thought of doing, it was always -in a sympathetic tone that he administered the rebuke or exacted the -pecuniary penalty. - -It was long debated between himself and his wife whether or no they -should set up a brougham; and Mrs. Clutterbuck, having pointed out the -expense of this method of conveyance, herself decided upon a small -electric landaulette, which, as she very well pointed out, though of -a heavier initial cost, would be less expensive to maintain, less -capricious in its action, and of a further range. She argued with -great facility that in case of any interruption in train service, or -in the sad event of her own demise, it would still be useful for -conveying her husband to and from the City; and Mr. Clutterbuck having -pointed out the many disadvantages attaching to this form of traction, -purchased the vehicle, only refusing, I am glad to say, with inflexible -determination, to have painted upon its panels the crest of the -Montagues. - -No extra servants were added to the household; but in the matter of -dress there was a certain largeness; the cook was trained at some -expense to present dishes which Mr. Clutterbuck had hitherto only -enjoyed at the Palmerston Restaurant in Broad Street; and the bicycle, -which was now no longer of service, was given open-handedly to the -gardener who had hitherto only used it by permission. - -Simultaneously with this increase of fortune, Mr. Clutterbuck acquired -a clean and decisive way of speaking, prefaced most commonly by a -little period of thought, and he permitted himself certain minor -luxuries to which he had hitherto been unaccustomed: he would buy -cigars singly at the tobacconist's; he used credit in the matter of -wine, that is, of sherry and of port, and his hat was often ironed when -he was shaved. - -It must not be imagined, however, that these new luxuries gravely -interfered with the general tenor of his life. His wife perceived, -indeed, that something was easier in their fortunes, that the cash -necessary for her good deeds (and this was never extravagant) was -always present and was given without grudging. His ample and ready -manner impressed his neighbours with some advance in life. But nothing -very greatly changed about him. He lived in the same house, with the -same staff of servants; he entertained no more at home, for he was -shy of meeting new friends, and but little more in the City, where -also his acquaintance was restricted. This wise demeanour resulted in -a continual accumulation, for it is not difficult in a man of this -substance to buy and sell with prudence upon the smaller scale. Mr. -Clutterbuck for five years continued a sensible examination of markets, -buying what was obviously cheap, selling what even the mentally -deficient could perceive to be dear, and though he missed, or rather -did not attempt, many considerable opportunities (among which should -honourably be mentioned Hudson Bays, and the rise in the autumn of 1907 -of the London and North Western Railway shares),[2] the general trend -of his judgment was accurate. For two years he maintained a slight but -sufficient growth in his capital, and he entered what was to prove a -new phase of his life in the year 1910 with a property, not merely upon -paper, but in rapidly negotiable securities, of over £60,000, a solid -outlook on the world, and a knowledge of the market which, while it did -not pretend to subtle or occult relations with the heads of finance, -still less to an exalted view of European politics, was minute and -experienced. - -It was under these conditions that such an increment of wealth came -to him as only befalls men who have earned the apparent accident of -fortune by permanent and uncompromising labour. - -In the April of that momentous year 1910, Mr. Clutterbuck suddenly -achieved a financial position of such eminence as those who have -not toiled and thought and planned are too often tempted to believe -fortuitous. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 1: The present price of sixpence a share is, in the opinion -of the author, merely nominal, and any one with a few pounds to spare -would do well to buy, for further Government action in connection with -the docks has been rendered inevitable by the necessity of admitting -new ships of the _Dreadnought_ type for repair to plates after firing.] - -[Footnote 2: After the fruitful interference of the Board of Trade.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -It was certain, as the month of April 1910 proceeded, that a demand -would suddenly be made upon English capital for the exploitation of the -Manatasara Syndicate's concession upon the Upper Congo. - -I mention the matter only to elucidate what follows, for Mr. -Clutterbuck was neither of the social rank nor of the literary world in -which the salvation of the unhappy natives of the Congo had been the -principal theme for months and years before. - -That salvation had been only recently achieved, but the hideous rule of -Leopold no longer weighed upon the innocent and unfortunate cannibals -of equatorial Africa; dawn had broken at last upon those millions whom -Christ died to save, and whom so many missionaries had undertaken -hasty and expensive voyages to free from an exploitation odious to the -principles of our Common Law. - -But though the consummation of that great event, which history will -always record as the chief achievement of modern England, was but -freshly written upon the tablets of our age, there were not a few in -the financial and ecclesiastical world of London who could read the -signs of the times, and could appreciate the material results which -would follow upon the advent of Christian liberty for these unhappy -men. I have but to mention Sir Joseph Gorley, the Right Rev. the Lord -Bishop of Shoreham, Sir Harry Hog, Mrs. Entwistle, Lord Barry, the -Dean of Betchworth, Lord Blackwater, and his second son, the Hon. I. -Benzinger, to show the stuff of which the reformers were composed. - -There were some, indeed, to whom the financial necessities of the -unhappy natives were but a second consideration, absorbed as they were -in the spiritual needs of the African; but there were others who saw, -with the sturdy common sense which has led us to all our victories, -that little could be done even upon the spiritual side, until marshes -had been drained, forests cleared, fields ploughed, and the most -carefully chosen implements imported from as carefully chosen merchants -in the capitals of Europe. The directing hand and brain of the European -must be lent to raise the material position of those unhappy savages in -whom the Belgian had almost obliterated the semblance of humanity. - -For this purpose had been chosen, after long thought by those best -acquainted with the district, Mr. Charles Hatton, brother of that -Mr. Sachs whose name will be familiar to all as the originator of the -Society for the Prevention of the Trade in Tobacco to the Inhabitants -of Liberia, and the successful manager of Chutes Limited. - -Mr. Hatton, who, upon his marriage with Amelia, daughter and heiress of -Sir Henry Hatton, of Hatton Hall, Hatton, in Herefordshire, had adopted -his father-in-law's name and had lent the whole of his considerable -fortune, and of his yet more considerable talents, to the uplifting -of the equatorial negro. Mr. Hatton it was who successfully carried -through the negotiations with the Colonial Committee of the Belgian -Parliament, and who obtained for his syndicate the concession of the -Manatasara district for twenty-one years. - -The first act of the concessionaires was to take advantage of the new -regulations whereby future chartered rulers in the Congo might declare -the native to be the owner of his land. The soil to which these poor -blacks were born was restored to them. The hideous system of forced -labour was at once ended, and in its place one uniform hut tax was -imposed upon the whole community. All were free, and though the actual -amount of labour required to discharge the tax was perhaps triple -the old assessment, yet as it fell equally upon the whole tribe, no -complaint of injustice could be made, nor, to judge from the absence -of complaint in the London papers, was any felt. - -In many other ways the new _régime_ witnessed to the great truth that -business and righteousness are not opposed in the Dark Continent. Where -the native had been permitted to run free at every risk to his morals -and to ours, he was now segregated in neat compounds under a tutelage -suitable to his stage of development. The early marriages at which -the fatuous Continental friars had winked, were severely repressed. -The adoption of Christianity in any of its forms (except Mormonism), -was left to the free exercise of individual choice, but the pestilent -folly of ordaining native priests was at once forbidden. Most important -of all, the abominable restriction of human liberty by which, under -the accursed rule of King Leopold the native's very food and drink -had been supervised, was replaced by an ample liberty in which he was -free to accept or to reject the beverages of civilisation. The natural -temptation which gin at a penny the bottle offers to a primitive being -was not met as of old by slavish prohibition, but by the wiser and -more noble engine of persuasion, and the temperance leagues already -springing up in the coast towns, gave promise of deep effect upon the -general tone of the native community. - -To all this beneficent endeavour, capital alone was lacking. To look -for it in the hardened and worldly centres of the continent was -hopeless. Those who in our own country would some years ago have -been the first to come forward, had recently so suffered through the -necessary initial expense of Rhode's glorious dream, that with all the -good will in the world they hesitated to embark upon novel ventures in -Africa. - -More than one godly woman, persuaded by the eloquence of those who had -heard of the atrocities, was willing to venture her few hundreds; and -more than one wealthy manufacturer bestowed considerable donations of -fifty pounds and more upon the spiritual side of the new enterprise: -one high spirit of fire endowed a bishopric with £300 a year for -three years. But the attempt to float a company upon the basis of the -concession was still in jeopardy, and it seemed for a moment as though -all those years of effort to destroy the infamy of Leopold's control -had been thrown away. - -The concessionaires, eager as they were to work in the vineyard, could -hardly be expected to go forward until the general public should -take something of the burden off their hands. It was under these -circumstances that the Manatasara Syndicate and its offspring the -company stood in the spring of 1910. - -Put in terms of Eternal Life, the shares in the new company of the -Manatasara Syndicate which was to uplift so many poor negroes and to -free so many human souls, were more precious than pearl or ruby and -above the price of chrysoprase,[3] but in the cold terms of our mortal -markets this month of April found them utterly unsaleable. Yet the -capital required was small, one considerable purchase would have been -enough to start the sluggish stream; and if it be asked why, under -these circumstances, Mr. Hatton did not use his considerable financial -influence to obtain the first subscriptions, the answer is that he -was far too high-minded to persuade any man, even for the noblest of -ideals, to the smallest risk for which he might later seem responsible. -As to his own means, ardent as was his enthusiasm for the cause of our -black brothers, he owed it to his wife, to his bright-eyed boy, and -to his aged father-in-law, Sir Charles Hatton of Hatton Hall, who was -penniless, to risk no portion of the family fortune in any speculation -no matter how deserving. - -The public, though their ears were ringing with the name of Manatasara, -and though the Press spoke of little else, held back; there was an -interval--a very short one--during which the reconstruction of the -whole affair was seriously considered in secret, when the Hand which -will so often be observed in these pages, visibly moved for the -benediction of Mr. Clutterbuck and of the great Empire which he was -destined to serve. - -The Municipal Council of Monte Zarro, in southern Italy, had in -that same spring of 1910 determined upon the construction of new -water-works; and in the true spirit of the men who inherit from -Garibaldi, from Crispi, and from Nathan,[4] they had put the contract -up to the highest--or rather, to the most efficient--tender. I need -hardly say that the firm of Bigglesworth, of Tyneside, the Minories, -and Pall Mall East, obtained the contract; a firm intimately connected -both with the Foreign Office and with the Cavaliere Marlio, and one -whose name is synonymous with thorough if expensive workmanship. The -bonds to be issued in connection with this progressive enterprise -were to bear an interest of four and a half per cent., and in view -of the comparative poverty of the town and the extensive nature of -the investment (which was designed for a town of at least 50,000 -inhabitants, though Monte Zarro numbered no more than 15,000), in view -also of the high cost of municipal action in Italy, was to be issued -at some low figure; the precise price was conveyed privately to a few -substantial clients of Barnett and Sons' Bank who all precipitately -refused to touch the security: all, that is, with the exception of Mr. -Clutterbuck. - -He, with the unerring instinct that had now guided him for nearly eight -long years, decided to take up the issue. It was not until he had twice -dined, and generously, with a junior partner of the bank that he was -finally persuaded to support the scheme with his capital, nor did his -loyal nature suspect the bias that others were too ready to impute to -the banker's recommendation. - -Indeed, Mr. Clutterbuck was led to this determination not so much by -the extremely low price at which the bonds were offered him, or the -considerable interest they were pledged to bear, as by the implied and, -as it were, necessary guarantee of the Italian Government which Barnett -and Sons assured him were behind them. Of the two things, as the junior -partner was careful to point out, one must occur: either the interest -upon the outlay would be too much for the Municipality, in which case -the Government would be bound to intervene, or the interest would be -regularly paid, at least for the first few years, in which case the -price of eighty-three at which the bonds were offered was surely so low -as to ensure an immediately profitable sale. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was in no haste, however; the issue still had some -days before it, he was still considering what precise sum he was -prepared to furnish, when he felt, during one of the later and more -bitter mornings of that April, an unaccountable weakness and fever -which increased as the day proceeded. - -He at once consulted an eminent physician of his recent acquaintance, -and was assured by the Baronet that if he were not suffering from the -first stages of influenza, he was either the victim of a feverish cold -or possibly of overwork. - -This grave news determined him, as a prudent man, to leave his business -for some days and to take a sea voyage, but before doing so, with equal -prudence he put a power of attorney into the hands of a confidential -clerk and left witnessed instructions upon the important investment -which would have to be made in his absence. - -Unfortunately, or rather fortunately--such are the mysterious designs -of Heaven--he dictated these full and minute instructions which he -was to leave behind him, and in the increasing discomfort which he -felt toward evening, he neglected to read over the typewritten copy -presented him to sign. - -That evening at Croydon, the symptoms being now more pronounced, it was -patent even to the suburban doctor that Mr. Clutterbuck was the prey -of a Diplococcus, not improbably the hideous Diplococcus of pneumonia. - - * * * * * - -The confidential clerk heard with regret next morning by telephone of -the misadventure that had befallen his master; but he was a man of -well-founded confidence in himself; he had now for five years past -conducted the major part of Mr. Clutterbuck's affairs, under his -superior's immediate direction, it is true, and his proficiency had -earned him a high and increasing salary. Save for an active anxiety -as to Mr. Clutterbuck's ultimate recovery, the terms of his will, and -other matters naturally falling within his province, he knew that he -had all the instructions and powers upon which to act during the next -few days. - -He spent the first of those days in visiting, in company with his -second cousin Hyacinth, the charming old town of Rye; the second, -which was also the first of Mr. Clutterbuck's delirium, he occupied in -perusing and digesting at length the detailed instructions which had -been left in his hands. - -With the fact that a large investment must of necessity be made in -a few days he was already familiar: his master had sold out and had -placed to his current account at Parr's the important sum destined to -meet it. But he was necessarily in ignorance of the precise security -in which that sum was to be placed, for Mr. Clutterbuck had come to his -final determination but a little while before his illness had struck -him. - -The instructions would, he knew, contain his orders in every -particular, and it was mainly with the object of discovering what he -was to do in this chief matter that he studied the lines before him. - -The directions given covered a multitude of points; they concerned the -buying and selling of a certain number of small stocks, especially the -realisation of certain Siberian Copper shares, which still stood high, -but which Mr. Clutterbuck, having heard upon the best authority that -the copper was entirely exhausted, had determined to convey to some -other gentleman before the general public should acquire, through the -Press, information which he had obtained at no small expense in advance -of the correspondents. - -There followed several paragraphs relative to the installation of -certain improvements in the office, upon which Mr. Clutterbuck was -curiously eager; next, in quite a brief but equally clear passage, -was the order--if the merchant were not himself able to attend to the -matter by the 25th at latest--to take up 15,000 shares in the Muntsar -issue; an investment, the instructions added, on which the fullest -particulars would be afforded him, if he were in any doubt, by Messrs. -Barnett and Sons. - -The Confidential Clerk was in very considerable doubt. The word as it -stood was meaningless. He sent for Miss Pugh, the shorthand writer, and -her notes; they appeared together with hauteur, and the Confidential -Clerk, who in humbler days had done his 120 words a minute, carefully -examined the outline. It was not very neat, but there was the "Mntsor" -right enough. He complained of the vowels, and received from Miss Pugh, -whom he openly admired, so sharp a reprimand as silenced him.... Yet -his experience assured him that "Mnt" was not an English form. He began -to experiment with the vowels. He tried "e" and "a" and made Muntusare, -which was nonsense; then he tried "a" and "u"; then "a" and "e"; and -suddenly he saw it. - -In a flash he remembered a friend of his who was employed in the -offices of a syndicate; he should surely have guessed! Manatasara! - -More than once that friend had hinted at the advantage of "setting -the ball rolling." More than once had he spoken in flattery of the -Confidential Clerk's ascendency over his master and with unmerited -contempt of that master's initiative.... He had even let it be known -that the introduction of Mr. Clutterbuck's name alone would be regarded -with substantial gratitude by Mr. Hatton.... The more he thought of -it the more he was determined that Manatasara was the word ... and he -needed no help from Barnett and Sons now. - -He considered the habits of his friend, and remembered that he commonly -lunched at the Woolpack. To the Woolpack went the Confidential Clerk -a little after two, and found that friend making a book with Natty -Timpson, Joe Buller, and the rest upon the approaching but most -uncertain Derby. He joined them, drew him aside, briefly told him his -business, and asked him how he should proceed. - -His friend, who was a true friend and a little drunk, conveyed to -him, in language which would certainly be tedious here and probably -offensive, the extreme pleasure his principals would find in Mr. -Clutterbuck's determination: the probability that the Confidential -Clerk himself would not go unrewarded. He spoke of his own high hopes; -then, as he contemplated the opportunity in all its greatness, it so -worked upon his own enthusiasm as to make him insist upon accompanying -the reluctant Clerk to the office itself, and introducing him in a -flushed but articulate manner to Mr. Hatton's private secretary. - -The two were closeted together for something less than an hour; it was -not four o'clock when they parted. Mr. Hatton's secretary, forgetting -all social distinctions, shook hands warmly at the door with the -Confidential Clerk, who passed out heedless of his friend's eager -pantomime in the outer office. And thus it was that by the morning of -the next day, while poor Mr. Clutterbuck's temperature was hovering -round 104° (Fahrenheit), no small portion of his goods were already -earmarked for the Great Crusade to Redeem the Negro Race. - -Mr. Clutterbuck's illness reached its crisis and passed; but for many -days he was not allowed to hear the least news, still less to occupy -himself with business. The Confidential Clerk was far too careful of -his master's interests to jeopardise them by too early a call upon his -energies. He wrote a daily report to Mrs. Clutterbuck to the effect -that nothing had been done beyond the written instructions left by her -husband, that all was well, and the office in perfect order. He was -at the pains of dictating a daily synopsis of the correspondence he -had opened and answered; and though the offer of marriage which since -his new stroke of fortune he had made to Miss Pugh for the second time -had for the second time been rejected, he continued to utilise her -services, both on his own account and on that of his absent principal. - -He dictated considerable reports upon the movements of his favourite -stocks to greet Mr. Clutterbuck's eye upon his recovery, and in a -hundred ways gave evidence of his discretion and his zeal now that he -could look forward to his master's early return. - -Meanwhile Barnett and Sons, after assuring themselves by certain -general questions that Mr. Clutterbuck had said nothing with regard to -any Italian investment, held the parcel over till it could be dealt -with in person, and were satisfied of the tenacity of purpose of their -client. - -In the first week of May Mr. Clutterbuck, his crescent of a moustache -untrimmed, his hair quite grey, but the broad fan of it still clinging -to his large, bald forehead, was permitted for the first time after so -many days to see the papers and hear news of the world. - -He was languid and utterly indifferent, as convalescents are, to what -had hitherto been his chief interests, but as a matter of wifely duty -Mrs. Clutterbuck felt herself bound to read him at full length the -City article in the _Times_, and as she did so on the third day her -philanthropic and evangelising eye was caught, in the midst of names -that had no meaning for her, by the one name Manatasara. It was the -feature of the moment that the new company had been successfully -launched. - -A strong Imperialist, like most women of the governing classes and of -the Established Faith, whether in this country or in Scotland, she -naturally rejoiced to observe securely forged yet another bond with the -Britains Overseas. She could comprehend little of the technicalities -of promotion, but she was aware that another of these achievements, of -which the Chartered Company of South Africa had for so many years been -the brilliant type, was upon the eve of its success, and she rejoiced -with a joy in which the love of country stood side by side with a pure -and sincere attachment to her religion. - -As one day of convalescence succeeded to another, this item of news -began to grow so insistent that the wan invalid could not but take some -heed of it. Although the long list of shares and prices recited like -a litany had carried with it, when it had approached him through his -wife's lips, something more than tedium, yet when he was permitted to -read and select in it for himself and with his own eyes, the prominence -given to Manatasara's interwove with his reviving interest in life the -story of Charles Hatton's creation. - -The capital was not large: the district was but one of many, but the -strong interest which the place had aroused and the very restriction in -the number of available shares had roused the public. - -The allotment had been followed by a sharp rise. There were dealings -in the new quotation so continual and so vigorous as to recall the -great days before the South African War. The premium upon "Congoes," as -they were affectionately called, rose without ceasing--and just at the -moment when Mr. Clutterbuck was beginning, but only beginning, to grasp -the story of the company, he was permitted, somewhat doubtfully, by his -doctor to return for an hour or two to the City. - -He reached his office, where a warm and cordial welcome awaited him; -his correspondence had already been opened, and an abstract made by -his Clerk and Secretary, when, before he had fully mastered what had -happened, that admirable assistant remarked to him in a tone more -deferential than he had expected, that he had received full allotment -for his application in consideration of the very early date on which he -approached the Syndicate. - -"What allotment?" said the enfeebled Mr. Clutterbuck, as he looked up -in some astonishment from the paper before him. - -"The allotment in Congoes, sir. I understood I was to apply. I kept the -money ready, sir." - -"You've paid nothing I hope," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a testy voice too -often associated with convalescents. "You haven't been such a fool as -to pay anything on your own?" - -"Well, sir----" said the Clerk hesitatingly. Then he waited for a -moment for the full effect of his good fortune to penetrate Mr. -Clutterbuck's renewed conceptions of the outer world. - -Mr. Clutterbuck read the letter before him twice over, slowly. He -had received allotment to the full amount; the call had been for a -half-crown on 60,000. He did not appreciate how he stood. His mind, -always rather sane than alert, was enfeebled by illness and long -absence from affairs. - -"You've been doing something silly," he said again peevishly, -"something damned silly. I don't understand. I'll repudiate it. I don't -understand what you've done--I don't believe it's meant for me at all." - -"I humbly did my best, sir; I was assured, really and truly, that a -quarter was the most they'd allow, sir; I truly believed I wasn't -risking more than 15,000 of yours, sir; I did truly." - -"Oh! do be quiet," said his principal, as he turned again to the -letter. His head hurt him, and he had a buzzing in the ears. He felt he -wasn't fit for all this. It was a cruel injustice to a man barely on -his feet after a glimpse of the grave. - -The Clerk had the wisdom to hold his tongue and to wait. And as he -waited it dawned upon Mr. Clutterbuck that he held 60,000 Congoes; the -Congoes he had heard talked of in the train; the Congoes of which -the papers had been full during the long listless days when he had -lain beside his window looking out into the little sunlit garden; the -Congoes with which every feature of the repeated view from that window -had become grotesquely associated in his invalid imagination. He was -just about to speak again, perhaps to say the something which his Clerk -most dreaded, when he was swamped by a realisation of what had happened. - -What Mr. Clutterbuck in health would have seen in five or ten minutes, -Mr. Clutterbuck in convalescence at last grasped, at least as to its -main lines. He remembered two men in the train as he went in, and their -angry discussion: how one who pooh-poohed the whole affair and said -they would not go beyond three before next settling day; and the other, -who was equally confident, swore that they could not fail to pass five -and might touch seven. At the lowest the paper ready to his hands was -60,000 of those same. - -He deliberately settled his face and said to the Clerk in an impassive -and altered tone: - -"Have you heard what people are offering?" - -"Well, sir, it's all talk so far," answered the Clerk. "Some were -saying two and a half, and I heard one gentleman say two and -five-eighths; but it's all talk, sir." - -He watched his master narrowly, standing a little behind him and -scrutinising his face as he bent over the letter and read its short -contents for the fourth time. He was well content with the result of -that scrutiny. - -As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he now perceived quite clearly (and was -astonished to discern his own quiet acquiescence in the discovery) -that he was at that moment--by some accident which mystified him--the -possessor of over £200,000 in one department of his investments alone. -He sighed profoundly, and said in something like his old voice: - -"I supposed they've had their cheque?" - -"Yes, sir, undoubtedly," said the clerk rapidly. - -Mr. Clutterbuck called for the cheque-book on Parr's, casually asked -the balance, turned to the counterfoil and, initialled the £7500 -sacrifice, he rose from the table a man worth a quarter of a million -all told. - -The air was warmer with the advent of summer. It was a pleasant day, -and Mr. Clutterbuck, throwing open the window and letting in the roar -of the sunlit street, leant for awhile looking out and taking deep -draughts of air. He noted all manner of little things, the play of the -newsboys, the ribbons upon the dray horses, the chance encounters of -passers-by, and the swirl and the eddy of men. Then he drew in again, -more composed, and said to the clerk: - -"Well, I suppose there's nothing more to be done to-day." Then it -occurred to him to add: "If any one comes round from Barnett's, tell -'em 'certainly.'" - -"Certainly what, sir?" said the clerk. They had been round more than -once, and lately a little anxiously, but he did not like to trouble Mr. -Clutterbuck at that moment with such details. - -"Why," said that gentleman with a touch of his invalid's testiness -returning, "tell 'em I'm ready to do what they want. I promised them -something before--before my illness. Tell them 'certainly.' Tell them -I'll be here again to-morrow." - -The clerk helped him on with his heavy fur coat and saw him carefully -to the carriage he had hired. He urged him to drive back the whole way. -But Mr. Clutterbuck shook his head, and drove to the station. He would -soon be well again. - -That afternoon, just after hours, another anxious message came from -Barnett's, but this time they were satisfied. Mr. Clutterbuck was -entirely at their service; he would be at the office next day. - -This revolution--for it was no less--acted like a tonic upon the man -into whose life it had come. His health was restored to him with a -rapidity which the doctor, who had repeatedly urged him to seek a -particular hotel upon the English Riviera, marvelled at and frequently -denied. There is no better food for a man's recovery than the food of -his vigorous manhood, and this, with Mr. Clutterbuck, was the food of -affairs. To venture, to perceive before another, to seize the spoil, is -life to men of his kind; and he could now recognise in himself one of -those whose foresight and lightning action win the great prizes of this -world. - -He was at his office every day, first for a short spell only, but -soon for the old full working hours; and in the midst of twenty other -interests which were rather recreations than labours, he watched -Congoes. In the eagerness of that watch he neglected all the marvels -the newspapers had to tell him of an energy that was transforming the -old hell of the equator into a paradise. He even neglected the great -spiritual work which Dr. Perry and his assistant clergy had so manfully -begun. It must honestly be confessed that he watched nothing but the -fluctuation of the Company's shares. - -Mrs. Clutterbuck went to the seaside without him. He saw them touch -seven in the heat of the summer; he was confident they would go -further. They fell to six before the opening of August, to five a week -later. His sound commercial instinct bade him beware; at four and a -half he sold. Then and then only did he take his long holiday away -from the strain of business; a holiday marred to some extent by the -observation that the moment he had disposed of them Congoes rose like -a balloon to a point still higher than that at which he might himself -much earlier have realised. - -But though this secret thorn remained in his own side, to the world he -was a marvel; first Croydon talked of him, then the City, then Mayfair, -and the sportsmen, and even the politicians. In ever-increasing -circles, at greater and greater distances from himself, fantastically -exaggerated even in his own immediate neighbourhood and growing to be -a legend in the mouths of great ladies, the story of his one fortune, -among the others of that flotation, expanded into fame. - -The story rose beneath him like a tide; it floated him out of his -suburb into a new and a greater world; it floated him at last into -the majestic councils of the nation. It all but bestowed upon him an -imperishable name among the Statesmen of England. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 3: Habakkuk xvi. 8.] - -[Footnote 4: The sometime Mayor of Rome; not to be confounded with Sir -Henry Nathan, whom we recently came across in the matter of the eggs.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -Deep in the Surrey hills, and long secluded from the world, there runs -a drowsy valley known to the rustics whom it nurtures as the Vale of -Caterham. - -Of late years our English passion for the countryside has discovered -this enchanted spot; a railway has conveyed to it those who were -wise enough to seize early upon its subtle beauties, and the happy -homes of a population freed from urban care are still to be seen -rising upon every sward. Here Purley, which stands at the mouth of -the Vale, Kenley, Warlingham and Caterham Stations receive at morning -and discharge at evening the humbler breadwinners whom economic -circumstance compels to absent themselves from the haunting woods of -Surrey during the labours of the day. Some few, more blest, in mansions -more magnificent, can contemplate throughout untroubled hours the -solemn prospect of the hills. - -Here it was that Mr. Clutterbuck was building the new home. - -The sense of proportion which had always marked his life and had -contributed so largely to his financial success, was apparent upon -every side. He was content with some seven acres of ground, chosen in -the deepest recess of the dale, and, since water is rare upon that -chalk, he was content with but a small lake of graceful outline, and of -no more than eighteen inches in depth; in the midst an island, destined -with time to bear a clump of exotic trees, stood for the moment a bare -heap of whitish earth diversified rather than hidden by a few leafless -saplings. - -The house itself had been raised with businesslike rapidity under the -directions of Mrs. Clutterbuck herself, who had the wisdom to employ -in all but the smallest details, an architect recommended by the Rev. -Isaac Fowle. - -The whole was in the taste which the sound domestic sense of modern -England has substituted for the gloomy stucco and false Italian loggias -of our fathers. The first storey was of red brick which time would -mellow to a glorious and harmonious colour; the second was covered -with roughcast, while the third and fourth appeared as dormer windows -in an ample roof containing no less than fifteen gables. The chimneys -were astonishingly perfect examples of Somersetshire heading, and -the woodwork, which was applied in thin strips outside the main -walls of the building, was designed in the Cheshire fashion, with -draw-pins, tholes and spring-heads tinctured to a sober brown. The oak -was imported from the distant Baltic and strengthened with iron as a -precaution against the gape and the warp. - -The glass, which was separate from the house and stood in a great dome -and tunnel higher up on the hillside where it sheltered the Victoria -Regia, the tobacco plant, the curious and carnivorous _Hepteryx -Rawlinsonia_, the palm and the common vine. A lodge guarded both -the northern and the southern entrances and a considerable approach -swept up past the two greyhounds which dignified the cast-iron gates; -themselves a copy, upon a smaller scale, of the more famous Guardini's -at Bensington, while the main door was of pure elm studded with one -hundred and fifty-three large nails. The rooms within were heated not -only by fireplaces of exquisite decoration, but also secretly by pipes -which ran beneath the floors and had this inconvenience, that the -captious, withdrawing from the fierceness of the blaze to some distant -margin of the apartment, would marvel at the suffocating heat which -struck them in the chance corner of their retirement. - -Of the numerous bath-rooms fitted in copper and Dutch tiles, of the -chapel, the vesting chamber and the great number of bedrooms--many -with dressing-rooms attached--I need not speak. - -The stables were connected with the mansion by a covered way, which -the guests could use in all weathers when there was occasion to visit -the stables and to admire Aster, West Wind, Cœur de Lion, Ex Calibur, -Abde-el-Kader, and the little pink pony, Pompey, which was permanently -lame, but had caught Mrs. Clutterbuck's eye at Lady Moreton's sale, and -had cost no less than 250 guineas. - -"The Plâs" was the simple name suggested somewhat later by Charlie -Fitzgerald, but for the moment Mr. and Mrs. Clutterbuck, well -acquainted with the hesitation of all cultured people to adopt -pretentious names for their residences, were content to leave it -unchristened, and to allude to it among their acquaintance by nothing -more particular than the beautiful title of "Home." - -In the spring of 1911 the last drier had been applied to the walls, -and with the early summer of that year Mr. Clutterbuck and his wife -sat before the first fire upon their new hearth. It was a fire of old -ship logs, and they were delighted to confirm the fact that it produced -small particoloured flames. - -If it be wondered why a fortune of barely half a million should -have been saddled with so spacious a building, it must be replied -that a large part of every important income must of necessity be -expended in luxury, and that the form of luxury which most appealed -to this hospitable and childless pair was a roof under which they -might later entertain numerous gatherings of friends, while, to those -long accustomed during the active period of life to somewhat cramped -surroundings, ease of movement and spacious apartments are a great -and a legitimate solace in declining years. Here Mr. Clutterbuck, did -he weary of his study, could wander at ease into the morning-room; -from thence to the picture gallery which adjoined the well-lit hall, -or if he chose to pursue his tour he could find the peacock-room, the -Japanese room, the Indian room, and the Henri Quatre Alcove and Cosy -Corner, and the Jacobean Snuggery awaiting him in turn. Had he been a -younger man he would probably have added a swimming-bath; as it was, -the omission of this appendage was all that marred the splendid series -of apartments. - -Doubtless he had overbuilt, as ordinary standards of wealth are -counted, but the standards of financial genius are not those of -commerce, and this very excess it was which brought him the first -beginnings of his public career. It was impossible that display upon -such a scale and so near London, should not attract the attention -of households at once well-born and generous. Our political world is -ever ready to admit to the directing society of the nation those whose -prudence and success in business have shown them worthy of undertaking -the task of government. In the height of the season, as Mr. and Mrs. -Clutterbuck were sitting at their breakfast, a little lonely in the -absence of any guests in that great house, the lady's post was found to -contain an invitation from no less a leader of London than the widow of -Mr. Barttelot Smith. - - * * * * * - -Mary Smith had about her every quality that entitled her to lead the -world, which she in fact did lead with admirable power. She had been -born a Bailey. Her mother was a Bunting; she was therefore of that well -established middle rank which forms perhaps the strongest core in our -governing class. Her husband, Barttelot Smith, of Bar Harbour, Maine, -and the New Bessemer, Birmingham, Alabama, had died in 1891, after a -very brief married life, which had barely sufficed to introduce him to -the Old Country and a world of which the hours and the digestion were -quite unsuitable to him. - -The fortune of which his widow was left in command after her -bereavement was ample for the part it was her genius to play; and -though her means were not of that exaggerated sort to which modern -speculation has accustomed us, yet her roomy house in St. James's -Place, her Scotch forest, the two places in Cumberland, and the place -she rented in the heart of the Quorn permitted her to entertain upon -a generous scale; while large and historic but cosy Habberton on the -borders of Exmoor afforded a secure retreat for the few weeks in -August, which, if she were in England, she devoted to the society of -her intimates. - -She was a woman of high culture, the intimate friend of the Prime -Minister--not as a politician, but as a poet--and through her sister, -Louise, the sister-in-law of the leader of the Opposition, whose -extraordinary polo play in the early eighties had endeared him to the -then lively girl much more than could family ties. - -Such other connections as she had with the political world were -quite fortuitous. Her aunt, Lady Steyning, had seen, of course, the -most brilliant period of the Viceroyalty in India, before the recent -deplorable situation had destroyed at once the dignity and the leisure -of that post; while a second aunt, the oldest of the three surviving -Duchesses of Drayton, though living a very retired life at Molehurst, -naturally brought her into touch with the Ebbworths and all the Rusper -group of old Whig families, from young Lord Rusper, to whom she was -almost an elder sister, to the rather disreputable, but extremely -wealthy, Ockley couple, whom she chivalrously defended through the -worst of the storm. - -It would be a great error to imagine that this charming and tactful -woman found her interests in such a world alone--she was far too -many sided for that. Her collection of Fragonards had many years ago -laid at her feet the whole staff of the Persian Embassy, and opened -an acquaintance with a world of Oriental experience; with it she -discovered and cultivated the two chief Eastern travellers of our -time, Lord Hemsbury and Mr. Teak; upon quite another side her modest -but sincere and indefatigable interest in the lives of the poor -had naturally led to a warm understanding between herself and Lord -Lambeth--the indefatigable empire builder whom the world had known as -Mr. Barnett of the M'Korio, and who now, as the aged Duke of Battersea, -had earned by his unceasing good deeds, the half-playful, half-reverend -nickname of "Peabody Yid" among the younger members of his set. - -It was not a little thing to have gained the devotion of such a man, -and it was, in a sense, the summit of Mary Smith's achievement: but she -was more than a sympathetic and universal friend; she was also--as -such friends must always be--a power in both Political parties--and -perhaps in three. - -It was said--I know not with how much justice--that young Pulborough -(who was his own father) owed his Secretaryship of State more to her -direct influence than to his blood relationship to the aunt by marriage -of her second brother-in-law, The MacClure; and there were rumours, -certainly exaggerated, that when the Board of Trade was filled after -Illingsbury had fled the country, Paston's marriage with her niece -Elizabeth had decided his appointment. - -I am careful to omit any reference to the Attorney-General of the -day--it was mere gossip--nor will I tarry upon her brother at the Home -Office, or her Uncle Harry at Dublin Castle, lest I should lead the -reader to imagine that her well-earned influence depended on something -other than her great soul and admirable heart. - -It was a generous impulse in such a woman to send the large gilt -oblong of pasteboard which was the key to her house, and to a seat at -her board, to the lonely and now ageing couple in their retirement in -the Caterham Valley. But Mrs. Smith, even in her most heartfelt and -spontaneous actions, had always in view the nature of our political -institutions. The sudden fortune of Mr. Clutterbuck had no doubt been -exaggerated in the numerous conversations upon it which had enlivened -her drawing-room; if so, it was an error upon the right side, and her -instinct told her that she could not be much to blame in giving such a -man the opportunity to enter into the fuller life of his country. - -Every rank in our carefully ordered society has its conventions; one, -which will doubtless appear ridiculous to many of my readers, is that -which forbids, among the middle classes, the extension of a warm -invitation to people whom one never happens to have seen. The basis for -this suburban convention it would be impossible to discover, but then, -convention is not logical; and whatever may be the historic origin of -the fetich, certain it is that most of our merchants and professional -men would never dream of asking a Cabinet minister or a peer to their -houses until at least a formal introduction had passed between them and -the statesman so honoured. - -The converse is not true at all; our public men would accept or reject -such an invite as convenience dictated, and would hardly remember -whether they had the pleasure of an acquaintance or no: they approach -men of lesser value with unaffected ease and find it difficult to -tolerate the strict ritual of a narrower class; but their own society, -as they would be the first to admit, has its own body of unreasoning -etiquette, the more difficult to recognise because it is so familiar; -Buffle himself, for instance, would hardly tolerate a question in -Parliament upon his recent escapade. - -The varying codes of varying strata of society are the cause of -endless misunderstandings; such a misunderstanding might have arisen -now, but once again it was a woman that saved the jar. Mary Smith -had unwittingly gone near to the line of offence, in the eyes of Mr. -Clutterbuck at least, when she posted her well-meant card for July -2. Mrs. Clutterbuck had not only a wider social experience than her -husband, but could also rely upon the instinctive psychology of her -sex. She overruled at once, and very wisely, the petty objections of -her husband to the form in which the acquaintance had been offered -them, and returned, by the morning's post in the third person and upon -pink paper, an acceptance to the kindly summons. - -There were three weeks only in which to anticipate and prepare for -this novel experience, but they were three weeks during which Mr. -Clutterbuck was so thoroughly convinced by his wife, as very sincerely -to regret the first comments he had made upon a custom to which his -ignorance of life had made him take exception. - -Meanwhile, in St. James's Place, the large and comfortable rooms which -had once been those of the exiled Bourbons and later of the Boxing -Club were the scene of more than one conversation between Mary Smith -and her friends in the matter of those whom Charlie Fitzgerald lightly -called "the mysterious guests." - -"The less mysterious they are to you," said Mary Smith, nodding at this -same Charlie Fitzgerald one very private afternoon at tea, "the better -for you." She shut her lips and nodded again at him with emphasis. - -"Oh Lord! Mary," said Charlie Fitzgerald, "is it going to be another of -them?" - -He was twenty years and more her junior, but she tolerated anything -from the son of her favourite cousin; besides which, every one called -her Mary, and if she was to be called Mary she would as soon be called -Mary by an intimate younger relation as by the crowd of chance men and -women of her own age who used her name so freely. - -"Yes," went on Mrs. Smith with decision, "it's going to be another of -them; and this time I hope you'll stick." - -Her trim little body was full of energy as she said it, and her face -full of determination. - -"It's never been my fault," said Fitzgerald reproachfully. "Was it my -fault that Isaacs got into trouble, or that old Burpham lost his temper -about the motor-car?" - -"The last was your fault certainly," answered his cousin vivaciously. -"If you take a man's money, you mustn't use his motor-car without his -leave." - -"He's an old cad," yawned Fitzgerald lazily. - -"Every one knows that," said Mrs. Smith, "and no one thinks the better -of you for not understanding an old cad. It's a private secretary's -business to understand.... You won't get anything from me, anyhow, I -can tell you." - -"You've said that before," said Charlie, looking down at her with a -smile. - -"Yes, and I have kept it, too," said Mary. - -To which he answered with some emphasis: "By God you have!" and looking -out into the trees in the Green Park he fell into a reverie, the -monotone of which was his large and increasing indebtedness. It did -not trouble him, but it furnished a constant food for his thoughts and -lent him just that interest in the acquirement of money which his Irish -character perhaps needed. - -Later, as the room filled with callers, the conversation upon the -Clutterbucks became more general. A certain Mr. Higginson, who was -very smart indeed and wrote for the papers, was able to give the most -precise information: Old Clutterbuck had been worth four millions; he'd -dropped a lot on house property in Paris. He was worth nearly three -anyhow, but he was a miserly old beggar. He had made it by frightening -Charley Hatton. - -At this all of his audience were pleased and several laughed. - -"I'd frighten the beggar for less than four millions," said Charlie -Fitzgerald. He spread out his arms and made a loud roaring noise to -show how he'd do it, to the huge amusement of an aged general who loved -youth and high spirits, but to the no small annoyance of Mr. Higginson, -who hated being interrupted. - -"Nonsense!" said Mary Smith, pouring out tea for a new caller in the -old familiar way (she detested a pack of servants and kept hers for -the most part in the double-decked basement underground). "Nonsense! I -believe he made it perfectly honestly. He's got a dear old face!" - -Mary Smith had never seen his face, but a good word is never thrown -away. - -"He's got an old hag of a wife," blurted out the General, "an old----" - -Mary Smith put up her hand. "Now do be careful--you used that word only -last Thursday." - -"Good Lord!" said Charlie Fitzgerald; "what a long time." And the -General and he, who had lunched together that same day, were amused -beyond the ordinary at the simple jest. - -"I've never seen his wife," said Mary Smith severely and with perfect -truth. "She's probably just like everybody else. You people make up -ideas in your heads about classes that don't exist. Everybody's just -like everybody else.... Look at old Bolney!" - -"Damned if he's like anybody else!" said Miss Mosel, taking her -cigarette out of her mouth and picking a long shred of yellow tobacco -from her underlip at the same time. "Mamma calls him Cow Bolney." - -"She's quite wrong, my dear, thoroughly wrong," said the old General -fussily. "I wouldn't have believed it of your mother. I knew her when -she was your age." - -"Don't believe it now," said Mary Smith soothingly, "Victoria tells -lies." - -"No, I don't," said Miss Mosel stolidly. "Anyhow I'm coming to see old -Clutterbuck." - -"Not if I know it," said Mary Smith grimly. - -"Oh, I don't mean at dinner," caught up Victoria Mosel lightly. "I -wouldn't rag anybody's dinner, but you can't prevent my coming on, -after." - -Mrs. Smith gazed at her imploringly. "Don't play the fool, Vic," she -begged. - -"I shan't play the fool," said Victoria. "I only want to look on: I -won't touch." - -"Who you goin' to get?" asked Charlie. - -"Well, there's _you_," spreading out her fingers in what had been for -half a lifetime a pretty affectation of hers, and ticking them off. -"And there's old Mother D. of Drayton, and I shall try to get the Duke." - -"Oh, your perpetual Peabody Yid," began Charlie. - -"Don't," said his cousin, laughing with great charm. - -"Well, yes, the Duke, and I've got _him_ already," she said pointing to -the General. "And ... and I must have William." - -Vic Mosel and Mr. Higginson shouted together: "Risking William! Oh! I -say!" while Charlie's eye gleamed at the mention of her brother's name -and he gloated on the prospect of a really good shindy. - -"Oh, fiddlesticks-ends," said Mary Smith. "He's a white man: besides -some one must do host for me. _You're_ too green" (she said that to -Fitzgerald), "and he'll behave all right. I'll warn him." - -"Then," she went on hurriedly, "then there's Mrs. Carey and her mother, -and the Steynings--I can't remember the whole lot. Perkins would tell -you. There's sixteen, I know that." - -"I'll hold the sponge for William Bailey," said Charlie solemnly; "the -General supports the Duke." - -"If there's any row," said Mary Smith to him vigorously, "I shall know -who started it, and who will lose by it. William's a dear." - -And so the flashing talk went round, while, with Mr. Clutterbuck in the -Caterham glens, the hours crept on towards an appointed day; and the -horses were exercised and the motors ran, and the lake slowly filled, -and parties, a little larger with each succeeding week, groups of their -old friends and of their new, met and drank champagne at lunch, at -dinner, and at supper too, until June was ended. - -The second of July was warm and fine: an open motor would have pleased -Mr. Clutterbuck for the run to town,--but Mrs. Clutterbuck, Mrs. -Clutterbuck knew! It was in the Limousine that they swept up the -London Road, past the Palace and round into St. James's Place. Mr. -Clutterbuck, who had long secretly wondered how those great houses upon -the Park were approached at all, and who had half believed that some -royal entry, hidden from the vulgar gaze, led into them, saw this great -mystery solved: he was silent upon his discovery. He wondered whether -one should tell the motor to go into the stables of the house, or what: -and again Mrs. Clutterbuck knew. She left it for the motor man and the -big flunkeys to thresh out between them. - -When they were at table the many lights, the much wine and the more -talk entered her husband's soul and warmed it. The lights greatly -pleased him; the wine he drank freely. He was beginning to live. - -He noted curiously the faces round the great table, and asked his -neighbour the names of more than one; that neighbour was Mrs. Carey, -than whom he could have had no better guide, for she knew every face -in London, to the number of two hundred or more. She pointed out the -large, beneficent features of the Duke of Battersea where he sat at -Mary Smith's right, hardly able to take his eyes from her face. Mr. -Clutterbuck in his turn gazed long and with increasing awe at the man -whose name stood for the power of England in so many distant harbours, -and whose career in finance was the model and the envy of all his own -society. He strained to listen and catch some word falling from his -lips, but the hubbub was too loud. The bright young laughing face -to his left was that of Charlie Fitzgerald, but he did not need the -information, for Mary Smith had been careful to introduce the lad with -an unmistakable intonation, and, as though by inadvertence, twice -over. The tall, square-faced, whiskered, spectacled man opposite who -sipped his soup as though every taste of it were to be thought out and -appreciated, was, he learnt, Mr. William Bailey, the brother of his -hostess; and as Mrs. Carey told him that name, she laughed discreetly, -for the eccentricities of Mr. William Bailey, though they were not -always harmless, were never without point to women of Mrs. Carey's -superficial character. She saw nothing in them but matter for her own -amusement. - -Nothing perhaps struck Mr. Clutterbuck more in the great society he -had entered than the superb ease which distinguished it. Every member -of that world seemed free to pursue his own appetite or inclination -without restraint of form, and yet the whole was bound by just that -invisible limit which is the framework of good breeding. Here on his -right was Lord Steyning, talking at the top of his voice; a little -nearer Charlie Fitzgerald was whispering across his neighbour, Miss -Carey, to another guest whose name Mr. Clutterbuck did not know. The -Duke of Battersea felt no necessity to talk to any one beside his -hostess, or to take his eyes for more than a moment from her face; -while Mr. William Bailey shocked no one by maintaining a perfect -silence, and staring gloomily through his spectacles at a "Reynolds" -of his great grandfather, the Nabob, which he had frequently declared -in mixed company to be a forgery. It was this atmosphere of freedom -that gave Mr. Clutterbuck his chief pleasure in an evening which he -heartily, thoroughly, and uninterruptedly enjoyed. - -When the women had gone away and the men were sitting at their ease, -with the silent William Bailey for host, a maze of acute interest -surrounded the merchant; he could hear the Duke of Battersea, a -little grumpy in the absence of the hostess, praising Lord Steyning -to his face for the arrangement of his garden, and turning his back -on Mr. Bailey, which gentleman, speaking for almost the first time -that evening, shoved up close to Mr. Clutterbuck and maintained his -character for oddity by asking how he liked the Peabody Yid. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, uncertain whether this were a novel, a play, or a new -game, but unwilling to betray his ignorance, said that it depended upon -taste. - -"It does," said Mr. Bailey, with emphasis; "it's a jolly house, isn't -it?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck affirmed the grandeur and admirable appointment of -the house, but he could not help wondering whether William Bailey -would have been more pleased if he had found something to criticise. -Then, as Charlie Fitzgerald turned to talk to Mr. Clutterbuck, William -Bailey relapsed again into his silence, an attitude of mind which he -diversified in no way save by pulling out a pencil and sketching, with -some exaggeration of the ears, nape, and curled ringlets, the back -view presented to him by the venerable Duke of Battersea. - -Upstairs, Mary Smith, squatting familiarly beside Mrs. Clutterbuck, -giggled into her private ear with that delightful familiarity which had -ever put her guests into her intimate confidence, and swept away every -vestige of _gêne_ and of disparity in status. This charm of manner it -was for which those whom she still honoured chiefly loved her, and -which those whom she had seen fit to drop most poignantly regretted. - -Upon Mrs. Clutterbuck, as she reclined on a Tutu Louis XVII., in an -attitude full of charm and of repose yet instinct with self-control, -the spell of Mary Smith was powerful indeed. Her talk was of the -great--and of their secretaries. She remembered stories of ambassadors, -and of their secretaries as well; and in what she had to say concerning -Secretaries of State, yet other secretaries of these secretaries -appeared--unpaid secretaries and under-secretaries, parliamentary -secretaries, and common negligible secretaries who did secretarial -work. The functions, position, and weight of a secretary had never -seemed so clear to Mrs. Clutterbuck before; nay, until that moment she -had given but little heed to the secretary's trade. She saw it now. - -But all this was done so deftly and with such tact, and interrupted -with such merry little screams of laughter; in the course of it Mrs. -Clutterbuck was herself compelled to make so many confidences that the -atmosphere was one of mutual information, and the guest was confident -that she had contributed more than the hostess. When Mary Smith moved -off to play general post with the guests, and, as her charming phrase -went, "to make them to talk to one another," Mrs. Clutterbuck found how -singularly less a woman of the world was Mrs. Smith's somewhat prudish -aunt, Lady Steyning, long at Simla, some time our ambassadress at -Washington, and now about to be at the head of the Embassy in Paris. As -for Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Clutterbuck regarded her with loathing. - -Downstairs Charlie Fitzgerald had been drinking port, and, keeping his -right hand firmly fixed upon the neck of the decanter, he had poured -out wine at intervals for Mr. Clutterbuck with a gesture which he -falsely termed "passing the bottle." He had not his cousin's manner or -science in the handling of a conversation, but the wine, though bad, -was a bond between them; they drank it largely, especially Fitzgerald: -it enabled him to recite with passion and Mr. Clutterbuck to receive -with faith, anecdotes of yet another batch of secretaries, and of Mr. -Fitzgerald's own adventures in his confidential relations with the -discredited Isaacs and the aged but irascible Lord Burpham; a last -engagement which he had apparently terminated from his fixed decision -to undertake no such work in the future, but to live the life of a -private gentleman, and possibly to enter the House of Commons. - -It was impossible for Mr. Clutterbuck not to contrast again the -spontaneity and ease of the world round him with the much more sterile -associations of his middle and later manhood. Nor did anything please -him more in that ease and spontaneity than the Irish good nature -with which Charlie Fitzgerald poured at his feet his wealth of -social experience, and especially his experience in that secretarial -phase which Mr. Clutterbuck sincerely regretted that he should have -entirely abandoned. He could not help thinking, as he looked at the -handsome curly head and merry eyes, and as he heard the names of -the great and good flash constantly from the lips before him, how -perfect would that arrangement be which should permit some humbler -but similar man to be to him what Charlie Fitzgerald seemed to have -been to the eminent financier and the hot-tempered politician; -a-second-and-a-younger-eye-and-brain. - -As they came into the drawing-room together, they were already fast -friends, and such was the effect of the atmosphere about him and -the exhilarating evening he had passed, that Mrs. Smith found it -quite impossible to make her Clutterbuck speak to any one save his -new-found acquaintance: a disappointment to those ladies who had heard -exaggerated accounts of his wealth, and were already interested in his -crescent-shaped moustaches and the fan of grey hair which he displayed -over his considerable forehead. - -Mr. Clutterbuck noticed with some astonishment--if anything could -astonish him now--the entry of further guests at a late hour. They -came, as it seemed to him, without introduction and without ceremonial. -And he wondered, as he followed the imperial carriage and gestures of -Victoria Mosel among the rest, whether he also in some future year -might be found drifting thus through open doors free from the weary -necessities of etiquette. He doubted it. - -They left at half-past eleven, and all the way home Mrs. Clutterbuck -complained of fatigue. But her husband, upon his arrival, felt it -necessary to continue the evening, and far into the early morning drank -yet more port, and considered the change in his life. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -The season was not yet over. Mrs. Clutterbuck had called upon Mary -Smith,--and if my readers will believe me,--Mary Smith had called upon -Mrs. Clutterbuck. And there had come a morning--Parliament was still -sitting, the Goodwood Cup was not yet collared--when Mrs. Clutterbuck -having heard for weeks past from Mr. Clutterbuck hints and guesses at -the necessity for a secretary to deal with his now numerous invitations -and engagements, quietly suggested Charlie Fitzgerald. - -Had she suggested Tolstoi or the German Emperor she could not have -surprised him more. But when he heard that the proposition had -come from the family itself, that it had been largely due to Mr. -Fitzgerald's own pronounced affection, and that he would be content -with a nominal salary of £400 or £500 a year, Mr. Clutterbuck, though -as much astonished as a man rapt into heaven, was convinced of the -reality of the business, and the only thing that troubled him was the -question of salary. - -He paced up and down the room, suggesting to his wife the dilemma that -a sum of £1000 or £1500 a year was all the expense he would hesitate -to incur, while less would be an insult he would hesitate to offer. To -which her only and sharp reply was that the young man could surely look -after himself; that doubtless he had grown used to work of this sort -and liked it, that he probably had means of his own, and that, anyhow, -it had come from him, and that Mrs. Smith herself had spoken strongly -in favour of the arrangement. - -How long such a change might last only Fate could tell. It was the -middle of the summer. When there were no more dinners to eat and no -more women to talk to, Charlie Fitzgerald, all life and boxes, came -down to Caterham, but not before going the round of some twenty-eight -tradesmen in St. James's Street and Mayfair and assuring them that -until the autumn he would be abroad. - -With the entry of that vigorous young Irish life into Mr. Clutterbuck's -home, began the last adventures of the merchant's singularly -adventurous life and his introduction to the conflicting destinies of -his country; for even if things had not bent that way, something in -Charlie Fitzgerald's nature would have left him restless until he and -those for whom he worked had struck some mark. - -The young Irishman was the son of that Doctor Fitzgerald the oculist, -who had been during all the later years of Queen Victoria's reign a -link, as it were, between the professional and the political world of -London, and who was himself a younger son of Sir Daniel Fitzgerald, -the permanent head of the Fisheries whose name appears so frequently -in Lady Cotteswold's Memoirs of Prince Albert and the Queen's early -married life. Lady Fitzgerald, his wife, had been a Bailey, and the -aunt, therefore, of Mrs. Smith. - -It had not been thought necessary to dower her with any portion of -the great Bailey fortune, for in those days the Irish land upon which -Sir Daniel had foreclosed was a very ample provision even for onerous -social duties in London, and the Baileys asked nothing of the eager -lover but that he should adopt the name of Fitzgerald which had for -centuries been associated with the estate his ardent forethought had -acquired. - -In those days a change of name demanded certain formalities; these were -soon fulfilled, and in Charlie's generation, the third to bear the -Irish title and arms, the original form "Daniel Daniels" was justly -forgotten. - -Since the days of Sir Daniel Irish land has passed through a -revolution, especially when it has been held by those whose duties -did not necessitate a visit to their estates. Sir Daniel's heir, -the oculist's eldest brother, would have died impoverished had not -the Government very properly succoured the son of so distinguished a -Civil servant and created for him the post of Inspector in the Channel -Islands (with the exception of Sark), a district in which he was -understood to be present twice or even three times in a year. This -salary died of course with its incumbent; his brother, the oculist, had -been compelled to spend in hospitality his exceptional earnings, and -the present generation of young men, sons of either brother, had had to -face life unguarded. - -It was not an easy position for boys used to the conversation and -habits of the wealthiest society in the world. But much was done for -them. Edward was married to the half-witted daughter of Sir John -Garstang the cotton-spinner; Henry was put into the Scotch Education -Office; Philip died, and Charlie, in spite of the mistake about -Mr. Isaacs, would have done very well out of Lord Burpham if his -incorrigible Irish character had not run away with him and with the -motor-car of that eminent director of our Foreign Affairs. "Irish," I -say, for Ireland was apparent in all that poor Charlie did, for though -his mother was of pure German stock and strongly Protestant, while his -accent was that of Eton College, yet his friends could easily descry in -all his extravagances and escapades the adventurous Irish influence of -his grandfather's estate. His cousins, through the Baileys (who were of -pure English or Indian lineage), Jim in the Foreign Office and "Nobby" -who had means and was, after a spell in the Heralds' College, at large, -the Steynings and the rest, saw this Hibernian brilliance more clearly -than any, and made it a permanent if insufficient excuse for his -vagaries. - -It was Boswell Delacourt who first suggested politics to Charlie -Fitzgerald, and Fate did the rest. - -Boswell Delacourt was not exactly a relative of Charlie Fitzgerald's, -except in so far as everybody can be said to be related to everybody -else; he was no more than a connection by marriage. But he did think it -hard that a man of Mr. Clutterbuck's antecedents and position should -stand aloof from political life. Nowhere can money be more usefully -spent for the country than in the support of great political ideals, -and nowhere can the wide experience and hard mental training of a -commercial career do more for England than in the House of Commons. -Nor did any one appreciate these truths more than Boswell Delacourt, -nor did any of the younger people who were working in the organisation -of the National Party work harder than he to spread them abroad. He -hammered at Fitzgerald, and Fitzgerald did his duty. - -The new Secretary had passed the whole summer without a word of -complaint, cooped up in the new house at Caterham; he had spent his -energies in suggesting the purchase of books, the removal of pictures, -and the renaming of the estate; he had recommended horses, cigars, -wines, traps, motors, and jewellery, and sold them again with ready -decision when he thought them unworthy; he had attended to all the -correspondence, signed nearly all the cheques, received payment against -all exchanges, and spared his host every sort of financial worry; he -had compelled not a few of his own friends, in spite of their intense -reluctance, to spend Saturday to Monday under that roof; with noble -perseverance he had run the light Panhard himself for incredible -distances and at a speed which Mr. Clutterbuck could hardly bear; he -had done all these things for nearly two months without a respite, -when, late in September, having forsworn all opportunities to shoot, he -tackled the great affair. - -It was in the second smoking-room some time before dinner that the -elder man and the younger sipping sherry and bitters, began their -fateful conversation. - -Charlie Fitzgerald first introduced the business--and he launched it -fair and clean, for when Mr. Clutterbuck had said in a ruminating sort -of way "The days are drawing in, Mr. Fitzgerald," Charlie Fitzgerald -had answered: - -"Yes---- Why don't you send something to the Party Funds?" - -Since his secretary had been in the house, Mr. Clutterbuck had -authorised not a few large cheques, and had let Charlie sign many -more. He wondered what new claim this might be, but he hardly liked to -venture an opinion. He thought it better to wait a moment and let time -or the goddess Chance illuminate him. - -"You see, after all," said Fitzgerald, spreading out one hand towards -the fire, "they expect it ... don't they?" he asked sympathetically, -looking up sideways in Mr. Clutterbuck's face. - -"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a maze, "yes"--thoughtfully--"I suppose -they do." But who they were, or what it was they expected, torture -could not have got out of him. - -"Well--you see----" went on Charlie in the tone of interest and -thought which men adopt when they are putting a proposition carefully -to another, "it's only natural they should. You can't carry on either -of the great Parties for nothing, and lots of men expect to get -everything out of politics and to put nothing in; and then there are -others who don't care about being in the movement. It's a difficult job -altogether." Then he added in a thoroughly different tone: "They were -in a damned tight hole in '95!" - -"Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald," said the older man again. He had appreciated by -this time perhaps one quarter of the affair. - -"Bozzy," went on Fitzgerald, "Bozzy says that it goes up and down like -a Jack-in-the-box. One election hardly anything, and then before they -know where they are--millions! But I don't believe it"--he wagged his -head wisely and leaned back again--"don't believe a word of it. There -must always be a balance in hand, and a fat one too. Think of it!" he -went on, "think of all it's got to _do_--Damn elections! They only come -once in five years anyhow. Look at all that's got to go on meanwhile? -You can't advertise for nothing, and you can't print for nothing, and -you can't get men to start newspapers, that don't pay, in Egypt for -nothing; and you can't get your information abroad and in America for -nothing. It's all rubbish to say that they let it go fut! It is true -they get in a hole sometimes. And I say they were both in a hole in -'95." - -Mr. Clutterbuck still sat silent. - -"You will say," continued Fitzgerald rapidly after a short interval, as -he stood up against the mantelpiece with his back to the fire, "you'll -say----" - -"No, I won't," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "I assure you, Mr. Fitzgerald, I -shall put no obstacle in the way of such a decision." - -"Well--but," returned his secretary, "you see it really must be -explained--you can't leap in the dark." - -"Certainly not," said Mr. Clutterbuck with determination. - -"That's it," said Charlie Fitzgerald, dropping his chin and looking -profoundly at the carpet. - -There was a considerable interval of silence, and Mr. Clutterbuck, -who fully appreciated that this new world was not the lucid world of -commerce, or, rather, that it had a language of its own with which he -was not yet familiar, forebore to ask a question. Nay, it would have -puzzled him very considerably to frame a question so that it should -relate to anything intelligible, human or divine. But as Charles -Fitzgerald remained quite silent, the merchant did venture to suggest -that he would gladly and heartily do anything that was expected of him -in the matter. - -"Yes, I know," said Fitzgerald, pacing towards the window. "I wasn't -bothering about that. I'm sure you would. But I was thinking which -Party.... You see, in the old days," he said, suddenly facing round, -"it was simple enough: you had your set and your set went Whig, and -it was all plain sailing, but then the old days were beastly corrupt, -and what a man spent he liked to spend on his own people. There's a -place over the hill there," he said, jerking his head backwards towards -Gatton, "where my great uncle's father-in-law was--seven electors and -£20,000. But they won't tolerate that now. So there you are! You got to -ask yourself which Party. Then there's another trouble: there used to -be only two Parties; now they're five, and look like seven." - -Mr. Clutterbuck's mind moved forward by one cog, and he saw that the -talk had something to do with the nuances of the House of Commons. -He let Fitzgerald go on, but he could have wished that young man of -breeding would make himself clearer, unless, indeed, this method of -address were native or in some way necessary to exalted rank. - -"Bozzy says," began Fitzgerald, "there are really only two party-funds -again, now the National Party's kept going two years, and I 'spose he's -right. Nobody gives to the Irish except the Irish, and that's a sort of -audit sheet business, like the Labour people. And the Radicals haven't -got a regular organisation. Then, of course, you might say, 'Why not -give to both?' like the Stanfords." - -"Who are the Stanfords, Mr. Fitzgerald?" broke in the master of the -house, clutching like a drowning man at a straw. - -"Lord Stanford and his wife," said Charlie Fitzgerald innocently. "Old -Bill Lewisohn that was; they call it Lewis and Lewis still." - -"Oh yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck humbly. - -"Well," said Fitzgerald, getting his second wind, "as I say, you might -say 'Why not give to both, like the Stanfords?' Frankly, I don't think -it pays. He gives to the Opposition, anyway he _did_ give to the -Opposition before the General Election because of the peerage; and she -gives to the Nationals _now_ because of the Church Bill. But it doesn't -pay. They don't get half the attention either of 'em would get singly. -Besides which," he added, "a man must consult his convictions. Course -he must." - -"Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, who now at last perceived -that the elements of the tangle consisted of a sum of money, his -political convictions, and the Party system. "I've never concealed -mine. I was a Conservative as long as I took any interest in politics. -But the 1906 administration was a good one; the 1908 was a better. Then -when this Coalition came I was hard at work and not bothering about -politics: I suppose I'd have gone National. But not altogether, you -know; and as for the first tariff--well, I'm out of business now, and -I suppose I oughtn't to lose my temper. As one gets older," he added -wearily, "one cares much less about these things." - -"That's it," said Fitzgerald suddenly, determined to keep it alight. -"You're ab-so-lute-ly right ... it's just because practical business -men know the harm the first tariff did, that the Nationals want their -help--help o' men like _you_. Rubber, for instance: Congo rubber. -After all, you know more about it than twenty of the politicians put -together. I tell you what," he added, "buzz down with me to-morrow and -see Bozzy--Bozzy Delacourt. He's a sort of relation of mine, and he'll -tell you a lot more about it than I could. We wouldn't have to go to -the head offices in Peter Street: he'll give us lunch. I'll telephone -through to him." And the happy but loquacious fellow went out upon that -errand. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, left alone to his own thoughts, carefully unravelled -them and picked them out clearly strand from strand: that he was -expected, to his own advantage, to subscribe a sum of money; that he -was expected to subscribe it to a political party; that a man called -Bozzy, who was also called Delacourt, was in the inner ring of such -affairs, and that of the two Parties it would best suit a merchant of -his standing to tender such financial support, through the said Bozzy, -to the Party in power. - -When he had put the thing thus to himself it seemed much simpler; he -was prepared for the business before him, and next day Delacourt's -perfectly lucid and very straightforward manner finished the affair. -He found that so small a sum as a thousand pounds was received on -behalf of the great organisation with the greatest dignity and -courtesy, and that his support was as warmly acknowledged as though -he had given twenty times that sum. When the formality was over, -Delacourt, detaining him over the wine, said gravely: - -"We all have to do what we can, Mr. Clutterbuck, but the real loss -to the New Tariff nowadays isn't in money. You all come forward most -generously. Our trouble is that we can't get the candidates we used to. -We can't get the Old Commercial Member who could drive it down in the -House with fact and grip and experience. We couldn't ask a man like -you to stand, for instance, Mr. Clutterbuck, because the work has got -so hard; but it's a great pity. It all gets handed over to the young -journalists and the lawyers." He went on to rattle off with ease and -familiarity a dozen great names in the City connected with the Liberal -benches and with the Conservative in the old free trade days, names -that were the names of gods to the astonished Mr. Clutterbuck, who had -never heard them pronounced in so everyday a fashion before. - -"There's where you'd have been in the old days, Mr. Clutterbuck," said -Bozzy with ardour, "but we wouldn't dare to ask you now." - -In Mr. Clutterbuck's experience this was but a delicate way of telling -him that a seat in Parliament was quite out of his reach. But the -suggestion had moved him, and moved him profoundly. Of Parliament, of -men who stood for Parliament, of the Northern manufacturers especially -and their qualifications, of the London members, and of a hundred other -similar things, he talked eagerly to Fitzgerald through the afternoon, -as the Limousine shot back to the Surrey Hills. - -That night Charlie Fitzgerald, before going to bed, wrote a note -containing the simple information that the old blighter would take it -out of the hand. Then he bethought himself of the danger of written -messages and of the advantages of modern invention. He burnt the note, -rang up Bozzy on the telephone, found him in no very good humour just -back from a boring play, and informed him in bad French that he had no -need to shoot further: the opossum would come down when he was called. - -Four days later Mr. Clutterbuck received a lengthy and very careful -letter upon the official paper of Peter Street. It contained a -statement and a proposal, both highly confidential. The statement was -to the effect that the borough of Mickleton in North London would -very probably be vacant in a few weeks; for what reasons could not -easily be written. The proposition--made with infinite tact and with -the most courteous recognition of the very high favour Mr. Clutterbuck -would be doing the Party should he accede--was that he should accept -the Prospective National Candidature at once in time to make himself -familiar with the constituency, supposing always that the National -Committee of that borough should be instructed by the General Meeting -to urge their Executive Body to demand Mr. Clutterbuck's services. - -The Opposition majority, Delacourt admitted, was a high one--no less -than 851, as the books of reference would inform him. But a great -part of this was due to the female vote, which had naturally been -given to the Party who had pressed their claims during the recent -administration; and though he did not pretend to prophesy victory, he -could assure Mr. Clutterbuck that the proposition would never have been -made to him had not the chances of victory been such as to make that -proposal an honourable one. - -As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he sat that night upon a throne. - - * * * * * - -To Mr. Clutterbuck the stages by which a man may enter the -Representative Chamber were far from familiar. Charlie Fitzgerald had -indulged in political sport more than once, and though he would not -compare it to motoring, or even to really good yachting, he confessed -that it attracted him, and he would often go off for a day or two's -electioneering when the occasion served, at the request of a friend; -nay, on the last occasion he had given up a capital day's shooting to -see cousin "Nobby" handsomely beaten in Derbyshire by 3286. It was -excitement of which he did not easily tire. But as he described the -first processes with gusto to Mr. Clutterbuck, that gentleman perceived -that the road to Parliament was not as smooth or as simple as he had -vaguely imagined: and of all the obstacles that lay between him and the -final stages of a political career, none did he dread more than the -first, which was fixed for October 5. For though the Mickleton National -Committee had indeed, as Mr. Delacourt hoped, received orders for the -General Meeting to instruct their Executive to approach the merchant, -and though he had at once given a warm reply in the affirmative, it was -still their public duty to examine Mr. Clutterbuck upon the orthodoxy -of his political faith; it was this that appalled him. He prepared for -the inquisition with sweat and agony. He read at Fitzgerald's order -"The National Year Book," "A Thousand Points on Nationalism," "What is -a Nationalist?" "Why I am a Nationalist," and was relieving himself -with "Platform Jokes" when he was bidden leave that useful compendium -to a later stage. There would be little joking on October 5! - -He very humbly and sincerely followed the instructions of his secretary -in the details of the interrogators he would have to meet; he noted the -foreign wrongs which he desired redressed, the wickedness of European -Governments and their particular crimes, the domestic evils whose mere -existence darkened the sun, and the personal habits which were expected -of him--notably total abstinence. One thing above all he learnt; it was -drummed into him till he knew it by heart; no matter what the committee -might say or think, no matter what pressure he might suffer, he was to -pledge himself boldly against his party in the matter of the Offences -Disenfranchisement Bill. - -On that Charlie was adamant. "It looks easy now," he said (alas! did -it?); "but it may be the devil and all on the 5th of October." - -What precisely the measure might be, Fitzgerald, who had himself not -studied it minutely, thought it as well to leave aside. The simpler -the manly reply, the better. He was sure it was the Government's one -mistake. - -The programme was thoroughly threshed out, often repeated, fixed, and -as the fatal day approached, Mr. Clutterbuck felt himself armoured; -but not before he had, again on Charlie Fitzgerald's advice, written -out, quite spontaneously, a note and a cheque for £100 to the United -Sons of Endeavour. It was a religious association of young men which -did strenuous work among the poor of Mickleton, distributed large -sums every quarter in salaries to its vast organisation, and had upon -its membership representatives of nearly every family of note in the -borough. - -October 5 was a glorious autumn day, and it was the open Renault -which was chosen. The interview was to take place in the North Street -schools at four; just after lunch Mr. Clutterbuck, already passably -nervous, and Charlie Fitzgerald in the highest of high spirits, started -northward. - -As they left the more familiar parts of London behind them, and passed -through miles of sordid and obscure streets, Mr. Clutterbuck's vitality -steadily fell. Public engagements of every kind were ill suited to his -temperament; the thought of public examination was abhorrent to him. -He fortified himself by an occasional mental glance at his financial -position and a comparison between it and that of the pigmies who would -that day presume to be his Judges, but even this great balm for human -woe hardly comforted him as the horrid perspective of North Street -swung into view and the car stopped with a jerk in front of the dreary -wall of the schools. - -He was glad, from the very bottom of his heart, to be accompanied by -Charlie Fitzgerald, whose exceedingly good grey clothes, very curly -brown hair and frank boyish eyes, would have been a protection to any -man in an ordeal even more severe than that which Mr. Clutterbuck had -to face. - -For a few minutes they sat together in a little bare room furnished -as to the floor with a dead stove without a fire, and as to the walls -with a glazed picture for the instruction of the young--a picture -representing an elephant in his natural colours, and underneath it in -large letters: - - EL-E-PHANT (Mammal) - - This huge crea-ture is an in-hab-i-tant of our In-di-an Em-pire. - -At this work Mr. Clutterbuck mournfully gazed during his period of -probation, whilst Charlie Fitzgerald first swung his clasped hands -between his knees, then crossed his legs, leaned his head back, and -hummed the old Gaiety _pas de quatre_ which had rejoiced his boyhood. - -Suddenly the door opened and Mr. Clutterbuck and his companion were -gravely summoned into the presence of the Executive. - -Of the various functions filled by an Executive, a Committee, a -Body of Workers, a Confederation, and a Deputation to Choose in the -organisation of our public life, I will not here treat. The vast -machinery of self-government, passionately interesting as it must be to -all free men, would take me too far from the purpose of my narrative. -It must be enough for the reader to know that five gentlemen and -one lady, of very different complexions, garb and demeanours, sat -in a semicircle on six Windsor chairs, in the schoolroom which Mr. -Clutterbuck entered. He was suffering--oh! suffering with the pangs men -only experience upon reaching the turning-points of their lives. Upon -this jury depended, not even his entry into the great council of the -nation, but his bare opportunity for presenting himself as a candidate -at all. - -The chairman, or at any rate the gentleman who sat in the middle of -the crescent, was a clergyman of gigantic stature, though of what -denomination it would have been difficult to say, for above a Roman -collar he carried an immense black beard, wore spectacles, and was -bald. His voice was perhaps the most profound and awe-inspiring Mr. -Clutterbuck had ever heard, and when he said, "Pray, gentlemen, be -seated," it was as though a judge had pronounced sentence in the -weightiest of criminal trials. - -Mr. Clutterbuck felt uncertainly backwards for the chair which he hoped -was there, found the target and expected the issue in an attitude of -misfortune. Charlie Fitzgerald sat down upon the chair next him, smiled -at the half-moon of faces, and threw up his trenches to receive the -attack. - -"The first thing we have to ask you, Mr. Clutterbuck," boomed out the -terrible hierarch, "is your attitude upon the Irish question?" - -"My attitude upon the Irish question," said Mr. Clutterbuck, in a dry, -unnatural voice, "is that of the great Mr. Gladstone." - -Four of the male heads approved of this reply by various expressions -and signs, and the lady by a series of enthusiastic little nods, -intended to reassure the candidate whose embarrassment she sincerely -pitied. - -But a man of apparently captious temper at the end of the line, said: - -"Ah, now, but at what periud of the old djentlemun?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck, recognising the accent, replied eagerly, "At the -period most closely associated with his name." - -"That won't do f'r my boys," said the interrupter cheerfully, "n'r f'r -anny uv the Orange Temperance League that _I_ know, I can tell ye!" - -And this was Mr. Clutterbuck's first introduction to the great truth -that practical politics depend on compromise. - -The Chairman bestowed a sorrowful look upon the gentleman from Ulster, -and said severely: - -"I _think_, Mr. Clutterbuck, most of us are satisfied with your reply." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was grateful; he waited for the next question and -braced himself to bear it. It was the lady who put it to him in a voice -which some years earlier must have been a beautiful contralto, and -which even yet retained notes of singular richness and power. She asked -Mr. Clutterbuck in a manner suggesting persuasion rather than pressure, -what his views might be upon the establishment of female courts of -justice. - -Mr. Clutterbuck replied that in this, as in every other matter -concerning the sex, he should be guided by the opinion of the committee -representing the lady electors. - -"But I am here to represent the _Female_ Committee," said the lady -sweetly. - -"Well, Ma'am," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "ahem! I suppose you represent -their views?" - -"Certainly," said the lady with decision and in her richest tones. - -"Quite so, quite so," said Mr. Clutterbuck. - -At this point Charlie Fitzgerald looked up and said quietly: - -"I can assure you Mr. Clutterbuck is heartily in favour." - -His interruption was not very palatable to the committee, who found it -a diversion from the pleasures of the chase. The chairman frowned at -him, and Charlie Fitzgerald smiled back sadly in return. - -"Mr. Clutterbuck," came forth the deep voice again, "I have now to ask -you the gravest question of all: How would you vote in the matter of -temperance reform?" - -"Mr. Clutterbuck," said Charlie Fitzgerald briskly, "is a total -abstainer." - -"We are not here, sir," said a barber who had not yet spoken, and who -was a deeply religious man, "to hear you, but to hear Mr. Clutterbuck." - -To which rebuke Charlie Fitzgerald had the imprudence to murmur in a -low tone: "Oh, my God!" - -Luckily the expression did not reach the stern half-moon of -inquisitors, and Mr. Clutterbuck was free to reply that he had the most -ardent and complete sympathy with temperance reform in all its aspects. - -"But to take a specific instance," said the clergyman, wagging a -forefinger at Mr. Clutterbuck and fixing him with his two glass eyes, -"would you or would you not vote for Sir William Cattermole's Bill?" - -"I would vote for it," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a tone of ardent -conviction, "though it should cost me my seat and the confidence of my -party!" - -A look of blank amazement passed over the clergyman's face, nor did any -of the half circle smile, except the Orangeman, and he only with his -eyes. - -"You surely cannot have heard me aright," said the clergyman in -astonishment and sorrow. "I said Sir William Cattermole's Bill. You -would support that infamous measure?" - -Charlie Fitzgerald was in a qualm, and it cannot be denied that Mr. -Clutterbuck looked at him for aid and information. Like most honest -men, Mr. Clutterbuck was not very ready to take hints or to observe -expressions, but Charlie Fitzgerald's eyebrows were so unmistakable -that he found his cue. - -"You must have misunderstood me," he said. "My point was that I -would vote for an amendment to that Bill though it should cost me my -seat--that is," he added modestly, "supposing I had one." - -After using this expression Mr. Clutterbuck was so miserable that the -very publicans themselves would have pitied him had they seen the sweat -gathering upon his temples, and the droop of his mouth which at every -moment more and more resembled that of a child who is about to burst -into tears. - -"Well, Mr. Clutterbuck," said the chairman with a sigh, "that's not -very satisfactory." - -"No, it izunt," said the Orangeman offensively, though in a lower tone; -while the lady, who had hitherto befriended the forlorn financier, now -regarded him with a constrained reproach. - -"I am afraid," stammered the unfortunate man, "that I must have -expressed myself ill." - -"No matter, Mr. Clutterbuck, no matter," said the chairman, lifting his -hand benignly. "The time will come for all that, when this deplorable -measure comes, if it ever does come, before the House.... And now, Mr. -Clutterbuck," he added leaning forward, to the evident annoyance of -his colleagues who desired to have a word, "what about the policy of -Offences Disfranchisement?" - -To the immense surprise of his six torturers, Mr. Clutterbuck, in a -manly and decisive voice replied, or rather shouted: - -"I will have nothing to do with it!" - -"Ear-ear!" said the barber enthusiastically. - -"Mr. Pickle," said the clergyman reprovingly, "your interruption is -most improper." - -"But the sentiment's all right," said a little man to the left of the -chair, who had not yet spoken, and whose wizened face betrayed acute -intelligence. He added: "And I con-gratulate you, Mr. Clutterbuck. -You're a gentleman! What's more is _this_; I shall be happy to shake -you heartily by the hand when all o' this is over." - -The lady on the extreme left wing was visibly annoyed, the clergyman -appeared indifferent, while the one member of the executive who had -hitherto maintained a complete silence, and who yet was no less a -person than the husband of the representative of the female committee -of Mickleton, copied his wife's demeanour with that exactitude which is -the outward symbol of a happy union. They had no children. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, in a tone still strong, but with something of the -monotony which comes from frequent repetition, added: - -"There are some things, gentlemen, on which a Democrat cannot swerve, -and I cannot see, with due deference to the mixed opinion before me, -how a Democrat could have answered other than I did." - -Here doubts of grammar rushed into his mind and he was silent. - -The wizened little man said: "That's all roight," and the barber beamed -at him. - -The clergyman, rising, said: - -"Well, Mr. Clutterbuck, you've done us a great honour by meeting us, -I'm sure.... We shall have to consider our decision. We will let you -know, Mr. Clutterbuck. May I have the honour and the pleasure of -shaking you by the hand?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck accorded him this felicity, and repeated it in the -case of every other member of the crescent; they had now broken their -formation and were standing in various attitudes before him, the lady -with a notable pride which became her female representative position, -her husband with an extremely quiet dignity. The ordeal was over. - -As Charlie Fitzgerald and he went out past the elephant and the dead -stove into the open air, and when they were well out of earshot, Mr. -Clutterbuck asked nervously: - -"Was that all right, Mr. Fitzgerald?" - -For answer Fitzgerald felt in his breast pocket, looked really anxious -and said: - -"Good God! I forgot to post that letter." - -"What letter?" asked Mr. Clutterbuck, a little pale. - -"Nothing," said Fitzgerald, "nothing." He walked quickly to a -pillar-box a few steps off, and dropped into it the envelope addressed -to the United Sons of Endeavour which he should have posted the night -before: his omission accounted for much, but he had rectified it and he -knew that all would be well. - -"It's all right," he said, slogging back, "but I was a big fool to -forget it. That's the worst of being an Irishman," he added genially. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was quite at sea. "But is it all _right_, Mr. -Fitzgerald?" he insisted. - -"It's all right _now_," said Fitzgerald. He hit his employer fairly in -the back, jumped into the car and shouted for home. - -Four days after a letter came to Caterham from the Acting Secretary of -the Mickleton National Executive Deputation to choose. - -It spoke in warm terms of Mr. Clutterbuck's character and genius, -admitted differences of opinion upon more than one point and severely -informed him at its close that he was admitted to the full title of -Prospective National Candidate. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -In the height of that splendid London season which had seen Mr. -Clutterbuck's introduction to Mrs. Smith's delightful circle, a little -thing had happened at Podger's Wharf in the neighbourhood of Nine Elms -upon the south side of the river. - -A gentleman of the name of Peake employed by Messrs. Harman and James, -barge and transport masters, to pump and swab out the bilge of the -"Queen of Denmark," certified to carry 182 tons of merchandise, and of -due cubic capacity for that burthen, discovered himself unable to reach -the vessel on account of the intervening mud and the accident of an -exceptionally low tide. - -At twelve o'clock the new and well-appointed hooter of Messrs. Harman -and James's works having sounded, Mr. Peake immediately laid down the -mop and hand-pump with which he had been furnished, and proceeded to -pass the check door and receive his salary, for it was a Saturday. The -day was very sunny and bright--but that is not to my purpose. - -Mr. Harman himself approached Mr. Peake and suggested to him that -now the tide was rising he might gratify the firm by remaining at an -increased salary for a couple of hours to accomplish his task; but Mr. -Peake pointed out with such brevity as the occasion demanded that this -would be a gross violation of the rules of his Union, and moved towards -the gate. - -It was at this moment that Mr. Harman committed the deplorable error -which was to lead to such enormous consequences in the body politic: -he lost his temper. He was alleged, I know not with how much truth, -to have addressed Mr. Peake in terms vividly suggesting social -inferiority; but whether this be true or not it is certain that he -assured Mr. Peake of the uselessness of seeking further employment at -the wharf; nay, he had the brutality to tender to that gentleman a -week's salary in lieu of notice, and having done so he retired. - -I will not here go into the vexed question of the language used on -either side, nor enter into Mr. Harman's somewhat lame excuses that -he was provoked by a certain expression of his employee's which cast -a most unjust reflection upon his, Mr. Harman's, pride of birth and -personal morals. Mr. Harman's hasty action was surely indefensible upon -any provocation, and its natural consequence was that the remainder of -those who worked at Podger's Wharf were called out by their Union, -while the United Riverside Workers and Sons of Southwark threatened -a sympathetic cessation of labour to extend from the eastern side of -Hammersmith Bridge to the western edge of the steps at the bottom of -Edgar Street in Limehouse. - -I need hardly say that under these circumstances the compulsory clauses -of the Conciliation Act of 1909 were at once acted upon by the popular -and wealthy President of the Board of Trade, and the decision of the -courts, the machinery of which in such actions is extraordinarily -rapid, was given within three days entirely in favour of the Union; -indeed, no other decision could possibly have been arrived at, and -public opinion thoroughly justified the coercion very properly applied -to the tyrannical master; papers as different as the _Spectator_ and -the _Winning Post_ were at one upon the matter, and their widely -separate reading publics heartily agreed. - -So far the incident, though it had attained certain dimensions, did -not threaten any very grave results. But it so happened that a section -of the workers involved, namely, the Paint Removers and Tar and Marine -Composition Appliers had taken advantage of the disturbance to demand -the abolition of piecework upon all hulks and upon all vessels in -active use between the Garboard Strake and the North Atlantic Winter -Loading Line. The courts, in their haste to settle the main issue, had -perhaps too lightly overlooked this contention, and the result was -some considerable disappointment among the Paint Removers and Tar and -Marine Composition Appliers throughout the Port of London. The Union, -as it was bound to do by statute, accepted the decision of the court; -unfortunately a gentleman of the name of Fishmonger, in company with -his brother-in-law, Henry Bebb (hereinforth and henceforward known as -"Another"), both expert Tar Smoothers, felt so strongly upon the matter -that they refused to return to work. A warrant was made out for their -arrest, and though their Union was somewhat half-hearted in the matter, -the P.D.Q. and several other societies desired to fight it, and under -the powers afforded by the same statute they lodged an appeal--for, as -is now well known, there are certain cases in which a workman cannot be -compelled to accept employment even after the Court of Conciliation has -delivered its judgment. - -The appeal was heard before Justices Hunnybubble, Compton and Welsh. -Sir John Compton was averse to create a precedent of such lamentable -consequence; the Act was new, it was, so to speak, upon its trial, -and though he would have been the first to admit that he was there -not to make the law but to administer it, he could not but recognise -the function of an English judge in the commonwealth, and he was for -finding some issue by which Mr. Fishmonger and Mr. Bebb might escape -the too drastic consequences of a somewhat hastily drafted measure. - -We are not a logical people: we refuse to be bound by the formal -syllogisms so popular with the lower races of Europe and especially -among the dying Latin nations. There is no doubt that Mr. Justice -Compton reflected, in the attitude he adopted, the permanent common -sense of the nation. Unfortunately, Mr. Justice Hunnybubble, in spite -of the sterling Saxon name he bore, was too much of the lawyer and the -pedant to concur. In his long and disastrous decision he introduced a -hundred empty abstractions and metaphysical whimsies: that "contract -was mutual," for instance, or that "the obligation was binding upon -either party." He even descended to talking of "equality," declared the -law as much the defender of the rich man as of the poor, and would -not admit, in theory, that contrast between Employer and Employed, -which is so glaring in practice to every eye. He insisted that if the -master was constrained to take a workman back, so was that workman -bound to return; he so strained the petty details of the Act itself -as to interpret the words "all parties" in clause IV. to include the -employees as well as the employers, and applied the phrase "shall abide -by the award under pain, &c.," to hungry artisan as severely as to -paunchy capitalist. - -In spite of Sir John Compton's dissent, Mr. Justice Hunnybubble took -with him his colleague, Welch. The decision of the lower court was -therefore upheld, and Mr. Fishmonger and Mr. Bebb, who had found better -paid employment in the Halls during the Long Vacation, and who refused -to re-enter the yard, were, to the shame of our institutions, cast into -Holloway Jail as first class misdemeanants. They were deprived of the -use of tobacco and the daily newspapers; and even their cuisine was -regulated by official order. - -While the case was still _sub judice_ the respect invariably shown to -the courts forbade any open comment, but when, some ten days after Mr. -Clutterbuck's interview with the executive of Mickleton, the deplorable -miscarriage of justice had actually taken place, and when the populace -had been afforded the spectacle of these two unfortunate men driven in -a common cab to their dungeon, the storm burst. - -The general emotion did not at first find its way into the public -Press: the proprietors of our daily and weekly journals have too strong -a regard for the Bench to permit themselves any immediate criticism -of a judicial decision, and the relations into which they are nightly -brought with our judges as host or guest in many a hospitable house, -adds to their natural reserve; but in spite of this absence of printed -comment, the matter became first the chief, and at last the only -subject of talk among the artisans of the metropolis, from them it -spread, as all such movements must, to the unskilled labourers, and -from these to the general population of London. Within a fortnight -the police were aware of the extraordinary extent of the ferment, and -the Home Secretary went so far as to curtail a pleasant visit at the -country seat of the Baron de Czernwitz, in order to hurry up to town -and consult with his brother-in-law, the Lord Chief Justice, and his -wife's uncle, the Chief Commissioner. His decision was to do nothing: -but meanwhile two public meetings had been held, one in Moore's Circus, -another an open-air one, on Peckham Rye, and feeling had risen so high -that two newspapers actually admitted short reports of the proceedings -at each of these gatherings. - -Early in November, while matters were in this very critical state, the -sitting member for Mickleton whose financial entanglement could no -longer be concealed, fled to Ostend and was rash enough to take his -life in the front room of the Villa des Charmettes, thereby leaving a -vacancy in the representation of his borough. - -Mr. Clutterbuck's easy prospect of nursing Mickleton, of carefully and -continuously supporting its worthier activities, and of extending a -judicious hospitality to its many inhabitants, was suddenly shattered: -he must prepare for instant action. It was with a mixture of fixed -concern and unpleasant excitement that, under the direction of Charlie -Fitzgerald, his plans were made. - -The writ, it was understood, would be issued on the following Wednesday -week, and the polling would take place upon Saturday, November 19; -there was little time to lose. The dates and places of the principal -meetings were rapidly arranged, the printers among whom work was to -be distributed were carefully noted, the excellent organisation of -the constituency had prepared him a numbered list of the electors who -would expect a personal visit, and he received one morning by post the -manifesto which had been drawn up at headquarters for him to sign. - -Mr. Clutterbuck had signed this in his businesslike way and had left it -for his secretary to post. - -That gentleman came in from his usual morning spin in the green -Darracq--the Napier he had slightly damaged some days before in -attempting a group of oxen on Merstham hill. As he slowly mastered -the few lines he began to shake his head solemnly and at last laid the -document down, saying: - -"It won't do as it is." - -"You don't want me to add to it myself, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said Mr. -Clutterbuck with an anxious look. - -"N--no," said Fitzgerald, running his finger down the page.... "My -point is ... there's something you got to add." - -He read it again more closely, knitting his brows. - -It was a straightforward bit of democratic pleading and clear, popular -statement. It emphasised the importance to Great Britain of raising -the price of Consols up to a standard level of seventy-five, of -maintaining and if possible increasing the gold reserve so that the -Bank rate should not rise above six per cent. for more than three -months at one time; it declared strongly for the principle of female -courts of justice, and supported the policy of the Government in its -recent subsidies to the Grimsby fishing industry, the White Star Line, -the Small Holders Capitalisation Association, the new "Eastern Counties -Railway," and Lord Painton's Association for the Construction and -Repair of English Canals. - -Upon lesser matters it turned to criticise the woeful parsimony of the -late administration, and contrasted the provision made for the fleet in -the last National Budget with the Naval Estimates of 1908. - -The document ended with a paragraph upon the Offences Disfranchisement -Bill, which Charlie Fitzgerald read with close attention. It was as -follows: - -"_In my opinion those who have borne themselves so ill as to merit -condemnation by one of our English justices of the peace, whether to -fine or imprisonment, or both, are certainly worthy of some measure -of loss of the powers of the fulness of complete and unrestricted -citizenship; but I shall reserve my judgment upon the present -Government's decision to withdraw the franchise for five years, or -in some cases in perpetuity, from those who have done no more than -to excite such grave suspicion as must attach to those who have been -arrested by the police or have been present as defendants in a county -court._" - -Fitzgerald read this sentence three times over, and sighed. "Too many -'ofs'," he murmured, "too many words!... Did you _notice_ that last -paragraph?" he added without looking up at his employer. - -"I really can't say, Mr. Fitzgerald," answered that gentleman moving -about somewhat uneasily. "I can't tell you, quoted offhand like that. -What's it about?" - -"Well, it _seems_ to be about the Offences Disfranchisement Bill, but -God only knows who drafted it." - -"Who--what?" said Mr. Clutterbuck still more uneasily, coming and -looking over his shoulder. - -"Who wrote it out," said Fitzgerald, "who designed the beastly thing?" - -"Really, Mr. Fitzgerald, really," said Mr. Clutterbuck. He had not -himself written the fatal words, but he had carried on a little -correspondence of his own about them, and he did not like the work to -be treated so sharply, though his respect for Charlie Fitzgerald was -still strong. - -"It's got to go," said Fitzgerald decisively. - -"Oh, Mr. Fitzgerald!" said Mr. Clutterbuck in some alarm, "we can't do -without an allusion to the Offences Bill! Really, Mr. Fitzgerald, you -know it's the most important reform, well, of our time so to speak. -Why," said he, remembering sundry quotations from his reading: "this -country is the pioneer; Italy's only talked of the thing; Germany's -backward. There's only Nebraska abreast of us. And think of the effect!" - -"Look here," said Charlie Fitzgerald a little impatiently, "_that_ -paragraph has got to go. If you want to say anything about the Offences -Disfranchisement Bill you had better put in four lines saying that -wild horses won't make you vote for it in any shape or form. But I -doubt whether those old jossers in Mickleton would pass that. Just say -nothing about it, and a day or two before the poll enlarge your spirit -on the platform and damn it up hill and down dale." - -Mr. Clutterbuck felt like a man who had just lost his dog, but he held -his tongue, and only thought mournfully of the letters that might come -to him next day. - -"And now," said Charlie Fitzgerald as he drew a red chalk thoughtfully -through the offending paragraph, "I'm going off this evening, and when -I come back I shall tell you what I _think_ ought to be added at the -end of the manifesto--I shall know then." - -He got up quite suddenly. "I won't be late," he added. "I'll be back -before midnight, and I'll tell you." - -Mr. Clutterbuck and he looked at each other without speaking for a -moment, and for once there was a slight disturbance in the merchant's -mind as he looked through the window and saw his secretary calmly -giving orders to the gardener and to the mechanician, and a moment -later stepping into the newly-bought F.I.A.T. with a gesture of -proprietorship that was perhaps a trifle exaggerated. - -But this unworthy mood disturbed for but a moment the Clutterbuckian -poise, and certainly his young friend's achievement, when he returned -to tell of it, would have dispelled for ever any such ill-omened -emotion. - - * * * * * - -The business which Mr. Fitzgerald had before him that evening was -one so familiar to all those acquainted with the apparatus of -self-government, that it is perhaps redundant in me to chronicle it. -Nevertheless it was of such importance in the events that follow, that -I must briefly relate it. - -He drove to the station and sent the car back (its reappearance was a -first solace to the master of the house); he took, out of the petty -cash, a first return for Victoria, hailed a cab as he left the station -(noting the expense with a regularity rare in a man of high birth and -Irish nationality), drove to his Club, dined handsomely, again put down -this incidental item in round figures, hailed yet another cab, and told -the driver vaguely to drive to Mickleton. - -The driver, a North countryman of sturdy temper, insisted upon knowing -an exact address, but upon receiving a reply which savoured too much -of carelessness about The Future Life, he whipped up his horse and -drove northward as he was bid, taking, as is the invariable custom -of hackney coachmen, the largest and the widest artery of the place, -a street known for some centuries as the London Road, called during -the eighties and nineties The Boulevard, but since the feat of arms -of General Baden-Powell, characteristically and finally christened -Mafeking Avenue. - -In this fine thoroughfare were to be discovered not a few licensed -premises. Charlie Fitzgerald chose the most sumptuous of these and -the best lit, stopped the cab and went in. He was about to explore the -public opinion of Mickleton. - -He came out in a quarter of an hour, drove on to another public-house, -visited it for a few minutes only, called at another and another, and -so until he had fairly sampled the constituents in perhaps a dozen of -those general rendezvous where the political temper of a great people -may best be determined. The result of his investigation was much what -he had expected, though it was more precise, and in one matter much -more emphatic, than he would have premised before he began his inquiry. - -The populace were, as he had expected, indifferent to, and for the -greater part ignorant of, the death of their respected member. Those of -them who were acquainted with his demise found it difficult to keep an -audience, and the few who had attempted to retail it as an entertaining -item of news, were met by the coarsest of opposition, save in the case -of one man, who ascribed it with conviction to murder at the hands of -the police, pointing out to his companion at "The Naked Man" how many -cases of such mysterious deaths had recently occurred on the Opposition -side of the House, and drawing from his own rich experience of the -constabulary many dark examples of their mysterious power. - -But while the death of the late baronet was found to have produced so -little impression, one topic struck Fitzgerald's ears upon every side, -and this, I need hardly say, was the case of Rex v. Fishmonger and -Another. - -The full legal terminology was unfamiliar to these plain working men, -and they alluded to it commonly as "the Nine Elms business," or the -"Podger's Lay" to which the more familiar would add the term, "the -Holloway job." But unvarnished and even inaccurate as were their -expressions, it was clear that they were deeply moved. Save here and -there in the saloon bars, where the local gentry would meet in rarer -numbers, and where Fitzgerald during this tour had little concern, -nothing else was talked of: most significant of all, as he rightly -judged, was the ardent sympathy of the potboys, the barmaids, and the -very publicans themselves, who, for all their substantial position as -employers of labour, could not conceal their ardent agreement with -their customers. - -A foreigner unacquainted with the national temper, and hearing -the popular judgments passed upon Mr. Justice Hunnybubble, might -have imagined that exalted personage's life to be in danger, and -in more than one instance Charlie Fitzgerald was annoyed to have a -glass smashed under his nose in the heat of the denunciations, or -to find some huge and purple visage, one with which he was totally -unacquainted, angrily challenging him to agree with the general verdict -or to take Toko. With true diplomacy Fitzgerald joined heartily in the -universal topic and opinion, but his clothes and accent laid him open -to a just suspicion, and he was glad when his round of visits was over -and his mind thoroughly informed. - -It is not an easy thing to conduct such a piece of research after -dinner in a dozen public-houses large and small, and to retain one's -clarity of vision and one's acuteness of judgment. But Fitzgerald, by -the simple manœuvre of ordering the whiskey and the water separately, -and of ultimately standing the former to a chance acquaintance in each -place, accomplished his mission with complete success. As he took the -last train at Victoria, after discharging the cabman with an ample -reward (which he again noted in round figures), he had the campaign -well in hand. - -That night, late as it was, he found Mr. Clutterbuck waiting for him, -and, what is more, Mrs. Clutterbuck as well. He manfully stood out -one hour of earnest defence against her continued presence, and when, -not without a promise of vengeance in her eye she had determined to -retreat, he tackled Mr. Clutterbuck at once, and told him that the -constituency was his upon one condition. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, who seriously feared that the condition would involve -yet another generous recognition of The Sons of Endeavour, was relieved -beyond measure to hear that no more was required of him than a strong -and simple declaration such as behoved a Democrat upon a plain matter -of public policy. - -"You got to speak heart and soul for Fishmonger--and for the Other -also, I suppose," said Charlie Fitzgerald. "If you think you dare do -it, go for Hunnybubble, and do as little as you can of anything else. -That's the tip," said Fitzgerald, bringing his hands together with a -hearty clap like a pistol shot, and mentally calculating his total -expenses of the evening, with ten shillings added for a margin. - -It was all Greek to Mr. Clutterbuck, but he understood it was politics. -To a man of his frankness and probity political work was clear, and--so -that it were political work and contained no hint of corruption--he was -ready for the fray. - -Of the elements of the matter he could only remember vaguely the -word Fishmonger tucked away in small type in the legal columns of -the _Times_, while for Mr. Justice Hunnybubble he had never felt any -feeling more precise than the deference due to a man who was gratefully -remembered by the social class to which Mr. Clutterbuck belonged as -"Hanging Jim." - -The hour was too late for him to follow further argument. It was not -till next morning that his strategy was laid down for him by his -invaluable secretary. - -The manifesto was brought out again, the last objectionable paragraph -was cut out, and in its place Charlie Fitzgerald added these ringing -words: - - "MUCH MORE THAN ANY PASSING QUESTION OF POLITICS I SHALL CHALLENGE, - IF YOU RETURN ME AS YOUR MEMBER, THE HIDEOUS INJUSTICE AND TYRANNY - WHICH HAS CONDEMNED TWO BRITISH WORKMEN TO LANGUISH IN JAIL FOR - EXERCISING THE COMMON RIGHTS OF EVERY FREE MAN. AND I SHALL LEAVE NO - STONE UNTURNED TO SECURE THE REVERSAL OF THAT INIQUITOUS JUDGMENT." - -"Now," said Charlie Fitzgerald pleasantly, when he had drafted this -bugle call, "we won't send that back to your agents, will we?" He -accompanied this unexpected remark with a sunny smile, and Mr. -Clutterbuck looked at him blankly. - -"No, no," said Charlie Fitzgerald humorously, "we'll note who the -printers are, shall we?" He looked at the small type at the bottom of -the sheet and saw "The Alexandra Printing Works." - -"I'm greatly relieved," he said, "they're Opposition: they can't be -got at by our people." Then he wrote on a slip of paper: "20,000 as -corrected. Please note caps in last paragraph. No need for revise. -Deliver to address given. Hoardings as order. Immediate." He scribbled -Mr. Clutterbuck's initials as it was his secretarial duty to do. He -folded up the proof and the note, addressed the cover, and before Mr. -Clutterbuck fully seized what had happened, Fitzgerald had himself -taken it down to the pillar-box at the lodge and was back, cheerfully -contented. - -"I'm sure you know best, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, though -he was not yet quite happy. - -For answer Mr. Fitzgerald pulled out of his pocket an evening paper, in -which was the account of a police charge in Mickleton itself, which had -broken up a monster meeting in favour of the condemned men. - -Mr. Clutterbuck read the account carefully, and interlarded his reading -with repeated exclamations of wonder addressed apparently to the -reporter of the scene. - -He was next turning to read the opinions of the paper itself upon the -transaction, and would in a moment have discovered its disapproval of -his constituency's violence, when Fitzgerald asked for the sheet to be -given back to him, and Mr. Clutterbuck at once complied. His mind was -clear. The thing was in capitals, and would evidently be the point of -the election. He must get it up. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -Mr. Clutterbuck was right, and Charlie Fitzgerald had judged wisely. - -The first meeting of the campaign was to be held in quite a little hall -belonging to the local ethical society. No interest had yet been taken -in the election, the greater part of the constituency had perhaps but -just heard of it--yet the whole evening turned upon Fishmonger and The -Other. - -Mr. Clutterbuck's fervid declaration was not enough: one man after -another at the back of the hall must take the opportunity, while -congratulating the candidate upon his attitude, to make a considerable -harangue upon the awful pass to which English freedom had come. -Leaflets, printed by the Relief Committee, were in the hands of more -than half the audience; and what was more interesting was to see -how, the moment the meeting was over, those who had asked questions -distributed themselves, as though according to orders, into the various -quarters of the borough, visiting the public houses and spreading the -news of their candidate's declarations. - -This was upon a Wednesday. On the Friday, for which the second meeting -had been announced, a much larger hall, the Cleethorpe Foundation -Schools, was absolutely full before a quarter past seven, though the -speeches were not to begin until eight. - -The audience filled the interval with songs concerning political and -economic liberty, and more than one ribald catch in contempt of the -Fishmonger judgment. The appearance of the platform did not silence -them. They sang with a vengeance as they awaited their candidate, and -the stout and elderly chairman, Mr. Alderman Thorpe, continually pulled -out his watch in his nervousness, noted that the crowd of faces before -him were of quite a different sort from those repeated faces which -perpetually appeared at the National meetings. The tone of their cries -was more violent than the Executive were accustomed to, and the spirit -of the hall quite novel. - -Mr. Clutterbuck at last appeared. It was unfortunate that he should -be ten minutes late, and the accident provoked not a few shouted -queries, but his appearance as he stalked on to the platform with -Charlie Fitzgerald at his heels, called forth an indescribable volume -of cheering, which lasted during the whole of the introducer's speech, -and threatened to overlap into that of the candidate himself. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was not an impromptu speaker; it was his custom to -learn by heart the remarks it was his duty to deliver, nor was he -superior to obtaining a general draft or even a more detailed summary -of those remarks from the Democratic Speech Agency upon Holborn -Viaduct. That evening, however, his heart spoke for him, and he could -not forbear repeating some dozen times, when silence was restored, -"Upon my word, gentlemen, I am highly flattered--I am highly flattered, -I am very highly flattered, indeed!" - -He cleared his throat and began the first set speech of the campaign. -He knew it by heart; it was therefore in a clear if somewhat high -pitched voice that he delivered the opening phrase "the effect of free -trade in the past upon"--he was interrupted by another wild burst of -cheering and loud applause from the vast audience, who imagined him to -refer to the incarcerated Fishmonger and whose thousand hearts were -beating as one. - -It was so throughout the carefully worded address. His allusion to the -taxation of rice produced the chorus of a popular song in favour of -the men languishing in Holloway, and his passing remarks upon Consols -"which, as a City man he assured them were a matter to him of the very -gravest concern," led to repeated cries of "Drown old Harman!" and -enthusiastic hurrahs for their candidate's championship of the doomed -men. - -When Mr. Clutterbuck sat down, in some confusion but in great -happiness, and when the customary vote of thanks had been given, a -genial publican in the body of the hall who had never attended a public -meeting save to protest against the unhappy Licensing Bill of 1908, -rose most unexpectedly to support the resolution. In a voice full of -nutriment and good humour, he assured the candidate, amid repeated -confirmations from all around, that in spite of his attitude upon -temperance--and no one saw more of the evils of _in_temperance than the -licensed victualler--in spite of that, Mr. Clutterbuck's manly attitude -on the case of Rex _v._ Fishmonger and Another would secure him the -support of the trade. - -A clergyman, who had had the temerity to rise with the intention of -congratulating the candidate, was imagined from his pale face and -refined voice to be an opponent: he was angrily silenced, and the -meeting dispersed with loud cheers for his present Majesty, for the -armed servants of the Crown whether military or naval, and--need it be -told?--for Fishmonger over all. - -It was evidently an election to be taken on the fly and to be run -before the machine slowed down. The common National literature sent -out from the head offices in Peter Street was soon absorbed. Charlie -Fitzgerald implored them for matter upon Fishmonger, but the official -press refused. He could not brave the Act nor exceed the statutory -limit of expense, but Mr. Clutterbuck was delighted to find that the -Fishmonger Relief Committee--to which his wife, his brother-in-law, -and even his coachman very largely subscribed--would furnish him with -endless tracts and posters. The walls were covered by this independent -ally, and the expenditure upon its part of over four thousand pounds -associated Mr. Clutterbuck's name with the relief of the poor prisoners -in letters six, ten and fifteen feet high and in the most astounding -colours. - -There were pictures also: pictures by the ton. Pictures of Mr. -Clutterbuck striking the fetters from Fishmonger's wrists; pictures of -Fishmonger in convict garb sleeping his troubled sleep upon a pallet -of straw while a vision of the valiant Clutterbuck floated above -him in a happy cloud: this was called "The Dream of Hope." Pictures -of Fishmonger on the treadmill pitied by an indignant Britannia -and a Clutterbuck springing to his aid, inflamed the popular zeal, -and further pictures of a black Demon cowering before an avenging -Clutterbuck in full armour afforded a parable of immense effect. - -And then there were speeches! Every day saw its meeting, and at the -end of the first week its second or its third meeting within the -twenty-four hours. Mr. Clutterbuck, by whose side Mrs. Clutterbuck -often sat in those wild and happy moments of popular fervour, was -permitted no great length by his secretary, and a band of good fellows -who were determined to achieve the liberties of England, took care -that questions other than those provided them by the secretary or -the committee, should not be asked with impunity. It was even, as -the unhappy example of the clergyman had shown, unwise to express -adhesion to Mr. Clutterbuck's candidature, unless this were done in -so unmistakable a manner that there should be no room for popular -hostility. - -So ended the first week of the struggle; nor had Mr. Clutterbuck -showed a single fault save, in his confusion, an occasional lack of -punctuality, which was certainly resented and noted more than he knew. -His throat was supple, his delivery clear, but he was a little doubtful -whether his enunciation was sufficiently vigorous to fill a large hall. - -Sunday, I am glad to say, in spite of the woeful inroads Socialism has -recently made, was observed as a day of rest by either side; and Mr. -Clutterbuck took the opportunity of the holy season to summon to The -Plâs, on Charlie Fitzgerald's advice and at an enormous expense, a -Voice Producer, who, while complaining of the shortness of the time -allowed him, guaranteed his client a considerable extension of vocal -power if his rules were strictly observed. - -He it was who for three hours upon that holy day elicited from Mr. -Clutterbuck at least one hundred times, a loud and increasing roar -during which he insisted that the head should be thrown back, the -throat widely opened and the mouth stretched to its fullest extent. -He it was who, insisted upon the regular use of the Hornsby lozenge, -though Mr. Clutterbuck had been persuaded by a friend to make secret -use of the Glarges type of emollient bonbon. He it was who taking Mr. -Clutterbuck after tea by the shoulders, pressed them back until, at the -expense of exquisite suffering to that elderly gentleman, he had caused -them to lock behind him. He it was who then compelled the merchant -to fill his chest to its fullest extent, to retain his breath to the -utmost of his capacity, and to emit, when he could hold it no longer, -the syllables - - MAH-MUH-MOH-MAY-MYE-MEE-MO-MAH - -in the ascending notes of the octave; and he it was who almost rendered -the master of the house ridiculous by compelling him to run three or -four times round the building and never to cease a loud singsong -during his breathless course. - -Mr. Clutterbuck could not but feel that the professional adviser had -well earned the twenty guineas with which he was rewarded; and if upon -rising the next morning he found himself somewhat strained and hoarse, -he readily accepted Fitzgerald's assurance that his voice would return -all the more strongly in the course of the day. - -That Monday morning, the Monday preceding the poll, the first of the -open-air meetings was held in front of the Town Hall, and quite 4,000 -people from every part of London, among whom were a number of the -local electors themselves, must have listened to the short declaration -in which Mr. Clutterbuck, now considerably fatigued, insisted, for -the twenty-seventh time, in terms with which they were now all too -familiar, and in a voice increasingly raucous, upon the iniquity of the -judgment he stood there to reverse, and upon the necessity of returning -him to Westminster in order to effect the necessary change in the law; -indeed it cannot be denied that, as the election proceeded and the -excitement grew, Mr. Clutterbuck himself came greatly to exaggerate -the power of a private member in directing the course of British -legislation. The lengthy procedure of the House of Commons of which he -had but a hazy conception, dwindled in his imagination, and as for the -House of Lords, he forgot it altogether. - -Upon the Tuesday a football match upon Mickleton Common naturally -suspended the vanity of speechmaking, and the day was given over to -that hard spadework by the canvassers upon which every election finally -depends. The canvassing was the more successful and the less arduous -from the fact that the heads of families who were cheering upon the -Common the fortunes of the Mickleton Rousers, left the ladies at home -to pledge the votes of the household, which they did with a complete -freedom to the emissaries of either candidate. - -Mr. Clutterbuck, his wife, Fitzgerald, and Mr. Maple, the agent, went -the round all day till the candidate himself was fit to drop. At one -place they smiled and bowed at a little group of lads who replied with -glares, at another they steadily worked half a street, only to find at -last that it was just outside the constituency. At a third, a seedy -man, a most undoubted voter, who had been present at every meeting -approached Mr. Clutterbuck and spoke a word in his ear. - -Mr. Clutterbuck good-naturedly proffered half a sovereign; the coin -had barely changed hands when the agent--who had caught the gesture -in the nick of time--pounced on the needy citizen and wrenched his -fingers open by main force. The struggle was brief, and Mr. Maple--a -man of stature and consequence--triumphantly returned the coin to the -candidate. - -Whether from the wrestling or some other emotion he was trembling as he -returned it. - -"Oh! Mr. Clutterbuck--Oh! It would have cost you your seat!" he puffed -out. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was grateful indeed, but he heard for hours the echo -of the angry borrower's blasphemy and his repeated vow to vote for -that fallen angel whom an older theology has regarded as the Enemy of -Mankind before he would vote National again. - -So Tuesday ended--and here my duty compels me to introduce the -repugnant subject of the Opposition candidate, lest the reader should -forget in the fever of enthusiasm which I have described, the very -presence of a man who dared to set himself against the expressed -opinion of The People. - -Lord Henfield was his name. His hairs, which were of the palest yellow -and few in number for a man of but thirty years, were parted down the -middle with an extraordinary accuracy which was no more disturbed when -he appeared in the early morning after rising from repose than when in -the last hours of the night he would withdraw from the critical and -angry audiences which he too often had to encounter. - -His face was not clean-shaven: contrariwise, he wore long and drooping -moustaches of the same character and complexion as his hair, and -forming a singular contrast with that virile grey crescent upon Mr. -Clutterbuck's upper lip, of which the reader has so often heard. - -His eyes were of a very watery blue; he lisped a little, and such -decision as he may have possessed was only to be discovered in his -apparently complete indifference to the judgment of men poorer than -himself. - -The deference due to his rank and wealth forbade any assault upon -his person; all other forms of opposition he met with a slight and -rather mournful smile, and with the regret that there should be any -differences between himself and those whom he hoped would soon prove to -be his constituents. - -The weakness of his position was not, it may be admitted, entirely due -to his personality nor even to the wild popularity which the cause of -Fishmonger and Another had recently acquired. Indeed he was as ardent a -champion of the incarcerated Fishmonger as was Mr. Clutterbuck himself, -and differed from his opponent only in modifying his language where it -might have shocked the English sense of the respect which we all owe to -the Bench. - -His principal ally in a struggle which seemed to disturb him so little -was his wife. Lady Henfield, a woman of the most captivating vitality, -called at every house in the constituency, smiled, flattered, and joked -into friendship the hearts of all the women, and fearlessly bestowed -upon either sex indifferently the marks of a warm appreciation which, -from such a woman, are never thrown away. Many a household could tell, -long before the contest was engaged, of deeds of kindness which her -genuine sympathy with the populace forbade her to noise abroad, and -her known influence upon the Board of Pleeson's Charity, a social work -of immense importance in the neighbourhood, lent her a high and most -legitimate influence in all that she did in Mickleton. She had had -the sense to take a house for her husband in the locality, and though -they but rarely slept in this distant quarter of the metropolis, the -excellent way in which it was served and furnished naturally impressed -her neighbours of every degree. - -All this counteracted, to no slight extent, Lord Henfield's -insufficient performances upon the platform, and no one acquainted with -electoral campaigning will deny that the enthusiasm or disapproval of -popular audiences counts little as compared with the domestic effect -of private visits and of good deeds coming from the heart. To all -this was added on the Wednesday, a false step on the part of Mr. -Clutterbuck, which for the first time, and that so near the poll, was a -serious setback to the tide in his favour. A gentleman of considerable -means, a printer and dyer of the name of Stephens, who had frequently -appeared upon Mr. Clutterbuck's platform and had seemed, even to -the keen eye of Charlie Fitzgerald, to be an inoffensive plutocrat, -insisted upon receiving the candidate and his wife as his guests at -Bongers End during the last days of the struggle. - -"It will save your husband," he said to Mrs. Clutterbuck, "those long -night journeys to Croydon which a man at his age cannot afford to -despise, and will give Mrs. Stephens and myself and my two sons and my -daughter Clara and Miss Curle the very greatest pride and pleasure." - -This apparently innocuous proposal, which Mrs. Clutterbuck eagerly -accepted for her husband, was a threefold error. A long-standing -rivalry, or rather enmity, existed between their new host and a Mr. -Clay, whose engineering works were perhaps the most important industry -in Mickleton, and who as a Tory Home Ruler of some years' standing, was -now naturally the head of the National Party since the establishment -of a Parliament in Dublin and the framing of the new tariff had called -that party into existence. He bitterly resented the honour shown to -his rival, and it needed all the tact of Fitzgerald to prevent his -influence being thrown into the wrong scale. But that tact was well -exercised. Fitzgerald called upon Mr. Clay late at night, described -Mr. Clutterbuck's intense desire to have been the guest of Mr. Clay, -his hesitation to invite himself, the brutal forwardness of his -rival, while the whole story was cemented by a description of blood -relationship between Mrs. Clutterbuck and Mrs. Stephens, which, in -later days, Fitzgerald himself did not hesitate to deny. - -To lead the close of the campaign from Mr. Stephen's mansion at Bongers -End was still more dangerous, from the fact that a quarrel had arisen -between that gentleman and one of his workmen, whom indeed he had -almost dismissed: had the tragedy actually occurred, the situation -would have been not very different from the famous cause of the strike -at Podger's Wharf, and the parallel was often drawn between the one -case and the other in the humbler homes of Mickleton. Finally, Mr. -Clutterbuck had not calculated, when he yielded to the warm pressure -of his host, that his famous declaration upon total abstinence would -there be taken in its literal sense. The principles of the National -Party--which had now for two years advocated voluntary abstinence as -an alternative to predatory legislation against the trade--forbade -Mr. Clutterbuck to touch wine or spirits when he was actually present -in the constituency, and he knew very well that if he were returned to -the House of Commons it would be necessary for him to take his meals in -the new rooms set apart for those who not only denied themselves the -use of such beverages, but had the stalwart manhood to forego so much -as the sight of others who were causing Israel to sin. But he would -never have been able to support the fatigues of those wild days had he -not carried in his pocket a flask of B.Q. cognac, and had he not been -able from time to time to escape from a midday meal to his club, or -better still, to some restaurant where he was unknown. He had, further, -on returning to Surrey every night, freely restored his energies by -vigorous draughts of port, a wine to which he had grown accustomed and -whose use he could ill spare. - -It was, therefore, no small handicap to find continual allusion made -under Mr. Stephens's roof to his valiant and thorough-going principles, -nor did it help the situation to see round him every member of the -household, including Mrs. Clutterbuck and his secretary, served with -the most generous vintages, while he was compelled to choose milk -(which he had never yet been able to digest), water, against which he -had been often warned, or those aerated substitutes which his doctor -had repeatedly insisted to be, in his particular case, no better than -windy poisons. - -His vigour declined; his voice grew worse and worse; he hesitated in -the midst of his speeches; he contradicted himself more than once. The -first serious opposition, upon the Wednesday night, threw him into -a fever of anxiety from which he had not recovered the next day. He -appeared unpunctually before an impatient audience and actually forgot -to appear at all at a smaller meeting later in the evening: a piece of -folly that cost him fifty votes. - -Meanwhile the renewed energies of his opponents rendered his position -less and less enviable as the day of the poll approached, although the -Opposition suffered in this election, as in every other, from the very -grave drawback that it had no fixed name. - -Since 1910 a heterogeneous body, in which the old theoretical -Free-Traders, of whose exalted principle and vivid intellectual power -the _Spectator_ was the voice, the wide sporting interests whose -principal organ was the _Winning Post_, the new Socialist group and the -remnants of Unionist and Orange following had coalesced; and though -no leader of the first rank appeared, an able secretary, Mr. Ephraim, -managed to control the old party chest, but upon a name they could -not agree, and in almost every separate by-election their candidate -appeared under a different label. Their hold upon the electorate -depended upon a promise of future reforms which it would take many -years to carry out and in which the populace but half believed, -coupled with somewhat academic criticism upon the mistakes of the -party in office. But this last weapon, the most powerful weapon of any -opposition, they could not use with effect against the administration -of a young and popular Prime Minister, of little more than forty years -of age, whose enormous wealth and well-known delicacy of lung alike -endeared him to the reasonable heart of the people. - -Moreover, the Opposition lacked an effective party cry: for the editor -of the _Spectator's_ admirable epigram, "No fleet, no meat," had -offended the powerful vegetarian group, and Mr. Tylee's quatrain in the -_Banner of Israel_ was above the heads of the vulgar. - -Such was the strength and the weakness of either side when upon Friday, -the day before the poll, the last meetings were held, the last placards -posted, and the affairs of the opposing parties finally put in order. - -To Mr. Clutterbuck's extreme surprise--for the details of our political -life were still new to him--a bag of sovereigns was distributed among -the stout hearts who had worked so hard in the Cause, and Mr. Stephens, -humorously calling himself for the occasion "the Bogey Man"--a -pseudonym received with grateful laughter--saw that the hundred good -fellows who had toiled from door to door should receive refreshment as -well as honest wage. It was distributed in the garage attached to his -magnificent villa, and the day wound up finding all, with the exception -of the candidate himself, well satisfied. - -There was no doubt that Mr. Clutterbuck was pitiably overwrought. Had -he dared he would have broken through the convention of so many arduous -days and have drunk freely from some revivifying spring. But his -conscience and his common sense alike forbade him. - -He looked forward in despair to the night as his only chance of solace -and relief, and prayed for such repose as might fit him to meet the -terrible strain of the morrow; but that night Mr. Clutterbuck, for all -his exhaustion, slept ill. - -He rose frequently in the small hours to swallow one of the Hornsby -lozenges or, when these palled upon him, one of the Glarges. At times -he gargled, and at others, filling his chest to the fullest extent and -retaining his breath to the utmost of his capacity, he murmured the -syllables which he had been assured would strengthen the vocal chords. -He could not, in a stranger's house and at such an hour, permit himself -the loud roar which the Voice Producer had insisted upon: it would -have been discourteous and, what was worse, it might have impaired -his now assured reputation for consistency and sober judgment. It was -doubtless, however, owing to this unfortunate but necessary omission -that he owed, next day, his complete inability to speak above a whisper. - -He rose tired out at seven, dressed wearily, and came down upon that -fatal day, November 19, 1911. He saw with increased depression that -it was raining. He was, I am sorry to say, so distressed during the -heartfelt and simple family prayers of the household as to overset -the chair at which he knelt; and at breakfast his nervousness was so -intense as to be positively painful to his kind host and hostess, who -pressed upon him with assiduous hospitality, kidneys, eggs, bacon, -haddock seethed in milk, sausages, cold pheasant, Virginia peach-fed -ham, and kedgeree. He was indifferent to all these things. - -During the few moments after breakfast which our great English -merchants devote to glancing at the daily Press, he could not bring -himself to look at the papers which lay upon the table. He so dreaded -the insults of the one, he dreaded so much more in another the -condensed reports of what he might have said, that he found himself -longing, in a sort of dazed way, for some news sheet in which the -world might be presented to him empty of his own famous name. As it -was, I repeat, he dared not open one of them. - -Luckily for him his cheery host did not leave him long in this misery. -He found him standing listless in the hall, slapped him on the back and -said in a loud and hearty voice: - -"You've got to come with me! The motor's ready and the Missus'll be -coming down at once." Then he whispered as the suggestion required: -"Brandy? All's Mum!" - -Mr. Clutterbuck refused it, and in a few moments his host had returned -with a decanter of the inspiring beverage. Mr. Clutterbuck gulped a -great mouthful fearfully, choked, and suffered, but he was grateful, -and the more grateful for the rapidity with which Mr. Stephens suddenly -rapt the dangerous friend away. - -They went out together to the car. Within a quarter of an hour his -hostess and Mrs. Clutterbuck had joined them. There was a little -byplay as to who should sit in the front seats--a byplay in which -Mr. Clutterbuck himself was too dispirited to join--but it was soon -decided by the ladies themselves that the hero of the occasion should -appear next to the driver, nor did the physical danger to which such a -position exposed him enter the minds of these loyal friends. - -They proceeded upon the round of the constituency. The streets were -empty and the rain continued to fall. At the corner of Mafeking Avenue -and Paradise Row, a group of young people upon their way to school -cheered loudly upon seeing the National colours, while with childish -thoughtlessness some of their number threw petty missiles after the -retreating car. As they passed down the smaller streets they were -gratified to see Mr. Clutterbuck's portrait, reposing upon a British -lion of formidable aspect and draped as to the hinder quarters in a -Union Jack, prominent in the windows even of the public-houses. - -At the police station Mr. Clutterbuck felt his first movement of -emotion at the sight of a policeman who was coming in mackintoshes out -of the door, and who saluted with promptitude and respect. - -The first polling booth to which they came contained none but the -officials, but it was Mr. Clutterbuck's duty to enter, to look cheerful -and to shake them by the hand. - -"Nothing doing here?" he wheezed with an uneasy smile. - -"There've been a few," said the chief with an indifference that did not -betray his own politics. "They're not coming very fast. The weather's -against 'em." - -As he said this, a very short man with a sly, rapid glance and a jerky -manner, darted in, carefully huddled himself round his voting paper, -dropped it into the ballot box, darted a look of violent animosity at -Mr. Clutterbuck, and was out again in a flash. - -He was followed by a publican who shook hands heartily with the -candidate, said merrily, "Well, which way 'm I going to vote, I -wonder?" and disappeared into the hutch puffing and blowing, came out -again, shook hands again, renewed his witticism in a somewhat different -form: "Well, which way did I vote, I wonder?"--and waddled out. - -Mr. Clutterbuck could bear no more. He climbed again into the motor-car -after nodding as genially as he could to the officials at the table, -and was asked by his host where he should go next. - -He suggested Kipling Crescent. - -The school in Kipling Crescent, by one of those contrasts which are -symbolic of our enduring sense of equality, though standing in the -chief residential street of Mickleton, was sure to receive the largest -artisan vote, for it was behind the Crescent that the densest and -poorest population of the borough lay. Here there was more animation. A -steady if thin stream of workmen came in to record their votes. Few of -them expressed any strong interest in the presence of their candidate; -one or two touched their caps to the man who was to restore to them -the rights of human beings; others smiled somewhat foolishly as they -passed him: the greater part did not recognise him at all. One man, to -whom manual labour had never appealed, and whose pathetic, intelligent -eyes betrayed a world of suffering and of want, approached him and -murmured a few words. Mr. Clutterbuck caught them indifferently, but -they were quite enough. He remembered the fatal half sovereign, and he -leapt for the car. - -So the morning passed in visiting one booth after another. The rain -ceased; there was a trifle more life round certain booths; the coming -and going of vehicles bearing the colours of either candidate was -continuous. These, as they passed each other, would sometimes indulge -in playful sarcasm. Now and then an honest fight arose, but no serious -injuries were received, and it was not until the afternoon that the -streets began to fill. - -Thence onward the scene changed. Many who had come from other parts -of London were now free to satisfy their curiosity; the relaxation -from labour and the lengthy discussions which already enlivened the -public-houses were beginning to bear their fruit. There was a sort of -murmur throughout the whole area of the borough, a murmur which in -places rose to a roar. - -It had been arranged by the agents of the two parties that the car of -Mr. Clutterbuck's host should accidentally meet that of Lord Henfield -in front of the Cap and Bells. There was some little delay, and it -was at first feared that the light would not be strong enough for the -photographer who was waiting concealed at an adjoining window. Luckily, -before it was too late, and when Mr. Stephens's car had waited less -than ten minutes, Lord Henfield's appeared at the opposite end of the -street, the two candidates recognised each other after the first moment -of surprise, descended and shook hands warmly amid the enthusiastic -cheers of the considerable assemblage; it was apparent to all no petty -personal quarrel would lessen the majesty of that day's verdict. - -As darkness came on the polling began to grow noticeably heavier. Oddly -enough the female or lady electors, who had during daylight remained -concealed, came out with the fall of evening. The middle classes, to -which this class of voter chiefly belongs, have an ample leisure to -record their opinion, but even those most thickly veiled preferred a -late hour in which to register their votes which, so far as could be -judged, were cast mainly in the National interest. In deference to the -strong feeling which the sex entertains upon this matter, the returning -officer had permitted the presence of pet dogs in the polling booths. -It was upon these that the Party favours were most conspicuously -displayed, and it must be admitted that in the greater number of cases -they were of the popular magenta hue. - -Lady Henfield recorded her vote as a lodger in her husband's house -a little before seven, and came out full of frisk and smile, having -doubtless given her voice in favour of the name she bore. - -Mrs. Clutterbuck could claim no such privilege, nor was it the least of -Mr. Clutterbuck's many chagrins upon this eventful day to consider the -natural mortification which his wife must have suffered, and would very -probably express when occasion served, to see Lady Henfield enjoy that -Englishwoman's right of which she had herself been deprived. - -During the last hour before eight o'clock, there clustered an amazing -throng at every booth, and the intoxication produced by the state of -public feeling and the domestic habits of the neighbourhood--which were -never indulged to a higher degree than upon this occasion--communicated -to the best balanced and the most indifferent a certain degree of -enthusiasm. Mr. Clutterbuck had snatched a hasty sandwich and a glass -of lime juice at the refreshment bar in the Town Hall when the booths -were declared closed and he was admitted to the counting-room. - -There were few present. He and Lord Henfield were supported by perhaps -half a dozen helpers and friends. The Mayor and his young nephew sat -in chairs at a table at the end of the long room, to which the bundles -of votes were brought as the sorters counted them. They were laid in -two long lines, one for each candidate, upon this table, and the lines -had all the appearance of two snakes rapidly increasing in length and -running a race as to which should be longest when their growth should -cease. - -During all the early part of the counting the issue seemed doubtful -enough. Lord Henfield, spruce, anxious, alert, walked up and down the -sorting benches, turned up continually to glance at the increasing pile -of votes, and as continually strolled back with an intimate companion -to interest himself in the business of the sorting, a sight with which -he was unfamiliar. - -As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he was numb to every sensation. The day had -been too much for him, and he had become quite careless as to whether -he lived or died. He stood, well groomed but with leaden eyes, -moving very little from his place near the mayor's table, when he -chanced to gaze at the two lines of paper bundles and saw that his -own was leading. It did not appear to his unpractised eye to be any -considerable lead; the one line was now perhaps a yard long, the other -possibly forty inches. But to the trained observation of those who had -seen half a dozen contests in the borough, it was decisive. - -Mr. Maple whispered hoarsely: - -"You're in!" - -And Mr. Clutterbuck answered without a voice: - -"Am I?" - -There were but few more bundles to come. The most of them perhaps were -added to Lord Henfield's column, but they did not redress the balance. - -Lord Henfield's companion, looking as pleasant as he could, pulled out -a £5 note which that nobleman pocketed with evident satisfaction. The -mayor jotted down figures upon a bit of paper; when he announced the -result, Mr. Clutterbuck was elected by the overwhelming majority of -1028 on the heaviest poll the constituency had known. Something like -92 per cent. had voted upon a register not precisely new, and over -19,000--to be accurate, 19,123--votes had been recorded. - -The mayor congratulated Mr. Clutterbuck upon the sweeping success, -he shook hands with him and repeated the figures. He congratulated -Lord Henfield upon the plucky fight he had made; he congratulated the -sorters upon their accuracy, the counters upon their zeal, and the -borough upon its self-control at a time when feeling had run high. He -congratulated the police upon their conduct throughout a very difficult -and trying day; and he was in the act of congratulating the borough -council in the same connection, when a wild roar outside the building -showed that the result had been betrayed or guessed. - -They adjourned hurriedly to the great hall over the portico. The -window was open, and so far as the glare from within the room would -permit them, they perceived an enormous mob, filling the whole square -and stretching far into the streets which converged upon it. The -deafening noises which had startled them in the inner recesses of the -counting room were as nothing to the hurricane of shouts, cheers, and -good-natured blasphemy which swirled about them when they appeared at -the balcony. In vain did the mayor, with a pleasant smile upon his -face which the darkness alone concealed, raise his hands a dozen times -to impose silence. The swaying of the crowd, the cries of those who -suffered pressure against the walls upon its exterior parts, nay, the -occasional crash of broken glass, seemed only to add to the frenzy. - -An individual who, I am glad to say, turned out to be a youth of -irresponsible demeanour, caused a moment's panic by firing a pistol. -The mayor, with admirable promptitude, took the opportunity of the -silence that followed to read out the figures. They were not heeded, -but the renewed bellowing which followed their announcement was more -eloquent than any mere statement of the majority could have been. The -populace were wild with joy at their victory, and that portion of them -who as bitterly mourned defeat would have been roughly handled had they -not numbered quite half this vast assembly of human beings. - -When some measure of silence had been achieved, Mr. Clutterbuck and -Lord Henfield shook hands for the second time that day in a public -manner, to the supreme delight of both friend and foe. - -Mr. Clutterbuck recited in an inaudible croak the few courteous and -manly words which he had prepared for the occasion, and Lord Henfield, -a little before Mr. Clutterbuck had completed his last sentence, -delivered, in much louder but equally inaudible tones, his apology for -defeat, and his prophecy that he would be more successful upon the next -occasion. - - * * * * * - -Before Mr. Clutterbuck could be allowed to go back to the hospitable -roof at Bongers End, he was required to visit his Committee Rooms and -to address the workers. His mind was still a blank, but he bowed to -them civilly enough and emitted some few hoarse whispers thanking -them for their unfailing courage, tact, loyalty, gentlemanly feeling, -tireless industry, exhaustive labours and British pluck. For a moment, -and only for a moment, the memory of the bag of sovereigns swept over -his mind. He was too tired to heed even that memory, and he almost fell -into his chair when he had concluded. - -It must be confessed that the workers were a trifle disappointed; their -honest faces, upon many of which the growth of a three-days' beard -denoted their unremitting attention to the duties before them, looked -anxiously above their thick neckcloths as though they had expected -something more from the man upon whom the eyes of all England were -turned, and whose conspicuous position they had largely helped him -to attain. The situation was solved by Mr. Maple, who, in a voice -worthy of that occasion or of any other, addressed the workers as his -fellows and his equals--for had he not himself begun life as a working -man?--and reiterated with manly enthusiasm, not only the legitimate -praise accorded them by the exhausted Mr. Clutterbuck, but his own -frequently expressed admiration of their self-denial, zeal, sincerity, -conviction, spontaneous, unflagging hope and indomitable courage. - -"Gentlemen," he concluded, and gentlemen was surely the term for these -loyal-hearted men, "we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, not -because you have returned Mr. Clutterbuck--don't think that! What is a -man in such mighty moments as these? No, but because you have saved the -great principle that...." - -The remaining three words of his peroration were lost in a frenzy of -applause. The platform rose and bowed, and as refreshments could not be -given (under the "Corrupt Practices Act") within the precincts of the -building, the proceedings terminated with a hearty handshake all round -and the immediate dispersion of the audience to another place. - -When they reached home, Mr. Clutterbuck's kind host, though himself -an abstainer, opened a bottle of champagne, not indeed for Mr. -Clutterbuck, whose principles he well knew, but for Mrs. Clutterbuck, -his wife, to whom was given the toast of honour, for Mr. Maple, for -Mr. Maple's nephew and his two sons, and a Mr. and Mrs. Charles, who -between them did honour to the bottle, and very soon despatched it; -then, in the midst of hearty thanks and renewed congratulations, each -party left for its home. - -And that night at last, after so many nights, Mr. Clutterbuck was -permitted to sleep, and slept. - -He was a Member of Parliament. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -The Mickleton election was a blow that sounded through England. The -hardy mountaineers of Wales, to whom our discussions, save where they -regard religion, so rarely appeal, knew that the manhood of the slate -quarries was free; sailors, newly landed from distant climes, though -singularly apathetic as a class to the glories of our party system, -found themselves expected to lift one of their many glasses to the -Mickleton election; and in the bowels of the earth the brawny miners of -Durham alluded to Mr. Clutterbuck and his success in the simplest and -most poignant of terms. - -The thoughtful who direct the development of English Socialism had -seen, long before, the capital nature of the crisis, and naturally -deplored an expression of public opinion which by forbidding forced -labour set so powerful an obstacle in the path of the ideal state; the -strict party organs of the Opposition were also bound to deplore the -result, but every sheet of independent position was agreed as to the -significance of the election and few judges indeed since Jeffries -have incurred the epithets, whether grave or severe, which had so -long been withheld, and now, on the morrow of the election, fell from -all sides upon the honest but narrow and pointed head of Mr. Justice -Hunnybubble--for Welch (concurring) was by now quite ignored, and the -stronger man was the target of renown. - -The wide field of suburban, colonial, American and Indian thought -commanded by the _Spectator_ might indeed have murmured at the new -privilege which the working classes threatened to acquire, had not -that review with singular manliness and courage stood out at the -critical moment with a strong declaration in favour of the spirit which -Mickleton had shown. - -"England," the editor did not hesitate to pen, "is not tied to a -formula or a syllogism, but to freedom slowly broadening down from -precedent to precedent,"[5] and he went so far as to contemplate with -unflinching courage--nay, to command--the release of Fishmonger and -Another, for whom the principal Halls had already begun an active -competition. - -The very different world which is so largely influenced by the _Winning -Post_ was equally sound, and the weekly character, "In a Glass House," -of that powerful instrument of national opinion was Mr. Clutterbuck -himself, characterised as a sportsman, excused for his personal -sobriety, portrayed in a top hat, frock coat, trousers, spats, buttoned -boots, and perhaps thirty years less than his actual age. - -The _Sporting Times_ had two good jokes heartily sympathetic with the -judgment of Mickleton. _Punch_ published upon the great verdict a -set of beautiful verses which will long be remembered in our English -parsonages; and the _Daily Mail_ headed their leader "The Burial of -Harmanism." - -England was awake; the great principle of unilateral compulsion -had taken firm root, and never more would the detestable miasma of -Continental pedantry threaten the free life of our land. - -For the Government the position was not easy, though it was evidently -one to be faced. No Administration can afford to treat the Bench -lightly. Buffle might be in trouble any day. They had, moreover, at -least three great measures in hand, commanding no considerable popular -support; one which the electorate had not heard of and another quite -odious to it. This sudden and spontaneous demonstration by a London -borough against a judicial decision which had nothing to do with party -or policy was a factor of grave disturbance in that routine of the -House of Commons which is as regular in its way as the breathing of a -profound sleep. The Cabinet was dispersed in Monte Carlo, Devonshire, -Palermo and New York, a decision could not be come to upon so grave a -matter for many days to come, and yet an early opening of the session -in January was plainly imperative. The intensity of feeling against -the judgment which Mr. Clutterbuck's election had condemned, grew with -every day, and the young head of the National party, who suffered -somewhat from the right lung and filled the Premiership so brilliantly -and so well, had indeed a heavy problem to resolve. - - * * * * * - -The first act of Mr. Clutterbuck when he returned, the morning after -his triumph, to his beautiful Surrey home, was to sign a cheque for yet -another thousand pounds, and to enclose it with a letter of heartfelt -emotion to the funds of the Party. He expressed in this letter his -indifference to the particular object for which, in the Party's -judgment, it might be used, and assured Mr. Delacourt that it was but -a slight acknowledgement on his part of what was the duty of every man -in support of those principles which have made England great. Charlie -Fitzgerald thoroughly approved of his action, and was free to point out -that its spontaneous character would render it of double effect. To -this action there succeeded an interval of repose. - -For several weeks a round of social recreation dispelled the strain -to which Mr. Clutterbuck had been subjected during the course of his -campaign; his house was filled with a perpetually changing attendance -of friends to enjoy a few days of his company, and to congratulate him -upon the honour of which he had proved worthy. Nor did many of them -forget to hint--some of them deliberately declared--that it was but the -gate to further and greater honours: though it must be admitted that -the now ageing politician neither desired nor expected promotion to -Cabinet rank. - -As the procession of City men, Croydon acquaintances and earlier -friends who had now rallied to Mr. Clutterbuck in his declining -years filled "the Plâs," Charlie Fitzgerald very honourably took the -holiday he had heartily earned. He went down, at Mary Smith's pressing -invitation, to her quiet but historic Habberton upon the borders of -Exmoor, found there the society of his boyhood, and was the life of -that little party, with his amusing imitations of social customs in -the suburbs, his frank pleasure in the champagne which he had chosen -for his cousin, his madcap bouts upon the little Devon ponies which -were incapable of throwing so large a rider, and his jests which never -exceeded the limits imposed by the presence of women, several of whom -were devout adherents of the Christian faith. - -With all this a certain new glory surrounded Charlie, a glory reflected -from the result of the Mickleton election. The people among whom he was -for the moment a companion at quiet but historic Habberton were not of -a kind to exaggerate the influence of a by-election upon the general -scheme of English government; but they did appreciate that here was one -of themselves who could weigh the temper of a great constituency and -could understand very different classes of men; for Charlie was not -slow to let them understand the part he had played in the business. - -During any mention of that campaign his cousin Nobby looked so -thoroughly miserable that it went to Charlie's soft Irish heart. - -Nobby had had plenty of money once. He had stood for Parliament when he -was barely of age, more as a freak and to please his mother than with -serious intentions of political life; but a defeat by over 3000 votes -coupled with the gradual dissipation of his fortune had rendered him -more sensitive than was perhaps healthy. A place had been found for him -in the Heralds' College, but the salary was miserably small, and apart -from the prestige of such a position, he would almost have been willing -to throw up the perpetual application it demanded and to go and live -quietly hunting and shooting at his mother's place in Derbyshire: for -though the widow had herself but a small dower, she could afford to -receive her spendthrift son. - -It was a good thing that he had not yet completed that intention; for -Charlie, as he watched him in those days at Habberton, found a piece -of work for him which might well lead to greater things. He took his -cousin out one morning to see the stags fed in the new Bethlehem, -warned Mary Smith that they wanted to be alone, and as they crossed the -park he proposed to Nobby a visit to The Plâs. - -Nobby could see nothing in it at all; nay, he met the proposition -with horror, until it dawned upon him that perhaps some definite and -tangible action was in the wind, and he asked in the most natural -manner whether he could look forward to any of the Ready? - -Charlie was impatient. - -"My good Nobby," he said, "don't you know how things are done in this -world? They're bound to give him a handle!" - -"That," said Nobby in a refined manner, "makes my dream come true, but -really, if you think it affects me----" - -"Good God!" said Charlie, "don't you see where you come in?" - -"I could go and pump him," said Nobby wearily, "but, oh lord, Charlie, -if you only knew! I must have pumped fifty of 'em this year. The worst -are the Johnnies that want Supporters. We'll give them Mullets and even -a Fesse Argent or two, but we're very rigid about Supporters," he said -solemnly. "You don't get Supporters over the counter, I can tell you." - -"Nobby," said Charlie, waving all this trash aside, "to put it plainly, -you got to go and tell the old boy how it's done ... I mean ... you -got to let him know how it's done. Don't make a fool of yourself," he -added, looking doubtfully at his young cousin, and wondering whether -this piece of generosity were wise or not, "I'm not going to be -butchered to make a Roman holiday." - -"I'll go, Charlie," said Nobby humbly, "I understand. But can't anyone -see to something of the Ready? After all, I've got to get there, and I -shall have to give something to the servants." - -"I'll ask Mary," said Charlie nobly. - -"No you don't," shouted Nobby, "she turned me down this morning. -Damnably!" - -"Oh, but this is work," said Charlie reproachfully. - -Nobby looked grim. "It's spondulicks, anyway," he said. And Charlie -very reluctantly pulled out four pounds and a few shillings. - -Nobby pocketed it without much gratitude. - -"You know, Nobby," said Charlie, watching his expression, "if you pull -it off sensibly, he won't forget you!" - -"Oh, I know all about that," said Nobby wearily. "They're awfully -grateful, but one never gets one's fingers on the flimsies. I'll make a -last shot, anyhow." - -Charlie Fitzgerald did not stand on ceremony; he knew the kind -hearts of the Clutterbucks too well; he wrote a longish letter to -Mrs. Clutterbuck about his cousin Robert in the Heralds' College, -introduced a word or two about his late father and grandfather, the -Lord Storrington of the famine, said the lad would be stopping in their -neighbourhood and would really like to come over, enclosed a stamped -envelope, "The Hon. Robert Parham, Habberton Park, Barnstaple," and -within forty-eight hours Nobby, carefully primed as to where he had -been stopping in the neighbourhood of Croydon, and whom exactly he -would see and meet, was off to pass a week-end at The Plâs. - -His ironical temper and obvious poverty seemed at first ill-suited to -the merchant's table, but Mrs. Clutterbuck herself forgave him when she -discovered, as she immediately did, the warm heart which lay beneath -these external disabilities: by the Sunday night his conversation was -already absorbing; she begged him to return, and he did. - -The second visit was far prolonged. They could not bear to let the -merry boy go, and his frank anecdotes upon the leading men of the -day, intimate acquaintance with most of whom he could proudly claim, -afforded them not only amusement, but the deeper pleasure of a profound -interest, and it was in connection with these that he took such -frequent occasion to deride the too facile conference of titles which, -as he perpetually affirmed, was the jest of the world in which he moved. - -He quoted more than one case in which without any subscription to -objects of public utility, wealthy men, merely because they were -wealthy, had been granted a baronetcy; he joked about his work in the -Heralds' College, contrasting such gewgaws as parvenus descend to buy, -with the honest old yeoman crest upon the silver of his host, and was -especially severe upon the establishment of fixed prices for public -honours; a practice which he declared almost worse than the granting of -titles to the unworthy. - -Of the guests who listened to him with the respect due to an expert, -few ventured to contradict or even to criticise, but it must be -admitted that Sir Julius Mosher, who had been knighted years ago on the -occasion of Cornelius Hertz's reception at the Guildhall, was inclined -one evening at Mr. Clutterbuck's table to be a trifle interrogatory. - -"I never gave a penny," he said, "and I think I may say that for most -men in the City," he added, looking round the table and meeting with a -murmur of approval. - -"I would never dream of saying such a thing," said Nobby warmly. He -blushed a little, but looked at the same time so kindly and so sincere -that his embarrassment did but enhance the good opinion all had formed -of the young man. - -"Thank God there are still some honours left that _are_ honours! Now, -I suppose nearly all the new peers ... take the new peers ... nobody -minds; and then most baronets ... since _this_ Government came in.... -Still they _did_ pay. And I do say what I most hate in the whole affair -is regular prices fixed. It isn't cricket." - -"But, after all," said a Mr. Hutchinson, a doctor of considerable -means, and of a solid, quiet judgment. "What do you mean by 'fixed'?" -He put up his hand to dissuade interruption, and to Nobby's horror -opened in the intonation of a set speech: "Remember the importance -of what you are saying. Chrm! You are in the Heralds' College, and -you hear a great many things. Chrm! No one denies for a moment that -large subscriptions to some public object are often rewarded by some -public honour.... I may be a little easy-going, but I really don't see -any harm in it. Everybody knows it is--er--done; the recipients are -worthy men and they are just the kind of men who have always been made -knights and baronets, and even peers when they were important enough." - -The brief discourse was well and clearly delivered; it earned the -gratitude of all those older men around the table in whom the art of -living had bred common sense and to whom short speeches at dinner were -familiar; to do justice to Nobby, he was the first to let his sense of -justice return. - -"You mustn't take me too seriously," he said in his decent smiling way. -"One talks in shorthand. I don't mean a real tariff, nobody could mean -that, but I think that in the past, 'specially about ten years ago, -turn of the century and with all the fuss of the war on, they _did_ -hand things about.... Oh, there were orders as well, you know." - -Mrs. Clutterbuck smiled at him from the head of the table. "No one -blames you, I'm sure," she said. "But Mr. Parham there was not too -much recognition of the people who stood by their country then." She -looked meaningly at her husband. "I'm sure if you made a list of those -pro-Boers who've been...." - -"Half time, Mrs. Clutterbuck, half time," said Sir Julius Mosher -kindly. He had been among the most prominent opponents of our Colonial -policy at that moment, and he felt bound to protest against the word -Pro-Boer, but his protest was singularly sweet and winning and did not -for a moment disturb the harmony of the evening. - -The ladies retired, not to the Persian room which was rarely inhabited -in winter, but to the snuggery. Nobby held the door for them as they -went out, and added to his laurels by the perfect apology he made for -tearing Lady Mosher's train. - -The conversation between the men drifted on to other subjects, -foxhunting, lithia water, the Territorial army, and all the rest upon -which men of this stamp are particularly engaged; while Dr. Hutchinson, -who feared he might have offended the enthusiastic young fellow, took -a chair by his side, and upon Nobby's mentioning the name of his -grandfather, Lord Storrington, furnished the most interesting and -voluminous details upon that nobleman's last illness, operation, and -death. - -Much later, when all the rest had said good-night, Nobby, who loved a -farewell glass, followed his host to the old smoking-room, preserving -his balance in the dark corridor by a hand upon either wall. They sat -together exchanging the common-places that will pass between newly -found friends when they are at last alone, until Mr. Clutterbuck, -who had spent a few moments with his wife arranging matters for the -following day, turned to a subject he could not wholly ignore, and said -with perfect tact: - -"I beg your pardon, but now that we're alone, tell me, how much really -is there in what you were saying? I know there's more in it than -those gentlemen say, and you think there's more in it, don't you?" -For Mr. Clutterbuck, like many men newly introduced to the necessary -compromises and halftones of our manifold political life, was still -ready to receive secrets that seemed to him dramatic and to criticise -from close at hand methods which during the most of his life he had -only known as vague rumours. - -Nobby very thoughtfully chose from the silver box beside him a gigantic -cigar, and said, holding the matchbox in his hand ready to strike: - -"Tell you the truth, there's precious little," and having said that he -laughed with the laugh of a boy, and suddenly subsided into his chair. - -"Well, but," said Mr. Clutterbuck, without insistence, "there must be -this much in it, that a man who sacrifices more than a certain amount -and is known to be a hearty supporter of the tariff, for instance, or -of the evacuation of Egypt, or ... or let's say what the Government did -last June in Burmah would be noticed, I suppose?" - -"Oh yes," said Nobby, speaking as of a common-place. "But that's true -of course of anything. If a man's known to 've done something _really_ -handsome, silly not to recognise him. 'Sides which, it's _done_, -always done. What I was complainin' of was the people who really -haven't got any claim at all. F'r instance," he said, lowering his -voice and looking over his shoulder for a moment, "Johnnie Higgins...." - -"Sir John Higgins?" said Mr. Clutterbuck, startled at the name of that -prominent country gentleman. - -"Yes," went on Nobby simply, "Johnnie _Higgins_ wouldn't 've had -anything in the course of nature. Of course he _wanted_ it, and he -hasn't got a son, an' one way an' another.... But still, there _was_ -the regulation price of five thousand." - -"Well, five thousand," said Mr. Clutterbuck, his head bent well -backwards, his eyes regarding the ceiling, and his tone expressing the -enormity of the sum---- - -"No, but," continued Nobby, up on his feet again,--"I _do_ object, and -so would you if you were where I am; five thousand means different -things to different men; now just because a man is in parliament and -weighs in with five thousand...." - -Here he was silent. He had some regard for truth and he felt that his -temperament was running away with him. How many men he could call -to mind who had given first and last twenty, thirty, forty thousand -pounds to some great cause and had remained the plain commoners they -were born. It would have been well for him and for his host if he -had spoken aloud as the confession passed through his thought, but -Nobby was as weak as he was good-natured and that thought remained -unexpressed. - -Mr. Clutterbuck continued his theme. Financial success had bred in him -a dependence upon fact and figure. Five thousand pounds was a very -large sum, but it was tangible; it was precise; one could write it down. - -"I know men," he said slowly, "to whom that would be a capital: believe -me, a considerable capital. Why, there's Doctor Hutchinson," he said, -lowering his voice, and bending forward, "if you will believe me" -(in still lower tones) "that man hasn't got five thousand now. He's -not worth it." He pressed his lips together as men do after a final -statement, and said by way of conclusion: "They're all like that, that -call themselves 'professional men.' Here to-day and gone to-morrow, -except they take out a patent or something, or really go in for -business, and precious few can do that." - -"You're quite right," said Nobby, who was bored and who had been -thinking anxiously about the hour of next morning's breakfast. "I never -had any myself," he added genially, and Mr. Clutterbuck smiled at the -jest of the grandson of the Earl of the Creation of the year of the -Act of the Union of England and of Ireland. - -Nobby yawned and sloshed soda water into his glass. "Well, it's a lot -of rot, isn't it?" he said, and clinched the conversation down. - -They went up to bed that night, Mr. Clutterbuck, after apologising, as -husbands will, for the lateness of the hour, turned many of his remarks -to his wife upon this corrupt practice, weighing its probabilities -and its exaggerations, until that lady first passed judgment and then -imposed silence. - - * * * * * - -Charlie Fitzgerald should have been home upon the Wednesday next. A -chance whim had taken him to Monte Carlo, from whence he telegraphed -that he could hardly be back before Saturday. In the interval Mr. -Clutterbuck, sauntering into town upon one of those clear December -days which often prolong autumn into the heart of winter, happened to -call at Delacourt's house, but he was at the office at Peter Street. -Mr. Clutterbuck immediately sought him in that place and was received -with something more cordial than courtesy, and many a merry laugh was -exchanged between himself and the young organiser before the chief -business of his visit was mentioned. - -Even when the time came for that, Mr. Clutterbuck showed unaccountable -nervousness, but he had taken full counsel; he knew his wife's -opinion; his own mind was made up; he had not even waited for Charlie -Fitzgerald. When, therefore, he had said good-bye and was just stepping -out of the door he suddenly, as though by an afterthought, pulled an -envelope from his pocket and said sunnily: - -"Oh, Mr. Delacourt, I'd almost forgotten this. I could have posted -it--but it's just as well to give it you now I have it. Read it at your -leisure. Read it absolutely at your leisure." - -He nodded twice and was gone. - -Mr. Delacourt opened the envelope, fully expecting some little protest -or other. To his wild astonishment there came out a note of not more -than four lines, and a cheque for £3000. - -Bozzy Delacourt had seen a good deal of life; he had pawned many -articles before his father's death, and had mortgaged not a little land -between that event and his marriage. He had seen many cheques signed by -many men for many purposes; but the like of this he had never seen. - -"What the devil!" he said, looking at the cheque as one would at a -strange and unexpected beast. "What the devil----" He went over to -the window, leant against it and murmured to himself: "If he's mad -something ought to be done. He might make a scene in the House. By -God!" he added to himself with a sudden change of expression, "it -would be Maraschino and Ice to see him passing the stuff on to one -of those journalists during a division, or endowing the p'licemen, or -something.... Wish I'd known men like that in '92! I'd have pulled old -Sam Lewis's leg." The thought set his eyes adream and afire. "I'd have -played him," he added with sudden vicious earnestness, "I'd have played -him like a bloody fish!" - -And having thus relieved his mind, he prepared the cheque for passing -it in, then thought he'd better show it to his chiefs, locked it into a -particular drawer, and went out. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 5: Tennyson.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -The sacred season of Christmas was approaching and Charlie Fitzgerald -had returned. - -He had not been lucky at Monte Carlo. I do not only mean in the -favourite amusement of that place, which he had indulged in for no -more than the first day of his visit, for his means were restricted, -but also in the weather and the company he found. For the anniversary -of the Birth of Christ had drawn from the Riviera to their respective -homes many in that cultured cosmopolitan world which held the most -intimate of his friends. - -He returned, therefore, to The Plâs not in ill humour--that he could -never show--but a little sobered and now and then a little sad. When -Mr. Clutterbuck exposed to him in full the action he had seen fit to -take, no one could have been more sympathetic than he. - -"It was a large thing to do, Clutterbuck," he said as they strolled -round the garden arm in arm, "but I think it was a wise one." - -The afternoon was mild, it had not rained for several hours, and the -paths were dry. Charlie Fitzgerald, thinking of what to say next, threw -a pebble or two into the lake, and then went on: - -"Abroad, of course, they don't understand this Fishmonger business; -but they do understand that there's a change in English politics ... -we've come to a sort of turning-point," he said thoughtfully, somewhat -in the same tone as men talked of the Labour Party years before. "The -old party divisions have changed; I don't know whether you like it or -whether you don't; I've never made up my mind; but you're on the crest -of the wave of the change, and you can't help it." - -Mr. Clutterbuck surveyed the breadth of the English dale, the woods -of Surrey and his own great house; he felt the responsibility and the -burden of the high function which England had thrust upon him. - -"I shall try to do my duty," he said humbly. - -And the two types--the Anglo-Saxon and the Celt--were constrained to a -common silence for some moments. Then Mr. Clutterbuck said again: "I -shall try to do my duty." - -Charlie Fitzgerald was really moved. "You couldn't have done better," -he said. "In politics it is absolutely necessary to be hall-marked in -some way; and men like you, who can't stoop to eccentricity, are much -better when they are hall-marked by a simple honour. _I_ know, and I -dare say you know, that they'd have given it to you long ago, but you -never wanted it, you never asked for it--and I don't mind telling you -they think the better of you." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was deeply touched; men of his sort do not always -understand how much they gain or lose by their simplicity, and it is -pleasant to know that such a quality in one's soul has made one beloved. - -"They'd have given it you on the King's birthday last year," said -Fitzgerald with quiet emphasis, "and they'd have given it just before I -came here: Bozzy talked of it openly. Since I've been here they haven't -said anything." - -"They haven't had occasion to, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck. - -"No," answered Fitzgerald, "and it doesn't do to rush things. Besides -which, the obvious thing is the New Year." - -"I suppose," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "that one knows more or less--I -mean--there's some sort of warning given one, because after all there's -a kind of ceremony--in some cases, I mean," he added hurriedly. - -"Oh yes," said Fitzgerald airily. "They let you know all right: five or -six days beforehand; but it's quite informal. I remember my sister's -great friend, that Egyptologist fellow"--he sought for the name--"well, -anyhow, the man who wrote that account of Milner in Egypt and signed -it Mayfield--can't remember his name, but I remember his just being -told--Meyer! that's it--Ernest Meyer!--I remember his being told -casually through somebody else. Sometimes they don't do it. Teeling -didn't know about _his_ baronetcy till he landed, and that was ten days -afterwards." - -The conversation frittered away, but Fitzgerald knew what to do. -Next day he forced himself upon Delacourt, dined with him: and took -occasion to ask his cousin how things stood, and he learned, to his no -small embarrassment, that headquarters thought his employer had been -precipitate. - -"Well, but look here, Bozzy," he said, as they went across Westminster -Bridge together to the Canterbury to see the Philadelphians. "It's not -much of a business: if a man's got the big election of one's time, and -all the Press behind him, and everybody waiting for the new session, -and _then_ shells out--I don't care how--really! It ought to be like -taking it off a shelf." - -"Well, but it isn't," said Bozzy, as they took their tickets. - -All through the evening at intervals between the turns they pursued -the matter jerkily, and Charlie Fitzgerald was curious to note -his cousin's singular obstinacy. Bozzy was quite fixed about it. -Headquarters were annoyed. - -"It isn't so simple. To begin with, it'll look like being frightened -of Mickleton; and then Billingshurst and Dangerfield are dead against -this stinking Fishmonger agitation anyhow. Dangerfield is Hunnybubble's -brother-in-law, for what that's worth, and altogether it's not the -time. Number one _certainly_ won't do it _yet_: not a measly V.O. Told -me so himself." - -Charlie Fitzgerald had a very simple reply. "If it isn't in the New -Year list," he said, "he'll make trouble, and I don't blame him." - -"How _can_ he make trouble?" said Bozzy uneasily. - -At this point a very large man in uniform interfered, and they were -compelled to listen to a ventriloquist who imitated with astounding -fidelity the barking of a little dog, enclosed by accident in an -ottoman. - -As they went out and recrossed the bridge, Charlie would not release -his cousin; he dragged him towards the station and plied him still. - -"It really _is_ a big thing," he pleaded. - -"Good God!" said Bozzy, losing his temper at or about that point in -Victoria Street where the proud embassy of Cape Colony lifts its flag -in the heart of the Empire. "Don't pester me, I'm not the Prime -Minister!" - -"Very well," said Charlie quietly, "I'll go and see _him_." - -"Oh, do that by all means," said Bozzy, enormously relieved, "but don't -get to Downing Street before three; he refuses everything steadily -from after lunch till three o'clock. Then he takes that stuff Helmsley -ordered him, and a few minutes afterwards he does everything for -everybody; at least that's the only way I account for the two last -appointments." - -It was a cynical and a stupid thing to say of a man as hardworking -and as capable as the young Prime Minister of England, who had led -the National Party to success less than two years before; and who, -moreover, was known to be suffering from an affection of the left lung; -but there was this much truth in it, that all men have their hours: no -more. - -Charlie Fitzgerald brought home news that evening which lifted Mr. -Clutterbuck's heart. He would not commit himself, but he told him very -plainly that he had seen his cousin, that his cousin could not speak -for the Government (and, after all, that was common-sense!), but that -he, Charlie, was to see the Prime Minister the next day. - -The truth looks very different to different men, and all external -verities must, alas, be stated in mere human terms; this plain and -just and honest phrase "and I'm to see the Prime Minister to-morrow," -sank into Mr. Clutterbuck's mind with a very different effect from that -which it could produce upon the experienced and travelled intellect of -the man who spoke it. - -His secretary was to see the Prime Minister the next day! It seemed -more to Mr. Clutterbuck than it does to the delicately nurtured youth -of England when they hear in the morning of their lives that they are -to see the elephant at the Zoo. It had a thousand ritual connotations: -it was the power, the kingdom and the glory. He felt it odd to be in -the same room with his secretary. - -How could that secretary, who had called the present Prime Minister -"Uncle Dunk" since he could first lisp a word, know of what it was that -passed in the new member's heart? - -At dinner Mr. Clutterbuck very properly forebore to allude to such -matters in the remotest manner before the very large and varied -assembly of guests. Nor were he and his secretary alone together during -any part of the remainder of the evening. - -Next morning with the reticence that sits so well upon our wealthier -men, he did no more than accompany Fitzgerald from the luncheon-room -to the motor, help him in, and shake him warmly by the hand as he went -off. - -Fitzgerald, wisely remembering his cousin's somewhat petulant advice, -sent no warning before him, but turned up at Downing Street a little -before four. His reception was very cordial. They had known each other -from the time when Charlie was in petticoats, a baby, in and out of -Mary Smith's house in the height of its splendour, and the Prime -Minister a young man, almost a boy himself, fresh from his victory in -the Isle of Dogs and the idol of that Free Trade Unionist section which -he had since triumphantly transformed into the National Party after his -acceptance of the Round Table Tariff in 1909. - -Charlie did not waste five minutes in coming to the point, and he -put it with a simplicity that did him honour. He let the head of the -Government talk upon the bigness of the Mickleton election and upon the -way in which it had caught the Press, and when it was his turn to speak -he quietly took it for granted that Mr. Clutterbuck's name would appear -among the New Year's honours. - -But there was a great deal more in the Prime Minister than met the -naked eye; he shook his head with a determination of which the ballast -was his big bulging forehead with its rare wisp of hair, and he said: - -"All that's been thought about, Charlie." - -Fitzgerald got quite red. He saw danger and was annoyed. - -"You _are_ making a fuss," he said. - -"No, I'm not," said the Prime Minister kindly. - -"You don't mean to say you're not going to do it?" said Fitzgerald. - -"Of course we are, but not before the House meets. It would bind us. It -can't be done," he said. - -"You mean 't'd look like reversing the judgment by statute?" - -"Charlie," said the other, somewhat gravely, "you're too old to ask -'why.'" He smiled at him a little quizzically. - -"Then when you mean to do it?" said Fitzgerald. - -"Oh, I really don't know." - -The Prime Minister had occasion to go out, and they went out together, -but Charlie, when he left him a few moments later, was feeling a good -many things. He was feeling that he had weakened his own position -in one house at least, and that he had done it for nothing; and -he determined that a lowering of position like that could not be -tolerated. He easily saw the way to repair it. He would begin to put on -the screw. - -To Mr. Clutterbuck that evening he simply said the Prime Minister had -been most delightful and had met him halfway, and had taken the whole -thing for granted, but said of course there must be a little delay. - -"Of course," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "of course." In this intimacy he -talked about the matter quite frankly. "I quite understand; there's a -whole fortnight." - -"Yes," said Charlie Fitzgerald. - -It was the 15th of December. - - * * * * * - -It is not the custom in this country for men whom the Sovereign is -pleased to honour to make a vulgar boast of their advancement; but it -is inevitable that an approaching accession of social rank should be -expected by the immediate circle of the recipient. - -It was impossible that Mr. Clutterbuck's wife should not know; her -brother also knew, of course, though perhaps he did wrong to write a -long letter of congratulation: he had a claim to be told. And the Rev. -Isaac Fowle as the spiritual, Dr. Hutchinson as the medical, adviser -of the merchant, were naturally soon informed. Mr. Clutterbuck and his -wife were far too well-bred to speak of the honour which was advancing -upon them with every day that slipped from the old year; they mentioned -it to none but the nearest of their friends. But a wide outer ring -could not but hear the news, and a still more extended radius received -it with some little exaggeration. In Oxted, Limpsfield, and Red Hill -it was a peerage; and in the remoter villages where Mr. Clutterbuck's -motor-cars were familiar, it was a place in the Cabinet as well; but -to all, and to no one more than the Clutterbucks, there was one thing -certain, that the date was the New Year. - -The Press alone--and that was a large exception--had kept silent upon -the rumour. - -From one day to another Charlie Fitzgerald laid siege, but Bozzy was -first obdurate, then tired, then angry, and the Prime Minister he could -not see again. Whether Fitzgerald were right or not in what he next -did it is for posterity to judge; his first duty, he thought, was to -the man whose bread and salt he ate, and three days before Christmas -he got the paragraph about Mr. Clutterbuck into half the daily papers -of London; every one was away from Peter Street, and the usual -contradiction did not follow by return. - -On Christmas Eve, during the delightful old-world party which Mrs. -Clutterbuck gave to the children of the neighbourhood, their parents -very openly congratulated her husband. Upon Boxing Day the savour of -his triumph remained in his mouth. It was not until Wednesday the -27th that the official protest came from the office of the patronage -secretary. - -It would have been better for every one concerned had that protest been -plain. "It is better to use the surgeon's knife than to let the cancer -grow."[6] But Mr. Clutterbuck had been most generous. To be too harsh -would be, perhaps, to close the door upon future action, and all that -appeared was a line or two in very small type, to the effect that the -representative of the paper (and every paper in London had it) had -called at the head office in Peter Street with regard to the rumour -recently published, and - - "had official authority to say that the officials were prepared to - say officially that little more could for the moment at least be said - upon the matter." - -The lines were few, I say, the print was small and the prose bad, but -such as they were they did but confirm the rumour which meant so much -to two simple hearts, and might have meant more to the public as an -indication of the coming policy of the Government in the matter of -Fishmonger and Another. - -Charlie Fitzgerald sat tight, and the old year waned. - -A gathering, even larger than those which Mr. Clutterbuck had summoned -during the sacred season just passed, gladly and happily drank out the -old year. They sang Auld Lang Syne with hands across, and many another -dear old song of friendship and remembrance, and not a few at the close -of the evening departed with a vague conception that religion had -presided at their feast. - -So ended that year 1911 in a night glorious with keen and flashing -stars. It was a year which had done many great and perilous things for -England, but it was one of which every one could say in his heart, with -the Prophet Ozee,[7] "It _was_ good!" - - * * * * * - -The first of January 1912 was, as many of my readers will know, a -Monday. The happy new week and the happy new year opened together -with a radiant frost upon the beautiful Vale of Caterham. The ice -on the artificial lake supported with ease the Japanese ducks, its -inhabitants, and Mr. Clutterbuck rose from bed, a man advanced in the -Commonwealth and younger by ten years. - -He was in no haste to read the great news, but he was down before his -secretary or his wife. He could not forbear to glance casually at the -_Times_, which lay unopened on the breakfast table. He scanned the -honours list in a casual fashion and made sure that he had missed his -name. He went out and spoke to the stable-boy in a very happy voice, -as of one who can easily arrange and uplift the lives of others; but -the stable-boy was strangely silent, as he thought, and he was annoyed -to see Astor lunge out a vicious kick. He came back into the house -and picked up the _Times_ again. He was astonished to note that the -list was alphabetical; at least it was alphabetical for the baronets. -There were a great number of C's, but there was no Clutterbuck. Sir -Percy--Percy was the name he had chosen--Sir Percy Clutterbuck; it was -not there! - -Mr. Clutterbuck was a business man. He was not one of those who pin -themselves to the mechanical accuracy of mechanical things. He did not, -as women do, glance at a clock and take its dial to mark the exact -hour; still less did he glance at the quotations of prices in the -_Times_ and believe, as the widows and the orphans do, that one may buy -and sell indifferently, at the precise figures mentioned. He looked -at the knights, but in the knights there was not even a C, unless -I mention Sir Sebastian Cohen, who had acquired the dignity in the -Barbadoes. - -His mind would have suffered the mortal chill had not Hope remained in -the box; and Hope, which never quite leaves men, does something more, -for it often suggests the truth at last. He remembered the orders. -The Bath he could neglect; but he remembered the Victorian Order, and -others. It would be a strange way of doing things, but who could -tell? He glanced down a complicated list, and St. Michael was there, -and St. George, and the late Queen also, Victoria.... But there was no -Clutterbuck. - -Before he had finished the list, bending over it almost double on the -low table, he was unpleasantly aware that his wife and his secretary -were in the room. He bolted upright, left the paper, and said there was -no news from the Congo. - -Mr. Clutterbuck very properly prided himself upon a power of -self-control; his wife did not open the paper in his presence. He took -his secretary after breakfast out into the bright frosty air near the -plantation. He told Fitzgerald all, and then said simply: - -"Mr. Fitzgerald, will you do something for me?" - -Fitzgerald was very willing. - -"Will you go up to London in the Renault," (the Limousine was under -repair) "and find out about this?" - -Charlie Fitzgerald was in the Renault within an hour. - -At lunch Mrs. Clutterbuck did not like to ask her husband any -questions, but she wrote to the guests that there was illness in the -house; she put them off with a heavy heart, for one never knows when -one's expected guests may be one's guests again. - -Charlie Fitzgerald was back before dinner. He said that Bozzy was out -of town, but that a clerk had heard there was a mistake and that it -would be rectified in a few days. - -Therefore Wednesday passed, but Thursday was very ominous, and again -Charlie Fitzgerald was unconvinced. He knew too much of men to wait -for any questions. He was on the telephone long before breakfast, and -when Mr. Clutterbuck came down he saw his secretary, dressed ready for -driving into London. - -"If Bozzy isn't in," said he, "I'll get out into Essex and see Morris. -He's perfectly certain to know. But," he added, "I may be out all -night." - -Mr. Clutterbuck gloomily assented and the lonely house was deprived for -thirty-six hours of the Irish grace and light which radiated from that -young soul. - -On the Friday afternoon, in a storm of rain, Charlie Fitzgerald -returned. The panting of the car was still heard as he broke into the -smoking-room dripping wet and took his employer, at once by the arm, -into the gallery. - -"It's a mistake in one way," he said, "but Bozzy says it isn't a real -mistake. Your name was down but they didn't sign." - -"Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, almost in tears, "_I'm_ going -in to London." And next day into London he went. - -Bozzy was out, but at the central office they greeted him with -enthusiasm, and spoke to him of current affairs, of his great victory -at Mickleton, of the wonderful enthusiasm of the Press, but all he said -upon the honours list and upon the recognition of others was met with -nothing more substantial than rapid affirmatives and very hearty smiles. - -He went back in bitterness of spirit towards Victoria and on the way he -met William Bailey sailing down Bird Cage Walk like a great wingless, -long-legged bird, empty of everything for the moment but an infantile -joy. He was right upon him before William Bailey recognised him, but -when that eccentric did so he seized him by both hands and hearing of -his destination, marched him westward. - -"We never finished that conversation, did we, Clutterbuck?" he said. - -Mr. Clutterbuck vaguely remembered the evening at Mrs. Smith's, or -rather he vaguely remembered the word or two that William Bailey had -spoken. - -"Peabody Yid, eh?" said William Bailey in a somewhat vulgar manner, -catching him in the ribs with his elbow. "Have you learned anything -more about the Peabody Yid? You City men are as thick as thieves!" And -he laughed in a lower key. - -"I don't understand you," said Mr. Clutterbuck in real perturbation -and suffering. "I don't understand you. Can't you speak like everybody -else? I'm tired of the lot!" - -It was a genuine little cry of pain and William Bailey, being a -fanatic, was sentimental and was saddened. - -"What's up?" he said. - -Mr. Clutterbuck told him. First briefly, then at length, then with -passion he poured out his great wrong. The money paid, accepted--all -his friends told--and then the humiliation of New Year's day. - -William Bailey walked him back and forth before the Palace, then he -said: - -"We'll get in a cab, I shall have less time to speak in that way," and -after that last paradox he talked sense; but it was very brief sense. - -He simply told Mr. Clutterbuck in the short two hundred yards which led -them to the station, that if he really wanted help, the unhappy William -Bailey was there, and having said that, when Mr. Clutterbuck had taken -his ticket and was off to the wicket, he looked for half a second -into the merchant's eyes with that strange and dangerous power which -the demagogue has commanded in all ages: to the untutored mind of Mr. -Clutterbuck it was a glance of singular fascination. So they parted. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 6: The Dean of Portsmouth, "Mixed Sermons," vol. iii. p. 465. -Heintz & Sons. 42_s._ London: 1910.] - -[Footnote 7: Ozee, xvii. 8.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -William Bailey was at this time nearer fifty than forty years of age. -Those who saw him for the first time would have imagined him to be an -exceptionally vigorous and well-preserved man of maturer years, for -while his eyes were energetic and lively the skin of his face had been -hardened and lined by travel in very different climates. Moreover, his -hair, though not scanty, had turned that peculiar steely grey which men -so often preserve well on into old age. - -His stature, which was considerable, he owed to a pair of very long -thin legs, which looked the longer from the invariably ill-fitting -loose trousers that he wore; his boots were of enormous size. These, -again, were exaggerated to the ordinary beholder from his habit of -purchasing pairs far too large for him; and these, I regret to say, -were ready made, with square toes, very flat heels, and those offensive -deep creases across the instep which betray the slovenly man. - -His face, which was long and good-humoured, was framed by two vast -whiskers which seemed to belong to an earlier age. And in general his -appearance, while certainly denoting ability, might have led one to -expect a sort of reticent good-nature. The impression was heightened -by his habit of leaning good-humouredly forward with his hands in his -pockets, and a genial half-smile, to listen attentively to whatever -words were addressed to him, especially if those words proceeded from -an unknown man or from one who seemed proud of his acquaintance. - -There were none that met him casually in the world, but expected from -him the most kindly judgments and the most reasonable if independent -views. They were invariably deceived. - -The man had acquired peculiarities of outlook which in any society less -tolerant than our own would have doomed him to isolation. As it was, -the most part of his equals treated him as a joke they could afford to -laugh at; but some few out of the many to whom he had given legitimate -offence found themselves unable to forgive, and these were filled in -his presence with an ill ease which he, of all men, had the least right -to impose: among these--I bitterly regret--was even to be found that -gracious, kind old man, the Duke of Battersea, who in all his long and -useful life had hardly spoken harshly of a single foe. - -In politics none could say whether William Bailey were National or -Opposition; his religion it was impossible to discover; even those -philosophies which attract in their turn most men of intelligence -appeared to leave him indifferent; he was ignorant of Hegel of -Nietzsche and of Oppenheim, but his opinions were none the less -expressed with a violence and a tenacity which sometimes produced -the illusion of a general system, though a collection of his real or -affected prejudices would have proved many of them contradictory one -of the other. He would rail, for instance, against the practice of -drinking champagne with meat, and he would denounce it with the same -fervour as he would use against things so remote from him as the Senate -of Finland or the Republican party in the United States. - -His dislike, or his assumed dislike, of certain English writers, -notably the poet Hibbles, on which he might at least be allowed an -opinion or even a prejudice (for he was admittedly a good judge of -verse), was not so strong as his detestation of Tolstoi (not one word -of whose works he could read in the original or had even read in -translations!), or his contempt for Harnack, the very A B C of whose -science he ignored. He denied with equal decision the theory of natural -selection and the hypothesis of a recent glacial epoch, and had more -than once committed himself to print in points of etymology on which -he knew nothing, and his excursion into which had only rendered him -ridiculous. - -It would be too easy to explain the man as a mere mass of opposition, -though it is certain that the greater part of his enthusiasms, -if enthusiasms they were, were aroused by the spectacle of some -universally received opinion. It would be truer to say that he was -ever ready to use his quick and not untrained intelligence in defence -of chance likes and dislikes which, when he had so defended them -for a sufficient time, took on in his mind a curious and unnatural -hardness that sometimes approached and sometimes passed the line of -complete conviction. On some points, indeed, he had been compelled to -retreat. His theory that the English Press was not the property of its -ostensible owners but was subsidised by a mysterious gang of foreign -financiers, he discreetly dropped on finding it untenable, though for -years he had startled his new acquaintances and wearied his relatives -by various aspects of that particular piece of nonsense; and his -repeated assertion that Japanese torpedo boats had really been present -on the Dogger Bank during the deplorable incident of 1904, he had been -singularly silent about after the delivery of the Paris award: but the -most part of his follies survived. - -He did at least pick up a new mania from time to time, which relieved -the tedium of his repeated dogmatisings; but his friends looked -forward with horror to that inevitable phase which he must meet with -advancing years, when the elasticity of his fanaticism should fail him, -and they should be compelled to listen to an unvarying tale throughout -his old age. - -He was, as I have said, not fifty, but that phase seemed already -arrived in one particular. He had gone mad upon the Hebrew race. - -He saw Jews everywhere: he not only saw them everywhere, but he saw -them all in conspiracy. He would not perhaps have told you that the -conspiracy was conscious, but its effects he would have discovered all -the same. - -According to him Lombroso was a Jew, Mr. Roosevelt's friends and -supporters the Belmonts were Jews, half the moneyed backers of -Roosevelt were Jews, the famous critic Brandes was a Jew, Zola was -a Jew, Nordau was a Jew, Witte was a Jew--or in some mysterious way -connected with Jews; Naquet was a Jew; the great and suffering Hertz -was a Jew. All actors and actresses _en bloc_, and all the foreign -correspondents he could lay hands on were Jews; the late and highly -respected M. de Blowitz (a fervent Catholic!) he nicknamed "Opper," and -having found that a member of the very excellent West Country family -of Wilbraham had ardently supported the Russian revolutionists in the -columns of the _Times_, he must say, forsooth, that a certain "Brahms" -(who rapidly developed into "Abrahams") was the inspirer of the premier -journal; and this mythical character so wrought upon his imagination -that in a little while the manager of the paper itself, and heaven -knows who else, were attached to the Synagogue. - -In his eyes the governors of colonies, the wives of Viceroys, the -holders of Egyptian bonds, the mortgagees of Irish lands, half the -Russian patriots, and all the brave spokesmen of Hungary, were swept -into the universal net of his mania. - -It got worse with every passing year: there were Jews at Oxford, and at -Cambridge, and at Trinity College, Dublin; the Jews overran India; they -controlled the _Neue Frie Presse_ of Vienna, the _Tribuna_ of Rome, the -_Matin_ of Paris, and for all I know, the _Freeman's Journal_ in Dublin. - -The disease advanced with his advancing age; soon all the great family -of Arnold were Jews; half the English aristocracy had Jewish blood; for -a little he would have accused the Pope of Rome or the Royal Family -itself; and I need hardly say that every widespread influence, from -Freemasonry to the international finance of Europe, was Israelite in -his eyes; while our Colonial policy, and especially the gigantic and -successful struggle in South Africa, he twisted into a sort of petty -huckstering, dependent upon Petticoat Lane. - -Mary Smith loved her brother. She did all she could to dispel these -mists and to bring out that decent side of him which had made him -years ago as popular a young man as any in London--but he was past -praying for. A private income, large, like all the Bailey incomes, -of over £4000 a year, permitted him a dangerous independence; and in -his freehold house in Bruton Street he lived his own life altogether, -attached to his servants, whom he never changed, subscribing to absurd -foreign papers that dripped with anti-Semitic virus, and depending upon -the perpetual attention of his manservant Zachary, an honest fellow -enough, but one who, from perpetual association with his master, seemed -to have imbibed something of that master's eccentricities. _He_ was as -dandy as the gentleman who employed him was slovenly, and all Bruton -Street noted with a smile the extraordinary figure the fellow made when -he went out on his rare holidays, in a tight frock-coat, a hat like -polished ebony, and gloves that were always new. - -To individuals, as is so often the case with men of this temper and -of good birth, William Bailey was often kind and sometimes positively -generous. The personal enmities he bore to men whom he had actually -known, were very rare, and such as they were they would take the form -rather of abstaining from their society than of intriguing against -them. Indeed, characters of this sort are not usually possessed of -that tenacity in action which intrigue requires. His name was mentioned -with no woman's; he had never married. In early youth he was supposed -to have felt some attraction to a lady considerably older than himself, -who subsequently became the wife of another yet older than herself, an -Anglo-Indian official of high standing. But the passion could hardly -have been deep or lasting, for he preserved no relic of her in any -form; he had no picture of her, he never mentioned her name, and when -she returned to England from time to time, he made no effort to renew -her acquaintance and seemed even to avoid her presence. - -Some have attempted to attribute his violent eccentricities of -judgment to disappointed ambition. His career would hardly lead one -to such a conclusion. As a boy he determined upon the Army, and had -greatly annoyed his family, who would have preferred the Guards, by -joining the Engineers. He had not been four years a sapper when he as -suddenly abandoned that honourable and useful corps, and compelled his -father to use influence for his appointment as an _attaché_--of all -places in the world--to Pekin. Transferred from that distant capital -to Paris, he begged for Constantinople, was granted it, and within -two years abandoned the career of diplomacy as light-heartedly as he -had abandoned that of arms. His father's death at this moment added -to his already sufficient private means, and it was thought by such -relatives as still took some interest in his talents that commercial -activity would bring him into harness. A stall was purchased for him -at Lloyds, and for three months he appeared to devote himself steadily -to speculation. But the wisest of his relatives, especially his Aunt -Winifred, still had their misgivings; they were amply justified. - -In the election of 1892 which shortly followed his introduction to -the City, he was asked by the family to make a third candidate in -East Rutland in order to split, what was then called, the 'Liberal' -vote against his brother James, who had presented himself in what was -then called the 'Conservative' interest. William Bailey, naturally -good-natured and thinking to enjoy the mild excitement of a short -campaign, was delighted to present himself as an Independent Liberal, -and until within a few days of the poll, conducted himself as the -situation required, taking care to draw upon himself such votes--and -no more--as might secure his brother's election. Unhappily the twisted -spirit of the man got the better of him in the last week before the -poll, and he fell into a deplorable breach of good taste and family -feeling; he suddenly began deliberately to attract the attention and -win the support of every sort of elector. To his own considerable -surprise (but it must be admitted to his secret gratification) he -was returned--with what consequent and final effect upon his family -relations need not be told! - -During the short life of that parliament he made himself conspicuous -by abstaining from the narrow and perilous divisions to which his -party was subjected, by asking the most offensive personal questions -of responsible Ministers, by shouting interjections which repeatedly -called upon him the severe reprimand of the highly distinguished man -who then occupied the Chair, and by moving, when the luck of the -ballot fell his way, a motion so offensive to every loyal and generous -feeling, that even the Opposition found themselves compelled to support -the Government in an early adjournment to prevent its discussion. - -In the early summer of 1895 he appeared to suffer a sudden conversion, -spoke frequently in the most decent and weighty of parliamentary -manners, was present at every division, supported his colleagues in the -country and then--utterly without warning--betrayed one of the safest -seats in England by refusing at the General Election to present himself -again as a candidate. - -A man who acts thus in our public life bars every serious career -against himself. Whether Mr. Bailey had foreseen this or no, he was at -any rate content henceforward to live as a private gentleman in his -little house in Bruton Street. But his restless temper still led him -from one set to another, mingling with every one and seen everywhere. -He wrote, he occasionally spoke, and above all it was his delight, -by insinuation or by direct disclosure, to embarrass and expose his -fellow-beings; a man dangerous in the extreme, and, I repeat, one whom -no society less tolerant than ours would have endured for a year. - -Such was the rock on which the proud ship of Mr. Clutterbuck's good -fortune struck. - -In a mood less irritable and less inflamed he would have been safe; but -doubtful, suspicious, angered as he was he fell an easy--alas! too easy -a prey--to the inconsequent and empty enthusiast; and it was his ruin. - - * * * * * - -Mr. Clutterbuck was back at The Plâs, and the thorn in his soul struck -sore. Too many words were enigmas. He suffered too much silence. He -would speak. - -They were together in the Art Gallery of The Plâs, Mr. Clutterbuck and -Charlie, the Master and the Man. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was sitting at a desk where he often did his work, -under the inspiration of the big Manet which Charlie had purchased that -summer of Raphael and Heinz. Fitzgerald was smoking a cigarette lazily -at the end of the long room, and reading one of those articles in the -_Spectator_ which have so profound an influence week by week upon the -political situation. - -Mr. Clutterbuck suddenly looked up from his writing, turned round to -him and said: - -"Mr. Fitzgerald, what is a Peabody Yid?" - -Charlie Fitzgerald was so startled that he let the premier review -of the Anglo-Saxon Race fall to the floor; but a glance at Mr. -Clutterbuck's honest though troubled profile reassured him. - -"Oh, a Yid," he said laughing, "I suppose a Yid's a name for a German, -or something of that sort. Then Peabody--oh, the Peabody Buildings!" - -"Is it a kind of man, then?" said Mr. Clutterbuck, solemnly. - -"Why," said Fitzgerald, thoughtfully, "I suppose it is." - -"I thought it was one man," said Mr. Clutterbuck, still in doubt, and -in a tone which made Charlie Fitzgerald look at him again, but again -feel reassured. - -"It would be one fellow, of course," said Fitzgerald manfully, "if -you were only speaking of one: if you said 'a Peabody Yid,' for -instance.... But if you were talking of several," he mused, "why you'd -say 'Peabody Yids,' I s'pose. What?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck was lost in thought. "But Yid means a Jew surely, -doesn't it, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said the older man. "It's a vulgar name -for a Jew, isn't it?" - -"Why-y, yes," answered the other with nonchalance. "A German, or a Jew, -or something of that sort. Then Peabody was a sort of philanthropical -fellow: architect, I think." - -Mr. Clutterbuck having got so far, said: "Oh!" He said no more; he went -on writing; but, like the man in the Saga, his heart was ill at ease. -For the first time in many months he was as sore and as anxious as ever -he had been in the old days before good fortune came to him. - -The seventh day of the New Year broke brightly, but never a word from -Peter Street. Mr. Clutterbuck went so far as to speak first to his -secretary, before his secretary had spoken to him, and to ask him, but -with all the courtesy imaginable, whether something could not be done -to reassure him? - -Charlie Fitzgerald more than hinted that it was all nervousness. -"Things aren't done in that way," he said worriedly. "They won't give -me anything in writing, of course." - -Mr. Clutterbuck foresaw yet another futile verbal message and he came -as near to anger as such a man can come at all. He was quite evidently -put out and annoyed. He went so far as to say: - -"Mr. Fitzgerald, I did hope you would have done something for me." - -And Charlie, who had a fine sense which told him when he had gone too -far, got up and put a gentle hand on his employer's arm. - -"I'm afraid, Mr. Clutterbuck," he said in a tone of low and grave -sincerity, "I'm afraid you misunderstood me. I can't do more than find -out, but I'll find out in more detail, and you must give me two days." - -"Of course," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "of course; you know what you have -to do, Mr. Fitzgerald, I won't expect you back until I hear." But he -added in a sort of appealing voice: "But do do something! You see -... it touches a man's pride, and ... to be perfectly frank ... Mrs. -Clutterbuck doesn't like it. One feels odd when one's friends come." - -The poor old gentleman was perfectly straightforward and it went to -Charlie Fitzgerald's heart. Nevertheless a telegram which came for him -a few hours later, after he had sent a telephone message to London, -detained him yet another day. He fully explained to Mr. Clutterbuck the -nature of the delay: the person whom he had expected to meet in town -would not be back till the evening of the 9th; but Mr. Clutterbuck was -only partially relieved and he announced his intention of seeing to -some business in the City. The business--alas! that I should have to -admit duplicity in such a character--was an interview with Mr. William -Bailey. - -That eccentric had at least opened him one door of sympathy, and in Mr. -Clutterbuck's distress the business man's natural mistrust of uncertain -and fantastic characters was forgotten. - -He found Mr. Bailey occupying his worse than useless leisure in drawing -up an enormous list of names, and by the side of each, in a second -column, a second name was appended. He was so engrossed upon this task, -in the prosecution of which he was surrounded by twenty or a dozen -books of reference, collections of newspaper cuttings and memoranda of -every sort, that he did not so much as look up when Zachary announced -Mr. Clutterbuck, but went on murmuring: - -"Beaufort---- Rosenberg, date uncertain; - -"Belvedere---- Cohen, 1873; - -"Belmont---- Schoenberg, 1882 (probably)...." - -He had go so far when he jumped up, remembered his manners, and begged -Mr. Clutterbuck to excuse his absorption. - -"I was making out a list of people," he said, "a sort of dictionary." - -"Are you going to publish it?" asked Mr. Clutterbuck politely, by way -of beginning the conversation. - -"Well," said Mr. Bailey, "I rather think I am. I dare say I should have -to get it printed abroad, but that's no drawback." - -"I hope it's all right," said Mr. Clutterbuck in alarm. - -"Oh yes, it's quite moral," said Mr. Bailey airily. "But one often has -to get things done abroad. Would you like to look at some of it?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck had the courtesy to glance at the yards of double names -and dates, but they meant nothing to him. He asked which column one -read first, and William Bailey could only find the stupid and would-be -enigmatic reply that some read it one way and some read it the other. - -"Beaufort equals Rosenberg, or Rosenberg equals Beaufort: it's all the -same thing. It's usually French on the left and German on the right," -he said quizzically, putting his head on one side. "Middle Ages there, -Modern Ages here," he went on, wagging his head symbolically right and -left; and then suddenly broke out: "What've you come to see me about? -Still hanging fire?" - -Mr. Clutterbuck admitted that it was, and Mr. Bailey surveyed him with -great kindness. It was evident the crank had no desire to eat up this -particular millionaire; he would give _him_ a certificate of pure -blood. He smiled at his sister's new acquaintance with deep benediction -and at last he said in a knowing tone: - -"Look here, Mr. Clutterbuck, I think I can only do _one_ thing for you, -but it's a very useful thing. It's just a rule of thumb, and I'm afraid -you'll think it something in the dark; but it's no good making any more -of it just now than a plain rule of thumb. It's just a plain rule of -thumb." - -Mr. Clutterbuck groaned inwardly. He was in the fog again. But William -Bailey went on quite composed: - -"I know a good deal of things," he said, stretching his arms and -yawning as he said it. - -"Yes, Mr. Bailey, certainly," said Mr. Clutterbuck fervently. - -"Well then, if I just tell you a simple little dodge--don't think it -too simple--just take it as a tip from me, and I'll see you through. -I mean what I say. I don't think I'd do it for anybody else. TRY THE -ANAPOOTRA RUBY MINES." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -The name of the Anapootra Ruby Mines--that name of power--left Mr. -Clutterbuck as blank as ever. - -It couldn't be a medicine by the name of it, and if it was an -investment, he hadn't come for any advice of _that_ sort. He thought he -knew his way about _there_. - -"I don't understand what you mean," he said a little bluntly, for of -late his courage had increased with his worries. - -"Why," said Mr. Bailey, as though it were the simplest thing in -the world, "the Anapootra _Ruby_ Mines. Talk about 'em. Say you're -interested in 'em. It'll work marvels." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was almost in despair. - -"If that's all you got to tell me," he said---- - -William Bailey put a hand on his shoulder. "Now there you are," he -said, "that's just what I was afraid of. I give you a tip--it isn't a -tip I'd give anybody else, and it's the very best tip I could give you. -And because you don't see _why_ it's a good tip, you're going to reject -it." - -"No I'm not, Mr. Bailey, really I'm not," said the unfortunate -Clutterbuck. "But I don't understand--upon my word I don't understand." - -"What's there to understand?" asked William Bailey. "There are the -Anapootra Ruby Mines, and you just talk about them; that's easy enough. -You bring them up at dinner; you add a postscript when you write a -letter: 'By the way, have you heard about the Anapootra Ruby Mines?' Or -you open a paper and say to the company: 'It's funny, but I don't see -anything about the Anapootra Ruby Mines to-day.' You mayn't see _why_ -it will work wonders, but it will. By the way, have you ever seen the -name in a paper?" - -"I seem to have seen it somewhere," said Mr. Clutterbuck, not liking to -confess his ignorance. - -"Well, you haven't," replied William Bailey rudely. "You may bet your -hat on that. If they'd been in the papers, there'd be nothing to talk -about. But _you_ talk about them long enough, and they'll get in the -papers all right." - -"But I don't see the connection," quavered Mr. Clutterbuck. - -"Well, there it is," said William Bailey sighing, "there's the tip. If -you try it and let it work, it will do marvels; and then you'll see -what I've done." - -"But what are they?" persisted Mr. Clutterbuck. - -"Oh, ruby mines!" almost shouted William Bailey. - -"Yes, certainly, but where?" - -"In Anapootra of course," said Bailey. - -Mr. Clutterbuck rose to go with a joyless face. - -"You come back to me when it begins to work, and I'll see you through," -were the last words of William Bailey, and his guest heard them ringing -in his ears as he went mournfully to the train. - -In The Plâs that very evening he tried it on. They were at their lonely -meal, all three, Charlie Fitzgerald, who inwardly wished he had got -away, Mrs. Clutterbuck, and the master of the house. They dared not -have friends under such a cloud. Mr. Clutterbuck said casually to Mrs. -Clutterbuck: - -"My dear, do you know anything of the Anapootra Ruby Mines?" - -"No," said Mrs. Clutterbuck sharply, and at the same time in a manner -that clearly showed she was bored. The City had always wearied her -since her husband's success; she hardly thought it quite the thing to -speak of it before Charlie Fitzgerald. As for that well-born youth, he -remained quite silent and ate with singular rapidity the Mousseline -Braganza à la Polignac which he had before him. - -"Do you know anything about them?" said Mr. Clutterbuck undaunted, and -turning to Charlie Fitzgerald. - -His wife issued one of her commanding glances, but he avoided it. - -"The--Anapootra--Ruby--Mines?" said Charlie Fitzgerald, hesitating -between each syllable. "No, I don't. I know about the _Brah_mapootra: -it's a river." - -"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck, and this singularly unfruitful -conversation ended. - -But Charlie Fitzgerald wondered and wondered more deeply what on earth -he was to do. His task had been difficult enough already; it was -becoming impossible. - -Next day he took his bag and was off, but he promised to be home before -the end of the week, and he promised still more sincerely, in private -to Mr. Clutterbuck, to do everything that could possibly be done, and -if he failed, to form some further plan. He was careful not to use any -of the cars--he had used them quite enough lately, and the weather was -foul. He took the train in the common fashion and drove from Victoria -straight to Barnett House. The telephone had prepared them for his -visit, and the Duke of Battersea, always the kindest and the warmest of -friends to the young men of his rank, took him affectionately into the -inner room, and heard all he might have to say. - - * * * * * - -The Duke of Battersea, now well stricken in years, was of that kind -which age matures and perfects. - -The bitter struggles of his youth when, in part a foreigner, ill -acquainted with our tongue and bewildered by many of our national -customs, he had made his entry into English finance, had given him -all the wisdom such trials convey, but they had left nothing of that -bitterness too often bred in the souls of those who suffer. The failure -of the Haymarket Bank would not indeed have checked so tenacious a -character, but the undeserved obloquy which he suffered in the few -years succeeding that misfortune, and during the period when it was -falsely imagined that he had finally failed, might have put him -out of touch with the national life and have given him a false and -uncharitable estimate of the country of his adoption. So far from -permitting any such acidity to warp his soul, Mr. Barnett (as he then -was) had but the more faithfully gone forward in the path which destiny -offered him, and he had reaped the reward which modern England never -fails to give to those of her sons who have preserved, throughout all -the vicissitudes of life, a true sense of proportion and a proper -balance between material prosperity and the public service. - -When he had been raised to the peerage as Lord Lambeth, a vigorous man -of fifty years, not only was his public position assured, but that -respect for a firm character and a just maintenance of a man's own -establishment in the world which should accompany such a position, was -deeply founded in the mind of the general public. - -The newspapers, through which the great mass of our fellow citizens -obtain their information, mentioned him not only continually, but with -invariable deference, and often with admiration. His efforts in the -House of Lords in favour of Bosnian freedom, and in the particular -case of Macchabee Czernwitz, had proclaimed just that disinterested -enthusiasm which we love to see applied by our great men to foreign -affairs; while, nearer home, the Organ Grinders' Bill, for which he -was mainly responsible, was a piece of practical legislation which had -obtained general recognition upon both sides of either House. - -It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that when the M'Korio Delta -Development Company was taken over by the State, his connection with -that gallant experiment in the building of Empire, earned him a -permanent fame more valuable than any material reward. He had long -ago severed all personal connection with the district, retaining only -so many shares as permitted him to sit upon the Board, and it is -no little tribute to this great Englishman to point out that after -seventeen years, during which it had been impossible to pay a dividend, -he was able triumphantly to persuade a united public opinion and the -Chancellor of the Exchequer to purchase the concession at par: more, -he handed over intact to the Crown not only the delta of the M'Korio -River, but Mubu Otowa and the malarial district to the south of Tschè. - -It was shortly after this achievement, in the year 1910, that he -consented--somewhat reluctantly--to an advance in honour and accepted -the Dukedom of Battersea. - -The lower rungs of the ladder he had been willing to mount; but a -natural reserve had forbidden him hitherto to accede to the most -pressing entreaties from either Party. He had indeed kept aloof from -party politics, and had subscribed to the funds of the two great -organisations only because he thought it his duty to enable men poorer -than himself to display their talents in the arena of Parliament and -because he justly desired to preserve some power for righteousness with -the Executive of the moment. - -Even at this late hour, over seventy years of age, and prepared at -any moment to answer the Great Summons, he would hardly have followed -the advice of his friend the Prime Minister in accepting the honour -proposed to him, had not the task been rendered sadly easier to him by -one tragic accident: there was no longer an heir to his vast wealth -and honourable name. The Master of Kendale (for such was the name -of the old Scottish place), the handsome, intelligent boy with the -bourbon nose, the wealth of black curls, proud full lips, and brilliant -eyes which had lent such life to so many reunions, the child of Lord -Lambeth's old age, his Ben-jamin was no more. The young soldier had -lost his off stirrup only the summer before while trotting his yeomen -on parade before the royal visitors to the Potteries, and when he was -picked up he was quite dead; the neck was broken between the second and -third cervical vertebræ. - -For the old man the blow was terrible. Long widowed, all his hopes -had centred upon this only child whom, though not yet of age, he had -already begun to train in the great money which he was destined to -inherit and control. For a moment he thought of giving up Barnett -House--of resigning his affairs. At last he rallied, and the tragedy -had this good in it for England, that it permitted him to accept -the Dukedom, and perhaps also permitted him to continue, if only as -a solace, that active interest in the wider commerce of the Empire -wherein his talents were of such fruit and value to his country. - -It was in connection with these that the Duke of Battersea had -undertaken the management of those Anapootra Ruby Mines, the quiet -transference of which to his able management had been the triumph of -the last vice royalty. Is it to be wondered at if Fitzgerald, fearing -such interests were menaced, went to warn their chief protector? - -He was brief and clear. The Ruby Mines were out. They must be well out -or old Clutterbuck wouldn't have heard of them, and old Clutterbuck had. - -No words of mine are needed to defend the commercial honour of the -Duke of Battersea; still less need I waste a moment's effort in an -apology for our great Civil Service. It needs men of a very different -calibre from Mr. Bailey to throw doubt upon the absolute integrity of -our Imperial system; and the last Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra -in particular, deservedly boasting a host of friends, intensely -laborious, honourably poor, would have cause for complaint if even -an eulogy of him, let alone a defence, were undertaken here. But in -order to comprehend the foolish and treasonable agitation Mr. Bailey -hoped to raise, it is necessary that I should put down plainly all the -circumstances of the venture. - -For many centuries the ruby mines of Anapootra had been worked as the -property of that native State. And when the administration of the -valley was taken over by Great Britain the exploitation of the mines -very naturally followed. From April 1 of the year 1905 they had become, -along with certain other possessions of the State, a portion of the -public domain. - -The traditional methods by which their wealth had hitherto been -exploited were wholly insufficient. A community of some hundreds of -natives, working upon a complex, co-operative system, living in a -miserable state of poverty and degradation, had paid, from immemorial -time, a fixed percentage of their output to their Sovereign; and the -humanitarian faddism of Sir Charles Finchley--whose appointment was one -of the few mistakes of Lord Curzon's viceroyalty--had permitted this -system to endure during the first few years of our occupation. But it -was obvious that so primitive an arrangement could not endure. In 1910 -there was but one question before the new Lieutenant-Governor; whether -it would be more profitable to establish a direct exploitation of these -mines by the Crown, or to concede that exploitation for a term of years -to some company which, under expert advice and with long experience of -the business, might secure a higher profit to the State. It was only -after deep thought and the full consideration of every detail, that -the Lieutenant-Governor decided upon the latter course and signed a -concession to a private company for a term of fifteen years. - -He further determined--and it was the act of a strong man--to avoid -the disadvantages of public competition with its accompaniment of -ill-informed and often unpatriotic criticism, of questions in the House -of Commons, and of all the paraphernalia of ignorance and cant. - -He made the concession boldly to a company of his own choice, and -though he was not particularly concerned with the persons involved so -long as the company itself was in his opinion honest and efficient, -he was none the less delighted to learn that so great a financier as -the Duke of Battersea had guaranteed its position and security--nay, -was himself, in his capacity of the Anglo-Moravian Bank, the principal -shareholder in the new venture. - -It is ill work excusing any man so talented and honest, so devoted to -the public service, as the late Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra, but -the criticism to which he has been subjected makes that task necessary, -however painful. - -The concession signed was, upon the face of it, just such a document as -political puritans at home, ignorant as they are of local conditions, -would pounce upon in their desire to vent their ill-informed suspicion -of their own countrymen. The rent to be paid by the company was but a -quarter of that originally paid by the native workers, and less than -a tenth of that which official estimates of the yield under modern -methods had contemplated. Moreover, no rent was to be paid before -1915, the fourth year of the concession, and there were to be rebates -in case the company should come upon weak pockets or the supply should -fall below a certain level in the interval for which the concession -was granted. Those of my readers who are acquainted with the details -of finance will at once perceive that these advantages were no more -than what was necessary to tempt a private venture and the risk of -private capital. But if any _not_ acquainted with large financial -operations should have lingering doubts, it is enough to add that the -Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra had been so scrupulously careful of -the public interest as to resign his post and to terminate a great -pro-consular career in order to accept the directorship of the new -company where he could overlook its action and check its contributions -to the exchequer. He was determined that no sacrifice upon his part -should be spared in his zeal for the public fortune. - -He did more: he persuaded the chief Government expert upon the mines to -throw up _his_ secure place, the prospect of his pension--everything, -and to take at a somewhat increased salary the position of Consulting -Engineer to the new Company. - -He did yet more. He, a man suffering from a grave internal disease,[8] -underwent, in the height of the hot season, the long journey to -England in order to impress upon the Secretary of State[9] the prime -importance of secrecy. He risked what was dearer than life to him--his -very honour--for a venture which would ensure riches to England, and -would bring enlightenment and modern progress to one far forgotten -corner of the Indian world. - -In a word, he left nothing undone which a sensitive and scrupulous -gentleman should do to preserve the interests of his country, and in -all this action he sought no fame, he permitted not a word to appear in -the public Press; he went so far--it was quixotic upon his part--as to -deny all rumours until the plan was complete. And though the fame of -the Anapootra Valley has since widely increased through the lucrative -operations of the new company, and the wide dispersion of its shares -among the public, its former Lieutenant-Governor has to this day -successfully prevented his name from being connected with the history -of that great new asset in our commercial system. - -Other nations have public servants perhaps better trained in a -technical sense than are ours, but no nation can boast a body of men -who will thus obscurely and without reward sacrifice themselves wholly -in the public service and be content to remain unknown. - -There is the whole truth upon the Anapootra Ruby Mines. - -The reader who has followed the plain narrative put before him will -be able to judge between it and the monstrous assumption upon which -Mr. Bailey was prepared to conduct, or at any rate to initiate, his -mischievous agitation. - -The rapidity with which that agitation developed was embarrassing, even -to a man so used to immediate decisions as the Duke of Battersea. To -the ex-Lieutenant-Governor, whom his long and faithful public service -in the tropics had deprived of digestion and had rendered partially -deaf, it was appalling. - -It was upon Tuesday afternoon, January 8, 1912, that Mr. Bailey, -looking up at the ceiling, had launched the fatal words. It was upon -Tuesday evening that Mr. Clutterbuck had repeated them in the presence -of Fitzgerald: thanks to the prompt and loyal action of that strong -young Irish soul, the Duke knew of them before Wednesday noon. - -Forewarned is forearmed:--the malignant plot was at last defeated--but -at what a sacrifice of honest ambition and happy lives the reader must -learn and curse the name of William Bailey. - - * * * * * - -Charlie Fitzgerald sat long with the aged Duke--though there was -little to say. He received with deference and grateful willingness -the suggestion to be of service in a matter where written words were -impossible. He made a note of whom he was to visit; how high he was to -go in the event of some agency threatening to print the story of the -Company; what he was to say to the editor by telephone, and what by -letter to the Secretary of State. He proved that afternoon a second son -to the old childless man, and when he had dined alone with him, and -admired the new Rodin on the stairs, he went off to Scotland in the -midnight sleeper to see the ex-Governor before the post should reach -him. He was prepared to do all this and more for the Duke of Battersea, -and the Duke was a grateful man. - - * * * * * - -The next morning's post was something of a trial to Mr. Clutterbuck -in the absence of his secretary. He had learnt to depend upon that -prop altogether, and at any other time he would have allowed all the -letters which were not, by the handwriting, the letters of friends to -accumulate unopened; but that day, January 10, 1912, that Thursday, -he was too anxious to do any such thing. He opened one letter, then -another; the third positively stupefied him. It was from his agent -in Mickleton, and simply told him that a petition was to be lodged -disputing the validity of his election. They had learnt the news upon -the Wednesday evening. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was an honest man. - -The occasions on which it is possible to bring against a man of English -lineage the grave accusation of tampering with political morals are -very, very rare; still rarer, thank God, are the occasions on which -such an accusation can be maintained. - -In vain did Mr. Clutterbuck--all his energies on the strain as -they used to be in the old days of commerce--minutely examine his -experiences of the month before. He could not discover a word or a -gesture of his or any act authorised by him, even indirectly, which -could have led to so monstrous an accusation. His sense of honour felt -the thing keenly, and the agent's letter trembled in the hand that -held it. Then, like a clap of thunder, came the memory of the bag of -sovereigns and the Bogey Man. - -He had been assured and reassured that it was a common practice -admitted in all elections: he knew, upon perfectly good evidence, that -another Bogey Man had done the same ritual and necessary act for Lord -Henfield. It was without a doubt a fixed custom in every election. -The sum was small; it was a fair wage for honest work openly done. -Nevertheless the memory of the actual metal weighed intolerably upon -Mr. Clutterbuck's ill ease. - -That had done it! The only other source he could think of was his -wife, and he knew her too well to suspect her of any foolish and -ill-considered act of charity which might have compromised his chances. - -As for the half-sovereign, the wicked little half-sovereign, his lawyer -had completely satisfied him. The return of it cleared him wholly. No! -It was the Bogey Man, and there was no help for it. - -He went in at once to see Mr. Bailey. He forgot to telephone: he was -in an agony lest that one friend and stay should be out. But there he -found him again, still at his international list, which had now got as -far as the "M's," "Montague--Samuel, 1883 (Gladstone)." - -This time he did not forget his manners. He met the merchant with great -sympathy, and looking at him a little critically, said with good cheer: - -"It's begun to work, you see!" He had seen about the petition in the -papers. - -Mr. Clutterbuck did not even hope to understand. "Oh, Mr. Bailey," he -said. "Mr. Bailey, what on earth am I to do?" - -To this Mr. Bailey returned the irrelevant reply: "Go on talking about -the Anapootra Ruby Mines!" as though that action were a sort of panacea -for the disturbed heart of man. It was bitter mockery in the ear of -one whose greatest hopes were thus dashed at the end of a long and -honourable life. - -"I had expected more from you, Mr. Bailey," said Mr. Clutterbuck -gravely. - -William Bailey was again touched. - -"I mean it, Clutterbuck," he said; "I really mean it. All medicines -are bitter at first; it's a big business, but it's the right way--I do -assure you it's the right way. I suppose you've written about those -Ruby Mines--postscripts, eh? A few cards I hope? A word or two to -friends in the train? Mentioned them to the servants? They're very -useful, servants are! Oh, and by the way, I ought to have told you--the -parson. Parsons are splendid; so are doctors. But you can't have done -them all yet." - -"Mr. Bailey," said Mr. Clutterbuck solemnly, "I haven't opened my lips -in the matter; at least," he added, correcting himself, "only to my -wife at dinner." - -"And Charlie 'Fitzgerald' was there no doubt. My Cousin Charlie?" asked -William Bailey pleasantly. "I've just got past him on my list--at least -not him, but his grandfather. 'Daniels--Fitzgerald 1838.' Jolly old man -his grandfather, but a little greasy--I remember him. He was called -Daniels--Daniel Daniels; son of old Moss Daniels, the Dublin sheeny, -that came to people's help, you know; you ought to know about the -Daniels; very old family; we used to call his wife's drawing-room the -lions' den. She was my aunt, you know," he added cheerfully. "Cousin -of mine, is Charlie." - -"Oh, but Mr. Bailey," groaned Mr. Clutterbuck, leaving all these -irrelevancies aside, "what _am_ I to do?" - -"Oh, let 'em have it," said William Bailey in the serenity of his -dissociation from politics and every other vanity. - -"Let 'em unseat me!" shrieked Mr. Clutterbuck. - -"You can't help it," said Mr. Bailey, "eh?" - -"But they can't prove anything," said his guest. He was excited and -defiant. "There's nothing to prove!" - -"Oh, come," said Mr. Bailey, "come Mr. Clutterbuck. Don't go on like -that. If they're going to unseat you, they're going to unseat you. And -what's being unseated? Old Buffle was unseated three times." - -"I should die of it!" said Mr. Clutterbuck with a groan. - -"No you won't," said Mr. Bailey. "The Lord shall make your enemies -your footstool; or, at any rate, His agent on earth will give you a -good day's sport with them. Meanwhile you go on with those Ruby Mines. -And, wait a minute, there's something to do to keep your mind off it -meanwhile: there's a good agency in Fetter Lane; they have a lot of -first-rate men. I remember a man called Bevan who did some very good -work for an enemy of mine a little time ago. Go and give them a tenner -and get them to find out who was behind that petition; though I think I -know already. I'll come with you." - - * * * * * - -The two men went eastward together, Mr. Bailey talking of a thousand -improbable things on the way, and they laid the task before the very -courteous manager, who assured them it would be the simplest thing in -the world. And so it was, for they learnt the same evening that though -the petition had been lodged by a large grocer of the name of Hewlett -in Mafeking Avenue, the real mover in the affair was a workman resident -in a small street off the Crescent, a casual labourer of the name of -Seale. - -"That's all right," said Mr. Bailey when the news came to them as they -sat at dinner together. "You won't find out that way. They been got at. -That's a tenner wasted," he added anxiously, "but I'll pay it--I gave -the advice. You go back home, and I'll let you know everything I hear -within two days." - -And Mr. Clutterbuck went home a little, but only a little, comforted; -feeling that he had indeed one ally--but what an ally! A man who talked -in enigmas, a _dilettante_ with wild theories in which he himself -only half believed; a man half ostracised, half tolerated, and wholly -despised, but a man in the swim, anyhow: the memory of that consoled -Mr. Clutterbuck. - -Two days afterwards Charlie Fitzgerald returned. His story was -perfectly concise, too concise, alas, for that stricken household. -He did not bother them with his visit to the Duke of Battersea and -to Scotland--he spoke only of their own business. He had seen Peter -Street yet once again. They were sorry, but it had happened from having -too many names on the list; some had to wait; they admitted they had -postponed Mr. Clutterbuck's name to Paardeberg Day, when there was a -batch of thirty to bring out. - -"But now there's the Petition," said Charlie Fitzgerald a little -awkwardly; "you see under the circumstances----" - -"I see," said Mr. Clutterbuck with a grim face. - -"Don't take it like that," said Charlie Fitzgerald, "they can't prove -anything. It's only a bit of spite." - -"That's what I was saying to-day," said Mr. Clutterbuck. And the -Anapootra Ruby Mines were forgotten--but Mr. Bailey had not forgotten -them! - -The horror of the Member--of the still Member for Mickleton, of the -Member for Mickleton in the National Party interest--was as deep as -hell when he received by post a marked copy of a low Socialist rag, -whose name he barely knew, and there under the title "What We Don't -Hear," was a jeering allusion to the Anapootra mines, coupled with a -laudatory account of himself as the champion of popular rights. Next -day a severe but obscure rebuke connecting his name with an unworthy -piece of demagogy appeared in the _Standard_. A little later a fine -defence of his courage was included in a letter to the _Guardian_. Mr. -Clutterbuck was in terror of the unknown, and everywhere the dreadful -sound of Anapootra haunted him. He walked over the Downs to clear his -brain; he sat down in the little inn at Ragman's Corner, where they -always gave him a private room and treated him as the chief gentleman -of their neighbourhood. He had hardly tasted his glass of sherry when -the publican said to him with cheerful respect: - -"Well, sir, I see you've started another hare, and I wish you luck, -sir. Here's to the People!" - -Mr. Clutterbuck turned pale; but when the publican had finished his -glass and wiped his mouth with his finger, he did not fail to add: - -"Here's to you, sir, and the Putrid Ruby Mines, whatever they may be, -and good luck to the lot!" - -Oh the agony of an isolated man! Oh, passion of humanity, when it -can find no fellow on whom to repose! The violent agitation of youth -returned to his aged blood as he went home in the dark January -evening, and he almost feared that the belated peasants whom he met so -rarely as he hurried home, would each of them whisper as they passed -the hateful name of Anapootra; that some evil shape would start from -the darkness and scream it in his ear. - -For a day or two the agony endured. Visitors and guests, the parson in -his weekly visit, the doctor who had come to advise him upon the nature -of his port, all in varied tones slyly or gravely, or with astonishment -or casually, all brought in the Accursed Thing. - -The _Times_--and he loved them for it--had not printed a word; but -the _Spectator_, keen and breezy as it is, and abreast of every new -interest in English life, had published an honourable protest; the -editor was sure that a man who was in the forefront of the heroes who -had redeemed the Congo would not sully his name by a disreputable -agitation against his fellow countrymen; while, in another sphere, the -_Winning Post_, as he knew by a secret peep taken at the bookstall, -positively had a cartoon of a vague ghastly thing labelled "The -Anapootra Ruby Mines," and a little figure, undoubtedly himself, -supporting it with difficulty in the face of a violent gale. - -Then after a few days his mood gradually changed. Mr. Clutterbuck -began to take a secret pride in his connection with these Gemmiferous -Caves of the Orient. There was no doubt at all that for the second time -in two months he was a public man; a martyr perhaps in a public cause. -Greatness began to apparel him, and side by side with the case of Rex -_v._ Fishmonger and Another, which he understood in a certain fashion, -the Anapootra Ruby Mines--still a complete mystery to him--supported -his growing fame. - -One inept Radical sheet went so far as to suggest that he was the -cat's-paw of the wicked men who had perpetrated that fraud upon their -country, but the greater part, especially of the Democratic press, -nobly maintained his integrity, and said they would see him through to -the end. - -His new publicity consoled him a crumb, a mere crumb, in the prospect -of the dreadful days before him. He sometimes indulged the inward hope -that no evidence could unseat a man now so deservedly the darling of -a Public cause; in the intervals when this consolation failed him, he -fell back upon the memory of his integrity and unblemished if short -public life; he had assured and reassured himself as to the Bogey Man, -and he was at last at ease upon the bag of gold. The consciousness of -his innocence out-weighed the gloomy prophecies of William Bailey, -and as the days passed the memory of that gentleman's forecast grew -paler and faded away. But the passage of the days brought with it also -the time of the election petition; there was a week, five days--four. -On the last Monday he sat for an hour or two with Charlie--who was of -course to give evidence--they considered every aspect, and could see no -loophole for attack. On the morrow they went into Mickleton together, -and as they passed at speed through the streets of the borough they -seemed to him too silent; even the police he thought--it may have been -but fancy--but even the police, he could have sworn, were colder and -more formal than of yore. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 8: Liver.] - -[Footnote 9: Then (in 1911) Mr. Buffle.] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -The court in which the Mickleton election petition was to be heard -sat in the Town Hall of that borough, and the first day, Tuesday, was -occupied in formalities, but even so the end of the great room set -aside for the public was crowded. - -The main part of the business was taken the next morning, the -proceedings were short--and they proved decisive. After a few -unimportant witnesses had been called--their testimony was very -inconclusive--Mr. Stephens was heard. To the member's intense relief -not a word passed upon the Bogey Man, not a word upon the bag of -sovereigns, for the inquiry was conducted with honour, and the -conventions of our elections were allowed. When Mr. Clutterbuck heard -that his own secretary was to be examined, he could not but feel -confident in the result, but the spectacle of one whom he trusted -and who was his right hand throughout the struggle being used by the -lawyers against himself, was a thing Mr. Clutterbuck very properly -resented. He silenced his anger by remembering that justice will have -its course. - -Charlie Fitzgerald gave his evidence in that simple, direct way which -should be a model for us all; he answered every question in few words, -neither embellishing nor concealing anything. He admitted the very -considerable influence of the Fishmonger Relief Committee, and was -proceeding to estimate the ten or twelve thousand it had spent for -his employer, when Sir John Compton at once interfered and ruled the -evidence out. It had been clearly laid down in three precedents that an -independent organisation was free to spend what sums it saw fit so long -as those funds did not proceed from the pocket of the candidate or his -agent. - -The thing seemed settled and Mr. Clutterbuck was breathing again -towards the close of that day, when counsel in a tone ominously calm, -said shortly: - -"Now, Mr. Fitzgerald, will you tell us where you were between half past -nine and midnight, of Monday the 6th of November of last year?" - -Mr. Fitzgerald remembered the hour and day and all the events with -truly remarkable accuracy. He said with perfect frankness that he had -spent the evening going in a cab from the Curzon Arms to the Mother -Bunch; from the Mother Bunch to the Harvest Home; from the Harvest -Home to the Drovers, from the Drovers to the Naked Man; from the Naked -Man to the Adam and Eve; and from the Adam and Eve to the Prince of -Wales's Feathers; he could not be absolutely certain of the order but -it was more or less as he had stated it. - -Those in court who did not understand the nature of the confession -began to smile, but in a few moments they saw the drift of the -examination when counsel put this perfectly plain demand: - -"Mr. Fitzgerald, think carefully: did you or did you not offer a glass -of whiskey in the Prince of Wales's Feathers to one Alfred Arthur -Pound?" - -"I offered a glass of whiskey to him and to several gentlemen," said -Charlie Fitzgerald openly. - -"You offered whiskey to these electors, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said counsel. - -"I couldn't see," began Charlie Fitzgerald. - -But the Bench at once interrupted. "You are not here, witness, to tell -us what you saw or what you did not see. You are here to give us your -evidence." - -And Charlie Fitzgerald was silent. He was asked further questions. He -had given whiskey to various citizens at the Curzon Arms, at the Naked -Man, at the Adam and Eve, and in fact at every public-house but one -upon the whole of that night. And of the men who could be traced, every -one of whom gave evidence upon oath in rapid succession, no less than -72·6 per cent. possessed votes in the constituency. - -The finding of the commission was very brief; it could not be -otherwise after what they had heard. They emphasised in the strongest -possible manner Mr. Clutterbuck's own innocence in the affair. The -Bench affirmed in the most flattering and emphatic terms that a more -honourable man than Mr. Clutterbuck had not appeared in the arena of -our public life. - -Fitzgerald also, in spite of what had proved a lamentable imprudence, -was heartily and gladly exonerated of any attempt to corrupt that high -standard of purity which is the glory of our public life. Sir John -Compton was careful to add that no shadow of suspicion rested on Mr. -Stephens; he was willing to exonerate Alfred Arthur Pound. But there -was no choice offered to a reasonable man, before whom the facts had -been presented; though most certainly no one had intended corruption -or pressure in any form--_that_, he hoped, was absent from our public -life--yet it was plain that within three weeks of the poll a large -number of electors had received a benefit especially defined by statute -as illegal and had received it at the hands of one virtually acting -(though of course in complete innocence of any unworthy motive) for -the gentleman who was candidate for the borough. Even had there been -no such statute or definition, the conclusion was plain, and it was -their very painful but solemn duty to declare, in accordance with the -evidence they had heard--evidence Sir John Compton was careful to point -out, which no one had attempted to rebut, and which he, for his part, -had very fully believed, that the election was invalid. - -Mr. Clutterbuck jumped up wildly: - -"Oh my Lord!" he said. - -But his counsel pulled him sharply by the coat tail, tearing in so -doing, I am sorry to say, the seam by which that appendage is sometimes -attached to the upper part of the garment; while Mr. Justice Paisley, -who had hitherto been silent, sternly ordered him to be seated. - -Once again within six months the Borough of Mickleton was widowed of -its proud share in the administration of our land. - -Whether it would or would not be disfranchised for a period of years -was a matter which little concerned the unhappy man upon whom the blow -had fallen. He walked distractedly away at such a pace that it was -some hundred yards before Fitzgerald had caught him up and attempted -to quiet his perturbation. To his first mood of despair was rapidly -being added a second mood of anger and outraged justice, but he was -honourable enough not to lay to the poor young man's account the -terrible misfortune that had befallen himself. He did not forget all -that Fitzgerald had done for him during the critical days of the -election, and he was grateful even now for the many services rendered -by one without whom his first and ephemeral success would never have -been won. - -Nevertheless he insisted, as the reader may well imagine, in seeking -some relief in the company of William Bailey, and Charlie, after a -moment's hesitation, was too wise to dissuade him. - -He left his employer at the door in Bruton Street, with an appointment -to meet later in the evening, and the broken man was ushered by Zachary -into that familiar room, where he waited in a dull agony for his -mentor's return. - -It was a full half-hour before William Bailey came in. He had been -hurriedly told in the hall what visitor he had. He had not troubled to -look at the tape at his Club; he was pretty certain of the result, and -there was a sort of I-told-you-so look on his face as he greeted Mr. -Clutterbuck, which did little to raise that gentleman's spirits. - -It was a foolish thing to ask, but Mr. Clutterbuck did ask William -Bailey what he was to do. - -William Bailey answered without hesitation that he could do nothing. -"Unless indeed," he added, "you care to act and to lead from outside; -you can still do that. One good meeting by an unseated member can do -more against a Government than a dozen questions in the House. D'you -care to try? It's risky, you know.... They'll put the whole thing into -court and muzzle you; and you'll have to speak before Parliament opens -also, because on the first day it'll be called out of order unless -there's a really _strong_ press outside." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was in a mood for anything. What he was to do, or why, -was quite beyond him; but there was to be a meeting and it would hurt -those who had hurt him: so much he saw. - -"Other men have done it," said William Bailey, citing examples from a -less orderly past, "and you can do it if you like." - -"I'm willing enough," said Mr. Clutterbuck, setting his teeth. "You -mean," he added, brilliantly concealing his ignorance; "you mean, I'm -to go on about the mines?" - -"That's it," said William Bailey. - -"Well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, his head sinking upon his shoulders -again, "you'll have to do it, Mr. Bailey. I can't see or think or plan; -and I don't know what the Anapootra can do for me or any one, supposing -I did----" - -"Oh, nonsense," said Mr. Bailey briskly, "a man must do what he can; -you can't get your seat again by main force. You can't get the other -things you want right off the shelf by helping yourself. You must go -on pressing and pressing. It's the only way--it's the one way in which -anything gets done. Besides which, it's enough to make any man----" - -"You're right there," said Mr. Clutterbuck eagerly; "it's enough to -make any man take action. What will you do, Mr. Bailey?" - -Mr. Bailey, when he had to form a rapid plan, gave a sort of false -impression of rapidity and strength which had deceived many. He mapped -out all the dates. - -"You know the Directors are going for libel against the _Courier_?" he -said. - -Mr. Clutterbuck didn't know it. - -"Well, but they are. To-day's Wednesday, and it will be before the -courts to-day week, next Wednesday," he said. "Once it's before the -courts you'll go to choke if you speak about it; so will any other -Johnny except in Parliament; besides which, Parliament meets the same -day, and what's more, I'm not at all sure they'd allow it even in -Questions, and there won't be any Questions until Wednesday, and by -that time, as I say, unless we get steam up outside it'll be out of -order. Monday's no good, you can't get people on Monday. It'll take a -day to get the posters up, and the advertisements and to dry them. -We'll say Saturday--Saturday at eight, in the Jubilee Hall." - -"What for?" said his slower minded companion. - -"For the meeting of course," said Mr. Bailey in surprise; "for the -great meeting of protest by the ex-Member from Mickleton, on the -Anapootra Ruby Mines!" - -For all Mr. Clutterbuck's determination he was somewhat appalled. "I'm -not at all sure that I should speak, well I--I don't know even what or -who ..." he began slowly. - -"Oh that's all right," cut in William Bailey eager for the fray. "I'll -write your speech out, and I'll introduce you on the platform. It's the -_name_ we want, and your power in the constituency. They know _that_. -The papers won't dare boycott it, and you'll get the horny-handed in -thousands. We'll have a grand time!" - -He said it with the irresponsibility of a boy, but that mood is -dangerous in a man. - -So was it decided that on the next Saturday, before Parliament opened, -and before the matter was, to be classical, _sub-judice_, a great -meeting should be held and the ball set rolling by Mr. Clutterbuck, -Champion of the People; but the Champion was torn between fear and -desire. - -Mr. Clutterbuck when he reached the Plâs, was careful to keep the -meeting even from his wife. He told it to none but Fitzgerald. -Fitzgerald was sympathetic and it felt like old times. - -Meanwhile, in London, Mr. Bailey had hired the Jubilee Hall, and, if it -were necessary for overflow, the Coronation Annex. - -The next day he spent some hours with Mr. Clutterbuck, drilling his -speech into him with unwearied repetition; and Charlie Fitzgerald, -having nothing better to do, called on his dear old friend the Duke -of Battersea, and passed with him a most delightful afternoon. Mr. -Clutterbuck and Fitzgerald met at Victoria. The merchant and his -secretary went home together. And that same evening the Duke of -Battersea did what he had to do. - -A telephone message to the Prime Minister's house and the assurance of -a hearty welcome, made what he had to do easier for him. He found that -statesman, still spirited and young in spite of his increasing trouble -with the left lung, crouched over the fire, spreading his hands to the -blaze. He talked to him of various things: of the session that was -about to open, of the plague in Burmah, of Mrs. Kempton's latest book. -He said a few words about Mr. Bailey, and casually mentioned the step -which that gentleman was apparently about to take. - -For a man in such doubtful health (and for one before whom such arduous -duties immediately lay) the Prime Minister was quite vivacious in his -replies. He differed from the Duke of Battersea with regard to Mrs. -Kempton's latest book, and criticised her attitude towards Malthus. He -spoke cheerfully of the coming session though he joked a little about -the smallness of the majority; he was very grave indeed about the -plague in Burmah--and he said nothing at all about Mr. Bailey. - -The Duke of Battersea remained not more than twenty minutes. It was -his interest to show his sympathy with the Prime Minister's illness -rather than to detain him in conversation, and he could understand -that the amusing story of Mr. Bailey's fanatical outburst would be -touched on lightly or passed in silence by a man who sat in the same -Cabinet with Lord Burpham; for after all, Lord Burpham's son, since the -Duchess of Drayton's second marriage was stepfather to the girl whom -William Bailey's favourite nephew had recently married, and relations -of this kind, when they occur in the political life of our democracy, -are naturally sacred. For all the shortness of his visit, the Duke of -Battersea had learnt what he wanted to know. He did not depend upon the -Prime Minister's aid. He re-entered his car with an alternative scheme -clear before him, and when he reached home he began to carry it into -effect. - -In the midst of the room where the Philanthropist and Financier -habitually worked, was a large table which had formerly been the -property of the Cardinal de Rohan; it had passed into other hands -during the misfortunes of the Reinachs[10] some twenty odd years -before. Its broad surface supported but a few simple and necessary -things: two tall Georgian candlesticks of silver plate, now fitted with -electric lamps; a great ink-pot, and by the side of it an electric bell. - -The Duke of Battersea spread out a large sheet of paper upon the -table before him, made a few notes, re-arranged certain details, was -satisfied with his plan, and next, without looking up, stretched -forth his hand to touch the electric bell. He was old and some of his -movements uncertain. His finger had the misfortune to find not the -electric bell but the ink-pot, into which it deeply plunged. A lesser -man would have been disturbed at the accident, and a coarser one might -have been moved to suck the injured limb. The Duke of Battersea showed -no such weakness. He looked up, rubbed his finger on the blotting-pad, -made sure of the electric bell, and when it was answered, said in a low -voice: - -"Mr. Befan." - -The servant disappeared, and came back in half an hour with the message: - -"Mr. Bevan is not at the Agency, your grace; he is watching the Hampton -divorce case, your grace. The Agency says, your grace, will you have -Penderton?" - -"Certainly not," said the Duke of Battersea, still intent upon the -paper before him. "Find out when he will be back." - -In a quarter of an hour he was told that the detective was expected -home from Hertfordshire at half-past twelve that night. - -The duke looked at his watch, compared it with a fine specimen of -Toledo clockwork set in a German monstrance upon the mantelpiece, and -saw that he had an hour to wait. He made a motion with his hand and was -left alone. He was determined to see Bevan and to see him that night, -but it was nearly one in the morning before the door opened and the -detective appeared. - -The detective was a short gentlemanly man with a hare lip and a -malformation of the forehead which raised one eyebrow considerably -above the other. He did not limp, but when he walked the emphasis was -upon the right leg. His ears which were large and prominent did much -to counter-balance the pleasing intelligence of his expression. He -was not a man whom one would at the first sight, nor at the second, -have chosen for the unravelling of difficult problems, but the Duke of -Battersea knew far too much of the world to judge by any other standard -than that of performance and of practice. And Mr. Bevan had not failed -him on two recent occasions when rapid execution had been essential, as -it was essential now. - -He wasted no words. He described who had to be watched and what -evidence if possible had to be gathered. He gave the address in Bruton -Street, and as the detective stood respectfully at the door, he named a -hundred pounds. - -"It's worth a hundred and fifty, your grace," said Mr. Bevan, as he -repeated the conditions which were laid down to him. - -"Sefen and sixpence," said the Duke with a gentle smile, "if what I -have told you already was all indeed"--and having said that he gave -time for it to soak in. - -Mr. Bevan changed his hat from one hand to the other, then held it in -both hands and said he was sure he didn't mean to say more than one -should say, and he would certainly leave it to the Duke, who nodded and -answered him: - -"That is good--that is right. For this reason I make it a hundred; and -if he does nothing as you want, you shall see him do, and you shall be -a witness." - -"I can't make a man do anything worth telling you, my lord," said Mr. -Bevan rather surlily. - -"Why, then," said the Duke of Battersea, approaching his wrists and -opening his hands widely outwards, "how can I either pay?" - -Mr. Bevan sighed unpleasantly and was content. - -He left the Presence before two o'clock, but such was his intimacy with -more than one of the servants that it was half-past two in the morning -before he was clear of Barnett House. He did not wait for the tardy -advent of the winter dawn; he was home before three; he then and there -put on his professional boots, to the soles of which were attached -small pads of india-rubber. He secreted upon his person a small -revolver, a yet smaller electric lantern, £5 in change in case the -hunt should take him far afield, a flask of Scotch whiskey, a box of -fusees, some cigarettes such as are smoked by the landed classes, two -good cigars, five cheap ones, a little Craven mixture in one side of -his tobacco pouch and some peculiarly vile shag in the other. He put on -a waistcoat within the lining of which his true name and address were -inscribed upon a linen pad, thrust into his breast pocket an envelope -bearing a false name and address, and put into a visiting card case -certain visiting cards bearing yet a third name and address, that of -one Hilling, a commercial traveller in the Seven Sisters Road; others -inscribed Mr. John Hilling, Captain 47th Fusiliers, Rochester, he also -secreted in various pockets, and a few more in which the same name was -played upon in other ways. - -The reader will be surprised to hear that after these preparations -he put upon his head a billycock hat of the most demonstrative type, -and committed the imprudence of wearing a large, made-up blue tie. -But genius, however universal, however disciplined and experienced, -is human. It is easy to criticise a fault in detail; it is more -difficult to reproduce the general plan of the master; and those who -may be disposed to ridicule the large made-up tie of Mr. Bevan, or the -billycock hat which I have gone so far as to call demonstrative, would -do well to ask themselves whether they would have had the learning or -the intuition to provide themselves--I mention but one point--with -cigarettes such as are smoked by the landed gentry, with Craven mixture -upon one side of the tobacco pouch and with a peculiarly vile shag upon -the other; yet Mr. Bevan had thought of these things! - -A few glasses of hot whiskey and water to prepare him for the ordeal -were rapidly swallowed--for Mr. Bevan, like most men of acute -intelligence, was a moderate drinker--and he went out into the night. -It was a little after four o'clock. - -A man of less experience in the ways of the world might have neglected -to observe the movements of so wealthy a personage as Mr. Bailey until -a later hour in the morning, so universal has the deplorable habit of -late rising become among the governing classes of this country. Mr. -Bevan knew better. He had seen many a dark deed done between five and -seven of a London January morning, nay, in the old days as a member of -the Force he could well remember routing out the Alsatians close upon -six o'clock, though to be sure on that occasion the Force had been -guided to those abandoned premises by the sound of boisterous music and -the firing of a rocket through one of the upper windows. - -It was not five, then, when Mr. Bevan took his stand opposite the -little house in Bruton Street. He had chosen his advantage very well. -With a courage and skill which only those who have served in the -Metropolitan Police can understand, he hid himself in a corner where -a shadow thrown by a buttress put him in complete darkness. He was a -short man and yet had to crouch a little, but he was used to discomfort -in the prosecution of his duty, and in this attitude, unable even to -smoke for fear the light should betray him, he watched for over an -hour. At the end of that time rain began to fall. He did not upon -that account abandon his post; the tardy winter dawn gleamed at last -over the shining roofs of London. With the first hint of daylight the -light on his collar, which he had neglected to cover, betrayed him to a -policeman of the name of Tooley, who was slowly pacing the street and -whistling a mournful air. - -As quick as lightning Mr. Bevan was grabbed by both elbows, his face -thrust against the rough brick-work, and a natural demand, brief and -perhaps somewhat too violent, as to his occupation and intentions was -addressed to him by that Civil Servant. To the policeman's astonishment -Mr. Bevan's only reply to these manœuvres was what is technically -known in the Force as "the shake," and retreating rapidly three steps -backward he had the presence of mind to say in a low tone, "I'll pass -the order." - -With these words he satisfied his colleague in the manner which is -usual with our efficient and highly trained body of public guardians, -of the nature and legitimacy of his mission. The respective positions -of the Duke of Battersea and of Mr. Bailey were quite enough to -convince a sober judgment, and policeman Tooley, an active and -intelligent man, at once appreciated the situation, but felt bound in -duty to add: - -"I must keep my eye on you, mind," to which Mr. Bevan cheerfully -replied by a nod of the head, and resumed his former post. - -At about half-past seven the rain ceased. Eight o'clock struck: no one -in the street was stirring. A milkman passed down on foot, leaving his -little can at every gate, but carefully refraining from uttering that -musical cry, which the upper classes have, very properly, forbidden in -the neighbourhood of their town residences. It was a quarter to nine -and the whiskey in Mr. Bevan's stomach had long ago grown cold; nay, -he felt positively weak for want of breakfast, when the first signs of -life appeared in Mr. Bailey's house: these took the form, first of a -cat leaping out as though in panic from the area gate, and immediately -afterwards the appearance of a young woman's head utterly incomplete -in toilet, and, in everything save the sex and youth of its owner, -repulsive. Next, two blinds were drawn up in a bedroom on the second -floor. The window was thrown open; and for a little while nothing more -of real importance occurred. - -Within the house, Mr. Bailey's man Zachary had woken his master and had -flooded the room with light. - -"It is ten o'clock, sir," he said in his customary tone of mingled -severity and deference. - -"That's a lie," said Mr. Bailey, not moving his head from the pillow, -nor withdrawing it by one inch from beneath the bedclothes. - -Zachary made no reply. He was accustomed to conversations of this kind. -He made an unnecessary noise with the hot water, banged the furniture -about, and then before leaving the room said: - -"May I go out for the day, sir?" in a tone rather of menace than of -inquiry. - -"You can go at a quarter past ten--it must be nearly that now," -chuckled Mr. Bailey with sleepy humour. - -Mr. Bailey's man Zachary was annoyed to have been caught in this trap; -he consoled himself by remembering that he might leave the house at -once and his master be none the wiser. - -"If you're not back by six this evening," said Mr. Bailey -good-naturedly, stretching his arms and yawning, "you'll be in the -workhouse in a week or two." - -"Very good, sir," said Zachary in a more respectful tone than he had -yet adopted; he shut the door very softly after him and went tiptoe -down the deep carpet of the stairs. For the next ten minutes he was -dressing as befitted a man of his temper, and well before ten o'clock -he had emerged from the front door in a quiet, sensible frock-coat, a -good but not obtrusive top hat, quite new gloves of a deep brown, and -a serviceable but neat umbrella. His boots, however, were laced, not -buttoned; blacked, not polished. - -Mr. Bevan's heart rose with a bound. His long vigil was ended! He -permitted Zachary to turn the corner of Bruton Street into Berkeley -Square, and then, gauging his pace at much the same as that set by this -excellent domestic, he followed. - -The error was not only natural, it was inevitable. It was no case for -hesitation nor even for rapid decision; but even had such a necessity -arisen in Mr. Bevan's mind, his habit of prompt decision would have -saved him from even a moment's delay. He had found his quarry and he -would hunt it down. - -With the sober walk that denotes a man of the world, but now and then -twirling his umbrella as though his birth and status gave him a right -to despise convention, nay, going once or twice so far as to whistle -the bar of a tune, Zachary proceeded northward to the Tube, and turned -into that station which takes its name from Bond Street. - -The Tubes of London have added yet another problem to the already -arduous intellectual task of that great army of detectives which stands -between Society and Anarchy. To follow a man in the street, to pursue -his cab or his omnibus at the regulation distance advised by Captain -Wattlebury, M. Grignan, and other authorities of European reputation, -is an easy matter; but once let your man get into the train ahead of -you on the Tube, and you have lost him! The Tube necessitates, as -all my readers who have engaged in detective work will recognise, a -close proximity to the person watched; but Mr. Bevan was equal to the -occasion. Fully appreciating the strategical advantage of the stairs, -he was at their foot long before the lift had reached the level of the -trains, and following Zachary's tall hat through the crush, he sat -down in the carriage next to that in which the scent lay, gazing into -vacancy and sucking the top of his umbrella. Mr. Bevan watched him -narrowly through a contrivance with which all the forces of law and -order are familiar: a little book which can be easily held before the -face as though one were reading, but which is pierced by a convenient -hole through which the right eye can sweep the landscape beyond. - -Zachary changed for Hampstead, and so did Mr. Bevan. At the junction he -bought a newspaper, the name of which Mr. Bevan, to his great chagrin, -was unable to note, as he folded it inside-out and read the lower half -of the sheet. At Hampstead, I find it in Mr. Bevan's notes that they -alit, and they reached the happy upper world together. Zachary made -straight for the Heath. Mr. Bevan, now free to follow him at a discreet -distance, did so, but grew fainter and weaker as he walked, for he was -in desperate need of food. He hoped and prayed that the chase would -turn into a restaurant: his prayer was answered, though in a manner -shocking to one who still maintained his respect for rank. - -Zachary turned into a little public-house of an unpleasing type, nodded -cheerfully to the potman, whom he addressed as "Larky," and ordered--of -all things in the world--gin and water! - -The accident was a godsend to Mr. Bevan. He noticed that his quarry had -at least had the decency to go into the saloon bar; he dashed into the -public one, gulped down a glass of beer, bought a handful of biscuits, -went out immediately lest he should miss the trail, and was glad to see -that his victim yet lingered within. - -In twenty minutes or so he came out, his eyes a little watery, and -continued his unsuspecting way towards the Heath with the detective -after him. But he was not alone! By his side there walked, dressed in a -manner that would have appalled the Press itself, a young woman! - -The plot thickened. And Mr. Bevan, who had expected a very different -occupation to be provided for him, divined at once the possibilities -which his discovery contained. He had no need now to fear hunger, -anxiety, or lack of matter. It was plain sailing for the whole -afternoon. He followed them to the Heath, he saw them seated and -embraced behind a clump of thorn and ready to devour a luncheon they -had purchased and carried in a paper bag. He would leave them now; he -had time to return to the little public-house and to inquire of the -potman every detail of the unhappy man's conduct; he was told of his -monstrous promise to marry the daughter of the potman's master; of -his repeated and lengthy calls; he learnt at full length the whole -disgraceful business, and with admirable self-mastery he pretended -to no surprise when he heard that the name the visitor was known to -the publican and his servant by was "Zachary Hemmings." He waited -patiently until the guilty man reappeared with his paramour in her -father's home. He waited outside in the advancing dusk until the male -offender had reappeared, somewhat unsteadily, and giving every sign of -an exhilaration due to something more than requited affection. His hat -was not absolutely straight upon his head; his umbrella trailed upon -the ground; his face was indolently happy. Zachary did not take the -Tube, but as it was now already dark and as he remembered in a fuddled -way that his place was in jeopardy, he had the cunning to hail a lonely -taximeter which was returning in no good humour after depositing a fare -at the Spaniards. - -There are in the humbler strata of our national life qualities of -courage and immediate decision such as produce a Kitchener, a Milner, -or a Macdonald in the higher ranks. A taximeter is the fleetest of all -beasts: in Hampstead taximeters are rare. Mr. Bevan had decided in a -flash. He dashed up, pulled off his hat, imitating with partial success -the speech of a man out of breath with running, and told Zachary at -top speed that if he would permit him to share his taximeter back to -town he would be saving the life of a young child, of whose sudden -accidental fall he had but just heard by telephone. The domestic, -though perhaps not naturally warm-hearted, or if warm-hearted, rendered -callous by years of exacting labour, was, under the combined influences -which he had enjoyed, in a softer--nay, in an effusive mood. He seized -Mr. Bevan's hands, swung him into the cab, shouted "Cer'nly!" and -putting his head out of the window said to the astonished chauffeur, -"Home!" - -Before that mechanician had time to reply in suitable terms, Mr. Bevan -had whispered through the little hole, "That's all right, Bond Street: -tell you where to stop," and they darted away down the hill. - -Zachary tried twice to sing, remembered each time that he was in -company, smiled vapidly each time, and each time was silent again. But -I cannot deny that at Chalk Farm, quite forgetting the child whose -unhappy accident was causing an agonised father to be his guest, he -insisted on getting out and drinking--a course from which that agonised -father made no attempt to dissuade him; he repeated his folly at the -Horseshoe. - -At the corner of Bond Street the taximeter pulled up abruptly. Mr. -Bevan leaped out, and nodding hurriedly at the astonished Zachary who -had a vague comprehension that some things were too well known, and -other things too mysterious, he gave the number in Bruton Street to -the chauffeur and disappeared. The taximeter swept round eight or nine -corners, waited perhaps a quarter of an hour behind as many blocks in -the traffic, and finally deposited the unhappy Zachary at his master's -door. - -The noise of the engine attracted that master to the ground floor -windows of his study, and Zachary noted with alarm the vision of his -face. His confused brain prepared a defence. The sum marked upon the -taximeter was four and tuppence: he feared for one idiotic moment that -it represented 42_s_. Recovering from his alarm he remembered to divide -it by eight, which is the number of pence per mile commonly charged -by these useful vehicles, failed to arrive at a quotient, pressed ten -shillings into the chauffeur's hand, and was only too glad to see him -depart in the direction of Berkeley Square and of those wealthy regions -to the West. The wretched man was fumbling with his latch-key for the -keyhole, when he nearly fell forward inwards as the door was suddenly -opened by Mr. Bailey. - -Mr. Bailey's face was genial, his eyes bright as ever, his whiskers -as healthy and florid as though he had but just completed his morning -toilet. With his hands in his pockets he looked down on his abashed -servitor and said pleasantly: - -"How drunk you are to-night, Zachary!" He then added as Zachary's hat -fell to the floor: "I hope that's your hat, Zachary, and not mine!" - -Zachary said "Yes, sir," with painful clarity of intonation. - -"You come in here, Zachary," said Mr. Bailey, opening the door of the -study. "I want to talk to you. Sit down in that chair, a long way from -the fire." - -Zachary did as he was bid: Mr. Bailey shut him in, went to the kitchen -stairs and roared down them: - -"Jane-bring-me-up-a-cup-of-very-hot-coffee-with-no-sugar-in-it-at-once --I-don't-want-to-be-kept-waiting-in-the-study!" For such was Mr. -Bailey's method of delivering an order in person on the rare occasions -when he put himself to that inconvenience. The consequence of that -method was that hardly had he joined Zachary in the study when -Jane appeared, purple in the face, with a large cup of coffee which -contained no trace of sugar, and which was extremely hot. The moment -she was out of the room Mr. Bailey solemnly dropped a pinch of salt -into the coffee and said to his miserable servant: - -"Drink that!" - -"I do assure you, sir--" said Zachary in tones of increasing sobriety. - -"Drink that, you ass," said Mr. Bailey, "do you suppose I don't know -what's good for you?" - -"Yes, sir, certainly sir," said Zachary humbly. He gulped the coffee -down, and when he had done so began: "It's not near seven, sir." - -Mr. Bailey put up his hand. - -"Now look here, Zachary," he said; "what I want is information. First -of all, you came in a taxi' cab." - -"Yes, sir, I did, sir," said Zachary. "I'm sure, sir, I wouldn't -have----" - -"I don't mind your coming home in a pumpkin with six white mice," said -Mr. Bailey. "I don't want to know why about anything. What I want is -information. Where did you come from?" - -"'Ampstead, sir," said Zachary, who but rarely dropped his h's, but -thought there were occasions when it was necessary to do so. Then -forgetting his master's injunction, he added: "But there was a -gentleman, with me, sir." - -"Oh," said Mr. Bailey, thoroughly interested. "That's what I -wanted--information. You came in a taximeter (that I could see for -myself). You came from Hampstead, you came drunk (I'm sure you won't -mind my saying that!) and there was a gentleman with you. Now, who was -that gentleman?" - -"I'm sure I don't know," said the bewildered Zachary. - -"Good heavens!" replied Mr. Bailey. "Can't you remember where you met -him?" - -"It was coming out of my friend's father's house that is to be," said -Zachary, with a precision rather of visual concept than of terminology. - -"The Hop and Garters?" said Mr. Bailey, with vague reminiscence. - -"No, sir," said Zachary, with as much severity as he had power under -the conditions to assume. "The Hop Garden, sir; that's the name of the -house, the Hop Garden." - -"How had you passed your time till then?" asked Mr. Bailey. - -Zachary recounted his day in no great detail, and in some fear lest his -dignity should suffer as he told the story. - -Mr. Bailey mused. To characters so wayward and loose the solid -plans whereby great men of affairs achieve their ends are at once -inexplicable and tedious. Mr. Bailey had no conception of what was -toward. He might even have been ready, had Zachary remembered the -circumstance, to believe the story the detective told about a sick -child and the necessity for speed. As it was, he was merely bewildered, -and was filled with a sort of instinctive muddled conception that -somehow or other it had been worth somebody's while to shadow Zachary -as far as the top of Bond Street and no further. But why on earth -should any one want to shadow Zachary? He thought of burglars, but -burglars do not become intimate with servants by exciting their -suspicions. He thought of practical jokes; he thought of petty theft, -but Zachary assured him he was only ten shillings out, and even then -remembered that he had given the ten shillings to the chauffeur. - -While he was in this sort of study, making neither head nor tail of the -adventure, Zachary volunteered, a little nervously, for he was afraid -it might sound like an explanation and not like the "information" his -master was after: - -"I'm sure he was a gentleman, sir--he knew where you lived." - -Mr. Bailey was quite seriously concerned. To men of his intellectual -calibre, utterly unworthy to compete with the great directing brains -of our masterful time, and capable only of a superficial and purely -verbal display, a sense of a force which knows _them_ while they do -not know _it_, is intolerable. Such men are the weak, hunted creatures -of our powerful and creative generation--that is, when the hunt is -worth the hunter's while. And the hunters--the successful hunters--are -the financiers, the statesmen, the owners, the doers--the Hearsts, -the Northcliffes, the Clemenceaus, the Roosevelts, the Levi Leiter -Juniors--who make us what we are. - -Mr. Bailey, who knew so little of reality, knew this at least, and with -the instinct of all hunted things, he was troubled. He was much graver -when he rose after this conversation and said: - -"That's all right, Zachary, you'd better go to bed. Don't eat anything, -and drink nothing beyond such cold water as you absolutely require. I'm -sure it will be sufficient." - -"I thank you humbly, sir," said Zachary. He went out of the room quite -sober--such is the effect of coffee with a little salt--and crept up to -bed. - -Mr. Bailey remained for an hour and more gazing at the fire; then he -rang the bell and ordered dinner with the most precise care, choosing -just those articles which could be cooked lightly and quickly, -insisting to the cook whom he saw in person, that they should follow -in a precise order and at precise intervals of time, and adding, as was -his invariable custom after each item: - -"If you haven't got it, send for it." - -At half-past eight this repast was to be ready, and for him alone. He -puzzled at Zachary's mysterious adventure for some moments and longer, -could make nothing of it, and in order perhaps to relieve his uneasy -sense of incapacity, took refuge in reading one evening newspaper after -another, and passing upon each some silent, facile, cynical comment as -he read. - -Meanwhile Mr. Bevan had reported at Barnett House. He was at once -admitted. - -He found the aged statesman and philanthropist before the Adams -chimney-piece, a mass of papers upon a what-not beside him, his -telephone mobilised upon the great central table, and a pile of -bank-notes standing by the side of it under a paper-weight of bronze -representing the Ariadne of Knidos, a bust the poor Master of Kendale -had especially admired. - -Mr. Bevan stood waiting at the door. The Duke of Battersea with -exquisite good breeding waved his aged hand towards a chair, but Mr. -Bevan preferred to remain standing, and he was not pressed. He first -broke the silence: - -"I've done the job proper, my lord--your grace, I mean," he said; -"heavy, too." - -"I ask you to tell me quite shortly what you have found," said the -Duke, without lifting his eyes. - -It was almost the same order that Mr. Bailey was giving to his servant -at that same moment some two or three hundred yards away, but what a -gulf between the two men! The strong and secure architect of his own -and of his country's successes, sitting in the splendour of Barnett -House, doing, controlling all--and the poor egoist whose feeble -good-nature or vanity had been the chief feature of the interview in -Bruton Street! Mr. Bevan told his story with precision, described -the well-dressed gentleman leaving the house in Bruton Street; his -disgraceful adventures in a lower rank; his assumed name of "Zachary -Hemmings." The Duke asked the detective whether he were sure Mr. Bailey -used that false name. Mr. Bevan said "Quite sure, your grace," and -completed his tale with the story of the drunkenness, the taxi, and all -the nasty business. When he had done he pulled out the piece of paper -which had accompanied him throughout the day and to which he had added -a few lines in the Bull and Flummery, on his way from Bond Street to -Barnett House. - -"I've got it all writ down here, sir--I mean your grace." (The Duke -of Battersea made an impatient gesture--he could not bear to have -his title insisted upon.) "It's all here," repeated Mr. Bevan with -legitimate pride. - -"Give it me," said the Duke of Battersea quietly. - -Mr. Bevan knew the world as well as a man can under his circumstances; -he also was one of the strong girders of our State, not one of its -painted ornaments; but when two generals meet the greater conquers. -He handed over the paper quite innocently, and before he knew what -had happened, the Duke of Battersea had put it in the fire; nay, -with a vigour rare at his age and rarer still in men of his worldly -possessions, he had thrust it among the coals with the toe of his boot. - -Mr. Bevan could not restrain a movement towards it. He was too late to -save it, then the reserve which the presence of the Great imposes upon -us all recalled him to himself. - -This brief episode over--and it did not take thirty seconds--the Duke -of Battersea said in a rather louder, more vibrant tone than he had yet -used: - -"Thank you, Bevan, there iss your money"--he wagged his head towards -the table. "You said you would not take it in a cheque; so: but I like -to know where my money goes; and how also." - -Mr. Bevan opened his mouth to speak. - -"It is take it or leaf it," said the Duke of Battersea. - -Mr. Bevan took it. - -"I do think, sir ..." began Mr. Bevan. - -There passed suddenly over the Duke of Battersea's face an expression -of such concentration and power as may have passed perhaps over that of -another great genius[11] when he planned the Parliamentary fortunes of -the Panama Canal and seemed for a moment thwarted. It was an expression -of enormous intensity, and Mr. Bevan, putting the notes without -counting them into a side pocket of his coat, and keeping his hand upon -it, quietly left the room. - -When he was gone the Duke of Battersea took a note which he had already -written and was keeping against this moment, and sent it round the -corner in a cab to the club where he knew that Fitzgerald was waiting -upon that critical night before going back to the Plâs. The cab came -back immediately with Charles Fitzgerald in it. Here at least was a man -who understood haste. He was not even wearing a hat! - -The Duke of Battersea rose to receive him--a rare honour, but he knew -when to pay honour. He was affectionate to him, put one hand upon -his shoulder, and asked him whether he would drink anything, which -Fitzgerald very gladly did; and when Fitzgerald had drunk he said: - -"Do you think you can bring Mr. Bailey at once here? Ah?" - -"He'll be dining now," said Fitzgerald. - -"He is dining alone to-night," said the Duke of Battersea, "he is not -dining till half-past eight o'clock. It is twenty minutes only past -seven o'clock." He knew these things. - -He added a number of other details, stuffed with research, -concentration, and plan, and Fitzgerald admired all he heard. - -Fitzgerald waited a moment. "Mary Smith could get him," he said -finally, thinking as he spoke and holding his head to one side. "I'll -telephone to her and she'll telephone to him. Then she'll let me know, -and I'll go and fetch him. I'm sure he'll come." - -He bothered for no formalities but went out at once, for he knew what -was wanted. - -The time seemed very long to the Duke of Battersea. The moments were -important. Fitzgerald was gone but twenty-five minutes, and when he -returned the Duke was glad to hear two shambling footsteps accompanying -Fitzgerald's own decided step down the marble of the passage. - -And sure enough, there came in, half a head above the tall young man, -the taller, somewhat hesitating figure with its good-natured face, -upon which could now be very palpably read a lack of ease. - -The Duke of Battersea put out his hand, but Mr. Bailey was so awkward -as to be occupied at that moment in blowing his nose. It was but one of -many indications of the man's inward disturbance. Then he sat down, and -behind him, without a word of comment or apology, Fitzgerald withdrew -and was off to Mr. Clutterbuck's home. - -When they were alone the Duke of Battersea said in a very gentle but -very decided tone: - -"Mr. Bailey, I think we know each other. I want to tell you a story. -Will you listen out?" - -"Listen what?" said Mr. Bailey, with his irritating verbal quibbles. - -"Listen out to me," said the Duke of Battersea, certain of his idiom. - -"Would I listen you out?" said Mr. Bailey. - -"Yes," said the Duke of Battersea, still thoroughly master of himself. - -"Go ahead," said Mr. Bailey. He leant back, put his hands into his -pockets as though that drawing-room were the most familiar to him -in the world, and surveyed the Duke of Battersea downward through -half-shut eyes. - -The old man began his tale. The wording of it was perfect, and if here -and there a foreign idiom crept into his terse and carefully chosen -phrases, Mr. Bailey would murmur a correction. To such impertinences -the Duke paid no attention. He told the story of a man who had left -home that morning; he gave the precise hour at which he left home, the -manner of his dress, and the very lace upon his boots. He told the -whole shameful story of the Tube, of the Hop Garden-- - -"Hop and Garters," said Mr. Bailey quietly. - -"So--well then," cried the Duke of Battersea, for one moment visibly -angered, "laugh at last and you laugh best." Then he sank back into -his own sense of power, recovered English idiom and continued. As he -went on to the story of the Heath, and of the luncheon, Mr. Bailey -rose and began pacing up and down the room. When the Duke came to the -final visit to the public-house, to the name "Zachary Hemming," which -he scanned slowly, hardening the gutturals in "Zachary" and filling -that word with sting, Mr. Bailey sat down again, and before the Duke -had concluded he had covered his face with his hands. But the old man -was pitiless. He told the story of the excesses at Chalk Farm, of -further excesses at the Horseshoe; he gave the very description of the -mysterious stranger, of the taximeter--of all. Then he ceased. - -There is always something of the Cad in the Fanatic. A gentleman would -have warned the aged Philanthropist of the error under which he -laboured. Not so Mr. Bailey. - -Mr. Bailey's face was still hidden. A slight movement of the shoulders -did not betray his emotion. There was a long interval of silence. Then -the Duke said: - -"Well, Mr. Bailey, now who laughs at last?" - -Mr. Bailey answered never a word. - -"Mr. Bailey," continued the Duke, "I will do nothing, but so also you -will nothing. No-thing," he added, pronouncing the word quite slowly, -"no-thing at all." He wagged his head gently, and permitted the -slightest of smiles to greet Mr. Bailey's face as it rose from between -his hands. "No-thing at all. That is all is there," he ended. - -Mr. Bailey, with bowed head and with an inaudible sigh repeated, but in -a lower tone, stunned as it were into repeating the very phrases and -accent of his host, "No-thing at all--that is all is there." - -And he went out without another word. - -In this way the Duke of Battersea secured himself from danger, and he -slept that night certain that the meeting would not be held. He had won -his battle. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 10: I do not allude to M. de Reinach, the great French -statesman and champion of Truth and Justice, but to his uncle, whose -sudden demise will be familiar to many.] - -[Footnote 11: I refer once more to the (alas!) late Baron de Reinach, -uncle of the great French statesman, Joseph de Reinach.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - -Next morning Mr. Bailey woke at dawn, a rare thing for him and an -unpleasant one. He did not ring his bell: he hoped perhaps for further -sleep, but he felt wonderfully wakeful. The morning was fresh; he went -and pulled aside the curtain, he threw open the window towards the day, -and sniffed the eager air; his mischievous brain was alert and full of -plans; he was seeking what he might devour. - -In this mood there suddenly recurred to him the night before, and -though he was alone he beamed to himself at the recollection of it. -He first considered, in that minute manner to which such natures are -given, how best he could reply, and in a little while he had decided. - -He dressed and went out, ate his breakfast at a little workmen's -chop-house in one of the back streets--where he was sufficiently stared -at--and then walked smartly northward and eastward towards Mickleton, -musing as he went, and with every step he took his plan grew more -defined. Of all the men of Mickleton, Mr. Clay, he found, carried most -weight. His courage in starting business for a third time, his large -number of workmen, the rates he paid, his Swedenborgianism, all counted -in the suburb: he had paid Mr. Clay assiduous court for a fortnight, -and Mr. Clay was delighted at the honour. - -It was half-past nine when he found Mr. Clay in his office, strict and -starched as ever, and, as ever, in some incomprehensible hurry to get -on to the next affair. - -"Clay," he said, "can you lend me the big shed to-night?" - -"Yes," said Mr. Clay with the rapidity of decision that had already -lost him one fortune and grievously jeopardised two others. "James," he -said, turning round smartly, "book that. Mr. Bailey takes the big shed -when the men knock off work." - -"No, no!" broke in William Bailey, "not when the men knock off work. -It's Saturday man! Half-past eight's the hour." - -"Oh!" said Mr. Clay promptly. "James, book that: not when the men knock -off work, half-past eight. Anything more?" he added, turning to Mr. -Bailey as upon a swivel. - -"Yes, Clay, certainly," said Mr. Bailey with deliberate hesitation. -"Will the men come?" - -"Of course they'll come. I'll tell them to come: they'll come anyhow. -James," he said, turning round again, "note that the men are to come." - -The wretched James noted it. - -"Anything more?" said Mr. Clay. - -"Yes," said Mr. Bailey, "will you take the chair?" - -"Certainly," said Mr. Clay. "James, remind me that I take the chair." - -"How shall I remind you?" replied the terrified boy. - -"How shall you remind me, you fool? Write it down--book it--make a note -of it. Anything more?" he continued. - -"No, I think that's about all," said Mr. Bailey. But as he turned to -go slowly out Mr. Clay's curiosity got the better of his extremely -businesslike habits. - -"Mr. Bailey," he said, coughing slightly, "Bailey, I beg your pardon, -but what will the meeting be about?" - -"Oh, what on earth does that matter?" said Mr. Bailey good-naturedly. -"Just a meeting." - -"About the unseating of our member?" asked Mr. Clay anxiously. - -"Yes," answered Mr. Bailey with jollity, "all sorts of things of that -sort." - -"I'm your man," said Mr. Clay, "I'm your man. None of that about here: -we're free born in Mickleton, we are. Mickleton men," he added, -as though Mickleton were an island that had fiercely defended its -independence in long and bloody wars--"Mickleton men, Mr. Bailey." Then -he nodded, and remembering the true secret of success, began writing -rapidly again. - -Mr. Bailey sauntered out. He looked about him to find his direction, -turned down Mafeking Avenue, and when towards ten o'clock he had -reached the agents for the Second Jubilee Hall and the Coronation -Annexe, his foolish and disastrous intention was fixed. - -He entered abruptly into his business and told the clerk that he must -countermand the use of the building for that night. He was willing to -pay the £40 for it as though he had hired it, and in case they could -get another let at so short a notice, half that sum. - -The clerk had been warned by his principal that Mr. Bailey would -probably telephone or still more likely call in person that morning, -and professed a need to consult the head of the firm before he could -give a reply. He was careful to leave Mr. Bailey with a copy of the -_Times_ while he went into the principal's private room, and Mr. -Bailey, who had not seen that paper for some months, gloomily read a -leader upon foreign affairs, in which his warped judgment pretended to -detect the hand of the redoubtable and ubiquitous Abraham. He had not -been engaged in this fashion for five minutes, when the clerk returned -and told him in a firm voice they could not accept his offer. - -"How do you mean you can't accept it?" demanded Mr. Bailey in very -genuine astonishment and with still more genuine irritation. "You can't -refuse it!... you mean you can't accept the £20?" he added a little -more gently. - -"Yes we can, sir--no I don't, sir," answered the clerk hurriedly and -firmly, while his mouth twitched like that of a Colonial Governor in -time of crisis. "I mean we can't accept it, sir, it can't be done." - -"But it's got to be done," roared Mr. Bailey. "You can't force me to -hold my meeting if I don't want to!" - -"No, sir, certainly not, sir," said the clerk. - -"Then what the hell do you mean?" shouted the blasphemous fellow. - -"I mean that we can't take a plain inclusive payment for the loss and -disturbance, sir. We can't do it." - -"What _do_ you mean?" said Mr. Bailey. - -The clerk answered that he must consult his principal again, and Mr. -Bailey, restraining himself with a considerable effort, sat down to -finish the leader which he was more convinced than ever had proceeded -from the pen of the mythical Hebrew. It was a long while before the -clerk returned, for it had been necessary to communicate by telephone -with the Duke of Battersea, and at such an early hour it was not easy -to obtain the philanthropist's reply. - -"We'll take your offer, sir," said the clerk. - -"Oh you will, will you?" said Mr. Bailey, "then you won't have the -chance. I'll hold the meeting just the same. So there!" he added, a -little vulgarly, and stalked out. - -It is undecided, flighty action of this sort which leads to half the -trouble in this world. Mr. Bailey had not the remotest intention of -holding the meeting in the original hall. In that his somewhat wayward -decision stood firm. With that object he had seen Mr. Clay; and he -was wise, for the forces against him were too strong to permit him to -call the meeting in the Second Jubilee Hall or even in the Coronation -Annexe; they were strong enough to prevent his holding it in any public -building. But this sudden rise of temper on his part proved a source of -considerable irritation and expense to others, who should not have been -made responsible for it. - -The conversation that passed over the telephone, between the Duke of -Battersea and the agent, was singularly and needlessly acrimonious -upon the part of the aged statesman, almost servile upon the part -of the agent; both emotions might surely have been spared to two men -who at heart knew themselves to be worthy of nobler things, had not -Mr. Bailey, by his precipitate ill-temper, destroyed arrangements -which would probably have been for his own good, and certainly for -that of the community at large. The upshot of the conversation was -that the Duke, despairing of understanding the situation, announced -his intention of coming himself to Mickleton by noon, and the agent, -pleased as he was at the advertisement that such a visit must afford -him, would willingly have foregone the honour for the sake of that -peace which he feared never to regain. - -At noon the motor-car glode up with its tiny strawberry leaf coronet -and the dainty arms upon the panels. - -The agent came out, was obsequious, deferential, intelligent and full -of sympathy, but unfortunately incapable of the rapid perception -which was demanded of him. His only reply was that he could not see -how he could do it; that he would do everything he could; he would be -delighted to withdraw the placards which were even now being got ready -to stand outside the hall; he would make what difficulties he could for -the admission of the Press--though he very much doubted his power to -exclude reporters once the hall was hired. When, in the midst of his -excuses, he suddenly let light into his caller's mind by saying: - -"And of course everything would be subject to the proprietors." - -"Who are then the proprietors?" said the Duke sharply. - -"The Anglo-Saxon Exchange," said the agent with that touch of pride -which we all feel when we mention any important power with which we -have even a distant connection. - -The Duke was relieved. - -"That I should also have known," he said gently, and then changing his -manner altogether he added: - -"That is _allright_, that is _allright_," separating the first two -words and laying stress upon the first syllable of the last, in a -manner which still faintly betrayed those difficulties with the English -language which he had had the courage and the perseverance to conquer -almost completely. - -He went away in a frame of mind at which the agent was at once too -polite and too humble to wonder, but which was certainly far less -agitated than that in which he had come. It was a heavy strain to -fall upon a man of the Duke of Battersea's age, and one that should -have been spared him, but no one knew better than that strong genius -of finance what things may be done by deputy and what things must be -done in person. Nor will any of my readers regret that the old man's -investigation should have left him freed of the fears which the vicious -and unpatriotic conduct of an irresponsible eccentric had aroused. - -A little after lunch Mr. Kahn, the secretary of the Anglo Saxon -Exchange, happened to drop in at the agent's in Mickleton. There was -nothing unexpected in the visit. His few questions turned upon the -usual topics, whether the hall had recently let well, who had taken -it, whether the more disturbed political meetings had done any damage, -whether it was now worth applying for a licence, &c. It occurred to -him to ask, just as he was going away, when the hall was likely to be -let next, and to whom, as there were certain reparations which the -architect for the estate had decided upon. - -The reappearance of this terrible subject once more disturbed the -restored equanimity of the agent. - -"Oh, dear," he said, "it's let--in a manner of speaking." - -"What's in a manner of speaking?" said the astonished secretary. - -"Well, a gentleman's got it anyhow, and then he didn't want it, and now -he wants it again." - -"Oh nonsense!" said Mr. Kahn, "we can't play the fool with the County -Council. The platform's declared unsafe; we must have the workmen come -in. I thought there were several days to do it in and I wasn't in any -hurry, but it certainly can't be done in a couple of hours. You'll have -to tell your man he can't have it." - -The appearance of this further complication almost drove the wretched -agent mad. Excusing himself for perhaps the fifth time that day and -rushing to the telephone he called up Mr. Bailey and entreated him to -cancel the engagement. But Mr. Bailey was in a dour mood, and as he sat -indulging in his habitual excess of port after a solitary lunch, he -darted into his receiver the most positive and vicious refusal, saying -plainly that if his rights were tampered with he would sue for damages. - -The agent came back with the substance, though not with the expletives -of this reply, and the secretary of the Anglo-Saxon Exchange, pulling -out his watch, said briefly: - -"Well, there's no help for it. We must send in the workmen at once, and -if he wants to sue he can sue." - -In an hour a considerable body of healthy but somnolent men slouched -into the building, their chief showed his written orders, and the -remainder of the afternoon was spent in removing benches, opening -up the floor, barricading the door, cutting off the electric -light from the main (nothing is more dangerous than to leave such -connections during repairs), digging a deep trench in front of the -back entrance, and in other ways setting about improvements that were -doubtless necessary, but that would make it highly inconvenient for -any considerable body to gather within for political or for any other -purposes. - -The agent, after repeated conversations with Mr. Bailey, each more -conciliatory than the last, promised and despatched a cheque for £25 on -the distinct understanding that no proceedings should follow; and when -the agent had recovered this sum (as he did with difficulty) from the -Anglo-Saxon Exchange, the expenses of that great financial corporation, -in labour and in compensation, were, I regret to say, considerably over -£100. - -Mr. Bailey, seated by his lonely but warm and brilliant hearth, held -the cheque for £25 daintily between his finger and thumb. For a moment -it seemed as though he would have put it in the fire, then with the -subtle smile of the fanatic, he thought better of the business; he -endorsed the cheque and sent it, with a Latin motto pinned on, to -a Jew-baiting organisation in Vienna; a foul gang of which he knew -nothing whatsoever save that he had read its address in one of those -vile Continental rags from which he derived so many of his prejudices, -and whose authority was the origin of his repeated falsehoods. - - * * * * * - -It had been arranged that Mr. Clutterbuck should pick up Mr. Bailey on -the way, just upon eight o'clock, and drive him to the hall. - -He had been late so often that Mr. Bailey was expecting some delay, -but when the quarter had struck, he grew anxious; and at twenty past -he would wait no longer. He had the good luck to get a taxi at the -corner of the square, but even so he would be late. He began to have -doubts, and as he dashed up northwards to Mickleton those doubts in -that diseased brain of his rapidly became certainties. Mr. Clutterbuck -had been nobbled: Mr. Clutterbuck would not appear. Asleep or ill, or -overturned in some ditch, or accidentally locked up in some room, the -ex-Member for Mickleton would not be in Mickleton that night. Such were -the wild fancies which formed in the fanatic's imagination. The truth -was simple and needed no such extravaganza of melodrama as William -Bailey concocted within himself. - -Charlie Fitzgerald had had the curiosity to stroll into the old -constituency that morning; he had come back to the centre of town -from Mickleton by two. He had had lunch, of course, with the Duke -of Battersea, who depended every day more and more upon the young -fellow's conversation and wit. Mr. Bailey's latest insanity, which -Charlie Fitzgerald happened to have heard of during his visit to -Mickleton in the morning, was naturally touched upon in their -conversation; they laughed at the cunning which had hired Mr. Clay's -shed, and they discussed the chances of the extempore meeting, but the -happy young Irishman was not without a sense of duty; he would not -leave his employer unaided, nor did the Duke of Battersea press him too -eagerly to remain. - -By half-past four, therefore, he was back at The Plâs, ready with his -cheery voice to give Mr. Clutterbuck energy for the evening's business. -He suggested a run round in one of the motors before going straight -into town; there was a fine heartening wind from the south-west, with -heavy clouds; it was just the afternoon to take an hour or two of the -air before turning in after dark to London and duty. The suggestion was -excellent, as were most of Charlie's suggestions, and Mr. Clutterbuck, -carefully rolling up the speech that Mr. Bailey had written for him, -and thrusting it into his breast pocket, put on his great fur coat and -gloves, and ordered one of the smaller cars to come round. - -"Nothing braces one up like a sharp bit of motoring before a speech," -said Mr. Clutterbuck, as he got into the open Renault. - -Charlie Fitzgerald was occupied in hauling away at the barrel organ in -front of the radiator. He made faces as he did so. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was rubbing his hands nervously and glancing at the sky. - -"It looks dark," he went on, still rubbing his hands, "but I dare say -nothing will come of it." - -Charlie Fitzgerald, with a face more hideous than any yet drawn, gave -a final tug at the starting handle and the machine began to throb. -He jumped up by Mr. Clutterbuck's side and steered slowly past the -lodge into the Croydon Road, while Mr. Clutterbuck kept on harping at -his side upon the advantages of a sharp spin before a speech, and the -doubtfulness of the weather. They fell into the main road and turned -sharply to the left. - -"Taking us far afield?" said Mr. Clutterbuck cheerfully. Nothing -pleased him more than the experience of his secretary in the driving of -a car. "Godalming, eh?" - -Charlie Fitzgerald spoke for the first time: - -"Something of that kind," he said. "Just a long run.... We'll go -further than Godalming; we'll go right away round, and come into town -from the north and west by the Harrow Road. It's much better like that; -we won't get any of the slums. Let's eat somewhere in the country." - -Mr. Clutterbuck was delighted. His honest old soul and his still more -honest old stomach could not quite forget the honest old hours of high -teas and a snack later on. - -They shot round the base of the hills, missed a child in Dorking, ran -into Guildford, had a splendid zizz along the Hog's Back, and then -turned sharp round on to the Frimley Road, passed Penny Hill, and on -towards Virginia Water. By the time they reached Staines it was dark. - -All the way Mr. Clutterbuck had spoken with increasing joy, and Charlie -Fitzgerald, in spite of his interest in the driving, had been very -human to him. Now the dark had fallen, however, it was necessary that -he should keep silence while he picked his way across country towards -Harrow. - -The turnings were bewildering, but Mr. Clutterbuck very properly -trusted to his guide, and when about half-past six he had not yet -perceived the first gas lights of a London street, he only asked quite -casually whereabouts they were. - -Charlie Fitzgerald answered with perfect straightforwardness that they -must be somewhere near North Holty and Pinner by the look of the lanes, -and he would take the next turning to the right; it would put them into -Bruton well before eight, but they would have no time for more than a -snack on the way. The next turning to the right he duly took and then -for many miles the road appeared to lead through a maze of turnings -until they found themselves steadily ascending. On the right and the -left were silent woods of beech, and there was no light for miles -around. It was long past 7 o'clock, and Mr. Clutterbuck was seriously -alarmed. - -"I beg your pardon, Mr. Fitzgerald," he said--it was not often that he -had remonstrated in all these months--"I beg your pardon, but are you -quite certain where you are?" - -Then for the first time Charlie Fitzgerald confessed that he was -not absolutely certain; he could not possibly, he said, be far from -Rickmansworth, even if he had gone quite out of his way, and the best -thing they could do was to send a telegram from the next telegraph -office and to ask their way. - -As he thus spoke, he suddenly slackened speed at a turn in the road and -began a steep descent which lasted for over a mile. One five minutes -and another went by; there was no sign of a house. At last a light -showed far off to the left of the road. - -Fitzgerald pulled up, leapt out with zeal, and came back with the -information that they were at Postcombe, and so far as he could make -out from the rustics who were singularly dull, the next post office -was a mile or two down the road; they were on the right line for -London, but it would be another eighteen miles. - -The post office was there right enough, and Fitzgerald went in and sent -a telegram; then he took his seat again and drove through the night. - -Mile after mile went by and there was no sign of men. - -At Mr. Clutterbuck's age this kind of thing is dangerous; the lack of -food told upon him; the anxiety told upon him still more. He worried -Fitzgerald with continual questions; when they would be in; what -direction they were following; whether he could perceive any glimmer of -London before them. - -To these questions his secretary only replied by nervous jerks of the -head as he drove on straight through the darkness. His anxiety was -betrayed by the forward bend of his body and the anxious tightening of -his brows. He had hoped, perhaps, before he had sent the telegram to be -in time. That was now past praying for, but they might at least turn -the confusion of the meeting into a success if only they could make the -lights of London by nine. He pushed the car to its utmost limits of -speed, careless of the thick blackness and of the perpetual windings of -the lanes which he followed with singular confidence. - -They passed over a railway line, but there was no station in sight; -they went on and passed another in the same fashion, then a broad river. - -At last the motion showed them they were taking yet another long hill. -There was no hedge upon either side, open fields, down; and a bitter -wind driving across them filled the night. It was even too dark to -perceive more than the ghosts of the clouds, when, at what seemed the -loneliest part of this lonely countryside the machine stopped suddenly, -and Charlie Fitzgerald, in a voice of weary despair, muttered half to -himself and half to his companion: - -"If it's the king-bolt, we're done!" - -He took one of the lanterns from the front of the car, put it down upon -the ground where it would illumine the complicated works beneath, and -lying flat upon his back on the road, he began to inspect the damage. -Mr. Clutterbuck, stooping anxiously with hands on knees, interrogated -him from time to time, but received only disjointed replies in which -king-bolts, the differential, the clutch and Beeton's Patent played a -confused part. - -After some few minutes of this investigation Charlie Fitzgerald -reappeared, replaced the lamp, and said in a solemn manner: - -"We're cooked!" - -It began to snow. - -If Mr. Clutterbuck had had the slightest idea where he was, his dolour -might have been to that amount relieved. He had none. He looked at his -watch by the acetylene flare and found that it was nearly ten o'clock. -The monotony of their misfortune was relieved by the approach of a -horse and cart, and they learned from the driver at last the full -extent of their misfortune. They had the choice, it seemed, of two -resting-places that night, equally distant, one was Stow-in-the-Wold; -and the only consolation the situation could offer them was the -certainty that their car had done very well to cover such a distance in -such weather in such a time. For the rest, eight miles in the dark was -not a pleasing prospect, and Charlie Fitzgerald was moved to make one -more attempt at reviving the car. - -To Mr. Clutterbuck's astonishment the able young fellow succeeded -this time within a very few moments. They continued the main road and -reached their inn a little before eleven. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile in London the meeting had, indeed, pursued a course Mr. -Clutterbuck did not in the least desire. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - -Next to Mr. Clay's great shed there was an office which during the -daytime served for the time checker. It was used that night as the -ante-room to the meeting. - -Small as it was, some twenty or thirty of the greater people of -Mickleton had crowded into it, and more were coming of those who were -to occupy the platform upon this decisive night. But though the hour -of half-past eight approached, struck, and went past, Mr. Clay was -increasingly anxious to observe that no Mr. Clutterbuck was there. With -this exception, all the arrangements he was sure had been businesslike, -practical, and thorough, but he could not conceal it from himself that -no amount of organising power could make up for the absence of the -ex-Member, whom the vast crowd had come to hear; and in his heart he -laid that absence down to the irresponsibility and wayward temperament -of William Bailey; he noticed also the absence of Mr. Fitzgerald. - -In the great shed next door the audience were beginning to stamp -their feet, and there were sounds as though their impatience might be -dangerous, but Mr. Clay dared not proceed. - -Just at the moment when his own patience was breaking, and when he -had determined to take the platform at any risk and to carry off -the meeting as best he could, Mr. William Bailey swished up in his -taximeter, stepped out of it with perfect and exasperating coolness, -elbowed his way through the little crowd to Mr. Clay and said: - -"Well, Clay, he hasn't turned up, and I don't think he will." - -Let those who have the power to construct new words discover one to -describe Mr. Clay's interior emotions at the news. The words he used -were these: - -"I don't understand. Why not? Whose fault is that? Something must be -done! You can't do that sort of thing. I do wish it hadn't happened. -I'm not a rich man, but I'd give £5! We ought to wait! I really can't -conceive--I do wish!" and one or two other pronouncements of the same -sort which betrayed not only in their phraseology but in their tone, an -alarming perturbation. His face wore a look of intense suffering, and -he was in no way calmed by the intermittent roars proceeding from an -audience which had now waited over half an hour, and in many of whom -enthusiasm was already fermenting into anger. - -The larger body of influential people who were to have supported the -ex-Member for Mickleton upon the platform were to the full as anxious -as their Chairman. Only Mr. Bailey appeared to regard the accident with -complete calm. He answered the agitated Clay by suggesting a short -excursion on to the platform and an explanation to the audience that -their hero had been kidnapped. - -Mr. Clay's voice rose as high as a woman's: - -"_He's been kidnapped!_" he screamed. - -"No, no, no," said Mr. Bailey, "I didn't say he'd been kidnapped. I -said 'let's go and tell the audience he's been kidnapped!' I don't know -what's happened to him, and neither do you nor anybody else. Perhaps -he's dead; perhaps his motor's broken down. Perhaps he made a mistake -about the hour. Perhaps he's gone mad. It's no good speculating; the -point is to prevent a riot." - -As he said this the noise within the hall grew so like that of a herd -of wild bulls that Mr. Clay was spurred to yet further activity. - -"But you can't go and tell them an untruth," he said, almost crying as -he said it. "... Oh, let's go in and hold the meeting," he added, and -then concluded with the apparently irrelevant words: "I'm a business -man and I like business ways." - -Mr. Bailey acceded as he would have acceded to any other misfortune, -and the whole troop of them came tramping in, following Mr. Clay up the -rough, improvised steps on to the platform. - -The appearance of these notables solemnly filing in and taking their -chairs soothed for a moment the angry mass below, but they looked in -the procession for the dome-like forehead and the crescent moustache -of a Clutterbuck: neither were there. Mr. Bailey watched the seething -audience kindly through his spectacles, and marvelled at the numbers -who had come. - -There must have been over five thousand men present; the furthest -recesses of the great shed were crowded with lads and young labourers -standing upon the benches the better to follow the speeches, and packed -as close as herrings, and a big mob outside was even now struggling at -the doors. It was fearfully hot and close, and at the back a woman had -fainted. He feared for the result. - -Mr. Clay whispered to him hurriedly, but Mr. Bailey was observed to -shake his head. Then Mr. Clay was seen to turn to Mr. Alderman Thorne -and urge--perhaps implore--his aid: that gentleman ponderously rose to -speak. His voice was deep and resonant: his gestures large. He reminded -his hearers of many things: that English freedom was at stake, that -their ancestors had torn up the railings in Hyde Park, and that the -spirit of Cromwell still lived. Then next, as he had been hurriedly -advised, he suggested that they should sing that great new song and -hymn which expressed their determination and their hopes. - -As yet no one moved. He recited the first verse and begged them with -religious enthusiasm to sing it when he had completed the opening words: - - "_The Lion, the Lion, his teeth are prepared, - He has blown the loud bugle, his sabre is bared._" - -Kipling's magnificent words brought a dozen to their feet; a few more -were thinking of rising; a woman's voice had already begun, somewhat -prematurely, "_The Lion_ ..." in a high treble, when a large, bearded -man, with a fearless face and an appearance of fixed determination -sprang up in the body of the meeting and said with a rich North country -burr: - -"Mrrr. Chairrman." - -The others looked about them and sat down. The woman's treble piped -away into nothing, and the North Countryman, still standing huge, said -again much more loudly: - -"Mr. Chairman!" - -This simple remark elicited on every side large shouts of "You're -quoite roight! Don't give wye," and other encouraging expressions. - -"Mr. Chairman," said the stranger for the third time, when their cries -subsided, "before we hear this gentleman or sing yonder, perr-haps -you'll tell us why ourr Memberr is not heerr?" - -Mr. Clay, who was smiling pleasantly during this episode, and moving -his feet with great rapidity to and fro under the table to relieve the -tension of his nerves, was about to reply when the stranger, as is the -custom of plain straightforward men in the poorer ranks of society, -proceeded to speak at some length in support of his query; and Mr. Clay -was too much pleased with such a respite to call him to order. The -honest fellow pointed out, under various heads, not without rhetorical -embellishments, and with considerable movement of the right arm, what -the constituency had a right to expect, what was and what was not an -insult to working men, and continually measured the circumstances of -the evening by the fixed standards of what one gentleman has a right to -expect from another. He was repeatedly cheered, and his Christian name, -embellished with endearing epithets, was called out more than once in -lively accents. - -When he had sat down, and before Mr. Clay, who was half on his feet, -could reply, another and totally different being in quite another -quarter of the room, rose to make what he affirmed was a very different -protest, but one which, in the course of his making it, turned out to -be nearly identical with the first which had been heard. - -Then at last Mr. Clay had his chance and was free to observe, to loud -cries of "Speak up!" and other less complimentary commands, that the -occasion was one in which a little patience---- - -It was at this precise moment that an orange, fired with incredible -rapidity, whizzed past the speaker's head and broke with considerable -force upon the mantled shoulder of Mrs. Battersby. - -"If that was one of my men----" shouted Mr. Clay--but he got no -farther. To the protests which were now rising from the greater part -of the audience, were added inconsequent songs raised by mere rowdies, -and to add to the confusion a free fight began in the south-eastern -corner of the room between two gentlemen who were of the same opinion, -but of whom each had completely misunderstood the attitude of the other -upon the subject to which the evening was to have been devoted. The -diversion afforded by this conflict attracted a larger and a larger -number of champions upon both sides, and suddenly, for no apparent -reason and prompted only by that brutish instinct which will often -seize upon a mob when it gets out of hand, a considerable body of the -electors present broke and surged towards the Platform. - -The Platform in its turn attempted to go out, but the single door -of issue so considerably impeded their determined efforts that their -rear, if I may so express myself, was hopelessly outflanked by their -assailants long before the communications of the retreat had been -properly organised. It cannot be denied that Mr. Alderman Thorne made -a good fight of it for a man of his age and dimensions, and at the -very moment when Mrs. Battersby, emitting piercing shrieks, was being -squeezed sideways through the door, he was observed planting his fist -with some vigour into the face of one of his own colleagues whom he had -mistaken for the enemy. - -Mr. Clay, who was quite unused to other combat than that of religious -debate, improvised a defence with a chair, the legs of which he pushed -back and forth rapidly with such considerable effect as to permit him -to abandon his post almost the last and without a wound. - -As for Mr. Bailey, he took refuge in his mere height; he retreated -somewhat to the back of the platform, stood up, surveyed the swaying -tangle of struggling men. He was pleased to note that the sound -tradition which forbids men of inferior reach and weight to engage in -coarse physical contest, spared him the active exertions necessary -to so many of his friends. When he saw, or thought he saw, that the -last of these as they backed towards the door were in danger of -ill-treatment, he elbowed his way without much resistance in their -direction, and with some good humour pushed aside the first rank of -their assailants. - -Meanwhile the platform was completely covered with the victorious band -who had stormed it; the moment was propitious for the entry of the -police, who had been telephoned for from the ante-room; ten of these -stalwart fellows marched in with military precision, and by their -vigorous efforts prevented any further ingress to the platform which -they erroneously supposed they had come in time to defend. - -Mr. Bailey, shuffling out into the street in the midst of his still -heated neighbours, thought it would be entertaining to approach the -main door and to hear the opinion of the electorate. He was not -disappointed. When the last of them had come out and when he had -managed to explain himself to the police, who were all for making -him their unique prisoner, he walked slowly homewards, meditating -upon the forces of the modern world and imagining doubtless a hundred -hare-brained theories to account for the very simple accident which -had befallen the unfortunate Clutterbuck. To his diseased mind there -seemed no third explanation beyond kidnapping and blackmail; and when -he considered the shortness of the time available for the discovery -of Mr. Clutterbuck's foibles, his futile judgment had determined _à -priori_ and without a shadow of proof, that as Mr. Clutterbuck could -not have been blackmailed, Mr. Clutterbuck had been spirited away. - - * * * * * - -Next morning, between eleven and twelve, William Bailey lay in bed -amusing himself by reading for once a whole batch of Sunday papers, for -all of which he had just despatched Zachary to a large agent. - -The ridiculous fellow was drawing up a memorandum, annotated with -queries and remarks of the most fantastic kind, upon the names of -the proprietors, the careers of the editors and the reasons each -might have for giving his particular version of the affair. He noted -what percentage mentioned the meeting at all; the adjectives used -with regard to each: the motives ascribed to its promoters and to -the indignation of the audience. The fact that the _Observer_ had no -space to mention the ridiculous bagarre he put down, as my readers may -well imagine, to some dark and mysterious conspiracy connected with -the Hebrew people. The fact that of those who mentioned it only two -alluded vaguely to the Ruby Mines and none to the Duke of Battersea he -ascribed, of course, not to the very natural reason that these details -could not concern the general public, but to what he was pleased to -term "corruption." And altogether his disappointment at the result -of the evening before, though it was a result which he had more than -half expected, was amply made up for by his perverted pleasure in the -contemplation of that next morning's Press. - -He was in such a mood and ready for any false assumption or for any -wicked slander, when a telegram was brought him. He opened it. It was -from Stow-in-the-Wold; it begged Mr. Bailey to explain if possible and -to make things right if it was not too late. Unfortunately within the -narrow limits of such a message it was impossible to give the nature -of the accident that had happened, and William Bailey's most foolish -suppositions were only the more confirmed. - - * * * * * - -Sunday is not a good day for getting about. Mr. Bailey estimated -things, and rightly judged that the motor-car, forlorn in those far -Cotswold Hills, would be in no mood to return the eighty miles to town, -and he saw that the trains of a Sunday were not the most convenient. - -He let it stand till Monday, but that evening a figure worn with travel -and shaken with unusual experience appeared before him. It was the -figure of Mr. Clutterbuck. - -He recited the adventure at large; he had not dared look at the Sunday -papers; he had come because he could not rest until he had heard news -of the dreadful affair. He was almost incoherent in his rapidity. -Charlie was back at the Plâs; he had seen Mrs. Clutterbuck a moment--he -had not told her. How had the constituency taken it, oh how had they -taken it? - -"Like a lot of animals," said William Bailey with vivid memories of the -night, "and not quiet animals either; like a lot of wolves," he said. - -Mr. Clutterbuck was heart-broken. "Couldn't something----" he began. - -"Oh, _no_!" said William Bailey, really put out by the futility of -the phrase that was coming. "No! Nothing! It's all over. When you're -defeated, retreat in good order--keep your train intact. _We're_ -defeated all right!" Then he had the absurd irrelevance to add: "Come -into the House with me on Tuesday?" - -"But I'm not a member now," gasped Mr. Clutterbuck. - -"Oh, I mean under the gallery, just to look at it," said William Bailey -impatiently. "I'm not a member now either, thank God! It's one of the -few things they can't force on a man nowadays." Such indeed is the -cynical attitude of too many men who secretly know their own failure, -and whom bad tactics, or more frequently adverse majorities, have -driven from the House of Commons. - -Mr. Clutterbuck mournfully consented. He felt that impulse which the -bereaved know so well, and which leads the widower to the freshly -covered grave. - -Upon Tuesday Mr. Bailey obtained for him the magnificent spectacle of -the opening of Parliament. Mr. Clutterbuck heard the King's Speech, saw -the peers in their robes, aye, and the peeresses too, and was glad to -remember that there was one institution at least of a greater splendour -than that to which he might now never attain. - -As they went out, Mr. Bailey said, _à propos_ of nothing: "Sack -Charlie." - -"Mr. Fitzgerald.... Why on earth?" said Mr. Clutterbuck with an open -mouth. - -"Well, don't if you don't like: I won't interfere. Lunch to-morrow?" - -"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "certainly." - -"Right," said Mr. Bailey, "and we'll get under the gallery." - -In the train Mr. Bailey's advice echoed, and echoed ill in the -merchant's ears, but he had not been in the house ten minutes when he -heard Charlie Fitzgerald's happy voice calling him, and begging for -congratulations. - -Any vague suspicions that might have passed through his mind were -instantly dispelled, as he told the news--but he told it, protesting -his willingness to continue his services if Mr. Clutterbuck desired to -retain them. If he were free, however, Charlie had the option of a post -in India. - -His face was glorious with anticipation. - -"In the Civil Service?" said Mr. Clutterbuck innocently. - -"No," answered Charlie with nonchalance, "in some works out there, a -sort of company; but I shall like it. It's mining, you know; it puts me -right to the top at once." - -"You'll do well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, wringing his hand with more -familiarity than he had yet shown, and remembering as a business man -must, the splendid organising power that lay behind the Irish ease of -the Daniel-Daniels-Fitzgeralds. - -Next day Mr. Bailey and Mr. Clutterbuck were watching the first -working day of the Session of 1912:--what thoughts passed through the -merchant's mind were much too deep for words as he noted one face after -another so long familiar to him in the comic journals, and heard, under -the disguise of their constituencies, names that shook the world. The -wit, the intelligence, the judgment, the rhetoric overwhelmed him, and -there were two tears in his eyes as he looked. - -He heard one timid supplementary question on the Anapootra Ruby Mines, -the thunderous cries for order that met it, and the sharp rebuke from -the chair: then suddenly William Bailey moved from his side--he had -seen the young Prime Minister, flushed with glory, but touched as it -seemed with fatigue, go out for a moment behind the Speaker's chair. He -said to Mr. Clutterbuck, "I'll be back in a moment," and he went off -hurriedly through the lobbies. - -William Bailey had one more task before him, and for once it was -innocuous. He passed through the well-known corridors to the Prime -Minister's room, opened the door without knocking, nodded to the -secretary, and went in. - -There are wearinesses in the common desert of political life, and an -exception to its tedium, however anomalous or eccentric, will prove at -some moments refreshing. The young Prime Minister was really glad to -see the tall and absurd figure striding into the room, and he said: -"Good old Bill!" with an accent of earlier times. Then he put his -forearm squarely on the big official table, and before William Bailey -could speak, with his firm, half-smiling lips he said: - -"It'll save you trouble, Bill, to know that whatever it is I'm not -going to do it." - -"That's a pity," said William Bailey, "for the first thing I was going -to ask was whether you'd come to the Follies on Friday." - -The Prime Minister was hugely relieved. "There's no one else in London, -Bill, who comes into this particular room to ask that particular kind -of question." - -"Oh?" said Mr. Bailey thoughtfully. "By the way," he went on, "there's -another thing; old Clutterbuck's got to have it." - -"Oh, damn and blast old Clutterbuck," said the Prime Minister, jumping -up from his chair as some men do when they see a black cat. "Oh, it's -perfectably intolerable! Whether it's Charlie, or whether it's Mary, -or whether it's Bozzy, or whether it's you, you shoot out that word -'Clutterbuck' the moment you've got the range. The only man in London -who has the decency to spare me Clutterbuck is the Peabody Yid." - -"_Et pour cause_," said Mr. Bailey, who spoke French but rarely. - -The Prime Minister began to smile, then checked himself. - -"I don't think it can be done, Bill," he said gently. "He's out of the -way, I know, but it really would be too ridiculous. What would people -say?" - -"They wouldn't say anything," said Mr. Bailey, "they never do say -anything, and it has its advantages, you know: a friend's a friend and -an enemy's an enemy; he's dreadfully sore just now. Besides which, -what harm does it do a soul to give the poor chap a hoist? What harm -did it do any mortal soul even when the Peabody Yid bought his peerage? -And _he_ bought the right to make interminable speeches with a lisp. -I remember your father about him years ago: he was a godsend to your -father in the Lords; your father could do the Yid better than any one -in London." - -Mr. William Bailey indulged in an imitation of the lisp, and the Prime -Minister, who also remembered his father's intense amusement, was -melted to another smile. He half gave way. - -"The trouble is to find the recognition, you know," he said, "'in -recognition'--in recognition of what? It's like the despatches from -South Africa when they had to stick in every man Jack of them, or never -dine again. But it's easier to give a D.S.O. because the public aren't -there looking on. What the devil has old Clutterbuck ever done?" - -"Oh," said Mr. Bailey gaily, "he declared strongly against allowing the -fall in Consols to go on, and in favour of a large gold reserve, and -one or two other things." Mr. Bailey looked the Prime Minister straight -in the eye, and the Prime Minister's eye fell. - -He took a pen and began drawing on the blotting-paper before him. "Do -suggest something," he murmured. - -There was a long silence. - -"In recognition of his active services and labours in connection with -the Royal Caterham Valley Institute," said Mr. Bailey at last. - -"What on earth's that?" asked the Prime Minister, looking up blankly. - -"We--ll, it doesn't exist--yet," said William Bailey, "but it will, you -know, it will." - -"I don't mind," said the Prime Minister wearily, "but it can't be -before Easter." - -"Well, now I'll tell you," said William Bailey by way of finale; "you -write me a little note so that the poor fellow can be certain of Empire -Day, and you will have done a really good deed." - -"I can trust you, Bill?" said the young man anxiously. (How human they -are!) - -"Oh yes," said Mr. Bailey, "I'll give you a hostage." - -He wrote out a few words on a slip of paper, signed it, and handed it -over to his relative. - -The Prime Minister took it with a funny little laugh and threw it into -the fire. - -"Don't be a fool, Bill," he said. "Of course I can trust you." - -He wrote on a sheet of notepaper: - - "My dear Mr. Bailey, - - "_I can well understand, but, as you will easily see, it is - impossible before Empire Day. I have, however, received commands upon - the matter with regard to that date, and I trust Mr.---- _" - -"Empire Day's in the season, isn't it?" he added anxiously. - -"At the beginning of the season," replied William Bailey solemnly, -"just before the middle class begin marrying into the plutocracy." - -"You're quite right," said the Prime Minister seriously, "only I wanted -to get the date more or less right. One must have time, and there's -going to be a list on Empire Day--anyhow it's after Easter"--then he -went on writing. - -"What's the name?" he said in the middle of his writing. - -"The name," said Mr. Bailey, "was to be Percy, I think--yes, Percy." - -"_Mr. Percy Clutterbuck_," the Prime Minister went on writing, "_will -accept your assurance and will use every discretion in the matter_." He -wrote a few more lines and signed. "There," he said, handing it over. - -"You're a very good fellow," said William Bailey, taking the note and -putting it carefully into a monstrous old-fashioned wallet. "I'll send -it back to you within a week--not necessarily for publication, but as a -guarantee of good faith." - -As he said this the Premier's secretary came in with the unpleasing -news that the deputation had come to time. - -William Bailey hurriedly went out by the little private side door which -he knew so well. - - * * * * * - -It was not until Mr. Bailey had successfully persuaded Mrs. Clutterbuck -herself of the interest taken in the Highest Quarters in the Royal -Caterham Valley Institute that he dared show that little note to -her husband; but she--indomitable soul!--willingly accepted the -opportunity at which he hinted. The bazaar was held, subscriptions -gathered, Patronage of the most conspicuous sort received, the first -stone of the Institute was laid with many allusions to the approaching -festival of Anglo-American goodwill. William Bailey had long returned -that dangerous little letter, and on that day which is now the chief -festival of our race, when so many and such varied qualities receive -their high rewards, the storm-tossed spirit of Sir Percy Clutterbuck -was at rest. - - - Printed by Ballantyne & Co. Limited - Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. CLUTTERBUCK’S -ELECTION *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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Belloc</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Mr. Clutterbuck’s Election</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Belloc</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 5, 2021 [eBook #66671]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. CLUTTERBUCK’S ELECTION ***</div> - - - - - - -<p class="ph1">MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S ELECTION</p> - - - - - - -<p class="center" style="margin-top: 10em;">NEW SIX-SHILLING NOVELS<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -THE MAGIC OF MAY<br /> - -By "<span class="smcap">Iota</span>," Author of "The Yellow Aster," etc.<br /> - - - -"A document of the hour."—<i>Times.</i> -<br /> -<br /> -THE THIEF ON THE CROSS<br /> - -By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Harold Gorst</span>, Author of "This Our Sister," etc.<br /> - - - -"'The Jungle' of London."—<i>Daily Graphic.</i><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -THE KISS OF HELEN<br /> -By <span class="smcap">Charles Marriott</span>, Author of "The Wondrous Wife."<br /> - - - -"A book to read slowly and remember long." <i>Evening Standard.</i><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -THE FIFTH QUEEN CROWNED - -By <span class="smcap">Ford Madox Hueffer</span>, Author of "The Fifth Queen," etc.<br /> - - - -"A wonderful picture of the time."—<i>Daily Mail.</i><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -A GENTLEMAN OF LONDON<br /> - -By <span class="smcap">Morice Gerard</span>, Author of "Rose of Blenheim," etc.<br /> - - - -"A pleasure to read."—<i>Globe.</i></p> - - - - - -<p class="ph2" style="margin-top: 10em;">MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S<br /> -ELECTION</p> - -<p class="ph4">BY</p> - -<p class="ph3">H. BELLOC</p> - -<p class="ph5">AUTHOR OF "EMANUEL BURDEN"</p> - -<p class="ph6" style="margin-top: 10em;">LONDON</p> -<p class="ph6">EVELEIGH NASH</p> -<p class="ph6">FAWSIDE HOUSE</p> -<p class="ph6">1908</p> - - - - - -<p class="ph5" style="margin-top: 10em;">To</p> - -<p class="ph4">GILBERT CHESTERTON</p> - -<p class="ph5"><i>Idem Sentire de Republicâ</i> ...</p> - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2" style="margin-top: 5em;">MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S ELECTION</p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER I</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Towards</span> the end of the late Queen Victoria's reign there resided in the -suburban town of Croydon a gentleman of the name of Clutterbuck, who, -upon a modest capital inherited from his father, contrived by various -negotiations at his office in the City of London to gain an income of -now some seven hundred, now more nearly a thousand, pounds in the year.</p> - -<p>It will be remembered that a war of unprecedented dimensions was -raging, at the time of which I speak, in the sub-continent of South -Africa.</p> - -<p>The President of the South African Republic, thinking the moment -propitious for a conquest of our dominions, had invaded our territory -after an ultimatum of incredible insolence, and, as though it were -not sufficient that we should grapple foe to foe upon equal terms, -the whole weight of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> Orange Free State was thrown into the scale -against us.</p> - -<p>The struggle against the combined armies which had united to destroy -this country was long and arduous, and had we been compelled to rely -upon our regular forces alone things might have gone ill. As it was, -the enthusiasm of Colonial manhood and the genius of the generals -prevailed. The names of Kitchener, Methuen, Baden-Powell, and Rhodes -will ever remain associated with that of the Commander-in-Chief -himself, Lord Roberts, who in less than three years from the decisive -victory of Paardeburg imposed peace upon the enemy. Their territories -were annexed in a series of thirty-seven proclamations, and form to-day -the brightest jewel in the Imperial crown.</p> - -<p>These facts—which must be familiar to many of my readers—I only -recall in order to show what influence they had in the surprising -revolutions of fortune which enabled Mr. Clutterbuck to pass from ease -to affluence, and launched him upon public life.</p> - -<p>The business which Mr. Clutterbuck had inherited from his father was -a small agency chiefly concerned with the Baltic trade. This business -had declined; for Mr. Clutterbuck's father had failed to follow the -rapid concentration of commercial effort which is the mark of our -time. But Mr. Clutterbuck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> had inherited, besides the business, a sum -of close upon ten thousand pounds in various securities: it was upon -the manipulation of this that he principally depended, and though -he maintained the sign of the old agency at the office, it was the -cautious buying and selling of stocks which he carefully watched, -various opportunities of promotion in a small way, commissions, and -occasional speculations in kind, that procured his constant though -somewhat irregular income. To these sources he would sometimes add -private advances or covering mortgages upon the stock of personal -friends.</p> - -<p>It was a venture of the latter sort which began the transformation of -his life.</p> - -<p>The last negotiations of the war were not yet wholly completed, nor had -the coronation of his present Majesty taken place when, in the early -summer of 1902, a neighbour of the name of Boyle called one evening at -Mr. Clutterbuck's house.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle, a man of Mr. Clutterbuck's own age, close upon fifty, -and himself a bachelor, had long enjoyed the acquaintance both of -Mr. Clutterbuck and of his wife. Some years ago, indeed, when Mr. -Boyle resided at the Elms, the acquaintance had almost ripened into -friendship, but Mr. Boyle's ill-health, not unconnected with financial -worries, and later his change of residence to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> 15 John Bright -Gardens had somewhat estranged the two households. It was therefore -with a certain solemnity that Mr. Boyle was received into the neat -sitting-room where the Clutterbucks were accustomed to pass the time -between tea and the hour of their retirement.</p> - -<p>They were shocked to see how aged Mr. Boyle appeared: he formed, as -he sat there opposite them, the most complete contrast with the man -whose counsel and support he had come to seek. For Mr. Clutterbuck was -somewhat stout in figure, of a roundish face with a thick and short -moustache making a crescent upon it. He was bald as to the top of his -head, and brushed across it a large thin fan of his still dark hair. -His forehead was high, since he was bald; his complexion healthy. But -Mr. Boyle, clean-shaven, with deep-set, restless grey eyes, and a -forehead ornamented with corners, seemed almost foreign; so hard were -the lines of his face and so abundant his curly and crisp grey hair. -His gestures also were nervous. He clasped and unclasped his hands, and -as he delivered—at long intervals—his first common-place remarks, his -eyes darted from one object to another, but never met his host's: he -was very ill.</p> - -<p>His evident hesitation instructed Mrs. Clutterbuck that he had come -upon some important matter; she therefore gathered up the yellow -satin centre,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> upon the embroidery of which she had been engaged, and -delicately left the room.</p> - -<p>When she had noiselessly shut the door behind her, Mr. Boyle, looking -earnestly at the fire, said abruptly:</p> - -<p>"What I have come about to-night, Mr. Clutterbuck, is a business -proposition." Having said this, he extended the fore and middle fingers -of his right hand in the gesture of an episcopal benediction, and -tapped them twice upon the palm of his left; which done, he repeated -his phrase: "A business proposition"; cleared his throat and said no -more.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's reply to this was to approach a chiffonier, to squat -down suddenly before it in the attitude of a frog, to unlock it, and -to bring out a cut glass decanter containing whiskey. The whiskey was -Scotch; and as Mr. Clutterbuck straightened himself and set it upon -the table, he looked down upon Mr. Boyle with a look of property and -knowledge, winked solemnly and said:</p> - -<p>"Now, Mr. Boyle! This is something you won't get everywhere. Pitt put -me up to it." He made a slight gesture with his left hand. "Simply -couldn't be bought; that's what Pitt said. Not in the market! Say -when"—and with a firm smile he poured the whiskey into a glass which -he set by Mr. Boyle's side, and next poured a far smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> amount into -his own. Indeed it was a feature of this epoch-making interview that -the sound business instinct of Mr. Clutterbuck restrained him to a -great moderation as he listened to his guest's advances.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Boyle had drunk the first glass of that whiskey which Mr. Pitt -had so kindly recommended to Mr. Clutterbuck, he was moved to continue:</p> - -<p>"It's like this: if you'll meet me man to man, we can do business." He -then murmured: "I've thought a good deal about this"—and while Mr. -Boyle was indulging in these lucid preliminaries, Mr. Clutterbuck, who -thoroughly approved of them, nodded solemnly several times.</p> - -<p>"What I've got to put before you," said Mr. Boyle, shifting in -his seat, gazing earnestly at Mr. Clutterbuck and speaking with -concentrated emphasis, "is eggs!"</p> - -<p>"Eggs?" said Mr. Clutterbuck with just that tone of contempt which the -other party to a bargain should assume, and with just as much curiosity -as would permit the conversation to continue.</p> - -<p>"Yes, eggs," said Mr. Boyle firmly; then in a grand tone he added, -"a million of 'em.... There!" And Mr. Boyle turned his head round as -triumphantly as a sick man can, and filled up his glass again with -whiskey and water.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "what about your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> million eggs? What you -want? Are you buying 'em or selling 'em, or what?"</p> - -<p>The somewhat unconventional rapidity of Mr. Clutterbuck did not disturb -Mr. Boyle. He leaned forward again and said: "I've only come to you -because it's you. I knew you'd see it if any man would, and I thought -I'd give you the first chance."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck slowly, "but how do you mean? Is it buying -or selling, or what?"</p> - -<p>"Neither," said Mr. Boyle, and then like a horse taking a hedge, he out -with the whole business and said:</p> - -<p>"It's cover. I want to carry on."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Clutterbuck deliberately cold, "that's a question of -how much and on what terms. Though for the matter of business from one -gentleman to another, I don't see what a million eggs anyhow, if you -understand me...."</p> - -<p>Here he began to think, and Mr. Boyle nodded intelligently to show that -he completely followed the train of Mr. Clutterbuck's thought.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle filled his glass again with whiskey and waited, but Mr. -Clutterbuck, who had ever appreciated the importance of sobriety in -the relations of commerce, confined himself to occasional sips at his -original allowance. When some intervals of silence had passed between -them in this manner,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> and when Mr. Boyle had, now for the fourth time, -replenished his glass, Mr. Clutterbuck, who could by this time survey -the whole scheme in a lucid and organised fashion, repeated the number -of eggs, to wit, one million, and after a considerable pause repeated -also the fundamental proposition that it was a question of how much and -upon what terms.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle, staring at the fire and apparently obtaining some help from -it, made answer: "A thousand."</p> - -<p>A lesser man than Mr. Clutterbuck would perhaps have professed -astonishment at so large a sum; he, however, like all men destined for -commercial greatness at any period, however tardy, in their lives, said -quietly:</p> - -<p>"More like five hundred."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck had not yet divided one million by a thousand or by -five hundred; still less had he estimated the probable selling value -of an egg; but he was a little astonished to hear Mr. Boyle say with -lifted eyebrows and a haughty expression: "Done with you!"</p> - -<p>"It is not done with me at all," said Mr. Clutterbuck hotly, as Mr. -Boyle poured out a fifth glass of whiskey and water. "It's not done -with me at all! Wait till you see my bit of paper!"</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle assumed a look of weariness. "My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> dear sir," he said, "I was -only speaking as one gentleman would to another."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck nodded solemnly.</p> - -<p>"It's not a matter of five hundred or a thousand between men like you -and me."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck still nodded.</p> - -<p>"I'm not here to see your name in ink. I'm here to make a business -proposition."</p> - -<p>Having said so much he rose to go. And Mr. Clutterbuck, appreciating -that he had gained one of those commercial victories which are often -the foundation of a great fortune, said: "I'll come and see 'em -to-morrow. Current rate."</p> - -<p>"One above the Bank," said Mr. Boyle, and they parted friends.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Boyle was gone, Mr. Clutterbuck reclined some little time in -a complete blank: a form of repose in which men of high capacity in -organisation often recuperate from moments of intense activity. In this -posture he remained for perhaps half an hour, and then went in, not -without hesitation, to see his wife.</p> - -<p>Eighteen years of married life had rendered Mrs. Clutterbuck's features -and manner familiar to her husband. It is well that the reader also -should have some idea of her presence. She habitually dressed in black; -her hair, which had never been abundant, was of the same colour, and -shone with extraordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> precision. She was accustomed to part it in -the middle, and to bring it down upon either side of her forehead. -It was further to be remarked that round her neck, which was long -and slender, she wore a velvet band after a fashion which royalty -itself had not disdained to inaugurate. At her throat was a locket -of considerable size containing initials worked in human hair; upon -her wrists, according to the severity of the season, she wore or -did not wear mittens as dark as the rest of her raiment. She spoke -but little, save in the presence of her husband; her gestures were -restrained and purposeful, her walk somewhat rapid; and her accent that -of a cultivated gentlewoman of the middle sort; her grammar perfect. -Her idiom, however, when it was not a trifle selected, occasionally -erred. Her hours and diet are little to my purpose, but it is perhaps -worth while to note that she rose at seven, and was accustomed to eat -breakfast an hour afterwards, while hot meat in the middle of the day -and cold meat after her husband's office hours, formed her principal -meals. Her recreations were few but decided, and she had the method to -attack them at regular seasons. She left Croydon three times in the -year, once to visit her family at Berkhampstead, to which rural village -her father had retired after selling his medical practice; once to the -seaside, and once to spend a few days in the heart of London, during -which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> holiday it was her custom to visit the principal theatres in the -company of her husband.</p> - -<p>She had no children, and was active upon those four societies which, at -the time of which I speak, formed a greater power for social good than -any others in Croydon—the Charity Organisation Society, the Society -for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a similar society which -guaranteed a similar immunity to the children of the poor, and the -Association for the Reform of the Abuses prevalent in the Congo "Free" -State.</p> - -<p>Though often solicited to give her aid, experience and subscriptions -to many another body intent upon the uplifting of the lower classes, -she had ever strictly confined herself to these four alone, which, she -felt, absorbed the whole of her available energy. She had, however, -upon two occasions, consented to take a stall for our Dumb Friends' -League, and had once been patroness of a local ball given in support of -the Poor Brave Things. In religion she was, I need hardly add, of the -Anglican persuasion, in which capacity she attended the church of the -Rev. Isaac Fowle; though she was not above worshipping with her fellow -citizens of other denominations when social duty or the accident of -hospitality demanded such a courtesy.</p> - -<p>As Mr. Clutterbuck entered, Mrs. Clutterbuck continued her work of -embroidery at the yellow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> centre, putting her needle through the fabric -with a vigour and decision which spoke volumes for the restrained -energy of her character; nor was she the first to speak.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, standing at the fire parting his coat tails and -looking up toward that ornament in the ceiling whence depended the gas -pipe, said boldly: "Well, he got nothing out of <i>me</i>!"</p> - -<p>Mrs. Clutterbuck, without lifting her eyes, replied as rapidly as her -needlework: "I don't want to hear about your business affairs, Mr. -Clutterbuck. I leave gentlemen to what concerns gentlemen. I hope I -know <i>my</i> work, and that I don't interfere where I might only make -trouble." It is remarkable that after this preface she should have -added: "Though why you let every beggar who darkens this door make a -fool of you is more than I can understand."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was at some pains and at great length to explain that -the imaginary transaction which disturbed his wife's equanimity had -not taken place, but his volubility had no other effect than to call -from her, under a further misapprehension, a rebuke with regard to his -excess in what she erroneously called "wine." Her sympathetic remarks -upon Mr. Boyle's state of health and her trust that her husband had not -too much taxed his failing energies, did little to calm that business -man's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> now legitimate irritation, and it must be confessed that when -his wife rose in a commanding manner and left the room to put all in -order before retiring, a dark shadow of inner insecurity overcast the -merchant's mind.</p> - -<p>It was perhaps on this account that he left next day for the City by -the 8.32 instead of taking, as was his custom, the 9.17; and that, -still moody after dealing with his correspondence, he sought the office -of Mr. Boyle in Mark Lane.</p> - -<p>As he went through the cold and clear morning with the activity and -hurry of the City about him, he could review the short episode of the -night before in a clearer light and with more justice. His irritation -at his wife's remarks had largely disappeared; he had recognised that -such irritation is always the worst of counsellors in a business -matter; he remembered Mr. Boyle's long career, and though that career -had been checkered, and though of late they had seen less of each -other, he could not but contrast the smallness of the favour demanded -with the still substantial household and the public name of his friend. -He further recollected, as he went rapidly eastward, more than one such -little transaction which had proved profitable to him in the past, -not only in cash, but, what was more important to him, in business -relations.</p> - -<p>It was in such a mood that he reached Mr. Boyle's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> office: his first -emotion was one of surprise at the fineness of the place. He had -not entered it for many years, but during those years he had hardly -represented Mr. Boyle to himself as a man rising in the world. He was -surprised, and agreeably surprised; and when one of the many clerks -informed him that Mr. Boyle was down at the docks seeing to the -warehouse, he took accurate directions of the place where he might find -him, and went off in a better frame of mind; nay, in some readiness to -make an advance upon that original quotation of five hundred which, -he was now free to admit, had been accepted by Mr. Boyle with more -composure than he had expected.</p> - -<p>He was further impressed as he left the office to see upon a brass -plate the new name of Czernwitz added to Mr. Boyle's and to note the -several lines of telephone which radiated from the central cabin that -served the whole premises.</p> - -<p>Commercial requirements are many, complicated, delicate and often -secret; nor was Mr. Clutterbuck so simple as to contrast the excellent -appointments of the office and the air of prosperity which permeated -it, with the personal and private offer for an advance which Mr. Boyle -had been good enough to make.</p> - -<p>The partnership of which Mr. Boyle was a member was evidently -sound—the name of Czern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>witz was enough to show that; there could -be little doubt of the banking support behind such an establishment; -but the relations between partners often involve special details of -which the outside world is ignorant, the moment might be one in which -it was inconvenient to approach the bank in the name of the firm; a -large concession might, for all he knew, have just been obtained for -some common purpose; Mr. Boyle himself might have in hand a personal -venture bearing no relation to the transactions of the partnership; -he might even very probably be gathering, from more than one quarter, -such small sums as he required for the moment. A man must have but -little acquaintance with the City whose imagination could not suggest -such contingencies, and upon an intimate acquaintance with the City and -all its undercurrents Mr. Clutterbuck very properly prided himself. -During that brief walk all these considerations were at work in Mr. -Clutterbuck's mind, and severally leading him to an act of generosity -which the future was amply to justify.</p> - -<p>He went down to the docks; he entered the warehouse, and was there -astonished to observe so many cases, each so full of brine, and that -brine so packed with such a vast assemblage of eggs held beneath the -surface by wire lattices, that an impression of incalculable wealth -soon occupied the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> of his spirit; for he perceived not only the -paltry million in which Mr. Boyle had apparently embarked some private -moneys (the boxes were marked with his name), but the vast stores of -perhaps twenty other merchants who had rallied round England in her -hour of need and had prepared an inexhaustible supply of sterilised -organic albumenoids for the gallant lads at the front.</p> - -<p>He went up several stairs through what must have been three hundred -yards of corridor with eggs and eggs and eggs on every side—it seemed -to him a mile—he pushed through a dusty door and saw at last the goal -of his journey: Mr. Boyle himself. Mr. Boyle was wearing a dazzling -top hat, he was dressed in a brilliant cashmere twill relieved by a -large yellow flower in his buttonhole, and was seated before a little -instrument wherein an electric lamp, piercing the translucency of a -sample egg, determined whether it were or were not still suitable for -human food.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle recognised his visitor, nodded in a courteous but not -effusive way, and continued his observations. He rose at last, and -offered Mr. Clutterbuck a squint (an offer which that gentleman was -glad to accept), and explained to him the working of the test; then he -removed the egg from its position before the electric lamp, deposited -it with care beneath the brine under that section of the lattice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> to -which it belonged, and said with a heartiness which his illness could -not entirely destroy: "What brings you here?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck in some astonishment referred to their conversation of -the night before.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle laughed as soundly as a sick man can, coughed rather -violently after the laugh, and said: "Oh, I'd forgotten all about -it—it doesn't matter. I've seen Benskin this morning, and there's no -hurry."</p> - -<p>"My dear Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck warmly.</p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle waved him away with his hand. "My dear fellow," he said, -"don't let's have any explanations. I saw you didn't like the look of -it, and, after all, what does it matter? If one has to carry on for a -day or two one can always find what one wants. It was silly of me to -have talked to you about it. But when a man's ill he sometimes does -injudicious things."</p> - -<p>Here Mr. Boyle was again overcome with a very sharp and hacking cough -which was pitiful to hear.</p> - -<p>"You don't understand me, Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck with dignity -and yet with assurance. "If it was a matter of friendship I'd do it at -once; but I can see perfectly well it's a matter of business as well, -and you ought to allow me to combine both: I've known you long enough!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Boyle, after a further fit of coughing, caught his breath and said: -"You mean I ought to go to Benskin and let you in for part of it?"</p> - -<p>"My dear Boyle," said Mr. Clutterbuck, now quite at his ease, "let me -in for the whole of it, or what you like. After all, when you spoke -about the matter last night it was sudden, and——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know, I know," said Mr. Boyle, impatiently, "that's what I'm -like.... You see I've twenty things to think of—these eggs are only -part of it; and if I were to realise, as I could...."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck cut him short: "Don't talk like that, Boyle," he said, -"I'll sign it here and now; and you shall send me the papers when you -like."</p> - -<p>"No, no," said Mr. Boyle, "that's not business. I'll introduce you to -Benskin and you can talk it over."</p> - -<p>With that he began to lead the way towards Mr. Benskin's office, when -he suddenly thought better of it, and said: "Look here, Clutterbuck, -this is the best way: I'll send you the papers. I'm in for a lot more -than a million, but I'll earmark that million—eggs I mean. I won't -bring Benskin into it, I'll send you the papers and when your six and -eight-penny has passed 'em, you can hand over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> risk if you like. I -want it, I tell you frankly, I want several of 'em, and I'm getting 'em -all round; but there's no good letting everybody know. I won't touch -your envelope or your pink slip till you've had the papers and got them -passed. They're all made up, I'll send them round."</p> - -<p>In vain did Mr. Clutterbuck protest that for so small a sum as £500 -it was ridiculous that there should be formalities between friends. -Mr. Boyle, alternately coughing and wagging his head, was adamant upon -the matter. He led Mr. Clutterbuck back through the acres of preserved -eggs, choosing such avenues as afforded the best perspective of these -innumerable supplies, crossed with him the space before the Minories, -re-entered, still coughing, the narrowness of Mark Lane, and promising -Mr. Clutterbuck the papers within a few hours, turned into his own -great doors.</p> - -<p>Long before those hours were expired Mr. Clutterbuck had made up his -mind: he knew the value of informal promptitude in such cases. He had -hardly reached his own offices in Leadenhall Street, he had barely had -time to take off his overcoat, to hang his hat upon a peg, to cover his -cuffs with paper, to change into his office coat, and to take his seat -at his desk, when he dictated a note relative to an advance in Perus, -signed his cheque for five hundred and sent it round by a private -messenger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> with a few warm lines in his own handwriting such as should -accompany a good deed wisely done.</p> - -<p>He was contented with himself, he appreciated, not without justice, the -rapidity and the sureness of his judgment; he withdrew the paper from -his cuffs, put on his City coat and his best City hat, and determined -to afford himself a meal worthy of so excellent a transaction. But -genius, however lucid and immediate, is fated to endure toil as much -as it is to enjoy vision; and this excellent speculation, greatly -and deservedly as it was to enhance Mr. Clutterbuck's commercial -reputation, was not yet safe in harbour.</p> - -<p>He returned late from his lunch, which he had rounded up with coffee in -the company of a few friends. It was nearly four. He asked carelessly -if any papers had reached him from Mr. Boyle's office or elsewhere, -and, finding they had been delayed, he went home without more ado, -to return for them in the morning. He reached Croydon not a little -exhilarated and pleased at the successes of the day—for he had had -minor successes also; he had sold Pernambucos at 16½ just before -they fell. In such a mood he committed the imprudence of making Mrs. -Clutterbuck aware, though in the vaguest terms, that her opinion of Mr. -Boyle was harsh, and that his own judgment of the man had risen not a -little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> from what he had seen that day. The lady's virtuous silence -spurred him to further arguments, and though his confidences entered -into no details and certainly betrayed nothing of the main business, -yet the next morning as he reviewed the conversation in his mind, he -regretted it.</p> - -<p>He approached his office on that second day in a sober mood, prepared -to scan the document which he awaited, and, if necessary, to visit his -lawyer. No document was there; but Mr. Clutterbuck had had experience -of the leisure of a solicitor's office, and, in youth, too many -reminders of the results of interference to hasten its operation. What -did surprise him, however, and that most legitimately, was the absence -of any word of acknowledgment from his friend, in spite of the fact -that the cheque had been cashed, as he discovered, the day before at -a few minutes past twelve. Of all courses precipitation is the worst. -Mr. Clutterbuck occupied himself with other matters; worked hard at -the Warra-Mugga report, mastered it; sold Perterssens for Warra-Muggas -(a very wise transaction); and returned home in a thoughtful mood by a -late train.</p> - -<p>The first news with which Mrs. Clutterbuck greeted him was the sudden -and serious illness of Mr. Boyle, who was lying between life and death -at 15 John Bright Gardens. As she announced this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> fact to her husband, -she looked at him in a manner suggestive neither of conciliation, nor -of violence, nor of weakness, but, as it were, of calm control; and Mr. -Clutterbuck, acting upon mixed emotions, among which anxiety was not -the least, went out at once to have news of his friend. All that he -could hear from the servant at the door was that the doctor would admit -no visitor; that her master was extremely ill, but that he was expected -to survive the night.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck hurried back home in a considerable confusion of mind, -and was glad to find, as he approached his house, that everything was -dark.</p> - -<p>Next morning he postponed his journey to the City to call again as -early as he decently could at 15 John Bright Gardens. Alas! the blinds -were drawn at every window. The Dread Reaper had passed.</p> - -<p>The effect produced by this calamity upon Mr. Clutterbuck was such -as would have thrown a more emotional man quite off his balance. The -loss of so near a neighbour, the death of a man with whom but fifty -hours ago he had been in intimate conversation, was in itself a shock -of dangerous violence. When there was added to this shock his natural -doubts upon the status of the Million Eggs, it is not to be wondered -that a sort of distraction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> followed. He ran, quite forgetful of his -dignity, to the nearest telephone cabin, rang up his office in the -City, was given the wrong number, in his agony actually forgot to -repeat the right number again, dashed out without paying, returned -to fulfil this formality, pelted away toward the station, missed the -11.28, and, such was his bewildered mood, leapt upon a tram as though -this were the quickest means of reaching information.</p> - -<p>In a quarter of an hour a little calm was restored to him, though by -this time the rapid electric service of the Electric Traction Syndicate -had carried him far beyond the limits of Croydon. He got out at a -roadside office, wrote out and tore up again half a dozen telegrams, -seized a time-table, determined that after all the train was his best -refuge, and catching the 12.17 at Norwood Junction, found himself -in the heart of the City before half-past one. A hansom took him to -his office after several intolerable but unavoidable delays in the -half-mile it had to traverse. His visible perturbation was a matter of -comment to his subordinates, who were not slow to inform him before he -opened his mouth that the documents had not yet arrived.</p> - -<p>Exhaustion followed so much feverish activity, an anxiety, deeper if -possible than any he had yet shown, settled upon Mr. Clutterbuck's -features. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> forgot to lunch, he walked deliberately to the warehouse, -only to be asked what his business might be, and to be told that the -particular section of eggs which he named were the property of Messrs. -Czernwitz and Boyle, and could be visited by no one without their -written order.</p> - -<p>The tone in which this astonishing message was delivered would have -stung a man of less sensitiveness and breeding than Mr. Clutterbuck; -he turned upon his heel in a mood to which anger was now added, and -immediately sought the office of that firm. But he was doomed to yet -further delay. No one was in who could give him any useful information, -nor even any one of so much responsibility as to be able to explain to -him the extraordinary occurrences of the last few days.</p> - -<p>He was at the point of a very grave decision—I mean of going on to -his lawyers and perhaps disturbing to no sort of purpose the most -delicate of commercial relations—when there moved past him into the -office the ponderous and well-clad form of a gentleman past middle age, -with such magnificent white whiskers as adorn the faces of too many -Continental bankers, and wearing a simple bowler hat of exquisite shape -and workmanship. He was smoking a cigar of considerable size and of -delicious flavour, and by the deference immediately paid to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> him upon -his entry, Mr. Clutterbuck, as he stood in nervous anxiety by the door, -could distinguish the head of the firm.</p> - -<p>It was characteristic of the Baron de Czernwitz, and in some sort -an explanation of his future success in our business world, ever -so suspicious of the foreigner, that the moment he had heard Mr. -Clutterbuck's name and business, he turned to him, in spite of his many -preoccupations, with the utmost courtesy and said:</p> - -<p>"It iss myself you want? You shall come hier."</p> - -<p>With these words he put his arm in the most gentlemanly manner through -that of his exhausted visitor, and led him into an inner room furnished -with all the taste and luxury which the Baron had learnt in Naples, -Wurtemburg, Dantzig, Paris, and New York.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Clottorbug, Mr. Clottorbug," he said leaning backwards and -surveying the English merchant with an almost paternal interest, "what -iss it I can do for you?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, quite won by such a manner, unfolded the whole -business. As he did so the Baron's face became increasingly grave. At -last he took a slip of paper and noted on it one or two points—the -amount, the date, and time of the trans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>action. This he gravely folded -into four, and as gravely placed within a Russian leather pocket-book -which contained, apart from certain masonic engagements, a considerable -quantity of bank notes wrapped round an inner core of letter paper.</p> - -<p>I cannot deny that Mr. Clutterbuck expected little from this just if -good-natured man. The Baron, with whose name he was familiar, had no -concern with, and no responsibility in, the most unfortunate accident -which had befallen him. To make the interview (whose inevitable -termination he thought he could foresee) the easier, Mr. Clutterbuck -murmured that no doubt the firm of solicitors were preparing the -papers, and that they would be in his hands within a brief delay. The -Baron smiled largely and wagged his ponderous head.</p> - -<p>"Oh! noh!" he said, and then added, as though he were summing up the -thoughts of many years, "He voss a bad egg!"</p> - -<p>Such an epithet applied to a friend but that moment dead might have -shocked Mr. Clutterbuck under other circumstances; as things were, he -could not entirely disagree with the verdict; and when he had informed -the financier that Mr. Boyle's name had been placed separately from -his partner's upon the boxes of the firm, even that expression<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> seemed -hardly strong enough to voice M. de Czernwitz's feelings.</p> - -<p>He next learned from the Baron's own lips how from senior partner Mr. -Boyle had sunk to a salaried position; how even so he had but been -retained through the kindness of the Baron; how he had more than once -involved himself in petty gambling, and how the Baron had more than -once actually paid the debts resulting from that mania; how his name -had been kept upon the plate only after the most urgent entreaties -and to save his pride; and how the Baron now saw that this act of -generosity had been not only unwise but perhaps unjust in its effect -upon the outer world.</p> - -<p>When he had concluded his statement the nobleman knocked the ash from -his cigar in such a manner that part of it fell upon Mr. Clutterbuck's -trousers, and surveyed that gentleman with a shade of sadness for some -moments.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck rose as though to go, saying, as he did so, that he had -no business to detain his host, that he must bear his own loss, and -that there was no more to be done. But the Baron, half rising, placed -upon his shoulder a hand of such weight as compelled him to be seated.</p> - -<p>"You shall <i>not</i> soffer!" he exclaimed to Mr. Clutterbuck's mingled -amazement and delight. He spent the next few minutes in devising a -plan, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> at last suggested that Mr. Clutterbuck should be permitted -to purchase at a nominal price, the unhappy Million Eggs which were at -the root of all this tragedy. He rang the bell for certain quotations -and letters recently despatched by his firm; he satisfied the merchant -of the prices to be obtained from Government under contracts which, -he was careful to point out, ran "until hostilities in South Africa -should have ceased"; he pointed out the advantages which so distant and -indeterminate a date offered to the seller; and he concluded by putting -the stock at Mr. Clutterbuck's disposal for £250.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's gratitude knew no bounds. He was accustomed to the -hard, dry, unimaginative temper of our English houses, and there swam -in his eyes that salt humour which survives, alas! so rarely in the -eyes of men over forty. He shook the Baron's left hand warmly—the -right was occupied with the stump of the cigar—he reiterated his -obligation, and came back to his own office with the gaiety of boyhood.</p> - -<p>He found M. de Czernwitz a very different man of business from the -unhappy fellow who had now gone to his account. Before five o'clock -everything was in order, and he slept that night the possessor in -law (and, as his solicitor was careful to advise him, in fact also) -of One Million Eggs, supply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> for the army in South Africa during -the continuance of hostilities, and acquired by the substantial but -moderate total investment of £750.</p> - -<p>So true is it that probity and generosity go hand in hand with success -in the world-wide commerce of our land.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER II</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> are accidents in business against which no good fortune nor even -the largest generosity can protect us.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck woke the next morning, after a night of such repose as -he had not lately enjoyed. The June morning in that delightful Surrey -air awoke all the perfumes of his small but well-ordered garden, and -he sauntered with a light step down its neat gravel paths, reflecting -upon his new property, considering what advice he should take, whether -to hold it for the necessities that might arise later in the year if -the campaign should take a more difficult turn, or whether it would -be found the experience of such of his friends as held Government -contracts, that he had better offer at once in the expectation of an -immediate demand.</p> - -<p>To settle such questions needed some conversation with men back from -the front, a certain knowledge of the conditions in South Africa -(where, he was informed, the month of June was the depth of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> winter), -and many another point upon which a sound decision should repose.</p> - -<p>As he mapped out his consequent activity for the coming day, he heard -the postman opening the gate in front of his villa, and went out to -intercept the daily paper which he delivered.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck tore its cover thoughtlessly enough in the expectation -of discovering some minor successes or perhaps an unfortunate but -necessary surrender of men and guns, when a leaded paragraph in large -type and at the very head of the first column, struck him almost as -with a blow. With a dramatic suddenness that none save a very few in -the highest financial world could have expected, negotiations for peace -had opened and the enemy had laid down their arms.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck sat down upon the steps of his house, oblivious of the -giggling maid who was washing the stone behind him, and gazed blankly -at the two Wellingtonias and the Japanese arbutus which dignified -his patch of lawn. He left the paper lying where it was, and moved -miserably into the house.</p> - -<p>During the meal Mrs. Clutterbuck made no more allusion to his business -than was her wont, and was especially careful to say nothing in regard -to the deceased friend, whose relations with her husband she knew -had latterly been more than those of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> ordinary acquaintance. She -did, however, permit herself to suggest that there must be something -extraordinary in the fact that the blinds in Mr. Boyle's house were now -lifted, that there had been no orders for a funeral, and that her own -investigations among her neighbours made it more than probable that no -such ceremony would be needed.</p> - -<p>The candid character of her husband was slow to seize the significance -of this last item, but when in the course of the forenoon a police -inspector, accompanied by a less exalted member of the force, -respectfully desired an interview with him, Mr. Clutterbuck could not -but experience such emotions as men do who find themselves engulfed in -darkness by a sudden flood.</p> - -<p>He was happy to find, after the first few moments, that it was not -with him these bulwarks of public order were concerned, but with that -faithless man whose name he had determined never again to pronounce.</p> - -<p>Did Mr. Clutterbuck know anything of Mr. Boyle's movements? When had -he last seen him? Had Mr. Boyle, to his knowledge, taken the train for -Croydon as usual on the day he cashed the cheque? Had he any knowledge -of Mr. Boyle's intentions? Had Mr. Boyle shown him, by accident or by -design, a ticket for any foreign port? And if so (added the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> official -with the singular finesse of his profession) was that ticket made out -for Buenos Ayres?</p> - -<p>To all of these questions Mr. Clutterbuck was happily able to give a -frank, straightforward, English answer such as satisfied his visitors. -Nor did he dismiss them without offering, in spite of the matutinal -hour, to the more exalted one a glass of wine, to the lesser a tumbler -of ale. To see them march in step out of his carriage gate was the -first relief he had obtained that morning.</p> - -<p>He comforted his sad heart by the very object of his sadness, as is -our pathetic human way. He took a sort of mournful pride in handling -the great key that gave him access to the warehouse, and a peculiar -pleasure in snubbing the servant who had denied him when he had called -before.</p> - -<p>These eggs after all were a possession; they were a tangible thing, -a million was their number; the very boxes in which they soaked were -property; and it cannot be denied that Mr. Clutterbuck, who had -hitherto possessed no real thing nor extended his personality to any -visible objects beyond his furniture, his clothes, his pipe, his -bicycle, and his wife, could not but be influenced by the sense of -ownership. Sometimes he would select an egg at random, and placing -it in the machine which had been witness of his first decisive -interview, he would examine whether or no it were still transparent;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> -but the occupation was but a pastime. Often he did not really note -their condition, and when he did note it, whether that condition were -satisfactory or no, he would replace the sample as solemnly as he had -chosen it.</p> - -<p>Day after day it was Mr. Clutterbuck's mournful occupation to regard -them as they lay stilly in their brine, these eggs that had so long -awaited the call to arms from South Africa; that call which never came. -To complete his despair the rumours of a full treaty of peace, which -had tortured him for a whole week, were finally confirmed. He seemed -irrecoverably lost, and though a preserved egg will always fetch its -price in this country, yet the distribution of so vast a number, the -search for a market, and the presence of such considerable competitors -on every side—the total length of the boxes in which the eggs were -stored amounted to no less than six miles and one-third—made him -despair of recovering even one-half of the original sum which he had -risked.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck must not be blamed for an anxiety common to every man -of affairs in speculations which have not yet matured: and those who, -from a more exalted position in society, or from a more profound study -of our institutions would have reposed confidence in the equity of the -Government, must not blame the humble merchant of Croydon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> if in his -bewilderment he misjudged for a moment the temper of a British Cabinet.</p> - -<p>That temper did not betray him. The Government, at the close of the -war were more than just—they were bountiful to those who, in the -expectation of a prolonged conflict, had accumulated stores for the -army.</p> - -<p>No one recognised better than the Cabinet of the day under what an -obligation they lay to the mercantile world which had seen them through -the short but grave crisis in South Africa, nor did any men appreciate -better than they the contract into which they had virtually if not -technically entered, to recoup those whom their abrupt negotiations for -peace had left in the lurch. It could not be denied that the published -despatches of Lord Milner and the frequently expressed determination of -the Government never to treat with the Dutch rebels in the Transvaal, -had led the community in general to imagine a conflict of indefinite -duration. And if, for reasons which it is not my duty to criticise -here, they saw fit to reverse this policy and to put their names to a -regular treaty, the least they could do for those whose patriotism had -accumulated provisions to continue the struggle, was to recompense them -not only equitably but largely for their sacrifice.</p> - -<p>The decision so to act and to repurchase, with a special generosity, -the eggs accumulated for our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> forces, was reinforced by many other -considerations besides those of political equity. It was recognised -that for some time to come a considerable garrison would be necessary -to constrain the terrible foe whom we had so recently vanquished; it -was recognised that of all articles of diet the egg has recently been -proved the most sustaining for its weight and price; the perishable -nature of the commodity, though it had been counteracted by the -scientific methods of the packers, was another consideration of great -weight, certain as it was that the preservation of these supplies could -not be indefinitely continued, and that the moment they were moved -dissolution would be at hand; finally, the Government could not forget -that these eggs, worth but a paltry farthing apiece upon the shores of -the Baltic or in the frozen deserts of Siberia, would exchange in the -arid waste of the veldt for fifty times that sum.</p> - -<p>My readers will have guessed the conclusion: in spite of the fact that -the chief packer was no less than Sir Henry Nathan, a man willing to -wait, well able to do so, a continual and generous subscriber to the -Relief Funds; in spite of a letter to the <i>Times</i> signed by Baron de -Czernwitz himself in the name of the larger holders, and professing -every willingness to accept bonds at 3½ per cent., the condition of -the smaller men was enough to decide the Govern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>ment. Within a week of -the cessation of hostilities, offers had been issued to all the owners -at the rate, less carriage, of one shilling for each egg which should -be found actually present beneath the surface of the brine; for here, -as in every other matter, our Government regulations are strict and -minute; there was no intention of paying in the rough for a vague or -computed number: it was necessary that every egg should be counted, -and its preservation determined, before a shilling of public money -should be exchanged for it. The inspection, the cost of which fell, -as was only just, upon the public purse, was rapidly and efficiently -accomplished by a large body of experts chosen for the purpose, and -organised under the direction of Lord Henry Townley, whose name and -salary alone are a guarantee of scientific excellence and accuracy. -Thus it was that a group of merchants who had in no way pressed the -authorities, who had stood the stress and strain of waiting during -those last critical days before the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed, -obtained, as such men always will from our Commonwealth, the just -reward of their public spirit and endurance.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was perhaps not so fortunate as some others. Of the -million eggs which he nominally controlled, no less than 8306 were -rejected upon examination, and the bonds he received, so far from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> -amounting to a full £5000, fell short of that sum by over £415. Certain -expenses incidental to the transaction further lowered the net amount -paid over, but even under these circumstances Mr. Clutterbuck was not -disappointed to receive over £4500 as his share of compensation for -loss and delay.</p> - -<p>Those who are willing to see in human affairs the guiding hand of -Providence and who cannot admit into their vocabulary the meaningless -expression "coincidence," will reverently note the part which an -English Government played in the foundation of a private fortune.</p> - -<p>Elated, and (it must be admitted) rendered a little wayward in judgment -by this accession of wealth, Mr. Clutterbuck was more deeply convinced -of advancing prosperity when the rise of Government credit during -the next weeks still further increased the value of the bonds which -his bank held for him. He sold in July, and with the sum he realised -entered upon yet another venture, which must be briefly reviewed. Upon -the advice of an old and dear friend he purchased no less than 72,000 -shares in the discredited property of the Curicanti Docks. The one -pound shares of that unhappy concern had fallen steadily since 1897, -when the whaling station had been removed to Dolores; but even here, -imprudent as the speculation may appear, his good fortune followed him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>The friend whose advice Mr. Clutterbuck had followed—a private -gentleman—had himself long held shares in the property of that -distant port; its continued misfortune had raised in him such doubts -as to its future that he thought it better a solid brain such as Mr. -Clutterbuck's should help to direct its fortunes, than that he and -others like him should be at the loss of their small capital. He -arranged with an intermediary for the sale of the shares should Mr. -Clutterbuck desire to purchase in the open market, and was relieved -beyond measure to find his advice followed and Mr. Clutterbuck -in possession of the whole parcel at one and a penny each. To -the astonishment, however, of the friend, and still more of the -intermediary whom that friend had employed, the difficulties of the -Curicanti Docks were in the very next month submitted to arbitration; a -man of Cabinet rank, whose name I honour too much to mention here, was -appointed arbitrator. The help of the Imperial Government was afforded -to re-establish a concern whose failings were purely commercial, but -whose strategic importance to the Empire it needs but a glance at the -map to perceive. The shares which had dropped some days after Mr. -Clutterbuck's purchase to between ninepence ha'pennny and ninepence -three farthings, rose at once upon the news of this Imperial Decision -to half a crown. The negotiations were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> conducted by that tried -statesman with so much skill and integrity that, before September, the -same shares were at eight and fourpence, and though the commercial -transactions of the port and the grant of Government money upon the -Admiralty vote did not warrant the public excitement in this particular -form of investment, it was confidently prophesied they would go to par. -They did not do so, but when they had reached, and were passing, ten -shillings Mr. Clutterbuck sold.</p> - -<p>He had not intended to dispose of them at so early a date, for he -was confident, as was the rest of the public, that they would go to -par. His action, due to a sudden accession of nervousness and to a -contemplation of the large profit already acquired, turned out, however -(as is so often the case with the sudden decisions of men with business -instinct!) profoundly just. In one transaction, indeed, a few days -later, Curicantis were quoted at ten shillings and sixpence, but it is -not certain that they really changed hands at that price, and certainly -they went no higher.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p>As the autumn thus turned to winter, Mr. Clutterbuck found himself -possessed, somewhat to his bewilderment and greatly to the increase of -his manhood, of over £50,000.</p> - -<p>It has often been remarked by men of original genius as they look back -in old age upon their careers, that some one turning point of fortune -established in them a trust in themselves and determined the future -conduct of their minds, strengthening all that was in them and almost -compelling them to the highest achievement. In that autumn this turning -point had come for Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>There were subtle signs of change about the man: he would come home -earlier than usual; the four o'clock train in which the great Princes -of Commerce are so often accommodated would receive him from time to -time; there were whole Saturdays on which he did not leave for the -City at all. He was kinder to his wife and less careful whether he -were shaved or no before ten o'clock in the morning. Other papers than -the <i>Times</i> found entry to his villa: he was open to discuss political -matters with a broad mind, and had more than once before the year was -ended read articles in the <i>Daily Chronicle</i> and the <i>Westminster -Gazette</i>. He had also attended not a few profane concerts, and had -bought, at the recommendation of a local dealer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> six etchings, one -after Whistler, the other five original.</p> - -<p>But, such is the effect of fortune upon wise and balanced men, he did -not immediately proceed to use his greatly increased financial power -in the way of further speculation; he retained his old offices, he -invested, sold, and reinvested upon a larger scale indeed than he -had originally been accustomed to, but much in the same manner. A -cheeriness developed in his manner towards his dependents, notably -towards his clerk and towards the office boy, a staff which he saw no -reason to increase. He would speak to them genially of their affairs -at home, and when he had occasion to reprimand or mulct them, a thing -which in earlier days he had never thought of doing, it was always -in a sympathetic tone that he administered the rebuke or exacted the -pecuniary penalty.</p> - -<p>It was long debated between himself and his wife whether or no they -should set up a brougham; and Mrs. Clutterbuck, having pointed out the -expense of this method of conveyance, herself decided upon a small -electric landaulette, which, as she very well pointed out, though of -a heavier initial cost, would be less expensive to maintain, less -capricious in its action, and of a further range. She argued with -great facility that in case of any interruption in train service, or -in the sad event of her own demise, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> would still be useful for -conveying her husband to and from the City; and Mr. Clutterbuck having -pointed out the many disadvantages attaching to this form of traction, -purchased the vehicle, only refusing, I am glad to say, with inflexible -determination, to have painted upon its panels the crest of the -Montagues.</p> - -<p>No extra servants were added to the household; but in the matter of -dress there was a certain largeness; the cook was trained at some -expense to present dishes which Mr. Clutterbuck had hitherto only -enjoyed at the Palmerston Restaurant in Broad Street; and the bicycle, -which was now no longer of service, was given open-handedly to the -gardener who had hitherto only used it by permission.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously with this increase of fortune, Mr. Clutterbuck acquired -a clean and decisive way of speaking, prefaced most commonly by a -little period of thought, and he permitted himself certain minor -luxuries to which he had hitherto been unaccustomed: he would buy -cigars singly at the tobacconist's; he used credit in the matter of -wine, that is, of sherry and of port, and his hat was often ironed when -he was shaved.</p> - -<p>It must not be imagined, however, that these new luxuries gravely -interfered with the general tenor of his life. His wife perceived, -indeed, that something was easier in their fortunes, that the cash -necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> for her good deeds (and this was never extravagant) was -always present and was given without grudging. His ample and ready -manner impressed his neighbours with some advance in life. But nothing -very greatly changed about him. He lived in the same house, with the -same staff of servants; he entertained no more at home, for he was -shy of meeting new friends, and but little more in the City, where -also his acquaintance was restricted. This wise demeanour resulted in -a continual accumulation, for it is not difficult in a man of this -substance to buy and sell with prudence upon the smaller scale. Mr. -Clutterbuck for five years continued a sensible examination of markets, -buying what was obviously cheap, selling what even the mentally -deficient could perceive to be dear, and though he missed, or rather -did not attempt, many considerable opportunities (among which should -honourably be mentioned Hudson Bays, and the rise in the autumn of 1907 -of the London and North Western Railway shares),<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> the general trend -of his judgment was accurate. For two years he maintained a slight but -sufficient growth in his capital, and he entered what was to prove a -new phase of his life in the year 1910 with a property, not merely upon -paper, but in rapidly negotiable securities,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of over £60,000, a solid -outlook on the world, and a knowledge of the market which, while it did -not pretend to subtle or occult relations with the heads of finance, -still less to an exalted view of European politics, was minute and -experienced.</p> - -<p>It was under these conditions that such an increment of wealth came -to him as only befalls men who have earned the apparent accident of -fortune by permanent and uncompromising labour.</p> - -<p>In the April of that momentous year 1910, Mr. Clutterbuck suddenly -achieved a financial position of such eminence as those who have -not toiled and thought and planned are too often tempted to believe -fortuitous.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The present price of sixpence a share is, in the opinion -of the author, merely nominal, and any one with a few pounds to spare -would do well to buy, for further Government action in connection with -the docks has been rendered inevitable by the necessity of admitting -new ships of the <i>Dreadnought</i> type for repair to plates after firing.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> After the fruitful interference of the Board of Trade.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER III</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was certain, as the month of April 1910 proceeded, that a demand -would suddenly be made upon English capital for the exploitation of the -Manatasara Syndicate's concession upon the Upper Congo.</p> - -<p>I mention the matter only to elucidate what follows, for Mr. -Clutterbuck was neither of the social rank nor of the literary world in -which the salvation of the unhappy natives of the Congo had been the -principal theme for months and years before.</p> - -<p>That salvation had been only recently achieved, but the hideous rule of -Leopold no longer weighed upon the innocent and unfortunate cannibals -of equatorial Africa; dawn had broken at last upon those millions whom -Christ died to save, and whom so many missionaries had undertaken -hasty and expensive voyages to free from an exploitation odious to the -principles of our Common Law.</p> - -<p>But though the consummation of that great event, which history will -always record as the chief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> achievement of modern England, was but -freshly written upon the tablets of our age, there were not a few in -the financial and ecclesiastical world of London who could read the -signs of the times, and could appreciate the material results which -would follow upon the advent of Christian liberty for these unhappy -men. I have but to mention Sir Joseph Gorley, the Right Rev. the Lord -Bishop of Shoreham, Sir Harry Hog, Mrs. Entwistle, Lord Barry, the -Dean of Betchworth, Lord Blackwater, and his second son, the Hon. I. -Benzinger, to show the stuff of which the reformers were composed.</p> - -<p>There were some, indeed, to whom the financial necessities of the -unhappy natives were but a second consideration, absorbed as they were -in the spiritual needs of the African; but there were others who saw, -with the sturdy common sense which has led us to all our victories, -that little could be done even upon the spiritual side, until marshes -had been drained, forests cleared, fields ploughed, and the most -carefully chosen implements imported from as carefully chosen merchants -in the capitals of Europe. The directing hand and brain of the European -must be lent to raise the material position of those unhappy savages in -whom the Belgian had almost obliterated the semblance of humanity.</p> - -<p>For this purpose had been chosen, after long thought by those best -acquainted with the district,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> Mr. Charles Hatton, brother of that -Mr. Sachs whose name will be familiar to all as the originator of the -Society for the Prevention of the Trade in Tobacco to the Inhabitants -of Liberia, and the successful manager of Chutes Limited.</p> - -<p>Mr. Hatton, who, upon his marriage with Amelia, daughter and heiress of -Sir Henry Hatton, of Hatton Hall, Hatton, in Herefordshire, had adopted -his father-in-law's name and had lent the whole of his considerable -fortune, and of his yet more considerable talents, to the uplifting -of the equatorial negro. Mr. Hatton it was who successfully carried -through the negotiations with the Colonial Committee of the Belgian -Parliament, and who obtained for his syndicate the concession of the -Manatasara district for twenty-one years.</p> - -<p>The first act of the concessionaires was to take advantage of the new -regulations whereby future chartered rulers in the Congo might declare -the native to be the owner of his land. The soil to which these poor -blacks were born was restored to them. The hideous system of forced -labour was at once ended, and in its place one uniform hut tax was -imposed upon the whole community. All were free, and though the actual -amount of labour required to discharge the tax was perhaps triple -the old assessment, yet as it fell equally upon the whole tribe, no -complaint of injustice could be made, nor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> to judge from the absence -of complaint in the London papers, was any felt.</p> - -<p>In many other ways the new <i>régime</i> witnessed to the great truth that -business and righteousness are not opposed in the Dark Continent. Where -the native had been permitted to run free at every risk to his morals -and to ours, he was now segregated in neat compounds under a tutelage -suitable to his stage of development. The early marriages at which -the fatuous Continental friars had winked, were severely repressed. -The adoption of Christianity in any of its forms (except Mormonism), -was left to the free exercise of individual choice, but the pestilent -folly of ordaining native priests was at once forbidden. Most important -of all, the abominable restriction of human liberty by which, under -the accursed rule of King Leopold the native's very food and drink -had been supervised, was replaced by an ample liberty in which he was -free to accept or to reject the beverages of civilisation. The natural -temptation which gin at a penny the bottle offers to a primitive being -was not met as of old by slavish prohibition, but by the wiser and -more noble engine of persuasion, and the temperance leagues already -springing up in the coast towns, gave promise of deep effect upon the -general tone of the native community.</p> - -<p>To all this beneficent endeavour, capital alone was lacking. To look -for it in the hardened and worldly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> centres of the continent was -hopeless. Those who in our own country would some years ago have -been the first to come forward, had recently so suffered through the -necessary initial expense of Rhode's glorious dream, that with all the -good will in the world they hesitated to embark upon novel ventures in -Africa.</p> - -<p>More than one godly woman, persuaded by the eloquence of those who had -heard of the atrocities, was willing to venture her few hundreds; and -more than one wealthy manufacturer bestowed considerable donations of -fifty pounds and more upon the spiritual side of the new enterprise: -one high spirit of fire endowed a bishopric with £300 a year for -three years. But the attempt to float a company upon the basis of the -concession was still in jeopardy, and it seemed for a moment as though -all those years of effort to destroy the infamy of Leopold's control -had been thrown away.</p> - -<p>The concessionaires, eager as they were to work in the vineyard, could -hardly be expected to go forward until the general public should -take something of the burden off their hands. It was under these -circumstances that the Manatasara Syndicate and its offspring the -company stood in the spring of 1910.</p> - -<p>Put in terms of Eternal Life, the shares in the new company of the -Manatasara Syndicate which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> was to uplift so many poor negroes and to -free so many human souls, were more precious than pearl or ruby and -above the price of chrysoprase,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> but in the cold terms of our mortal -markets this month of April found them utterly unsaleable. Yet the -capital required was small, one considerable purchase would have been -enough to start the sluggish stream; and if it be asked why, under -these circumstances, Mr. Hatton did not use his considerable financial -influence to obtain the first subscriptions, the answer is that he -was far too high-minded to persuade any man, even for the noblest of -ideals, to the smallest risk for which he might later seem responsible. -As to his own means, ardent as was his enthusiasm for the cause of our -black brothers, he owed it to his wife, to his bright-eyed boy, and -to his aged father-in-law, Sir Charles Hatton of Hatton Hall, who was -penniless, to risk no portion of the family fortune in any speculation -no matter how deserving.</p> - -<p>The public, though their ears were ringing with the name of Manatasara, -and though the Press spoke of little else, held back; there was an -interval—a very short one—during which the reconstruction of the -whole affair was seriously considered in secret, when the Hand which -will so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> often be observed in these pages, visibly moved for the -benediction of Mr. Clutterbuck and of the great Empire which he was -destined to serve.</p> - -<p>The Municipal Council of Monte Zarro, in southern Italy, had in -that same spring of 1910 determined upon the construction of new -water-works; and in the true spirit of the men who inherit from -Garibaldi, from Crispi, and from Nathan,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> they had put the contract -up to the highest—or rather, to the most efficient—tender. I need -hardly say that the firm of Bigglesworth, of Tyneside, the Minories, -and Pall Mall East, obtained the contract; a firm intimately connected -both with the Foreign Office and with the Cavaliere Marlio, and one -whose name is synonymous with thorough if expensive workmanship. The -bonds to be issued in connection with this progressive enterprise -were to bear an interest of four and a half per cent., and in view -of the comparative poverty of the town and the extensive nature of -the investment (which was designed for a town of at least 50,000 -inhabitants, though Monte Zarro numbered no more than 15,000), in view -also of the high cost of municipal action in Italy, was to be issued -at some low figure; the precise price was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> conveyed privately to a few -substantial clients of Barnett and Sons' Bank who all precipitately -refused to touch the security: all, that is, with the exception of Mr. -Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>He, with the unerring instinct that had now guided him for nearly eight -long years, decided to take up the issue. It was not until he had twice -dined, and generously, with a junior partner of the bank that he was -finally persuaded to support the scheme with his capital, nor did his -loyal nature suspect the bias that others were too ready to impute to -the banker's recommendation.</p> - -<p>Indeed, Mr. Clutterbuck was led to this determination not so much by -the extremely low price at which the bonds were offered him, or the -considerable interest they were pledged to bear, as by the implied and, -as it were, necessary guarantee of the Italian Government which Barnett -and Sons assured him were behind them. Of the two things, as the junior -partner was careful to point out, one must occur: either the interest -upon the outlay would be too much for the Municipality, in which case -the Government would be bound to intervene, or the interest would be -regularly paid, at least for the first few years, in which case the -price of eighty-three at which the bonds were offered was surely so low -as to ensure an immediately profitable sale.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was in no haste, however; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> issue still had some -days before it, he was still considering what precise sum he was -prepared to furnish, when he felt, during one of the later and more -bitter mornings of that April, an unaccountable weakness and fever -which increased as the day proceeded.</p> - -<p>He at once consulted an eminent physician of his recent acquaintance, -and was assured by the Baronet that if he were not suffering from the -first stages of influenza, he was either the victim of a feverish cold -or possibly of overwork.</p> - -<p>This grave news determined him, as a prudent man, to leave his business -for some days and to take a sea voyage, but before doing so, with equal -prudence he put a power of attorney into the hands of a confidential -clerk and left witnessed instructions upon the important investment -which would have to be made in his absence.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, or rather fortunately—such are the mysterious designs -of Heaven—he dictated these full and minute instructions which he -was to leave behind him, and in the increasing discomfort which he -felt toward evening, he neglected to read over the typewritten copy -presented him to sign.</p> - -<p>That evening at Croydon, the symptoms being now more pronounced, it was -patent even to the suburban doctor that Mr. Clutterbuck was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> prey -of a Diplococcus, not improbably the hideous Diplococcus of pneumonia.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The confidential clerk heard with regret next morning by telephone of -the misadventure that had befallen his master; but he was a man of -well-founded confidence in himself; he had now for five years past -conducted the major part of Mr. Clutterbuck's affairs, under his -superior's immediate direction, it is true, and his proficiency had -earned him a high and increasing salary. Save for an active anxiety -as to Mr. Clutterbuck's ultimate recovery, the terms of his will, and -other matters naturally falling within his province, he knew that he -had all the instructions and powers upon which to act during the next -few days.</p> - -<p>He spent the first of those days in visiting, in company with his -second cousin Hyacinth, the charming old town of Rye; the second, -which was also the first of Mr. Clutterbuck's delirium, he occupied in -perusing and digesting at length the detailed instructions which had -been left in his hands.</p> - -<p>With the fact that a large investment must of necessity be made in -a few days he was already familiar: his master had sold out and had -placed to his current account at Parr's the important sum destined to -meet it. But he was necessarily in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> ignorance of the precise security -in which that sum was to be placed, for Mr. Clutterbuck had come to his -final determination but a little while before his illness had struck -him.</p> - -<p>The instructions would, he knew, contain his orders in every -particular, and it was mainly with the object of discovering what he -was to do in this chief matter that he studied the lines before him.</p> - -<p>The directions given covered a multitude of points; they concerned the -buying and selling of a certain number of small stocks, especially the -realisation of certain Siberian Copper shares, which still stood high, -but which Mr. Clutterbuck, having heard upon the best authority that -the copper was entirely exhausted, had determined to convey to some -other gentleman before the general public should acquire, through the -Press, information which he had obtained at no small expense in advance -of the correspondents.</p> - -<p>There followed several paragraphs relative to the installation of -certain improvements in the office, upon which Mr. Clutterbuck was -curiously eager; next, in quite a brief but equally clear passage, -was the order—if the merchant were not himself able to attend to the -matter by the 25th at latest—to take up 15,000 shares in the Muntsar -issue; an investment, the instructions added, on which the fullest -particu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>lars would be afforded him, if he were in any doubt, by Messrs. -Barnett and Sons.</p> - -<p>The Confidential Clerk was in very considerable doubt. The word as it -stood was meaningless. He sent for Miss Pugh, the shorthand writer, and -her notes; they appeared together with hauteur, and the Confidential -Clerk, who in humbler days had done his 120 words a minute, carefully -examined the outline. It was not very neat, but there was the "Mntsor" -right enough. He complained of the vowels, and received from Miss Pugh, -whom he openly admired, so sharp a reprimand as silenced him.... Yet -his experience assured him that "Mnt" was not an English form. He began -to experiment with the vowels. He tried "e" and "a" and made Muntusare, -which was nonsense; then he tried "a" and "u"; then "a" and "e"; and -suddenly he saw it.</p> - -<p>In a flash he remembered a friend of his who was employed in the -offices of a syndicate; he should surely have guessed! Manatasara!</p> - -<p>More than once that friend had hinted at the advantage of "setting -the ball rolling." More than once had he spoken in flattery of the -Confidential Clerk's ascendency over his master and with unmerited -contempt of that master's initiative.... He had even let it be known -that the introduction of Mr. Clutterbuck's name alone would be regarded -with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> substantial gratitude by Mr. Hatton.... The more he thought of -it the more he was determined that Manatasara was the word ... and he -needed no help from Barnett and Sons now.</p> - -<p>He considered the habits of his friend, and remembered that he commonly -lunched at the Woolpack. To the Woolpack went the Confidential Clerk -a little after two, and found that friend making a book with Natty -Timpson, Joe Buller, and the rest upon the approaching but most -uncertain Derby. He joined them, drew him aside, briefly told him his -business, and asked him how he should proceed.</p> - -<p>His friend, who was a true friend and a little drunk, conveyed to -him, in language which would certainly be tedious here and probably -offensive, the extreme pleasure his principals would find in Mr. -Clutterbuck's determination: the probability that the Confidential -Clerk himself would not go unrewarded. He spoke of his own high hopes; -then, as he contemplated the opportunity in all its greatness, it so -worked upon his own enthusiasm as to make him insist upon accompanying -the reluctant Clerk to the office itself, and introducing him in a -flushed but articulate manner to Mr. Hatton's private secretary.</p> - -<p>The two were closeted together for something less than an hour; it was -not four o'clock when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> they parted. Mr. Hatton's secretary, forgetting -all social distinctions, shook hands warmly at the door with the -Confidential Clerk, who passed out heedless of his friend's eager -pantomime in the outer office. And thus it was that by the morning of -the next day, while poor Mr. Clutterbuck's temperature was hovering -round 104° (Fahrenheit), no small portion of his goods were already -earmarked for the Great Crusade to Redeem the Negro Race.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's illness reached its crisis and passed; but for many -days he was not allowed to hear the least news, still less to occupy -himself with business. The Confidential Clerk was far too careful of -his master's interests to jeopardise them by too early a call upon his -energies. He wrote a daily report to Mrs. Clutterbuck to the effect -that nothing had been done beyond the written instructions left by her -husband, that all was well, and the office in perfect order. He was -at the pains of dictating a daily synopsis of the correspondence he -had opened and answered; and though the offer of marriage which since -his new stroke of fortune he had made to Miss Pugh for the second time -had for the second time been rejected, he continued to utilise her -services, both on his own account and on that of his absent principal.</p> - -<p>He dictated considerable reports upon the movements of his favourite -stocks to greet Mr. Clutter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>buck's eye upon his recovery, and in a -hundred ways gave evidence of his discretion and his zeal now that he -could look forward to his master's early return.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Barnett and Sons, after assuring themselves by certain -general questions that Mr. Clutterbuck had said nothing with regard to -any Italian investment, held the parcel over till it could be dealt -with in person, and were satisfied of the tenacity of purpose of their -client.</p> - -<p>In the first week of May Mr. Clutterbuck, his crescent of a moustache -untrimmed, his hair quite grey, but the broad fan of it still clinging -to his large, bald forehead, was permitted for the first time after so -many days to see the papers and hear news of the world.</p> - -<p>He was languid and utterly indifferent, as convalescents are, to what -had hitherto been his chief interests, but as a matter of wifely duty -Mrs. Clutterbuck felt herself bound to read him at full length the -City article in the <i>Times</i>, and as she did so on the third day her -philanthropic and evangelising eye was caught, in the midst of names -that had no meaning for her, by the one name Manatasara. It was the -feature of the moment that the new company had been successfully -launched.</p> - -<p>A strong Imperialist, like most women of the governing classes and of -the Established Faith,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> whether in this country or in Scotland, she -naturally rejoiced to observe securely forged yet another bond with the -Britains Overseas. She could comprehend little of the technicalities -of promotion, but she was aware that another of these achievements, of -which the Chartered Company of South Africa had for so many years been -the brilliant type, was upon the eve of its success, and she rejoiced -with a joy in which the love of country stood side by side with a pure -and sincere attachment to her religion.</p> - -<p>As one day of convalescence succeeded to another, this item of news -began to grow so insistent that the wan invalid could not but take some -heed of it. Although the long list of shares and prices recited like -a litany had carried with it, when it had approached him through his -wife's lips, something more than tedium, yet when he was permitted to -read and select in it for himself and with his own eyes, the prominence -given to Manatasara's interwove with his reviving interest in life the -story of Charles Hatton's creation.</p> - -<p>The capital was not large: the district was but one of many, but the -strong interest which the place had aroused and the very restriction in -the number of available shares had roused the public.</p> - -<p>The allotment had been followed by a sharp rise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> There were dealings -in the new quotation so continual and so vigorous as to recall the -great days before the South African War. The premium upon "Congoes," as -they were affectionately called, rose without ceasing—and just at the -moment when Mr. Clutterbuck was beginning, but only beginning, to grasp -the story of the company, he was permitted, somewhat doubtfully, by his -doctor to return for an hour or two to the City.</p> - -<p>He reached his office, where a warm and cordial welcome awaited him; -his correspondence had already been opened, and an abstract made by -his Clerk and Secretary, when, before he had fully mastered what had -happened, that admirable assistant remarked to him in a tone more -deferential than he had expected, that he had received full allotment -for his application in consideration of the very early date on which he -approached the Syndicate.</p> - -<p>"What allotment?" said the enfeebled Mr. Clutterbuck, as he looked up -in some astonishment from the paper before him.</p> - -<p>"The allotment in Congoes, sir. I understood I was to apply. I kept the -money ready, sir."</p> - -<p>"You've paid nothing I hope," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a testy voice too -often associated with convalescents. "You haven't been such a fool as -to pay anything on your own?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well, sir——" said the Clerk hesitatingly. Then he waited for a -moment for the full effect of his good fortune to penetrate Mr. -Clutterbuck's renewed conceptions of the outer world.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck read the letter before him twice over, slowly. He -had received allotment to the full amount; the call had been for a -half-crown on 60,000. He did not appreciate how he stood. His mind, -always rather sane than alert, was enfeebled by illness and long -absence from affairs.</p> - -<p>"You've been doing something silly," he said again peevishly, -"something damned silly. I don't understand. I'll repudiate it. I don't -understand what you've done—I don't believe it's meant for me at all."</p> - -<p>"I humbly did my best, sir; I was assured, really and truly, that a -quarter was the most they'd allow, sir; I truly believed I wasn't -risking more than 15,000 of yours, sir; I did truly."</p> - -<p>"Oh! do be quiet," said his principal, as he turned again to the -letter. His head hurt him, and he had a buzzing in the ears. He felt he -wasn't fit for all this. It was a cruel injustice to a man barely on -his feet after a glimpse of the grave.</p> - -<p>The Clerk had the wisdom to hold his tongue and to wait. And as he -waited it dawned upon Mr. Clutterbuck that he held 60,000 Congoes; the -Congoes he had heard talked of in the train; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> Congoes of which -the papers had been full during the long listless days when he had -lain beside his window looking out into the little sunlit garden; the -Congoes with which every feature of the repeated view from that window -had become grotesquely associated in his invalid imagination. He was -just about to speak again, perhaps to say the something which his Clerk -most dreaded, when he was swamped by a realisation of what had happened.</p> - -<p>What Mr. Clutterbuck in health would have seen in five or ten minutes, -Mr. Clutterbuck in convalescence at last grasped, at least as to its -main lines. He remembered two men in the train as he went in, and their -angry discussion: how one who pooh-poohed the whole affair and said -they would not go beyond three before next settling day; and the other, -who was equally confident, swore that they could not fail to pass five -and might touch seven. At the lowest the paper ready to his hands was -60,000 of those same.</p> - -<p>He deliberately settled his face and said to the Clerk in an impassive -and altered tone:</p> - -<p>"Have you heard what people are offering?"</p> - -<p>"Well, sir, it's all talk so far," answered the Clerk. "Some were -saying two and a half, and I heard one gentleman say two and -five-eighths; but it's all talk, sir."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> - -<p>He watched his master narrowly, standing a little behind him and -scrutinising his face as he bent over the letter and read its short -contents for the fourth time. He was well content with the result of -that scrutiny.</p> - -<p>As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he now perceived quite clearly (and was -astonished to discern his own quiet acquiescence in the discovery) -that he was at that moment—by some accident which mystified him—the -possessor of over £200,000 in one department of his investments alone. -He sighed profoundly, and said in something like his old voice:</p> - -<p>"I supposed they've had their cheque?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir, undoubtedly," said the clerk rapidly.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck called for the cheque-book on Parr's, casually asked -the balance, turned to the counterfoil and, initialled the £7500 -sacrifice, he rose from the table a man worth a quarter of a million -all told.</p> - -<p>The air was warmer with the advent of summer. It was a pleasant day, -and Mr. Clutterbuck, throwing open the window and letting in the roar -of the sunlit street, leant for awhile looking out and taking deep -draughts of air. He noted all manner of little things, the play of the -newsboys, the ribbons upon the dray horses, the chance encounters of -passers-by, and the swirl and the eddy of men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Then he drew in again, -more composed, and said to the clerk:</p> - -<p>"Well, I suppose there's nothing more to be done to-day." Then it -occurred to him to add: "If any one comes round from Barnett's, tell -'em 'certainly.'"</p> - -<p>"Certainly what, sir?" said the clerk. They had been round more than -once, and lately a little anxiously, but he did not like to trouble Mr. -Clutterbuck at that moment with such details.</p> - -<p>"Why," said that gentleman with a touch of his invalid's testiness -returning, "tell 'em I'm ready to do what they want. I promised them -something before—before my illness. Tell them 'certainly.' Tell them -I'll be here again to-morrow."</p> - -<p>The clerk helped him on with his heavy fur coat and saw him carefully -to the carriage he had hired. He urged him to drive back the whole way. -But Mr. Clutterbuck shook his head, and drove to the station. He would -soon be well again.</p> - -<p>That afternoon, just after hours, another anxious message came from -Barnett's, but this time they were satisfied. Mr. Clutterbuck was -entirely at their service; he would be at the office next day.</p> - -<p>This revolution—for it was no less—acted like a tonic upon the man -into whose life it had come. His health was restored to him with a -rapidity which the doctor, who had repeatedly urged him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> to seek a -particular hotel upon the English Riviera, marvelled at and frequently -denied. There is no better food for a man's recovery than the food of -his vigorous manhood, and this, with Mr. Clutterbuck, was the food of -affairs. To venture, to perceive before another, to seize the spoil, is -life to men of his kind; and he could now recognise in himself one of -those whose foresight and lightning action win the great prizes of this -world.</p> - -<p>He was at his office every day, first for a short spell only, but -soon for the old full working hours; and in the midst of twenty other -interests which were rather recreations than labours, he watched -Congoes. In the eagerness of that watch he neglected all the marvels -the newspapers had to tell him of an energy that was transforming the -old hell of the equator into a paradise. He even neglected the great -spiritual work which Dr. Perry and his assistant clergy had so manfully -begun. It must honestly be confessed that he watched nothing but the -fluctuation of the Company's shares.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Clutterbuck went to the seaside without him. He saw them touch -seven in the heat of the summer; he was confident they would go -further. They fell to six before the opening of August, to five a week -later. His sound commercial instinct bade him beware; at four and a -half he sold. Then and then only did he take his long holiday away -from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> strain of business; a holiday marred to some extent by the -observation that the moment he had disposed of them Congoes rose like -a balloon to a point still higher than that at which he might himself -much earlier have realised.</p> - -<p>But though this secret thorn remained in his own side, to the world he -was a marvel; first Croydon talked of him, then the City, then Mayfair, -and the sportsmen, and even the politicians. In ever-increasing -circles, at greater and greater distances from himself, fantastically -exaggerated even in his own immediate neighbourhood and growing to be -a legend in the mouths of great ladies, the story of his one fortune, -among the others of that flotation, expanded into fame.</p> - -<p>The story rose beneath him like a tide; it floated him out of his -suburb into a new and a greater world; it floated him at last into -the majestic councils of the nation. It all but bestowed upon him an -imperishable name among the Statesmen of England.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Habakkuk xvi. 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The sometime Mayor of Rome; not to be confounded with Sir -Henry Nathan, whom we recently came across in the matter of the eggs.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER IV</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Deep</span> in the Surrey hills, and long secluded from the world, there runs -a drowsy valley known to the rustics whom it nurtures as the Vale of -Caterham.</p> - -<p>Of late years our English passion for the countryside has discovered -this enchanted spot; a railway has conveyed to it those who were -wise enough to seize early upon its subtle beauties, and the happy -homes of a population freed from urban care are still to be seen -rising upon every sward. Here Purley, which stands at the mouth of -the Vale, Kenley, Warlingham and Caterham Stations receive at morning -and discharge at evening the humbler breadwinners whom economic -circumstance compels to absent themselves from the haunting woods of -Surrey during the labours of the day. Some few, more blest, in mansions -more magnificent, can contemplate throughout untroubled hours the -solemn prospect of the hills.</p> - -<p>Here it was that Mr. Clutterbuck was building the new home.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<p>The sense of proportion which had always marked his life and had -contributed so largely to his financial success, was apparent upon -every side. He was content with some seven acres of ground, chosen in -the deepest recess of the dale, and, since water is rare upon that -chalk, he was content with but a small lake of graceful outline, and of -no more than eighteen inches in depth; in the midst an island, destined -with time to bear a clump of exotic trees, stood for the moment a bare -heap of whitish earth diversified rather than hidden by a few leafless -saplings.</p> - -<p>The house itself had been raised with businesslike rapidity under the -directions of Mrs. Clutterbuck herself, who had the wisdom to employ -in all but the smallest details, an architect recommended by the Rev. -Isaac Fowle.</p> - -<p>The whole was in the taste which the sound domestic sense of modern -England has substituted for the gloomy stucco and false Italian loggias -of our fathers. The first storey was of red brick which time would -mellow to a glorious and harmonious colour; the second was covered -with roughcast, while the third and fourth appeared as dormer windows -in an ample roof containing no less than fifteen gables. The chimneys -were astonishingly perfect examples of Somersetshire heading, and -the woodwork, which was applied in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> thin strips outside the main -walls of the building, was designed in the Cheshire fashion, with -draw-pins, tholes and spring-heads tinctured to a sober brown. The oak -was imported from the distant Baltic and strengthened with iron as a -precaution against the gape and the warp.</p> - -<p>The glass, which was separate from the house and stood in a great dome -and tunnel higher up on the hillside where it sheltered the Victoria -Regia, the tobacco plant, the curious and carnivorous <i>Hepteryx -Rawlinsonia</i>, the palm and the common vine. A lodge guarded both -the northern and the southern entrances and a considerable approach -swept up past the two greyhounds which dignified the cast-iron gates; -themselves a copy, upon a smaller scale, of the more famous Guardini's -at Bensington, while the main door was of pure elm studded with one -hundred and fifty-three large nails. The rooms within were heated not -only by fireplaces of exquisite decoration, but also secretly by pipes -which ran beneath the floors and had this inconvenience, that the -captious, withdrawing from the fierceness of the blaze to some distant -margin of the apartment, would marvel at the suffocating heat which -struck them in the chance corner of their retirement.</p> - -<p>Of the numerous bath-rooms fitted in copper and Dutch tiles, of the -chapel, the vesting chamber and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> the great number of bedrooms—many -with dressing-rooms attached—I need not speak.</p> - -<p>The stables were connected with the mansion by a covered way, which -the guests could use in all weathers when there was occasion to visit -the stables and to admire Aster, West Wind, Cœur de Lion, Ex Calibur, -Abde-el-Kader, and the little pink pony, Pompey, which was permanently -lame, but had caught Mrs. Clutterbuck's eye at Lady Moreton's sale, and -had cost no less than 250 guineas.</p> - -<p>"The Plâs" was the simple name suggested somewhat later by Charlie -Fitzgerald, but for the moment Mr. and Mrs. Clutterbuck, well -acquainted with the hesitation of all cultured people to adopt -pretentious names for their residences, were content to leave it -unchristened, and to allude to it among their acquaintance by nothing -more particular than the beautiful title of "Home."</p> - -<p>In the spring of 1911 the last drier had been applied to the walls, -and with the early summer of that year Mr. Clutterbuck and his wife -sat before the first fire upon their new hearth. It was a fire of old -ship logs, and they were delighted to confirm the fact that it produced -small particoloured flames.</p> - -<p>If it be wondered why a fortune of barely half a million should -have been saddled with so spacious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> a building, it must be replied -that a large part of every important income must of necessity be -expended in luxury, and that the form of luxury which most appealed -to this hospitable and childless pair was a roof under which they -might later entertain numerous gatherings of friends, while, to those -long accustomed during the active period of life to somewhat cramped -surroundings, ease of movement and spacious apartments are a great -and a legitimate solace in declining years. Here Mr. Clutterbuck, did -he weary of his study, could wander at ease into the morning-room; -from thence to the picture gallery which adjoined the well-lit hall, -or if he chose to pursue his tour he could find the peacock-room, the -Japanese room, the Indian room, and the Henri Quatre Alcove and Cosy -Corner, and the Jacobean Snuggery awaiting him in turn. Had he been a -younger man he would probably have added a swimming-bath; as it was, -the omission of this appendage was all that marred the splendid series -of apartments.</p> - -<p>Doubtless he had overbuilt, as ordinary standards of wealth are -counted, but the standards of financial genius are not those of -commerce, and this very excess it was which brought him the first -beginnings of his public career. It was impossible that display upon -such a scale and so near London, should not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> attract the attention -of households at once well-born and generous. Our political world is -ever ready to admit to the directing society of the nation those whose -prudence and success in business have shown them worthy of undertaking -the task of government. In the height of the season, as Mr. and Mrs. -Clutterbuck were sitting at their breakfast, a little lonely in the -absence of any guests in that great house, the lady's post was found to -contain an invitation from no less a leader of London than the widow of -Mr. Barttelot Smith.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Mary Smith had about her every quality that entitled her to lead the -world, which she in fact did lead with admirable power. She had been -born a Bailey. Her mother was a Bunting; she was therefore of that well -established middle rank which forms perhaps the strongest core in our -governing class. Her husband, Barttelot Smith, of Bar Harbour, Maine, -and the New Bessemer, Birmingham, Alabama, had died in 1891, after a -very brief married life, which had barely sufficed to introduce him to -the Old Country and a world of which the hours and the digestion were -quite unsuitable to him.</p> - -<p>The fortune of which his widow was left in command after her -bereavement was ample for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> part it was her genius to play; and -though her means were not of that exaggerated sort to which modern -speculation has accustomed us, yet her roomy house in St. James's -Place, her Scotch forest, the two places in Cumberland, and the place -she rented in the heart of the Quorn permitted her to entertain upon -a generous scale; while large and historic but cosy Habberton on the -borders of Exmoor afforded a secure retreat for the few weeks in -August, which, if she were in England, she devoted to the society of -her intimates.</p> - -<p>She was a woman of high culture, the intimate friend of the Prime -Minister—not as a politician, but as a poet—and through her sister, -Louise, the sister-in-law of the leader of the Opposition, whose -extraordinary polo play in the early eighties had endeared him to the -then lively girl much more than could family ties.</p> - -<p>Such other connections as she had with the political world were -quite fortuitous. Her aunt, Lady Steyning, had seen, of course, the -most brilliant period of the Viceroyalty in India, before the recent -deplorable situation had destroyed at once the dignity and the leisure -of that post; while a second aunt, the oldest of the three surviving -Duchesses of Drayton, though living a very retired life at Molehurst, -naturally brought her into touch with the Ebbworths and all the Rusper -group of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> old Whig families, from young Lord Rusper, to whom she was -almost an elder sister, to the rather disreputable, but extremely -wealthy, Ockley couple, whom she chivalrously defended through the -worst of the storm.</p> - -<p>It would be a great error to imagine that this charming and tactful -woman found her interests in such a world alone—she was far too -many sided for that. Her collection of Fragonards had many years ago -laid at her feet the whole staff of the Persian Embassy, and opened -an acquaintance with a world of Oriental experience; with it she -discovered and cultivated the two chief Eastern travellers of our -time, Lord Hemsbury and Mr. Teak; upon quite another side her modest -but sincere and indefatigable interest in the lives of the poor -had naturally led to a warm understanding between herself and Lord -Lambeth—the indefatigable empire builder whom the world had known as -Mr. Barnett of the M'Korio, and who now, as the aged Duke of Battersea, -had earned by his unceasing good deeds, the half-playful, half-reverend -nickname of "Peabody Yid" among the younger members of his set.</p> - -<p>It was not a little thing to have gained the devotion of such a man, -and it was, in a sense, the summit of Mary Smith's achievement: but she -was more than a sympathetic and universal friend; she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> also—as -such friends must always be—a power in both Political parties—and -perhaps in three.</p> - -<p>It was said—I know not with how much justice—that young Pulborough -(who was his own father) owed his Secretaryship of State more to her -direct influence than to his blood relationship to the aunt by marriage -of her second brother-in-law, The MacClure; and there were rumours, -certainly exaggerated, that when the Board of Trade was filled after -Illingsbury had fled the country, Paston's marriage with her niece -Elizabeth had decided his appointment.</p> - -<p>I am careful to omit any reference to the Attorney-General of the -day—it was mere gossip—nor will I tarry upon her brother at the Home -Office, or her Uncle Harry at Dublin Castle, lest I should lead the -reader to imagine that her well-earned influence depended on something -other than her great soul and admirable heart.</p> - -<p>It was a generous impulse in such a woman to send the large gilt -oblong of pasteboard which was the key to her house, and to a seat at -her board, to the lonely and now ageing couple in their retirement in -the Caterham Valley. But Mrs. Smith, even in her most heartfelt and -spontaneous actions, had always in view the nature of our political -institutions. The sudden fortune of Mr. Clutterbuck had no doubt been -exaggerated in the numerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> conversations upon it which had enlivened -her drawing-room; if so, it was an error upon the right side, and her -instinct told her that she could not be much to blame in giving such a -man the opportunity to enter into the fuller life of his country.</p> - -<p>Every rank in our carefully ordered society has its conventions; one, -which will doubtless appear ridiculous to many of my readers, is that -which forbids, among the middle classes, the extension of a warm -invitation to people whom one never happens to have seen. The basis for -this suburban convention it would be impossible to discover, but then, -convention is not logical; and whatever may be the historic origin of -the fetich, certain it is that most of our merchants and professional -men would never dream of asking a Cabinet minister or a peer to their -houses until at least a formal introduction had passed between them and -the statesman so honoured.</p> - -<p>The converse is not true at all; our public men would accept or reject -such an invite as convenience dictated, and would hardly remember -whether they had the pleasure of an acquaintance or no: they approach -men of lesser value with unaffected ease and find it difficult to -tolerate the strict ritual of a narrower class; but their own society, -as they would be the first to admit, has its own body of unreasoning -etiquette, the more difficult to recognise because it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> is so familiar; -Buffle himself, for instance, would hardly tolerate a question in -Parliament upon his recent escapade.</p> - -<p>The varying codes of varying strata of society are the cause of -endless misunderstandings; such a misunderstanding might have arisen -now, but once again it was a woman that saved the jar. Mary Smith -had unwittingly gone near to the line of offence, in the eyes of Mr. -Clutterbuck at least, when she posted her well-meant card for July -2. Mrs. Clutterbuck had not only a wider social experience than her -husband, but could also rely upon the instinctive psychology of her -sex. She overruled at once, and very wisely, the petty objections of -her husband to the form in which the acquaintance had been offered -them, and returned, by the morning's post in the third person and upon -pink paper, an acceptance to the kindly summons.</p> - -<p>There were three weeks only in which to anticipate and prepare for -this novel experience, but they were three weeks during which Mr. -Clutterbuck was so thoroughly convinced by his wife, as very sincerely -to regret the first comments he had made upon a custom to which his -ignorance of life had made him take exception.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, in St. James's Place, the large and comfortable rooms which -had once been those of the exiled Bourbons and later of the Boxing -Club<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> were the scene of more than one conversation between Mary Smith -and her friends in the matter of those whom Charlie Fitzgerald lightly -called "the mysterious guests."</p> - -<p>"The less mysterious they are to you," said Mary Smith, nodding at this -same Charlie Fitzgerald one very private afternoon at tea, "the better -for you." She shut her lips and nodded again at him with emphasis.</p> - -<p>"Oh Lord! Mary," said Charlie Fitzgerald, "is it going to be another of -them?"</p> - -<p>He was twenty years and more her junior, but she tolerated anything -from the son of her favourite cousin; besides which, every one called -her Mary, and if she was to be called Mary she would as soon be called -Mary by an intimate younger relation as by the crowd of chance men and -women of her own age who used her name so freely.</p> - -<p>"Yes," went on Mrs. Smith with decision, "it's going to be another of -them; and this time I hope you'll stick."</p> - -<p>Her trim little body was full of energy as she said it, and her face -full of determination.</p> - -<p>"It's never been my fault," said Fitzgerald reproachfully. "Was it my -fault that Isaacs got into trouble, or that old Burpham lost his temper -about the motor-car?"</p> - -<p>"The last was your fault certainly," answered his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> cousin vivaciously. -"If you take a man's money, you mustn't use his motor-car without his -leave."</p> - -<p>"He's an old cad," yawned Fitzgerald lazily.</p> - -<p>"Every one knows that," said Mrs. Smith, "and no one thinks the better -of you for not understanding an old cad. It's a private secretary's -business to understand.... You won't get anything from me, anyhow, I -can tell you."</p> - -<p>"You've said that before," said Charlie, looking down at her with a -smile.</p> - -<p>"Yes, and I have kept it, too," said Mary.</p> - -<p>To which he answered with some emphasis: "By God you have!" and looking -out into the trees in the Green Park he fell into a reverie, the -monotone of which was his large and increasing indebtedness. It did -not trouble him, but it furnished a constant food for his thoughts and -lent him just that interest in the acquirement of money which his Irish -character perhaps needed.</p> - -<p>Later, as the room filled with callers, the conversation upon the -Clutterbucks became more general. A certain Mr. Higginson, who was -very smart indeed and wrote for the papers, was able to give the most -precise information: Old Clutterbuck had been worth four millions; he'd -dropped a lot on house property in Paris. He was worth nearly three -anyhow, but he was a miserly old beggar. He had made it by frightening -Charley Hatton.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> - -<p>At this all of his audience were pleased and several laughed.</p> - -<p>"I'd frighten the beggar for less than four millions," said Charlie -Fitzgerald. He spread out his arms and made a loud roaring noise to -show how he'd do it, to the huge amusement of an aged general who loved -youth and high spirits, but to the no small annoyance of Mr. Higginson, -who hated being interrupted.</p> - -<p>"Nonsense!" said Mary Smith, pouring out tea for a new caller in the -old familiar way (she detested a pack of servants and kept hers for -the most part in the double-decked basement underground). "Nonsense! I -believe he made it perfectly honestly. He's got a dear old face!"</p> - -<p>Mary Smith had never seen his face, but a good word is never thrown -away.</p> - -<p>"He's got an old hag of a wife," blurted out the General, "an old——"</p> - -<p>Mary Smith put up her hand. "Now do be careful—you used that word only -last Thursday."</p> - -<p>"Good Lord!" said Charlie Fitzgerald; "what a long time." And the -General and he, who had lunched together that same day, were amused -beyond the ordinary at the simple jest.</p> - -<p>"I've never seen his wife," said Mary Smith severely and with perfect -truth. "She's probably just like everybody else. You people make up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> -ideas in your heads about classes that don't exist. Everybody's just -like everybody else.... Look at old Bolney!"</p> - -<p>"Damned if he's like anybody else!" said Miss Mosel, taking her -cigarette out of her mouth and picking a long shred of yellow tobacco -from her underlip at the same time. "Mamma calls him Cow Bolney."</p> - -<p>"She's quite wrong, my dear, thoroughly wrong," said the old General -fussily. "I wouldn't have believed it of your mother. I knew her when -she was your age."</p> - -<p>"Don't believe it now," said Mary Smith soothingly, "Victoria tells -lies."</p> - -<p>"No, I don't," said Miss Mosel stolidly. "Anyhow I'm coming to see old -Clutterbuck."</p> - -<p>"Not if I know it," said Mary Smith grimly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't mean at dinner," caught up Victoria Mosel lightly. "I -wouldn't rag anybody's dinner, but you can't prevent my coming on, -after."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Smith gazed at her imploringly. "Don't play the fool, Vic," she -begged.</p> - -<p>"I shan't play the fool," said Victoria. "I only want to look on: I -won't touch."</p> - -<p>"Who you goin' to get?" asked Charlie.</p> - -<p>"Well, there's <i>you</i>," spreading out her fingers in what had been for -half a lifetime a pretty affectation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> of hers, and ticking them off. -"And there's old Mother D. of Drayton, and I shall try to get the Duke."</p> - -<p>"Oh, your perpetual Peabody Yid," began Charlie.</p> - -<p>"Don't," said his cousin, laughing with great charm.</p> - -<p>"Well, yes, the Duke, and I've got <i>him</i> already," she said pointing to -the General. "And ... and I must have William."</p> - -<p>Vic Mosel and Mr. Higginson shouted together: "Risking William! Oh! I -say!" while Charlie's eye gleamed at the mention of her brother's name -and he gloated on the prospect of a really good shindy.</p> - -<p>"Oh, fiddlesticks-ends," said Mary Smith. "He's a white man: besides -some one must do host for me. <i>You're</i> too green" (she said that to -Fitzgerald), "and he'll behave all right. I'll warn him."</p> - -<p>"Then," she went on hurriedly, "then there's Mrs. Carey and her mother, -and the Steynings—I can't remember the whole lot. Perkins would tell -you. There's sixteen, I know that."</p> - -<p>"I'll hold the sponge for William Bailey," said Charlie solemnly; "the -General supports the Duke."</p> - -<p>"If there's any row," said Mary Smith to him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> vigorously, "I shall know -who started it, and who will lose by it. William's a dear."</p> - -<p>And so the flashing talk went round, while, with Mr. Clutterbuck in the -Caterham glens, the hours crept on towards an appointed day; and the -horses were exercised and the motors ran, and the lake slowly filled, -and parties, a little larger with each succeeding week, groups of their -old friends and of their new, met and drank champagne at lunch, at -dinner, and at supper too, until June was ended.</p> - -<p>The second of July was warm and fine: an open motor would have pleased -Mr. Clutterbuck for the run to town,—but Mrs. Clutterbuck, Mrs. -Clutterbuck knew! It was in the Limousine that they swept up the -London Road, past the Palace and round into St. James's Place. Mr. -Clutterbuck, who had long secretly wondered how those great houses upon -the Park were approached at all, and who had half believed that some -royal entry, hidden from the vulgar gaze, led into them, saw this great -mystery solved: he was silent upon his discovery. He wondered whether -one should tell the motor to go into the stables of the house, or what: -and again Mrs. Clutterbuck knew. She left it for the motor man and the -big flunkeys to thresh out between them.</p> - -<p>When they were at table the many lights, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> much wine and the more -talk entered her husband's soul and warmed it. The lights greatly -pleased him; the wine he drank freely. He was beginning to live.</p> - -<p>He noted curiously the faces round the great table, and asked his -neighbour the names of more than one; that neighbour was Mrs. Carey, -than whom he could have had no better guide, for she knew every face -in London, to the number of two hundred or more. She pointed out the -large, beneficent features of the Duke of Battersea where he sat at -Mary Smith's right, hardly able to take his eyes from her face. Mr. -Clutterbuck in his turn gazed long and with increasing awe at the man -whose name stood for the power of England in so many distant harbours, -and whose career in finance was the model and the envy of all his own -society. He strained to listen and catch some word falling from his -lips, but the hubbub was too loud. The bright young laughing face -to his left was that of Charlie Fitzgerald, but he did not need the -information, for Mary Smith had been careful to introduce the lad with -an unmistakable intonation, and, as though by inadvertence, twice -over. The tall, square-faced, whiskered, spectacled man opposite who -sipped his soup as though every taste of it were to be thought out and -appreciated, was, he learnt, Mr. William Bailey, the brother of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> -hostess; and as Mrs. Carey told him that name, she laughed discreetly, -for the eccentricities of Mr. William Bailey, though they were not -always harmless, were never without point to women of Mrs. Carey's -superficial character. She saw nothing in them but matter for her own -amusement.</p> - -<p>Nothing perhaps struck Mr. Clutterbuck more in the great society he -had entered than the superb ease which distinguished it. Every member -of that world seemed free to pursue his own appetite or inclination -without restraint of form, and yet the whole was bound by just that -invisible limit which is the framework of good breeding. Here on his -right was Lord Steyning, talking at the top of his voice; a little -nearer Charlie Fitzgerald was whispering across his neighbour, Miss -Carey, to another guest whose name Mr. Clutterbuck did not know. The -Duke of Battersea felt no necessity to talk to any one beside his -hostess, or to take his eyes for more than a moment from her face; -while Mr. William Bailey shocked no one by maintaining a perfect -silence, and staring gloomily through his spectacles at a "Reynolds" -of his great grandfather, the Nabob, which he had frequently declared -in mixed company to be a forgery. It was this atmosphere of freedom -that gave Mr. Clutterbuck his chief pleasure in an evening which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> he -heartily, thoroughly, and uninterruptedly enjoyed.</p> - -<p>When the women had gone away and the men were sitting at their ease, -with the silent William Bailey for host, a maze of acute interest -surrounded the merchant; he could hear the Duke of Battersea, a -little grumpy in the absence of the hostess, praising Lord Steyning -to his face for the arrangement of his garden, and turning his back -on Mr. Bailey, which gentleman, speaking for almost the first time -that evening, shoved up close to Mr. Clutterbuck and maintained his -character for oddity by asking how he liked the Peabody Yid.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, uncertain whether this were a novel, a play, or a new -game, but unwilling to betray his ignorance, said that it depended upon -taste.</p> - -<p>"It does," said Mr. Bailey, with emphasis; "it's a jolly house, isn't -it?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck affirmed the grandeur and admirable appointment of -the house, but he could not help wondering whether William Bailey -would have been more pleased if he had found something to criticise. -Then, as Charlie Fitzgerald turned to talk to Mr. Clutterbuck, William -Bailey relapsed again into his silence, an attitude of mind which he -diversified in no way save by pulling out a pencil and sketching, with -some exaggeration of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> the ears, nape, and curled ringlets, the back -view presented to him by the venerable Duke of Battersea.</p> - -<p>Upstairs, Mary Smith, squatting familiarly beside Mrs. Clutterbuck, -giggled into her private ear with that delightful familiarity which had -ever put her guests into her intimate confidence, and swept away every -vestige of <i>gêne</i> and of disparity in status. This charm of manner it -was for which those whom she still honoured chiefly loved her, and -which those whom she had seen fit to drop most poignantly regretted.</p> - -<p>Upon Mrs. Clutterbuck, as she reclined on a Tutu Louis XVII., in an -attitude full of charm and of repose yet instinct with self-control, -the spell of Mary Smith was powerful indeed. Her talk was of the -great—and of their secretaries. She remembered stories of ambassadors, -and of their secretaries as well; and in what she had to say concerning -Secretaries of State, yet other secretaries of these secretaries -appeared—unpaid secretaries and under-secretaries, parliamentary -secretaries, and common negligible secretaries who did secretarial -work. The functions, position, and weight of a secretary had never -seemed so clear to Mrs. Clutterbuck before; nay, until that moment she -had given but little heed to the secretary's trade. She saw it now.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> - -<p>But all this was done so deftly and with such tact, and interrupted -with such merry little screams of laughter; in the course of it Mrs. -Clutterbuck was herself compelled to make so many confidences that the -atmosphere was one of mutual information, and the guest was confident -that she had contributed more than the hostess. When Mary Smith moved -off to play general post with the guests, and, as her charming phrase -went, "to make them to talk to one another," Mrs. Clutterbuck found how -singularly less a woman of the world was Mrs. Smith's somewhat prudish -aunt, Lady Steyning, long at Simla, some time our ambassadress at -Washington, and now about to be at the head of the Embassy in Paris. As -for Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Clutterbuck regarded her with loathing.</p> - -<p>Downstairs Charlie Fitzgerald had been drinking port, and, keeping his -right hand firmly fixed upon the neck of the decanter, he had poured -out wine at intervals for Mr. Clutterbuck with a gesture which he -falsely termed "passing the bottle." He had not his cousin's manner or -science in the handling of a conversation, but the wine, though bad, -was a bond between them; they drank it largely, especially Fitzgerald: -it enabled him to recite with passion and Mr. Clutterbuck to receive -with faith, anecdotes of yet another batch of secretaries, and of Mr. -Fitzgerald's own adventures in his confidential relations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> with the -discredited Isaacs and the aged but irascible Lord Burpham; a last -engagement which he had apparently terminated from his fixed decision -to undertake no such work in the future, but to live the life of a -private gentleman, and possibly to enter the House of Commons.</p> - -<p>It was impossible for Mr. Clutterbuck not to contrast again the -spontaneity and ease of the world round him with the much more sterile -associations of his middle and later manhood. Nor did anything please -him more in that ease and spontaneity than the Irish good nature -with which Charlie Fitzgerald poured at his feet his wealth of -social experience, and especially his experience in that secretarial -phase which Mr. Clutterbuck sincerely regretted that he should have -entirely abandoned. He could not help thinking, as he looked at the -handsome curly head and merry eyes, and as he heard the names of -the great and good flash constantly from the lips before him, how -perfect would that arrangement be which should permit some humbler -but similar man to be to him what Charlie Fitzgerald seemed to have -been to the eminent financier and the hot-tempered politician; -a-second-and-a-younger-eye-and-brain.</p> - -<p>As they came into the drawing-room together, they were already fast -friends, and such was the effect of the atmosphere about him and -the exhila<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>rating evening he had passed, that Mrs. Smith found it -quite impossible to make her Clutterbuck speak to any one save his -new-found acquaintance: a disappointment to those ladies who had heard -exaggerated accounts of his wealth, and were already interested in his -crescent-shaped moustaches and the fan of grey hair which he displayed -over his considerable forehead.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck noticed with some astonishment—if anything could -astonish him now—the entry of further guests at a late hour. They -came, as it seemed to him, without introduction and without ceremonial. -And he wondered, as he followed the imperial carriage and gestures of -Victoria Mosel among the rest, whether he also in some future year -might be found drifting thus through open doors free from the weary -necessities of etiquette. He doubted it.</p> - -<p>They left at half-past eleven, and all the way home Mrs. Clutterbuck -complained of fatigue. But her husband, upon his arrival, felt it -necessary to continue the evening, and far into the early morning drank -yet more port, and considered the change in his life.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER V</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> season was not yet over. Mrs. Clutterbuck had called upon Mary -Smith,—and if my readers will believe me,—Mary Smith had called upon -Mrs. Clutterbuck. And there had come a morning—Parliament was still -sitting, the Goodwood Cup was not yet collared—when Mrs. Clutterbuck -having heard for weeks past from Mr. Clutterbuck hints and guesses at -the necessity for a secretary to deal with his now numerous invitations -and engagements, quietly suggested Charlie Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>Had she suggested Tolstoi or the German Emperor she could not have -surprised him more. But when he heard that the proposition had -come from the family itself, that it had been largely due to Mr. -Fitzgerald's own pronounced affection, and that he would be content -with a nominal salary of £400 or £500 a year, Mr. Clutterbuck, though -as much astonished as a man rapt into heaven, was convinced of the -reality of the business, and the only thing that troubled him was the -question of salary.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> - -<p>He paced up and down the room, suggesting to his wife the dilemma that -a sum of £1000 or £1500 a year was all the expense he would hesitate -to incur, while less would be an insult he would hesitate to offer. To -which her only and sharp reply was that the young man could surely look -after himself; that doubtless he had grown used to work of this sort -and liked it, that he probably had means of his own, and that, anyhow, -it had come from him, and that Mrs. Smith herself had spoken strongly -in favour of the arrangement.</p> - -<p>How long such a change might last only Fate could tell. It was the -middle of the summer. When there were no more dinners to eat and no -more women to talk to, Charlie Fitzgerald, all life and boxes, came -down to Caterham, but not before going the round of some twenty-eight -tradesmen in St. James's Street and Mayfair and assuring them that -until the autumn he would be abroad.</p> - -<p>With the entry of that vigorous young Irish life into Mr. Clutterbuck's -home, began the last adventures of the merchant's singularly -adventurous life and his introduction to the conflicting destinies of -his country; for even if things had not bent that way, something in -Charlie Fitzgerald's nature would have left him restless until he and -those for whom he worked had struck some mark.</p> - -<p>The young Irishman was the son of that Doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Fitzgerald the oculist, -who had been during all the later years of Queen Victoria's reign a -link, as it were, between the professional and the political world of -London, and who was himself a younger son of Sir Daniel Fitzgerald, -the permanent head of the Fisheries whose name appears so frequently -in Lady Cotteswold's Memoirs of Prince Albert and the Queen's early -married life. Lady Fitzgerald, his wife, had been a Bailey, and the -aunt, therefore, of Mrs. Smith.</p> - -<p>It had not been thought necessary to dower her with any portion of -the great Bailey fortune, for in those days the Irish land upon which -Sir Daniel had foreclosed was a very ample provision even for onerous -social duties in London, and the Baileys asked nothing of the eager -lover but that he should adopt the name of Fitzgerald which had for -centuries been associated with the estate his ardent forethought had -acquired.</p> - -<p>In those days a change of name demanded certain formalities; these were -soon fulfilled, and in Charlie's generation, the third to bear the -Irish title and arms, the original form "Daniel Daniels" was justly -forgotten.</p> - -<p>Since the days of Sir Daniel Irish land has passed through a -revolution, especially when it has been held by those whose duties -did not necessitate a visit to their estates. Sir Daniel's heir, -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> oculist's eldest brother, would have died impoverished had not -the Government very properly succoured the son of so distinguished a -Civil servant and created for him the post of Inspector in the Channel -Islands (with the exception of Sark), a district in which he was -understood to be present twice or even three times in a year. This -salary died of course with its incumbent; his brother, the oculist, had -been compelled to spend in hospitality his exceptional earnings, and -the present generation of young men, sons of either brother, had had to -face life unguarded.</p> - -<p>It was not an easy position for boys used to the conversation and -habits of the wealthiest society in the world. But much was done for -them. Edward was married to the half-witted daughter of Sir John -Garstang the cotton-spinner; Henry was put into the Scotch Education -Office; Philip died, and Charlie, in spite of the mistake about -Mr. Isaacs, would have done very well out of Lord Burpham if his -incorrigible Irish character had not run away with him and with the -motor-car of that eminent director of our Foreign Affairs. "Irish," I -say, for Ireland was apparent in all that poor Charlie did, for though -his mother was of pure German stock and strongly Protestant, while his -accent was that of Eton College, yet his friends could easily descry in -all his extravagances and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> escapades the adventurous Irish influence of -his grandfather's estate. His cousins, through the Baileys (who were of -pure English or Indian lineage), Jim in the Foreign Office and "Nobby" -who had means and was, after a spell in the Heralds' College, at large, -the Steynings and the rest, saw this Hibernian brilliance more clearly -than any, and made it a permanent if insufficient excuse for his -vagaries.</p> - -<p>It was Boswell Delacourt who first suggested politics to Charlie -Fitzgerald, and Fate did the rest.</p> - -<p>Boswell Delacourt was not exactly a relative of Charlie Fitzgerald's, -except in so far as everybody can be said to be related to everybody -else; he was no more than a connection by marriage. But he did think it -hard that a man of Mr. Clutterbuck's antecedents and position should -stand aloof from political life. Nowhere can money be more usefully -spent for the country than in the support of great political ideals, -and nowhere can the wide experience and hard mental training of a -commercial career do more for England than in the House of Commons. -Nor did any one appreciate these truths more than Boswell Delacourt, -nor did any of the younger people who were working in the organisation -of the National Party work harder than he to spread them abroad. He -hammered at Fitzgerald, and Fitzgerald did his duty.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> - -<p>The new Secretary had passed the whole summer without a word of -complaint, cooped up in the new house at Caterham; he had spent his -energies in suggesting the purchase of books, the removal of pictures, -and the renaming of the estate; he had recommended horses, cigars, -wines, traps, motors, and jewellery, and sold them again with ready -decision when he thought them unworthy; he had attended to all the -correspondence, signed nearly all the cheques, received payment against -all exchanges, and spared his host every sort of financial worry; he -had compelled not a few of his own friends, in spite of their intense -reluctance, to spend Saturday to Monday under that roof; with noble -perseverance he had run the light Panhard himself for incredible -distances and at a speed which Mr. Clutterbuck could hardly bear; he -had done all these things for nearly two months without a respite, -when, late in September, having forsworn all opportunities to shoot, he -tackled the great affair.</p> - -<p>It was in the second smoking-room some time before dinner that the -elder man and the younger sipping sherry and bitters, began their -fateful conversation.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald first introduced the business—and he launched it -fair and clean, for when Mr. Clutterbuck had said in a ruminating sort -of way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> "The days are drawing in, Mr. Fitzgerald," Charlie Fitzgerald -had answered:</p> - -<p>"Yes—— Why don't you send something to the Party Funds?"</p> - -<p>Since his secretary had been in the house, Mr. Clutterbuck had -authorised not a few large cheques, and had let Charlie sign many -more. He wondered what new claim this might be, but he hardly liked to -venture an opinion. He thought it better to wait a moment and let time -or the goddess Chance illuminate him.</p> - -<p>"You see, after all," said Fitzgerald, spreading out one hand towards -the fire, "they expect it ... don't they?" he asked sympathetically, -looking up sideways in Mr. Clutterbuck's face.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a maze, "yes"—thoughtfully—"I suppose -they do." But who they were, or what it was they expected, torture -could not have got out of him.</p> - -<p>"Well—you see——" went on Charlie in the tone of interest and -thought which men adopt when they are putting a proposition carefully -to another, "it's only natural they should. You can't carry on either -of the great Parties for nothing, and lots of men expect to get -everything out of politics and to put nothing in; and then there are -others who don't care about being in the movement. It's a difficult job -altogether." Then he added in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> thoroughly different tone: "They were -in a damned tight hole in '95!"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald," said the older man again. He had appreciated by -this time perhaps one quarter of the affair.</p> - -<p>"Bozzy," went on Fitzgerald, "Bozzy says that it goes up and down like -a Jack-in-the-box. One election hardly anything, and then before they -know where they are—millions! But I don't believe it"—he wagged his -head wisely and leaned back again—"don't believe a word of it. There -must always be a balance in hand, and a fat one too. Think of it!" he -went on, "think of all it's got to <i>do</i>—Damn elections! They only come -once in five years anyhow. Look at all that's got to go on meanwhile? -You can't advertise for nothing, and you can't print for nothing, and -you can't get men to start newspapers, that don't pay, in Egypt for -nothing; and you can't get your information abroad and in America for -nothing. It's all rubbish to say that they let it go fut! It is true -they get in a hole sometimes. And I say they were both in a hole in -'95."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck still sat silent.</p> - -<p>"You will say," continued Fitzgerald rapidly after a short interval, as -he stood up against the mantelpiece with his back to the fire, "you'll -say——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No, I won't," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "I assure you, Mr. Fitzgerald, I -shall put no obstacle in the way of such a decision."</p> - -<p>"Well—but," returned his secretary, "you see it really must be -explained—you can't leap in the dark."</p> - -<p>"Certainly not," said Mr. Clutterbuck with determination.</p> - -<p>"That's it," said Charlie Fitzgerald, dropping his chin and looking -profoundly at the carpet.</p> - -<p>There was a considerable interval of silence, and Mr. Clutterbuck, -who fully appreciated that this new world was not the lucid world of -commerce, or, rather, that it had a language of its own with which he -was not yet familiar, forebore to ask a question. Nay, it would have -puzzled him very considerably to frame a question so that it should -relate to anything intelligible, human or divine. But as Charles -Fitzgerald remained quite silent, the merchant did venture to suggest -that he would gladly and heartily do anything that was expected of him -in the matter.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know," said Fitzgerald, pacing towards the window. "I wasn't -bothering about that. I'm sure you would. But I was thinking which -Party.... You see, in the old days," he said, suddenly facing round, -"it was simple enough: you had your set and your set went Whig, and -it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> was all plain sailing, but then the old days were beastly corrupt, -and what a man spent he liked to spend on his own people. There's a -place over the hill there," he said, jerking his head backwards towards -Gatton, "where my great uncle's father-in-law was—seven electors and -£20,000. But they won't tolerate that now. So there you are! You got to -ask yourself which Party. Then there's another trouble: there used to -be only two Parties; now they're five, and look like seven."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's mind moved forward by one cog, and he saw that the -talk had something to do with the nuances of the House of Commons. -He let Fitzgerald go on, but he could have wished that young man of -breeding would make himself clearer, unless, indeed, this method of -address were native or in some way necessary to exalted rank.</p> - -<p>"Bozzy says," began Fitzgerald, "there are really only two party-funds -again, now the National Party's kept going two years, and I 'spose he's -right. Nobody gives to the Irish except the Irish, and that's a sort of -audit sheet business, like the Labour people. And the Radicals haven't -got a regular organisation. Then, of course, you might say, 'Why not -give to both?' like the Stanfords."</p> - -<p>"Who are the Stanfords, Mr. Fitzgerald?" broke in the master of the -house, clutching like a drowning man at a straw.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Lord Stanford and his wife," said Charlie Fitzgerald innocently. "Old -Bill Lewisohn that was; they call it Lewis and Lewis still."</p> - -<p>"Oh yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck humbly.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Fitzgerald, getting his second wind, "as I say, you might -say 'Why not give to both, like the Stanfords?' Frankly, I don't think -it pays. He gives to the Opposition, anyway he <i>did</i> give to the -Opposition before the General Election because of the peerage; and she -gives to the Nationals <i>now</i> because of the Church Bill. But it doesn't -pay. They don't get half the attention either of 'em would get singly. -Besides which," he added, "a man must consult his convictions. Course -he must."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, who now at last perceived -that the elements of the tangle consisted of a sum of money, his -political convictions, and the Party system. "I've never concealed -mine. I was a Conservative as long as I took any interest in politics. -But the 1906 administration was a good one; the 1908 was a better. Then -when this Coalition came I was hard at work and not bothering about -politics: I suppose I'd have gone National. But not altogether, you -know; and as for the first tariff—well, I'm out of business now, and -I suppose I oughtn't to lose my temper. As one gets older," he added -wearily, "one cares much less about these things."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - -<p>"That's it," said Fitzgerald suddenly, determined to keep it alight. -"You're ab-so-lute-ly right ... it's just because practical business -men know the harm the first tariff did, that the Nationals want their -help—help o' men like <i>you</i>. Rubber, for instance: Congo rubber. -After all, you know more about it than twenty of the politicians put -together. I tell you what," he added, "buzz down with me to-morrow and -see Bozzy—Bozzy Delacourt. He's a sort of relation of mine, and he'll -tell you a lot more about it than I could. We wouldn't have to go to -the head offices in Peter Street: he'll give us lunch. I'll telephone -through to him." And the happy but loquacious fellow went out upon that -errand.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, left alone to his own thoughts, carefully unravelled -them and picked them out clearly strand from strand: that he was -expected, to his own advantage, to subscribe a sum of money; that he -was expected to subscribe it to a political party; that a man called -Bozzy, who was also called Delacourt, was in the inner ring of such -affairs, and that of the two Parties it would best suit a merchant of -his standing to tender such financial support, through the said Bozzy, -to the Party in power.</p> - -<p>When he had put the thing thus to himself it seemed much simpler; he -was prepared for the business before him, and next day Delacourt's -per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>fectly lucid and very straightforward manner finished the affair. -He found that so small a sum as a thousand pounds was received on -behalf of the great organisation with the greatest dignity and -courtesy, and that his support was as warmly acknowledged as though -he had given twenty times that sum. When the formality was over, -Delacourt, detaining him over the wine, said gravely:</p> - -<p>"We all have to do what we can, Mr. Clutterbuck, but the real loss -to the New Tariff nowadays isn't in money. You all come forward most -generously. Our trouble is that we can't get the candidates we used to. -We can't get the Old Commercial Member who could drive it down in the -House with fact and grip and experience. We couldn't ask a man like -you to stand, for instance, Mr. Clutterbuck, because the work has got -so hard; but it's a great pity. It all gets handed over to the young -journalists and the lawyers." He went on to rattle off with ease and -familiarity a dozen great names in the City connected with the Liberal -benches and with the Conservative in the old free trade days, names -that were the names of gods to the astonished Mr. Clutterbuck, who had -never heard them pronounced in so everyday a fashion before.</p> - -<p>"There's where you'd have been in the old days,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Mr. Clutterbuck," said -Bozzy with ardour, "but we wouldn't dare to ask you now."</p> - -<p>In Mr. Clutterbuck's experience this was but a delicate way of telling -him that a seat in Parliament was quite out of his reach. But the -suggestion had moved him, and moved him profoundly. Of Parliament, of -men who stood for Parliament, of the Northern manufacturers especially -and their qualifications, of the London members, and of a hundred other -similar things, he talked eagerly to Fitzgerald through the afternoon, -as the Limousine shot back to the Surrey Hills.</p> - -<p>That night Charlie Fitzgerald, before going to bed, wrote a note -containing the simple information that the old blighter would take it -out of the hand. Then he bethought himself of the danger of written -messages and of the advantages of modern invention. He burnt the note, -rang up Bozzy on the telephone, found him in no very good humour just -back from a boring play, and informed him in bad French that he had no -need to shoot further: the opossum would come down when he was called.</p> - -<p>Four days later Mr. Clutterbuck received a lengthy and very careful -letter upon the official paper of Peter Street. It contained a -statement and a proposal, both highly confidential. The statement was -to the effect that the borough of Mickleton in North London would -very probably be vacant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> in a few weeks; for what reasons could not -easily be written. The proposition—made with infinite tact and with -the most courteous recognition of the very high favour Mr. Clutterbuck -would be doing the Party should he accede—was that he should accept -the Prospective National Candidature at once in time to make himself -familiar with the constituency, supposing always that the National -Committee of that borough should be instructed by the General Meeting -to urge their Executive Body to demand Mr. Clutterbuck's services.</p> - -<p>The Opposition majority, Delacourt admitted, was a high one—no less -than 851, as the books of reference would inform him. But a great -part of this was due to the female vote, which had naturally been -given to the Party who had pressed their claims during the recent -administration; and though he did not pretend to prophesy victory, he -could assure Mr. Clutterbuck that the proposition would never have been -made to him had not the chances of victory been such as to make that -proposal an honourable one.</p> - -<p>As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he sat that night upon a throne.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>To Mr. Clutterbuck the stages by which a man may enter the -Representative Chamber were far from familiar. Charlie Fitzgerald had -indulged in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> political sport more than once, and though he would not -compare it to motoring, or even to really good yachting, he confessed -that it attracted him, and he would often go off for a day or two's -electioneering when the occasion served, at the request of a friend; -nay, on the last occasion he had given up a capital day's shooting to -see cousin "Nobby" handsomely beaten in Derbyshire by 3286. It was -excitement of which he did not easily tire. But as he described the -first processes with gusto to Mr. Clutterbuck, that gentleman perceived -that the road to Parliament was not as smooth or as simple as he had -vaguely imagined: and of all the obstacles that lay between him and the -final stages of a political career, none did he dread more than the -first, which was fixed for October 5. For though the Mickleton National -Committee had indeed, as Mr. Delacourt hoped, received orders for the -General Meeting to instruct their Executive to approach the merchant, -and though he had at once given a warm reply in the affirmative, it was -still their public duty to examine Mr. Clutterbuck upon the orthodoxy -of his political faith; it was this that appalled him. He prepared for -the inquisition with sweat and agony. He read at Fitzgerald's order -"The National Year Book," "A Thousand Points on Nationalism," "What is -a Nationalist?" "Why I am a Nationalist," and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> relieving himself -with "Platform Jokes" when he was bidden leave that useful compendium -to a later stage. There would be little joking on October 5!</p> - -<p>He very humbly and sincerely followed the instructions of his secretary -in the details of the interrogators he would have to meet; he noted the -foreign wrongs which he desired redressed, the wickedness of European -Governments and their particular crimes, the domestic evils whose mere -existence darkened the sun, and the personal habits which were expected -of him—notably total abstinence. One thing above all he learnt; it was -drummed into him till he knew it by heart; no matter what the committee -might say or think, no matter what pressure he might suffer, he was to -pledge himself boldly against his party in the matter of the Offences -Disenfranchisement Bill.</p> - -<p>On that Charlie was adamant. "It looks easy now," he said (alas! did -it?); "but it may be the devil and all on the 5th of October."</p> - -<p>What precisely the measure might be, Fitzgerald, who had himself not -studied it minutely, thought it as well to leave aside. The simpler -the manly reply, the better. He was sure it was the Government's one -mistake.</p> - -<p>The programme was thoroughly threshed out, often repeated, fixed, and -as the fatal day approached,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> Mr. Clutterbuck felt himself armoured; -but not before he had, again on Charlie Fitzgerald's advice, written -out, quite spontaneously, a note and a cheque for £100 to the United -Sons of Endeavour. It was a religious association of young men which -did strenuous work among the poor of Mickleton, distributed large -sums every quarter in salaries to its vast organisation, and had upon -its membership representatives of nearly every family of note in the -borough.</p> - -<p>October 5 was a glorious autumn day, and it was the open Renault -which was chosen. The interview was to take place in the North Street -schools at four; just after lunch Mr. Clutterbuck, already passably -nervous, and Charlie Fitzgerald in the highest of high spirits, started -northward.</p> - -<p>As they left the more familiar parts of London behind them, and passed -through miles of sordid and obscure streets, Mr. Clutterbuck's vitality -steadily fell. Public engagements of every kind were ill suited to his -temperament; the thought of public examination was abhorrent to him. -He fortified himself by an occasional mental glance at his financial -position and a comparison between it and that of the pigmies who would -that day presume to be his Judges, but even this great balm for human -woe hardly comforted him as the horrid perspective of North Street -swung into view and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> car stopped with a jerk in front of the dreary -wall of the schools.</p> - -<p>He was glad, from the very bottom of his heart, to be accompanied by -Charlie Fitzgerald, whose exceedingly good grey clothes, very curly -brown hair and frank boyish eyes, would have been a protection to any -man in an ordeal even more severe than that which Mr. Clutterbuck had -to face.</p> - -<p>For a few minutes they sat together in a little bare room furnished -as to the floor with a dead stove without a fire, and as to the walls -with a glazed picture for the instruction of the young—a picture -representing an elephant in his natural colours, and underneath it in -large letters:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p> - -EL-E-PHANT (Mammal)<br /> -</p> - -<p>This huge crea-ture is an in-hab-i-tant of our In-di-an Em-pire.</p></blockquote> - -<p>At this work Mr. Clutterbuck mournfully gazed during his period of -probation, whilst Charlie Fitzgerald first swung his clasped hands -between his knees, then crossed his legs, leaned his head back, and -hummed the old Gaiety <i>pas de quatre</i> which had rejoiced his boyhood.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the door opened and Mr. Clutterbuck and his companion were -gravely summoned into the presence of the Executive.</p> - -<p>Of the various functions filled by an Executive, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Committee, a -Body of Workers, a Confederation, and a Deputation to Choose in the -organisation of our public life, I will not here treat. The vast -machinery of self-government, passionately interesting as it must be to -all free men, would take me too far from the purpose of my narrative. -It must be enough for the reader to know that five gentlemen and -one lady, of very different complexions, garb and demeanours, sat -in a semicircle on six Windsor chairs, in the schoolroom which Mr. -Clutterbuck entered. He was suffering—oh! suffering with the pangs men -only experience upon reaching the turning-points of their lives. Upon -this jury depended, not even his entry into the great council of the -nation, but his bare opportunity for presenting himself as a candidate -at all.</p> - -<p>The chairman, or at any rate the gentleman who sat in the middle of -the crescent, was a clergyman of gigantic stature, though of what -denomination it would have been difficult to say, for above a Roman -collar he carried an immense black beard, wore spectacles, and was -bald. His voice was perhaps the most profound and awe-inspiring Mr. -Clutterbuck had ever heard, and when he said, "Pray, gentlemen, be -seated," it was as though a judge had pronounced sentence in the -weightiest of criminal trials.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck felt uncertainly backwards for the chair which he hoped -was there, found the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> target and expected the issue in an attitude of -misfortune. Charlie Fitzgerald sat down upon the chair next him, smiled -at the half-moon of faces, and threw up his trenches to receive the -attack.</p> - -<p>"The first thing we have to ask you, Mr. Clutterbuck," boomed out the -terrible hierarch, "is your attitude upon the Irish question?"</p> - -<p>"My attitude upon the Irish question," said Mr. Clutterbuck, in a dry, -unnatural voice, "is that of the great Mr. Gladstone."</p> - -<p>Four of the male heads approved of this reply by various expressions -and signs, and the lady by a series of enthusiastic little nods, -intended to reassure the candidate whose embarrassment she sincerely -pitied.</p> - -<p>But a man of apparently captious temper at the end of the line, said:</p> - -<p>"Ah, now, but at what periud of the old djentlemun?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, recognising the accent, replied eagerly, "At the -period most closely associated with his name."</p> - -<p>"That won't do f'r my boys," said the interrupter cheerfully, "n'r f'r -anny uv the Orange Temperance League that <i>I</i> know, I can tell ye!"</p> - -<p>And this was Mr. Clutterbuck's first introduction to the great truth -that practical politics depend on compromise.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Chairman bestowed a sorrowful look upon the gentleman from Ulster, -and said severely:</p> - -<p>"I <i>think</i>, Mr. Clutterbuck, most of us are satisfied with your reply."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was grateful; he waited for the next question and -braced himself to bear it. It was the lady who put it to him in a voice -which some years earlier must have been a beautiful contralto, and -which even yet retained notes of singular richness and power. She asked -Mr. Clutterbuck in a manner suggesting persuasion rather than pressure, -what his views might be upon the establishment of female courts of -justice.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck replied that in this, as in every other matter -concerning the sex, he should be guided by the opinion of the committee -representing the lady electors.</p> - -<p>"But I am here to represent the <i>Female</i> Committee," said the lady -sweetly.</p> - -<p>"Well, Ma'am," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "ahem! I suppose you represent -their views?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly," said the lady with decision and in her richest tones.</p> - -<p>"Quite so, quite so," said Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>At this point Charlie Fitzgerald looked up and said quietly:</p> - -<p>"I can assure you Mr. Clutterbuck is heartily in favour."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - -<p>His interruption was not very palatable to the committee, who found it -a diversion from the pleasures of the chase. The chairman frowned at -him, and Charlie Fitzgerald smiled back sadly in return.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Clutterbuck," came forth the deep voice again, "I have now to ask -you the gravest question of all: How would you vote in the matter of -temperance reform?"</p> - -<p>"Mr. Clutterbuck," said Charlie Fitzgerald briskly, "is a total -abstainer."</p> - -<p>"We are not here, sir," said a barber who had not yet spoken, and who -was a deeply religious man, "to hear you, but to hear Mr. Clutterbuck."</p> - -<p>To which rebuke Charlie Fitzgerald had the imprudence to murmur in a -low tone: "Oh, my God!"</p> - -<p>Luckily the expression did not reach the stern half-moon of -inquisitors, and Mr. Clutterbuck was free to reply that he had the most -ardent and complete sympathy with temperance reform in all its aspects.</p> - -<p>"But to take a specific instance," said the clergyman, wagging a -forefinger at Mr. Clutterbuck and fixing him with his two glass eyes, -"would you or would you not vote for Sir William Cattermole's Bill?"</p> - -<p>"I would vote for it," said Mr. Clutterbuck in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> tone of ardent -conviction, "though it should cost me my seat and the confidence of my -party!"</p> - -<p>A look of blank amazement passed over the clergyman's face, nor did any -of the half circle smile, except the Orangeman, and he only with his -eyes.</p> - -<p>"You surely cannot have heard me aright," said the clergyman in -astonishment and sorrow. "I said Sir William Cattermole's Bill. You -would support that infamous measure?"</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was in a qualm, and it cannot be denied that Mr. -Clutterbuck looked at him for aid and information. Like most honest -men, Mr. Clutterbuck was not very ready to take hints or to observe -expressions, but Charlie Fitzgerald's eyebrows were so unmistakable -that he found his cue.</p> - -<p>"You must have misunderstood me," he said. "My point was that I -would vote for an amendment to that Bill though it should cost me my -seat—that is," he added modestly, "supposing I had one."</p> - -<p>After using this expression Mr. Clutterbuck was so miserable that the -very publicans themselves would have pitied him had they seen the sweat -gathering upon his temples, and the droop of his mouth which at every -moment more and more resembled that of a child who is about to burst -into tears.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well, Mr. Clutterbuck," said the chairman with a sigh, "that's not -very satisfactory."</p> - -<p>"No, it izunt," said the Orangeman offensively, though in a lower tone; -while the lady, who had hitherto befriended the forlorn financier, now -regarded him with a constrained reproach.</p> - -<p>"I am afraid," stammered the unfortunate man, "that I must have -expressed myself ill."</p> - -<p>"No matter, Mr. Clutterbuck, no matter," said the chairman, lifting his -hand benignly. "The time will come for all that, when this deplorable -measure comes, if it ever does come, before the House.... And now, Mr. -Clutterbuck," he added leaning forward, to the evident annoyance of -his colleagues who desired to have a word, "what about the policy of -Offences Disfranchisement?"</p> - -<p>To the immense surprise of his six torturers, Mr. Clutterbuck, in a -manly and decisive voice replied, or rather shouted:</p> - -<p>"I will have nothing to do with it!"</p> - -<p>"Ear-ear!" said the barber enthusiastically.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Pickle," said the clergyman reprovingly, "your interruption is -most improper."</p> - -<p>"But the sentiment's all right," said a little man to the left of the -chair, who had not yet spoken, and whose wizened face betrayed acute -intelligence. He added: "And I con-gratulate you, Mr. Clutterbuck. -You're a gentleman! What's more is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> <i>this</i>; I shall be happy to shake -you heartily by the hand when all o' this is over."</p> - -<p>The lady on the extreme left wing was visibly annoyed, the clergyman -appeared indifferent, while the one member of the executive who had -hitherto maintained a complete silence, and who yet was no less a -person than the husband of the representative of the female committee -of Mickleton, copied his wife's demeanour with that exactitude which is -the outward symbol of a happy union. They had no children.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, in a tone still strong, but with something of the -monotony which comes from frequent repetition, added:</p> - -<p>"There are some things, gentlemen, on which a Democrat cannot swerve, -and I cannot see, with due deference to the mixed opinion before me, -how a Democrat could have answered other than I did."</p> - -<p>Here doubts of grammar rushed into his mind and he was silent.</p> - -<p>The wizened little man said: "That's all roight," and the barber beamed -at him.</p> - -<p>The clergyman, rising, said:</p> - -<p>"Well, Mr. Clutterbuck, you've done us a great honour by meeting us, -I'm sure.... We shall have to consider our decision. We will let you -know, Mr. Clutterbuck. May I have the honour and the pleasure of -shaking you by the hand?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck accorded him this felicity, and repeated it in the -case of every other member of the crescent; they had now broken their -formation and were standing in various attitudes before him, the lady -with a notable pride which became her female representative position, -her husband with an extremely quiet dignity. The ordeal was over.</p> - -<p>As Charlie Fitzgerald and he went out past the elephant and the dead -stove into the open air, and when they were well out of earshot, Mr. -Clutterbuck asked nervously:</p> - -<p>"Was that all right, Mr. Fitzgerald?"</p> - -<p>For answer Fitzgerald felt in his breast pocket, looked really anxious -and said:</p> - -<p>"Good God! I forgot to post that letter."</p> - -<p>"What letter?" asked Mr. Clutterbuck, a little pale.</p> - -<p>"Nothing," said Fitzgerald, "nothing." He walked quickly to a -pillar-box a few steps off, and dropped into it the envelope addressed -to the United Sons of Endeavour which he should have posted the night -before: his omission accounted for much, but he had rectified it and he -knew that all would be well.</p> - -<p>"It's all right," he said, slogging back, "but I was a big fool to -forget it. That's the worst of being an Irishman," he added genially.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was quite at sea. "But is it all <i>right</i>, Mr. -Fitzgerald?" he insisted.</p> - -<p>"It's all right <i>now</i>," said Fitzgerald. He hit his employer fairly in -the back, jumped into the car and shouted for home.</p> - -<p>Four days after a letter came to Caterham from the Acting Secretary of -the Mickleton National Executive Deputation to choose.</p> - -<p>It spoke in warm terms of Mr. Clutterbuck's character and genius, -admitted differences of opinion upon more than one point and severely -informed him at its close that he was admitted to the full title of -Prospective National Candidate.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the height of that splendid London season which had seen Mr. -Clutterbuck's introduction to Mrs. Smith's delightful circle, a little -thing had happened at Podger's Wharf in the neighbourhood of Nine Elms -upon the south side of the river.</p> - -<p>A gentleman of the name of Peake employed by Messrs. Harman and James, -barge and transport masters, to pump and swab out the bilge of the -"Queen of Denmark," certified to carry 182 tons of merchandise, and of -due cubic capacity for that burthen, discovered himself unable to reach -the vessel on account of the intervening mud and the accident of an -exceptionally low tide.</p> - -<p>At twelve o'clock the new and well-appointed hooter of Messrs. Harman -and James's works having sounded, Mr. Peake immediately laid down the -mop and hand-pump with which he had been furnished, and proceeded to -pass the check door and receive his salary, for it was a Saturday. The -day was very sunny and bright—but that is not to my purpose.</p> - -<p>Mr. Harman himself approached Mr. Peake and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> suggested to him that -now the tide was rising he might gratify the firm by remaining at an -increased salary for a couple of hours to accomplish his task; but Mr. -Peake pointed out with such brevity as the occasion demanded that this -would be a gross violation of the rules of his Union, and moved towards -the gate.</p> - -<p>It was at this moment that Mr. Harman committed the deplorable error -which was to lead to such enormous consequences in the body politic: -he lost his temper. He was alleged, I know not with how much truth, -to have addressed Mr. Peake in terms vividly suggesting social -inferiority; but whether this be true or not it is certain that he -assured Mr. Peake of the uselessness of seeking further employment at -the wharf; nay, he had the brutality to tender to that gentleman a -week's salary in lieu of notice, and having done so he retired.</p> - -<p>I will not here go into the vexed question of the language used on -either side, nor enter into Mr. Harman's somewhat lame excuses that -he was provoked by a certain expression of his employee's which cast -a most unjust reflection upon his, Mr. Harman's, pride of birth and -personal morals. Mr. Harman's hasty action was surely indefensible upon -any provocation, and its natural consequence was that the remainder of -those who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> worked at Podger's Wharf were called out by their Union, -while the United Riverside Workers and Sons of Southwark threatened -a sympathetic cessation of labour to extend from the eastern side of -Hammersmith Bridge to the western edge of the steps at the bottom of -Edgar Street in Limehouse.</p> - -<p>I need hardly say that under these circumstances the compulsory clauses -of the Conciliation Act of 1909 were at once acted upon by the popular -and wealthy President of the Board of Trade, and the decision of the -courts, the machinery of which in such actions is extraordinarily -rapid, was given within three days entirely in favour of the Union; -indeed, no other decision could possibly have been arrived at, and -public opinion thoroughly justified the coercion very properly applied -to the tyrannical master; papers as different as the <i>Spectator</i> and -the <i>Winning Post</i> were at one upon the matter, and their widely -separate reading publics heartily agreed.</p> - -<p>So far the incident, though it had attained certain dimensions, did -not threaten any very grave results. But it so happened that a section -of the workers involved, namely, the Paint Removers and Tar and Marine -Composition Appliers had taken advantage of the disturbance to demand -the abolition of piecework upon all hulks and upon all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> vessels in -active use between the Garboard Strake and the North Atlantic Winter -Loading Line. The courts, in their haste to settle the main issue, had -perhaps too lightly overlooked this contention, and the result was -some considerable disappointment among the Paint Removers and Tar and -Marine Composition Appliers throughout the Port of London. The Union, -as it was bound to do by statute, accepted the decision of the court; -unfortunately a gentleman of the name of Fishmonger, in company with -his brother-in-law, Henry Bebb (hereinforth and henceforward known as -"Another"), both expert Tar Smoothers, felt so strongly upon the matter -that they refused to return to work. A warrant was made out for their -arrest, and though their Union was somewhat half-hearted in the matter, -the P.D.Q. and several other societies desired to fight it, and under -the powers afforded by the same statute they lodged an appeal—for, as -is now well known, there are certain cases in which a workman cannot be -compelled to accept employment even after the Court of Conciliation has -delivered its judgment.</p> - -<p>The appeal was heard before Justices Hunnybubble, Compton and Welsh. -Sir John Compton was averse to create a precedent of such lamentable -consequence; the Act was new, it was, so to speak, upon its trial, -and though he would have been the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> first to admit that he was there -not to make the law but to administer it, he could not but recognise -the function of an English judge in the commonwealth, and he was for -finding some issue by which Mr. Fishmonger and Mr. Bebb might escape -the too drastic consequences of a somewhat hastily drafted measure.</p> - -<p>We are not a logical people: we refuse to be bound by the formal -syllogisms so popular with the lower races of Europe and especially -among the dying Latin nations. There is no doubt that Mr. Justice -Compton reflected, in the attitude he adopted, the permanent common -sense of the nation. Unfortunately, Mr. Justice Hunnybubble, in spite -of the sterling Saxon name he bore, was too much of the lawyer and the -pedant to concur. In his long and disastrous decision he introduced a -hundred empty abstractions and metaphysical whimsies: that "contract -was mutual," for instance, or that "the obligation was binding upon -either party." He even descended to talking of "equality," declared the -law as much the defender of the rich man as of the poor, and would -not admit, in theory, that contrast between Employer and Employed, -which is so glaring in practice to every eye. He insisted that if the -master was constrained to take a workman back, so was that workman -bound to return; he so strained the petty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> details of the Act itself -as to interpret the words "all parties" in clause IV. to include the -employees as well as the employers, and applied the phrase "shall abide -by the award under pain, &c.," to hungry artisan as severely as to -paunchy capitalist.</p> - -<p>In spite of Sir John Compton's dissent, Mr. Justice Hunnybubble took -with him his colleague, Welch. The decision of the lower court was -therefore upheld, and Mr. Fishmonger and Mr. Bebb, who had found better -paid employment in the Halls during the Long Vacation, and who refused -to re-enter the yard, were, to the shame of our institutions, cast into -Holloway Jail as first class misdemeanants. They were deprived of the -use of tobacco and the daily newspapers; and even their cuisine was -regulated by official order.</p> - -<p>While the case was still <i>sub judice</i> the respect invariably shown to -the courts forbade any open comment, but when, some ten days after Mr. -Clutterbuck's interview with the executive of Mickleton, the deplorable -miscarriage of justice had actually taken place, and when the populace -had been afforded the spectacle of these two unfortunate men driven in -a common cab to their dungeon, the storm burst.</p> - -<p>The general emotion did not at first find its way into the public -Press: the proprietors of our daily and weekly journals have too strong -a regard for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> the Bench to permit themselves any immediate criticism -of a judicial decision, and the relations into which they are nightly -brought with our judges as host or guest in many a hospitable house, -adds to their natural reserve; but in spite of this absence of printed -comment, the matter became first the chief, and at last the only -subject of talk among the artisans of the metropolis, from them it -spread, as all such movements must, to the unskilled labourers, and -from these to the general population of London. Within a fortnight -the police were aware of the extraordinary extent of the ferment, and -the Home Secretary went so far as to curtail a pleasant visit at the -country seat of the Baron de Czernwitz, in order to hurry up to town -and consult with his brother-in-law, the Lord Chief Justice, and his -wife's uncle, the Chief Commissioner. His decision was to do nothing: -but meanwhile two public meetings had been held, one in Moore's Circus, -another an open-air one, on Peckham Rye, and feeling had risen so high -that two newspapers actually admitted short reports of the proceedings -at each of these gatherings.</p> - -<p>Early in November, while matters were in this very critical state, the -sitting member for Mickleton whose financial entanglement could no -longer be concealed, fled to Ostend and was rash enough to take his -life in the front room of the Villa des<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Charmettes, thereby leaving a -vacancy in the representation of his borough.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's easy prospect of nursing Mickleton, of carefully and -continuously supporting its worthier activities, and of extending a -judicious hospitality to its many inhabitants, was suddenly shattered: -he must prepare for instant action. It was with a mixture of fixed -concern and unpleasant excitement that, under the direction of Charlie -Fitzgerald, his plans were made.</p> - -<p>The writ, it was understood, would be issued on the following Wednesday -week, and the polling would take place upon Saturday, November 19; -there was little time to lose. The dates and places of the principal -meetings were rapidly arranged, the printers among whom work was to -be distributed were carefully noted, the excellent organisation of -the constituency had prepared him a numbered list of the electors who -would expect a personal visit, and he received one morning by post the -manifesto which had been drawn up at headquarters for him to sign.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck had signed this in his businesslike way and had left it -for his secretary to post.</p> - -<p>That gentleman came in from his usual morning spin in the green -Darracq—the Napier he had slightly damaged some days before in -attempting a group of oxen on Merstham hill. As he slowly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> mastered -the few lines he began to shake his head solemnly and at last laid the -document down, saying:</p> - -<p>"It won't do as it is."</p> - -<p>"You don't want me to add to it myself, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said Mr. -Clutterbuck with an anxious look.</p> - -<p>"N—no," said Fitzgerald, running his finger down the page.... "My -point is ... there's something you got to add."</p> - -<p>He read it again more closely, knitting his brows.</p> - -<p>It was a straightforward bit of democratic pleading and clear, popular -statement. It emphasised the importance to Great Britain of raising -the price of Consols up to a standard level of seventy-five, of -maintaining and if possible increasing the gold reserve so that the -Bank rate should not rise above six per cent. for more than three -months at one time; it declared strongly for the principle of female -courts of justice, and supported the policy of the Government in its -recent subsidies to the Grimsby fishing industry, the White Star Line, -the Small Holders Capitalisation Association, the new "Eastern Counties -Railway," and Lord Painton's Association for the Construction and -Repair of English Canals.</p> - -<p>Upon lesser matters it turned to criticise the woe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>ful parsimony of the -late administration, and contrasted the provision made for the fleet in -the last National Budget with the Naval Estimates of 1908.</p> - -<p>The document ended with a paragraph upon the Offences Disfranchisement -Bill, which Charlie Fitzgerald read with close attention. It was as -follows:</p> - -<p>"<i>In my opinion those who have borne themselves so ill as to merit -condemnation by one of our English justices of the peace, whether to -fine or imprisonment, or both, are certainly worthy of some measure -of loss of the powers of the fulness of complete and unrestricted -citizenship; but I shall reserve my judgment upon the present -Government's decision to withdraw the franchise for five years, or -in some cases in perpetuity, from those who have done no more than -to excite such grave suspicion as must attach to those who have been -arrested by the police or have been present as defendants in a county -court.</i>"</p> - -<p>Fitzgerald read this sentence three times over, and sighed. "Too many -'ofs'," he murmured, "too many words!... Did you <i>notice</i> that last -paragraph?" he added without looking up at his employer.</p> - -<p>"I really can't say, Mr. Fitzgerald," answered that gentleman moving -about somewhat uneasily. "I can't tell you, quoted offhand like that. -What's it about?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well, it <i>seems</i> to be about the Offences Disfranchisement Bill, but -God only knows who drafted it."</p> - -<p>"Who—what?" said Mr. Clutterbuck still more uneasily, coming and -looking over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Who wrote it out," said Fitzgerald, "who designed the beastly thing?"</p> - -<p>"Really, Mr. Fitzgerald, really," said Mr. Clutterbuck. He had not -himself written the fatal words, but he had carried on a little -correspondence of his own about them, and he did not like the work to -be treated so sharply, though his respect for Charlie Fitzgerald was -still strong.</p> - -<p>"It's got to go," said Fitzgerald decisively.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Mr. Fitzgerald!" said Mr. Clutterbuck in some alarm, "we can't do -without an allusion to the Offences Bill! Really, Mr. Fitzgerald, you -know it's the most important reform, well, of our time so to speak. -Why," said he, remembering sundry quotations from his reading: "this -country is the pioneer; Italy's only talked of the thing; Germany's -backward. There's only Nebraska abreast of us. And think of the effect!"</p> - -<p>"Look here," said Charlie Fitzgerald a little impatiently, "<i>that</i> -paragraph has got to go. If you want to say anything about the Offences -Disfranchisement Bill you had better put in four lines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> saying that -wild horses won't make you vote for it in any shape or form. But I -doubt whether those old jossers in Mickleton would pass that. Just say -nothing about it, and a day or two before the poll enlarge your spirit -on the platform and damn it up hill and down dale."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck felt like a man who had just lost his dog, but he held -his tongue, and only thought mournfully of the letters that might come -to him next day.</p> - -<p>"And now," said Charlie Fitzgerald as he drew a red chalk thoughtfully -through the offending paragraph, "I'm going off this evening, and when -I come back I shall tell you what I <i>think</i> ought to be added at the -end of the manifesto—I shall know then."</p> - -<p>He got up quite suddenly. "I won't be late," he added. "I'll be back -before midnight, and I'll tell you."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck and he looked at each other without speaking for a -moment, and for once there was a slight disturbance in the merchant's -mind as he looked through the window and saw his secretary calmly -giving orders to the gardener and to the mechanician, and a moment -later stepping into the newly-bought F.I.A.T. with a gesture of -proprietorship that was perhaps a trifle exaggerated.</p> - -<p>But this unworthy mood disturbed for but a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> moment the Clutterbuckian -poise, and certainly his young friend's achievement, when he returned -to tell of it, would have dispelled for ever any such ill-omened -emotion.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The business which Mr. Fitzgerald had before him that evening was -one so familiar to all those acquainted with the apparatus of -self-government, that it is perhaps redundant in me to chronicle it. -Nevertheless it was of such importance in the events that follow, that -I must briefly relate it.</p> - -<p>He drove to the station and sent the car back (its reappearance was a -first solace to the master of the house); he took, out of the petty -cash, a first return for Victoria, hailed a cab as he left the station -(noting the expense with a regularity rare in a man of high birth and -Irish nationality), drove to his Club, dined handsomely, again put down -this incidental item in round figures, hailed yet another cab, and told -the driver vaguely to drive to Mickleton.</p> - -<p>The driver, a North countryman of sturdy temper, insisted upon knowing -an exact address, but upon receiving a reply which savoured too much -of carelessness about The Future Life, he whipped up his horse and -drove northward as he was bid, taking, as is the invariable custom -of hackney coachmen, the largest and the widest artery of the place, -a street known for some centuries as the London Road,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> called during -the eighties and nineties The Boulevard, but since the feat of arms -of General Baden-Powell, characteristically and finally christened -Mafeking Avenue.</p> - -<p>In this fine thoroughfare were to be discovered not a few licensed -premises. Charlie Fitzgerald chose the most sumptuous of these and -the best lit, stopped the cab and went in. He was about to explore the -public opinion of Mickleton.</p> - -<p>He came out in a quarter of an hour, drove on to another public-house, -visited it for a few minutes only, called at another and another, and -so until he had fairly sampled the constituents in perhaps a dozen of -those general rendezvous where the political temper of a great people -may best be determined. The result of his investigation was much what -he had expected, though it was more precise, and in one matter much -more emphatic, than he would have premised before he began his inquiry.</p> - -<p>The populace were, as he had expected, indifferent to, and for the -greater part ignorant of, the death of their respected member. Those of -them who were acquainted with his demise found it difficult to keep an -audience, and the few who had attempted to retail it as an entertaining -item of news, were met by the coarsest of opposition, save in the case -of one man, who ascribed it with conviction to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> murder at the hands of -the police, pointing out to his companion at "The Naked Man" how many -cases of such mysterious deaths had recently occurred on the Opposition -side of the House, and drawing from his own rich experience of the -constabulary many dark examples of their mysterious power.</p> - -<p>But while the death of the late baronet was found to have produced so -little impression, one topic struck Fitzgerald's ears upon every side, -and this, I need hardly say, was the case of Rex v. Fishmonger and -Another.</p> - -<p>The full legal terminology was unfamiliar to these plain working men, -and they alluded to it commonly as "the Nine Elms business," or the -"Podger's Lay" to which the more familiar would add the term, "the -Holloway job." But unvarnished and even inaccurate as were their -expressions, it was clear that they were deeply moved. Save here and -there in the saloon bars, where the local gentry would meet in rarer -numbers, and where Fitzgerald during this tour had little concern, -nothing else was talked of: most significant of all, as he rightly -judged, was the ardent sympathy of the potboys, the barmaids, and the -very publicans themselves, who, for all their substantial position as -employers of labour, could not conceal their ardent agreement with -their customers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> - -<p>A foreigner unacquainted with the national temper, and hearing -the popular judgments passed upon Mr. Justice Hunnybubble, might -have imagined that exalted personage's life to be in danger, and -in more than one instance Charlie Fitzgerald was annoyed to have a -glass smashed under his nose in the heat of the denunciations, or -to find some huge and purple visage, one with which he was totally -unacquainted, angrily challenging him to agree with the general verdict -or to take Toko. With true diplomacy Fitzgerald joined heartily in the -universal topic and opinion, but his clothes and accent laid him open -to a just suspicion, and he was glad when his round of visits was over -and his mind thoroughly informed.</p> - -<p>It is not an easy thing to conduct such a piece of research after -dinner in a dozen public-houses large and small, and to retain one's -clarity of vision and one's acuteness of judgment. But Fitzgerald, by -the simple manœuvre of ordering the whiskey and the water separately, -and of ultimately standing the former to a chance acquaintance in each -place, accomplished his mission with complete success. As he took the -last train at Victoria, after discharging the cabman with an ample -reward (which he again noted in round figures), he had the campaign -well in hand.</p> - -<p>That night, late as it was, he found Mr. Clutter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>buck waiting for him, -and, what is more, Mrs. Clutterbuck as well. He manfully stood out -one hour of earnest defence against her continued presence, and when, -not without a promise of vengeance in her eye she had determined to -retreat, he tackled Mr. Clutterbuck at once, and told him that the -constituency was his upon one condition.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, who seriously feared that the condition would involve -yet another generous recognition of The Sons of Endeavour, was relieved -beyond measure to hear that no more was required of him than a strong -and simple declaration such as behoved a Democrat upon a plain matter -of public policy.</p> - -<p>"You got to speak heart and soul for Fishmonger—and for the Other -also, I suppose," said Charlie Fitzgerald. "If you think you dare do -it, go for Hunnybubble, and do as little as you can of anything else. -That's the tip," said Fitzgerald, bringing his hands together with a -hearty clap like a pistol shot, and mentally calculating his total -expenses of the evening, with ten shillings added for a margin.</p> - -<p>It was all Greek to Mr. Clutterbuck, but he understood it was politics. -To a man of his frankness and probity political work was clear, and—so -that it were political work and contained no hint of corruption—he was -ready for the fray.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> - -<p>Of the elements of the matter he could only remember vaguely the -word Fishmonger tucked away in small type in the legal columns of -the <i>Times</i>, while for Mr. Justice Hunnybubble he had never felt any -feeling more precise than the deference due to a man who was gratefully -remembered by the social class to which Mr. Clutterbuck belonged as -"Hanging Jim."</p> - -<p>The hour was too late for him to follow further argument. It was not -till next morning that his strategy was laid down for him by his -invaluable secretary.</p> - -<p>The manifesto was brought out again, the last objectionable paragraph -was cut out, and in its place Charlie Fitzgerald added these ringing -words:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"<span class="smcap">Much more than any Passing Question of Politics I shall -challenge, if you return me as your Member, the hideous Injustice -and Tyranny which has condemned two British Workmen to languish in -Jail for exercising the Common Rights of every Free Man. And I shall -leave no stone unturned to secure the Reversal of that Iniquitous -Judgment.</span>"</p></blockquote> - -<p>"Now," said Charlie Fitzgerald pleasantly, when he had drafted this -bugle call, "we won't send that back to your agents, will we?" He -accompanied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> this unexpected remark with a sunny smile, and Mr. -Clutterbuck looked at him blankly.</p> - -<p>"No, no," said Charlie Fitzgerald humorously, "we'll note who the -printers are, shall we?" He looked at the small type at the bottom of -the sheet and saw "The Alexandra Printing Works."</p> - -<p>"I'm greatly relieved," he said, "they're Opposition: they can't be -got at by our people." Then he wrote on a slip of paper: "20,000 as -corrected. Please note caps in last paragraph. No need for revise. -Deliver to address given. Hoardings as order. Immediate." He scribbled -Mr. Clutterbuck's initials as it was his secretarial duty to do. He -folded up the proof and the note, addressed the cover, and before Mr. -Clutterbuck fully seized what had happened, Fitzgerald had himself -taken it down to the pillar-box at the lodge and was back, cheerfully -contented.</p> - -<p>"I'm sure you know best, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, though -he was not yet quite happy.</p> - -<p>For answer Mr. Fitzgerald pulled out of his pocket an evening paper, in -which was the account of a police charge in Mickleton itself, which had -broken up a monster meeting in favour of the condemned men.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck read the account carefully, and interlarded his reading -with repeated exclamations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> of wonder addressed apparently to the -reporter of the scene.</p> - -<p>He was next turning to read the opinions of the paper itself upon the -transaction, and would in a moment have discovered its disapproval of -his constituency's violence, when Fitzgerald asked for the sheet to be -given back to him, and Mr. Clutterbuck at once complied. His mind was -clear. The thing was in capitals, and would evidently be the point of -the election. He must get it up.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></p> - - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was right, and Charlie Fitzgerald had judged wisely.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first meeting of the campaign was to be held in quite a little hall -belonging to the local ethical society. No interest had yet been taken -in the election, the greater part of the constituency had perhaps but -just heard of it—yet the whole evening turned upon Fishmonger and The -Other.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck's fervid declaration was not enough: one man after -another at the back of the hall must take the opportunity, while -congratulating the candidate upon his attitude, to make a considerable -harangue upon the awful pass to which English freedom had come. -Leaflets, printed by the Relief Committee, were in the hands of more -than half the audience; and what was more interesting was to see -how, the moment the meeting was over, those who had asked questions -distributed themselves, as though according to orders, into the various -quarters of the borough, visiting the public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> houses and spreading the -news of their candidate's declarations.</p> - -<p>This was upon a Wednesday. On the Friday, for which the second meeting -had been announced, a much larger hall, the Cleethorpe Foundation -Schools, was absolutely full before a quarter past seven, though the -speeches were not to begin until eight.</p> - -<p>The audience filled the interval with songs concerning political and -economic liberty, and more than one ribald catch in contempt of the -Fishmonger judgment. The appearance of the platform did not silence -them. They sang with a vengeance as they awaited their candidate, and -the stout and elderly chairman, Mr. Alderman Thorpe, continually pulled -out his watch in his nervousness, noted that the crowd of faces before -him were of quite a different sort from those repeated faces which -perpetually appeared at the National meetings. The tone of their cries -was more violent than the Executive were accustomed to, and the spirit -of the hall quite novel.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck at last appeared. It was unfortunate that he should -be ten minutes late, and the accident provoked not a few shouted -queries, but his appearance as he stalked on to the platform with -Charlie Fitzgerald at his heels, called forth an indescribable volume -of cheering, which lasted during<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> the whole of the introducer's speech, -and threatened to overlap into that of the candidate himself.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was not an impromptu speaker; it was his custom to -learn by heart the remarks it was his duty to deliver, nor was he -superior to obtaining a general draft or even a more detailed summary -of those remarks from the Democratic Speech Agency upon Holborn -Viaduct. That evening, however, his heart spoke for him, and he could -not forbear repeating some dozen times, when silence was restored, -"Upon my word, gentlemen, I am highly flattered—I am highly flattered, -I am very highly flattered, indeed!"</p> - -<p>He cleared his throat and began the first set speech of the campaign. -He knew it by heart; it was therefore in a clear if somewhat high -pitched voice that he delivered the opening phrase "the effect of free -trade in the past upon"—he was interrupted by another wild burst of -cheering and loud applause from the vast audience, who imagined him to -refer to the incarcerated Fishmonger and whose thousand hearts were -beating as one.</p> - -<p>It was so throughout the carefully worded address. His allusion to the -taxation of rice produced the chorus of a popular song in favour of -the men languishing in Holloway, and his passing remarks upon Consols -"which, as a City man he assured them were a matter to him of the very -gravest con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>cern," led to repeated cries of "Drown old Harman!" and -enthusiastic hurrahs for their candidate's championship of the doomed -men.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Clutterbuck sat down, in some confusion but in great -happiness, and when the customary vote of thanks had been given, a -genial publican in the body of the hall who had never attended a public -meeting save to protest against the unhappy Licensing Bill of 1908, -rose most unexpectedly to support the resolution. In a voice full of -nutriment and good humour, he assured the candidate, amid repeated -confirmations from all around, that in spite of his attitude upon -temperance—and no one saw more of the evils of <i>in</i>temperance than the -licensed victualler—in spite of that, Mr. Clutterbuck's manly attitude -on the case of Rex <i>v.</i> Fishmonger and Another would secure him the -support of the trade.</p> - -<p>A clergyman, who had had the temerity to rise with the intention of -congratulating the candidate, was imagined from his pale face and -refined voice to be an opponent: he was angrily silenced, and the -meeting dispersed with loud cheers for his present Majesty, for the -armed servants of the Crown whether military or naval, and—need it be -told?—for Fishmonger over all.</p> - -<p>It was evidently an election to be taken on the fly and to be run -before the machine slowed down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> The common National literature sent -out from the head offices in Peter Street was soon absorbed. Charlie -Fitzgerald implored them for matter upon Fishmonger, but the official -press refused. He could not brave the Act nor exceed the statutory -limit of expense, but Mr. Clutterbuck was delighted to find that the -Fishmonger Relief Committee—to which his wife, his brother-in-law, -and even his coachman very largely subscribed—would furnish him with -endless tracts and posters. The walls were covered by this independent -ally, and the expenditure upon its part of over four thousand pounds -associated Mr. Clutterbuck's name with the relief of the poor prisoners -in letters six, ten and fifteen feet high and in the most astounding -colours.</p> - -<p>There were pictures also: pictures by the ton. Pictures of Mr. -Clutterbuck striking the fetters from Fishmonger's wrists; pictures of -Fishmonger in convict garb sleeping his troubled sleep upon a pallet -of straw while a vision of the valiant Clutterbuck floated above -him in a happy cloud: this was called "The Dream of Hope." Pictures -of Fishmonger on the treadmill pitied by an indignant Britannia -and a Clutterbuck springing to his aid, inflamed the popular zeal, -and further pictures of a black Demon cowering before an avenging -Clutterbuck in full armour afforded a parable of immense effect.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> - -<p>And then there were speeches! Every day saw its meeting, and at the -end of the first week its second or its third meeting within the -twenty-four hours. Mr. Clutterbuck, by whose side Mrs. Clutterbuck -often sat in those wild and happy moments of popular fervour, was -permitted no great length by his secretary, and a band of good fellows -who were determined to achieve the liberties of England, took care -that questions other than those provided them by the secretary or -the committee, should not be asked with impunity. It was even, as -the unhappy example of the clergyman had shown, unwise to express -adhesion to Mr. Clutterbuck's candidature, unless this were done in -so unmistakable a manner that there should be no room for popular -hostility.</p> - -<p>So ended the first week of the struggle; nor had Mr. Clutterbuck -showed a single fault save, in his confusion, an occasional lack of -punctuality, which was certainly resented and noted more than he knew. -His throat was supple, his delivery clear, but he was a little doubtful -whether his enunciation was sufficiently vigorous to fill a large hall.</p> - -<p>Sunday, I am glad to say, in spite of the woeful inroads Socialism has -recently made, was observed as a day of rest by either side; and Mr. -Clutterbuck took the opportunity of the holy season to summon to The -Plâs, on Charlie Fitzgerald's advice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> and at an enormous expense, a -Voice Producer, who, while complaining of the shortness of the time -allowed him, guaranteed his client a considerable extension of vocal -power if his rules were strictly observed.</p> - -<p>He it was who for three hours upon that holy day elicited from Mr. -Clutterbuck at least one hundred times, a loud and increasing roar -during which he insisted that the head should be thrown back, the -throat widely opened and the mouth stretched to its fullest extent. -He it was who, insisted upon the regular use of the Hornsby lozenge, -though Mr. Clutterbuck had been persuaded by a friend to make secret -use of the Glarges type of emollient bonbon. He it was who taking Mr. -Clutterbuck after tea by the shoulders, pressed them back until, at the -expense of exquisite suffering to that elderly gentleman, he had caused -them to lock behind him. He it was who then compelled the merchant -to fill his chest to its fullest extent, to retain his breath to the -utmost of his capacity, and to emit, when he could hold it no longer, -the syllables</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>MAH-MUH-MOH-MAY-MYE-MEE-MO-MAH</p></blockquote> - -<p>in the ascending notes of the octave; and he it was who almost rendered -the master of the house ridiculous by compelling him to run three or -four<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> times round the building and never to cease a loud singsong -during his breathless course.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck could not but feel that the professional adviser had -well earned the twenty guineas with which he was rewarded; and if upon -rising the next morning he found himself somewhat strained and hoarse, -he readily accepted Fitzgerald's assurance that his voice would return -all the more strongly in the course of the day.</p> - -<p>That Monday morning, the Monday preceding the poll, the first of the -open-air meetings was held in front of the Town Hall, and quite 4,000 -people from every part of London, among whom were a number of the -local electors themselves, must have listened to the short declaration -in which Mr. Clutterbuck, now considerably fatigued, insisted, for -the twenty-seventh time, in terms with which they were now all too -familiar, and in a voice increasingly raucous, upon the iniquity of the -judgment he stood there to reverse, and upon the necessity of returning -him to Westminster in order to effect the necessary change in the law; -indeed it cannot be denied that, as the election proceeded and the -excitement grew, Mr. Clutterbuck himself came greatly to exaggerate -the power of a private member in directing the course of British -legislation. The lengthy procedure of the House of Commons of which he -had but a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> hazy conception, dwindled in his imagination, and as for the -House of Lords, he forgot it altogether.</p> - -<p>Upon the Tuesday a football match upon Mickleton Common naturally -suspended the vanity of speechmaking, and the day was given over to -that hard spadework by the canvassers upon which every election finally -depends. The canvassing was the more successful and the less arduous -from the fact that the heads of families who were cheering upon the -Common the fortunes of the Mickleton Rousers, left the ladies at home -to pledge the votes of the household, which they did with a complete -freedom to the emissaries of either candidate.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck, his wife, Fitzgerald, and Mr. Maple, the agent, went -the round all day till the candidate himself was fit to drop. At one -place they smiled and bowed at a little group of lads who replied with -glares, at another they steadily worked half a street, only to find at -last that it was just outside the constituency. At a third, a seedy -man, a most undoubted voter, who had been present at every meeting -approached Mr. Clutterbuck and spoke a word in his ear.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck good-naturedly proffered half a sovereign; the coin -had barely changed hands when the agent—who had caught the gesture -in the nick of time—pounced on the needy citizen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> and wrenched his -fingers open by main force. The struggle was brief, and Mr. Maple—a -man of stature and consequence—triumphantly returned the coin to the -candidate.</p> - -<p>Whether from the wrestling or some other emotion he was trembling as he -returned it.</p> - -<p>"Oh! Mr. Clutterbuck—Oh! It would have cost you your seat!" he puffed -out.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was grateful indeed, but he heard for hours the echo -of the angry borrower's blasphemy and his repeated vow to vote for -that fallen angel whom an older theology has regarded as the Enemy of -Mankind before he would vote National again.</p> - -<p>So Tuesday ended—and here my duty compels me to introduce the -repugnant subject of the Opposition candidate, lest the reader should -forget in the fever of enthusiasm which I have described, the very -presence of a man who dared to set himself against the expressed -opinion of The People.</p> - -<p>Lord Henfield was his name. His hairs, which were of the palest yellow -and few in number for a man of but thirty years, were parted down the -middle with an extraordinary accuracy which was no more disturbed when -he appeared in the early morning after rising from repose than when in -the last hours of the night he would withdraw from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> critical and -angry audiences which he too often had to encounter.</p> - -<p>His face was not clean-shaven: contrariwise, he wore long and drooping -moustaches of the same character and complexion as his hair, and -forming a singular contrast with that virile grey crescent upon Mr. -Clutterbuck's upper lip, of which the reader has so often heard.</p> - -<p>His eyes were of a very watery blue; he lisped a little, and such -decision as he may have possessed was only to be discovered in his -apparently complete indifference to the judgment of men poorer than -himself.</p> - -<p>The deference due to his rank and wealth forbade any assault upon -his person; all other forms of opposition he met with a slight and -rather mournful smile, and with the regret that there should be any -differences between himself and those whom he hoped would soon prove to -be his constituents.</p> - -<p>The weakness of his position was not, it may be admitted, entirely due -to his personality nor even to the wild popularity which the cause of -Fishmonger and Another had recently acquired. Indeed he was as ardent a -champion of the incarcerated Fishmonger as was Mr. Clutterbuck himself, -and differed from his opponent only in modifying his language where it -might have shocked the English sense of the respect which we all owe to -the Bench.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> - -<p>His principal ally in a struggle which seemed to disturb him so little -was his wife. Lady Henfield, a woman of the most captivating vitality, -called at every house in the constituency, smiled, flattered, and joked -into friendship the hearts of all the women, and fearlessly bestowed -upon either sex indifferently the marks of a warm appreciation which, -from such a woman, are never thrown away. Many a household could tell, -long before the contest was engaged, of deeds of kindness which her -genuine sympathy with the populace forbade her to noise abroad, and -her known influence upon the Board of Pleeson's Charity, a social work -of immense importance in the neighbourhood, lent her a high and most -legitimate influence in all that she did in Mickleton. She had had -the sense to take a house for her husband in the locality, and though -they but rarely slept in this distant quarter of the metropolis, the -excellent way in which it was served and furnished naturally impressed -her neighbours of every degree.</p> - -<p>All this counteracted, to no slight extent, Lord Henfield's -insufficient performances upon the platform, and no one acquainted with -electoral campaigning will deny that the enthusiasm or disapproval of -popular audiences counts little as compared with the domestic effect -of private visits and of good deeds coming from the heart. To all -this was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> added on the Wednesday, a false step on the part of Mr. -Clutterbuck, which for the first time, and that so near the poll, was a -serious setback to the tide in his favour. A gentleman of considerable -means, a printer and dyer of the name of Stephens, who had frequently -appeared upon Mr. Clutterbuck's platform and had seemed, even to -the keen eye of Charlie Fitzgerald, to be an inoffensive plutocrat, -insisted upon receiving the candidate and his wife as his guests at -Bongers End during the last days of the struggle.</p> - -<p>"It will save your husband," he said to Mrs. Clutterbuck, "those long -night journeys to Croydon which a man at his age cannot afford to -despise, and will give Mrs. Stephens and myself and my two sons and my -daughter Clara and Miss Curle the very greatest pride and pleasure."</p> - -<p>This apparently innocuous proposal, which Mrs. Clutterbuck eagerly -accepted for her husband, was a threefold error. A long-standing -rivalry, or rather enmity, existed between their new host and a Mr. -Clay, whose engineering works were perhaps the most important industry -in Mickleton, and who as a Tory Home Ruler of some years' standing, was -now naturally the head of the National Party since the establishment -of a Parliament in Dublin and the framing of the new tariff had called -that party into existence. He bitterly resented the honour shown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> to -his rival, and it needed all the tact of Fitzgerald to prevent his -influence being thrown into the wrong scale. But that tact was well -exercised. Fitzgerald called upon Mr. Clay late at night, described -Mr. Clutterbuck's intense desire to have been the guest of Mr. Clay, -his hesitation to invite himself, the brutal forwardness of his -rival, while the whole story was cemented by a description of blood -relationship between Mrs. Clutterbuck and Mrs. Stephens, which, in -later days, Fitzgerald himself did not hesitate to deny.</p> - -<p>To lead the close of the campaign from Mr. Stephen's mansion at Bongers -End was still more dangerous, from the fact that a quarrel had arisen -between that gentleman and one of his workmen, whom indeed he had -almost dismissed: had the tragedy actually occurred, the situation -would have been not very different from the famous cause of the strike -at Podger's Wharf, and the parallel was often drawn between the one -case and the other in the humbler homes of Mickleton. Finally, Mr. -Clutterbuck had not calculated, when he yielded to the warm pressure -of his host, that his famous declaration upon total abstinence would -there be taken in its literal sense. The principles of the National -Party—which had now for two years advocated voluntary abstinence as -an alternative to predatory legislation against the trade—for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>bade -Mr. Clutterbuck to touch wine or spirits when he was actually present -in the constituency, and he knew very well that if he were returned to -the House of Commons it would be necessary for him to take his meals in -the new rooms set apart for those who not only denied themselves the -use of such beverages, but had the stalwart manhood to forego so much -as the sight of others who were causing Israel to sin. But he would -never have been able to support the fatigues of those wild days had he -not carried in his pocket a flask of B.Q. cognac, and had he not been -able from time to time to escape from a midday meal to his club, or -better still, to some restaurant where he was unknown. He had, further, -on returning to Surrey every night, freely restored his energies by -vigorous draughts of port, a wine to which he had grown accustomed and -whose use he could ill spare.</p> - -<p>It was, therefore, no small handicap to find continual allusion made -under Mr. Stephens's roof to his valiant and thorough-going principles, -nor did it help the situation to see round him every member of the -household, including Mrs. Clutterbuck and his secretary, served with -the most generous vintages, while he was compelled to choose milk -(which he had never yet been able to digest), water, against which he -had been often warned, or those aerated substitutes which his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> doctor -had repeatedly insisted to be, in his particular case, no better than -windy poisons.</p> - -<p>His vigour declined; his voice grew worse and worse; he hesitated in -the midst of his speeches; he contradicted himself more than once. The -first serious opposition, upon the Wednesday night, threw him into -a fever of anxiety from which he had not recovered the next day. He -appeared unpunctually before an impatient audience and actually forgot -to appear at all at a smaller meeting later in the evening: a piece of -folly that cost him fifty votes.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the renewed energies of his opponents rendered his position -less and less enviable as the day of the poll approached, although the -Opposition suffered in this election, as in every other, from the very -grave drawback that it had no fixed name.</p> - -<p>Since 1910 a heterogeneous body, in which the old theoretical -Free-Traders, of whose exalted principle and vivid intellectual power -the <i>Spectator</i> was the voice, the wide sporting interests whose -principal organ was the <i>Winning Post</i>, the new Socialist group and the -remnants of Unionist and Orange following had coalesced; and though -no leader of the first rank appeared, an able secretary, Mr. Ephraim, -managed to control the old party chest, but upon a name they could -not agree, and in almost every separate by-election their candidate -appeared under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> a different label. Their hold upon the electorate -depended upon a promise of future reforms which it would take many -years to carry out and in which the populace but half believed, -coupled with somewhat academic criticism upon the mistakes of the -party in office. But this last weapon, the most powerful weapon of any -opposition, they could not use with effect against the administration -of a young and popular Prime Minister, of little more than forty years -of age, whose enormous wealth and well-known delicacy of lung alike -endeared him to the reasonable heart of the people.</p> - -<p>Moreover, the Opposition lacked an effective party cry: for the editor -of the <i>Spectator's</i> admirable epigram, "No fleet, no meat," had -offended the powerful vegetarian group, and Mr. Tylee's quatrain in the -<i>Banner of Israel</i> was above the heads of the vulgar.</p> - -<p>Such was the strength and the weakness of either side when upon Friday, -the day before the poll, the last meetings were held, the last placards -posted, and the affairs of the opposing parties finally put in order.</p> - -<p>To Mr. Clutterbuck's extreme surprise—for the details of our political -life were still new to him—a bag of sovereigns was distributed among -the stout hearts who had worked so hard in the Cause, and Mr. Stephens, -humorously calling himself for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> the occasion "the Bogey Man"—a -pseudonym received with grateful laughter—saw that the hundred good -fellows who had toiled from door to door should receive refreshment as -well as honest wage. It was distributed in the garage attached to his -magnificent villa, and the day wound up finding all, with the exception -of the candidate himself, well satisfied.</p> - -<p>There was no doubt that Mr. Clutterbuck was pitiably overwrought. Had -he dared he would have broken through the convention of so many arduous -days and have drunk freely from some revivifying spring. But his -conscience and his common sense alike forbade him.</p> - -<p>He looked forward in despair to the night as his only chance of solace -and relief, and prayed for such repose as might fit him to meet the -terrible strain of the morrow; but that night Mr. Clutterbuck, for all -his exhaustion, slept ill.</p> - -<p>He rose frequently in the small hours to swallow one of the Hornsby -lozenges or, when these palled upon him, one of the Glarges. At times -he gargled, and at others, filling his chest to the fullest extent and -retaining his breath to the utmost of his capacity, he murmured the -syllables which he had been assured would strengthen the vocal chords. -He could not, in a stranger's house and at such an hour, permit himself -the loud roar which the Voice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> Producer had insisted upon: it would -have been discourteous and, what was worse, it might have impaired -his now assured reputation for consistency and sober judgment. It was -doubtless, however, owing to this unfortunate but necessary omission -that he owed, next day, his complete inability to speak above a whisper.</p> - -<p>He rose tired out at seven, dressed wearily, and came down upon that -fatal day, November 19, 1911. He saw with increased depression that -it was raining. He was, I am sorry to say, so distressed during the -heartfelt and simple family prayers of the household as to overset -the chair at which he knelt; and at breakfast his nervousness was so -intense as to be positively painful to his kind host and hostess, who -pressed upon him with assiduous hospitality, kidneys, eggs, bacon, -haddock seethed in milk, sausages, cold pheasant, Virginia peach-fed -ham, and kedgeree. He was indifferent to all these things.</p> - -<p>During the few moments after breakfast which our great English -merchants devote to glancing at the daily Press, he could not bring -himself to look at the papers which lay upon the table. He so dreaded -the insults of the one, he dreaded so much more in another the -condensed reports of what he might have said, that he found himself -longing, in a sort of dazed way, for some news sheet in which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> -world might be presented to him empty of his own famous name. As it -was, I repeat, he dared not open one of them.</p> - -<p>Luckily for him his cheery host did not leave him long in this misery. -He found him standing listless in the hall, slapped him on the back and -said in a loud and hearty voice:</p> - -<p>"You've got to come with me! The motor's ready and the Missus'll be -coming down at once." Then he whispered as the suggestion required: -"Brandy? All's Mum!"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck refused it, and in a few moments his host had returned -with a decanter of the inspiring beverage. Mr. Clutterbuck gulped a -great mouthful fearfully, choked, and suffered, but he was grateful, -and the more grateful for the rapidity with which Mr. Stephens suddenly -rapt the dangerous friend away.</p> - -<p>They went out together to the car. Within a quarter of an hour his -hostess and Mrs. Clutterbuck had joined them. There was a little -byplay as to who should sit in the front seats—a byplay in which -Mr. Clutterbuck himself was too dispirited to join—but it was soon -decided by the ladies themselves that the hero of the occasion should -appear next to the driver, nor did the physical danger to which such a -position exposed him enter the minds of these loyal friends.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> - -<p>They proceeded upon the round of the constituency. The streets were -empty and the rain continued to fall. At the corner of Mafeking Avenue -and Paradise Row, a group of young people upon their way to school -cheered loudly upon seeing the National colours, while with childish -thoughtlessness some of their number threw petty missiles after the -retreating car. As they passed down the smaller streets they were -gratified to see Mr. Clutterbuck's portrait, reposing upon a British -lion of formidable aspect and draped as to the hinder quarters in a -Union Jack, prominent in the windows even of the public-houses.</p> - -<p>At the police station Mr. Clutterbuck felt his first movement of -emotion at the sight of a policeman who was coming in mackintoshes out -of the door, and who saluted with promptitude and respect.</p> - -<p>The first polling booth to which they came contained none but the -officials, but it was Mr. Clutterbuck's duty to enter, to look cheerful -and to shake them by the hand.</p> - -<p>"Nothing doing here?" he wheezed with an uneasy smile.</p> - -<p>"There've been a few," said the chief with an indifference that did not -betray his own politics. "They're not coming very fast. The weather's -against 'em."</p> - -<p>As he said this, a very short man with a sly, rapid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> glance and a jerky -manner, darted in, carefully huddled himself round his voting paper, -dropped it into the ballot box, darted a look of violent animosity at -Mr. Clutterbuck, and was out again in a flash.</p> - -<p>He was followed by a publican who shook hands heartily with the -candidate, said merrily, "Well, which way 'm I going to vote, I -wonder?" and disappeared into the hutch puffing and blowing, came out -again, shook hands again, renewed his witticism in a somewhat different -form: "Well, which way did I vote, I wonder?"—and waddled out.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck could bear no more. He climbed again into the motor-car -after nodding as genially as he could to the officials at the table, -and was asked by his host where he should go next.</p> - -<p>He suggested Kipling Crescent.</p> - -<p>The school in Kipling Crescent, by one of those contrasts which are -symbolic of our enduring sense of equality, though standing in the -chief residential street of Mickleton, was sure to receive the largest -artisan vote, for it was behind the Crescent that the densest and -poorest population of the borough lay. Here there was more animation. A -steady if thin stream of workmen came in to record their votes. Few of -them expressed any strong interest in the presence of their candidate; -one or two touched their caps to the man who was to restore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> to them -the rights of human beings; others smiled somewhat foolishly as they -passed him: the greater part did not recognise him at all. One man, to -whom manual labour had never appealed, and whose pathetic, intelligent -eyes betrayed a world of suffering and of want, approached him and -murmured a few words. Mr. Clutterbuck caught them indifferently, but -they were quite enough. He remembered the fatal half sovereign, and he -leapt for the car.</p> - -<p>So the morning passed in visiting one booth after another. The rain -ceased; there was a trifle more life round certain booths; the coming -and going of vehicles bearing the colours of either candidate was -continuous. These, as they passed each other, would sometimes indulge -in playful sarcasm. Now and then an honest fight arose, but no serious -injuries were received, and it was not until the afternoon that the -streets began to fill.</p> - -<p>Thence onward the scene changed. Many who had come from other parts -of London were now free to satisfy their curiosity; the relaxation -from labour and the lengthy discussions which already enlivened the -public-houses were beginning to bear their fruit. There was a sort of -murmur throughout the whole area of the borough, a murmur which in -places rose to a roar.</p> - -<p>It had been arranged by the agents of the two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> parties that the car of -Mr. Clutterbuck's host should accidentally meet that of Lord Henfield -in front of the Cap and Bells. There was some little delay, and it -was at first feared that the light would not be strong enough for the -photographer who was waiting concealed at an adjoining window. Luckily, -before it was too late, and when Mr. Stephens's car had waited less -than ten minutes, Lord Henfield's appeared at the opposite end of the -street, the two candidates recognised each other after the first moment -of surprise, descended and shook hands warmly amid the enthusiastic -cheers of the considerable assemblage; it was apparent to all no petty -personal quarrel would lessen the majesty of that day's verdict.</p> - -<p>As darkness came on the polling began to grow noticeably heavier. Oddly -enough the female or lady electors, who had during daylight remained -concealed, came out with the fall of evening. The middle classes, to -which this class of voter chiefly belongs, have an ample leisure to -record their opinion, but even those most thickly veiled preferred a -late hour in which to register their votes which, so far as could be -judged, were cast mainly in the National interest. In deference to the -strong feeling which the sex entertains upon this matter, the returning -officer had permitted the presence of pet dogs in the polling booths. -It was upon these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> that the Party favours were most conspicuously -displayed, and it must be admitted that in the greater number of cases -they were of the popular magenta hue.</p> - -<p>Lady Henfield recorded her vote as a lodger in her husband's house -a little before seven, and came out full of frisk and smile, having -doubtless given her voice in favour of the name she bore.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Clutterbuck could claim no such privilege, nor was it the least of -Mr. Clutterbuck's many chagrins upon this eventful day to consider the -natural mortification which his wife must have suffered, and would very -probably express when occasion served, to see Lady Henfield enjoy that -Englishwoman's right of which she had herself been deprived.</p> - -<p>During the last hour before eight o'clock, there clustered an amazing -throng at every booth, and the intoxication produced by the state of -public feeling and the domestic habits of the neighbourhood—which were -never indulged to a higher degree than upon this occasion—communicated -to the best balanced and the most indifferent a certain degree of -enthusiasm. Mr. Clutterbuck had snatched a hasty sandwich and a glass -of lime juice at the refreshment bar in the Town Hall when the booths -were declared closed and he was admitted to the counting-room.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> - -<p>There were few present. He and Lord Henfield were supported by perhaps -half a dozen helpers and friends. The Mayor and his young nephew sat -in chairs at a table at the end of the long room, to which the bundles -of votes were brought as the sorters counted them. They were laid in -two long lines, one for each candidate, upon this table, and the lines -had all the appearance of two snakes rapidly increasing in length and -running a race as to which should be longest when their growth should -cease.</p> - -<p>During all the early part of the counting the issue seemed doubtful -enough. Lord Henfield, spruce, anxious, alert, walked up and down the -sorting benches, turned up continually to glance at the increasing pile -of votes, and as continually strolled back with an intimate companion -to interest himself in the business of the sorting, a sight with which -he was unfamiliar.</p> - -<p>As for Mr. Clutterbuck, he was numb to every sensation. The day had -been too much for him, and he had become quite careless as to whether -he lived or died. He stood, well groomed but with leaden eyes, -moving very little from his place near the mayor's table, when he -chanced to gaze at the two lines of paper bundles and saw that his -own was leading. It did not appear to his unpractised eye to be any -considerable lead; the one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> line was now perhaps a yard long, the other -possibly forty inches. But to the trained observation of those who had -seen half a dozen contests in the borough, it was decisive.</p> - -<p>Mr. Maple whispered hoarsely:</p> - -<p>"You're in!"</p> - -<p>And Mr. Clutterbuck answered without a voice:</p> - -<p>"Am I?"</p> - -<p>There were but few more bundles to come. The most of them perhaps were -added to Lord Henfield's column, but they did not redress the balance.</p> - -<p>Lord Henfield's companion, looking as pleasant as he could, pulled out -a £5 note which that nobleman pocketed with evident satisfaction. The -mayor jotted down figures upon a bit of paper; when he announced the -result, Mr. Clutterbuck was elected by the overwhelming majority of -1028 on the heaviest poll the constituency had known. Something like -92 per cent. had voted upon a register not precisely new, and over -19,000—to be accurate, 19,123—votes had been recorded.</p> - -<p>The mayor congratulated Mr. Clutterbuck upon the sweeping success, -he shook hands with him and repeated the figures. He congratulated -Lord Henfield upon the plucky fight he had made; he congratulated the -sorters upon their accuracy, the counters upon their zeal, and the -borough upon its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> self-control at a time when feeling had run high. He -congratulated the police upon their conduct throughout a very difficult -and trying day; and he was in the act of congratulating the borough -council in the same connection, when a wild roar outside the building -showed that the result had been betrayed or guessed.</p> - -<p>They adjourned hurriedly to the great hall over the portico. The -window was open, and so far as the glare from within the room would -permit them, they perceived an enormous mob, filling the whole square -and stretching far into the streets which converged upon it. The -deafening noises which had startled them in the inner recesses of the -counting room were as nothing to the hurricane of shouts, cheers, and -good-natured blasphemy which swirled about them when they appeared at -the balcony. In vain did the mayor, with a pleasant smile upon his -face which the darkness alone concealed, raise his hands a dozen times -to impose silence. The swaying of the crowd, the cries of those who -suffered pressure against the walls upon its exterior parts, nay, the -occasional crash of broken glass, seemed only to add to the frenzy.</p> - -<p>An individual who, I am glad to say, turned out to be a youth of -irresponsible demeanour, caused a moment's panic by firing a pistol. -The mayor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> with admirable promptitude, took the opportunity of the -silence that followed to read out the figures. They were not heeded, -but the renewed bellowing which followed their announcement was more -eloquent than any mere statement of the majority could have been. The -populace were wild with joy at their victory, and that portion of them -who as bitterly mourned defeat would have been roughly handled had they -not numbered quite half this vast assembly of human beings.</p> - -<p>When some measure of silence had been achieved, Mr. Clutterbuck and -Lord Henfield shook hands for the second time that day in a public -manner, to the supreme delight of both friend and foe.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck recited in an inaudible croak the few courteous and -manly words which he had prepared for the occasion, and Lord Henfield, -a little before Mr. Clutterbuck had completed his last sentence, -delivered, in much louder but equally inaudible tones, his apology for -defeat, and his prophecy that he would be more successful upon the next -occasion.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Before Mr. Clutterbuck could be allowed to go back to the hospitable -roof at Bongers End, he was required to visit his Committee Rooms and -to address the workers. His mind was still a blank, but he bowed to -them civilly enough and emitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> some few hoarse whispers thanking -them for their unfailing courage, tact, loyalty, gentlemanly feeling, -tireless industry, exhaustive labours and British pluck. For a moment, -and only for a moment, the memory of the bag of sovereigns swept over -his mind. He was too tired to heed even that memory, and he almost fell -into his chair when he had concluded.</p> - -<p>It must be confessed that the workers were a trifle disappointed; their -honest faces, upon many of which the growth of a three-days' beard -denoted their unremitting attention to the duties before them, looked -anxiously above their thick neckcloths as though they had expected -something more from the man upon whom the eyes of all England were -turned, and whose conspicuous position they had largely helped him -to attain. The situation was solved by Mr. Maple, who, in a voice -worthy of that occasion or of any other, addressed the workers as his -fellows and his equals—for had he not himself begun life as a working -man?—and reiterated with manly enthusiasm, not only the legitimate -praise accorded them by the exhausted Mr. Clutterbuck, but his own -frequently expressed admiration of their self-denial, zeal, sincerity, -conviction, spontaneous, unflagging hope and indomitable courage.</p> - -<p>"Gentlemen," he concluded, and gentlemen was surely the term for these -loyal-hearted men, "we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> thank you from the bottom of our hearts, not -because you have returned Mr. Clutterbuck—don't think that! What is a -man in such mighty moments as these? No, but because you have saved the -great principle that...."</p> - -<p>The remaining three words of his peroration were lost in a frenzy of -applause. The platform rose and bowed, and as refreshments could not be -given (under the "Corrupt Practices Act") within the precincts of the -building, the proceedings terminated with a hearty handshake all round -and the immediate dispersion of the audience to another place.</p> - -<p>When they reached home, Mr. Clutterbuck's kind host, though himself -an abstainer, opened a bottle of champagne, not indeed for Mr. -Clutterbuck, whose principles he well knew, but for Mrs. Clutterbuck, -his wife, to whom was given the toast of honour, for Mr. Maple, for -Mr. Maple's nephew and his two sons, and a Mr. and Mrs. Charles, who -between them did honour to the bottle, and very soon despatched it; -then, in the midst of hearty thanks and renewed congratulations, each -party left for its home.</p> - -<p>And that night at last, after so many nights, Mr. Clutterbuck was -permitted to sleep, and slept.</p> - -<p>He was a Member of Parliament.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Mickleton election was a blow that sounded through England. The -hardy mountaineers of Wales, to whom our discussions, save where they -regard religion, so rarely appeal, knew that the manhood of the slate -quarries was free; sailors, newly landed from distant climes, though -singularly apathetic as a class to the glories of our party system, -found themselves expected to lift one of their many glasses to the -Mickleton election; and in the bowels of the earth the brawny miners of -Durham alluded to Mr. Clutterbuck and his success in the simplest and -most poignant of terms.</p> - -<p>The thoughtful who direct the development of English Socialism had -seen, long before, the capital nature of the crisis, and naturally -deplored an expression of public opinion which by forbidding forced -labour set so powerful an obstacle in the path of the ideal state; the -strict party organs of the Opposition were also bound to deplore the -result, but every sheet of independent position was agreed as to the -significance of the election and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> few judges indeed since Jeffries -have incurred the epithets, whether grave or severe, which had so -long been withheld, and now, on the morrow of the election, fell from -all sides upon the honest but narrow and pointed head of Mr. Justice -Hunnybubble—for Welch (concurring) was by now quite ignored, and the -stronger man was the target of renown.</p> - -<p>The wide field of suburban, colonial, American and Indian thought -commanded by the <i>Spectator</i> might indeed have murmured at the new -privilege which the working classes threatened to acquire, had not -that review with singular manliness and courage stood out at the -critical moment with a strong declaration in favour of the spirit which -Mickleton had shown.</p> - -<p>"England," the editor did not hesitate to pen, "is not tied to a -formula or a syllogism, but to freedom slowly broadening down from -precedent to precedent,"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and he went so far as to contemplate with -unflinching courage—nay, to command—the release of Fishmonger and -Another, for whom the principal Halls had already begun an active -competition.</p> - -<p>The very different world which is so largely influenced by the <i>Winning -Post</i> was equally sound, and the weekly character, "In a Glass House," -of that powerful instrument of national opinion was Mr. Clutterbuck -himself, characterised as a sports<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>man, excused for his personal -sobriety, portrayed in a top hat, frock coat, trousers, spats, buttoned -boots, and perhaps thirty years less than his actual age.</p> - -<p>The <i>Sporting Times</i> had two good jokes heartily sympathetic with the -judgment of Mickleton. <i>Punch</i> published upon the great verdict a -set of beautiful verses which will long be remembered in our English -parsonages; and the <i>Daily Mail</i> headed their leader "The Burial of -Harmanism."</p> - -<p>England was awake; the great principle of unilateral compulsion -had taken firm root, and never more would the detestable miasma of -Continental pedantry threaten the free life of our land.</p> - -<p>For the Government the position was not easy, though it was evidently -one to be faced. No Administration can afford to treat the Bench -lightly. Buffle might be in trouble any day. They had, moreover, at -least three great measures in hand, commanding no considerable popular -support; one which the electorate had not heard of and another quite -odious to it. This sudden and spontaneous demonstration by a London -borough against a judicial decision which had nothing to do with party -or policy was a factor of grave disturbance in that routine of the -House of Commons which is as regular in its way as the breathing of a -profound sleep. The Cabinet was dispersed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Monte Carlo, Devonshire, -Palermo and New York, a decision could not be come to upon so grave a -matter for many days to come, and yet an early opening of the session -in January was plainly imperative. The intensity of feeling against -the judgment which Mr. Clutterbuck's election had condemned, grew with -every day, and the young head of the National party, who suffered -somewhat from the right lung and filled the Premiership so brilliantly -and so well, had indeed a heavy problem to resolve.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The first act of Mr. Clutterbuck when he returned, the morning after -his triumph, to his beautiful Surrey home, was to sign a cheque for yet -another thousand pounds, and to enclose it with a letter of heartfelt -emotion to the funds of the Party. He expressed in this letter his -indifference to the particular object for which, in the Party's -judgment, it might be used, and assured Mr. Delacourt that it was but -a slight acknowledgement on his part of what was the duty of every man -in support of those principles which have made England great. Charlie -Fitzgerald thoroughly approved of his action, and was free to point out -that its spontaneous character would render it of double effect. To -this action there succeeded an interval of repose.</p> - -<p>For several weeks a round of social recreation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> dispelled the strain -to which Mr. Clutterbuck had been subjected during the course of his -campaign; his house was filled with a perpetually changing attendance -of friends to enjoy a few days of his company, and to congratulate him -upon the honour of which he had proved worthy. Nor did many of them -forget to hint—some of them deliberately declared—that it was but the -gate to further and greater honours: though it must be admitted that -the now ageing politician neither desired nor expected promotion to -Cabinet rank.</p> - -<p>As the procession of City men, Croydon acquaintances and earlier -friends who had now rallied to Mr. Clutterbuck in his declining -years filled "the Plâs," Charlie Fitzgerald very honourably took the -holiday he had heartily earned. He went down, at Mary Smith's pressing -invitation, to her quiet but historic Habberton upon the borders of -Exmoor, found there the society of his boyhood, and was the life of -that little party, with his amusing imitations of social customs in -the suburbs, his frank pleasure in the champagne which he had chosen -for his cousin, his madcap bouts upon the little Devon ponies which -were incapable of throwing so large a rider, and his jests which never -exceeded the limits imposed by the presence of women, several of whom -were devout adherents of the Christian faith.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> - -<p>With all this a certain new glory surrounded Charlie, a glory reflected -from the result of the Mickleton election. The people among whom he was -for the moment a companion at quiet but historic Habberton were not of -a kind to exaggerate the influence of a by-election upon the general -scheme of English government; but they did appreciate that here was one -of themselves who could weigh the temper of a great constituency and -could understand very different classes of men; for Charlie was not -slow to let them understand the part he had played in the business.</p> - -<p>During any mention of that campaign his cousin Nobby looked so -thoroughly miserable that it went to Charlie's soft Irish heart.</p> - -<p>Nobby had had plenty of money once. He had stood for Parliament when he -was barely of age, more as a freak and to please his mother than with -serious intentions of political life; but a defeat by over 3000 votes -coupled with the gradual dissipation of his fortune had rendered him -more sensitive than was perhaps healthy. A place had been found for him -in the Heralds' College, but the salary was miserably small, and apart -from the prestige of such a position, he would almost have been willing -to throw up the perpetual application it demanded and to go and live -quietly hunting and shooting at his mother's place in Derbyshire: for -though the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> widow had herself but a small dower, she could afford to -receive her spendthrift son.</p> - -<p>It was a good thing that he had not yet completed that intention; for -Charlie, as he watched him in those days at Habberton, found a piece -of work for him which might well lead to greater things. He took his -cousin out one morning to see the stags fed in the new Bethlehem, -warned Mary Smith that they wanted to be alone, and as they crossed the -park he proposed to Nobby a visit to The Plâs.</p> - -<p>Nobby could see nothing in it at all; nay, he met the proposition -with horror, until it dawned upon him that perhaps some definite and -tangible action was in the wind, and he asked in the most natural -manner whether he could look forward to any of the Ready?</p> - -<p>Charlie was impatient.</p> - -<p>"My good Nobby," he said, "don't you know how things are done in this -world? They're bound to give him a handle!"</p> - -<p>"That," said Nobby in a refined manner, "makes my dream come true, but -really, if you think it affects me——"</p> - -<p>"Good God!" said Charlie, "don't you see where you come in?"</p> - -<p>"I could go and pump him," said Nobby wearily, "but, oh lord, Charlie, -if you only knew! I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> have pumped fifty of 'em this year. The worst -are the Johnnies that want Supporters. We'll give them Mullets and even -a Fesse Argent or two, but we're very rigid about Supporters," he said -solemnly. "You don't get Supporters over the counter, I can tell you."</p> - -<p>"Nobby," said Charlie, waving all this trash aside, "to put it plainly, -you got to go and tell the old boy how it's done ... I mean ... you -got to let him know how it's done. Don't make a fool of yourself," he -added, looking doubtfully at his young cousin, and wondering whether -this piece of generosity were wise or not, "I'm not going to be -butchered to make a Roman holiday."</p> - -<p>"I'll go, Charlie," said Nobby humbly, "I understand. But can't anyone -see to something of the Ready? After all, I've got to get there, and I -shall have to give something to the servants."</p> - -<p>"I'll ask Mary," said Charlie nobly.</p> - -<p>"No you don't," shouted Nobby, "she turned me down this morning. -Damnably!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, but this is work," said Charlie reproachfully.</p> - -<p>Nobby looked grim. "It's spondulicks, anyway," he said. And Charlie -very reluctantly pulled out four pounds and a few shillings.</p> - -<p>Nobby pocketed it without much gratitude.</p> - -<p>"You know, Nobby," said Charlie, watching his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> expression, "if you pull -it off sensibly, he won't forget you!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I know all about that," said Nobby wearily. "They're awfully -grateful, but one never gets one's fingers on the flimsies. I'll make a -last shot, anyhow."</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald did not stand on ceremony; he knew the kind -hearts of the Clutterbucks too well; he wrote a longish letter to -Mrs. Clutterbuck about his cousin Robert in the Heralds' College, -introduced a word or two about his late father and grandfather, the -Lord Storrington of the famine, said the lad would be stopping in their -neighbourhood and would really like to come over, enclosed a stamped -envelope, "The Hon. Robert Parham, Habberton Park, Barnstaple," and -within forty-eight hours Nobby, carefully primed as to where he had -been stopping in the neighbourhood of Croydon, and whom exactly he -would see and meet, was off to pass a week-end at The Plâs.</p> - -<p>His ironical temper and obvious poverty seemed at first ill-suited to -the merchant's table, but Mrs. Clutterbuck herself forgave him when she -discovered, as she immediately did, the warm heart which lay beneath -these external disabilities: by the Sunday night his conversation was -already absorbing; she begged him to return, and he did.</p> - -<p>The second visit was far prolonged. They could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> not bear to let the -merry boy go, and his frank anecdotes upon the leading men of the -day, intimate acquaintance with most of whom he could proudly claim, -afforded them not only amusement, but the deeper pleasure of a profound -interest, and it was in connection with these that he took such -frequent occasion to deride the too facile conference of titles which, -as he perpetually affirmed, was the jest of the world in which he moved.</p> - -<p>He quoted more than one case in which without any subscription to -objects of public utility, wealthy men, merely because they were -wealthy, had been granted a baronetcy; he joked about his work in the -Heralds' College, contrasting such gewgaws as parvenus descend to buy, -with the honest old yeoman crest upon the silver of his host, and was -especially severe upon the establishment of fixed prices for public -honours; a practice which he declared almost worse than the granting of -titles to the unworthy.</p> - -<p>Of the guests who listened to him with the respect due to an expert, -few ventured to contradict or even to criticise, but it must be -admitted that Sir Julius Mosher, who had been knighted years ago on the -occasion of Cornelius Hertz's reception at the Guildhall, was inclined -one evening at Mr. Clutterbuck's table to be a trifle interrogatory.</p> - -<p>"I never gave a penny," he said, "and I think I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> may say that for most -men in the City," he added, looking round the table and meeting with a -murmur of approval.</p> - -<p>"I would never dream of saying such a thing," said Nobby warmly. He -blushed a little, but looked at the same time so kindly and so sincere -that his embarrassment did but enhance the good opinion all had formed -of the young man.</p> - -<p>"Thank God there are still some honours left that <i>are</i> honours! Now, -I suppose nearly all the new peers ... take the new peers ... nobody -minds; and then most baronets ... since <i>this</i> Government came in.... -Still they <i>did</i> pay. And I do say what I most hate in the whole affair -is regular prices fixed. It isn't cricket."</p> - -<p>"But, after all," said a Mr. Hutchinson, a doctor of considerable -means, and of a solid, quiet judgment. "What do you mean by 'fixed'?" -He put up his hand to dissuade interruption, and to Nobby's horror -opened in the intonation of a set speech: "Remember the importance -of what you are saying. Chrm! You are in the Heralds' College, and -you hear a great many things. Chrm! No one denies for a moment that -large subscriptions to some public object are often rewarded by some -public honour.... I may be a little easy-going, but I really don't see -any harm in it. Everybody knows it is—er—done; the recipients are -worthy men and they are just the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> kind of men who have always been made -knights and baronets, and even peers when they were important enough."</p> - -<p>The brief discourse was well and clearly delivered; it earned the -gratitude of all those older men around the table in whom the art of -living had bred common sense and to whom short speeches at dinner were -familiar; to do justice to Nobby, he was the first to let his sense of -justice return.</p> - -<p>"You mustn't take me too seriously," he said in his decent smiling way. -"One talks in shorthand. I don't mean a real tariff, nobody could mean -that, but I think that in the past, 'specially about ten years ago, -turn of the century and with all the fuss of the war on, they <i>did</i> -hand things about.... Oh, there were orders as well, you know."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Clutterbuck smiled at him from the head of the table. "No one -blames you, I'm sure," she said. "But Mr. Parham there was not too -much recognition of the people who stood by their country then." She -looked meaningly at her husband. "I'm sure if you made a list of those -pro-Boers who've been...."</p> - -<p>"Half time, Mrs. Clutterbuck, half time," said Sir Julius Mosher -kindly. He had been among the most prominent opponents of our Colonial -policy at that moment, and he felt bound to protest against the word -Pro-Boer, but his protest was singularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> sweet and winning and did not -for a moment disturb the harmony of the evening.</p> - -<p>The ladies retired, not to the Persian room which was rarely inhabited -in winter, but to the snuggery. Nobby held the door for them as they -went out, and added to his laurels by the perfect apology he made for -tearing Lady Mosher's train.</p> - -<p>The conversation between the men drifted on to other subjects, -foxhunting, lithia water, the Territorial army, and all the rest upon -which men of this stamp are particularly engaged; while Dr. Hutchinson, -who feared he might have offended the enthusiastic young fellow, took -a chair by his side, and upon Nobby's mentioning the name of his -grandfather, Lord Storrington, furnished the most interesting and -voluminous details upon that nobleman's last illness, operation, and -death.</p> - -<p>Much later, when all the rest had said good-night, Nobby, who loved a -farewell glass, followed his host to the old smoking-room, preserving -his balance in the dark corridor by a hand upon either wall. They sat -together exchanging the common-places that will pass between newly -found friends when they are at last alone, until Mr. Clutterbuck, -who had spent a few moments with his wife arranging matters for the -following day, turned to a subject he could not wholly ignore, and said -with perfect tact:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I beg your pardon, but now that we're alone, tell me, how much really -is there in what you were saying? I know there's more in it than -those gentlemen say, and you think there's more in it, don't you?" -For Mr. Clutterbuck, like many men newly introduced to the necessary -compromises and halftones of our manifold political life, was still -ready to receive secrets that seemed to him dramatic and to criticise -from close at hand methods which during the most of his life he had -only known as vague rumours.</p> - -<p>Nobby very thoughtfully chose from the silver box beside him a gigantic -cigar, and said, holding the matchbox in his hand ready to strike:</p> - -<p>"Tell you the truth, there's precious little," and having said that he -laughed with the laugh of a boy, and suddenly subsided into his chair.</p> - -<p>"Well, but," said Mr. Clutterbuck, without insistence, "there must be -this much in it, that a man who sacrifices more than a certain amount -and is known to be a hearty supporter of the tariff, for instance, or -of the evacuation of Egypt, or ... or let's say what the Government did -last June in Burmah would be noticed, I suppose?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes," said Nobby, speaking as of a common-place. "But that's true -of course of anything. If a man's known to 've done something <i>really</i> -handsome, silly not to recognise him. 'Sides which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> it's <i>done</i>, -always done. What I was complainin' of was the people who really -haven't got any claim at all. F'r instance," he said, lowering his -voice and looking over his shoulder for a moment, "Johnnie Higgins...."</p> - -<p>"Sir John Higgins?" said Mr. Clutterbuck, startled at the name of that -prominent country gentleman.</p> - -<p>"Yes," went on Nobby simply, "Johnnie <i>Higgins</i> wouldn't 've had -anything in the course of nature. Of course he <i>wanted</i> it, and he -hasn't got a son, an' one way an' another.... But still, there <i>was</i> -the regulation price of five thousand."</p> - -<p>"Well, five thousand," said Mr. Clutterbuck, his head bent well -backwards, his eyes regarding the ceiling, and his tone expressing the -enormity of the sum——</p> - -<p>"No, but," continued Nobby, up on his feet again,—"I <i>do</i> object, and -so would you if you were where I am; five thousand means different -things to different men; now just because a man is in parliament and -weighs in with five thousand...."</p> - -<p>Here he was silent. He had some regard for truth and he felt that his -temperament was running away with him. How many men he could call -to mind who had given first and last twenty, thirty, forty thousand -pounds to some great cause and had remained the plain commoners they -were born. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> would have been well for him and for his host if he -had spoken aloud as the confession passed through his thought, but -Nobby was as weak as he was good-natured and that thought remained -unexpressed.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck continued his theme. Financial success had bred in him -a dependence upon fact and figure. Five thousand pounds was a very -large sum, but it was tangible; it was precise; one could write it down.</p> - -<p>"I know men," he said slowly, "to whom that would be a capital: believe -me, a considerable capital. Why, there's Doctor Hutchinson," he said, -lowering his voice, and bending forward, "if you will believe me" -(in still lower tones) "that man hasn't got five thousand now. He's -not worth it." He pressed his lips together as men do after a final -statement, and said by way of conclusion: "They're all like that, that -call themselves 'professional men.' Here to-day and gone to-morrow, -except they take out a patent or something, or really go in for -business, and precious few can do that."</p> - -<p>"You're quite right," said Nobby, who was bored and who had been -thinking anxiously about the hour of next morning's breakfast. "I never -had any myself," he added genially, and Mr. Clutterbuck smiled at the -jest of the grandson of the Earl of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> the Creation of the year of the -Act of the Union of England and of Ireland.</p> - -<p>Nobby yawned and sloshed soda water into his glass. "Well, it's a lot -of rot, isn't it?" he said, and clinched the conversation down.</p> - -<p>They went up to bed that night, Mr. Clutterbuck, after apologising, as -husbands will, for the lateness of the hour, turned many of his remarks -to his wife upon this corrupt practice, weighing its probabilities -and its exaggerations, until that lady first passed judgment and then -imposed silence.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald should have been home upon the Wednesday next. A -chance whim had taken him to Monte Carlo, from whence he telegraphed -that he could hardly be back before Saturday. In the interval Mr. -Clutterbuck, sauntering into town upon one of those clear December -days which often prolong autumn into the heart of winter, happened to -call at Delacourt's house, but he was at the office at Peter Street. -Mr. Clutterbuck immediately sought him in that place and was received -with something more cordial than courtesy, and many a merry laugh was -exchanged between himself and the young organiser before the chief -business of his visit was mentioned.</p> - -<p>Even when the time came for that, Mr. Clutterbuck showed unaccountable -nervousness, but he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> had taken full counsel; he knew his wife's -opinion; his own mind was made up; he had not even waited for Charlie -Fitzgerald. When, therefore, he had said good-bye and was just stepping -out of the door he suddenly, as though by an afterthought, pulled an -envelope from his pocket and said sunnily:</p> - -<p>"Oh, Mr. Delacourt, I'd almost forgotten this. I could have posted -it—but it's just as well to give it you now I have it. Read it at your -leisure. Read it absolutely at your leisure."</p> - -<p>He nodded twice and was gone.</p> - -<p>Mr. Delacourt opened the envelope, fully expecting some little protest -or other. To his wild astonishment there came out a note of not more -than four lines, and a cheque for £3000.</p> - -<p>Bozzy Delacourt had seen a good deal of life; he had pawned many -articles before his father's death, and had mortgaged not a little land -between that event and his marriage. He had seen many cheques signed by -many men for many purposes; but the like of this he had never seen.</p> - -<p>"What the devil!" he said, looking at the cheque as one would at a -strange and unexpected beast. "What the devil——" He went over to -the window, leant against it and murmured to himself: "If he's mad -something ought to be done. He might make a scene in the House. By -God!" he added to himself with a sudden change of expression, "it -would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> be Maraschino and Ice to see him passing the stuff on to one -of those journalists during a division, or endowing the p'licemen, or -something.... Wish I'd known men like that in '92! I'd have pulled old -Sam Lewis's leg." The thought set his eyes adream and afire. "I'd have -played him," he added with sudden vicious earnestness, "I'd have played -him like a bloody fish!"</p> - -<p>And having thus relieved his mind, he prepared the cheque for passing -it in, then thought he'd better show it to his chiefs, locked it into a -particular drawer, and went out.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Tennyson.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER IX</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> sacred season of Christmas was approaching and Charlie Fitzgerald -had returned.</p> - -<p>He had not been lucky at Monte Carlo. I do not only mean in the -favourite amusement of that place, which he had indulged in for no -more than the first day of his visit, for his means were restricted, -but also in the weather and the company he found. For the anniversary -of the Birth of Christ had drawn from the Riviera to their respective -homes many in that cultured cosmopolitan world which held the most -intimate of his friends.</p> - -<p>He returned, therefore, to The Plâs not in ill humour—that he could -never show—but a little sobered and now and then a little sad. When -Mr. Clutterbuck exposed to him in full the action he had seen fit to -take, no one could have been more sympathetic than he.</p> - -<p>"It was a large thing to do, Clutterbuck," he said as they strolled -round the garden arm in arm, "but I think it was a wise one."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> - -<p>The afternoon was mild, it had not rained for several hours, and the -paths were dry. Charlie Fitzgerald, thinking of what to say next, threw -a pebble or two into the lake, and then went on:</p> - -<p>"Abroad, of course, they don't understand this Fishmonger business; -but they do understand that there's a change in English politics ... -we've come to a sort of turning-point," he said thoughtfully, somewhat -in the same tone as men talked of the Labour Party years before. "The -old party divisions have changed; I don't know whether you like it or -whether you don't; I've never made up my mind; but you're on the crest -of the wave of the change, and you can't help it."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck surveyed the breadth of the English dale, the woods -of Surrey and his own great house; he felt the responsibility and the -burden of the high function which England had thrust upon him.</p> - -<p>"I shall try to do my duty," he said humbly.</p> - -<p>And the two types—the Anglo-Saxon and the Celt—were constrained to a -common silence for some moments. Then Mr. Clutterbuck said again: "I -shall try to do my duty."</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was really moved. "You couldn't have done better," -he said. "In politics it is absolutely necessary to be hall-marked in -some way; and men like you, who can't stoop to eccen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>tricity, are much -better when they are hall-marked by a simple honour. <i>I</i> know, and I -dare say you know, that they'd have given it to you long ago, but you -never wanted it, you never asked for it—and I don't mind telling you -they think the better of you."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was deeply touched; men of his sort do not always -understand how much they gain or lose by their simplicity, and it is -pleasant to know that such a quality in one's soul has made one beloved.</p> - -<p>"They'd have given it you on the King's birthday last year," said -Fitzgerald with quiet emphasis, "and they'd have given it just before I -came here: Bozzy talked of it openly. Since I've been here they haven't -said anything."</p> - -<p>"They haven't had occasion to, Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>"No," answered Fitzgerald, "and it doesn't do to rush things. Besides -which, the obvious thing is the New Year."</p> - -<p>"I suppose," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "that one knows more or less—I -mean—there's some sort of warning given one, because after all there's -a kind of ceremony—in some cases, I mean," he added hurriedly.</p> - -<p>"Oh yes," said Fitzgerald airily. "They let you know all right: five or -six days beforehand;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> but it's quite informal. I remember my sister's -great friend, that Egyptologist fellow"—he sought for the name—"well, -anyhow, the man who wrote that account of Milner in Egypt and signed -it Mayfield—can't remember his name, but I remember his just being -told—Meyer! that's it—Ernest Meyer!—I remember his being told -casually through somebody else. Sometimes they don't do it. Teeling -didn't know about <i>his</i> baronetcy till he landed, and that was ten days -afterwards."</p> - -<p>The conversation frittered away, but Fitzgerald knew what to do. -Next day he forced himself upon Delacourt, dined with him: and took -occasion to ask his cousin how things stood, and he learned, to his no -small embarrassment, that headquarters thought his employer had been -precipitate.</p> - -<p>"Well, but look here, Bozzy," he said, as they went across Westminster -Bridge together to the Canterbury to see the Philadelphians. "It's not -much of a business: if a man's got the big election of one's time, and -all the Press behind him, and everybody waiting for the new session, -and <i>then</i> shells out—I don't care how—really! It ought to be like -taking it off a shelf."</p> - -<p>"Well, but it isn't," said Bozzy, as they took their tickets.</p> - -<p>All through the evening at intervals between the turns they pursued -the matter jerkily, and Charlie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> Fitzgerald was curious to note -his cousin's singular obstinacy. Bozzy was quite fixed about it. -Headquarters were annoyed.</p> - -<p>"It isn't so simple. To begin with, it'll look like being frightened -of Mickleton; and then Billingshurst and Dangerfield are dead against -this stinking Fishmonger agitation anyhow. Dangerfield is Hunnybubble's -brother-in-law, for what that's worth, and altogether it's not the -time. Number one <i>certainly</i> won't do it <i>yet</i>: not a measly V.O. Told -me so himself."</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald had a very simple reply. "If it isn't in the New -Year list," he said, "he'll make trouble, and I don't blame him."</p> - -<p>"How <i>can</i> he make trouble?" said Bozzy uneasily.</p> - -<p>At this point a very large man in uniform interfered, and they were -compelled to listen to a ventriloquist who imitated with astounding -fidelity the barking of a little dog, enclosed by accident in an -ottoman.</p> - -<p>As they went out and recrossed the bridge, Charlie would not release -his cousin; he dragged him towards the station and plied him still.</p> - -<p>"It really <i>is</i> a big thing," he pleaded.</p> - -<p>"Good God!" said Bozzy, losing his temper at or about that point in -Victoria Street where the proud embassy of Cape Colony lifts its flag -in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> heart of the Empire. "Don't pester me, I'm not the Prime -Minister!"</p> - -<p>"Very well," said Charlie quietly, "I'll go and see <i>him</i>."</p> - -<p>"Oh, do that by all means," said Bozzy, enormously relieved, "but don't -get to Downing Street before three; he refuses everything steadily -from after lunch till three o'clock. Then he takes that stuff Helmsley -ordered him, and a few minutes afterwards he does everything for -everybody; at least that's the only way I account for the two last -appointments."</p> - -<p>It was a cynical and a stupid thing to say of a man as hardworking -and as capable as the young Prime Minister of England, who had led -the National Party to success less than two years before; and who, -moreover, was known to be suffering from an affection of the left lung; -but there was this much truth in it, that all men have their hours: no -more.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald brought home news that evening which lifted Mr. -Clutterbuck's heart. He would not commit himself, but he told him very -plainly that he had seen his cousin, that his cousin could not speak -for the Government (and, after all, that was common-sense!), but that -he, Charlie, was to see the Prime Minister the next day.</p> - -<p>The truth looks very different to different men, and all external -verities must, alas, be stated in mere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> human terms; this plain and -just and honest phrase "and I'm to see the Prime Minister to-morrow," -sank into Mr. Clutterbuck's mind with a very different effect from that -which it could produce upon the experienced and travelled intellect of -the man who spoke it.</p> - -<p>His secretary was to see the Prime Minister the next day! It seemed -more to Mr. Clutterbuck than it does to the delicately nurtured youth -of England when they hear in the morning of their lives that they are -to see the elephant at the Zoo. It had a thousand ritual connotations: -it was the power, the kingdom and the glory. He felt it odd to be in -the same room with his secretary.</p> - -<p>How could that secretary, who had called the present Prime Minister -"Uncle Dunk" since he could first lisp a word, know of what it was that -passed in the new member's heart?</p> - -<p>At dinner Mr. Clutterbuck very properly forebore to allude to such -matters in the remotest manner before the very large and varied -assembly of guests. Nor were he and his secretary alone together during -any part of the remainder of the evening.</p> - -<p>Next morning with the reticence that sits so well upon our wealthier -men, he did no more than accompany Fitzgerald from the luncheon-room -to the motor, help him in, and shake him warmly by the hand as he went -off.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> - -<p>Fitzgerald, wisely remembering his cousin's somewhat petulant advice, -sent no warning before him, but turned up at Downing Street a little -before four. His reception was very cordial. They had known each other -from the time when Charlie was in petticoats, a baby, in and out of -Mary Smith's house in the height of its splendour, and the Prime -Minister a young man, almost a boy himself, fresh from his victory in -the Isle of Dogs and the idol of that Free Trade Unionist section which -he had since triumphantly transformed into the National Party after his -acceptance of the Round Table Tariff in 1909.</p> - -<p>Charlie did not waste five minutes in coming to the point, and he -put it with a simplicity that did him honour. He let the head of the -Government talk upon the bigness of the Mickleton election and upon the -way in which it had caught the Press, and when it was his turn to speak -he quietly took it for granted that Mr. Clutterbuck's name would appear -among the New Year's honours.</p> - -<p>But there was a great deal more in the Prime Minister than met the -naked eye; he shook his head with a determination of which the ballast -was his big bulging forehead with its rare wisp of hair, and he said:</p> - -<p>"All that's been thought about, Charlie."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> - -<p>Fitzgerald got quite red. He saw danger and was annoyed.</p> - -<p>"You <i>are</i> making a fuss," he said.</p> - -<p>"No, I'm not," said the Prime Minister kindly.</p> - -<p>"You don't mean to say you're not going to do it?" said Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>"Of course we are, but not before the House meets. It would bind us. It -can't be done," he said.</p> - -<p>"You mean 't'd look like reversing the judgment by statute?"</p> - -<p>"Charlie," said the other, somewhat gravely, "you're too old to ask -'why.'" He smiled at him a little quizzically.</p> - -<p>"Then when you mean to do it?" said Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I really don't know."</p> - -<p>The Prime Minister had occasion to go out, and they went out together, -but Charlie, when he left him a few moments later, was feeling a good -many things. He was feeling that he had weakened his own position -in one house at least, and that he had done it for nothing; and -he determined that a lowering of position like that could not be -tolerated. He easily saw the way to repair it. He would begin to put on -the screw.</p> - -<p>To Mr. Clutterbuck that evening he simply said the Prime Minister had -been most delightful and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> had met him halfway, and had taken the whole -thing for granted, but said of course there must be a little delay.</p> - -<p>"Of course," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "of course." In this intimacy he -talked about the matter quite frankly. "I quite understand; there's a -whole fortnight."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Charlie Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>It was the 15th of December.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It is not the custom in this country for men whom the Sovereign is -pleased to honour to make a vulgar boast of their advancement; but it -is inevitable that an approaching accession of social rank should be -expected by the immediate circle of the recipient.</p> - -<p>It was impossible that Mr. Clutterbuck's wife should not know; her -brother also knew, of course, though perhaps he did wrong to write a -long letter of congratulation: he had a claim to be told. And the Rev. -Isaac Fowle as the spiritual, Dr. Hutchinson as the medical, adviser -of the merchant, were naturally soon informed. Mr. Clutterbuck and his -wife were far too well-bred to speak of the honour which was advancing -upon them with every day that slipped from the old year; they mentioned -it to none but the nearest of their friends. But a wide outer ring -could not but hear the news, and a still more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> extended radius received -it with some little exaggeration. In Oxted, Limpsfield, and Red Hill -it was a peerage; and in the remoter villages where Mr. Clutterbuck's -motor-cars were familiar, it was a place in the Cabinet as well; but -to all, and to no one more than the Clutterbucks, there was one thing -certain, that the date was the New Year.</p> - -<p>The Press alone—and that was a large exception—had kept silent upon -the rumour.</p> - -<p>From one day to another Charlie Fitzgerald laid siege, but Bozzy was -first obdurate, then tired, then angry, and the Prime Minister he could -not see again. Whether Fitzgerald were right or not in what he next -did it is for posterity to judge; his first duty, he thought, was to -the man whose bread and salt he ate, and three days before Christmas -he got the paragraph about Mr. Clutterbuck into half the daily papers -of London; every one was away from Peter Street, and the usual -contradiction did not follow by return.</p> - -<p>On Christmas Eve, during the delightful old-world party which Mrs. -Clutterbuck gave to the children of the neighbourhood, their parents -very openly congratulated her husband. Upon Boxing Day the savour of -his triumph remained in his mouth. It was not until Wednesday the -27th that the official protest came from the office of the patronage -secretary.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> - -<p>It would have been better for every one concerned had that protest been -plain. "It is better to use the surgeon's knife than to let the cancer -grow."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> But Mr. Clutterbuck had been most generous. To be too harsh -would be, perhaps, to close the door upon future action, and all that -appeared was a line or two in very small type, to the effect that the -representative of the paper (and every paper in London had it) had -called at the head office in Peter Street with regard to the rumour -recently published, and</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"had official authority to say that the officials were prepared to -say officially that little more could for the moment at least be said -upon the matter."</p></blockquote> - -<p>The lines were few, I say, the print was small and the prose bad, but -such as they were they did but confirm the rumour which meant so much -to two simple hearts, and might have meant more to the public as an -indication of the coming policy of the Government in the matter of -Fishmonger and Another.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald sat tight, and the old year waned.</p> - -<p>A gathering, even larger than those which Mr. Clutterbuck had summoned -during the sacred season just passed, gladly and happily drank out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> the -old year. They sang Auld Lang Syne with hands across, and many another -dear old song of friendship and remembrance, and not a few at the close -of the evening departed with a vague conception that religion had -presided at their feast.</p> - -<p>So ended that year 1911 in a night glorious with keen and flashing -stars. It was a year which had done many great and perilous things for -England, but it was one of which every one could say in his heart, with -the Prophet Ozee,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> "It <i>was</i> good!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The first of January 1912 was, as many of my readers will know, a -Monday. The happy new week and the happy new year opened together -with a radiant frost upon the beautiful Vale of Caterham. The ice -on the artificial lake supported with ease the Japanese ducks, its -inhabitants, and Mr. Clutterbuck rose from bed, a man advanced in the -Commonwealth and younger by ten years.</p> - -<p>He was in no haste to read the great news, but he was down before his -secretary or his wife. He could not forbear to glance casually at the -<i>Times</i>, which lay unopened on the breakfast table. He scanned the -honours list in a casual fashion and made sure that he had missed his -name. He went out and spoke to the stable-boy in a very happy voice, -as of one who can easily arrange and uplift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> the lives of others; but -the stable-boy was strangely silent, as he thought, and he was annoyed -to see Astor lunge out a vicious kick. He came back into the house -and picked up the <i>Times</i> again. He was astonished to note that the -list was alphabetical; at least it was alphabetical for the baronets. -There were a great number of C's, but there was no Clutterbuck. Sir -Percy—Percy was the name he had chosen—Sir Percy Clutterbuck; it was -not there!</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was a business man. He was not one of those who pin -themselves to the mechanical accuracy of mechanical things. He did not, -as women do, glance at a clock and take its dial to mark the exact -hour; still less did he glance at the quotations of prices in the -<i>Times</i> and believe, as the widows and the orphans do, that one may buy -and sell indifferently, at the precise figures mentioned. He looked -at the knights, but in the knights there was not even a C, unless -I mention Sir Sebastian Cohen, who had acquired the dignity in the -Barbadoes.</p> - -<p>His mind would have suffered the mortal chill had not Hope remained in -the box; and Hope, which never quite leaves men, does something more, -for it often suggests the truth at last. He remembered the orders. -The Bath he could neglect; but he remembered the Victorian Order, and -others. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> would be a strange way of doing things, but who could -tell? He glanced down a complicated list, and St. Michael was there, -and St. George, and the late Queen also, Victoria.... But there was no -Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>Before he had finished the list, bending over it almost double on the -low table, he was unpleasantly aware that his wife and his secretary -were in the room. He bolted upright, left the paper, and said there was -no news from the Congo.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck very properly prided himself upon a power of -self-control; his wife did not open the paper in his presence. He took -his secretary after breakfast out into the bright frosty air near the -plantation. He told Fitzgerald all, and then said simply:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald, will you do something for me?"</p> - -<p>Fitzgerald was very willing.</p> - -<p>"Will you go up to London in the Renault," (the Limousine was under -repair) "and find out about this?"</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was in the Renault within an hour.</p> - -<p>At lunch Mrs. Clutterbuck did not like to ask her husband any -questions, but she wrote to the guests that there was illness in the -house; she put them off with a heavy heart, for one never knows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> when -one's expected guests may be one's guests again.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was back before dinner. He said that Bozzy was out -of town, but that a clerk had heard there was a mistake and that it -would be rectified in a few days.</p> - -<p>Therefore Wednesday passed, but Thursday was very ominous, and again -Charlie Fitzgerald was unconvinced. He knew too much of men to wait -for any questions. He was on the telephone long before breakfast, and -when Mr. Clutterbuck came down he saw his secretary, dressed ready for -driving into London.</p> - -<p>"If Bozzy isn't in," said he, "I'll get out into Essex and see Morris. -He's perfectly certain to know. But," he added, "I may be out all -night."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck gloomily assented and the lonely house was deprived for -thirty-six hours of the Irish grace and light which radiated from that -young soul.</p> - -<p>On the Friday afternoon, in a storm of rain, Charlie Fitzgerald -returned. The panting of the car was still heard as he broke into the -smoking-room dripping wet and took his employer, at once by the arm, -into the gallery.</p> - -<p>"It's a mistake in one way," he said, "but Bozzy says it isn't a real -mistake. Your name was down but they didn't sign."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald," said Mr. Clutterbuck, almost in tears, "<i>I'm</i> going -in to London." And next day into London he went.</p> - -<p>Bozzy was out, but at the central office they greeted him with -enthusiasm, and spoke to him of current affairs, of his great victory -at Mickleton, of the wonderful enthusiasm of the Press, but all he said -upon the honours list and upon the recognition of others was met with -nothing more substantial than rapid affirmatives and very hearty smiles.</p> - -<p>He went back in bitterness of spirit towards Victoria and on the way he -met William Bailey sailing down Bird Cage Walk like a great wingless, -long-legged bird, empty of everything for the moment but an infantile -joy. He was right upon him before William Bailey recognised him, but -when that eccentric did so he seized him by both hands and hearing of -his destination, marched him westward.</p> - -<p>"We never finished that conversation, did we, Clutterbuck?" he said.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck vaguely remembered the evening at Mrs. Smith's, or -rather he vaguely remembered the word or two that William Bailey had -spoken.</p> - -<p>"Peabody Yid, eh?" said William Bailey in a somewhat vulgar manner, -catching him in the ribs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> with his elbow. "Have you learned anything -more about the Peabody Yid? You City men are as thick as thieves!" And -he laughed in a lower key.</p> - -<p>"I don't understand you," said Mr. Clutterbuck in real perturbation -and suffering. "I don't understand you. Can't you speak like everybody -else? I'm tired of the lot!"</p> - -<p>It was a genuine little cry of pain and William Bailey, being a -fanatic, was sentimental and was saddened.</p> - -<p>"What's up?" he said.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck told him. First briefly, then at length, then with -passion he poured out his great wrong. The money paid, accepted—all -his friends told—and then the humiliation of New Year's day.</p> - -<p>William Bailey walked him back and forth before the Palace, then he -said:</p> - -<p>"We'll get in a cab, I shall have less time to speak in that way," and -after that last paradox he talked sense; but it was very brief sense.</p> - -<p>He simply told Mr. Clutterbuck in the short two hundred yards which led -them to the station, that if he really wanted help, the unhappy William -Bailey was there, and having said that, when Mr. Clutterbuck had taken -his ticket and was off to the wicket, he looked for half a second -into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> merchant's eyes with that strange and dangerous power which -the demagogue has commanded in all ages: to the untutored mind of Mr. -Clutterbuck it was a glance of singular fascination. So they parted.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The Dean of Portsmouth, "Mixed Sermons," vol. iii. p. 465. -Heintz & Sons. 42<i>s.</i> London: 1910.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Ozee, xvii. 8.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER X</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">William Bailey</span> was at this time nearer fifty than forty years of age. -Those who saw him for the first time would have imagined him to be an -exceptionally vigorous and well-preserved man of maturer years, for -while his eyes were energetic and lively the skin of his face had been -hardened and lined by travel in very different climates. Moreover, his -hair, though not scanty, had turned that peculiar steely grey which men -so often preserve well on into old age.</p> - -<p>His stature, which was considerable, he owed to a pair of very long -thin legs, which looked the longer from the invariably ill-fitting -loose trousers that he wore; his boots were of enormous size. These, -again, were exaggerated to the ordinary beholder from his habit of -purchasing pairs far too large for him; and these, I regret to say, -were ready made, with square toes, very flat heels, and those offensive -deep creases across the instep which betray the slovenly man.</p> - -<p>His face, which was long and good-humoured,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> was framed by two vast -whiskers which seemed to belong to an earlier age. And in general his -appearance, while certainly denoting ability, might have led one to -expect a sort of reticent good-nature. The impression was heightened -by his habit of leaning good-humouredly forward with his hands in his -pockets, and a genial half-smile, to listen attentively to whatever -words were addressed to him, especially if those words proceeded from -an unknown man or from one who seemed proud of his acquaintance.</p> - -<p>There were none that met him casually in the world, but expected from -him the most kindly judgments and the most reasonable if independent -views. They were invariably deceived.</p> - -<p>The man had acquired peculiarities of outlook which in any society less -tolerant than our own would have doomed him to isolation. As it was, -the most part of his equals treated him as a joke they could afford to -laugh at; but some few out of the many to whom he had given legitimate -offence found themselves unable to forgive, and these were filled in -his presence with an ill ease which he, of all men, had the least right -to impose: among these—I bitterly regret—was even to be found that -gracious, kind old man, the Duke of Battersea, who in all his long and -useful life had hardly spoken harshly of a single foe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> - -<p>In politics none could say whether William Bailey were National or -Opposition; his religion it was impossible to discover; even those -philosophies which attract in their turn most men of intelligence -appeared to leave him indifferent; he was ignorant of Hegel of -Nietzsche and of Oppenheim, but his opinions were none the less -expressed with a violence and a tenacity which sometimes produced -the illusion of a general system, though a collection of his real or -affected prejudices would have proved many of them contradictory one -of the other. He would rail, for instance, against the practice of -drinking champagne with meat, and he would denounce it with the same -fervour as he would use against things so remote from him as the Senate -of Finland or the Republican party in the United States.</p> - -<p>His dislike, or his assumed dislike, of certain English writers, -notably the poet Hibbles, on which he might at least be allowed an -opinion or even a prejudice (for he was admittedly a good judge of -verse), was not so strong as his detestation of Tolstoi (not one word -of whose works he could read in the original or had even read in -translations!), or his contempt for Harnack, the very A B C of whose -science he ignored. He denied with equal decision the theory of natural -selection and the hypothesis of a recent glacial epoch, and had more -than once committed himself to print in points of etymology<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> on which -he knew nothing, and his excursion into which had only rendered him -ridiculous.</p> - -<p>It would be too easy to explain the man as a mere mass of opposition, -though it is certain that the greater part of his enthusiasms, -if enthusiasms they were, were aroused by the spectacle of some -universally received opinion. It would be truer to say that he was -ever ready to use his quick and not untrained intelligence in defence -of chance likes and dislikes which, when he had so defended them -for a sufficient time, took on in his mind a curious and unnatural -hardness that sometimes approached and sometimes passed the line of -complete conviction. On some points, indeed, he had been compelled to -retreat. His theory that the English Press was not the property of its -ostensible owners but was subsidised by a mysterious gang of foreign -financiers, he discreetly dropped on finding it untenable, though for -years he had startled his new acquaintances and wearied his relatives -by various aspects of that particular piece of nonsense; and his -repeated assertion that Japanese torpedo boats had really been present -on the Dogger Bank during the deplorable incident of 1904, he had been -singularly silent about after the delivery of the Paris award: but the -most part of his follies survived.</p> - -<p>He did at least pick up a new mania from time to time, which relieved -the tedium of his repeated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> dogmatisings; but his friends looked -forward with horror to that inevitable phase which he must meet with -advancing years, when the elasticity of his fanaticism should fail him, -and they should be compelled to listen to an unvarying tale throughout -his old age.</p> - -<p>He was, as I have said, not fifty, but that phase seemed already -arrived in one particular. He had gone mad upon the Hebrew race.</p> - -<p>He saw Jews everywhere: he not only saw them everywhere, but he saw -them all in conspiracy. He would not perhaps have told you that the -conspiracy was conscious, but its effects he would have discovered all -the same.</p> - -<p>According to him Lombroso was a Jew, Mr. Roosevelt's friends and -supporters the Belmonts were Jews, half the moneyed backers of -Roosevelt were Jews, the famous critic Brandes was a Jew, Zola was -a Jew, Nordau was a Jew, Witte was a Jew—or in some mysterious way -connected with Jews; Naquet was a Jew; the great and suffering Hertz -was a Jew. All actors and actresses <i>en bloc</i>, and all the foreign -correspondents he could lay hands on were Jews; the late and highly -respected M. de Blowitz (a fervent Catholic!) he nicknamed "Opper," and -having found that a member of the very excellent West Country family -of Wilbraham had ardently supported the Russian revolutionists in the -columns of the <i>Times</i>, he must say, forsooth, that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> certain "Brahms" -(who rapidly developed into "Abrahams") was the inspirer of the premier -journal; and this mythical character so wrought upon his imagination -that in a little while the manager of the paper itself, and heaven -knows who else, were attached to the Synagogue.</p> - -<p>In his eyes the governors of colonies, the wives of Viceroys, the -holders of Egyptian bonds, the mortgagees of Irish lands, half the -Russian patriots, and all the brave spokesmen of Hungary, were swept -into the universal net of his mania.</p> - -<p>It got worse with every passing year: there were Jews at Oxford, and at -Cambridge, and at Trinity College, Dublin; the Jews overran India; they -controlled the <i>Neue Frie Presse</i> of Vienna, the <i>Tribuna</i> of Rome, the -<i>Matin</i> of Paris, and for all I know, the <i>Freeman's Journal</i> in Dublin.</p> - -<p>The disease advanced with his advancing age; soon all the great family -of Arnold were Jews; half the English aristocracy had Jewish blood; for -a little he would have accused the Pope of Rome or the Royal Family -itself; and I need hardly say that every widespread influence, from -Freemasonry to the international finance of Europe, was Israelite in -his eyes; while our Colonial policy, and especially the gigantic and -successful struggle in South Africa, he twisted into a sort of petty -huckstering, dependent upon Petticoat Lane.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mary Smith loved her brother. She did all she could to dispel these -mists and to bring out that decent side of him which had made him -years ago as popular a young man as any in London—but he was past -praying for. A private income, large, like all the Bailey incomes, -of over £4000 a year, permitted him a dangerous independence; and in -his freehold house in Bruton Street he lived his own life altogether, -attached to his servants, whom he never changed, subscribing to absurd -foreign papers that dripped with anti-Semitic virus, and depending upon -the perpetual attention of his manservant Zachary, an honest fellow -enough, but one who, from perpetual association with his master, seemed -to have imbibed something of that master's eccentricities. <i>He</i> was as -dandy as the gentleman who employed him was slovenly, and all Bruton -Street noted with a smile the extraordinary figure the fellow made when -he went out on his rare holidays, in a tight frock-coat, a hat like -polished ebony, and gloves that were always new.</p> - -<p>To individuals, as is so often the case with men of this temper and -of good birth, William Bailey was often kind and sometimes positively -generous. The personal enmities he bore to men whom he had actually -known, were very rare, and such as they were they would take the form -rather of abstaining from their society than of intriguing against -them. Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> characters of this sort are not usually possessed of -that tenacity in action which intrigue requires. His name was mentioned -with no woman's; he had never married. In early youth he was supposed -to have felt some attraction to a lady considerably older than himself, -who subsequently became the wife of another yet older than herself, an -Anglo-Indian official of high standing. But the passion could hardly -have been deep or lasting, for he preserved no relic of her in any -form; he had no picture of her, he never mentioned her name, and when -she returned to England from time to time, he made no effort to renew -her acquaintance and seemed even to avoid her presence.</p> - -<p>Some have attempted to attribute his violent eccentricities of -judgment to disappointed ambition. His career would hardly lead one -to such a conclusion. As a boy he determined upon the Army, and had -greatly annoyed his family, who would have preferred the Guards, by -joining the Engineers. He had not been four years a sapper when he as -suddenly abandoned that honourable and useful corps, and compelled his -father to use influence for his appointment as an <i>attaché</i>—of all -places in the world—to Pekin. Transferred from that distant capital -to Paris, he begged for Constantinople, was granted it, and within -two years abandoned the career of diplomacy as light-heartedly as he -had abandoned that of arms. His father's death at this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> moment added -to his already sufficient private means, and it was thought by such -relatives as still took some interest in his talents that commercial -activity would bring him into harness. A stall was purchased for him -at Lloyds, and for three months he appeared to devote himself steadily -to speculation. But the wisest of his relatives, especially his Aunt -Winifred, still had their misgivings; they were amply justified.</p> - -<p>In the election of 1892 which shortly followed his introduction to -the City, he was asked by the family to make a third candidate in -East Rutland in order to split, what was then called, the 'Liberal' -vote against his brother James, who had presented himself in what was -then called the 'Conservative' interest. William Bailey, naturally -good-natured and thinking to enjoy the mild excitement of a short -campaign, was delighted to present himself as an Independent Liberal, -and until within a few days of the poll, conducted himself as the -situation required, taking care to draw upon himself such votes—and -no more—as might secure his brother's election. Unhappily the twisted -spirit of the man got the better of him in the last week before the -poll, and he fell into a deplorable breach of good taste and family -feeling; he suddenly began deliberately to attract the attention and -win the support of every sort of elector. To<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> his own considerable -surprise (but it must be admitted to his secret gratification) he -was returned—with what consequent and final effect upon his family -relations need not be told!</p> - -<p>During the short life of that parliament he made himself conspicuous -by abstaining from the narrow and perilous divisions to which his -party was subjected, by asking the most offensive personal questions -of responsible Ministers, by shouting interjections which repeatedly -called upon him the severe reprimand of the highly distinguished man -who then occupied the Chair, and by moving, when the luck of the -ballot fell his way, a motion so offensive to every loyal and generous -feeling, that even the Opposition found themselves compelled to support -the Government in an early adjournment to prevent its discussion.</p> - -<p>In the early summer of 1895 he appeared to suffer a sudden conversion, -spoke frequently in the most decent and weighty of parliamentary -manners, was present at every division, supported his colleagues in the -country and then—utterly without warning—betrayed one of the safest -seats in England by refusing at the General Election to present himself -again as a candidate.</p> - -<p>A man who acts thus in our public life bars every serious career -against himself. Whether Mr. Bailey had foreseen this or no, he was at -any rate content<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> henceforward to live as a private gentleman in his -little house in Bruton Street. But his restless temper still led him -from one set to another, mingling with every one and seen everywhere. -He wrote, he occasionally spoke, and above all it was his delight, -by insinuation or by direct disclosure, to embarrass and expose his -fellow-beings; a man dangerous in the extreme, and, I repeat, one whom -no society less tolerant than ours would have endured for a year.</p> - -<p>Such was the rock on which the proud ship of Mr. Clutterbuck's good -fortune struck.</p> - -<p>In a mood less irritable and less inflamed he would have been safe; but -doubtful, suspicious, angered as he was he fell an easy—alas! too easy -a prey—to the inconsequent and empty enthusiast; and it was his ruin.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was back at The Plâs, and the thorn in his soul struck -sore. Too many words were enigmas. He suffered too much silence. He -would speak.</p> - -<p>They were together in the Art Gallery of The Plâs, Mr. Clutterbuck and -Charlie, the Master and the Man.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was sitting at a desk where he often did his work, -under the inspiration of the big Manet which Charlie had purchased that -summer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> of Raphael and Heinz. Fitzgerald was smoking a cigarette lazily -at the end of the long room, and reading one of those articles in the -<i>Spectator</i> which have so profound an influence week by week upon the -political situation.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck suddenly looked up from his writing, turned round to -him and said:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald, what is a Peabody Yid?"</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was so startled that he let the premier review -of the Anglo-Saxon Race fall to the floor; but a glance at Mr. -Clutterbuck's honest though troubled profile reassured him.</p> - -<p>"Oh, a Yid," he said laughing, "I suppose a Yid's a name for a German, -or something of that sort. Then Peabody—oh, the Peabody Buildings!"</p> - -<p>"Is it a kind of man, then?" said Mr. Clutterbuck, solemnly.</p> - -<p>"Why," said Fitzgerald, thoughtfully, "I suppose it is."</p> - -<p>"I thought it was one man," said Mr. Clutterbuck, still in doubt, and -in a tone which made Charlie Fitzgerald look at him again, but again -feel reassured.</p> - -<p>"It would be one fellow, of course," said Fitzgerald manfully, "if -you were only speaking of one: if you said 'a Peabody Yid,' for -instance.... But if you were talking of several," he mused, "why you'd -say 'Peabody Yids,' I s'pose. What?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was lost in thought. "But Yid means a Jew surely, -doesn't it, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said the older man. "It's a vulgar name -for a Jew, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Why-y, yes," answered the other with nonchalance. "A German, or a Jew, -or something of that sort. Then Peabody was a sort of philanthropical -fellow: architect, I think."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck having got so far, said: "Oh!" He said no more; he went -on writing; but, like the man in the Saga, his heart was ill at ease. -For the first time in many months he was as sore and as anxious as ever -he had been in the old days before good fortune came to him.</p> - -<p>The seventh day of the New Year broke brightly, but never a word from -Peter Street. Mr. Clutterbuck went so far as to speak first to his -secretary, before his secretary had spoken to him, and to ask him, but -with all the courtesy imaginable, whether something could not be done -to reassure him?</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald more than hinted that it was all nervousness. -"Things aren't done in that way," he said worriedly. "They won't give -me anything in writing, of course."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck foresaw yet another futile verbal message and he came -as near to anger as such a man can come at all. He was quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> evidently -put out and annoyed. He went so far as to say:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald, I did hope you would have done something for me."</p> - -<p>And Charlie, who had a fine sense which told him when he had gone too -far, got up and put a gentle hand on his employer's arm.</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid, Mr. Clutterbuck," he said in a tone of low and grave -sincerity, "I'm afraid you misunderstood me. I can't do more than find -out, but I'll find out in more detail, and you must give me two days."</p> - -<p>"Of course," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "of course; you know what you have -to do, Mr. Fitzgerald, I won't expect you back until I hear." But he -added in a sort of appealing voice: "But do do something! You see -... it touches a man's pride, and ... to be perfectly frank ... Mrs. -Clutterbuck doesn't like it. One feels odd when one's friends come."</p> - -<p>The poor old gentleman was perfectly straightforward and it went to -Charlie Fitzgerald's heart. Nevertheless a telegram which came for him -a few hours later, after he had sent a telephone message to London, -detained him yet another day. He fully explained to Mr. Clutterbuck the -nature of the delay: the person whom he had expected to meet in town -would not be back till the evening of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> 9th; but Mr. Clutterbuck was -only partially relieved and he announced his intention of seeing to -some business in the City. The business—alas! that I should have to -admit duplicity in such a character—was an interview with Mr. William -Bailey.</p> - -<p>That eccentric had at least opened him one door of sympathy, and in Mr. -Clutterbuck's distress the business man's natural mistrust of uncertain -and fantastic characters was forgotten.</p> - -<p>He found Mr. Bailey occupying his worse than useless leisure in drawing -up an enormous list of names, and by the side of each, in a second -column, a second name was appended. He was so engrossed upon this task, -in the prosecution of which he was surrounded by twenty or a dozen -books of reference, collections of newspaper cuttings and memoranda of -every sort, that he did not so much as look up when Zachary announced -Mr. Clutterbuck, but went on murmuring:</p> - -<p>"Beaufort—— Rosenberg, date uncertain;</p> - -<p>"Belvedere—— Cohen, 1873;</p> - -<p>"Belmont—— Schoenberg, 1882 (probably)...."</p> - -<p>He had go so far when he jumped up, remembered his manners, and begged -Mr. Clutterbuck to excuse his absorption.</p> - -<p>"I was making out a list of people," he said, "a sort of dictionary."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Are you going to publish it?" asked Mr. Clutterbuck politely, by way -of beginning the conversation.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Mr. Bailey, "I rather think I am. I dare say I should have -to get it printed abroad, but that's no drawback."</p> - -<p>"I hope it's all right," said Mr. Clutterbuck in alarm.</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, it's quite moral," said Mr. Bailey airily. "But one often has -to get things done abroad. Would you like to look at some of it?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck had the courtesy to glance at the yards of double names -and dates, but they meant nothing to him. He asked which column one -read first, and William Bailey could only find the stupid and would-be -enigmatic reply that some read it one way and some read it the other.</p> - -<p>"Beaufort equals Rosenberg, or Rosenberg equals Beaufort: it's all the -same thing. It's usually French on the left and German on the right," -he said quizzically, putting his head on one side. "Middle Ages there, -Modern Ages here," he went on, wagging his head symbolically right and -left; and then suddenly broke out: "What've you come to see me about? -Still hanging fire?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck admitted that it was, and Mr. Bailey surveyed him with -great kindness. It was evident the crank had no desire to eat up this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> -particular millionaire; he would give <i>him</i> a certificate of pure -blood. He smiled at his sister's new acquaintance with deep benediction -and at last he said in a knowing tone:</p> - -<p>"Look here, Mr. Clutterbuck, I think I can only do <i>one</i> thing for you, -but it's a very useful thing. It's just a rule of thumb, and I'm afraid -you'll think it something in the dark; but it's no good making any more -of it just now than a plain rule of thumb. It's just a plain rule of -thumb."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck groaned inwardly. He was in the fog again. But William -Bailey went on quite composed:</p> - -<p>"I know a good deal of things," he said, stretching his arms and -yawning as he said it.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Mr. Bailey, certainly," said Mr. Clutterbuck fervently.</p> - -<p>"Well then, if I just tell you a simple little dodge—don't think it -too simple—just take it as a tip from me, and I'll see you through. I -mean what I say. I don't think I'd do it for anybody else. <span class="smcap">Try the -Anapootra Ruby Mines.</span>"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> name of the Anapootra Ruby Mines—that name of power—left Mr. -Clutterbuck as blank as ever.</p> - -<p>It couldn't be a medicine by the name of it, and if it was an -investment, he hadn't come for any advice of <i>that</i> sort. He thought he -knew his way about <i>there</i>.</p> - -<p>"I don't understand what you mean," he said a little bluntly, for of -late his courage had increased with his worries.</p> - -<p>"Why," said Mr. Bailey, as though it were the simplest thing in -the world, "the Anapootra <i>Ruby</i> Mines. Talk about 'em. Say you're -interested in 'em. It'll work marvels."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was almost in despair.</p> - -<p>"If that's all you got to tell me," he said——</p> - -<p>William Bailey put a hand on his shoulder. "Now there you are," he -said, "that's just what I was afraid of. I give you a tip—it isn't a -tip I'd give anybody else, and it's the very best tip I could give you. -And because you don't see <i>why</i> it's a good tip, you're going to reject -it."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No I'm not, Mr. Bailey, really I'm not," said the unfortunate -Clutterbuck. "But I don't understand—upon my word I don't understand."</p> - -<p>"What's there to understand?" asked William Bailey. "There are the -Anapootra Ruby Mines, and you just talk about them; that's easy enough. -You bring them up at dinner; you add a postscript when you write a -letter: 'By the way, have you heard about the Anapootra Ruby Mines?' Or -you open a paper and say to the company: 'It's funny, but I don't see -anything about the Anapootra Ruby Mines to-day.' You mayn't see <i>why</i> -it will work wonders, but it will. By the way, have you ever seen the -name in a paper?"</p> - -<p>"I seem to have seen it somewhere," said Mr. Clutterbuck, not liking to -confess his ignorance.</p> - -<p>"Well, you haven't," replied William Bailey rudely. "You may bet your -hat on that. If they'd been in the papers, there'd be nothing to talk -about. But <i>you</i> talk about them long enough, and they'll get in the -papers all right."</p> - -<p>"But I don't see the connection," quavered Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>"Well, there it is," said William Bailey sighing, "there's the tip. If -you try it and let it work, it will do marvels; and then you'll see -what I've done."</p> - -<p>"But what are they?" persisted Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, ruby mines!" almost shouted William Bailey.</p> - -<p>"Yes, certainly, but where?"</p> - -<p>"In Anapootra of course," said Bailey.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck rose to go with a joyless face.</p> - -<p>"You come back to me when it begins to work, and I'll see you through," -were the last words of William Bailey, and his guest heard them ringing -in his ears as he went mournfully to the train.</p> - -<p>In The Plâs that very evening he tried it on. They were at their lonely -meal, all three, Charlie Fitzgerald, who inwardly wished he had got -away, Mrs. Clutterbuck, and the master of the house. They dared not -have friends under such a cloud. Mr. Clutterbuck said casually to Mrs. -Clutterbuck:</p> - -<p>"My dear, do you know anything of the Anapootra Ruby Mines?"</p> - -<p>"No," said Mrs. Clutterbuck sharply, and at the same time in a manner -that clearly showed she was bored. The City had always wearied her -since her husband's success; she hardly thought it quite the thing to -speak of it before Charlie Fitzgerald. As for that well-born youth, he -remained quite silent and ate with singular rapidity the Mousseline -Braganza à la Polignac which he had before him.</p> - -<p>"Do you know anything about them?" said Mr. Clutterbuck undaunted, and -turning to Charlie Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> - -<p>His wife issued one of her commanding glances, but he avoided it.</p> - -<p>"The—Anapootra—Ruby—Mines?" said Charlie Fitzgerald, hesitating -between each syllable. "No, I don't. I know about the <i>Brah</i>mapootra: -it's a river."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck, and this singularly unfruitful -conversation ended.</p> - -<p>But Charlie Fitzgerald wondered and wondered more deeply what on earth -he was to do. His task had been difficult enough already; it was -becoming impossible.</p> - -<p>Next day he took his bag and was off, but he promised to be home before -the end of the week, and he promised still more sincerely, in private -to Mr. Clutterbuck, to do everything that could possibly be done, and -if he failed, to form some further plan. He was careful not to use any -of the cars—he had used them quite enough lately, and the weather was -foul. He took the train in the common fashion and drove from Victoria -straight to Barnett House. The telephone had prepared them for his -visit, and the Duke of Battersea, always the kindest and the warmest of -friends to the young men of his rank, took him affectionately into the -inner room, and heard all he might have to say.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Duke of Battersea, now well stricken in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> years, was of that kind -which age matures and perfects.</p> - -<p>The bitter struggles of his youth when, in part a foreigner, ill -acquainted with our tongue and bewildered by many of our national -customs, he had made his entry into English finance, had given him -all the wisdom such trials convey, but they had left nothing of that -bitterness too often bred in the souls of those who suffer. The failure -of the Haymarket Bank would not indeed have checked so tenacious a -character, but the undeserved obloquy which he suffered in the few -years succeeding that misfortune, and during the period when it was -falsely imagined that he had finally failed, might have put him -out of touch with the national life and have given him a false and -uncharitable estimate of the country of his adoption. So far from -permitting any such acidity to warp his soul, Mr. Barnett (as he then -was) had but the more faithfully gone forward in the path which destiny -offered him, and he had reaped the reward which modern England never -fails to give to those of her sons who have preserved, throughout all -the vicissitudes of life, a true sense of proportion and a proper -balance between material prosperity and the public service.</p> - -<p>When he had been raised to the peerage as Lord Lambeth, a vigorous man -of fifty years, not only was his public position assured, but that -respect for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> a firm character and a just maintenance of a man's own -establishment in the world which should accompany such a position, was -deeply founded in the mind of the general public.</p> - -<p>The newspapers, through which the great mass of our fellow citizens -obtain their information, mentioned him not only continually, but with -invariable deference, and often with admiration. His efforts in the -House of Lords in favour of Bosnian freedom, and in the particular -case of Macchabee Czernwitz, had proclaimed just that disinterested -enthusiasm which we love to see applied by our great men to foreign -affairs; while, nearer home, the Organ Grinders' Bill, for which he -was mainly responsible, was a piece of practical legislation which had -obtained general recognition upon both sides of either House.</p> - -<p>It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that when the M'Korio Delta -Development Company was taken over by the State, his connection with -that gallant experiment in the building of Empire, earned him a -permanent fame more valuable than any material reward. He had long -ago severed all personal connection with the district, retaining only -so many shares as permitted him to sit upon the Board, and it is -no little tribute to this great Englishman to point out that after -seventeen years, during which it had been impossible to pay a dividend, -he was able<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> triumphantly to persuade a united public opinion and the -Chancellor of the Exchequer to purchase the concession at par: more, -he handed over intact to the Crown not only the delta of the M'Korio -River, but Mubu Otowa and the malarial district to the south of Tschè.</p> - -<p>It was shortly after this achievement, in the year 1910, that he -consented—somewhat reluctantly—to an advance in honour and accepted -the Dukedom of Battersea.</p> - -<p>The lower rungs of the ladder he had been willing to mount; but a -natural reserve had forbidden him hitherto to accede to the most -pressing entreaties from either Party. He had indeed kept aloof from -party politics, and had subscribed to the funds of the two great -organisations only because he thought it his duty to enable men poorer -than himself to display their talents in the arena of Parliament and -because he justly desired to preserve some power for righteousness with -the Executive of the moment.</p> - -<p>Even at this late hour, over seventy years of age, and prepared at -any moment to answer the Great Summons, he would hardly have followed -the advice of his friend the Prime Minister in accepting the honour -proposed to him, had not the task been rendered sadly easier to him by -one tragic accident: there was no longer an heir to his vast wealth -and honourable name. The Master of Kendale (for such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> was the name -of the old Scottish place), the handsome, intelligent boy with the -bourbon nose, the wealth of black curls, proud full lips, and brilliant -eyes which had lent such life to so many reunions, the child of Lord -Lambeth's old age, his Ben-jamin was no more. The young soldier had -lost his off stirrup only the summer before while trotting his yeomen -on parade before the royal visitors to the Potteries, and when he was -picked up he was quite dead; the neck was broken between the second and -third cervical vertebræ.</p> - -<p>For the old man the blow was terrible. Long widowed, all his hopes -had centred upon this only child whom, though not yet of age, he had -already begun to train in the great money which he was destined to -inherit and control. For a moment he thought of giving up Barnett -House—of resigning his affairs. At last he rallied, and the tragedy -had this good in it for England, that it permitted him to accept -the Dukedom, and perhaps also permitted him to continue, if only as -a solace, that active interest in the wider commerce of the Empire -wherein his talents were of such fruit and value to his country.</p> - -<p>It was in connection with these that the Duke of Battersea had -undertaken the management of those Anapootra Ruby Mines, the quiet -transference of which to his able management had been the triumph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> of -the last vice royalty. Is it to be wondered at if Fitzgerald, fearing -such interests were menaced, went to warn their chief protector?</p> - -<p>He was brief and clear. The Ruby Mines were out. They must be well out -or old Clutterbuck wouldn't have heard of them, and old Clutterbuck had.</p> - -<p>No words of mine are needed to defend the commercial honour of the -Duke of Battersea; still less need I waste a moment's effort in an -apology for our great Civil Service. It needs men of a very different -calibre from Mr. Bailey to throw doubt upon the absolute integrity of -our Imperial system; and the last Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra -in particular, deservedly boasting a host of friends, intensely -laborious, honourably poor, would have cause for complaint if even -an eulogy of him, let alone a defence, were undertaken here. But in -order to comprehend the foolish and treasonable agitation Mr. Bailey -hoped to raise, it is necessary that I should put down plainly all the -circumstances of the venture.</p> - -<p>For many centuries the ruby mines of Anapootra had been worked as the -property of that native State. And when the administration of the -valley was taken over by Great Britain the exploitation of the mines -very naturally followed. From April 1 of the year 1905 they had become, -along<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> with certain other possessions of the State, a portion of the -public domain.</p> - -<p>The traditional methods by which their wealth had hitherto been -exploited were wholly insufficient. A community of some hundreds of -natives, working upon a complex, co-operative system, living in a -miserable state of poverty and degradation, had paid, from immemorial -time, a fixed percentage of their output to their Sovereign; and the -humanitarian faddism of Sir Charles Finchley—whose appointment was one -of the few mistakes of Lord Curzon's viceroyalty—had permitted this -system to endure during the first few years of our occupation. But it -was obvious that so primitive an arrangement could not endure. In 1910 -there was but one question before the new Lieutenant-Governor; whether -it would be more profitable to establish a direct exploitation of these -mines by the Crown, or to concede that exploitation for a term of years -to some company which, under expert advice and with long experience of -the business, might secure a higher profit to the State. It was only -after deep thought and the full consideration of every detail, that -the Lieutenant-Governor decided upon the latter course and signed a -concession to a private company for a term of fifteen years.</p> - -<p>He further determined—and it was the act of a strong man—to avoid -the disadvantages of public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> competition with its accompaniment of -ill-informed and often unpatriotic criticism, of questions in the House -of Commons, and of all the paraphernalia of ignorance and cant.</p> - -<p>He made the concession boldly to a company of his own choice, and -though he was not particularly concerned with the persons involved so -long as the company itself was in his opinion honest and efficient, -he was none the less delighted to learn that so great a financier as -the Duke of Battersea had guaranteed its position and security—nay, -was himself, in his capacity of the Anglo-Moravian Bank, the principal -shareholder in the new venture.</p> - -<p>It is ill work excusing any man so talented and honest, so devoted to -the public service, as the late Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra, but -the criticism to which he has been subjected makes that task necessary, -however painful.</p> - -<p>The concession signed was, upon the face of it, just such a document as -political puritans at home, ignorant as they are of local conditions, -would pounce upon in their desire to vent their ill-informed suspicion -of their own countrymen. The rent to be paid by the company was but a -quarter of that originally paid by the native workers, and less than -a tenth of that which official estimates of the yield under modern -methods had contemplated. More<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>over, no rent was to be paid before -1915, the fourth year of the concession, and there were to be rebates -in case the company should come upon weak pockets or the supply should -fall below a certain level in the interval for which the concession -was granted. Those of my readers who are acquainted with the details -of finance will at once perceive that these advantages were no more -than what was necessary to tempt a private venture and the risk of -private capital. But if any <i>not</i> acquainted with large financial -operations should have lingering doubts, it is enough to add that the -Lieutenant-Governor of Anapootra had been so scrupulously careful of -the public interest as to resign his post and to terminate a great -pro-consular career in order to accept the directorship of the new -company where he could overlook its action and check its contributions -to the exchequer. He was determined that no sacrifice upon his part -should be spared in his zeal for the public fortune.</p> - -<p>He did more: he persuaded the chief Government expert upon the mines to -throw up <i>his</i> secure place, the prospect of his pension—everything, -and to take at a somewhat increased salary the position of Consulting -Engineer to the new Company.</p> - -<p>He did yet more. He, a man suffering from a grave internal disease,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> -underwent, in the height of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> the hot season, the long journey to -England in order to impress upon the Secretary of State<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> the prime -importance of secrecy. He risked what was dearer than life to him—his -very honour—for a venture which would ensure riches to England, and -would bring enlightenment and modern progress to one far forgotten -corner of the Indian world.</p> - -<p>In a word, he left nothing undone which a sensitive and scrupulous -gentleman should do to preserve the interests of his country, and in -all this action he sought no fame, he permitted not a word to appear in -the public Press; he went so far—it was quixotic upon his part—as to -deny all rumours until the plan was complete. And though the fame of -the Anapootra Valley has since widely increased through the lucrative -operations of the new company, and the wide dispersion of its shares -among the public, its former Lieutenant-Governor has to this day -successfully prevented his name from being connected with the history -of that great new asset in our commercial system.</p> - -<p>Other nations have public servants perhaps better trained in a -technical sense than are ours, but no nation can boast a body of men -who will thus obscurely and without reward sacrifice themselves wholly -in the public service and be content to remain unknown.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> - -<p>There is the whole truth upon the Anapootra Ruby Mines.</p> - -<p>The reader who has followed the plain narrative put before him will -be able to judge between it and the monstrous assumption upon which -Mr. Bailey was prepared to conduct, or at any rate to initiate, his -mischievous agitation.</p> - -<p>The rapidity with which that agitation developed was embarrassing, even -to a man so used to immediate decisions as the Duke of Battersea. To -the ex-Lieutenant-Governor, whom his long and faithful public service -in the tropics had deprived of digestion and had rendered partially -deaf, it was appalling.</p> - -<p>It was upon Tuesday afternoon, January 8, 1912, that Mr. Bailey, -looking up at the ceiling, had launched the fatal words. It was upon -Tuesday evening that Mr. Clutterbuck had repeated them in the presence -of Fitzgerald: thanks to the prompt and loyal action of that strong -young Irish soul, the Duke knew of them before Wednesday noon.</p> - -<p>Forewarned is forearmed:—the malignant plot was at last defeated—but -at what a sacrifice of honest ambition and happy lives the reader must -learn and curse the name of William Bailey.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald sat long with the aged Duke—though there was -little to say. He received with deference and grateful willingness -the suggestion to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> be of service in a matter where written words were -impossible. He made a note of whom he was to visit; how high he was to -go in the event of some agency threatening to print the story of the -Company; what he was to say to the editor by telephone, and what by -letter to the Secretary of State. He proved that afternoon a second son -to the old childless man, and when he had dined alone with him, and -admired the new Rodin on the stairs, he went off to Scotland in the -midnight sleeper to see the ex-Governor before the post should reach -him. He was prepared to do all this and more for the Duke of Battersea, -and the Duke was a grateful man.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The next morning's post was something of a trial to Mr. Clutterbuck -in the absence of his secretary. He had learnt to depend upon that -prop altogether, and at any other time he would have allowed all the -letters which were not, by the handwriting, the letters of friends to -accumulate unopened; but that day, January 10, 1912, that Thursday, -he was too anxious to do any such thing. He opened one letter, then -another; the third positively stupefied him. It was from his agent -in Mickleton, and simply told him that a petition was to be lodged -disputing the validity of his election. They had learnt the news upon -the Wednesday evening.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was an honest man.</p> - -<p>The occasions on which it is possible to bring against a man of English -lineage the grave accusation of tampering with political morals are -very, very rare; still rarer, thank God, are the occasions on which -such an accusation can be maintained.</p> - -<p>In vain did Mr. Clutterbuck—all his energies on the strain as -they used to be in the old days of commerce—minutely examine his -experiences of the month before. He could not discover a word or a -gesture of his or any act authorised by him, even indirectly, which -could have led to so monstrous an accusation. His sense of honour felt -the thing keenly, and the agent's letter trembled in the hand that -held it. Then, like a clap of thunder, came the memory of the bag of -sovereigns and the Bogey Man.</p> - -<p>He had been assured and reassured that it was a common practice -admitted in all elections: he knew, upon perfectly good evidence, that -another Bogey Man had done the same ritual and necessary act for Lord -Henfield. It was without a doubt a fixed custom in every election. -The sum was small; it was a fair wage for honest work openly done. -Nevertheless the memory of the actual metal weighed intolerably upon -Mr. Clutterbuck's ill ease.</p> - -<p>That had done it! The only other source he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> could think of was his -wife, and he knew her too well to suspect her of any foolish and -ill-considered act of charity which might have compromised his chances.</p> - -<p>As for the half-sovereign, the wicked little half-sovereign, his lawyer -had completely satisfied him. The return of it cleared him wholly. No! -It was the Bogey Man, and there was no help for it.</p> - -<p>He went in at once to see Mr. Bailey. He forgot to telephone: he was -in an agony lest that one friend and stay should be out. But there he -found him again, still at his international list, which had now got as -far as the "M's," "Montague—Samuel, 1883 (Gladstone)."</p> - -<p>This time he did not forget his manners. He met the merchant with great -sympathy, and looking at him a little critically, said with good cheer:</p> - -<p>"It's begun to work, you see!" He had seen about the petition in the -papers.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck did not even hope to understand. "Oh, Mr. Bailey," he -said. "Mr. Bailey, what on earth am I to do?"</p> - -<p>To this Mr. Bailey returned the irrelevant reply: "Go on talking about -the Anapootra Ruby Mines!" as though that action were a sort of panacea -for the disturbed heart of man. It was bitter mockery in the ear of -one whose greatest hopes were thus dashed at the end of a long and -honourable life.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I had expected more from you, Mr. Bailey," said Mr. Clutterbuck -gravely.</p> - -<p>William Bailey was again touched.</p> - -<p>"I mean it, Clutterbuck," he said; "I really mean it. All medicines -are bitter at first; it's a big business, but it's the right way—I do -assure you it's the right way. I suppose you've written about those -Ruby Mines—postscripts, eh? A few cards I hope? A word or two to -friends in the train? Mentioned them to the servants? They're very -useful, servants are! Oh, and by the way, I ought to have told you—the -parson. Parsons are splendid; so are doctors. But you can't have done -them all yet."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Bailey," said Mr. Clutterbuck solemnly, "I haven't opened my lips -in the matter; at least," he added, correcting himself, "only to my -wife at dinner."</p> - -<p>"And Charlie 'Fitzgerald' was there no doubt. My Cousin Charlie?" asked -William Bailey pleasantly. "I've just got past him on my list—at least -not him, but his grandfather. 'Daniels—Fitzgerald 1838.' Jolly old man -his grandfather, but a little greasy—I remember him. He was called -Daniels—Daniel Daniels; son of old Moss Daniels, the Dublin sheeny, -that came to people's help, you know; you ought to know about the -Daniels; very old family; we used to call his wife's drawing-room the -lions' den. She was my aunt,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> you know," he added cheerfully. "Cousin -of mine, is Charlie."</p> - -<p>"Oh, but Mr. Bailey," groaned Mr. Clutterbuck, leaving all these -irrelevancies aside, "what <i>am</i> I to do?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, let 'em have it," said William Bailey in the serenity of his -dissociation from politics and every other vanity.</p> - -<p>"Let 'em unseat me!" shrieked Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>"You can't help it," said Mr. Bailey, "eh?"</p> - -<p>"But they can't prove anything," said his guest. He was excited and -defiant. "There's nothing to prove!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, come," said Mr. Bailey, "come Mr. Clutterbuck. Don't go on like -that. If they're going to unseat you, they're going to unseat you. And -what's being unseated? Old Buffle was unseated three times."</p> - -<p>"I should die of it!" said Mr. Clutterbuck with a groan.</p> - -<p>"No you won't," said Mr. Bailey. "The Lord shall make your enemies -your footstool; or, at any rate, His agent on earth will give you a -good day's sport with them. Meanwhile you go on with those Ruby Mines. -And, wait a minute, there's something to do to keep your mind off it -meanwhile: there's a good agency in Fetter Lane; they have a lot of -first-rate men. I remember a man called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> Bevan who did some very good -work for an enemy of mine a little time ago. Go and give them a tenner -and get them to find out who was behind that petition; though I think I -know already. I'll come with you."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The two men went eastward together, Mr. Bailey talking of a thousand -improbable things on the way, and they laid the task before the very -courteous manager, who assured them it would be the simplest thing in -the world. And so it was, for they learnt the same evening that though -the petition had been lodged by a large grocer of the name of Hewlett -in Mafeking Avenue, the real mover in the affair was a workman resident -in a small street off the Crescent, a casual labourer of the name of -Seale.</p> - -<p>"That's all right," said Mr. Bailey when the news came to them as they -sat at dinner together. "You won't find out that way. They been got at. -That's a tenner wasted," he added anxiously, "but I'll pay it—I gave -the advice. You go back home, and I'll let you know everything I hear -within two days."</p> - -<p>And Mr. Clutterbuck went home a little, but only a little, comforted; -feeling that he had indeed one ally—but what an ally! A man who talked -in enigmas, a <i>dilettante</i> with wild theories in which he himself -only half believed; a man half ostracised, half tolerated, and wholly -despised, but a man in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> swim, anyhow: the memory of that consoled -Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>Two days afterwards Charlie Fitzgerald returned. His story was -perfectly concise, too concise, alas, for that stricken household. -He did not bother them with his visit to the Duke of Battersea and -to Scotland—he spoke only of their own business. He had seen Peter -Street yet once again. They were sorry, but it had happened from having -too many names on the list; some had to wait; they admitted they had -postponed Mr. Clutterbuck's name to Paardeberg Day, when there was a -batch of thirty to bring out.</p> - -<p>"But now there's the Petition," said Charlie Fitzgerald a little -awkwardly; "you see under the circumstances——"</p> - -<p>"I see," said Mr. Clutterbuck with a grim face.</p> - -<p>"Don't take it like that," said Charlie Fitzgerald, "they can't prove -anything. It's only a bit of spite."</p> - -<p>"That's what I was saying to-day," said Mr. Clutterbuck. And the -Anapootra Ruby Mines were forgotten—but Mr. Bailey had not forgotten -them!</p> - -<p>The horror of the Member—of the still Member for Mickleton, of the -Member for Mickleton in the National Party interest—was as deep as -hell when he received by post a marked copy of a low Socialist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> rag, -whose name he barely knew, and there under the title "What We Don't -Hear," was a jeering allusion to the Anapootra mines, coupled with a -laudatory account of himself as the champion of popular rights. Next -day a severe but obscure rebuke connecting his name with an unworthy -piece of demagogy appeared in the <i>Standard</i>. A little later a fine -defence of his courage was included in a letter to the <i>Guardian</i>. Mr. -Clutterbuck was in terror of the unknown, and everywhere the dreadful -sound of Anapootra haunted him. He walked over the Downs to clear his -brain; he sat down in the little inn at Ragman's Corner, where they -always gave him a private room and treated him as the chief gentleman -of their neighbourhood. He had hardly tasted his glass of sherry when -the publican said to him with cheerful respect:</p> - -<p>"Well, sir, I see you've started another hare, and I wish you luck, -sir. Here's to the People!"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck turned pale; but when the publican had finished his -glass and wiped his mouth with his finger, he did not fail to add:</p> - -<p>"Here's to you, sir, and the Putrid Ruby Mines, whatever they may be, -and good luck to the lot!"</p> - -<p>Oh the agony of an isolated man! Oh, passion of humanity, when it -can find no fellow on whom to repose! The violent agitation of youth -returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> to his aged blood as he went home in the dark January -evening, and he almost feared that the belated peasants whom he met so -rarely as he hurried home, would each of them whisper as they passed -the hateful name of Anapootra; that some evil shape would start from -the darkness and scream it in his ear.</p> - -<p>For a day or two the agony endured. Visitors and guests, the parson in -his weekly visit, the doctor who had come to advise him upon the nature -of his port, all in varied tones slyly or gravely, or with astonishment -or casually, all brought in the Accursed Thing.</p> - -<p>The <i>Times</i>—and he loved them for it—had not printed a word; but -the <i>Spectator</i>, keen and breezy as it is, and abreast of every new -interest in English life, had published an honourable protest; the -editor was sure that a man who was in the forefront of the heroes who -had redeemed the Congo would not sully his name by a disreputable -agitation against his fellow countrymen; while, in another sphere, the -<i>Winning Post</i>, as he knew by a secret peep taken at the bookstall, -positively had a cartoon of a vague ghastly thing labelled "The -Anapootra Ruby Mines," and a little figure, undoubtedly himself, -supporting it with difficulty in the face of a violent gale.</p> - -<p>Then after a few days his mood gradually changed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> Mr. Clutterbuck -began to take a secret pride in his connection with these Gemmiferous -Caves of the Orient. There was no doubt at all that for the second time -in two months he was a public man; a martyr perhaps in a public cause. -Greatness began to apparel him, and side by side with the case of Rex -<i>v.</i> Fishmonger and Another, which he understood in a certain fashion, -the Anapootra Ruby Mines—still a complete mystery to him—supported -his growing fame.</p> - -<p>One inept Radical sheet went so far as to suggest that he was the -cat's-paw of the wicked men who had perpetrated that fraud upon their -country, but the greater part, especially of the Democratic press, -nobly maintained his integrity, and said they would see him through to -the end.</p> - -<p>His new publicity consoled him a crumb, a mere crumb, in the prospect -of the dreadful days before him. He sometimes indulged the inward hope -that no evidence could unseat a man now so deservedly the darling of -a Public cause; in the intervals when this consolation failed him, he -fell back upon the memory of his integrity and unblemished if short -public life; he had assured and reassured himself as to the Bogey Man, -and he was at last at ease upon the bag of gold. The consciousness of -his innocence out-weighed the gloomy prophecies of William Bailey, -and as the days passed the memory of that gentle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>man's forecast grew -paler and faded away. But the passage of the days brought with it also -the time of the election petition; there was a week, five days—four. -On the last Monday he sat for an hour or two with Charlie—who was of -course to give evidence—they considered every aspect, and could see no -loophole for attack. On the morrow they went into Mickleton together, -and as they passed at speed through the streets of the borough they -seemed to him too silent; even the police he thought—it may have been -but fancy—but even the police, he could have sworn, were colder and -more formal than of yore.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Liver.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Then (in 1911) Mr. Buffle.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> court in which the Mickleton election petition was to be heard -sat in the Town Hall of that borough, and the first day, Tuesday, was -occupied in formalities, but even so the end of the great room set -aside for the public was crowded.</p> - -<p>The main part of the business was taken the next morning, the -proceedings were short—and they proved decisive. After a few -unimportant witnesses had been called—their testimony was very -inconclusive—Mr. Stephens was heard. To the member's intense relief -not a word passed upon the Bogey Man, not a word upon the bag of -sovereigns, for the inquiry was conducted with honour, and the -conventions of our elections were allowed. When Mr. Clutterbuck heard -that his own secretary was to be examined, he could not but feel -confident in the result, but the spectacle of one whom he trusted -and who was his right hand throughout the struggle being used by the -lawyers against himself, was a thing Mr. Clutterbuck very properly -resented. He silenced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> his anger by remembering that justice will have -its course.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald gave his evidence in that simple, direct way which -should be a model for us all; he answered every question in few words, -neither embellishing nor concealing anything. He admitted the very -considerable influence of the Fishmonger Relief Committee, and was -proceeding to estimate the ten or twelve thousand it had spent for -his employer, when Sir John Compton at once interfered and ruled the -evidence out. It had been clearly laid down in three precedents that an -independent organisation was free to spend what sums it saw fit so long -as those funds did not proceed from the pocket of the candidate or his -agent.</p> - -<p>The thing seemed settled and Mr. Clutterbuck was breathing again -towards the close of that day, when counsel in a tone ominously calm, -said shortly:</p> - -<p>"Now, Mr. Fitzgerald, will you tell us where you were between half past -nine and midnight, of Monday the 6th of November of last year?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Fitzgerald remembered the hour and day and all the events with -truly remarkable accuracy. He said with perfect frankness that he had -spent the evening going in a cab from the Curzon Arms to the Mother -Bunch; from the Mother Bunch to the Harvest Home; from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> Harvest -Home to the Drovers, from the Drovers to the Naked Man; from the Naked -Man to the Adam and Eve; and from the Adam and Eve to the Prince of -Wales's Feathers; he could not be absolutely certain of the order but -it was more or less as he had stated it.</p> - -<p>Those in court who did not understand the nature of the confession -began to smile, but in a few moments they saw the drift of the -examination when counsel put this perfectly plain demand:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald, think carefully: did you or did you not offer a glass -of whiskey in the Prince of Wales's Feathers to one Alfred Arthur -Pound?"</p> - -<p>"I offered a glass of whiskey to him and to several gentlemen," said -Charlie Fitzgerald openly.</p> - -<p>"You offered whiskey to these electors, Mr. Fitzgerald?" said counsel.</p> - -<p>"I couldn't see," began Charlie Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>But the Bench at once interrupted. "You are not here, witness, to tell -us what you saw or what you did not see. You are here to give us your -evidence."</p> - -<p>And Charlie Fitzgerald was silent. He was asked further questions. He -had given whiskey to various citizens at the Curzon Arms, at the Naked -Man, at the Adam and Eve, and in fact at every public-house but one -upon the whole of that night. And of the men who could be traced, every -one of whom gave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> evidence upon oath in rapid succession, no less than -72·6 per cent. possessed votes in the constituency.</p> - -<p>The finding of the commission was very brief; it could not be -otherwise after what they had heard. They emphasised in the strongest -possible manner Mr. Clutterbuck's own innocence in the affair. The -Bench affirmed in the most flattering and emphatic terms that a more -honourable man than Mr. Clutterbuck had not appeared in the arena of -our public life.</p> - -<p>Fitzgerald also, in spite of what had proved a lamentable imprudence, -was heartily and gladly exonerated of any attempt to corrupt that high -standard of purity which is the glory of our public life. Sir John -Compton was careful to add that no shadow of suspicion rested on Mr. -Stephens; he was willing to exonerate Alfred Arthur Pound. But there -was no choice offered to a reasonable man, before whom the facts had -been presented; though most certainly no one had intended corruption -or pressure in any form—<i>that</i>, he hoped, was absent from our public -life—yet it was plain that within three weeks of the poll a large -number of electors had received a benefit especially defined by statute -as illegal and had received it at the hands of one virtually acting -(though of course in complete innocence of any unworthy motive) for -the gentleman who was candidate for the borough.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> Even had there been -no such statute or definition, the conclusion was plain, and it was -their very painful but solemn duty to declare, in accordance with the -evidence they had heard—evidence Sir John Compton was careful to point -out, which no one had attempted to rebut, and which he, for his part, -had very fully believed, that the election was invalid.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck jumped up wildly:</p> - -<p>"Oh my Lord!" he said.</p> - -<p>But his counsel pulled him sharply by the coat tail, tearing in so -doing, I am sorry to say, the seam by which that appendage is sometimes -attached to the upper part of the garment; while Mr. Justice Paisley, -who had hitherto been silent, sternly ordered him to be seated.</p> - -<p>Once again within six months the Borough of Mickleton was widowed of -its proud share in the administration of our land.</p> - -<p>Whether it would or would not be disfranchised for a period of years -was a matter which little concerned the unhappy man upon whom the blow -had fallen. He walked distractedly away at such a pace that it was -some hundred yards before Fitzgerald had caught him up and attempted -to quiet his perturbation. To his first mood of despair was rapidly -being added a second mood of anger and outraged justice, but he was -honourable enough not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> to lay to the poor young man's account the -terrible misfortune that had befallen himself. He did not forget all -that Fitzgerald had done for him during the critical days of the -election, and he was grateful even now for the many services rendered -by one without whom his first and ephemeral success would never have -been won.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless he insisted, as the reader may well imagine, in seeking -some relief in the company of William Bailey, and Charlie, after a -moment's hesitation, was too wise to dissuade him.</p> - -<p>He left his employer at the door in Bruton Street, with an appointment -to meet later in the evening, and the broken man was ushered by Zachary -into that familiar room, where he waited in a dull agony for his -mentor's return.</p> - -<p>It was a full half-hour before William Bailey came in. He had been -hurriedly told in the hall what visitor he had. He had not troubled to -look at the tape at his Club; he was pretty certain of the result, and -there was a sort of I-told-you-so look on his face as he greeted Mr. -Clutterbuck, which did little to raise that gentleman's spirits.</p> - -<p>It was a foolish thing to ask, but Mr. Clutterbuck did ask William -Bailey what he was to do.</p> - -<p>William Bailey answered without hesitation that he could do nothing. -"Unless indeed," he added, "you care to act and to lead from outside; -you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> can still do that. One good meeting by an unseated member can do -more against a Government than a dozen questions in the House. D'you -care to try? It's risky, you know.... They'll put the whole thing into -court and muzzle you; and you'll have to speak before Parliament opens -also, because on the first day it'll be called out of order unless -there's a really <i>strong</i> press outside."</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was in a mood for anything. What he was to do, or why, -was quite beyond him; but there was to be a meeting and it would hurt -those who had hurt him: so much he saw.</p> - -<p>"Other men have done it," said William Bailey, citing examples from a -less orderly past, "and you can do it if you like."</p> - -<p>"I'm willing enough," said Mr. Clutterbuck, setting his teeth. "You -mean," he added, brilliantly concealing his ignorance; "you mean, I'm -to go on about the mines?"</p> - -<p>"That's it," said William Bailey.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, his head sinking upon his shoulders -again, "you'll have to do it, Mr. Bailey. I can't see or think or plan; -and I don't know what the Anapootra can do for me or any one, supposing -I did——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, nonsense," said Mr. Bailey briskly, "a man must do what he can; -you can't get your seat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> again by main force. You can't get the other -things you want right off the shelf by helping yourself. You must go -on pressing and pressing. It's the only way—it's the one way in which -anything gets done. Besides which, it's enough to make any man——"</p> - -<p>"You're right there," said Mr. Clutterbuck eagerly; "it's enough to -make any man take action. What will you do, Mr. Bailey?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey, when he had to form a rapid plan, gave a sort of false -impression of rapidity and strength which had deceived many. He mapped -out all the dates.</p> - -<p>"You know the Directors are going for libel against the <i>Courier</i>?" he -said.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck didn't know it.</p> - -<p>"Well, but they are. To-day's Wednesday, and it will be before the -courts to-day week, next Wednesday," he said. "Once it's before the -courts you'll go to choke if you speak about it; so will any other -Johnny except in Parliament; besides which, Parliament meets the same -day, and what's more, I'm not at all sure they'd allow it even in -Questions, and there won't be any Questions until Wednesday, and by -that time, as I say, unless we get steam up outside it'll be out of -order. Monday's no good, you can't get people on Monday. It'll take a -day to get the posters up, and the advertisements and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> dry them. -We'll say Saturday—Saturday at eight, in the Jubilee Hall."</p> - -<p>"What for?" said his slower minded companion.</p> - -<p>"For the meeting of course," said Mr. Bailey in surprise; "for the -great meeting of protest by the ex-Member from Mickleton, on the -Anapootra Ruby Mines!"</p> - -<p>For all Mr. Clutterbuck's determination he was somewhat appalled. "I'm -not at all sure that I should speak, well I—I don't know even what or -who ..." he began slowly.</p> - -<p>"Oh that's all right," cut in William Bailey eager for the fray. "I'll -write your speech out, and I'll introduce you on the platform. It's the -<i>name</i> we want, and your power in the constituency. They know <i>that</i>. -The papers won't dare boycott it, and you'll get the horny-handed in -thousands. We'll have a grand time!"</p> - -<p>He said it with the irresponsibility of a boy, but that mood is -dangerous in a man.</p> - -<p>So was it decided that on the next Saturday, before Parliament opened, -and before the matter was, to be classical, <i>sub-judice</i>, a great -meeting should be held and the ball set rolling by Mr. Clutterbuck, -Champion of the People; but the Champion was torn between fear and -desire.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck when he reached the Plâs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> was careful to keep the -meeting even from his wife. He told it to none but Fitzgerald. -Fitzgerald was sympathetic and it felt like old times.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, in London, Mr. Bailey had hired the Jubilee Hall, and, if it -were necessary for overflow, the Coronation Annex.</p> - -<p>The next day he spent some hours with Mr. Clutterbuck, drilling his -speech into him with unwearied repetition; and Charlie Fitzgerald, -having nothing better to do, called on his dear old friend the Duke -of Battersea, and passed with him a most delightful afternoon. Mr. -Clutterbuck and Fitzgerald met at Victoria. The merchant and his -secretary went home together. And that same evening the Duke of -Battersea did what he had to do.</p> - -<p>A telephone message to the Prime Minister's house and the assurance of -a hearty welcome, made what he had to do easier for him. He found that -statesman, still spirited and young in spite of his increasing trouble -with the left lung, crouched over the fire, spreading his hands to the -blaze. He talked to him of various things: of the session that was -about to open, of the plague in Burmah, of Mrs. Kempton's latest book. -He said a few words about Mr. Bailey, and casually mentioned the step -which that gentleman was apparently about to take.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> - -<p>For a man in such doubtful health (and for one before whom such arduous -duties immediately lay) the Prime Minister was quite vivacious in his -replies. He differed from the Duke of Battersea with regard to Mrs. -Kempton's latest book, and criticised her attitude towards Malthus. He -spoke cheerfully of the coming session though he joked a little about -the smallness of the majority; he was very grave indeed about the -plague in Burmah—and he said nothing at all about Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>The Duke of Battersea remained not more than twenty minutes. It was -his interest to show his sympathy with the Prime Minister's illness -rather than to detain him in conversation, and he could understand -that the amusing story of Mr. Bailey's fanatical outburst would be -touched on lightly or passed in silence by a man who sat in the same -Cabinet with Lord Burpham; for after all, Lord Burpham's son, since the -Duchess of Drayton's second marriage was stepfather to the girl whom -William Bailey's favourite nephew had recently married, and relations -of this kind, when they occur in the political life of our democracy, -are naturally sacred. For all the shortness of his visit, the Duke of -Battersea had learnt what he wanted to know. He did not depend upon the -Prime Minister's aid. He re-entered his car with an alternative scheme -clear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> before him, and when he reached home he began to carry it into -effect.</p> - -<p>In the midst of the room where the Philanthropist and Financier -habitually worked, was a large table which had formerly been the -property of the Cardinal de Rohan; it had passed into other hands -during the misfortunes of the Reinachs<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> some twenty odd years -before. Its broad surface supported but a few simple and necessary -things: two tall Georgian candlesticks of silver plate, now fitted with -electric lamps; a great ink-pot, and by the side of it an electric bell.</p> - -<p>The Duke of Battersea spread out a large sheet of paper upon the -table before him, made a few notes, re-arranged certain details, was -satisfied with his plan, and next, without looking up, stretched -forth his hand to touch the electric bell. He was old and some of his -movements uncertain. His finger had the misfortune to find not the -electric bell but the ink-pot, into which it deeply plunged. A lesser -man would have been disturbed at the accident, and a coarser one might -have been moved to suck the injured limb. The Duke of Battersea showed -no such weakness. He looked up, rubbed his finger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> on the blotting-pad, -made sure of the electric bell, and when it was answered, said in a low -voice:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Befan."</p> - -<p>The servant disappeared, and came back in half an hour with the message:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Bevan is not at the Agency, your grace; he is watching the Hampton -divorce case, your grace. The Agency says, your grace, will you have -Penderton?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly not," said the Duke of Battersea, still intent upon the -paper before him. "Find out when he will be back."</p> - -<p>In a quarter of an hour he was told that the detective was expected -home from Hertfordshire at half-past twelve that night.</p> - -<p>The duke looked at his watch, compared it with a fine specimen of -Toledo clockwork set in a German monstrance upon the mantelpiece, and -saw that he had an hour to wait. He made a motion with his hand and was -left alone. He was determined to see Bevan and to see him that night, -but it was nearly one in the morning before the door opened and the -detective appeared.</p> - -<p>The detective was a short gentlemanly man with a hare lip and a -malformation of the forehead which raised one eyebrow considerably -above the other. He did not limp, but when he walked the emphasis was -upon the right leg. His ears which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> were large and prominent did much -to counter-balance the pleasing intelligence of his expression. He -was not a man whom one would at the first sight, nor at the second, -have chosen for the unravelling of difficult problems, but the Duke of -Battersea knew far too much of the world to judge by any other standard -than that of performance and of practice. And Mr. Bevan had not failed -him on two recent occasions when rapid execution had been essential, as -it was essential now.</p> - -<p>He wasted no words. He described who had to be watched and what -evidence if possible had to be gathered. He gave the address in Bruton -Street, and as the detective stood respectfully at the door, he named a -hundred pounds.</p> - -<p>"It's worth a hundred and fifty, your grace," said Mr. Bevan, as he -repeated the conditions which were laid down to him.</p> - -<p>"Sefen and sixpence," said the Duke with a gentle smile, "if what I -have told you already was all indeed"—and having said that he gave -time for it to soak in.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan changed his hat from one hand to the other, then held it in -both hands and said he was sure he didn't mean to say more than one -should say, and he would certainly leave it to the Duke, who nodded and -answered him:</p> - -<p>"That is good—that is right. For this reason I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> make it a hundred; and -if he does nothing as you want, you shall see him do, and you shall be -a witness."</p> - -<p>"I can't make a man do anything worth telling you, my lord," said Mr. -Bevan rather surlily.</p> - -<p>"Why, then," said the Duke of Battersea, approaching his wrists and -opening his hands widely outwards, "how can I either pay?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan sighed unpleasantly and was content.</p> - -<p>He left the Presence before two o'clock, but such was his intimacy with -more than one of the servants that it was half-past two in the morning -before he was clear of Barnett House. He did not wait for the tardy -advent of the winter dawn; he was home before three; he then and there -put on his professional boots, to the soles of which were attached -small pads of india-rubber. He secreted upon his person a small -revolver, a yet smaller electric lantern, £5 in change in case the -hunt should take him far afield, a flask of Scotch whiskey, a box of -fusees, some cigarettes such as are smoked by the landed classes, two -good cigars, five cheap ones, a little Craven mixture in one side of -his tobacco pouch and some peculiarly vile shag in the other. He put on -a waistcoat within the lining of which his true name and address were -inscribed upon a linen pad, thrust into his breast pocket an envelope -bearing a false name and address, and put into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> visiting card case -certain visiting cards bearing yet a third name and address, that of -one Hilling, a commercial traveller in the Seven Sisters Road; others -inscribed Mr. John Hilling, Captain 47th Fusiliers, Rochester, he also -secreted in various pockets, and a few more in which the same name was -played upon in other ways.</p> - -<p>The reader will be surprised to hear that after these preparations -he put upon his head a billycock hat of the most demonstrative type, -and committed the imprudence of wearing a large, made-up blue tie. -But genius, however universal, however disciplined and experienced, -is human. It is easy to criticise a fault in detail; it is more -difficult to reproduce the general plan of the master; and those who -may be disposed to ridicule the large made-up tie of Mr. Bevan, or the -billycock hat which I have gone so far as to call demonstrative, would -do well to ask themselves whether they would have had the learning or -the intuition to provide themselves—I mention but one point—with -cigarettes such as are smoked by the landed gentry, with Craven mixture -upon one side of the tobacco pouch and with a peculiarly vile shag upon -the other; yet Mr. Bevan had thought of these things!</p> - -<p>A few glasses of hot whiskey and water to prepare him for the ordeal -were rapidly swallowed—for Mr. Bevan, like most men of acute -intelligence, was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> moderate drinker—and he went out into the night. -It was a little after four o'clock.</p> - -<p>A man of less experience in the ways of the world might have neglected -to observe the movements of so wealthy a personage as Mr. Bailey until -a later hour in the morning, so universal has the deplorable habit of -late rising become among the governing classes of this country. Mr. -Bevan knew better. He had seen many a dark deed done between five and -seven of a London January morning, nay, in the old days as a member of -the Force he could well remember routing out the Alsatians close upon -six o'clock, though to be sure on that occasion the Force had been -guided to those abandoned premises by the sound of boisterous music and -the firing of a rocket through one of the upper windows.</p> - -<p>It was not five, then, when Mr. Bevan took his stand opposite the -little house in Bruton Street. He had chosen his advantage very well. -With a courage and skill which only those who have served in the -Metropolitan Police can understand, he hid himself in a corner where -a shadow thrown by a buttress put him in complete darkness. He was a -short man and yet had to crouch a little, but he was used to discomfort -in the prosecution of his duty, and in this attitude, unable even to -smoke for fear the light should betray him, he watched for over an -hour. At the end of that time rain began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> to fall. He did not upon -that account abandon his post; the tardy winter dawn gleamed at last -over the shining roofs of London. With the first hint of daylight the -light on his collar, which he had neglected to cover, betrayed him to a -policeman of the name of Tooley, who was slowly pacing the street and -whistling a mournful air.</p> - -<p>As quick as lightning Mr. Bevan was grabbed by both elbows, his face -thrust against the rough brick-work, and a natural demand, brief and -perhaps somewhat too violent, as to his occupation and intentions was -addressed to him by that Civil Servant. To the policeman's astonishment -Mr. Bevan's only reply to these manœuvres was what is technically -known in the Force as "the shake," and retreating rapidly three steps -backward he had the presence of mind to say in a low tone, "I'll pass -the order."</p> - -<p>With these words he satisfied his colleague in the manner which is -usual with our efficient and highly trained body of public guardians, -of the nature and legitimacy of his mission. The respective positions -of the Duke of Battersea and of Mr. Bailey were quite enough to -convince a sober judgment, and policeman Tooley, an active and -intelligent man, at once appreciated the situation, but felt bound in -duty to add:</p> - -<p>"I must keep my eye on you, mind," to which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> Mr. Bevan cheerfully -replied by a nod of the head, and resumed his former post.</p> - -<p>At about half-past seven the rain ceased. Eight o'clock struck: no one -in the street was stirring. A milkman passed down on foot, leaving his -little can at every gate, but carefully refraining from uttering that -musical cry, which the upper classes have, very properly, forbidden in -the neighbourhood of their town residences. It was a quarter to nine -and the whiskey in Mr. Bevan's stomach had long ago grown cold; nay, -he felt positively weak for want of breakfast, when the first signs of -life appeared in Mr. Bailey's house: these took the form, first of a -cat leaping out as though in panic from the area gate, and immediately -afterwards the appearance of a young woman's head utterly incomplete -in toilet, and, in everything save the sex and youth of its owner, -repulsive. Next, two blinds were drawn up in a bedroom on the second -floor. The window was thrown open; and for a little while nothing more -of real importance occurred.</p> - -<p>Within the house, Mr. Bailey's man Zachary had woken his master and had -flooded the room with light.</p> - -<p>"It is ten o'clock, sir," he said in his customary tone of mingled -severity and deference.</p> - -<p>"That's a lie," said Mr. Bailey, not moving his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> head from the pillow, -nor withdrawing it by one inch from beneath the bedclothes.</p> - -<p>Zachary made no reply. He was accustomed to conversations of this kind. -He made an unnecessary noise with the hot water, banged the furniture -about, and then before leaving the room said:</p> - -<p>"May I go out for the day, sir?" in a tone rather of menace than of -inquiry.</p> - -<p>"You can go at a quarter past ten—it must be nearly that now," -chuckled Mr. Bailey with sleepy humour.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey's man Zachary was annoyed to have been caught in this trap; -he consoled himself by remembering that he might leave the house at -once and his master be none the wiser.</p> - -<p>"If you're not back by six this evening," said Mr. Bailey -good-naturedly, stretching his arms and yawning, "you'll be in the -workhouse in a week or two."</p> - -<p>"Very good, sir," said Zachary in a more respectful tone than he had -yet adopted; he shut the door very softly after him and went tiptoe -down the deep carpet of the stairs. For the next ten minutes he was -dressing as befitted a man of his temper, and well before ten o'clock -he had emerged from the front door in a quiet, sensible frock-coat, a -good but not obtrusive top hat, quite new gloves of a deep brown, and -a serviceable but neat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> umbrella. His boots, however, were laced, not -buttoned; blacked, not polished.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan's heart rose with a bound. His long vigil was ended! He -permitted Zachary to turn the corner of Bruton Street into Berkeley -Square, and then, gauging his pace at much the same as that set by this -excellent domestic, he followed.</p> - -<p>The error was not only natural, it was inevitable. It was no case for -hesitation nor even for rapid decision; but even had such a necessity -arisen in Mr. Bevan's mind, his habit of prompt decision would have -saved him from even a moment's delay. He had found his quarry and he -would hunt it down.</p> - -<p>With the sober walk that denotes a man of the world, but now and then -twirling his umbrella as though his birth and status gave him a right -to despise convention, nay, going once or twice so far as to whistle -the bar of a tune, Zachary proceeded northward to the Tube, and turned -into that station which takes its name from Bond Street.</p> - -<p>The Tubes of London have added yet another problem to the already -arduous intellectual task of that great army of detectives which stands -between Society and Anarchy. To follow a man in the street, to pursue -his cab or his omnibus at the regulation distance advised by Captain -Wattlebury, M. Grignan, and other authorities of European<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> reputation, -is an easy matter; but once let your man get into the train ahead of -you on the Tube, and you have lost him! The Tube necessitates, as -all my readers who have engaged in detective work will recognise, a -close proximity to the person watched; but Mr. Bevan was equal to the -occasion. Fully appreciating the strategical advantage of the stairs, -he was at their foot long before the lift had reached the level of the -trains, and following Zachary's tall hat through the crush, he sat -down in the carriage next to that in which the scent lay, gazing into -vacancy and sucking the top of his umbrella. Mr. Bevan watched him -narrowly through a contrivance with which all the forces of law and -order are familiar: a little book which can be easily held before the -face as though one were reading, but which is pierced by a convenient -hole through which the right eye can sweep the landscape beyond.</p> - -<p>Zachary changed for Hampstead, and so did Mr. Bevan. At the junction he -bought a newspaper, the name of which Mr. Bevan, to his great chagrin, -was unable to note, as he folded it inside-out and read the lower half -of the sheet. At Hampstead, I find it in Mr. Bevan's notes that they -alit, and they reached the happy upper world together. Zachary made -straight for the Heath. Mr. Bevan, now free to follow him at a discreet -distance, did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> so, but grew fainter and weaker as he walked, for he was -in desperate need of food. He hoped and prayed that the chase would -turn into a restaurant: his prayer was answered, though in a manner -shocking to one who still maintained his respect for rank.</p> - -<p>Zachary turned into a little public-house of an unpleasing type, nodded -cheerfully to the potman, whom he addressed as "Larky," and ordered—of -all things in the world—gin and water!</p> - -<p>The accident was a godsend to Mr. Bevan. He noticed that his quarry had -at least had the decency to go into the saloon bar; he dashed into the -public one, gulped down a glass of beer, bought a handful of biscuits, -went out immediately lest he should miss the trail, and was glad to see -that his victim yet lingered within.</p> - -<p>In twenty minutes or so he came out, his eyes a little watery, and -continued his unsuspecting way towards the Heath with the detective -after him. But he was not alone! By his side there walked, dressed in a -manner that would have appalled the Press itself, a young woman!</p> - -<p>The plot thickened. And Mr. Bevan, who had expected a very different -occupation to be provided for him, divined at once the possibilities -which his discovery contained. He had no need now to fear hunger, -anxiety, or lack of matter. It was plain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> sailing for the whole -afternoon. He followed them to the Heath, he saw them seated and -embraced behind a clump of thorn and ready to devour a luncheon they -had purchased and carried in a paper bag. He would leave them now; he -had time to return to the little public-house and to inquire of the -potman every detail of the unhappy man's conduct; he was told of his -monstrous promise to marry the daughter of the potman's master; of -his repeated and lengthy calls; he learnt at full length the whole -disgraceful business, and with admirable self-mastery he pretended -to no surprise when he heard that the name the visitor was known to -the publican and his servant by was "Zachary Hemmings." He waited -patiently until the guilty man reappeared with his paramour in her -father's home. He waited outside in the advancing dusk until the male -offender had reappeared, somewhat unsteadily, and giving every sign of -an exhilaration due to something more than requited affection. His hat -was not absolutely straight upon his head; his umbrella trailed upon -the ground; his face was indolently happy. Zachary did not take the -Tube, but as it was now already dark and as he remembered in a fuddled -way that his place was in jeopardy, he had the cunning to hail a lonely -taximeter which was returning in no good humour after depositing a fare -at the Spaniards.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> - -<p>There are in the humbler strata of our national life qualities of -courage and immediate decision such as produce a Kitchener, a Milner, -or a Macdonald in the higher ranks. A taximeter is the fleetest of all -beasts: in Hampstead taximeters are rare. Mr. Bevan had decided in a -flash. He dashed up, pulled off his hat, imitating with partial success -the speech of a man out of breath with running, and told Zachary at -top speed that if he would permit him to share his taximeter back to -town he would be saving the life of a young child, of whose sudden -accidental fall he had but just heard by telephone. The domestic, -though perhaps not naturally warm-hearted, or if warm-hearted, rendered -callous by years of exacting labour, was, under the combined influences -which he had enjoyed, in a softer—nay, in an effusive mood. He seized -Mr. Bevan's hands, swung him into the cab, shouted "Cer'nly!" and -putting his head out of the window said to the astonished chauffeur, -"Home!"</p> - -<p>Before that mechanician had time to reply in suitable terms, Mr. Bevan -had whispered through the little hole, "That's all right, Bond Street: -tell you where to stop," and they darted away down the hill.</p> - -<p>Zachary tried twice to sing, remembered each time that he was in -company, smiled vapidly each time, and each time was silent again. But -I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> cannot deny that at Chalk Farm, quite forgetting the child whose -unhappy accident was causing an agonised father to be his guest, he -insisted on getting out and drinking—a course from which that agonised -father made no attempt to dissuade him; he repeated his folly at the -Horseshoe.</p> - -<p>At the corner of Bond Street the taximeter pulled up abruptly. Mr. -Bevan leaped out, and nodding hurriedly at the astonished Zachary who -had a vague comprehension that some things were too well known, and -other things too mysterious, he gave the number in Bruton Street to -the chauffeur and disappeared. The taximeter swept round eight or nine -corners, waited perhaps a quarter of an hour behind as many blocks in -the traffic, and finally deposited the unhappy Zachary at his master's -door.</p> - -<p>The noise of the engine attracted that master to the ground floor -windows of his study, and Zachary noted with alarm the vision of his -face. His confused brain prepared a defence. The sum marked upon the -taximeter was four and tuppence: he feared for one idiotic moment that -it represented 42<i>s</i>. Recovering from his alarm he remembered to divide -it by eight, which is the number of pence per mile commonly charged -by these useful vehicles, failed to arrive at a quotient, pressed ten -shillings into the chauffeur's hand, and was only too glad to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> see him -depart in the direction of Berkeley Square and of those wealthy regions -to the West. The wretched man was fumbling with his latch-key for the -keyhole, when he nearly fell forward inwards as the door was suddenly -opened by Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey's face was genial, his eyes bright as ever, his whiskers -as healthy and florid as though he had but just completed his morning -toilet. With his hands in his pockets he looked down on his abashed -servitor and said pleasantly:</p> - -<p>"How drunk you are to-night, Zachary!" He then added as Zachary's hat -fell to the floor: "I hope that's your hat, Zachary, and not mine!"</p> - -<p>Zachary said "Yes, sir," with painful clarity of intonation.</p> - -<p>"You come in here, Zachary," said Mr. Bailey, opening the door of the -study. "I want to talk to you. Sit down in that chair, a long way from -the fire."</p> - -<p>Zachary did as he was bid: Mr. Bailey shut him in, went to the kitchen -stairs and roared down them:</p> - -<p>"Jane-bring-me-up-a-cup-of-very-hot-coffee-with-no-sugar-in-it-at-once-I-don't-want-to-be-kept-waiting-in-the-study!" -For such was Mr. Bailey's method of delivering an order in person on -the rare occasions when he put himself to that inconvenience. The -consequence of that method was that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> hardly had he joined Zachary in -the study when Jane appeared, purple in the face, with a large cup of -coffee which contained no trace of sugar, and which was extremely hot. -The moment she was out of the room Mr. Bailey solemnly dropped a pinch -of salt into the coffee and said to his miserable servant:</p> - -<p>"Drink that!"</p> - -<p>"I do assure you, sir—" said Zachary in tones of increasing sobriety.</p> - -<p>"Drink that, you ass," said Mr. Bailey, "do you suppose I don't know -what's good for you?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir, certainly sir," said Zachary humbly. He gulped the coffee -down, and when he had done so began: "It's not near seven, sir."</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey put up his hand.</p> - -<p>"Now look here, Zachary," he said; "what I want is information. First -of all, you came in a taxi' cab."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir, I did, sir," said Zachary. "I'm sure, sir, I wouldn't -have——"</p> - -<p>"I don't mind your coming home in a pumpkin with six white mice," said -Mr. Bailey. "I don't want to know why about anything. What I want is -information. Where did you come from?"</p> - -<p>"'Ampstead, sir," said Zachary, who but rarely dropped his h's, but -thought there were occasions when it was necessary to do so. Then -forgetting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> his master's injunction, he added: "But there was a -gentleman, with me, sir."</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Mr. Bailey, thoroughly interested. "That's what I -wanted—information. You came in a taximeter (that I could see for -myself). You came from Hampstead, you came drunk (I'm sure you won't -mind my saying that!) and there was a gentleman with you. Now, who was -that gentleman?"</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I don't know," said the bewildered Zachary.</p> - -<p>"Good heavens!" replied Mr. Bailey. "Can't you remember where you met -him?"</p> - -<p>"It was coming out of my friend's father's house that is to be," said -Zachary, with a precision rather of visual concept than of terminology.</p> - -<p>"The Hop and Garters?" said Mr. Bailey, with vague reminiscence.</p> - -<p>"No, sir," said Zachary, with as much severity as he had power under -the conditions to assume. "The Hop Garden, sir; that's the name of the -house, the Hop Garden."</p> - -<p>"How had you passed your time till then?" asked Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>Zachary recounted his day in no great detail, and in some fear lest his -dignity should suffer as he told the story.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey mused. To characters so wayward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> and loose the solid -plans whereby great men of affairs achieve their ends are at once -inexplicable and tedious. Mr. Bailey had no conception of what was -toward. He might even have been ready, had Zachary remembered the -circumstance, to believe the story the detective told about a sick -child and the necessity for speed. As it was, he was merely bewildered, -and was filled with a sort of instinctive muddled conception that -somehow or other it had been worth somebody's while to shadow Zachary -as far as the top of Bond Street and no further. But why on earth -should any one want to shadow Zachary? He thought of burglars, but -burglars do not become intimate with servants by exciting their -suspicions. He thought of practical jokes; he thought of petty theft, -but Zachary assured him he was only ten shillings out, and even then -remembered that he had given the ten shillings to the chauffeur.</p> - -<p>While he was in this sort of study, making neither head nor tail of the -adventure, Zachary volunteered, a little nervously, for he was afraid -it might sound like an explanation and not like the "information" his -master was after:</p> - -<p>"I'm sure he was a gentleman, sir—he knew where you lived."</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey was quite seriously concerned. To men of his intellectual -calibre, utterly unworthy to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> compete with the great directing brains -of our masterful time, and capable only of a superficial and purely -verbal display, a sense of a force which knows <i>them</i> while they do -not know <i>it</i>, is intolerable. Such men are the weak, hunted creatures -of our powerful and creative generation—that is, when the hunt is -worth the hunter's while. And the hunters—the successful hunters—are -the financiers, the statesmen, the owners, the doers—the Hearsts, -the Northcliffes, the Clemenceaus, the Roosevelts, the Levi Leiter -Juniors—who make us what we are.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey, who knew so little of reality, knew this at least, and with -the instinct of all hunted things, he was troubled. He was much graver -when he rose after this conversation and said:</p> - -<p>"That's all right, Zachary, you'd better go to bed. Don't eat anything, -and drink nothing beyond such cold water as you absolutely require. I'm -sure it will be sufficient."</p> - -<p>"I thank you humbly, sir," said Zachary. He went out of the room quite -sober—such is the effect of coffee with a little salt—and crept up to -bed.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey remained for an hour and more gazing at the fire; then he -rang the bell and ordered dinner with the most precise care, choosing -just those articles which could be cooked lightly and quickly, -insisting to the cook whom he saw in person, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> they should follow -in a precise order and at precise intervals of time, and adding, as was -his invariable custom after each item:</p> - -<p>"If you haven't got it, send for it."</p> - -<p>At half-past eight this repast was to be ready, and for him alone. He -puzzled at Zachary's mysterious adventure for some moments and longer, -could make nothing of it, and in order perhaps to relieve his uneasy -sense of incapacity, took refuge in reading one evening newspaper after -another, and passing upon each some silent, facile, cynical comment as -he read.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Mr. Bevan had reported at Barnett House. He was at once -admitted.</p> - -<p>He found the aged statesman and philanthropist before the Adams -chimney-piece, a mass of papers upon a what-not beside him, his -telephone mobilised upon the great central table, and a pile of -bank-notes standing by the side of it under a paper-weight of bronze -representing the Ariadne of Knidos, a bust the poor Master of Kendale -had especially admired.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan stood waiting at the door. The Duke of Battersea with -exquisite good breeding waved his aged hand towards a chair, but Mr. -Bevan preferred to remain standing, and he was not pressed. He first -broke the silence:</p> - -<p>"I've done the job proper, my lord—your grace, I mean," he said; -"heavy, too."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I ask you to tell me quite shortly what you have found," said the -Duke, without lifting his eyes.</p> - -<p>It was almost the same order that Mr. Bailey was giving to his servant -at that same moment some two or three hundred yards away, but what a -gulf between the two men! The strong and secure architect of his own -and of his country's successes, sitting in the splendour of Barnett -House, doing, controlling all—and the poor egoist whose feeble -good-nature or vanity had been the chief feature of the interview in -Bruton Street! Mr. Bevan told his story with precision, described -the well-dressed gentleman leaving the house in Bruton Street; his -disgraceful adventures in a lower rank; his assumed name of "Zachary -Hemmings." The Duke asked the detective whether he were sure Mr. Bailey -used that false name. Mr. Bevan said "Quite sure, your grace," and -completed his tale with the story of the drunkenness, the taxi, and all -the nasty business. When he had done he pulled out the piece of paper -which had accompanied him throughout the day and to which he had added -a few lines in the Bull and Flummery, on his way from Bond Street to -Barnett House.</p> - -<p>"I've got it all writ down here, sir—I mean your grace." (The Duke -of Battersea made an impatient gesture—he could not bear to have -his title insisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> upon.) "It's all here," repeated Mr. Bevan with -legitimate pride.</p> - -<p>"Give it me," said the Duke of Battersea quietly.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan knew the world as well as a man can under his circumstances; -he also was one of the strong girders of our State, not one of its -painted ornaments; but when two generals meet the greater conquers. -He handed over the paper quite innocently, and before he knew what -had happened, the Duke of Battersea had put it in the fire; nay, -with a vigour rare at his age and rarer still in men of his worldly -possessions, he had thrust it among the coals with the toe of his boot.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan could not restrain a movement towards it. He was too late to -save it, then the reserve which the presence of the Great imposes upon -us all recalled him to himself.</p> - -<p>This brief episode over—and it did not take thirty seconds—the Duke -of Battersea said in a rather louder, more vibrant tone than he had yet -used:</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Bevan, there iss your money"—he wagged his head towards -the table. "You said you would not take it in a cheque; so: but I like -to know where my money goes; and how also."</p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan opened his mouth to speak.</p> - -<p>"It is take it or leaf it," said the Duke of Battersea.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Bevan took it.</p> - -<p>"I do think, sir ..." began Mr. Bevan.</p> - -<p>There passed suddenly over the Duke of Battersea's face an expression -of such concentration and power as may have passed perhaps over that of -another great genius<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> when he planned the Parliamentary fortunes of -the Panama Canal and seemed for a moment thwarted. It was an expression -of enormous intensity, and Mr. Bevan, putting the notes without -counting them into a side pocket of his coat, and keeping his hand upon -it, quietly left the room.</p> - -<p>When he was gone the Duke of Battersea took a note which he had already -written and was keeping against this moment, and sent it round the -corner in a cab to the club where he knew that Fitzgerald was waiting -upon that critical night before going back to the Plâs. The cab came -back immediately with Charles Fitzgerald in it. Here at least was a man -who understood haste. He was not even wearing a hat!</p> - -<p>The Duke of Battersea rose to receive him—a rare honour, but he knew -when to pay honour. He was affectionate to him, put one hand upon -his shoulder, and asked him whether he would drink<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> anything, which -Fitzgerald very gladly did; and when Fitzgerald had drunk he said:</p> - -<p>"Do you think you can bring Mr. Bailey at once here? Ah?"</p> - -<p>"He'll be dining now," said Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>"He is dining alone to-night," said the Duke of Battersea, "he is not -dining till half-past eight o'clock. It is twenty minutes only past -seven o'clock." He knew these things.</p> - -<p>He added a number of other details, stuffed with research, -concentration, and plan, and Fitzgerald admired all he heard.</p> - -<p>Fitzgerald waited a moment. "Mary Smith could get him," he said -finally, thinking as he spoke and holding his head to one side. "I'll -telephone to her and she'll telephone to him. Then she'll let me know, -and I'll go and fetch him. I'm sure he'll come."</p> - -<p>He bothered for no formalities but went out at once, for he knew what -was wanted.</p> - -<p>The time seemed very long to the Duke of Battersea. The moments were -important. Fitzgerald was gone but twenty-five minutes, and when he -returned the Duke was glad to hear two shambling footsteps accompanying -Fitzgerald's own decided step down the marble of the passage.</p> - -<p>And sure enough, there came in, half a head above the tall young man, -the taller, somewhat hesi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>tating figure with its good-natured face, -upon which could now be very palpably read a lack of ease.</p> - -<p>The Duke of Battersea put out his hand, but Mr. Bailey was so awkward -as to be occupied at that moment in blowing his nose. It was but one of -many indications of the man's inward disturbance. Then he sat down, and -behind him, without a word of comment or apology, Fitzgerald withdrew -and was off to Mr. Clutterbuck's home.</p> - -<p>When they were alone the Duke of Battersea said in a very gentle but -very decided tone:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Bailey, I think we know each other. I want to tell you a story. -Will you listen out?"</p> - -<p>"Listen what?" said Mr. Bailey, with his irritating verbal quibbles.</p> - -<p>"Listen out to me," said the Duke of Battersea, certain of his idiom.</p> - -<p>"Would I listen you out?" said Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the Duke of Battersea, still thoroughly master of himself.</p> - -<p>"Go ahead," said Mr. Bailey. He leant back, put his hands into his -pockets as though that drawing-room were the most familiar to him -in the world, and surveyed the Duke of Battersea downward through -half-shut eyes.</p> - -<p>The old man began his tale. The wording of it was perfect, and if here -and there a foreign idiom crept into his terse and carefully chosen -phrases,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> Mr. Bailey would murmur a correction. To such impertinences -the Duke paid no attention. He told the story of a man who had left -home that morning; he gave the precise hour at which he left home, the -manner of his dress, and the very lace upon his boots. He told the -whole shameful story of the Tube, of the Hop Garden—</p> - -<p>"Hop and Garters," said Mr. Bailey quietly.</p> - -<p>"So—well then," cried the Duke of Battersea, for one moment visibly -angered, "laugh at last and you laugh best." Then he sank back into -his own sense of power, recovered English idiom and continued. As he -went on to the story of the Heath, and of the luncheon, Mr. Bailey -rose and began pacing up and down the room. When the Duke came to the -final visit to the public-house, to the name "Zachary Hemming," which -he scanned slowly, hardening the gutturals in "Zachary" and filling -that word with sting, Mr. Bailey sat down again, and before the Duke -had concluded he had covered his face with his hands. But the old man -was pitiless. He told the story of the excesses at Chalk Farm, of -further excesses at the Horseshoe; he gave the very description of the -mysterious stranger, of the taximeter—of all. Then he ceased.</p> - -<p>There is always something of the Cad in the Fanatic. A gentleman would -have warned the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> aged Philanthropist of the error under which he -laboured. Not so Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey's face was still hidden. A slight movement of the shoulders -did not betray his emotion. There was a long interval of silence. Then -the Duke said:</p> - -<p>"Well, Mr. Bailey, now who laughs at last?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey answered never a word.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Bailey," continued the Duke, "I will do nothing, but so also you -will nothing. No-thing," he added, pronouncing the word quite slowly, -"no-thing at all." He wagged his head gently, and permitted the -slightest of smiles to greet Mr. Bailey's face as it rose from between -his hands. "No-thing at all. That is all is there," he ended.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey, with bowed head and with an inaudible sigh repeated, but in -a lower tone, stunned as it were into repeating the very phrases and -accent of his host, "No-thing at all—that is all is there."</p> - -<p>And he went out without another word.</p> - -<p>In this way the Duke of Battersea secured himself from danger, and he -slept that night certain that the meeting would not be held. He had won -his battle.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> I do not allude to M. de Reinach, the great French -statesman and champion of Truth and Justice, but to his uncle, whose -sudden demise will be familiar to many.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> I refer once more to the (alas!) late Baron de Reinach, -uncle of the great French statesman, Joseph de Reinach.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> morning Mr. Bailey woke at dawn, a rare thing for him and an -unpleasant one. He did not ring his bell: he hoped perhaps for further -sleep, but he felt wonderfully wakeful. The morning was fresh; he went -and pulled aside the curtain, he threw open the window towards the day, -and sniffed the eager air; his mischievous brain was alert and full of -plans; he was seeking what he might devour.</p> - -<p>In this mood there suddenly recurred to him the night before, and -though he was alone he beamed to himself at the recollection of it. -He first considered, in that minute manner to which such natures are -given, how best he could reply, and in a little while he had decided.</p> - -<p>He dressed and went out, ate his breakfast at a little workmen's -chop-house in one of the back streets—where he was sufficiently stared -at—and then walked smartly northward and eastward towards Mickleton, -musing as he went, and with every step he took his plan grew more -defined.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> Of all the men of Mickleton, Mr. Clay, he found, carried most -weight. His courage in starting business for a third time, his large -number of workmen, the rates he paid, his Swedenborgianism, all counted -in the suburb: he had paid Mr. Clay assiduous court for a fortnight, -and Mr. Clay was delighted at the honour.</p> - -<p>It was half-past nine when he found Mr. Clay in his office, strict and -starched as ever, and, as ever, in some incomprehensible hurry to get -on to the next affair.</p> - -<p>"Clay," he said, "can you lend me the big shed to-night?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Clay with the rapidity of decision that had already -lost him one fortune and grievously jeopardised two others. "James," he -said, turning round smartly, "book that. Mr. Bailey takes the big shed -when the men knock off work."</p> - -<p>"No, no!" broke in William Bailey, "not when the men knock off work. -It's Saturday man! Half-past eight's the hour."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Clay promptly. "James, book that: not when the men knock -off work, half-past eight. Anything more?" he added, turning to Mr. -Bailey as upon a swivel.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Clay, certainly," said Mr. Bailey with deliberate hesitation. -"Will the men come?"</p> - -<p>"Of course they'll come. I'll tell them to come:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> they'll come anyhow. -James," he said, turning round again, "note that the men are to come."</p> - -<p>The wretched James noted it.</p> - -<p>"Anything more?" said Mr. Clay.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Bailey, "will you take the chair?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly," said Mr. Clay. "James, remind me that I take the chair."</p> - -<p>"How shall I remind you?" replied the terrified boy.</p> - -<p>"How shall you remind me, you fool? Write it down—book it—make a note -of it. Anything more?" he continued.</p> - -<p>"No, I think that's about all," said Mr. Bailey. But as he turned to -go slowly out Mr. Clay's curiosity got the better of his extremely -businesslike habits.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Bailey," he said, coughing slightly, "Bailey, I beg your pardon, -but what will the meeting be about?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, what on earth does that matter?" said Mr. Bailey good-naturedly. -"Just a meeting."</p> - -<p>"About the unseating of our member?" asked Mr. Clay anxiously.</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered Mr. Bailey with jollity, "all sorts of things of that -sort."</p> - -<p>"I'm your man," said Mr. Clay, "I'm your man. None of that about here: -we're free born in Mickle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>ton, we are. Mickleton men," he added, -as though Mickleton were an island that had fiercely defended its -independence in long and bloody wars—"Mickleton men, Mr. Bailey." Then -he nodded, and remembering the true secret of success, began writing -rapidly again.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey sauntered out. He looked about him to find his direction, -turned down Mafeking Avenue, and when towards ten o'clock he had -reached the agents for the Second Jubilee Hall and the Coronation -Annexe, his foolish and disastrous intention was fixed.</p> - -<p>He entered abruptly into his business and told the clerk that he must -countermand the use of the building for that night. He was willing to -pay the £40 for it as though he had hired it, and in case they could -get another let at so short a notice, half that sum.</p> - -<p>The clerk had been warned by his principal that Mr. Bailey would -probably telephone or still more likely call in person that morning, -and professed a need to consult the head of the firm before he could -give a reply. He was careful to leave Mr. Bailey with a copy of the -<i>Times</i> while he went into the principal's private room, and Mr. -Bailey, who had not seen that paper for some months, gloomily read a -leader upon foreign affairs, in which his warped judgment pretended to -detect the hand of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> the redoubtable and ubiquitous Abraham. He had not -been engaged in this fashion for five minutes, when the clerk returned -and told him in a firm voice they could not accept his offer.</p> - -<p>"How do you mean you can't accept it?" demanded Mr. Bailey in very -genuine astonishment and with still more genuine irritation. "You can't -refuse it!... you mean you can't accept the £20?" he added a little -more gently.</p> - -<p>"Yes we can, sir—no I don't, sir," answered the clerk hurriedly and -firmly, while his mouth twitched like that of a Colonial Governor in -time of crisis. "I mean we can't accept it, sir, it can't be done."</p> - -<p>"But it's got to be done," roared Mr. Bailey. "You can't force me to -hold my meeting if I don't want to!"</p> - -<p>"No, sir, certainly not, sir," said the clerk.</p> - -<p>"Then what the hell do you mean?" shouted the blasphemous fellow.</p> - -<p>"I mean that we can't take a plain inclusive payment for the loss and -disturbance, sir. We can't do it."</p> - -<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean?" said Mr. Bailey.</p> - -<p>The clerk answered that he must consult his principal again, and Mr. -Bailey, restraining himself with a considerable effort, sat down to -finish the leader which he was more convinced than ever had proceeded -from the pen of the mythical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> Hebrew. It was a long while before the -clerk returned, for it had been necessary to communicate by telephone -with the Duke of Battersea, and at such an early hour it was not easy -to obtain the philanthropist's reply.</p> - -<p>"We'll take your offer, sir," said the clerk.</p> - -<p>"Oh you will, will you?" said Mr. Bailey, "then you won't have the -chance. I'll hold the meeting just the same. So there!" he added, a -little vulgarly, and stalked out.</p> - -<p>It is undecided, flighty action of this sort which leads to half the -trouble in this world. Mr. Bailey had not the remotest intention of -holding the meeting in the original hall. In that his somewhat wayward -decision stood firm. With that object he had seen Mr. Clay; and he -was wise, for the forces against him were too strong to permit him to -call the meeting in the Second Jubilee Hall or even in the Coronation -Annexe; they were strong enough to prevent his holding it in any public -building. But this sudden rise of temper on his part proved a source of -considerable irritation and expense to others, who should not have been -made responsible for it.</p> - -<p>The conversation that passed over the telephone, between the Duke of -Battersea and the agent, was singularly and needlessly acrimonious -upon the part of the aged statesman, almost servile upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> part -of the agent; both emotions might surely have been spared to two men -who at heart knew themselves to be worthy of nobler things, had not -Mr. Bailey, by his precipitate ill-temper, destroyed arrangements -which would probably have been for his own good, and certainly for -that of the community at large. The upshot of the conversation was -that the Duke, despairing of understanding the situation, announced -his intention of coming himself to Mickleton by noon, and the agent, -pleased as he was at the advertisement that such a visit must afford -him, would willingly have foregone the honour for the sake of that -peace which he feared never to regain.</p> - -<p>At noon the motor-car glode up with its tiny strawberry leaf coronet -and the dainty arms upon the panels.</p> - -<p>The agent came out, was obsequious, deferential, intelligent and full -of sympathy, but unfortunately incapable of the rapid perception -which was demanded of him. His only reply was that he could not see -how he could do it; that he would do everything he could; he would be -delighted to withdraw the placards which were even now being got ready -to stand outside the hall; he would make what difficulties he could for -the admission of the Press—though he very much doubted his power to -exclude reporters once the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> hall was hired. When, in the midst of his -excuses, he suddenly let light into his caller's mind by saying:</p> - -<p>"And of course everything would be subject to the proprietors."</p> - -<p>"Who are then the proprietors?" said the Duke sharply.</p> - -<p>"The Anglo-Saxon Exchange," said the agent with that touch of pride -which we all feel when we mention any important power with which we -have even a distant connection.</p> - -<p>The Duke was relieved.</p> - -<p>"That I should also have known," he said gently, and then changing his -manner altogether he added:</p> - -<p>"That is <i>allright</i>, that is <i>allright</i>," separating the first two -words and laying stress upon the first syllable of the last, in a -manner which still faintly betrayed those difficulties with the English -language which he had had the courage and the perseverance to conquer -almost completely.</p> - -<p>He went away in a frame of mind at which the agent was at once too -polite and too humble to wonder, but which was certainly far less -agitated than that in which he had come. It was a heavy strain to -fall upon a man of the Duke of Battersea's age, and one that should -have been spared him, but no one knew better than that strong genius -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> finance what things may be done by deputy and what things must be -done in person. Nor will any of my readers regret that the old man's -investigation should have left him freed of the fears which the vicious -and unpatriotic conduct of an irresponsible eccentric had aroused.</p> - -<p>A little after lunch Mr. Kahn, the secretary of the Anglo Saxon -Exchange, happened to drop in at the agent's in Mickleton. There was -nothing unexpected in the visit. His few questions turned upon the -usual topics, whether the hall had recently let well, who had taken -it, whether the more disturbed political meetings had done any damage, -whether it was now worth applying for a licence, &c. It occurred to -him to ask, just as he was going away, when the hall was likely to be -let next, and to whom, as there were certain reparations which the -architect for the estate had decided upon.</p> - -<p>The reappearance of this terrible subject once more disturbed the -restored equanimity of the agent.</p> - -<p>"Oh, dear," he said, "it's let—in a manner of speaking."</p> - -<p>"What's in a manner of speaking?" said the astonished secretary.</p> - -<p>"Well, a gentleman's got it anyhow, and then he didn't want it, and now -he wants it again."</p> - -<p>"Oh nonsense!" said Mr. Kahn, "we can't play<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> the fool with the County -Council. The platform's declared unsafe; we must have the workmen come -in. I thought there were several days to do it in and I wasn't in any -hurry, but it certainly can't be done in a couple of hours. You'll have -to tell your man he can't have it."</p> - -<p>The appearance of this further complication almost drove the wretched -agent mad. Excusing himself for perhaps the fifth time that day and -rushing to the telephone he called up Mr. Bailey and entreated him to -cancel the engagement. But Mr. Bailey was in a dour mood, and as he sat -indulging in his habitual excess of port after a solitary lunch, he -darted into his receiver the most positive and vicious refusal, saying -plainly that if his rights were tampered with he would sue for damages.</p> - -<p>The agent came back with the substance, though not with the expletives -of this reply, and the secretary of the Anglo-Saxon Exchange, pulling -out his watch, said briefly:</p> - -<p>"Well, there's no help for it. We must send in the workmen at once, and -if he wants to sue he can sue."</p> - -<p>In an hour a considerable body of healthy but somnolent men slouched -into the building, their chief showed his written orders, and the -remainder of the afternoon was spent in removing benches, opening -up the floor, barricading the door, cutting off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the electric -light from the main (nothing is more dangerous than to leave such -connections during repairs), digging a deep trench in front of the -back entrance, and in other ways setting about improvements that were -doubtless necessary, but that would make it highly inconvenient for -any considerable body to gather within for political or for any other -purposes.</p> - -<p>The agent, after repeated conversations with Mr. Bailey, each more -conciliatory than the last, promised and despatched a cheque for £25 on -the distinct understanding that no proceedings should follow; and when -the agent had recovered this sum (as he did with difficulty) from the -Anglo-Saxon Exchange, the expenses of that great financial corporation, -in labour and in compensation, were, I regret to say, considerably over -£100.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey, seated by his lonely but warm and brilliant hearth, held -the cheque for £25 daintily between his finger and thumb. For a moment -it seemed as though he would have put it in the fire, then with the -subtle smile of the fanatic, he thought better of the business; he -endorsed the cheque and sent it, with a Latin motto pinned on, to -a Jew-baiting organisation in Vienna; a foul gang of which he knew -nothing whatsoever save that he had read its address in one of those -vile Continental rags from which he derived so many of his prejudices,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> -and whose authority was the origin of his repeated falsehoods.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It had been arranged that Mr. Clutterbuck should pick up Mr. Bailey on -the way, just upon eight o'clock, and drive him to the hall.</p> - -<p>He had been late so often that Mr. Bailey was expecting some delay, -but when the quarter had struck, he grew anxious; and at twenty past -he would wait no longer. He had the good luck to get a taxi at the -corner of the square, but even so he would be late. He began to have -doubts, and as he dashed up northwards to Mickleton those doubts in -that diseased brain of his rapidly became certainties. Mr. Clutterbuck -had been nobbled: Mr. Clutterbuck would not appear. Asleep or ill, or -overturned in some ditch, or accidentally locked up in some room, the -ex-Member for Mickleton would not be in Mickleton that night. Such were -the wild fancies which formed in the fanatic's imagination. The truth -was simple and needed no such extravaganza of melodrama as William -Bailey concocted within himself.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald had had the curiosity to stroll into the old -constituency that morning; he had come back to the centre of town -from Mickleton by two. He had had lunch, of course, with the Duke -of Battersea, who depended every day more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> and more upon the young -fellow's conversation and wit. Mr. Bailey's latest insanity, which -Charlie Fitzgerald happened to have heard of during his visit to -Mickleton in the morning, was naturally touched upon in their -conversation; they laughed at the cunning which had hired Mr. Clay's -shed, and they discussed the chances of the extempore meeting, but the -happy young Irishman was not without a sense of duty; he would not -leave his employer unaided, nor did the Duke of Battersea press him too -eagerly to remain.</p> - -<p>By half-past four, therefore, he was back at The Plâs, ready with his -cheery voice to give Mr. Clutterbuck energy for the evening's business. -He suggested a run round in one of the motors before going straight -into town; there was a fine heartening wind from the south-west, with -heavy clouds; it was just the afternoon to take an hour or two of the -air before turning in after dark to London and duty. The suggestion was -excellent, as were most of Charlie's suggestions, and Mr. Clutterbuck, -carefully rolling up the speech that Mr. Bailey had written for him, -and thrusting it into his breast pocket, put on his great fur coat and -gloves, and ordered one of the smaller cars to come round.</p> - -<p>"Nothing braces one up like a sharp bit of motoring before a speech," -said Mr. Clutterbuck, as he got into the open Renault.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald was occupied in hauling away at the barrel organ in -front of the radiator. He made faces as he did so.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was rubbing his hands nervously and glancing at the sky.</p> - -<p>"It looks dark," he went on, still rubbing his hands, "but I dare say -nothing will come of it."</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald, with a face more hideous than any yet drawn, gave -a final tug at the starting handle and the machine began to throb. -He jumped up by Mr. Clutterbuck's side and steered slowly past the -lodge into the Croydon Road, while Mr. Clutterbuck kept on harping at -his side upon the advantages of a sharp spin before a speech, and the -doubtfulness of the weather. They fell into the main road and turned -sharply to the left.</p> - -<p>"Taking us far afield?" said Mr. Clutterbuck cheerfully. Nothing -pleased him more than the experience of his secretary in the driving of -a car. "Godalming, eh?"</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald spoke for the first time:</p> - -<p>"Something of that kind," he said. "Just a long run.... We'll go -further than Godalming; we'll go right away round, and come into town -from the north and west by the Harrow Road. It's much better like that; -we won't get any of the slums. Let's eat somewhere in the country."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was delighted. His honest old soul and his still more -honest old stomach could not quite forget the honest old hours of high -teas and a snack later on.</p> - -<p>They shot round the base of the hills, missed a child in Dorking, ran -into Guildford, had a splendid zizz along the Hog's Back, and then -turned sharp round on to the Frimley Road, passed Penny Hill, and on -towards Virginia Water. By the time they reached Staines it was dark.</p> - -<p>All the way Mr. Clutterbuck had spoken with increasing joy, and Charlie -Fitzgerald, in spite of his interest in the driving, had been very -human to him. Now the dark had fallen, however, it was necessary that -he should keep silence while he picked his way across country towards -Harrow.</p> - -<p>The turnings were bewildering, but Mr. Clutterbuck very properly -trusted to his guide, and when about half-past six he had not yet -perceived the first gas lights of a London street, he only asked quite -casually whereabouts they were.</p> - -<p>Charlie Fitzgerald answered with perfect straightforwardness that they -must be somewhere near North Holty and Pinner by the look of the lanes, -and he would take the next turning to the right; it would put them into -Bruton well before eight, but they would have no time for more than a -snack on the way. The next turning to the right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> he duly took and then -for many miles the road appeared to lead through a maze of turnings -until they found themselves steadily ascending. On the right and the -left were silent woods of beech, and there was no light for miles -around. It was long past 7 o'clock, and Mr. Clutterbuck was seriously -alarmed.</p> - -<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Fitzgerald," he said—it was not often that he -had remonstrated in all these months—"I beg your pardon, but are you -quite certain where you are?"</p> - -<p>Then for the first time Charlie Fitzgerald confessed that he was -not absolutely certain; he could not possibly, he said, be far from -Rickmansworth, even if he had gone quite out of his way, and the best -thing they could do was to send a telegram from the next telegraph -office and to ask their way.</p> - -<p>As he thus spoke, he suddenly slackened speed at a turn in the road and -began a steep descent which lasted for over a mile. One five minutes -and another went by; there was no sign of a house. At last a light -showed far off to the left of the road.</p> - -<p>Fitzgerald pulled up, leapt out with zeal, and came back with the -information that they were at Postcombe, and so far as he could make -out from the rustics who were singularly dull, the next post<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> office -was a mile or two down the road; they were on the right line for -London, but it would be another eighteen miles.</p> - -<p>The post office was there right enough, and Fitzgerald went in and sent -a telegram; then he took his seat again and drove through the night.</p> - -<p>Mile after mile went by and there was no sign of men.</p> - -<p>At Mr. Clutterbuck's age this kind of thing is dangerous; the lack of -food told upon him; the anxiety told upon him still more. He worried -Fitzgerald with continual questions; when they would be in; what -direction they were following; whether he could perceive any glimmer of -London before them.</p> - -<p>To these questions his secretary only replied by nervous jerks of the -head as he drove on straight through the darkness. His anxiety was -betrayed by the forward bend of his body and the anxious tightening of -his brows. He had hoped, perhaps, before he had sent the telegram to be -in time. That was now past praying for, but they might at least turn -the confusion of the meeting into a success if only they could make the -lights of London by nine. He pushed the car to its utmost limits of -speed, careless of the thick blackness and of the perpetual windings of -the lanes which he followed with singular confidence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> - -<p>They passed over a railway line, but there was no station in sight; -they went on and passed another in the same fashion, then a broad river.</p> - -<p>At last the motion showed them they were taking yet another long hill. -There was no hedge upon either side, open fields, down; and a bitter -wind driving across them filled the night. It was even too dark to -perceive more than the ghosts of the clouds, when, at what seemed the -loneliest part of this lonely countryside the machine stopped suddenly, -and Charlie Fitzgerald, in a voice of weary despair, muttered half to -himself and half to his companion:</p> - -<p>"If it's the king-bolt, we're done!"</p> - -<p>He took one of the lanterns from the front of the car, put it down upon -the ground where it would illumine the complicated works beneath, and -lying flat upon his back on the road, he began to inspect the damage. -Mr. Clutterbuck, stooping anxiously with hands on knees, interrogated -him from time to time, but received only disjointed replies in which -king-bolts, the differential, the clutch and Beeton's Patent played a -confused part.</p> - -<p>After some few minutes of this investigation Charlie Fitzgerald -reappeared, replaced the lamp, and said in a solemn manner:</p> - -<p>"We're cooked!"</p> - -<p>It began to snow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p> - -<p>If Mr. Clutterbuck had had the slightest idea where he was, his dolour -might have been to that amount relieved. He had none. He looked at his -watch by the acetylene flare and found that it was nearly ten o'clock. -The monotony of their misfortune was relieved by the approach of a -horse and cart, and they learned from the driver at last the full -extent of their misfortune. They had the choice, it seemed, of two -resting-places that night, equally distant, one was Stow-in-the-Wold; -and the only consolation the situation could offer them was the -certainty that their car had done very well to cover such a distance in -such weather in such a time. For the rest, eight miles in the dark was -not a pleasing prospect, and Charlie Fitzgerald was moved to make one -more attempt at reviving the car.</p> - -<p>To Mr. Clutterbuck's astonishment the able young fellow succeeded -this time within a very few moments. They continued the main road and -reached their inn a little before eleven.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meanwhile in London the meeting had, indeed, pursued a course Mr. -Clutterbuck did not in the least desire.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XIV</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> to Mr. Clay's great shed there was an office which during the -daytime served for the time checker. It was used that night as the -ante-room to the meeting.</p> - -<p>Small as it was, some twenty or thirty of the greater people of -Mickleton had crowded into it, and more were coming of those who were -to occupy the platform upon this decisive night. But though the hour -of half-past eight approached, struck, and went past, Mr. Clay was -increasingly anxious to observe that no Mr. Clutterbuck was there. With -this exception, all the arrangements he was sure had been businesslike, -practical, and thorough, but he could not conceal it from himself that -no amount of organising power could make up for the absence of the -ex-Member, whom the vast crowd had come to hear; and in his heart he -laid that absence down to the irresponsibility and wayward temperament -of William Bailey; he noticed also the absence of Mr. Fitzgerald.</p> - -<p>In the great shed next door the audience were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> beginning to stamp -their feet, and there were sounds as though their impatience might be -dangerous, but Mr. Clay dared not proceed.</p> - -<p>Just at the moment when his own patience was breaking, and when he -had determined to take the platform at any risk and to carry off -the meeting as best he could, Mr. William Bailey swished up in his -taximeter, stepped out of it with perfect and exasperating coolness, -elbowed his way through the little crowd to Mr. Clay and said:</p> - -<p>"Well, Clay, he hasn't turned up, and I don't think he will."</p> - -<p>Let those who have the power to construct new words discover one to -describe Mr. Clay's interior emotions at the news. The words he used -were these:</p> - -<p>"I don't understand. Why not? Whose fault is that? Something must be -done! You can't do that sort of thing. I do wish it hadn't happened. -I'm not a rich man, but I'd give £5! We ought to wait! I really can't -conceive—I do wish!" and one or two other pronouncements of the same -sort which betrayed not only in their phraseology but in their tone, an -alarming perturbation. His face wore a look of intense suffering, and -he was in no way calmed by the intermittent roars proceeding from an -audience which had now waited over half an hour, and in many of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> whom -enthusiasm was already fermenting into anger.</p> - -<p>The larger body of influential people who were to have supported the -ex-Member for Mickleton upon the platform were to the full as anxious -as their Chairman. Only Mr. Bailey appeared to regard the accident with -complete calm. He answered the agitated Clay by suggesting a short -excursion on to the platform and an explanation to the audience that -their hero had been kidnapped.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clay's voice rose as high as a woman's:</p> - -<p>"<i>He's been kidnapped!</i>" he screamed.</p> - -<p>"No, no, no," said Mr. Bailey, "I didn't say he'd been kidnapped. I -said 'let's go and tell the audience he's been kidnapped!' I don't know -what's happened to him, and neither do you nor anybody else. Perhaps -he's dead; perhaps his motor's broken down. Perhaps he made a mistake -about the hour. Perhaps he's gone mad. It's no good speculating; the -point is to prevent a riot."</p> - -<p>As he said this the noise within the hall grew so like that of a herd -of wild bulls that Mr. Clay was spurred to yet further activity.</p> - -<p>"But you can't go and tell them an untruth," he said, almost crying as -he said it. "... Oh, let's go in and hold the meeting," he added, and -then concluded with the apparently irrelevant words: "I'm a business -man and I like business ways."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey acceded as he would have acceded to any other misfortune, -and the whole troop of them came tramping in, following Mr. Clay up the -rough, improvised steps on to the platform.</p> - -<p>The appearance of these notables solemnly filing in and taking their -chairs soothed for a moment the angry mass below, but they looked in -the procession for the dome-like forehead and the crescent moustache -of a Clutterbuck: neither were there. Mr. Bailey watched the seething -audience kindly through his spectacles, and marvelled at the numbers -who had come.</p> - -<p>There must have been over five thousand men present; the furthest -recesses of the great shed were crowded with lads and young labourers -standing upon the benches the better to follow the speeches, and packed -as close as herrings, and a big mob outside was even now struggling at -the doors. It was fearfully hot and close, and at the back a woman had -fainted. He feared for the result.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clay whispered to him hurriedly, but Mr. Bailey was observed to -shake his head. Then Mr. Clay was seen to turn to Mr. Alderman Thorne -and urge—perhaps implore—his aid: that gentleman ponderously rose to -speak. His voice was deep and resonant: his gestures large. He reminded -his hearers of many things: that English freedom was at stake, that -their ancestors had torn up the railings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> in Hyde Park, and that the -spirit of Cromwell still lived. Then next, as he had been hurriedly -advised, he suggested that they should sing that great new song and -hymn which expressed their determination and their hopes.</p> - -<p>As yet no one moved. He recited the first verse and begged them with -religious enthusiasm to sing it when he had completed the opening words:</p> - -<p style="margin-left: 10%;"> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">"<i>The Lion, the Lion, his teeth are prepared,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>He has blown the loud bugle, his sabre is bared.</i>"</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Kipling's magnificent words brought a dozen to their feet; a few more -were thinking of rising; a woman's voice had already begun, somewhat -prematurely, "<i>The Lion</i> ..." in a high treble, when a large, bearded -man, with a fearless face and an appearance of fixed determination -sprang up in the body of the meeting and said with a rich North country -burr:</p> - -<p>"Mrrr. Chairrman."</p> - -<p>The others looked about them and sat down. The woman's treble piped -away into nothing, and the North Countryman, still standing huge, said -again much more loudly:</p> - -<p>"<span class="smcap">Mr. Chairman!</span>"</p> - -<p>This simple remark elicited on every side large shouts of "You're -quoite roight! Don't give wye," and other encouraging expressions.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Mr. Chairman," said the stranger for the third time, when their cries -subsided, "before we hear this gentleman or sing yonder, perr-haps -you'll tell us why ourr Memberr is not heerr?"</p> - -<p>Mr. Clay, who was smiling pleasantly during this episode, and moving -his feet with great rapidity to and fro under the table to relieve the -tension of his nerves, was about to reply when the stranger, as is the -custom of plain straightforward men in the poorer ranks of society, -proceeded to speak at some length in support of his query; and Mr. Clay -was too much pleased with such a respite to call him to order. The -honest fellow pointed out, under various heads, not without rhetorical -embellishments, and with considerable movement of the right arm, what -the constituency had a right to expect, what was and what was not an -insult to working men, and continually measured the circumstances of -the evening by the fixed standards of what one gentleman has a right to -expect from another. He was repeatedly cheered, and his Christian name, -embellished with endearing epithets, was called out more than once in -lively accents.</p> - -<p>When he had sat down, and before Mr. Clay, who was half on his feet, -could reply, another and totally different being in quite another -quarter of the room, rose to make what he affirmed was a very different -protest, but one which, in the course of his making<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> it, turned out to -be nearly identical with the first which had been heard.</p> - -<p>Then at last Mr. Clay had his chance and was free to observe, to loud -cries of "Speak up!" and other less complimentary commands, that the -occasion was one in which a little patience——</p> - -<p>It was at this precise moment that an orange, fired with incredible -rapidity, whizzed past the speaker's head and broke with considerable -force upon the mantled shoulder of Mrs. Battersby.</p> - -<p>"If that was one of my men——" shouted Mr. Clay—but he got no -farther. To the protests which were now rising from the greater part -of the audience, were added inconsequent songs raised by mere rowdies, -and to add to the confusion a free fight began in the south-eastern -corner of the room between two gentlemen who were of the same opinion, -but of whom each had completely misunderstood the attitude of the other -upon the subject to which the evening was to have been devoted. The -diversion afforded by this conflict attracted a larger and a larger -number of champions upon both sides, and suddenly, for no apparent -reason and prompted only by that brutish instinct which will often -seize upon a mob when it gets out of hand, a considerable body of the -electors present broke and surged towards the Platform.</p> - -<p>The Platform in its turn attempted to go out, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> the single door -of issue so considerably impeded their determined efforts that their -rear, if I may so express myself, was hopelessly outflanked by their -assailants long before the communications of the retreat had been -properly organised. It cannot be denied that Mr. Alderman Thorne made -a good fight of it for a man of his age and dimensions, and at the -very moment when Mrs. Battersby, emitting piercing shrieks, was being -squeezed sideways through the door, he was observed planting his fist -with some vigour into the face of one of his own colleagues whom he had -mistaken for the enemy.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clay, who was quite unused to other combat than that of religious -debate, improvised a defence with a chair, the legs of which he pushed -back and forth rapidly with such considerable effect as to permit him -to abandon his post almost the last and without a wound.</p> - -<p>As for Mr. Bailey, he took refuge in his mere height; he retreated -somewhat to the back of the platform, stood up, surveyed the swaying -tangle of struggling men. He was pleased to note that the sound -tradition which forbids men of inferior reach and weight to engage in -coarse physical contest, spared him the active exertions necessary -to so many of his friends. When he saw, or thought he saw, that the -last of these as they backed towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> the door were in danger of -ill-treatment, he elbowed his way without much resistance in their -direction, and with some good humour pushed aside the first rank of -their assailants.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the platform was completely covered with the victorious band -who had stormed it; the moment was propitious for the entry of the -police, who had been telephoned for from the ante-room; ten of these -stalwart fellows marched in with military precision, and by their -vigorous efforts prevented any further ingress to the platform which -they erroneously supposed they had come in time to defend.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bailey, shuffling out into the street in the midst of his still -heated neighbours, thought it would be entertaining to approach the -main door and to hear the opinion of the electorate. He was not -disappointed. When the last of them had come out and when he had -managed to explain himself to the police, who were all for making -him their unique prisoner, he walked slowly homewards, meditating -upon the forces of the modern world and imagining doubtless a hundred -hare-brained theories to account for the very simple accident which -had befallen the unfortunate Clutterbuck. To his diseased mind there -seemed no third explanation beyond kidnapping and blackmail; and when -he considered the shortness of the time avail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>able for the discovery -of Mr. Clutterbuck's foibles, his futile judgment had determined <i>à -priori</i> and without a shadow of proof, that as Mr. Clutterbuck could -not have been blackmailed, Mr. Clutterbuck had been spirited away.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Next morning, between eleven and twelve, William Bailey lay in bed -amusing himself by reading for once a whole batch of Sunday papers, for -all of which he had just despatched Zachary to a large agent.</p> - -<p>The ridiculous fellow was drawing up a memorandum, annotated with -queries and remarks of the most fantastic kind, upon the names of -the proprietors, the careers of the editors and the reasons each -might have for giving his particular version of the affair. He noted -what percentage mentioned the meeting at all; the adjectives used -with regard to each: the motives ascribed to its promoters and to -the indignation of the audience. The fact that the <i>Observer</i> had no -space to mention the ridiculous bagarre he put down, as my readers may -well imagine, to some dark and mysterious conspiracy connected with -the Hebrew people. The fact that of those who mentioned it only two -alluded vaguely to the Ruby Mines and none to the Duke of Battersea he -ascribed, of course, not to the very natural reason that these details -could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> concern the general public, but to what he was pleased to -term "corruption." And altogether his disappointment at the result -of the evening before, though it was a result which he had more than -half expected, was amply made up for by his perverted pleasure in the -contemplation of that next morning's Press.</p> - -<p>He was in such a mood and ready for any false assumption or for any -wicked slander, when a telegram was brought him. He opened it. It was -from Stow-in-the-Wold; it begged Mr. Bailey to explain if possible and -to make things right if it was not too late. Unfortunately within the -narrow limits of such a message it was impossible to give the nature -of the accident that had happened, and William Bailey's most foolish -suppositions were only the more confirmed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sunday is not a good day for getting about. Mr. Bailey estimated -things, and rightly judged that the motor-car, forlorn in those far -Cotswold Hills, would be in no mood to return the eighty miles to town, -and he saw that the trains of a Sunday were not the most convenient.</p> - -<p>He let it stand till Monday, but that evening a figure worn with travel -and shaken with unusual experience appeared before him. It was the -figure of Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> - -<p>He recited the adventure at large; he had not dared look at the Sunday -papers; he had come because he could not rest until he had heard news -of the dreadful affair. He was almost incoherent in his rapidity. -Charlie was back at the Plâs; he had seen Mrs. Clutterbuck a moment—he -had not told her. How had the constituency taken it, oh how had they -taken it?</p> - -<p>"Like a lot of animals," said William Bailey with vivid memories of the -night, "and not quiet animals either; like a lot of wolves," he said.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck was heart-broken. "Couldn't something——" he began.</p> - -<p>"Oh, <i>no</i>!" said William Bailey, really put out by the futility of -the phrase that was coming. "No! Nothing! It's all over. When you're -defeated, retreat in good order—keep your train intact. <i>We're</i> -defeated all right!" Then he had the absurd irrelevance to add: "Come -into the House with me on Tuesday?"</p> - -<p>"But I'm not a member now," gasped Mr. Clutterbuck.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I mean under the gallery, just to look at it," said William Bailey -impatiently. "I'm not a member now either, thank God! It's one of the -few things they can't force on a man nowadays." Such indeed is the -cynical attitude of too many men who secretly know their own failure, -and whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> bad tactics, or more frequently adverse majorities, have -driven from the House of Commons.</p> - -<p>Mr. Clutterbuck mournfully consented. He felt that impulse which the -bereaved know so well, and which leads the widower to the freshly -covered grave.</p> - -<p>Upon Tuesday Mr. Bailey obtained for him the magnificent spectacle of -the opening of Parliament. Mr. Clutterbuck heard the King's Speech, saw -the peers in their robes, aye, and the peeresses too, and was glad to -remember that there was one institution at least of a greater splendour -than that to which he might now never attain.</p> - -<p>As they went out, Mr. Bailey said, <i>à propos</i> of nothing: "Sack -Charlie."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Fitzgerald.... Why on earth?" said Mr. Clutterbuck with an open -mouth.</p> - -<p>"Well, don't if you don't like: I won't interfere. Lunch to-morrow?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Clutterbuck, "certainly."</p> - -<p>"Right," said Mr. Bailey, "and we'll get under the gallery."</p> - -<p>In the train Mr. Bailey's advice echoed, and echoed ill in the -merchant's ears, but he had not been in the house ten minutes when he -heard Charlie Fitzgerald's happy voice calling him, and begging for -congratulations.</p> - -<p>Any vague suspicions that might have passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> through his mind were -instantly dispelled, as he told the news—but he told it, protesting -his willingness to continue his services if Mr. Clutterbuck desired to -retain them. If he were free, however, Charlie had the option of a post -in India.</p> - -<p>His face was glorious with anticipation.</p> - -<p>"In the Civil Service?" said Mr. Clutterbuck innocently.</p> - -<p>"No," answered Charlie with nonchalance, "in some works out there, a -sort of company; but I shall like it. It's mining, you know; it puts me -right to the top at once."</p> - -<p>"You'll do well," said Mr. Clutterbuck, wringing his hand with more -familiarity than he had yet shown, and remembering as a business man -must, the splendid organising power that lay behind the Irish ease of -the Daniel-Daniels-Fitzgeralds.</p> - -<p>Next day Mr. Bailey and Mr. Clutterbuck were watching the first -working day of the Session of 1912:—what thoughts passed through the -merchant's mind were much too deep for words as he noted one face after -another so long familiar to him in the comic journals, and heard, under -the disguise of their constituencies, names that shook the world. The -wit, the intelligence, the judgment, the rhetoric overwhelmed him, and -there were two tears in his eyes as he looked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> - -<p>He heard one timid supplementary question on the Anapootra Ruby Mines, -the thunderous cries for order that met it, and the sharp rebuke from -the chair: then suddenly William Bailey moved from his side—he had -seen the young Prime Minister, flushed with glory, but touched as it -seemed with fatigue, go out for a moment behind the Speaker's chair. He -said to Mr. Clutterbuck, "I'll be back in a moment," and he went off -hurriedly through the lobbies.</p> - -<p>William Bailey had one more task before him, and for once it was -innocuous. He passed through the well-known corridors to the Prime -Minister's room, opened the door without knocking, nodded to the -secretary, and went in.</p> - -<p>There are wearinesses in the common desert of political life, and an -exception to its tedium, however anomalous or eccentric, will prove at -some moments refreshing. The young Prime Minister was really glad to -see the tall and absurd figure striding into the room, and he said: -"Good old Bill!" with an accent of earlier times. Then he put his -forearm squarely on the big official table, and before William Bailey -could speak, with his firm, half-smiling lips he said:</p> - -<p>"It'll save you trouble, Bill, to know that whatever it is I'm not -going to do it."</p> - -<p>"That's a pity," said William Bailey, "for the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> thing I was going -to ask was whether you'd come to the Follies on Friday."</p> - -<p>The Prime Minister was hugely relieved. "There's no one else in London, -Bill, who comes into this particular room to ask that particular kind -of question."</p> - -<p>"Oh?" said Mr. Bailey thoughtfully. "By the way," he went on, "there's -another thing; old Clutterbuck's got to have it."</p> - -<p>"Oh, damn and blast old Clutterbuck," said the Prime Minister, jumping -up from his chair as some men do when they see a black cat. "Oh, it's -perfectably intolerable! Whether it's Charlie, or whether it's Mary, -or whether it's Bozzy, or whether it's you, you shoot out that word -'Clutterbuck' the moment you've got the range. The only man in London -who has the decency to spare me Clutterbuck is the Peabody Yid."</p> - -<p>"<i>Et pour cause</i>," said Mr. Bailey, who spoke French but rarely.</p> - -<p>The Prime Minister began to smile, then checked himself.</p> - -<p>"I don't think it can be done, Bill," he said gently. "He's out of the -way, I know, but it really would be too ridiculous. What would people -say?"</p> - -<p>"They wouldn't say anything," said Mr. Bailey, "they never do say -anything, and it has its advantages, you know: a friend's a friend and -an enemy's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> an enemy; he's dreadfully sore just now. Besides which, -what harm does it do a soul to give the poor chap a hoist? What harm -did it do any mortal soul even when the Peabody Yid bought his peerage? -And <i>he</i> bought the right to make interminable speeches with a lisp. -I remember your father about him years ago: he was a godsend to your -father in the Lords; your father could do the Yid better than any one -in London."</p> - -<p>Mr. William Bailey indulged in an imitation of the lisp, and the Prime -Minister, who also remembered his father's intense amusement, was -melted to another smile. He half gave way.</p> - -<p>"The trouble is to find the recognition, you know," he said, "'in -recognition'—in recognition of what? It's like the despatches from -South Africa when they had to stick in every man Jack of them, or never -dine again. But it's easier to give a D.S.O. because the public aren't -there looking on. What the devil has old Clutterbuck ever done?"</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Mr. Bailey gaily, "he declared strongly against allowing the -fall in Consols to go on, and in favour of a large gold reserve, and -one or two other things." Mr. Bailey looked the Prime Minister straight -in the eye, and the Prime Minister's eye fell.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> - -<p>He took a pen and began drawing on the blotting-paper before him. "Do -suggest something," he murmured.</p> - -<p>There was a long silence.</p> - -<p>"In recognition of his active services and labours in connection with -the Royal Caterham Valley Institute," said Mr. Bailey at last.</p> - -<p>"What on earth's that?" asked the Prime Minister, looking up blankly.</p> - -<p>"We—ll, it doesn't exist—yet," said William Bailey, "but it will, you -know, it will."</p> - -<p>"I don't mind," said the Prime Minister wearily, "but it can't be -before Easter."</p> - -<p>"Well, now I'll tell you," said William Bailey by way of finale; "you -write me a little note so that the poor fellow can be certain of Empire -Day, and you will have done a really good deed."</p> - -<p>"I can trust you, Bill?" said the young man anxiously. (How human they -are!)</p> - -<p>"Oh yes," said Mr. Bailey, "I'll give you a hostage."</p> - -<p>He wrote out a few words on a slip of paper, signed it, and handed it -over to his relative.</p> - -<p>The Prime Minister took it with a funny little laugh and threw it into -the fire.</p> - -<p>"Don't be a fool, Bill," he said. "Of course I can trust you."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> - -<p>He wrote on a sheet of notepaper:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Mr. Bailey</span>,</p> - -<p>"<i>I can well understand, but, as you will easily see, it is -impossible before Empire Day. I have, however, received commands upon -the matter with regard to that date, and I trust Mr.—— </i>"</p></blockquote> - -<p>"Empire Day's in the season, isn't it?" he added anxiously.</p> - -<p>"At the beginning of the season," replied William Bailey solemnly, -"just before the middle class begin marrying into the plutocracy."</p> - -<p>"You're quite right," said the Prime Minister seriously, "only I wanted -to get the date more or less right. One must have time, and there's -going to be a list on Empire Day—anyhow it's after Easter"—then he -went on writing.</p> - -<p>"What's the name?" he said in the middle of his writing.</p> - -<p>"The name," said Mr. Bailey, "was to be Percy, I think—yes, Percy."</p> - -<p>"<i>Mr. Percy Clutterbuck</i>," the Prime Minister went on writing, "<i>will -accept your assurance and will use every discretion in the matter</i>." He -wrote a few more lines and signed. "There," he said, handing it over.</p> - -<p>"You're a very good fellow," said William Bailey, taking the note and -putting it carefully into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> monstrous old-fashioned wallet. "I'll send -it back to you within a week—not necessarily for publication, but as a -guarantee of good faith."</p> - -<p>As he said this the Premier's secretary came in with the unpleasing -news that the deputation had come to time.</p> - -<p>William Bailey hurriedly went out by the little private side door which -he knew so well.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was not until Mr. Bailey had successfully persuaded Mrs. Clutterbuck -herself of the interest taken in the Highest Quarters in the Royal -Caterham Valley Institute that he dared show that little note to -her husband; but she—indomitable soul!—willingly accepted the -opportunity at which he hinted. The bazaar was held, subscriptions -gathered, Patronage of the most conspicuous sort received, the first -stone of the Institute was laid with many allusions to the approaching -festival of Anglo-American goodwill. William Bailey had long returned -that dangerous little letter, and on that day which is now the chief -festival of our race, when so many and such varied qualities receive -their high rewards, the storm-tossed spirit of Sir Percy Clutterbuck -was at rest.</p> - - -<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><small> -Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne & Co. Limited</span><br /> -Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London</small> -</p> - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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