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diff --git a/7481.txt b/7481.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24761a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/7481.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22941 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Three Clerks, by Anthony Trollope, +et al. + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use +it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Three Clerks + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: May 8, 2003 [eBook #7481] +[Last updated March 22, 2017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE CLERKS*** + + +E-text prepared by Charles Franks, Delphine Lettau, Mark Sherwood, and +the people at Distributed Proofreading + + + +THE THREE CLERKS + +BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE + + + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE + + + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE + +Born London, April 24, 1815 Died London, December 6, 1882 + + + +INTRODUCTION + +There is the proper mood and the just environment for the reading as +well as for the writing of works of fiction, and there can be no better +place for the enjoying of a novel by Anthony Trollope than under a tree +in Kensington Gardens of a summer day. Under a tree in the avenue that +reaches down from the Round Pond to the Long Water. There, perhaps more +than anywhere else, lingers the early Victorian atmosphere. As we sit +beneath our tree, we see in the distance the dun, red-brick walls of +Kensington Palace, where one night Princess Victoria was awakened to +hear that she was Queen; there in quaint, hideously ugly Victorian +rooms are to be seen Victorian dolls and other playthings; the whole +environment is early Victorian. Here to the mind's eye how easy it is to +conjure up ghosts of men in baggy trousers and long flowing whiskers, of +prim women in crinolines, in hats with long trailing feathers and +with ridiculous little parasols, or with Grecian-bends and +chignons--church-parading to and fro beneath the trees or by the water's +edge--perchance, even the fascinating Lady Crinoline and the elegant Mr. +Macassar Jones, whose history has been written by Clerk Charley in the +pages we are introducing to the 'gentle reader'. As a poetaster of an +earlier date has written:-- + + Where Kensington high o'er the neighbouring lands + 'Midst green and sweets, a royal fabric, stands, + And sees each spring, luxuriant in her bowers, + A snow of blossoms, and a wild of flowers, + The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair + To gravel walks, and unpolluted air. + Here, while the town in damps and darkness lies, + They breathe in sunshine, and see azure skies; + Each walk, with robes of various dyes bespread, + Seems from afar a moving tulip bed, + Where rich brocades and glossy damasks glow, + And chintz, the rival of the showery bow. + +Indeed, the historian of social manners, when dealing with the Victorian +period, will perforce have recourse to the early volumes of Punch and to +the novels of Thackeray, Dickens, and Trollope. + +There are certain authors of whom personally we know little, but of +whose works we cannot ever know enough, such a one for example as +Shakespeare; others of whose lives we know much, but for whose works +we can have but scant affection: such is Doctor Johnson; others who are +intimate friends in all their aspects, as Goldsmith and Charles Lamb; +yet others, who do not quite come home to our bosoms, whose writings we +cannot entirely approve, but for whom and for whose works we find a soft +place somewhere in our hearts, and such a one is Anthony Trollope. His +novels are not for every-day reading, any more than are those of Marryat +and Borrow--to take two curious examples. There are times and moods and +places in which it would be quite impossible to read _The Three Clerks_; +others in which this story is almost wholly delightful. With those who +are fond of bed-reading Trollope should ever be a favourite, and it is +no small compliment to say this, for small is the noble army of authors +who have given us books which can enchant in the witching hour between +waking and slumber. It is probable that all lovers of letters have their +favourite bed-books. Thackeray has charmingly told us of his. Of the few +novels that can really be enjoyed when the reader is settling down for +slumber almost all have been set forth by writers who--consciously or +unconsciously--have placed character before plot; Thackeray himself, +Miss Austen, Borrow, Marryat, Sterne, Dickens, Goldsmith and--Trollope. + +Books are very human in their way, as what else should they be, children +of men and women as they are? Just as with human friends so with book +friends, first impressions are often misleading; good literary coin +sometimes seems to ring untrue, but the untruth is in the ear of the +reader, not of the writer. For instance, Trollope has many odd and +irritating tricks which are apt to scare off those who lack perseverance +and who fail to understand that there must be something admirable +in that which was once much admired by the judicious. He shares with +Thackeray the sinful habit of pulling up his readers with a wrench by +reminding them that what is set before them is after all mere fiction +and that the characters in whose fates they are becoming interested +are only marionettes. With Dickens and others he shares the custom, so +irritating to us of to-day, of ticketing his personages with clumsy, +descriptive labels, such as, in _The Three Clerks_, Mr. Chaffanbrass, +Sir Gregory Hardlines, Sir Warwick West End, Mr. Neverbend, Mr. Whip +Vigil, Mr. Nogo and Mr. Gitemthruet. He must plead guilty, also, to some +bad ways peculiarly his own, or which he made so by the thoroughness +with which he indulged in them. He moralizes in his own person in +deplorable manner: is not this terrible:--'Poor Katie!--dear, darling, +bonnie Katie!--sweet, sweetest, dearest child! why, oh, why, has that +mother of thine, that tender-hearted loving mother, put thee unguarded +in the way of such perils as this? Has she not sworn to herself that +over thee at least she would watch as a hen over her young, so that no +unfortunate love should quench thy young spirit, or blanch thy cheek's +bloom?' Is this not sufficient to make the gentlest reader swear to +himself? + +Fortunately this and some other appalling passages occur after the story +is in full swing and after the three Clerks and those with whom +they come into contact have proved themselves thoroughly interesting +companions. Despite all his old-fashioned tricks Trollope does +undoubtedly succeed in giving blood and life to most of his characters; +they are not as a rule people of any great eccentricity or of profound +emotions; but ordinary, every-day folk, such as all of us have met, +and loved or endured. Trollope fills very adequately a space between +Thackeray and Dickens, of whom the former deals for the most part with +the upper 'ten', the latter with the lower 'ten'; Trollope with the +suburban and country-town 'ten'; the three together giving us a very +complete and detailed picture of the lives led by our grandmothers and +grandfathers, whose hearts were in the same place as our own, but whose +manners of speech, of behaviour and of dress have now entered into the +vague region known as the 'days of yore'. + +_The Three Clerks_ is an excellent example of Trollope's handiwork. The +development of the plot is sufficiently skilful to maintain the reader's +interest, and the major part of the characters is lifelike, always +well observed and sometimes depicted with singular skill and insight. +Trollope himself liked the work well:-- + +'The plot is not so good as that of _The Macdermots_; nor are any +characters in the book equal to those of Mrs. Proudie and the Warden; +but the work has a more continued interest, and contains the first +well-described love-scene that I ever wrote. The passage in which Kate +Woodward, thinking she will die, tries to take leave of the lad she +loves, still brings tears to my eyes when I read it. I had not the heart +to kill her. I never could do that. And I do not doubt that they are +living happily together to this day. + +'The lawyer Chaffanbrass made his first appearance in this novel, and I +do not think that I have cause to be ashamed of him. But this novel +now is chiefly noticeable to me from the fact that in it I introduced a +character under the name of Sir Gregory Hardlines, by which I intended +to lean very heavily on that much loathed scheme of competitive +examination, of which at that time Sir Charles Trevelyan was the +great apostle. Sir Gregory Hardlines was intended for Sir Charles +Trevelyan--as any one at the time would know who had taken an interest +in the Civil Service. 'We always call him Sir Gregory,' Lady Trevelyan +said to me afterwards when I came to know her husband. I never learned +to love competitive examination; but I became, and am, very fond of Sir +Charles Trevelyan. Sir Stafford Northcote, who is now Chancellor of +the Exchequer, was then leagued with his friend Sir Charles, and he too +appears in _The Three Clerks_ under the feebly facetious name of Sir +Warwick West End. But for all that _The Three Clerks_ was a good novel.' + +Which excerpt from Trollope's _Autobiography_ serves to throw light +not only upon the novel in question, but also upon the character of its +author. + +Trollope served honestly and efficiently for many a long year in the +Post Office, achieving his entrance through a farce of an examination:-- + +'The story of that examination', he says, 'is given accurately in the +opening chapters of a novel written by me, called _The Three Clerks_. +If any reader of this memoir would refer to that chapter and see how +Charley Tudor was supposed to have been admitted into the Internal +Navigation Office, that reader will learn how Anthony Trollope was +actually admitted into the Secretary's office of the General Post Office +in 1834.' + +Poe's description of the manner in which he wrote _The Raven_ is +incredible, being probably one of his solemn and sombre jokes; equally +incredible is Trollope's confession of his humdrum, mechanical methods +of work. Doubtless he believed he was telling the whole truth, but only +here and there in his _Autobiography_ does he permit to peep out touches +of light, which complete the portrait of himself. It is impossible that +for the reader any character in fiction should live which has not been +alive to its creator; so is it with Trollope, who, speaking of his +characters, says, + +'I have wandered alone among the rooks and woods, crying at their grief, +laughing at their absurdities, and thoroughly enjoying their joy. I +have been impregnated with my own creations till it has been my only +excitement to sit with the pen in my hand, and drive my team before me +at as quick a pace as I could make them travel.' + +There is a plain matter-of-factness about Trollope's narratives which is +convincing, making it difficult for the reader to call himself back to +fact and to remember that he has been wandering in a world of fiction. +In _The Three Clerks_, the young men who give the tale its title are all +well drawn. To accomplish this in the cases of Alaric and Charley Tudor +was easy enough for a skilled writer, but to breathe life into Harry +Norman was difficult. At first he appears to be a lay-figure, a priggish +dummy of an immaculate hero, a failure in portraiture; but toward the +end of the book it is borne in on us that our dislike had been aroused +by the lifelike nature of the painting, dislike toward a real man, +priggish indeed in many ways, but with a very human strain of obstinacy +and obdurateness, which few writers would have permitted to have entered +into the make-up of any of their heroes. Of the other men, Undy Scott +may be named as among the very best pieces of portraiture in Victorian +fiction; touch after touch of detail is added to the picture with really +admirable skill, and Undy lives in the reader's memory as vividly as +he must have existed in the imagination of his creator. There are some +strong and curious passages in Chapter XLIV, in which the novelist +contrasts the lives and fates of Varney, Bill Sykes and Undy Scott; they +stir the blood, proving uncontestibly that Undy Scott was as real to +Trollope as he is to us: 'The figure of Undy swinging from a gibbet at +the broad end of Lombard Street would have an effect. Ah, my fingers +itch to be at the rope.' + +Trollope possessed the rare and beautiful gift of painting the hearts +and souls of young girls, and of this power he has given an admirable +example in Katie Woodward. It would be foolish and cruel to attempt to +epitomize, or rather to draw in miniature, this portrait that Trollope +has drawn at full length; were it not for any other end, those that are +fond of all that is graceful and charming in young womanhood should read +_The Three Clerks_, so becoming the friend, nay, the lover of Katie. Her +sisters are not so attractive, simply because nature did not make them +so; a very fine, faithful woman, Gertrude; a dear thing, Linda. All +three worthy of their mother, she who, as we are told in a delicious +phrase, 'though adverse to a fool' 'could sympathize with folly '. + +These eight portraits are grouped in the foreground of this +'conversation' piece, the background being filled with slighter but +always live figures. + +Particularly striking, as being somewhat unusual with Trollope, is the +depiction of the public-house, 'The Pig and Whistle', in Norfolk Street, +the landlady, Mrs. Davis, and the barmaid, Norah Geraghty. We can almost +smell the gin, the effluvia of stale beer, the bad tobacco, hear +the simpers and see the sidlings of Norah, feel sick with and at +Charley:--he 'got up and took her hand; and as he did so, he saw that +her nails were dirty. He put his arms round her waist and kissed her; +and as he caressed her, his olfactory nerves perceived that the pomatum +in her hair was none of the best ... and then he felt very sick'. But, +oh, why 'olfactory nerves'? Was it vulgar in early Victorian days to +call a nose a nose? + +How far different would have been Dickens's treatment of such characters +and such a scene; out of Mrs. Davis and Norah he would have extracted +fun, and it would never have entered into his mind to have brought such +a man as Charley into contact with them in a manner that must hurt that +young hero's susceptibilities. Thackeray would have followed a third +way, judging by his treatment of the Fotheringay and Captain Costigan, +partly humorous, partly satirical, partly serious. + +Trollope was not endowed with any spark of wit, his satire tends towards +the obvious, and his humour is mild, almost unconscious, as if he could +depict for us what of the humorous came under his observation without +himself seeing the fun in it. Where he sets forth with intent to be +humorous he sometimes attains almost to the tragic; there are few things +so sad as a joke that misses fire or a jester without sense of humour. + +Of the genius of a writer of fiction there is scarce any other test so +sure as this of the reality of his characters. Few are the authors that +have created for us figures of fiction that are more alive to us than +the historic shadows of the past, whose dead bones historians do not +seem to be able to clothe with flesh and blood. Trollope hovers on the +border line between genius and great talent, or rather it would be more +fair to say that with regard to him opinions may justly differ. For +our own part we hold that his was not talent streaked with genius, but +rather a jog-trot genius alloyed with mediocrity. He lacked the supreme +unconsciousness of supreme genius, for of genius as of talent there are +degrees. There are characters in _The Three Clerks_ that live; those +who have read the tale must now and again when passing Norfolk Street, +Strand, regret that it would be waste of time to turn down that rebuilt +thoroughfare in search of 'The Pig and Whistle', which was 'one of these +small tranquil shrines of Bacchus in which the god is worshipped with as +constant a devotion, though with less noisy demonstration of zeal than +in his larger and more public temples'. Alas; lovers of Victorian +London must lament that such shrines grow fewer day by day; the great +thoroughfares know them no more; they hide nervously in old-world +corners, and in them you will meet old-world characters, who not seldom +seem to have lost themselves on their way to the pages of Charles +Dickens. + +Despite the advent of electric tramways, Hampton would still be +recognized by the three clerks, 'the little village of Hampton, with its +old-fashioned country inn, and its bright, quiet, grassy river.' Hampton +is now as it then was, the 'well-loved resort of cockneydom'. + +So let us alight from the tramcar at Hampton, and look about on the +outskirts of the village for 'a small old-fashioned brick house, +abutting on the road, but looking from its front windows on to a lawn +and garden, which stretched down to the river'. Surbiton Cottage it is +called. Let us peep in at that merry, happy family party; and laugh at +Captain Cuttwater, waking from his placid sleep, rubbing his eyes in +wonderment, and asking, 'What the devil is all the row about?' But it is +only with our mind's eye that we can see Surbiton Cottage--a cottage +in the air it is, but more substantial to some of us than many a real +jerry-built villa of red brick and stucco. + +Old-fashioned seem to us the folk who once dwelt there, old-fashioned in +all save that their hearts were true and their outlook on life sane and +clean; they live still, though their clothes be of a quaint fashion and +their talk be of yesterday. + +Who knows but that they will live long after we who love them shall be +dead and turned to dust? + +W. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE. + + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES + II. THE INTERNAL NAVIGATION + III. THE WOODWARDS + IV. CAPTAIN CUTTWATER + V. BUSHEY PARK + VI. SIR GREGORY HARDLINES + VII. MR. FIDUS NEVERBEND + VIII. THE HON. UNDECIMUS SCOTT + IX. MR. MANYLODES + X. WHEAL MARY JANE + XI. THE THREE KINGS + XII. CONSOLATION + XIII. A COMMUNICATION OF IMPORTANCE + XIV. VERY SAD + XV. NORMAN RETURNS TO TOWN + XVI. THE FIRST WEDDING + XVII. THE HONOURABLE MRS. VAL AND MISS GOLIGHTLY + XVIII. A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--MORNING + XIX. A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--AFTERNOON + XX. A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--EVENING + XXI. HAMPTON COURT BRIDGE + XXII. CRINOLINE AND MACASSAR; OR, MY AUNT'S WILL + XXIII. SURBITON COLLOQUIES + XXIV. MR. M'BUFFER ACCEPTS THE CHILTERN HUNDREDS + XXV. CHISWICK GARDENS + XXVI. KATIE'S FIRST BALL + XXVII. EXCELSIOR + XXVIII. OUTERMAN _v_. TUDOR + XXIX. EASY IS THE SLOPE OF HELL + XXX. MRS. WOODWARD'S REQUEST + XXXI. HOW APOLLO SAVED THE NAVVY + XXXII. THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE + XXXIII. TO STAND, OR NOT TO STAND + XXXIV. WESTMINSTER HALL + XXXV. MRS. VAL'S NEW CARRIAGE + XXXVI. TICKLISH STOCK + XXXVII. TRIBULATION + XXXVIII. ALARIC TUDOR TAKES A WALK + XXXIX. THE LAST BREAKFAST + XL. MR. CHAFFANBRASS + XLI. THE OLD BAILEY + XLII. A PARTING INTERVIEW + XLIII. MILLBANK + XLIV. THE CRIMINAL POPULATION IS DISPOSED OF + XLV. THE FATE OF THE NAVVIES + XLVI. MR. NOGO'S LAST QUESTION + XLVII. CONCLUSION + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES + + +All the English world knows, or knows of, that branch of the Civil +Service which is popularly called the Weights and Measures. Every +inhabitant of London, and every casual visitor there, has admired the +handsome edifice which generally goes by that name, and which stands so +conspicuously confronting the Treasury Chambers. It must be owned that +we have but a slip-slop way of christening our public buildings. When a +man tells us that he called on a friend at the Horse Guards, or looked +in at the Navy Pay, or dropped a ticket at the Woods and Forests, we put +up with the accustomed sounds, though they are in themselves, perhaps, +indefensible. The 'Board of Commissioners for Regulating Weights and +Measures', and the 'Office of the Board of Commissioners for Regulating +Weights and Measures', are very long phrases; and as, in the course of +this tale, frequent mention will be made of the public establishment in +question, the reader's comfort will be best consulted by maintaining its +popular though improper denomination. + +It is generally admitted that the Weights and Measures is a +well-conducted public office; indeed, to such a degree of efficiency has +it been brought by its present very excellent secretary, the two +very worthy assistant-secretaries, and especially by its late most +respectable chief clerk, that it may be said to stand quite alone as +a high model for all other public offices whatever. It is exactly +antipodistic of the Circumlocution Office, and as such is always +referred to in the House of Commons by the gentleman representing the +Government when any attack on the Civil Service, generally, is being +made. + +And when it is remembered how great are the interests entrusted to the +care of this board, and of these secretaries and of that chief clerk, it +must be admitted that nothing short of superlative excellence ought to +suffice the nation. All material intercourse between man and man must be +regulated, either justly or unjustly, by weights and measures; and as we +of all people depend most on such material intercourse, our weights and +measures should to us be a source of never-ending concern. And then that +question of the decimal coinage! is it not in these days of paramount +importance? Are we not disgraced by the twelve pennies in our +shilling, by the four farthings in our penny? One of the worthy +assistant-secretaries, the worthier probably of the two, has already +grown pale beneath the weight of this question. But he has sworn within +himself, with all the heroism of a Nelson, that he will either do or +die. He will destroy the shilling or the shilling shall destroy him. +In his more ardent moods he thinks that he hears the noise of battle +booming round him, and talks to his wife of Westminster Abbey or a +peerage. Then what statistical work of the present age has shown half +the erudition contained in that essay lately published by the secretary +on _The Market Price of Coined Metals_? What other living man could have +compiled that chronological table which is appended to it, showing the +comparative value of the metallic currency for the last three hundred +years? Compile it indeed! What other secretary or assistant-secretary +belonging to any public office of the present day, could even read it +and live? It completely silenced Mr. Muntz for a session, and even _The +Times_ was afraid to review it. + +Such a state of official excellence has not, however, been obtained +without its drawbacks, at any rate in the eyes of the unambitious tyros +and unfledged novitiates of the establishment. It is a very fine thing +to be pointed out by envying fathers as a promising clerk in the +Weights and Measures, and to receive civil speeches from mammas with +marriageable daughters. But a clerk in the Weights and Measures is soon +made to understand that it is not for him to-- + + Sport with Amaryllis in the shade. + +It behoves him that his life should be grave and his pursuits laborious, +if he intends to live up to the tone of those around him. And as, +sitting there at his early desk, his eyes already dim with figures, he +sees a jaunty dandy saunter round the opposite corner to the Council +Office at eleven o'clock, he cannot but yearn after the pleasures of +idleness. + + Were it not better done, as others use? + +he says or sighs. But then comes Phoebus in the guise of the chief +clerk, and touches his trembling ears-- + + As he pronounces lastly on each deed, + Of so much fame, in Downing Street--expect the meed. + +And so the high tone of the office is maintained. + +Such is the character of the Weights and Measures at this present period +of which we are now treating. The exoteric crowd of the Civil Service, +that is, the great body of clerks attached to other offices, regard +their brethren of the Weights as prigs and pedants, and look on them +much as a master's favourite is apt to be regarded by other boys at +school. But this judgement is an unfair one. Prigs and pedants, and +hypocrites too, there are among them, no doubt--but there are also among +them many stirred by an honourable ambition to do well for their country +and themselves, and to two such men the reader is now requested to +permit himself to be introduced. + +Henry Norman, the senior of the two, is the second son of a gentleman +of small property in the north of England. He was educated at a public +school, and thence sent to Oxford; but before he had finished his +first year at Brasenose his father was obliged to withdraw him from it, +finding himself unable to bear the expense of a university education for +his two sons. His elder son at Cambridge was extravagant; and as, at +the critical moment when decision became necessary, a nomination in +the Weights and Measures was placed at his disposal, old Mr. Norman +committed the not uncommon injustice of preferring the interests of his +elder but faulty son to those of the younger with whom no fault had been +found, and deprived his child of the chance of combining the glories and +happiness of a double first, a fellow, a college tutor, and a don. + +Whether Harry Norman gained or lost most by the change we need not now +consider, but at the age of nineteen he left Oxford and entered on his +new duties. It must not, however, be supposed that this was a step which +he took without difficulty and without pause. It is true that the grand +modern scheme for competitive examinations had not as yet been composed. +Had this been done, and had it been carried out, how awful must have +been the cramming necessary to get a lad into the Weights and Measures! +But, even as things were then, it was no easy matter for a young man to +convince the chief clerk that he had all the acquirements necessary for +the high position to which he aspired. + +Indeed, that chief clerk was insatiable, and generally succeeded in +making every candidate conceive the very lowest opinion of himself and +his own capacities before the examination was over. Some, of course, +were sent away at once with ignominy, as evidently incapable. Many +retired in the middle of it with a conviction that they must seek their +fortunes at the bar, or in medical pursuits, or some other comparatively +easy walk of life. Others were rejected on the fifth or sixth day as +being deficient in conic sections, or ignorant of the exact principles +of hydraulic pressure. And even those who were retained were so +retained, as it were, by an act of grace. The Weights and Measures was, +and indeed is, like heaven--no man can deserve it. No candidate can +claim as his right to be admitted to the fruition of the appointment +which has been given to him. Henry Norman, however, was found, at the +close of his examination, to be the least undeserving of the young men +then under notice, and was duly installed in his clerkship. + +It need hardly be explained, that to secure so high a level of +information as that required at the Weights and Measures, a scale +of salaries equally exalted has been found necessary. Young men +consequently enter at L100 a year. We are speaking, of course, of that +more respectable branch of the establishment called the Secretary's +Department. At none other of our public offices do men commence with +more than L90--except, of course, at those in which political confidence +is required. Political confidence is indeed as expensive as hydraulic +pressure, though generally found to be less difficult of attainment. + +Henry Norman, therefore, entered on his labours under good auspices, +having L10 per annum more for the business and pleasures of life in +London than most of his young brethren of the Civil Service. Whether +this would have sufficed of itself to enable him to live up to that tone +of society to which he had been accustomed cannot now be surmised, as +very shortly after his appointment an aunt died, from whom he inherited +some L150 or L200 a year. He was, therefore, placed above all want, and +soon became a shining light even in that bright gallery of spiritualized +stars which formed the corps of clerks in the Secretary's Office at the +Weights and Measures. + +Young Norman was a good-looking lad when he entered the public service, +and in a few years he grew up to be a handsome man. He was tall and thin +and dark, muscular in his proportions, and athletic in his habits. From +the date of his first enjoyment of his aunt's legacy he had a wherry on +the Thames, and was soon known as a man whom it was hard for an amateur +to beat. He had a racket in a racket-court at St. John's Wood Road, +and as soon as fortune and merit increased his salary by another L100 +a year, he usually had a nag for the season. This, however, was not +attained till he was able to count five years' service in the Weights +and Measures. He was, as a boy, somewhat shy and reserved in his +manners, and as he became older he did not shake off the fault. He +showed it, however, rather among men than with women, and, indeed, in +spite of his love of exercise, he preferred the society of ladies to +any of the bachelor gaieties of his unmarried acquaintance. He was, +nevertheless, frank and confident in those he trusted, and true in his +friendships, though, considering his age, too slow in making a friend. +Such was Henry Norman at the time at which our tale begins. What were +the faults in his character it must be the business of the tale to show. + +The other young clerk in this office to whom we alluded is Alaric Tudor. +He is a year older than Henry Norman, though he began his official +career a year later, and therefore at the age of twenty-one. How it +happened that he contrived to pass the scrutinizing instinct and deep +powers of examination possessed by the chief clerk, was a great wonder +to his friends, though apparently none at all to himself. He took the +whole proceeding very easily; while another youth alongside of him, +who for a year had been reading up for his promised nomination, was so +awe-struck by the severity of the proceedings as to lose his powers of +memory and forget the very essence of the differential calculus. + +Of hydraulic pressure and the differential calculus young Tudor knew +nothing, and pretended to know nothing. He told the chief clerk that +he was utterly ignorant of all such matters, that his only acquirements +were a tolerably correct knowledge of English, French, and German, with +a smattering of Latin and Greek, and such an intimacy with the ordinary +rules of arithmetic and with the first books of Euclid, as he had been +able to pick up while acting as a tutor, rather than a scholar, in a +small German university. + +The chief clerk raised his eyebrows and said he feared it would not +do. A clerk, however, was wanting. It was very clear that the young +gentleman who had only showed that he had forgotten his conic sections +could not be supposed to have passed. The austerity of the last few +years had deterred more young men from coming forward than the extra L10 +had induced to do so. One unfortunate, on the failure of all his hopes, +had thrown himself into the Thames from the neighbouring boat-stairs; +and though he had been hooked out uninjured by the man who always +attends there with two wooden legs, the effect on his parents' minds had +been distressing. Shortly after this occurrence the chief clerk had been +invited to attend the Board, and the Chairman of the Commissioners, who, +on the occasion, was of course prompted by the Secretary, recommended +Mr. Hardlines to be a _leetle_ more lenient. In doing so the quantity of +butter which he poured over Mr. Hardlines' head and shoulders with the +view of alleviating the misery which such a communication would be sure +to inflict, was very great. But, nevertheless, Mr. Hardlines came out +from the Board a crestfallen and unhappy man. 'The service,' he said, +'would go to the dogs, and might do for anything he cared, and he did +not mind how soon. If the Board chose to make the Weights and Measures a +hospital for idiots, it might do so. He had done what little lay in his +power to make the office respectable; and now, because mammas complained +when their cubs of sons were not allowed to come in there and rob +the public and destroy the office books, he was to be thwarted and +reprimanded! He had been,' he said, 'eight-and-twenty years in office, +and was still in his prime--but he should,' he thought, 'take advantage +of the advice of his medical friends, and retire. He would never remain +there to see the Weights and Measures become a hospital for incurables!' + +It was thus that Mr. Hardlines, the chief clerk, expressed himself. +He did not, however, send in a medical certificate, nor apply for a +pension; and the first apparent effect of the little lecture which he +had received from the Chairman, was the admission into the service +of Alaric Tudor. Mr. Hardlines was soon forced to admit that the +appointment was not a bad one, as before his second year was over, young +Tudor had produced a very smart paper on the merits--or demerits--of the +strike bushel. + +Alaric Tudor when he entered the office was by no means so handsome a +youth as Harry Norman; but yet there was that in his face which was more +expressive, and perhaps more attractive. He was a much slighter man, +though equally tall. He could boast no adventitious capillary graces, +whereas young Norman had a pair of black curling whiskers, which +almost surrounded his face, and had been the delight and wonder of the +maidservants in his mother's house, when he returned home for his first +official holiday. Tudor wore no whiskers, and his light-brown hair was +usually cut so short as to give him something of the appearance of a +clean Puritan. But in manners he was no Puritan; nor yet in his mode of +life. He was fond of society, and at an early period of his age strove +hard to shine in it. He was ambitious; and lived with the steady aim of +making the most of such advantages as fate and fortune had put in his +way. Tudor was perhaps not superior to Norman in point of intellect; but +he was infinitely his superior in having early acquired a knowledge how +best to use such intellect as he had. + +His education had been very miscellaneous, and disturbed by many causes, +but yet not ineffective or deficient. His father had been an officer in +a cavalry regiment, with a fair fortune, which he had nearly squandered +in early life. He had taken Alaric when little more than an infant, and +a daughter, his only other child, to reside in Brussels. Mrs. Tudor was +then dead, and the remainder of the household had consisted of a French +governess, a _bonne_, and a man-cook. Here Alaric remained till he +had perfectly acquired the French pronunciation, and very nearly as +perfectly forgotten the English. He was then sent to a private school +in England, where he remained till he was sixteen, returning home to +Brussels but once during those years, when he was invited to be present +at his sister's marriage with a Belgian banker. At the age of sixteen he +lost his father, who, on dying, did not leave behind him enough of the +world's wealth to pay for his own burial. His half-pay of course died +with him, and young Tudor was literally destitute. + +His brother-in-law, the banker, paid for his half-year's schooling +in England, and then removed him to a German academy, at which it was +bargained that he should teach English without remuneration, and learn +German without expense. Whether he taught much English may be doubtful, +but he did learn German thoroughly; and in that, as in most other +transactions of his early life, certainly got the best of the bargain +which had been made for him. + +At the age of twenty he was taken to the Brussels bank as a clerk; but +here he soon gave visible signs of disliking the drudgery which was +exacted from him. Not that he disliked banking. He would gladly have +been a partner with ever so small a share, and would have trusted to +himself to increase his stake. But there is a limit to the good nature +of brothers-in-law, even in Belgium; and Alaric was quite aware that no +such good luck as this could befall him, at any rate until he had gone +through many years of servile labour. His sister also, though sisterly +enough in her disposition to him, did not quite like having a brother +employed as a clerk in her husband's office. They therefore put their +heads together, and, as the Tudors had good family connexions in +England, a nomination in the Weights and Measures was procured. + +The nomination was procured; but when it was ascertained how very short +a way this went towards the attainment of the desired object, and how +much more difficult it was to obtain Mr. Hardlines' approval than the +Board's favour, young Tudor's friends despaired, and recommended him to +abandon the idea, as, should he throw himself into the Thames, he might +perhaps fall beyond the reach of the waterman's hook. Alaric himself, +however, had no such fears. He could not bring himself to conceive that +he could fail in being fit for a clerkship in a public office, and the +result of his examination proved at any rate that he had been right to +try. + +The close of his first year's life in London found him living in +lodgings with Henry Norman. At that time Norman's income was nearly +three times as good as his own. To say that Tudor selected his companion +because of his income would be to ascribe unjustly to him vile motives +and a mean instinct. He had not done so. The two young men had been +thrown, together by circumstances. They worked at the same desk, liked +each other's society, and each being alone in the world, thereby not +unnaturally came together. But it may probably be said that had Norman +been as poor as Tudor, Tudor might probably have shrunk from rowing in +the same boat with him. + +As it was they lived together and were fast allies; not the less so +that they did not agree as to many of their avocations. Tudor, at his +friend's solicitation, had occasionally attempted to pull an oar from +Searle's slip to Battersea bridge. But his failure in this line was so +complete, and he had to encounter so much of Norman's raillery, which +was endurable, and of his instruction, which was unendurable, that he +very soon gave up the pursuit. He was not more successful with a racket; +and keeping a horse was of course out of the question. + +They had a bond of union in certain common friends whom they much loved, +and with whom they much associated. At least these friends soon became +common to them. The acquaintance originally belonged to Norman, and he +had first cemented his friendship with Tudor by introducing him at the +house of Mrs. Woodward. Since he had done so, the one young man was +there nearly as much as the other. + +Who and what the Woodwards were shall be told in a subsequent chapter. +As they have to play as important a part in the tale about to be told as +our two friends of the Weights and Measures, it would not be becoming to +introduce them at the end of this. + +As regards Alaric Tudor it need only be further said, by way of preface, +of him as of Harry Norman, that the faults of his character must be made +to declare themselves in the course of our narrative. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE INTERNAL NAVIGATION + + +The London world, visitors as well as residents, are well acquainted +also with Somerset House; and it is moreover tolerably well known that +Somerset House is a nest of public offices, which are held to be of less +fashionable repute than those situated in the neighbourhood of Downing +Street, but are not so decidedly plebeian as the Custom House, Excise, +and Post Office. + +But there is one branch of the Civil Service located in Somerset House, +which has little else to redeem it from the lowest depths of official +vulgarity than the ambiguous respectability of its material position. +This is the office of the Commissioners of Internal Navigation. The +duties to be performed have reference to the preservation of canal +banks, the tolls to be levied at locks, and disputes with the Admiralty +as to points connected with tidal rivers. The rooms are dull and dark, +and saturated with the fog which rises from the river, and their only +ornament is here and there some dusty model of an improved barge. +Bargees not unfrequently scuffle with hobnailed shoes through the +passages, and go in and out, leaving behind them a smell of tobacco, to +which the denizens of the place are not unaccustomed. + +Indeed, the whole office is apparently infected with a leaven of +bargedom. Not a few of the men are employed from time to time in the +somewhat lethargic work of inspecting the banks and towing-paths of the +canals which intersect the country. This they generally do seated on a +load of hay, or perhaps of bricks, in one of those long, ugly, shapeless +boats, which are to be seen congregating in the neighbourhood of +Brentford. So seated, they are carried along at the rate of a mile and +a half an hour, and usually while away the time in gentle converse with +the man at the rudder, or in silent abstraction over a pipe. + +But the dullness of such a life as this is fully atoned for by the +excitement of that which follows it in London. The men of the Internal +Navigation are known to be fast, nay, almost furious in their pace of +living; not that they are extravagant in any great degree, a fault which +their scale of salaries very generally forbids; but they are one and all +addicted to Coal Holes and Cider Cellars; they dive at midnight hours +into Shades, and know all the back parlours of all the public-houses +in the neighbourhood of the Strand. Here they leave messages for one +another, and call the girl at the bar by her Christian name. They are a +set of men endowed with sallow complexions, and they wear loud clothing, +and spend more money in gin-and-water than in gloves. + +The establishment is not unusually denominated the 'Infernal +Navigation', and the gentlemen employed are not altogether displeased at +having it so called. The 'Infernal Navvies', indeed, rather glory in the +name. The navvies of Somerset House are known all over London, and there +are those who believe that their business has some connexion with the +rivers or railroads of that bourne from whence no traveller returns. +Looking, however, from their office windows into the Thames, one might +be tempted to imagine that the infernal navigation with which they +are connected is not situated so far distant from the place of their +labours. + +The spirit who guards the entrance into this elysium is by no means so +difficult to deal with as Mr. Hardlines. And it was well that it was +so some few years since for young Charley Tudor, a cousin of our friend +Alaric; for Charley Tudor could never have passed muster at the Weights +and Measures. Charles Tudor, the third of the three clerks alluded to in +our title-page, is the son of a clergyman, who has a moderate living on +the Welsh border, in Shropshire. Had he known to what sort of work he +was sending his son, he might probably have hesitated before he accepted +for him a situation in the Internal Navigation Office. He was, however, +too happy in getting it to make many inquiries as to its nature. We none +of us like to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Old Mr. Tudor knew that +a clerkship in the Civil Service meant, or should mean, a respectable +maintenance for life, and having many young Tudors to maintain himself, +he was only too glad to find one of them provided for. + +Charley Tudor was some few years younger than his cousin Alaric when he +came up to town, and Alaric had at that time some three or four years' +experience of London life. The examination at the Internal Navigation +was certainly not to be so much dreaded as that at the Weights and +Measures; but still there was an examination; and Charley, who had not +been the most diligent of schoolboys, approached it with great dread +after a preparatory evening passed with the assistance of his cousin and +Mr. Norman. + +Exactly at ten in the morning he walked into the lobby of his future +workshop, and found no one yet there but two aged seedy messengers. He +was shown into a waiting-room, and there he remained for a couple of +hours, during which every clerk in the establishment came to have a look +at him. At last he was ushered into the Secretary's room. + +'Ah!' said the Secretary, 'your name is Tudor, isn't it?' + +Charley confessed to the fact. + +'Yea,' said the Secretary, 'I have heard about you from Sir Gilbert de +Salop.' Now Sir Gilbert de Salop was the great family friend of this +branch of the Tudors. But Charley, finding that no remark suggested +itself to him at this moment concerning Sir Gilbert, merely said, 'Yes, +sir.' + +'And you wish to serve the Queen?' said the Secretary. + +Charley, not quite knowing whether this was a joke or not, said that he +did. + +'Quite right--it is a very fair ambition,' continued the great official +functionary--'quite right--but, mind you, Mr. Tudor, if you come to us +you must come to work. I hope you like hard work; you should do so, if +you intend to remain with us.' + +Charley said that he thought he did rather like hard work. Hereupon +a senior clerk standing by, though a man not given to much laughter, +smiled slightly, probably in pity at the unceasing labour to which the +youth was about to devote himself. + +'The Internal Navigation requires great steadiness, good natural +abilities, considerable education, and--and--and no end of application. +Come, Mr. Tudor, let us see what you can do.' And so saying, Mr. +Oldeschole, the Secretary, motioned him to sit down at an office table +opposite to himself. + +Charley did as he was bid, and took from the hands of his future master +an old, much-worn quill pen, with which the great man had been signing +minutes. + +'Now,' said the great man, 'just copy the few first sentences of that +leading article--either one will do,' and he pushed over to him a huge +newspaper. + +To tell the truth, Charley did not know what a leading article was, and +so he sat abashed, staring at the paper. + +'Why don't you write?' asked the Secretary. + +'Where shall I begin, sir?' stammered poor Charley, looking piteously +into the examiner's face. + +'God bless my soul! there; either of those leading articles,' and +leaning over the table, the Secretary pointed to a particular spot. + +Hereupon Charley began his task in a large, ugly, round hand, neither +that of a man nor of a boy, and set himself to copy the contents of +the paper. 'The name of Pacifico stinks in the nostril of the British +public. It is well known to all the world how sincerely we admire the +vers_i_tility of Lord Palmerston's genius; how cordially we s_i_mpathize +with his patriotic energies. But the admiration which even a Palmerston +inspires must have a bound, and our s_i_mpathy may be called on too far. +When we find ourselves asked to pay--'. By this time Charley had half +covered the half-sheet of foolscap which had been put before him, and +here at the word 'pay' he unfortunately suffered a large blot of ink to +fall on the paper. + +'That won't do, Mr. Tudor, that won't do--come, let us look,' and +stretching over again, the Secretary took up the copy. + +'Oh dear! oh dear! this is very bad; versatility with an 'i!'--sympathy +with an 'i!' sympathize with an 'i!' Why, Mr. Tudor, you must be very +fond of 'i's' down in Shropshire.' + +Charley looked sheepish, but of course said nothing. + +'And I never saw a viler hand in my life. Oh dear, oh dear, I must send +you back to Sir Gilbert. Look here, Snape, this will never do--never do +for the Internal Navigation, will it?' + +Snape, the attendant senior clerk, said, as indeed he could not help +saying, that the writing was very bad. + +'I never saw worse in my life,' said the Secretary. 'And now, Mr. Tudor, +what do you know of arithmetic?' + +Charley said that he thought he knew arithmetic pretty well;--'at least +some of it,' he modestly added. + +'Some of it!' said the Secretary, slightly laughing. 'Well, I'll tell +you what--this won't do at all;' and he took the unfortunate manuscript +between his thumb and forefinger. 'You had better go home and endeavour +to write something a little better than this. Mind, if it is not +very much better it won't do. And look here; take care that you do it +yourself. If you bring me the writing of any one else, I shall be sure +to detect you. I have not any more time now; as to arithmetic, we'll +examine you in 'some of it' to-morrow.' + +So Charley, with a faint heart, went back to his cousin's lodgings and +waited till the two friends had arrived from the Weights and Measures. +The men there made a point of staying up to five o'clock, as is the case +with all model officials, and it was therefore late before he could get +himself properly set to work. But when they did arrive, preparations +for calligraphy were made on a great scale; a volume of Gibbon was taken +down, new quill pens, large and small, and steel pens by various makers +were procured; cream-laid paper was provided, and ruled lines were put +beneath it. And when this was done, Charley was especially cautioned to +copy the spelling as well as the wording. + +He worked thus for an hour before dinner, and then for three hours in +the evening, and produced a very legible copy of half a chapter of the +'Decline and Fall.' + +'I didn't think they examined at all at the Navigation,' said Norman. + +'Well, I believe it's quite a new thing,' said Alaric Tudor. 'The +schoolmaster must be abroad with a vengeance, if he has got as far as +that.' + +And then they carefully examined Charley's work, crossed his t's, dotted +his i's, saw that his spelling was right, and went to bed. + +Again, punctually at ten o'clock, Charley presented himself at the +Internal Navigation; and again saw the two seedy old messengers warming +themselves at the lobby fire. On this occasion he was kept three hours +in the waiting-room, and some of the younger clerks ventured to come and +speak to him. At length Mr. Snape appeared, and desired the acolyte +to follow him. Charley, supposing that he was again going to the awful +Secretary, did so with a palpitating heart. But he was led in another +direction into a large room, carrying his manuscript neatly rolled in +his hand. Here Mr. Snape introduced him to five other occupants of the +chamber; he, Mr. Snape himself, having a separate desk there, being, in +official parlance, the head of the room. Charley was told to take a +seat at a desk, and did so, still thinking that the dread hour of his +examination was soon to come. His examination, however, was begun and +over. No one ever asked for his calligraphic manuscript, and as to his +arithmetic, it may be presumed that his assurance that he knew 'some of +it,' was deemed to be adequate evidence of sufficient capacity. And in +this manner, Charley Tudor became one of the Infernal Navvies. + +He was a gay-hearted, thoughtless, rollicking young lad, when he came up +to town; and it may therefore be imagined that he easily fell into the +peculiar ways and habits of the office. A short bargee's pilot-coat, and +a pipe of tobacco, were soon familiar to him; and he had not been six +months in London before he had his house-of-call in a cross lane running +between Essex Street and Norfolk Street. 'Mary, my dear, a screw of +bird's-eye!' came quite habitually to his lips; and before his fist year +was out, he had volunteered a song at the Buckingham Shades. + +The assurance made to him on his first visit to the office by Mr. +Secretary Oldeschole, that the Internal Navigation was a place of +herculean labours, had long before this time become matter to him of +delightful ridicule. He had found himself to be one of six young men, +who habitually spent about five hours a day together in the same room, +and whose chief employment was to render the life of the wretched Mr. +Snape as unendurable as possible. There were copies to be written, +and entries to be made, and books to be indexed. But these things +were generally done by some extra hand, as to the necessity of whose +attendance for such purpose Mr. Snape was forced to certify. But poor +Snape knew that he had no alternative. He rule six unruly young navvies! +There was not one of them who did not well know how to make him tremble +in his shoes. + +Poor Mr. Snape had selected for his own peculiar walk in life a +character for evangelical piety. Whether he was a hypocrite--as all the +navvies averred--or a man sincere as far as one so weak could accomplish +sincerity, it is hardly necessary for us to inquire. He was not by +nature an ill-natured man, but he had become by education harsh to +those below him, and timid and cringing with those above. In the +former category must by no means be included the six young men who were +nominally under his guidance. They were all but acknowledged by him as +his superiors. Ignorant as they were, they could hardly be more so than +he. Useless as they were, they did as much for the public service as +he did. He sometimes complained of them; but it was only when their +misconduct had been so loud as to make it no longer possible that he +should not do so. + +Mr. Snape being thus by character and predilection a religious man, +and having on various occasions in olden days professed much horror +at having his ears wounded by conversation which was either immoral or +profane, it had of course become the habitual practice of the navvies to +give continual utterance to every description of ribaldry and blasphemy +for his especial edification. Doubtless it may be concluded from the +habits of the men, that even without such provocation, their talk would +have exceeded the yea, yea, and nay, nay, to which young men should +confine themselves. But they especially concerted schemes of blasphemy +and dialogues of iniquity for Mr. Snape's particular advantage; and +continued daily this disinterested amusement, till at last an idea +got abroad among them that Mr. Snape liked it. Then they changed their +tactics and canted through their noses in the manner which they imagined +to be peculiar to methodist preachers. So on the whole, Mr. Snape had an +uneasy life of it at the Internal Navigation. + +Into all these malpractices Charley Tudor plunged headlong. And how +should it have been otherwise? How can any youth of nineteen or twenty +do other than consort himself with the daily companions of his usual +avocations? Once and again, in one case among ten thousand, a lad may +be found formed of such stuff, that he receives neither the good nor the +bad impulses of those around him. But such a one is a _lapsus naturae_. +He has been born without the proper attributes of youth, or at any rate, +brought up so as to have got rid of them. + +Such, a one, at any rate, Charley Tudor was not. He was a little shocked +at first by the language he heard; but that feeling soon wore off. His +kind heart, also, in the first month of his novitiate, sympathized with +the daily miseries of Mr. Snape; but he also soon learnt to believe that +Mr. Snape was a counterfeit, and after the first half year could torture +him with as much gusto as any of his brethren. Alas! no evil tendency +communicates itself among young men more quickly than cruelty. Those +infernal navvies were very cruel to Mr. Snape. + +And yet young Tudor was a lad of a kindly heart, of a free, honest, open +disposition, deficient in no proportion of mind necessary to make an +estimable man. But he was easily malleable, and he took at once the full +impression of the stamp to which he was subjected. Had he gone into +the Weights and Measures, a hypothesis which of course presumes a total +prostration of the intellects and energy of Mr. Hardlines, he would have +worked without a groan from ten till five, and have become as good a +model as the best of them. As it was, he can be hardly said to have +worked at all, soon became _facile princeps_ in the list of habitual +idlers, and was usually threatened once a quarter with dismissal, even +from that abode of idleness, in which the very nature of true work was +unknown. + +Some tidings of Charley's doings in London, and non-doings at the +Internal Navigation, of course found their way to the Shropshire +parsonage. His dissipation was not of a very costly kind; but L90 per +annum will hardly suffice to afford an ample allowance of gin-and-water +and bird's-eye tobacco, over and above the other wants of a man's life. +Bills arrived there requiring payment; and worse than this, letters also +came through Sir Gilbert de Salop from Mr. Oldeschole, the Secretary, +saying that young Tudor was disgracing the office, and lowering the +high character of the Internal Navigation; and that he must be removed, +unless he could be induced to alter his line of life, &c. + +Urgent austere letters came from the father, and fond heart-rending +appeals from the mother. Charley's heart was rent. It was, at any rate, +a sign in him that he was not past hope of grace, that he never laughed +at these monitions, that he never showed such letters to his companions, +never quizzed his 'governor's' lectures, or made merry over the grief of +his mother. But if it be hard for a young man to keep in the right +path when he has not as yet strayed out of it, how much harder is it to +return to it when he has long since lost the track! It was well for +the father to write austere letters, well for the mother to make tender +appeals, but Charley could not rid himself of his companions, nor of his +debts, nor yet even of his habits. He could not get up in the morning +and say that he would at once be as his cousin Alaric, or as his +cousin's friend, Mr. Norman. It is not by our virtues or our vices that +we are judged, even by those who know us best; but by such credit for +virtues or for vices as we may have acquired. Now young Tudor's credit +for virtue was very slight, and he did not know how to extend it. + +At last papa and mamma Tudor came up to town to make one last effort to +save their son; and also to save, on his behalf, the valuable official +appointment which he held. He had now been three years in his office, +and his salary had risen to L110 per annum. L110 per annum was worth +saving if it could be saved. The plan adopted by Mrs. Tudor was that of +beseeching their cousin Alaric to take Charley under his especial wing. + +When Charley first arrived in town, the fact of Alaric and Norman living +together had given the former a good excuse for not offering to share +his lodgings with his cousin. Alaric, with the advantage in age of +three or four years--at that period of life the advantage lies in that +direction--with his acquired experience of London life, and also with +all the wondrous eclat of the Weights and Measures shining round him, +had perhaps been a little too unwilling to take by the hand a rustic +cousin who was about to enter life under the questionable auspices of +the Internal Navigation. He had helped Charley to transcribe the chapter +of Gibbon, and had, it must be owned, lent him from time to time a +few odd pounds in his direst necessities. But their course in life had +hitherto been apart. Of Norman, Charley had seen less even than of his +cousin. + +And now it became a difficult question with Alaric how he was to answer +the direct appeal made to him by Mrs. Tudor;--'Pray, pray let him live +with you, if it be only for a year, Alaric,' the mother had said, with +the tears running down her cheeks. 'You are so good, so discreet, so +clever--you can save him.' Alaric promised, or was ready to promise, +anything else, but hesitated as to the joint lodgings. 'How could he +manage it,' said he, 'living, as he was, with another man? He feared +that Mr. Norman would not accede to such an arrangement. As for himself, +he would do anything but leave his friend Norman.' To tell the truth, +Alaric thought much, perhaps too much, of the respectability of those +with whom he consorted. He had already begun to indulge ambitious +schemes, already had ideas stretching even beyond the limits of the +Weights and Measures, and fully intended to make the very most of +himself. + +Mrs. Tudor, in her deep grief, then betook herself to Mr. Norman, though +with that gentleman she had not even the slightest acquaintance. With +a sulking heart, with a consciousness of her unreasonableness, but with +the eloquence of maternal sorrow, she made her request. Mr. Norman heard +her out with all the calm propriety of the Weights and Measures, begged +to have a day to consider, and then acceded to the request. + +'I think we ought to do it,' said he to Alaric. The mother's tears +had touched his heart, and his sense of duty had prevailed. Alaric, of +course, could now make no further objection, and thus Charley the Navvy +became domesticated with his cousin Alaric and Harry Norman. + +The first great question to be settled, and it is a very great question +with a young man, was that of latch-key or no latch-key. Mrs. Richards, +the landlady, when she made ready the third bedroom for the young +gentleman, would, as was her wont in such matters, have put a latchkey +on the toilet-table as a matter of course, had she not had some little +conversation with Mamma Tudor regarding her son. Mamma Tudor had +implored and coaxed, and probably bribed Mrs. Richards to do something +more than 'take her son in and do for him'; and Mrs. Richards, as her +first compliance with these requests, had kept the latch-key in her own +pocket. So matters went on for a week; but when Mrs. Richards found that +her maidservant was never woken by Mr. Charley's raps after midnight, +and that she herself was obliged to descend in her dressing-gown, she +changed her mind, declared to herself that it was useless to attempt to +keep a grown gentleman in leading-strings, and put the key on the table +on the second Monday morning. + +As none of the three men ever dined at home, Alaric and Norman having +clubs which they frequented, and Charley eating his dinner at some +neighbouring dining-house, it may be imagined that this change of +residence did our poor navvy but little good. It had, however, a +salutary effect on him, at any rate at first. He became shamed into a +quieter and perhaps cleaner mode of dressing himself; he constrained +himself to sit down to breakfast with his monitors at half-past eight, +and was at any rate so far regardful of Mrs. Richards as not to smoke +in his bedroom, and to come home sober enough to walk upstairs without +assistance every night for the first month. + +But perhaps the most salutary effect made by this change on young Tudor +was this, that he was taken by his cousin one Sunday to the Woodwards. +Poor Charley had had but small opportunity of learning what are the +pleasures of decent society. He had gone headlong among the infernal +navvies too quickly to allow of that slow and gradual formation of +decent alliances which is all in all to a young man entering life. A boy +is turned loose into London, and desired to choose the good and eschew +the bad. Boy as he is, he might probably do so if the opportunity came +in his way. But no such chance is afforded him. To eschew the bad is +certainly possible for him; but as to the good, he must wait till he +be chosen. This it is, that is too much for him. He cannot live without +society, and so he falls. + +Society, an ample allowance of society, this is the first requisite +which a mother should seek in sending her son to live alone in London; +balls, routs, picnics, parties; women, pretty, well-dressed, witty, +easy-mannered; good pictures, elegant drawing rooms, well got-up books, +Majolica and Dresden china--these are the truest guards to protect a +youth from dissipation and immorality. + + These are the books, the arts, the academes + That show, contain, and nourish all the world, + +if only a youth could have them at his disposal. Some of these things, +though by no means all, Charley Tudor encountered at the Woodwards. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE WOODWARDS + + +It is very difficult nowadays to say where the suburbs of London come to +an end, and where the country begins. The railways, instead of enabling +Londoners to live in the country, have turned the country into a city. +London will soon assume the shape of a great starfish. The old town, +extending from Poplar to Hammersmith, will be the nucleus, and the +various railway lines will be the projecting rays. + +There are still, however, some few nooks within reach of the metropolis +which have not been be-villaged and be-terraced out of all look of rural +charm, and the little village of Hampton, with its old-fashioned country +inn, and its bright, quiet, grassy river, is one of them, in spite +of the triple metropolitan waterworks on the one side, and the close +vicinity on the other of Hampton Court, that well-loved resort of +cockneydom. + +It was here that the Woodwards lived. Just on the outskirts of the +village, on the side of it farthest from town, they inhabited not a +villa, but a small old-fashioned brick house, abutting on to the road, +but looking from its front windows on to a lawn and garden, which +stretched down to the river. + +The grounds were not extensive, being included, house and all, in an +area of an acre and a half: but the most had been made of it; it sloped +prettily to the river, and was absolutely secluded from the road. Thus +Surbiton Cottage, as it was called, though it had no pretension to the +grandeur of a country-house, was a desirable residence for a moderate +family with a limited income. + +Mrs. Woodward's family, for there was no Mr. Woodward in the case, +consisted of herself and three daughters. There was afterwards added +to this an old gentleman, an uncle of Mrs. Woodward's, but he had +not arrived at the time at which we would wish first to introduce our +readers to Hampton. + +Mrs. Woodward was the widow of a clergyman who had held a living in +London, and had resided there. He had, however, died when two of his +children were very young, and while the third was still a baby. From +that time Mrs. Woodward had lived at the cottage at Hampton, and had +there maintained a good repute, paying her way from month to month +as widows with limited incomes should do, and devoting herself to the +amusements and education of her daughters. + +It was not, probably, from any want of opportunity to cast them aside, +that Mrs. Woodward had remained true to her weeds; for at the time of +her husband's death she was a young and a very pretty woman; and an +income of L400 a year, though moderate enough for all the wants of a +gentleman's family, would no doubt have added sufficiently to her charms +to have procured her a second alliance, had she been so minded. + +Twelve years, however, had now elapsed since Mr. Woodward had been +gathered to his fathers, and the neighbouring world of Hampton, who +had all of them declared over and over again that the young widow would +certainly marry again, were now becoming as unanimous in their expressed +opinion that the old widow knew the value of her money too well to risk +it in the keeping of the best he that ever wore boots. + +At the date at which our story commences, she was a comely little woman, +past forty, somewhat below the middle height, rather _embonpoint_, as +widows of forty should be, with pretty fat feet, and pretty fat hands; +wearing just a _soupcon_ of a widow's cap on her head, with her hair, +now slightly grey, parted in front, and brushed very smoothly, but not +too carefully, in _bandeaux_ over her forehead. + +She was a quick little body, full of good-humour, slightly given to +repartee, and perhaps rather too impatient of a fool. But though averse +to a fool, she could sympathize with folly. A great poet has said that +women are all rakes at heart; and there was something of the rake at +heart about Mrs. Woodward. She never could be got to express adequate +horror at fast young men, and was apt to have her own sly little joke +at women who prided themselves on being punctilious. She could, perhaps, +the more safely indulge in this, as scandal had never even whispered a +word against herself. + +With her daughters she lived on terms almost of equality. The two +elder were now grown up; that is, they were respectively eighteen and +seventeen years old. They were devotedly attached to their mother, +looked on her as the only perfect woman in existence, and would +willingly do nothing that could vex her; but they perhaps were not quite +so systematically obedient to her as children should be to their only +surviving parent. Mrs. Woodward, however, found nothing amiss, and no +one else therefore could well have a right to complain. + +They were both pretty--but Gertrude, the elder, was by far the more +strikingly so. They were, nevertheless, much alike; they both had rich +brown hair, which they, like their mother, wore simply parted over the +forehead. They were both somewhat taller than her, and were nearly of +a height. But in appearance, as in disposition, Gertrude carried by far +the greater air of command. She was the handsomer of the two, and the +cleverer. She could write French and nearly speak it, while her sister +could only read it. She could play difficult pieces from sight, which +it took her sister a morning's pains to practise. She could fill in and +finish a drawing, while her sister was still struggling, and struggling +in vain, with the first principles of the art. + +But there was a softness about Linda, for such was the name of the +second Miss Woodward, which in the eyes of many men made up both for the +superior beauty and superior talent of Gertrude. Gertrude was, perhaps, +hardly so soft as so young a girl should be. In her had been magnified +that spirit of gentle raillery which made so attractive a part of her +mother's character. She enjoyed and emulated her mother's quick sharp +sayings, but she hardly did so with her mother's grace, and sometimes +attempted it with much more than her mother's severity. She also +detested fools; but in promulgating her opinion on this subject, she was +too apt to declare who the fools were whom she detested. + +It may be thought that under such circumstances there could be but +little confidence between the sisters; but, nevertheless, in their early +days, they lived together as sisters should do. Gertrude, when she +spoke of fools, never intended to include Linda in the number; and Linda +appreciated too truly, and admired too thoroughly, her sister's beauty +and talent to be jealous of either. + +Of the youngest girl, Katie, it is not necessary at present to say much. +At this time she was but thirteen years of age, and was a happy, pretty, +romping child. She gave fair promise to be at any rate equal to her +sisters in beauty, and in mind was quick and intelligent. Her great +taste was for boating, and the romance of her life consisted in laying +out ideal pleasure-grounds, and building ideal castles in a little +reedy island or ait which lay out in the Thames, a few perches from the +drawing-room windows. + +Such was the family of the Woodwards. Harry Norman's father and Mr. +Woodward had been first cousins, and hence it had been quite natural +that when Norman came up to reside in London he should be made welcome +to Surbiton Cottage. He had so been made welcome, and had thus got into +a habit of spending his Saturday evenings and Sundays at the home of his +relatives. In summer he could row up in his own wherry, and land himself +and carpet-bag direct on the Woodwards' lawn, and in the winter he came +down by the Hampton Court five p.m. train--and in each case he returned +on the Monday morning. Thus, as regards that portion of his time which +was most his own, he may be said almost to have lived at Surbiton +Cottage, and if on any Sunday he omitted to make his appearance, the +omission was ascribed by the ladies of Hampton, in some half-serious +sort of joke, to metropolitan allurements and temptations which he ought +to have withstood. + +When Tudor and Norman came to live together, it was natural enough that +Tudor also should be taken down to Surbiton Cottage. Norman could not +leave him on every Saturday without telling him much of his friends whom +he went to visit, and he could hardly say much of them without offering +to introduce his companion to them. Tudor accordingly went there, and +it soon came to pass that he also very frequently spent his Sundays at +Hampton. + +It must be remembered that at this time, the time, that is, of Norman +and Tudor's first entrance on their London life, the girls at Surbiton +Cottage were mere girls--that is, little more than children; they had +not, as it were, got their wings so as to be able to fly away when the +provocation to do so might come; they were, in short, Gertrude and Linda +Woodward, and not the Miss Woodwards: their drawers came down below +their frocks, instead of their frocks below their drawers; and in lieu +of studying the French language, as is done by grown-up ladies, they did +French lessons, as is the case with ladies who are not grown-up. Under +these circumstances there was no embarrassment as to what the young +people should call each other, and they soon became very intimate as +Harry and Alaric, Gertrude and Linda. + +It is not, however, to be conceived that Alaric Tudor at once took the +same footing in the house as Norman. This was far from being the case. +In the first place he never slept there, seeing that there was no bed +for him; and the most confidential intercourse in the household took +place as they sat cosy over the last embers of the drawing-room fire, +chatting about everything and nothing, as girls always can do, after +Tudor had gone away to his bed at the inn, on the opposite side of the +way. And then Tudor did not come on every Saturday, and at first did not +do so without express invitation; and although the girls soon habituated +themselves to the familiarity of their new friend's Christian name, it +was some time before Mrs. Woodward did so. + +Two--three years soon flew by, and Linda and Gertrude became the Miss +Woodwards; their frocks were prolonged, their drawers curtailed, and +the lessons abandoned. But still Alaric Tudor and Harry Norman came to +Hampton not less frequently than of yore, and the world resident on that +portion of the left bank of the Thames found out that Harry Norman and +Gertrude Woodward were to be man and wife, and that Alaric Tudor and +Linda Woodward were to go through the same ceremony. They found this +out, or said that they had done so. But, as usual, the world was wrong; +at least in part, for at the time of which we are speaking no word of +love-making had passed, at any rate, between the last-named couple. + +And what was Mrs. Woodward about all this time? Was she match-making or +match-marring; or was she negligently omitting the duties of a mother +on so important an occasion? She was certainly neither match-making +nor match-marring; but it was from no negligence that she was thus +quiescent. She knew, or thought she knew, that the two young men were +fit to be husbands to her daughters, and she felt that if the wish for +such an alliance should spring up between either pair, there was no +reason why she should interfere to prevent it. But she felt also that +she should not interfere to bring any such matter to pass. These young +people had by chance been thrown together. Should there be love-passages +among them, as it was natural to suppose there might be, it would be +well. Should there be none such, it would be well also. She thoroughly +trusted her own children, and did not distrust her friends; and so as +regards Mrs. Woodward the matter was allowed to rest. + +We cannot say that on this matter we quite approve of her conduct, +though we cannot but admire the feeling which engendered it. Her +daughters were very young; though they had made such positive advances +as have been above described towards the discretion of womanhood, they +were of the age when they would have been regarded as mere boys had they +belonged to the other sex. The assertion made by Clara Van Artevelde, +that women 'grow upon the sunny side of the wall,' is doubtless true; +but young ladies, gifted as they are with such advantages, may perhaps +be thought to require some counsel, some advice, in those first tender +years in which they so often have to make or mar their fortunes. + +Not that Mrs. Woodward gave them no advice; not but that she advised +them well and often--but she did so, perhaps, too much as an equal, too +little as a parent. + +But, be that as it may--and I trust my readers will not be inclined +so early in our story to lean heavily on Mrs. Woodward, whom I at once +declare to be my own chief favourite in the tale--but, be that as it +may, it so occurred that Gertrude, before she was nineteen, had listened +to vows of love from Harry Norman, which she neither accepted nor +repudiated; and that Linda had, before she was eighteen, perhaps +unfortunately, taught herself to think it probable that she might have +to listen to vows of love from Alaric Tudor. + +There had been no concealment between the young men as to their +feelings. Norman had told his friend scores of times that it was the +first wish of his heart to marry Gertrude Woodward; and had told him, +moreover, what were his grounds for hope, and what his reasons for +despair. + +'She is as proud as a queen,' he had once said as he was rowing from +Hampton to Searle's Wharf, and lay on his oars as the falling tide +carried his boat softly past the green banks of Richmond--'she is as +proud as a queen, and yet as timid as a fawn. She lets me tell her that +I love her, but she will not say a word to me in reply; as for touching +her in the way of a caress, I should as soon think of putting my arm +round a goddess.' + +'And why not put your arms round a goddess?' said Alaric, who was +perhaps a little bolder than his friend, and a little less romantic. To +this Harry answered nothing, but, laying his back to his work, swept +on past the gardens of Kew, and shot among the wooden dangers of Putney +Bridge. + +'I wish you could bring yourself to make up to Linda,' said he, resting +again from his labours; 'that would make the matter so much easier.' + +'Bring myself!' said Alaric; 'what you mean is, that you wish I could +bring Linda to consent to be made up to.' + +'I don't think you would have much difficulty,' said Harry, finding it +much easier to answer for Linda than for her sister; 'but perhaps you +don't admire her?' + +'I think her by far the prettier of the two,' said Alaric. + +'That's nonsense,' said Harry, getting rather red in the face, and +feeling rather angry. + +'Indeed I do; and so, I am convinced, would most men. You need not +murder me, man. You want me to make up to Linda, and surely it will be +better that I should admire my own wife than yours.' + +'Oh! you may admire whom you like; but to say that she is prettier than +Gertrude--why, you know, it is nonsense.' + +'Very well, my dear fellow; then to oblige you, I'll fall in love with +Gertrude.' + +'I know you won't do that,' said Harry, 'for you are not so very fond of +each other; but, joking apart, I do wish so you would make up to Linda.' + +'Well, I will when _my_ aunt leaves _me_ L200 a year.' + +There was no answering this; so the two men changed the conversation as +they walked up together from the boat wharf to the office of the Weights +and Measures. + +It was just at this time that fortune and old Mr. Tudor, of the +Shropshire parsonage, brought Charley Tudor to reside with our two +heroes. For the first month, or six weeks, Charley was ruthlessly left +by his companions to get through his Sundays as best he could. It is to +be hoped that he spent them in divine worship; but it may, we fear, be +surmised with more probability, that he paid his devotions at the +shrine of some very inferior public-house deity in the neighbourhood of +Somerset House. As a matter of course, both Norman and Tudor spoke much +of their new companion to the ladies at Surbiton Cottage, and as by +degrees they reported somewhat favourably of his improved morals, Mrs. +Woodward, with a woman's true kindness, begged that he might be brought +down to Hampton. + +'I am afraid you will find him very rough,' said his cousin Alaric. + +'At any rate you will not find him a fool,' said Norman, who was always +the more charitable of the two. + +'Thank God for that!' said Mrs. Woodward,' and if he will come next +Saturday, let him by all means do so. Pray give my compliments to him, +and tell him how glad I shall be to see him.' + +And thus was this wild wolf to be led into the sheep-cote; this infernal +navvy to be introduced among the angels of Surbiton Cottage. Mrs. +Woodward thought that she had a taste for reclaiming reprobates, and was +determined to try her hand on Charley Tudor. + +Charley went, and his debut was perfectly successful. We have hitherto +only looked on the worst side of his character; but bad as his +character was, it had a better side. He was good-natured in the extreme, +kind-hearted and affectionate; and, though too apt to be noisy and +even boisterous when much encouraged, was not without a certain innate +genuine modesty, which the knowledge of his own iniquities had rather +increased than blunted; and, as Norman had said of him, he was no fool. +His education had not been good, and he had done nothing by subsequent +reading to make up for this deficiency; but he was well endowed with +mother-wit, and owed none of his deficiencies to nature's churlishness. + +He came, and was well received. The girls thought he would surely get +drunk before he left the table, and Mrs. Woodward feared the austere +precision of her parlourmaid might be offended by some unworthy +familiarity; but no accident of either kind seemed to occur. He came to +the tea-table perfectly sober, and, as far as Mrs. Woodward could tell, +was unaware of the presence of the parlour-maiden. + +On the Sunday morning, Charley went to church, just like a Christian. +Now Mrs. Woodward certainly had expected that he would have spent those +two hours in smoking and attacking the parlour-maid. He went to church, +however, and seemed in no whit astray there; stood up when others stood +up, and sat down when others sat down. After all, the infernal navvies, +bad as they doubtless were, knew something of the recognized manners of +civilized life. + +Thus Charley Tudor ingratiated himself at Surbiton Cottage, and when +he left, received a kind intimation from its mistress that she would +be glad to see him again. No day was fixed, and so Charley could not +accompany his cousin and Harry Norman on the next Saturday; but it was +not long before he got another direct invitation, and so he also became +intimate at Hampton. There could be no danger of any one falling in love +with him, for Katie was still a child. + +Things stood thus at Surbiton Cottage when Mrs. Woodward received a +proposition from a relative of her own, which surprised them all not a +little. This was from a certain Captain Cuttwater, who was a maternal +uncle to Mrs. Woodward, and consisted of nothing less than an offer to +come and live with them for the remaining term of his natural life. Now +Mrs. Woodward's girls had seen very little of their grand-uncle, and +what little they had seen had only taught them to laugh at him. When +his name was mentioned in the family conclave, he was always made the +subject of some little feminine joke; and Mrs. Woodward, though she +always took her uncle's part, did so in a manner that made them feel +that he was fair game for their quizzing. + +When the proposal was first enunciated to the girls, they one and all, +for Katie was one of the council, suggested that it should be declined +with many thanks. + +'He'll take us all for midshipmen,' said Linda, 'and stop our rations, +and mast-head us whenever we displease him.' + +'I am sure he is a cross old hunks, though mamma says he's not,' said +Katie, with all the impudence of spoilt fourteen. + +'He'll interfere with every one of our pursuits,' said Gertrude, more +thoughtfully, 'and be sure to quarrel with the young men.' + +But Mrs. Woodward, though she had consulted her daughters, had arguments +of her own in favour of Captain Cuttwater's proposition, which she had +not yet made known to them. Good-humoured and happy as she always was, +she had her cares in the world. Her income was only L400 a year, +and that, now that the Income Tax had settled down on it, was barely +sufficient for her modest wants. A moiety of this died with her, and the +remainder would be but a poor support for her three daughters, if at the +time of her death it should so chance that she should leave them in +want of support. She had always regarded Captain Cuttwater as a probable +source of future aid. He was childless and unmarried, and had not, +as far as she was aware, another relative in the world. It would, +therefore, under any circumstances, be bad policy to offend him. But the +letter in which he had made his offer had been of a very peculiar kind. +He had begun by saying that he was to be turned out of his present berth +by a d---- Whig Government on account of his age, he being as young a +man as ever he had been; that it behoved him to look out for a place of +residence, in which he might live, and, if it should so please God, die +also. He then said that he expected to pay L200 a year for his board +and lodging, which he thought might as well go to his niece as to some +shark, who would probably starve him. He also said that, poor as he was +and always had been, he had contrived to scrape together a few hundred +pounds; that he was well aware that if he lived among strangers he +should be done out of every shilling of it; but that if his niece would +receive him, he hoped to be able to keep it together for the benefit of +his grand-nieces, &c. + +Now Mrs. Woodward knew her uncle to be an honest-minded man; she knew +also, that, in spite of his protestation as to being a very poor man, he +had saved money enough to make him of some consequence wherever he went; +and she therefore conceived that she could not with prudence send him to +seek a home among chance strangers. She explained as much of this to +the girls as she thought proper, and ended the matter by making them +understand that Captain Cuttwater was to be received. + +On the Saturday after this the three scions of the Civil Service were +all at Surbiton Cottage, and it will show how far Charley had then made +good his ground, to state that the coming of the captain was debated in +his presence. + +'And when is the great man to be here?' said Norman. + +'At once, I believe,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'that is, perhaps, before the +end of this week, and certainly before the end of next.' + +'And what is he like?' said Alaric. + +'Why, he has a tail hanging down behind, like a cat or a dog,' said +Katie. + +'Hold your tongue, miss,' said Gertrude. 'As he is to come he must be +treated with respect; but it is a great bore. To me it will destroy all +the pleasures of life.' + +'Nonsense, Gertrude,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'it is almost wicked of you to +say so. Destroy all the pleasure of life to have an old gentleman live +in the same house with you!--you ought to be more moderate, my dear, in +what you say.' + +'That's all very well, mamma,' said Gertrude, 'but you know you don't +like him yourself.' + +'But is it true that Captain Cuttwater wears a pigtail?' asked Norman. + +'I don't care what he wears,' said Gertrude; 'he may wear three if he +likes.' + +'Oh! I wish he would,' said Katie, laughing; 'that would be so +delicious. Oh, Linda, fancy Captain Cuttwater with three pigtails!' + + +'I am sorry to disappoint you, Katie,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'but your +uncle does not wear even one; he once did, but he cut it off long +since.' + +'I am so sorry,' said Katie. + +'I suppose he'll want to dine early, and go to bed early?' said Linda. + +'His going to bed early would be a great blessing,' said Gertrude, +mindful of their midnight conclaves on Saturdays and Sundays. + +'But his getting up early won't be a blessing at all,' said Linda, who +had a weakness on that subject. + +'Talking of bed, Harry, you'll have the worst of it,' said Katie, 'for +the captain is to have your room.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Mrs. Woodward, sighing gently, 'we shall no longer +have a bed for you, Harry; that _is_ the worst of it.' + +Harry of course assured her that if that was the worst of it there was +nothing very bad in it. He could have a bed at the inn as well as Alaric +and Charley. The amount of that evil would only be half-a-crown a night. + +And thus the advent of Captain Cuttwater was discussed. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CAPTAIN CUTTWATER + + +Captain Cuttwater had not seen much service afloat; that is, he had not +been personally concerned in many of those sea-engagements which in and +about the time of Nelson gave so great a halo of glory to the British +Lion; nor had it even been permitted to him to take a prominent part in +such minor affairs as have since occurred; he had not the opportunity +of distinguishing himself either at the battle of Navarino or the +bombarding of Acre; and, unfortunately for his ambition, the period of +his retirement came before that great Baltic campaign, in which, had he +been there, he would doubtless have distinguished himself as did so many +others. His earliest years were spent in cruising among the West Indies; +he then came home and spent some considerable portion of his life in +idleness--if that time can be said to have been idly spent which he +devoted to torturing the Admiralty with applications, remonstrances, +and appeals. Then he was rated as third lieutenant on the books of some +worm-eaten old man-of-war at Portsmouth, and gave up his time to looking +after the stowage of anchors, and counting fathoms of rope. At last +he was again sent afloat as senior lieutenant in a ten-gun brig, and +cruised for some time off the coast of Africa, hunting for slavers; and +returning after a while from this enterprising employment, he received a +sort of amphibious appointment at Devonport. What his duties were here, +the author, being in all points a landsman, is unable to describe. Those +who were inclined to ridicule Captain Cuttwater declared that the most +important of them consisted in seeing that the midshipmen in and about +the dockyard washed their faces, and put on clean linen not less often +than three times a week. According to his own account, he had many +things of a higher nature to attend to; and, indeed, hardly a ship sank +or swam in Hamoaze except by his special permission, for a space of +twenty years, if his own view of his own career may be accepted as +correct. + +He had once declared to certain naval acquaintances, over his third +glass of grog, that he regarded it as his birthright to be an Admiral; +but at the age of seventy-two he had not yet acquired his birthright, +and the probability of his ever attaining it was becoming very small +indeed. He was still bothering Lords and Secretaries of the Admiralty +for further promotion, when he was astounded by being informed by the +Port-Admiral that he was to be made happy by half-pay and a pension. The +Admiral, in communicating the intelligence, had pretended to think that +he was giving the captain information which could not be otherwise than +grateful to him, but he was not the less aware that the old man would +be furious at being so treated. What, pension him! put him on +half-pay--shelf him for life, while he was still anxiously expecting +that promotion, that call to higher duties which had so long been his +due, and which, now that his powers were matured, could hardly be longer +denied to him! And after all that he had done for his country--his +ungrateful, thankless, ignorant country--was he thus to be treated? Was +he to be turned adrift without any mark of honour, any special guerdon, +any sign of his Sovereign's favour to testify as to his faithful +servitude of sixty years' devotion? He, who had regarded it as his +merest right to be an Admiral, and had long indulged the hope of being +greeted in the streets of Devonport as Sir Bartholomew Cuttwater, +K.C.B., was he to be thus thrown aside in his prime, with no other +acknowledgement than the bare income to which he was entitled! + +It is hardly too much to say, that no old officers who have lacked the +means to distinguish themselves, retire from either of our military +services, free from the bitter disappointment and sour feelings of +neglected worth, which Captain Cuttwater felt so keenly. A clergyman, or +a doctor, or a lawyer, feels himself no whit disgraced if he reaches +the end of his worldly labours without special note or honour. But to a +soldier or a sailor, such indifference to his merit is wormwood. It is +the bane of the professions. Nine men out of ten who go into it must +live discontented, and die disappointed. + +Captain Cuttwater had no idea that he was an old man. He had lived for +so many years among men of his own stamp, who had grown grey and bald, +and rickety, and weak alongside of him, that he had no opportunity of +seeing that he was more grey or more rickety than his neighbours. No +children had become men and women at his feet; no new race had gone out +into the world and fought their battles under his notice. One set +of midshipmen had succeeded to another, but his old comrades in the +news-rooms and lounging-places at Devonport had remained the same; and +Captain Cuttwater had never learnt to think that he was not doing, and +was not able to do good service for his country. + +The very name of Captain Cuttwater was odious to every clerk at the +Admiralty. He, like all naval officers, hated the Admiralty, and +thought, that of all Englishmen, those five who had been selected to sit +there in high places as joint lords were the most incapable. He pestered +them with continued and almost continuous applications on subjects of +all sorts. He was always asking for increased allowances, advanced rank, +more assistance, less work, higher privileges, immunities which could +not be granted, and advantages to which he had no claim. He never +took answers, but made every request the subject of a prolonged +correspondence; till at last some energetic Assistant-Secretary declared +that it should no longer be borne, and Captain Cuttwater was dismissed +with pension and half-pay. During his service he had contrived to save +some four or five thousand pounds, and now he was about to retire with +an assured income adequate to all his wants. The public who had the +paying of Captain Cuttwater may, perhaps, think that he was amply +remunerated for what he had done; but the captain himself entertained a +very different opinion. + +Such is the view which we are obliged to take of the professional side +of Captain Cuttwater's character. But the professional side was by far +the worst. Counting fathoms of rope and looking after unruly midshipmen +on shore are not duties capable of bringing out in high relief the +better traits of a main's character. Uncle Bat, as during the few +last years of his life he was always called at Surbiton Cottage, was a +gentleman and a man of honour, in spite of anything that might be said +to the contrary at the Admiralty. He was a man with a soft heart, though +the end of his nose was so large, so red, and so pimply; and rough as +was his usage to little midshipmen when his duty caused him to encounter +them in a body, he had befriended many a one singly with kind words and +an open hand. The young rogues would unmercifully quiz Old Nosey, for so +Captain Cuttwater was generally called in Devonport, whenever they could +safely do so; but, nevertheless, in their young distresses they knew him +for their friend, and were not slow to come to him. + +In person Captain Cuttwater was a tall, heavy man, on whose iron +constitution hogsheads of Hollands and water seemed to have had no very +powerful effect. He was much given to profane oaths; but knowing that +manners required that he should refrain before ladies, and being unable +to bring his tongue sufficiently under command to do so, he was in the +habit of 'craving the ladies' pardon' after every slip. + +All that was really remarkable in Uncle Bat's appearance was included in +his nose. It had always been a generous, weighty, self-confident nose, +inviting to itself more observation than any of its brother features +demanded. But in latter years it had spread itself out in soft, porous, +red excrescences, to such an extent as to make it really deserving of +considerable attention. No stranger ever passed Captain Cuttwater in +the streets of Devonport without asking who he was, or, at any rate, +specially noticing him. + +It must, of course, be admitted that a too strongly pronounced +partiality for alcoholic drink had produced these defects in Captain +Cuttwater's nasal organ; and yet he was a most staunch friend of +temperance. No man alive or dead had ever seen Captain Cuttwater the +worse for liquor; at least so boasted the captain himself, and there +were none, at any rate in Devonport, to give him the lie. Woe betide the +midshipman whom he should see elated with too much wine; and even to the +common sailor who should be tipsy at the wrong time, he would show +no mercy. Most eloquent were the discourses which he preached against +drunkenness, and they always ended with a reference to his own sobriety. +The truth was, that drink would hardly make Captain Cuttwater drunk. It +left his brain untouched, but punished his nose. + +Mrs. Woodward had seen her uncle but once since she had become a widow. +He had then come up to London to attack the Admiralty at close quarters, +and had sojourned for three or four days at Surbiton Cottage. This was +now some ten years since, and the girls had forgotten even what he was +like. Great preparations were made for him. Though the summer had nearly +commenced, a large fire was kept burning in his bedroom--his bed was +newly hung with new curtains; two feather beds were piled on each +other, and everything was done which five women could think desirable +to relieve the ailings of suffering age. The fact, however, was that +Captain Cuttwater was accustomed to a small tent bedstead in a room +without a carpet, that he usually slept on a single mattress, and that +he never had a fire in his bedroom, even in the depth of winter. + +Travelling from Devonport to London is now an easy matter; and Captain +Cuttwater, old as he was, found himself able to get through to Hampton +in one day. Mrs. Woodward went to meet him at Hampton Court in a fly, +and conveyed him to his new home, together with a carpet-bag, a cocked +hat, a sword, and a very small portmanteau. When she inquired after the +remainder of his luggage, he asked her what more lumber she supposed +he wanted. No more lumber at any rate made its appearance, then or +afterwards; and the fly proceeded with an easy load to Surbiton Cottage. + +There was great anxiety on the part of the girls when the wheels were +heard to stop at the front door. Gertrude kept her place steadily +standing on the rug in the drawing-room; Linda ran to the door and +then back again; but Katie bolted out and ensconced herself behind the +parlour-maid, who stood at the open door, looking eagerly forth to get +the first view of Uncle Bat. + +'So here you are, Bessie, as snug as ever,' said the captain, as he let +himself ponderously down from the fly. Katie had never before heard her +mother called Bessie, and had never seen anything approaching in size or +colour to such a nose, consequently she ran away frightened. + +'That's Gertrude--is it?' said the captain. + +'Gertrude, uncle! Why Gertrude is a grown-up woman now. That's Katie, +whom you remember an infant.' + +'God bless my soul!' said the captain, as though he thought that +girls must grow twice quicker at Hampton than they did at Devonport or +elsewhere, 'God bless my soul!' + +He was then ushered into the drawing-room, and introduced in form to his +grand-nieces. 'This is Gertrude, uncle, and this Linda; there is just +enough difference for you to know them apart. And this Katie. Come here, +Katie, and kiss your uncle.' + +Katie came up, hesitated, looked horrified, but did manage to get her +face somewhat close to the old man's without touching the tremendous +nose, and then having gone through this peril she retreated again behind +the sofa. + +'Well; bless my stars, Bessie, you don't tell me those are your +children?' + +'Indeed, uncle, I believe they are. It's a sad tale for me to tell, is +it not?' said the blooming mother with a laugh. + +'Why, they'll be looking out for husbands next,' said Uncle Bat. + +'Oh! they're doing that already, every day,' said Katie. + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Uncle Bat; 'I suppose so, I suppose so;--ha, ha, +ha!' + +Gertrude turned away to the window, disgusted and angry, and made up her +mind to hate Uncle Bat for ever afterwards. Linda made a little attempt +to smile, and felt somewhat glad in her heart that her uncle was a man +who could indulge in a joke. + +He was then taken upstairs to his bedroom, and here he greatly +frightened Katie, and much scandalized the parlour-maid by declaring, +immediately on his entering the room, that it was 'd----- hot, d---ation +hot; craving your pardon, ladies!' + +'We thought, uncle, you'd like a fire,' began Mrs. Woodward, 'as----' + +'A fire in June, when I can hardly carry my coat on my back!' + +'It's the last day of May now,' said Katie timidly, from behind the +bed-curtains. + +This, however, did not satisfy the captain, and orders were forthwith +given that the fire should be taken away, the curtains stripped off, +the feather beds removed, and everything reduced to pretty much the +same state in which it had usually been left for Harry Norman's +accommodation. So much for all the feminine care which had been thrown +away upon the consideration of Uncle Bat's infirmities. + +'God bless my soul!' said he, wiping his brow with a huge coloured +handkerchief as big as a mainsail, 'one night in such a furnace as that +would have brought on the gout.' + +He had dined in town, and by the time that his chamber had been stripped +of its appendages, he was nearly ready for bed. Before he did so, he was +asked to take a glass of sherry. + +'Ah! sherry,' said he, taking up the bottle and putting it down again. +'Sherry, ah! yes; very good wine, I am sure. You haven't a drop of rum +in the house, have you?' + +Mrs. Woodward declared with sorrow that she had not. + +'Or Hollands?' said Uncle Bat. But the ladies of Surbiton Cottage were +unsupplied also with Hollands. + +'Gin?' suggested the captain, almost in despair. + +Mrs. Woodward had no gin, but she could send out and get it; and the +first evening of Captain Cuttwater's visit saw Mrs. Woodward's own +parlour-maid standing at the bar of the Green Dragon, while two gills of +spirits were being measured out for her. + +'Only for the respect she owed to Missus,' as she afterwards declared, +'she never would have so demeaned herself for all the captains in the +Queen's battalions.' + +The captain, however, got his grog; and having enlarged somewhat +vehemently while he drank it on the iniquities of those scoundrels +at the Admiralty, took himself off to bed; and left his character and +peculiarities to the tender mercies of his nieces. + +The following day was Friday, and on the Saturday Norman and Tudor were +to come down as a matter of course. During the long days, they usually +made their appearance after dinner; but they had now been specially +requested to appear in good orderly time, in honour of the captain. +Their advent had been of course spoken of, and Mrs. Woodward had +explained to Uncle Bat that her cousin Harry usually spent his Sundays +at Hampton, and that he usually also brought with him a friend of his, +a Mr. Tudor. To all this, as a matter of course, Uncle Bat had as yet no +objection to make. + +The young men came, and were introduced with due ceremony. Surbiton +Cottage, however, during dinnertime, was very unlike what it had been +before, in the opinion of all the party there assembled. The girls +felt themselves called upon, they hardly knew why, to be somewhat less +intimate in their manner with the young men than they customarily were; +and Harry and Alaric, with quick instinct, reciprocated the feeling. +Mrs. Woodward, even, assumed involuntarily somewhat of a company air; +and Uncle Bat, who sat at the bottom of the table, in the place usually +assigned to Norman, was awkward in doing the honours of the house to +guests who were in fact much more at home there than himself. + +After dinner the young people strolled out into the garden, and Katie, +as was her wont, insisted on Harry Norman rowing her over to her damp +paradise in the middle of the river. He attempted, vainly, to induce +Gertrude to accompany them. Gertrude was either coy with her lover, +or indifferent; for very few were the occasions on which she could be +induced to gratify him with the rapture of a _tete-a-tete_ encounter. +So that, in fact, Harry Norman's Sunday visits were generally moments +of expected bliss of which the full fruition was but seldom attained. So +while Katie went off to the island, Alaric and the two girls sat under +a spreading elm tree and watched the little boat as it shot across the +water. 'And what do you think of Uncle Bat?' said Gertrude. + +'Well, I am sure he's a good sort of fellow, and a very, gallant +officer, but--' + +'But what?' said Linda. + +'It's a thousand pities he should have ever been removed from Devonport, +where I am sure he was both useful and ornamental.' + +Both the girls laughed cheerily; and as the sound came across the water +to Norman's ears, he repented himself of his good nature to Katie, and +determined that her sojourn in the favourite island should, on this +occasion, be very short. + +'But he is to pay mamma a great deal of money,' said Linda, 'and his +coming will be a great benefit to her in that way.' + +'There ought to be something to compensate for the bore,' said Gertrude. + +'We must only make the best of him,' said Alaric. 'For my part, I am +rather fond of old gentlemen with long noses; but it seemed to me that +he was not quite so fond of us. I thought he looked rather shy at Harry +and me.' + +Both the girls protested against this, and declared that there could be +nothing in it. + +'Well, now, I'll tell you what, Gertrude,' said Alaric, 'I am quite sure +that he looks on me, especially, as an interloper; and yet I'll bet you +a pair of gloves I am his favourite before a month is over.' + +'Oh, no; Linda is to be his favourite,' said Gertrude. + +'Indeed I am not,' said Linda. 'I liked him very well till he drank +three huge glasses of gin-and-water last night, but I never can fancy +him after that. You can't conceive, Alaric, what the drawing-room smelt +like. I suppose he'll do the same every evening.' + +'Well, what can you expect?' said Gertrude; 'if mamma will have an old +sailor to live with her, of course he'll drink grog.' + +While this was going on in the garden, Mrs. Woodward sat dutifully +with her uncle while he sipped his obnoxious toddy, and answered his +questions about their two friends. + +'They were both in the Weights and Measures, by far the most respectable +public office in London,' as she told him, 'and both doing extremely +well there. They were, indeed, young men sure to distinguish themselves +and get on in the world. Had this not been so, she might perhaps have +hesitated to receive them so frequently, and on such intimate terms, at +Surbiton Cottage.' This she said in a half-apologetic manner, and +yet with a feeling of anger at herself that she should condescend to +apologize to any one as to her own conduct in her own house. + +'They are very nice young men, I am sure,' said Uncle Bat. + +'Indeed they are,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'And very civil to the young ladies,' said Uncle Bat. + +'They have known them since they were children, uncle; and of course +that makes them more intimate than young men generally are with young +ladies;' and again Mrs. Woodward was angry with herself for making any +excuses on the subject. + +'Are they well off?' asked the prudent captain. + +'Harry Norman is very well off; he has a private fortune. Both of them +have excellent situations.' + +'To my way of thinking that other chap is the better fellow. At any rate +he seems to have more gumption about him.' + +'Why, uncle, you don't mean to tell me that you think Harry Norman a +fool?' said Mrs. Woodward. Harry Norman was Mrs. Woodward's special +friend, and she fondly indulged the hope of seeing him in time become +the husband of her elder and favourite daughter; if, indeed, she can be +fairly said to have had a favourite child. + +Captain Cuttwater poured out another glass of rum, and dropped the +subject. + +Soon afterwards the whole party came in from the lawn. Katie was all +draggled and wet, for she had persisted in making her way right across +the island to look out for a site for another palace. Norman was a +little inclined to be sulky, for Katie had got the better of him; when +she had got out of the boat, he could not get her into it again; and as +he could not very well leave her in the island, he had been obliged to +remain paddling about, while he heard the happy voices of Alaric and the +two girls from the lawn. Alaric was in high good-humour, and entered the +room intent on his threatened purpose of seducing Captain Cuttwater's +affections. The two girls were both blooming with happy glee, and +Gertrude was especially bright in spite of the somewhat sombre demeanour +of her lover. + +Tea was brought in, whereupon Captain Cuttwater, having taken a bit of +toast and crammed it into his saucer, fell fast asleep in an arm-chair. + +'You'll have very little opportunity to-night,' said Linda, almost in a +whisper. + +'Opportunity for what?' asked Mrs. Woodward. + +'Hush,' said Gertrude, 'we'll tell you by and by, mamma. You'll wake +Uncle Bat if you talk now.' + +'I am so thirsty,' said Katie, bouncing into the room with dry shoes and +stockings on. 'I am so thirsty. Oh, Linda, do give me some tea.' + +'Hush,' said Alaric, pointing to the captain, who was thoroughly +enjoying himself, and uttering sonorous snores at regular fixed +intervals. + +'Sit down, Katie, and don't make a noise,' said Mrs. Woodward, gently. + +Katie slunk into a chair, opened wide her large bright eyes, applied +herself diligently to her teacup, and then, after taking breath, said, +in a very audible whisper to her sister, 'Are not we to talk at all, +Linda? That will be very dull, I think.' + +'Yes, my dear, you are to talk as much as you please, and as often as +you please, and as loud as you please; that is to say, if your mamma +will let you,' said Captain Cuttwater, without any apparent waking +effort, and in a moment the snoring was going on again as regularly as +before. + +Katie looked round, and again opened her eyes and laughed. Mrs. Woodward +said, 'You are very good-natured, uncle.' The girls exchanged looks with +Alaric, and Norman, who had not yet recovered his good-humour, went on +sipping his tea. + +As soon as the tea-things were gone, Uncle Bat yawned and shook himself, +and asked if it was not nearly time to go to bed. + +'Whenever you like, Uncle Bat,' said Mrs. Woodward, who began to find +that she agreed with Gertrude, that early habits on the part of her +uncle would be a family blessing. 'But perhaps you'll take something +before you go?' + +'Well, I don't mind if I do take a thimbleful of rum-and-water.' So the +odious spirit-bottle was again brought into the drawing-room. + +'Did you call at the Admiralty, sir, as you came through town?' said +Alaric. + +'Call at the Admiralty, sir!' said the captain, turning sharply round +at the questioner; 'what the deuce should I call at the Admiralty for? +craving the ladies' pardon.' + +'Well, indeed, I don't know,' said Alaric, not a bit abashed. 'But +sailors always do call there, for the pleasure, I suppose, of kicking +their heels in the lords' waiting-room.' + +'I have done with that game,' said Captain Cuttwater, now wide awake; +and in his energy he poured half a glass more rum into his beaker. 'I've +done with that game, and I'll tell you what, Mr. Tudor, if I had a dozen +sons to provide for to-morrow--' + +'Oh, I do so wish you had,' said Katie; 'it would be such fun. Fancy +Uncle Bat having twelve sons, Gertrude. What would you call them all, +uncle?' + +'Why, I tell you what, Miss Katie, I wouldn't call one of them a sailor. +I'd sooner make tailors of them.' + +'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, gentleman, apothecary, ploughboy, +thief,' said Katie. 'That would only be eight; what should the other +four be, uncle?' + +'You're quite right, Captain Cuttwater,' said Alaric, 'at least as far +as the present moment goes; but the time is coming when things at the +Admiralty will be managed very differently.' + +'Then I'm d---- if that time can come too soon--craving the ladies' +pardon!' said Uncle Bat. + +'I don't know what you mean, Alaric,' said Harry Norman, who was just at +present somewhat disposed to contradict his friend, and not ill-inclined +to contradict the captain also; 'as far as I can judge, the Admiralty is +the very last office the Government will think of touching.' + +'The Government!' shouted Captain Cuttwater; 'oh! if we are to wait for +the Government, the navy may go to the deuce, sir.' + +'It's the pressure from without that must do the work,' said Alaric. + +'Pressure from without!' said Norman, scornfully; 'I hate to hear such +trash.' + +'We'll see, young gentleman, we'll see,' said the captain; 'it may be +trash, and it may be right that five fellows who never did the Queen a +day's service in their life, should get fifteen hundred or two thousand +a year, and have the power of robbing an old sailor like me of the +reward due to me for sixty years' hard work. Reward! no; but the very +wages that I have actually earned. Look at me now, d---- me, look at me! +Here I am, Captain Cuttwater--with sixty years' service--and I've done +more perhaps for the Queen's navy than--than--' + +'It's too true, Captain Cuttwater,' said Alaric, speaking with a sort +of mock earnestness which completely took in the captain, but stealing a +glance at the same time at the two girls, who sat over their work at the +drawing-room table, 'it's too true; and there's no doubt the whole +thing must be altered, and that soon. In the first place, we must have a +sailor at the head of the navy.' + +'Yes,' said the captain, 'and one that knows something about it too.' + +'You'll never have a sailor sitting as first lord,' said Norman, +authoritatively; 'unless it be when some party man, high in rank, may +happen to have been in the navy as a boy.' + +'And why not?' said Captain Cuttwater quite angrily. + +'Because the first lord must sit in the Cabinet, and to do that he must +be a thorough politician.' + +'D---- politicians! craving the ladies' pardon,' said Uncle Bat. + +'Amen!' said Alaric. + +Uncle Bat, thinking that he had thoroughly carried his point, finished +his grog, took up his candlestick, and toddled off to bed. + +'Well, I think I have done something towards carrying my point,' said +Alaric. + +'I didn't think you were half so cunning,' said Linda, laughing. + +'I cannot think how you can condescend to advocate opinions +diametrically opposed to your own convictions,' said Norman, somewhat +haughtily. + +'Fee, fo, fum!' said Alaric. + +'What is it all about?' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Alaric wants to do all he can to ingratiate himself with Uncle Bat,' +said Gertrude; 'and I am sure he's going the right way to work.' + +'It's very good-natured on his part,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'I don't know what you are talking about,' said Katie, yawning, 'and I +think you are all very stupid; so I'll go to bed.' + +The rest soon followed her. They did not sit up so late chatting over +the fire this evening, as was their wont on Saturdays, though none of +them knew what cause prevented it. + + + +CHAPTER V + +BUSHEY PARK + + +The next day being Sunday, the whole party very properly went to church; +but during the sermon Captain Cuttwater very improperly went to sleep, +and snored ponderously the whole time. Katie was so thoroughly shocked +that she did not know which way to look; Norman, who had recovered his +good-humour, and Alaric, could not refrain from smiling as they caught +the eyes of the two girls; and Mrs. Woodward made sundry little abortive +efforts to wake her uncle with her foot. Altogether abortive they were +not, for the captain would open his eyes and gaze at her for a moment +in the most good-natured, lack-lustre manner conceivable; but then, in a +moment, he would be again asleep and snoring, with all the regularity of +a kitchen-clock. This was at first very dreadful to the Woodwards; but +after a month or two they got used to it, and so apparently did the +pastor and the people of Hampton. + +After church there was a lunch of course; and then, according to their +wont, they went out to walk. These Sunday walks in general were matters +of some difficulty. The beautiful neighbourhood of Hampton Court, with +its palace-gardens and lovely park, is so popular with Londoners that it +is generally alive on that day with a thronged multitude of men, women, +and children, and thus becomes not an eligible resort for lovers of +privacy. Captain Cuttwater, however, on this occasion, insisted on +seeing the chestnuts and the crowd, and consequently, they all went into +Bushey Park. + +Uncle Bat, who professed himself to be a philanthropist, and who was +also a bit of a democrat, declared himself delighted with what he saw. +It was a great thing for the London citizens to come down there with +their wives and children, and eat their dinners in the open air under +the spreading trees; and both Harry and Alaric agreed with him. Mrs. +Woodward, however, averred that it would be much better if they would +go to church first, and Gertrude and Linda were of opinion that the Park +was spoilt by the dirty bits of greasy paper which were left about on +all sides. Katie thought it very hard that, as all the Londoners were +allowed to eat their dinners in the Park, she might not have hers there +also. To which Captain Cuttwater rejoined that he should give them a +picnic at Richmond before the summer was over. + +All the world knows how such a party as that of our friends by degrees +separates itself into twos and threes, when sauntering about in shady +walks. It was seldom, indeed, that Norman could induce his Dulcinea to +be so complaisant in his favour; but either accident or kindness on her +part favoured him on this occasion, and as Katie went on eliciting from +Uncle Bat fresh promises as to the picnic, Harry and Gertrude found +themselves together under one avenue of trees, while Alaric and Linda +were equally fortunate, or unfortunate, under another. + +'I did so wish to speak a few words to you, Gertrude,' said Norman; 'but +it seems as though, now that this captain has come among us, all our old +habits and ways are to be upset.' + +'I don't see that _you_ need say that,' said she. 'We may, perhaps, be +put out a little--that is, mamma and Linda and I; but I do not see that +you need suffer.' + +'Suffer--no, not suffer--and yet it is suffering.' + +'What is suffering?' said she. + +'Why, to be as we were last night--not able to speak to each other.' + +'Come, Harry, you should be a little reasonable,' said she, laughing. +'If you did not talk last night whose fault was it?' + +'I suppose you will say it was my own. Perhaps it was. But I could not +feel comfortable while he was drinking gin-and-water--' + +'It was rum,' said Gertrude, rather gravely. + +'Well, rum-and-water in your mother's drawing-room, and cursing and +swearing before you and Linda, as though he were in the cockpit of a +man-of-war.' + +'Alaric you saw was able to make himself happy, and I am sure he is not +more indifferent to us than you are.' + +'Alaric seemed to me to be bent on making a fool of the old man; and, to +tell the truth, I cannot approve of his doing so.' + +'It seems to me, Harry, that you do not approve of what any of us +are doing,' said she; 'I fear we are all in your black books--Captain +Cuttwater, and mamma, and Alaric, and I, and all of us.' + +'Well now, Gertrude, do you mean to say you think it right that Katie +should sit by and hear a man talk as Captain Cuttwater talked last +night? Do you mean to say that the scene which passed, with the rum and +the curses, and the absurd ridicule which was thrown on your mother's +uncle, was such as should take place in your mother's drawing-room?' + +'I mean to say, Harry, that my mother is the best and only judge of what +should, and what should not, take place there.' + +Norman felt himself somewhat silenced by this, and walked on for a +time without speaking. He was a little too apt to take upon himself the +character of Mentor; and, strange to say, he was aware of his own fault +in this particular. Thus, though the temptation to preach was very +powerful, he refrained himself for a while. His present desire was to +say soft things rather than sharp words; and though lecturing was at +this moment much easier to him than love-making, he bethought himself +of his object, and controlled the spirit of morality which was strong +within him. + +'But we were so happy before your uncle came,' he said, speaking with +his sweetest voice, and looking at the beautiful girl beside him with +all the love he was able to throw into his handsome face. + +'And we are happy now that he has come--or at any rate ought to be,' +said Gertrude, doing a little in the Mentor line herself, now that the +occasion came in her way. + +'Ah! Gertrude, you know very well there is only one thing can make me +happy,' said Harry. + +'Why, you unreasonable man! just now you said you were perfectly happy +before Captain Cuttwater came, I suppose the one thing now necessary is +to send him away again.' + +'No, Gertrude, the thing necessary is to take you away.' + +'What! out of the contamination of poor old Uncle Bat's bottle of rum? +But, Harry, you see it would be cowardly in me to leave mamma and Linda +to suffer the calamity alone.' + +'I wonder, Gertrude, whether, in your heart of hearts, you really care +a straw about me,' said Harry, who was now very sentimental and somewhat +lachrymose. + +'You know we all care very much about you, and it is very wrong in +you to express such a doubt,' said Gertrude, with a duplicity that +was almost wicked; as if she did not fully understand that the kind of +'caring' of which Norman spoke was of a very different nature from the +general 'caring' which she, on his behalf, shared with the rest of her +family. + +'All of you--yes, but I am not speaking of all of you; I am speaking of +you, Gertrude--you in particular. Can you ever love me well enough to be +my wife?' + +'Well, there is no knowing what I may be able to do in three or four +years' time; but even that must depend very much on how you behave +yourself in the mean time. If you get cross because Captain Cuttwater +has come here, and snub Alaric and Linda, as you did last night, and +scold at mamma because she chooses to let her own uncle live in her own +house, why, to tell you the truth, I don't think I ever shall.' + +All persons who have a propensity to lecture others have a strong +constitutional dislike to being lectured themselves. Such was decidedly +the case with Harry Norman. In spite of his strong love, and his anxious +desire to make himself agreeable, his brow became somewhat darkened, and +his lips somewhat compressed. He would not probably have been annoyed +had he not been found fault with for snubbing his friend Tudor. Why +should Gertrude, his Gertrude, put herself forward to defend his friend? +Let her say what she chose for her mother, or even for her profane, +dram-drinking, vulgar old uncle, but it was too much that she should +take up the cudgels for Alaric Tudor. + +'Well,' said he, 'I was annoyed last night, and I must own it. It +grieved me to hear Alaric turning your uncle into ridicule, and that +before your mother's face; and it grieved me to see you and Linda +encourage him. In what Alaric said about the Admiralty he did not speak +truthfully.' + +'Do you mean to say that Alaric said what was false?' + +'Inasmuch as he was pretending to express his own opinion, he did say +what was false.' + +'Then I must and will say that I never yet knew Alaric say a word that +was not true; and, which is more, I am quite sure that he would not +accuse you of falsehood behind your back in a fit of jealousy.' + +'Jealousy!' said Norman, looking now as black as grim death itself. + +'Yes, it is jealousy. It so turned out that Alaric got on better last +night with Captain Cuttwater than you did, and that makes you jealous.' + +'Pish!' said Norman, somewhat relieved, but still sufficiently disgusted +that his lady-love should suppose that he could be otherwise than +supremely indifferent to the opinion of Captain Cuttwater. + +The love-scene, however, was fatally interrupted; and the pair were not +long before they joined the captain, Mrs. Woodward, and Katie. + +And how fared it with the other pair under the other avenue of +chestnuts? + +Alaric Tudor had certainly come out with no defined intention of making +love as Harry Norman had done; but with such a companion it was very +difficult for him to avoid it. Linda was much more open to attacks +of this nature than her sister. Not that she was as a general rule +willingly and wilfully inclined to give more encouragement to lovers +than Gertrude; but she had less power of fence, less skill in protecting +herself, and much less of that naughty self-esteem which makes some +women fancy that all love-making to them is a liberty, and the want of +which makes others feel that all love-making is to them a compliment. + +Alaric Tudor had no defined intention of making love; but he had a sort +of suspicion that he might, if he pleased, do so successfully; and +he had no defined intention of letting it alone. He was a far-seeing, +prudent man; for his age perhaps too prudent; but he was nevertheless +fully susceptible of the pleasure of holding an affectionate, close +intercourse with so sweet a girl as Linda Woodward; and though he knew +that marriage with a girl without a dowry would for him be a death-blow +to all his high hopes, he could hardly resist the temptation of +conjugating the verb to love. Had he been able to choose from the two +sisters, he would probably have selected Gertrude in spite of what +he had said to Norman in the boat; but Gertrude was bespoken; and it +therefore seemed all but unnatural that there should not be some love +passages between him and Linda. + +Ah! Mrs. Woodward, my friend, my friend, was it well that thou shouldst +leave that sweet unguarded rosebud of thine to such perils as these? + +They, also, commenced their wooing by talking over Captain Cuttwater; +but they did not quarrel over him. Linda was quite content to be told +by her friend what she ought to do, and how she ought to think about her +uncle; and Alaric had a better way of laying down the law than Norman. +He could do so without offending his hearer's pride, and consequently +was generally better listened to than his friend, though his law was +probably not in effect so sound. + +But they had soon done with Captain Cuttwater, and Alaric had to choose +another subject. Gertrude and Norman were at some distance from them, +but were in sight and somewhat in advance. + +'Look at Harry,' said Alaric; 'I know from the motion of his shoulder +that he is at this moment saying something very tender.' + +'It is ten times more likely that they are quarrelling,' said Linda. + +'Oh! the quarrels of lovers--we know all about that, don't we?' + +'You must not call them lovers, Alaric; mamma would not like it, nor +indeed would Gertrude, I am sure.' + +'I would not for the world do anything that Mrs. Woodward would not +like; but between ourselves, Linda, are they not lovers?' + +'No; that is, not that I know of. I don't believe that they are a bit,' +said Linda, blushing at her own fib. + +'And why should they not be? How indeed is it possible that they +should not be; that is--for I heartily beg Gertrude's pardon--how is it +possible that Harry should not be in love with her?' + +'Indeed, Gertrude is very, very beautiful,' said Linda, with the +faintest possible sigh, occasioned by the remembrance of her own +inferior charms. + +'Indeed she is, very, very beautiful,' repeated Alaric, speaking with +an absent air as though his mind were fully engaged in thinking of the +beauty of which he spoke. + +It was not in Linda's nature to be angry because her sister was admired, +and because she was not. But yet there was something in Alaric's warm +tone of admiration which gave her a feeling of unhappiness which she +would have been quite unable to define, even had she attempted it. She +saw her sister and Harry Norman before her, and she knew in her heart +that they were lovers, in spite of her little weak declaration to the +contrary. She saw how earnestly her sister was loved, and she in +her kindly loving nature could not but envy her fancied happiness. +Envy--no--it certainly was not envy. She would not for worlds have +robbed her sister of her admirer; but it was so natural for her to feel +that it must be delicious to be admired! + +She did not begrudge Gertrude Norman's superior beauty, nor his greater +wealth; she knew that Gertrude was entitled to more, much more, than +herself. But seeing that Norman was Gertrude's lover, was it not natural +that Alaric should be hers? And then, though Harry was the handsomer and +the richer, she liked Alaric so much the better of the two. But now that +Alaric was alone with her, the only subject he could think to talk of +was Gertrude's beauty! + +It must not be supposed that these thoughts in their plainly-developed +form passed through Linda's mind. It was not that she thought all this, +but that she felt it. Such feelings are quite involuntary, whereas one's +thoughts are more or less under command. Linda would not have allowed +herself to think in this way for worlds; but she could not control her +feelings. + +They walked on side by side, perfectly silent for a minute or two, and +an ill-natured tear was gathering itself in the corner of Linda's eye: +she was afraid even to raise her hand to brush it away, for fear Alaric +should see her, and thus it went on gathering till it was like to fall. + +'How singular it is,' said Alaric--'how very singular, the way in which +I find myself living with you all! such a perfect stranger as I am.' + +'A perfect stranger!' said Linda, who, having remembered Alaric since +the days of her short frocks and lessons, looked on him as a very old +friend indeed. + +'Yes, a perfect stranger, if you think of it. What do any of you know +about me? Your mother never saw my mother; your father knew nothing of +my father; there is no kindred blood common to us. Harry Norman, there, +is your near cousin; but what am I that I should be thus allowed to +live with you, and walk with you, and have a common interest in all your +doings?' + +'Why, you are a dear friend of mamma's, are you not?' + +'A dear friend of mamma's! said he, 'well, indeed, I hope I am; for your +mother is at any rate a dear friend to me. But, Linda, one cannot be so +much without longing to be more. Look at Harry, how happy he is!' + +'But, Alaric, surely you would not interfere with Harry,' said Linda, +whose humble, innocent heart thought still of nothing but the merits of +her sister; and then, remembering that it was necessary that she should +admit nothing on Gertrude's behalf, she entered her little protest +against the assumption that her sister acknowledged Norman for her +lover. 'That is, you would not do so, if there were anything in it.' + +'I interfere with Harry!' said Alaric, switching the heads off the bits +of fern with the cane he carried. 'No, indeed. I have no wish at all to +do that. It is not that of which I was thinking. Harry is welcome to all +his happiness; that is, if Gertrude can be brought to make him happy.' + +Linda, made no answer now; but the tear came running down her face, and +her eyes became dim, and her heart beat very quick, and she didn't quite +remember where she was. Up to this moment no man had spoken a word of +love to Linda Woodward, and to some girls the first word is very trying. + +'Interfere with Harry!' Alaric repeated again, and renewed his attack on +the ferns. 'Well, Linda, what an opinion you must have of me!' + +Linda was past answering; she could not protest--nor would it have +been expedient to do so--that her opinion of her companion was not +unfavourable. + +'Gertrude is beautiful, very beautiful,' he continued, still beating +about the bush as modest lovers do, and should do; 'but she is not the +only beautiful girl in Surbiton Cottage, nor to my eyes is she the most +so.' + +Linda was now quite beside herself. She knew that decorum required that +she should say something stiff and stately to repress such language, but +if all her future character for propriety had depended on it, she +could not bring herself to say a word. She knew that Gertrude, when so +addressed, would have maintained her dignity, and have concealed her +secret, even if she allowed herself to have a secret to conceal. She +knew that it behoved her to be repellent and antagonistic to the first +vows of a first lover. But, alas! she had no power of antagonism, no +energy for repulse left in her. Her knees seemed to be weak beneath her, +and all she could do was to pluck to pieces the few flowers that she +carried at her waist. + +Alaric saw his advantage, but was too generous to push it closely; nor +indeed did he choose to commit himself to all the assured intentions of +a positive declaration. He wished to raise an interest in Linda's heart, +and having done so, to leave the matter to chance. Something, however, +it was necessary that he should say. He walked a while by her in +silence, decapitating the ferns, and then coming close to her, he said-- + +'Linda, dear Linda! you are not angry with me?' Linda, however, answered +nothing. 'Linda, dearest Linda! speak one word to me.' + +'Don't!' said Linda through her tears. 'Pray don't, Alaric; pray don't.' + +'Well, Linda, I will not say another word to you now. Let us walk +gently; we shall catch them up quite in time before they leave the +park.' + +And so they sauntered on, exchanging no further words. Linda by degrees +recovered her calmness, and as she did so, she found herself to be, oh! +so happy. She had never, never envied Gertrude her lover; but it was so +sweet, so very sweet, to be able to share her sister's happiness. +And Alaric, was he also happy? At the moment he doubtless enjoyed the +triumph of his success. But still he had a feeling of sad care at his +heart. How was he to marry a girl without a shilling? Were all his high +hopes, was all his soaring ambition, to be thrown over for a dream of +love? + +Ah! Mrs. Woodward, my friend, my friend, thou who wouldst have fed thy +young ones, like the pelican, with blood from thine own breast, had such +feeding been of avail; thou who art the kindest of mothers; has it been +well for thee to subject to such perils this poor weak young dove of +thine? + +Uncle Bat had become tired with his walk, and crawled home so slowly +that Alaric and Linda caught the party just as they reached the small +wicket which leads out of the park on the side nearest to Hampton. +Nothing was said or thought of their absence, and they all entered the +house together. Four of them, however, were conscious that that Sunday's +walk beneath the chestnuts of Bushey Park would long be remembered. + +Nothing else occurred to make the day memorable. In the evening, after +dinner, Mrs. Woodward and her daughters went to church, leaving her +younger guests to entertain the elder one. The elder one soon took the +matter in his own hand by going to sleep; and Harry and Alaric being +thus at liberty, sauntered out down the river side. They both made a +forced attempt at good-humour, each speaking cheerily to the other; but +there was no confidence between them as there had been on that morning +when Harry rowed his friend up to London. Ah me! what had occurred +between them to break the bonds of their mutual trust--to quench the +ardour of their firm friendship? But so it was between them now. It was +fated that they never again should place full confidence in each other. + +There was no such breach between the sisters, at least not as yet; but +even between them there was no free and full interchange of their +hopes and fears. Gertrude and Linda shared the same room, and were +accustomed--as what girls are not?--to talk half through the night of +all their wishes, thoughts, and feelings. And Gertrude was generally +prone enough to talk of Harry Norman. Sometimes she would say she loved +him a little, just a little; at others she would declare that she loved +him not at all--that is, not as heroines love in novels, not as she +thought she could love, and would do, should it ever be her lot to be +wooed by such a lover as her young fancy pictured to her. Then she +would describe her beau ideal, and the description certainly gave no +counterpart of Harry Norman. To tell the truth, however, Gertrude was as +yet heart whole; and when she talked of love and Harry Norman, she did +not know what love was. + +On this special Sunday evening she was disinclined to speak of him at +all. Not that she loved him more than usual, but that she was beginning +to think that she could not ever really love him at all. She had taught +herself to think that he might probably be her husband, and had hitherto +felt no such repugnance to her destiny as caused her to shun the +subject. But now she was beginning to think of the matter seriously; and +as she did so, she felt that life might have for her a lot more blessed +than that of sharing the world with her cousin Harry. + +When, therefore, Linda began to question her about her lover, and to +make little hints of her desire to tell what Alaric had said of her and +Norman, Gertrude gave her no encouragement. She would speak of Captain +Cuttwater, of Katie's lessons, of the new dress they were to make for +their mother, of Mr. Everscreech's long sermon, of anything in fact but +of Harry Norman. + +Now this was very hard on poor Linda. Her heart was bursting within her +to tell her sister that she also was beloved; but she could not do so +without some little encouragement. + +In all their conferences she took the cue of the conversation from her +sister; and though she could have talked about Alaric by the hour, if +Gertrude would have consented to talk about Harry, she did not know how +to start the subject of her own lover, while Gertrude was so cold +and uncommunicative as to hers. She struggled very hard to obtain the +privilege for which she so anxiously longed; but in doing so she only +met with a sad and sore rebuff. + +'Gertrude,' at last said Linda, when Gertrude thought that the subject +had been put to rest at any rate for that night, 'don't you think mamma +would be pleased if she knew that you had engaged yourself to Harry +Norman?' + +'No,' said Gertrude, evincing her strong mind by the tone in which she +spoke; 'I do not. If mamma wished it, she would have told me; for she +never has any secrets. I should be as wrong to engage myself with Harry +as you would be with Alaric. For though Harry has property of his own, +while poor Alaric has none, he has a very insufficient income for a +married man, and I have no fortune with which to help him. If nothing +else prevented it, I should consider it wicked in me to make myself a +burden to a man while he is yet so young and comparatively so poor.' + +Prudent, sensible, high-minded, well-disciplined Gertrude! But had her +heart really felt a spark of love for the man of whom she spoke, how +much would prudent, sensible, high-minded considerations have weighed +with her? Alas! not a feather. + +Having made her prudent, high-minded speech, she turned round and slept; +and poor Linda also turned round and bedewed her pillow. She no longer +panted to tell her sister of Alaric's love. + +On the next morning the two young men returned to town, and the +customary dullness of the week began. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SIR GREGORY HARDLINES + + +Great changes had been going on at the Weights and Measures; or rather +it might be more proper to say that great changes were now in progress. +From that moment in which it had been hinted to Mr. Hardlines that he +must relax the rigour of his examinations, he had pondered deeply over +the matter. Hitherto he had confined his efforts to his own office, and, +so far from feeling personally anxious for the amelioration of the Civil +Service generally, had derived no inconsiderable share of his happiness +from the knowledge that there were such sinks of iniquity as the +Internal Navigation. To be widely different from others was Mr. +Hardlines' glory. He was, perhaps, something of a Civil Service +Pharisee, and wore on his forehead a broad phylactery, stamped with +the mark of Crown property. He thanked God that he was not as those +publicans at Somerset House, and took glory to himself in paying tithes +of official cumin. + +But now he was driven to a wider range. Those higher Pharisees who were +above him in his own pharisaical establishment, had interfered with the +austerity of his worship. He could not turn against them there, on their +own ground. He, of all men, could not be disobedient to official orders. +But if he could promote a movement beyond the walls of the Weights and +Measures; if he could make Pharisees of those benighted publicans in the +Strand; if he could introduce conic sections into the Custom House, and +political economy into the Post Office; if, by any effort of his, the +Foreign Office clerks could be forced to attend punctually at ten; and +that wretched saunterer, whom five days a week he saw lounging into the +Council Office--if he could be made to mend his pace, what a wide field +for his ambition would Mr. Hardlines then have found! + +Great ideas opened themselves to his mind as he walked to and from his +office daily. What if he could become the parent of a totally different +order of things! What if the Civil Service, through his instrumentality, +should become the nucleus of the best intellectual diligence in +the country, instead of being a byword for sloth and ignorance! Mr. +Hardlines meditated deeply on this, and, as he did so, it became +observed on all sides that he was an altered man as regarded his +solicitude for the Weights and Measures. One or two lads crept in, by no +means conspicuous for their attainments in abstract science; young men, +too, were observed to leave not much after four o'clock, without calling +down on themselves Mr. Hardlines' usual sarcasm. Some said he was +growing old, others that he was broken-hearted. But Mr. Hardlines was +not old, nor broken in heart or body. He was thinking of higher things +than the Weights and Measures, and at last he published a pamphlet. + +Mr. Hardlines had many enemies, all in the Civil Service, one of the +warmest of whom was Mr. Oldeschole, of the Navigation, and at first they +rejoiced greatly that Job's wish had been accomplished on their behalf, +and that their enemy had written a book. They were down on Mr. Hardlines +with reviews, counter pamphlets, official statements, and indignant +contradiction; but Mr. Hardlines lived through this storm of missiles, +and got his book to be feted and made much of by some Government +pundits, who were very bigwigs indeed. And at last he was invited +over to the building on the other side, to discuss the matter with +a President, a Secretary of State, a Lord Commissioner, two joint +Secretaries, and three Chairmen. + +And then, for a period of six months, the light of Mr. Hardlines' face +ceased to shine on the children of the Weights and Measures, and they +felt, one and all, that the glory had in a certain measure departed from +their house. Now and again Mr. Hardlines would look in, but he did +so rather as an enemy than as a friend. There was always a gleam of +antagonistic triumph in his eye, which showed that he had not forgotten +the day when he was called in question for his zeal. He was felt to be +in opposition to his own Board, rather than in co-operation with it. The +Secretary and the Assistant-Secretaries would say little caustic things +about him to the senior clerks, and seemed somewhat to begrudge him his +new honours. But for all this Mr. Hardlines cared little. The President +and the Secretary of State, the joint Secretaries and the Chairmen, all +allowed themselves to be led by him in this matter. His ambition was +about to be gratified. It was his destiny that he should remodel the +Civil Service. What was it to him whether or no one insignificant office +would listen to his charming? Let the Secretary at the Weights and +Measures sneer as he would; he would make that hero of the metallic +currency know that he, Mr. Hardlines, was his master. + +At the end of six months his budding glory broke out into splendid, +full-blown, many-coloured flowers. He resigned his situation at the +Weights and Measures, and was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Board +of Civil Service Examination, with a salary of L2,000 a year; he was +made a K.C.B., and shone forth to the world as Sir Gregory Hardlines; +and he received a present of L1,000, that happy _ne plus ultra_ of +Governmental liberality. Sir Gregory Hardlines was forced to acknowledge +to himself that he was born to a great destiny. + +When Sir Gregory, as we must now call him, was first invited to give his +attendance at another office, he found it expedient to take with him one +of the young men from the Weights and Measures, and he selected Alaric +Tudor. Now this was surprising to many, for Tudor had been brought into +the office not quite in accordance with Sir Gregory's views. But during +his four years of service Alaric had contrived to smooth down any +acerbity which had existed on this score; either the paper on the +strike-bushel, or his own general intelligence, or perhaps a certain +amount of flattery which he threw into his daily intercourse with the +chief clerk, had been efficacious, and when Sir Gregory was called +upon to select a man to take with him to his new temporary office, he +selected Alaric Tudor. + +The main effect which such selection had upon our story rises from +the circumstance that it led to an introduction between Tudor and the +Honourable Undecimus Scott, and that this introduction brought about a +close alliance. + +We will postpone for a short while such description of the character and +position of this gentleman as it may be indispensable to give, and will +in this place merely say that the Honourable Undecimus Scott had been +chosen to act as secretary to the temporary commission that was now +making inquiry as to the proposed Civil Service examinations, and that +in this capacity he was necessarily thrown into communication with +Tudor. He was a man who had known much of officialities, had filled +many situations, was acquainted with nearly all the secretaries, +assistant-secretaries, and private secretaries in London, had been in +Parliament, and was still hand-and-glove with all young members who +supported Government. Tudor, therefore, thought it a privilege to know +him, and allowed himself to become, in a certain degree, subject to his +influence. + +When it was declared to the world of Downing Street that Sir Gregory +Hardlines was to be a great man, to have an office of his own, and to +reign over assistant-commissioners and subject secretaries, there was +great commotion at the Weights and Measures; and when his letter +of resignation was absolutely there, visible to the eyes of clerks, +properly docketed and duly minuted, routine business was, for a day, +nearly suspended. Gentlemen walked in and out from each other's rooms, +asking this momentous question--Who was to fill the chair which had so +long been honoured by the great Hardlines? Who was to be thought worthy +to wear that divine mantle? + +But even this was not the question of the greatest moment which at that +period disturbed the peace of the office. It was well known that the +chief clerk must be chosen from one of the three senior clerks, and that +he would be so chosen by the voice of the Commissioners. There were only +three men who were deeply interested in this question. But who would +then be the new senior clerk, and how would he be chosen? A strange +rumour began to be afloat that the new scheme of competitive examination +was about to be tried in filling up this vacancy, occasioned by the +withdrawal of Sir Gregory Hardlines. From hour to hour the rumour gained +ground, and men's minds began to be much disturbed. + +It was no wonder that men's minds should be disturbed. Competitive +examinations at eighteen, twenty, and twenty-two may be very well, +and give an interesting stimulus to young men at college. But it is +a fearful thing for a married man with a family, who has long looked +forward to rise to a certain income by the worth of his general conduct +and by the value of his seniority--it is a fearful thing for such a one +to learn that he has again to go through his school tricks, and fill up +examination papers, with all his juniors round him using their stoutest +efforts to take his promised bread from out of his mouth. _Detur digno_ +is a maxim which will make men do their best to merit rewards; every man +can find courage within his heart to be worthy; but _detur digniori_ is +a fearful law for such a profession as the Civil Service. What worth +can make a man safe against the possible greater worth which will come +treading on his heels? The spirit of the age raises, from year to year, +to a higher level the standard of education. The prodigy of 1857, who +is now destroying all the hopes of the man who was well enough in 1855, +will be a dunce to the tyro of 1860. + +There were three or four in the Weights and Measures who felt all this +with the keenest anxiety. The fact of their being there, and of their +having passed the scrutiny of Mr. Hardlines, was proof enough that they +were men of high attainments; but then the question arose to them and +others whether they were men exactly of those attainments which were +_now_ most required. Who is to say what shall constitute the merits of +the _dignior_? It may one day be conic sections, another Greek iambics, +and a third German philosophy. Rumour began to say that foreign +languages were now very desirable. The three excellent married gentlemen +who stood first in succession for the coveted promotion were great only +in their vernacular. + +Within a week from the secession of Sir Gregory, his immediate successor +had been chosen, and it had been officially declared that the vacant +situation in the senior class was to be thrown open as a prize for the +best man in the office. Here was a brilliant chance for young merit! +The place was worth L600 a-year, and might be gained by any one who now +received no more than L100. Each person desirous of competing was to +send in his name to the Secretary, on or before that day fortnight; and +on that day month, the candidates were to present themselves before Sir +Gregory Hardlines and his board of Commissioners. + +And yet the joy of the office was by no means great. The senior of those +who might become competitors, was of course a miserable, disgusted man. +He went about fruitlessly endeavouring to instigate rebellion against +Sir Gregory, that very Sir Gregory whom he had for many years all but +worshipped. Poor Jones was, to tell the truth, in a piteous case. He +told the Secretary flatly that he would not compete with a lot of +boys fresh from school, and his friends began to think of removing his +razors. Nor were Brown and Robinson in much better plight. They both, +it is true, hated Jones ruthlessly, and desired nothing better than +an opportunity of supplanting him. They were, moreover, fast friends +themselves; but not the less on that account had Brown a mortal fear of +Robinson, as also had Robinson a mortal fear of Brown. + +Then came the bachelors. First there was Uppinall, who, when he entered +the office, was supposed to know everything which a young man had ever +known. Those who looked most to dead knowledge were inclined to back him +as first favourite. It had, however, been remarked, that his utility as +a clerk had not been equal to the profundity of his acquirements. Of all +the candidates he was the most self-confident. + +The next to him was Mr. A. Minusex, a wondrous arithmetician. He was one +who could do as many sums without pen and paper as a learned pig; who +was so given to figures that he knew the number of stairs in every +flight he had gone up and down in the metropolis; one who, whatever the +subject before him might be, never thought but always counted. Many who +knew the peculiar propensities of Sir Gregory's earlier days thought +that Mr. Minusex was not an unlikely candidate. + +The sixth in order was our friend Norman. The Secretary and the two +Assistant-Secretaries, when they first put their heads together on the +matter, declared that he was the most useful man in the office. + +There was a seventh, named Alphabet Precis. Mr. Precis' peculiar forte +was a singular happiness in official phraseology. Much that he wrote +would doubtless have been considered in the purlieus of Paternoster Row +as ungrammatical, if not unintelligible; but according to the syntax of +Downing Street, it was equal to Macaulay, and superior to Gibbon. He had +frequently said to his intimate friends, that in official writing, +style was everything; and of his writing it certainly did form a very +prominent part. He knew well, none perhaps so well, when to beg leave to +lay before the Board--and when simply to submit to the Commissioners. He +understood exactly to whom it behoved the secretary 'to have the honour +of being a very humble servant,' and to whom the more simple 'I am, +sir,' was a sufficiently civil declaration. These are qualifications +great in official life, but were not quite so much esteemed at the time +of which we are speaking as they had been some few years previously. + +There was but one other named as likely to stand with any probability of +success, and he was Alaric Tudor. Among the very juniors of the office +he was regarded as the great star of the office. There was a dash about +him and a quick readiness for any work that came to hand in which, +perhaps, he was not equalled by any of his compeers. Then, too, he was +the special friend of Sir Gregory. + +But no one had yet heard Tudor say that he intended to compete with his +seven seniors--none yet knew whether he would put himself forward as +an adversary to his own especial friend, Norman. That Norman would be a +candidate had been prominently stated. For some few days not a word was +spoken, even between the friends themselves, as to Tudor's intention. + +On the Sunday they were as usual at Hampton, and then the subject was +mooted by no less a person than Captain Cuttwater. + +So you young gentlemen up in London are all going to be examined, are +you?' said he; 'what is it to be about? Who's to be first lieutenant of +the ship, is that it?' + +'Oh no,' said Alaric, 'nothing half so high as that. Boatswain's mate +would be nearer the mark.' + +'And who is to be the successful man?' + +'Oh, Harry Norman, here. He was far the first favourite in yesterday's +betting.' + +And how do you stand yourself?' said Uncle Bat. + +'Oh! I'm only an outsider,' said Alaric. 'They put my name down just to +swell the number, but I shall be scratched before the running begins.' + +'Indeed he won't,' said Harry. 'He'll run and distance us all. There is +no one who has a chance with him. Why, he is Sir Gregory's own pet.' + +There was nothing more said on the subject at Surbiton Cottage. The +ladies seemed instinctively to perceive that it was a matter which they +had better leave alone. Not only were the two young men to be pitted +against each other, but Gertrude and Linda were as divided in their +wishes on the subject as the two candidates could be themselves. + +On the following morning, however, Norman introduced the subject. 'I +suppose you were only jesting yesterday,' said he, 'when you told the +captain that you were not going to be a candidate?' + +'Indeed I can hardly say that I was in jest or in earnest,' said Alaric. +'I simply meant to decline to discuss the subject with Uncle Bat.' + +'But of course you do mean to stand?' said Harry. Alaric made no answer. + +'Perhaps you would rather decline to discuss the matter with me also?' +said Harry. + +'Not at all; I would much prefer discussing it openly and honestly. My +own impression is, that I had better leave it alone.' + +'And why so?' said Harry. + +'Why so?' repeated Alaric. 'Well, there are so many reasons. In the +first place, there would be seven to one against me; and I must confess +that if I did stand I should not like to be beaten.' + +'The same argument might keep us all back,' said Norman. + +'That's true; but one man will be more sensitive, more cowardly, if you +will, than another; and then I think no one should stand who does not +believe himself to have a fair chance. His doing so might probably mar +his future prospects. How can I put myself in competition with such men +as Uppinall and Minuses?' + +Harry laughed slightly, for he knew it had been asked by many how +such men as Uppinall and Minusex could think of putting themselves in +competition with Alaric Tudor. + +'That is something like mock-modesty, is it not, Alaric?' + +'No, by heaven, it is not! I know well what those men are made of; and +I know, or think I know, my own abilities. I will own that I rank myself +as a human creature much higher than I rank them. But they have that +which I have not, and that which they have is that which these examiners +will chiefly require.' + +'If you have no other reason,' said Norman, 'I would strongly advise you +to send in your name.' + +'Well, Harry, I have another reason; and, though last, it is by no means +the least. You will be a candidate, and probably the successful one. To +tell you the truth, I have no inclination to stand against you.' + +Norman turned very red, and then answered somewhat gravely: 'I would +advise you to lay aside that objection. I fairly tell you that I +consider your chance better than my own.' + +'And suppose it be so, which I am sure it is not--but suppose it be so, +what then?' + +'Why, you will do right to take advantage of it.' + +'Yes, and so gain a step and lose a friend!' said Alaric. 'No; there can +be no heartburn to me in your being selected, for though I am older than +you, you are my senior in the office. But were I to be put over your +head, it would in the course of nature make a division between us; +and if it were possible that you should forgive it, it would be quite +impossible that Gertrude should do so. I value your friendship and that +of the Woodwards too highly to risk it.' + +Norman instantly fired up with true generous energy. 'I should be +wretched,' said he, 'if I thought that such a consideration weighed +with you; I would rather withdraw myself than allow such a feeling to +interfere with your prospects. Indeed, after what you have said, I shall +not send in my own name unless you also send in yours.' + +'I shall only be creating fuel for a feud,' said Alaric. 'To put you out +of the question, no promotion could compensate to me for what I should +lose at Hampton.' + +'Nonsense, man; you would lose nothing. Faith, I don't know whether it +is not I that should lose, if I were successful at your expense.' + +'How would Gertrude receive me?' said Alaric, pushing the matter further +than he perhaps should have done. + +'We won't mind Gertrude,' said Norman, with a little shade of black upon +his brow. 'You are an older man than I, and therefore promotion is to +you of more importance than to me. You are also a poorer man. I have +some means besides that drawn from my office, which, if I marry, I can +settle on my wife; you have none such. I should consider myself to be +worse than wicked if I allowed any consideration of such a nature to +stand in the way of your best interests. Believe me, Alaric, that though +I shall, as others, be anxious for success myself, I should, in failing, +be much consoled by knowing that you had succeeded.' And as he finished +speaking he grasped his friend's hand warmly in token of the truth of +his assertion. + +Alaric brushed a tear from his eye, and ended by promising to be guided +by his friend's advice. Harry Norman, as he walked into the office, +felt a glow of triumph as he reflected that he had done his duty by his +friend with true disinterested honesty. And Alaric, he also felt a glow +of triumph as he reflected that, come what might, there would be now +no necessity for him to break with Norman or with the Woodwards. Norman +must now always remember that it was at his own instigation that he, +Alaric, had consented to be a candidate. + +As regarded the real fact of the candidature, the prize was too great +to allow of his throwing away such a chance. Alaric's present income was +L200; that which he hoped to gain was L600! + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MR. FIDUS NEVERBEND + +Immediately on entering the office, Tudor gave it to be understood that +he intended to give in his name as a candidate; but he had hardly done +so when his attention was called off from the coming examinations by +another circumstance, which was ultimately of great importance to him. +One of the Assistant-Secretaries sent for him, and told him that his +services having been required by Sir Gregory Hardlines for a week or so, +he was at once to go over to that gentleman's office; and Alaric +could perceive that, as Sir Gregory's name was mentioned, the +Assistant-Secretary smiled on him with no aspect of benign solicitude. + +He went over accordingly, and found that Sir Gregory, having been +desired to select a man for a special service in the country, had named +him. He was to go down to Tavistock with another gentleman from the +Woods and Forests, for the purpose of settling some disputed point as to +the boundaries and privileges of certain mines situated there on Crown +property. + +'You know nothing about mining, I presume?' said Sir Gregory. + +'Nothing whatever,' said Alaric. + +'I thought not; that was one reason why I selected you. What is wanted +is a man of sharp intelligence and plain common sense, and one also who +can write English; for it will fall to your lot to draw up the report on +the matter. Mr. Neverbend, who is to be your colleague, cannot put two +words together.' + +'Mr. Neverbend!' said Alaric. + +'Yes, Fidus Neverbend, of the Woods and Forests; a very excellent public +servant, and one in whom the fullest confidence can be placed. But +between you and me, he will never set the Thames on fire.' + +'Does he understand mining?' asked Alaric. + +'He understands Government properties, and will take care that the Crown +be not wronged; but, Tudor, the Government will look to you to get the +true common-sense view of the case. I trust--I mean that I really do +trust, that you will not disgrace my choice.' + +Alaric of course promised that he would do his best, expressed the +deepest gratitude to his patron, and went off to put himself into +communication with Mr. Neverbend at the Woods and Forests, having +received an assurance that the examination in his own office should +not take place till after his return from Tavistock. He was not slow to +perceive that if he could manage to come back with all the _eclat_ of +a successful mission, the prestige of such a journey would go far to +assist him on his coming trial. + +Mr. Fidus Neverbend was an absolute dragon of honesty. His integrity was +of such an all-pervading nature, that he bristled with it as a porcupine +does with its quills. He had theories and axioms as to a man's conduct, +and the conduct especially of a man in the Queen's Civil Service, up +to which no man but himself could live. Consequently no one but himself +appeared to himself to be true and just in all his dealings. + +A quarter of an hour spent over a newspaper was in his eyes a downright +robbery. If he saw a man so employed, he would divide out the total of +salary into hourly portions, and tell him to a fraction of how much he +was defrauding the public. If he ate a biscuit in the middle of the day, +he did so with his eyes firmly fixed on some document, and he had never +been known to be absent from his office after ten or before four. + +When Sir Gregory Hardlines declared that Mr. Fidus Neverbend would +never set the Thames on fire, he meant to express his opinion that that +gentleman was a fool; and that those persons who were responsible for +sending Mr. Neverbend on the mission now about to be undertaken, +were little better than fools themselves for so sending him. But Mr. +Neverbend was no fool. He was not a disciple of Sir Gregory's school. +He had never sat in that philosopher's porch, or listened to the high +doctrines prevalent at the Weights and Measures. He could not write with +all Mr. Precis' conventional correctness, or dispose of any subject at +a moment's notice as would Mr. Uppinall; but, nevertheless, he was no +fool. Sir Gregory, like many other wise men, thought that there were +no swans but of his own hatching, and would ask, with all the pompous +conceit of Pharisees in another age, whether good could come out of the +Woods and Forests? + +Sir Gregory, however, perfectly succeeded in his object of imbuing Tudor +with a very indifferent opinion of his new colleague's abilities. It was +his object that Tudor should altogether take the upper hand in the piece +of work which was to be done between them, and that it should be clearly +proved how very incapable the Woods and Forests were of doing their own +business. + +Mr. Fidus Neverbend, however, whatever others in the outer world might +think of him, had a high character in his own office, and did not +under-estimate himself. He, when he was told that a young clerk +named Tudor was to accompany him, conceived that he might look on his +companion rather in the light of a temporary private secretary than an +equal partner, and imagined that new glory was added to him by his being +so treated. The two men therefore met each other with very different +views. + +But though Mr. Neverbend was no fool, he was not an equal either in tact +or ability to Alaric Tudor. Alaric had his interview with him, and was +not slow to perceive the sort of man with whom he had to act. Of course, +on this occasion, little more than grimaces and civility passed between +them; but Mr. Neverbend, even in his grimaces and civility, managed to +show that he regarded himself as decidedly No. 1 upon the occasion. + +'Well, Mr. Tudor,' said he, 'I think of starting on Tuesday. Tuesday +will not, I suppose, be inconvenient to you?' + +'Sir Gregory has already told me that we are expected to be at Tavistock +on Tuesday evening.' + +'Ah! I don't know about that,' said Neverbend; 'that may be all very +well for Sir Gregory, but I rather think I shall stay the night at +Plymouth.' + +'It will be the same to me,' said Tudor; 'I haven't looked at the papers +yet, so I can hardly say what may be necessary.' + +'No, no; of course not. As to the papers, I don't know that there is +much with which you need trouble yourself. I believe I am pretty well up +in the case. But, Mr. Tudor, there will be a good deal of writing to do +when we are there.' + +'We are both used to that, I fancy,' said Tudor, 'so it won't kill us.' + +'No, of course not. I understand that there will be a good many people +for me to see, a great many conflicting interests for me to reconcile; +and probably I may find myself obliged to go down two or three of these +mines.' + +'Well, that will be good fun,' said Alaric. + +Neverbend drew himself up. The idea of having fun at the cost of +Government was painful to him; however, he spared the stranger his +reproaches, and merely remarked that the work he surmised would be +heavy enough both for the man who went below ground, and for the one who +remained above. + +The only point settled between them was that of their starting by +an early train on the Tuesday named; and then Alaric returned to Sir +Gregory's office, there to read through and digest an immense bulk of +papers all bearing on the question at issue. There had, it appeared, +been lately opened between the Tamar and the Tavy a new mine, which had +become exceedingly prosperous--outrageously prosperous, as shareholders +and directors of neighbouring mines taught themselves to believe. Some +question had arisen as to the limits to which the happy possessors of +this new tin El Dorado were entitled to go; squabbles, of course, had +been the result, and miners and masters had fought and bled, each side +in defence of its own rights. As a portion of these mines were on Crown +property it became necessary that the matter should be looked to, and as +the local inspector was accused of having been bribed and bought, and of +being, in fact, an absolute official Judas, it became necessary to send +some one to inspect the inspector. Hence had come Alaric's mission. The +name of the mine in question was Wheal Mary Jane, and Alaric had read +the denomination half a score of times before he learnt that there was +no real female in the case. + +The Sunday before he went was of course passed at Hampton, and there he +received the full glory of his special appointment. He received glory, +and Norman in an equal degree fell into the background. Mrs. Woodward +stuck kindly to Harry, and endeavoured, in her gentle way, to quiz the +projected trip to Devonshire. But the other party was too strong, and +her raillery failed to have the intended effect. Gertrude especially +expressed her opinion that it was a great thing for so young a man to +have been selected for such employment by such a person; and Linda, +though she said less, could not prevent her tell-tale face from saying +more. Katie predicted that Alaric would certainly marry Mary Jane Wheal, +and bring her to Surbiton Cottage, and Captain Cuttwater offered to the +hero introductions to all the old naval officers at Devonport. + +'By jingo! I should like to go with you,' said the captain. + +'I fear the pleasure would not repay the trouble,' said Alaric, +laughing. + +'Upon my word I think I'll do it,' said the captain. 'It would be of the +greatest possible service to you as an officer of the Crown. It would +give you so much weight there. I could make you known, you know----' + +'I could not hear of such a thing,' said Alaric, trembling at the idea +which Uncle Bat had conjured up. + +'There is Admiral Starbod, and Captain Focassel, and old Hardaport, and +Sir Jib Boom--why, d----n me, they would all do anything for me--craving +the ladies' pardon.' + +Alaric, in his own defence, was obliged to declare that the rules of +the service especially required that he should hold no friendly +communication with any one during the time that he was employed on this +special service. Poor Captain Cuttwater, grieved to have his good nature +checked, was obliged to put up with this excuse, and consoled himself +with abusing the Government which could condescend to give so absurd an +order. + +This was on the Saturday. On the Sunday, going to church, the captain +suggested that Alaric might, at any rate, just call upon Sir Jib on the +sly. 'It would be a great thing for you,' said Uncle Bat. 'I'll write +a note to-night, and you can take it with you. Sir Jib is a rising man, +and you'll regret it for ever if you miss the opportunity.' Now Sir Jib +Boom was between seventy and eighty, and he and Captain Cuttwater had +met each other nearly every day for the last twenty years, and had never +met without a squabble. + +After church they had their usual walk, and Linda's heart palpitated as +she thought that she might have to undergo another _tete-a-tete_ with +her lover. But it palpitated in vain. It so turned out that Alaric +either avoided, or, at any rate, did not use the privilege, and Linda +returned home with an undefined feeling of gentle disappointment. She +had fully made up her mind to be very staid, very discreet, and very +collected; to take a leaf out of her sister's book, and give him no +encouragement whatever; she would not absolutely swear to him that she +did not now, and never could, return his passion; but she would point +out how very imprudent any engagement between two young persons, +situated as they were, must be--how foolish it would be for them to +bind themselves, for any number of years, to a marriage which must be +postponed; she would tell Alaric all this, and make him understand that +he was not to regard himself as affianced to her; but she with a woman's +faith would nevertheless remain true to him. This was Linda's great +resolve, and the strong hope, that in a very few weeks, Alaric would be +promoted to a marrying income of L600 per annum, made the prospect of +the task not so painful as it might otherwise have been. Fate, however, +robbed her of the pleasure, if it would have been a pleasure, of +sacrificing her love to her duty; and 'dear Linda, dearest Linda,' was +not again whispered into her ear. + +'And what on earth is it that you are to do down in the mines?' asked +Mrs. Woodward as they sat together in the evening. + +'Nothing on the earth, Mrs. Woodward--it is to be all below the surface, +forty fathom deep,' said Alaric. + +'Take care that you ever come up again,' said she. + +'They say the mine is exceedingly rich--perhaps I may be tempted to stay +down there.' + +'Then you'll be like the gloomy gnome, that lives in dark, cold mines,' +said Katie. + +'Isn't it very dangerous, going down into those places?' asked Linda. + +'Men go down and come up again every day of their lives, and what other +men can do, I can, I suppose.' + +'That doesn't follow at all,' said Captain Cuttwater, 'What sort of a +figure would you make on a yard-arm, reefing a sail in a gale of wind?' + +'Pray do take care of yourself,' said Gertrude. + +Norman's brow grew black. 'I thought that it was settled that Mr. +Neverbend was to go down, and that you were to stay above ground,' said +he. + +'So Mr. Neverbend settled it; but that arrangement may, perhaps, be +unsettled again,' said Alaric, with a certain feeling of confidence in +his own strong will. + +'I don't at all doubt,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'that if we were to get a +sly peep at you, we should find you both sitting comfortably at your inn +all the time, and that neither of you will go a foot below the ground.' + +'Very likely. All I mean to say is, that if Neverbend goes down I'll go +too.' + +'But mind, you gloomy gnome, mind you bring up a bit of gold for me,' +said Katie. + +On the Monday morning he started with the often-expressed good wishes of +all the party, and with a note for Sir Jib Boom, which the captain made +him promise that he would deliver, and which Alaric fully determined to +lose long before he got to Plymouth. + +That evening he and Norman passed together. As soon as their office +hours were over, they went into the London Exhibition, which was then +open; and there, walking up and down the long centre aisle, they talked +with something like mutual confidence of their future prospects. This +was a favourite resort with Norman, who had schooled himself to feel +an interest in works of art. Alaric's mind was of a different cast; +he panted rather for the great than the beautiful; and was inclined +to ridicule the growing taste of the day for torsos, Palissy ware, and +Assyrian monsters. + +There was then some mutual confidence between the two young men. Norman, +who was apt to examine himself and his own motives more strictly than +Alaric ever did, had felt that something like suspicion as to his friend +had crept over him; and he had felt also that there was no ground for +such suspicion. He had determined to throw it off, and to be again +cordial with his companion. He had resolved so to do before his last +visit at Hampton; but it was at Hampton that the suspicion had been +engendered, and there he found himself unable to be genial, kindly, and +contented. Surbiton Cottage was becoming to him anything but the abode +of happiness that it had once been. A year ago he had been the hero of +the Hampton Sundays; he could not but now feel that Alaric had, as +it were, supplanted him with his own friends. The arrival even of so +insignificant a person as Captain Cuttwater--and Captain Cuttwater was +very insignificant in Norman's mind--had done much to produce this state +of things. He had been turned out of his bedroom at the cottage, and had +therefore lost those last, loving, lingering words, sometimes protracted +to so late an hour, which had been customary after Alaric's departure +to his inn--those last lingering words which had been so sweet because +their sweetness had not been shared with his friend. + +He could not be genial and happy at Surbiton Cottage; but he was by no +means satisfied with himself that he should not have been so. When he +found that he had been surly with Alaric, he was much more angry with +himself than Alaric was with him. Alaric, indeed, was indifferent +about it. He had no wish to triumph over Harry, but he had an object to +pursue, and he was not the man to allow himself to be diverted from it +by any one's caprice. + +'This trip is a great thing for you,' said Harry. + +'Well, I really don't know. Of course I could not decline it; but on +the whole I should be just as well pleased to have been spared. If I get +through it well, why it will be well. But even that cannot help me at +this examination.' + +'I don't know that.' + +'Why--a week passed in the slush of a Cornish mine won't teach a man +algebra.' + +'It will give you _prestige_.' + +'Then you mean to say the examiners won't examine fairly; well, perhaps +so. But what will be the effect on me if I fail? I know nothing of +mines. I have a colleague with me of whom I can only learn that he +is not weak enough to be led, or wise enough to lead; who is so +self-opinionated that he thinks he is to do the whole work himself, +and yet so jealous that he fears I shall take the very bread out of his +mouth. What am I to do with such a man?' + +'You must manage him,' said Harry. + +'That is much easier said than done,' replied Alaric. 'I wish you had +the task instead of me.' + +'So do not I. Sir Gregory, when he chose you, knew what he was about.' + +'Upon my word, Harry, you are full of compliments to-day. I really ought +to take my hat off.' + +'No, I am not; I am in no mood for compliments. I know very well what +stuff you are made of. I know your superiority to myself. I know you +will be selected to go up over all our heads. I feel all this; and +Alaric, you must not be surprised that, to a certain degree, it is +painful to me to feel it. But, by God's help I will get over it; and if +you succeed it shall go hard with me, but I will teach myself to rejoice +at it. Look at that fawn there,' said he, turning away his face to hide +the tear in his eye, 'did you ever see more perfect motion?' + +Alaric was touched; but there was more triumph than sympathy in his +heart. It was sweet, much too sweet, to him to hear his superiority thus +acknowledged. He was superior to the men who worked round him in his +office. He was made of a more plastic clay than they, and despite the +inferiority of his education, he knew himself to be fit for higher work +than they could do. As the acknowledgement was made to him by the man +whom, of those around him, he certainly ranked second to himself, he +could not but feel that his heart's blood ran warm within him, he could +not but tread with an elastic step. + +But it behoved him to answer Harry, and to answer him in other spirit +than this. + +'Oh, Harry,' said he, 'you have some plot to ruin me by my own conceit; +to make me blow myself out and destroy myself, poor frog that I am, in +trying to loom as largely as that great cow, Fidus Neverbend. You know I +am fully conscious how much inferior my education has been to yours.' + +'Education is nothing,' said Harry. + +Education is nothing! Alaric triumphantly re-echoed the words in his +heart--'Education is nothing--mind, mind is everything; mind and the +will.' So he expressed himself to his own inner self; but out loud he +spoke much more courteously. + +'It is the innate modesty of your own heart, Harry, that makes you think +so highly of me and so meanly of yourself. But the proof of what we each +can do is yet to be seen. Years alone can decide that. That your career +will be honourable and happy, of that I feel fully sure! I wish I were +as confident of mine.' + +'But, Alaric,' said Norman, going on rather with the thread of his own +thoughts, than answering or intending to answer what the other said, 'in +following up your high ambition--and I know you have a high ambition--do +not allow yourself to believe that the end justifies the means, because +you see that men around you act as though they believed so.' + +'Do I do so--do I seem to do so?' said Alaric, turning sharply round. + +'Don't be angry with me, Alaric; don't think that I want to preach; but +sometimes I fancy, not that you do so, but that your mind is turning +that way; that in your eager desire for honourable success you won't +scrutinize the steps you will have to take.' + +'That I would get to the top of the hill, in short, even though the +hillside be miry. Well, I own I wish to get to the top of the hill.' + +'But not to defile yourself in doing so.' + +'When a man comes home from a successful chase, with his bag well +stuffed with game, the women do not quarrel with him because there is +mud on his gaiters.' + +'Alaric, that which is evil is evil. Lies are evil--' + +'And am I a liar?' + +'Heaven forbid that I should say so: heaven forbid that I should have to +think so! but it is by such doctrines as that that men become liars.' + +'What! by having muddy gaiters?' + +'By disregarding the means in looking to the end.' + +'And I will tell you how men become mere vegetables, by filling their +minds with useless--needless scruples--by straining at gnats--' + +'Well, finish your quotation,' said Harry. + +'I have finished it; in speaking to you I would not for the world go +on, and seem to insinuate that you would swallow a camel. No insinuation +could be more base or unjust. But, nevertheless, I think you may be +too over-scrupulous. What great man ever rose to greatness,' continued +Alaric, after they had walked nearly the length of the building in +silence, 'who thought it necessary to pick his steps in the manner you +have described?' + +'Then I would not be great,' said Harry. + +'But, surely, God intends that there shall be great men on the earth?' + +'He certainly wishes that there should be good men,' said Harry. + +'And cannot a man be good and great?' + +'That is the problem for a man to solve. Do you try that. Good you +certainly can be, if you look to Him for assistance. Let that come +first; and then the greatness, if that be possible.' + +'It is all a quibble about a word,' said Alaric. 'What is good? David +was a man after God's own heart, and a great man too, and yet he did +things which, were I to do, I should be too base to live. Look +at Jacob--how did he achieve the tremendous rights of patriarchal +primogeniture? But, come, the policemen are trying to get rid of us; +it is time for us to go,' and so they left the building, and passed the +remainder of the evening in concord together--in concord so soon to be +dissolved, and, ah! perhaps never to be renewed. + +On the next morning Alaric and his new companion met each other at an +early hour at the Paddington station. Neverbend was rather fussy +with his dispatch-box, and a large official packet, which an office +messenger, dashing up in a cab, brought to him at the moment of his +departure. Neverbend's enemies were wont to declare that a messenger, a +cab, and a big packet always rushed up at the moment of his starting on +any of his official trips. Then he had his ticket to get and his _Times_ +to buy, and he really had not leisure to do more than nod at Alaric +till he had folded his rug around him, tried that the cushion was soft +enough, and completed his arrangements for the journey. + +'Well, Mr. Tudor,' at last he said, as soon as the train was in motion, +'and how are you this morning--ready for work, I hope?' + +'Well, not exactly at this moment,' said Alaric. 'One has to get up so +early for these morning trains.' + +'Early, Mr. Tudor! my idea is that no hour should be considered either +early or late when the Crown requires our services.' + +'Just at present the Crown requires nothing else of us, I suppose, but +that we should go along at the rate of forty miles an hour.' + +'There is nothing like saving time,' said Neverbend. 'I know you have, +as yet, had no experience in these sort of cases, so I have brought you +the papers which refer to a somewhat similar matter that occurred in the +Forest of Dean. I was sent down there, and that is the report which I +then wrote. I propose to take it for the model of that which we shall +have to draw up when we return from Tavistock;' and as he spoke he +produced a voluminous document, or treatise, in which he had contrived +to render more obscure some matter that he had been sent to clear up, on +the Crown property in the Forest of Dean. + +Now Alaric had been told of this very report, and was aware that he +was going to Tavistock in order that the joint result of his and Mr. +Neverbend's labours might be communicated to the Crown officers in +intelligible language. + +The monster report before him contained twenty-six pages of close folio +writing, and he felt that he really could not oblige Mr. Neverbend by +reading it. + +'Forest of Dean! ah, that's coal, is it not?' said Alaric. 'Mary +Jane seems to be exclusively in the tin line. I fear there will be no +analogy.' + +'The cases are in many respects similar,' said Neverbend, 'and the +method of treating them----' + +'Then I really cannot concur with you as to the propriety of my reading +it. I should feel myself absolutely wrong to read a word of such a +report, for fear I might be prejudiced by your view of the case. It +would, in my mind, be positively dishonest in me to encourage any bias +in my own feelings either on one side or the other.' + +'But really, Mr. Tudor----' + +'I need not say how much personal advantage it would be to me to have +the benefit of your experience, but my conscience tells me that I should +not do it--so I think I'll go to sleep.' + +Mr. Neverbend did not know what to make of his companion; whether +to admire the high tone of his official honesty, or to reprobate his +idleness in refusing to make himself master of the report. While he was +settling the question in his own mind, Tudor went to sleep, and did +not wake till he was invited to partake of ten minutes' refreshment at +Swindon. + +'I rather think,' said Mr. Neverbend, 'that I shall go on to Tavistock +to-night.' + +'Oh! of course,' said Alaric. 'I never for a moment thought of stopping +short of it;' and, taking out a book, he showed himself disinclined for +further conversation. + +'Of course, it's open to me to do as I please in such a matter,' said +Neverbend, continuing his subject as soon as they reached the Bristol +station, 'but on the whole I rather think we had better go on to +Tavistock to-night.' + +'No, I will not stop at Plymouth,' he said, as he passed by Taunton; and +on reaching Exeter he declared that he had fully made up his mind on the +subject. + +'We'll get a chaise at Plymouth,' said Alaric. + +'I think there will be a public conveyance,' said Neverbend. + +'But a chaise will be the quickest,' said the one. + +'And much the dearest,' said the other. + +'That won't signify much to us,' said Alaric; 'we shan't pay the bill.' + +'It will signify a great deal to me,' said Neverbend, with a look of +ferocious honesty; and so they reached Plymouth. + +On getting out of the railway carriage, Alaric at once hired a carriage +with a pair of horses; the luggage was strapped on, and Mr. Neverbend, +before his time for expostulation had fairly come, found himself posting +down the road to Tavistock, followed at a respectful distance by two +coaches and an omnibus. + +They were soon drinking tea together at the Bedford Hotel, and I beg to +assure any travelling readers that they might have drunk tea in a much +worse place. Mr. Neverbend, though he made a great struggle to protect +his dignity, and maintain the superiority of his higher rank, felt the +ground sinking from beneath his feet from hour to hour. He could not at +all understand how it was, but even the servants at the hotel seemed to +pay more deference to Tudor than to him; and before the evening was +over he absolutely found himself drinking port wine negus, because his +colleague had ordered it for him. + +'And now,' said Neverbend, who was tired with his long journey, 'I think +I'll go to bed.' + +'Do,' said Alaric, who was not at all tired, 'and I'll go through this +infernal mass of papers. I have hardly looked at them yet. Now that I am +in the neighbourhood I shall better understand the strange names.' + +So Alaric went to work, and studied the dry subject that was before +him. It will luckily not be necessary for us to do so also. It will be +sufficient for us to know that Wheal Mary Jane was at that moment +the richest of all the rich mines that had then been opened in that +district; that the, or its, or her shares (which is the proper way of +speaking of them I am shamefully ignorant) were at an enormous premium; +that these two Commissioners would have to see and talk to some scores +of loud and angry men, deeply interested in their success or failure, +and that that success or failure might probably in part depend on the +view which these two Commissioners might take. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HON. UNDECIMUS SCOTT + + +The Hon. Undecimus Scott was the eleventh son of the Lord Gaberlunzie. +Lord Gaberlunzie was the representative of a very old and very noble +race, more conspicuous, however, at the present time for its age and +nobility than for its wealth. The Hon. Undecimus, therefore, learnt, +on arriving at manhood, that he was heir only to the common lot of +mortality, and that he had to earn his own bread. This, however, could +not have surprised him much, as nine of his brethren had previously +found themselves in the same condition. + +Lord Gaberlunzie certainly was not one of those wealthy peers who are +able to make two or three elder sons, and after that to establish any +others that may come with comfortable younger children's portions. The +family was somewhat accustomed to the _res angusta domi_; but they were +fully alive to the fact, that a noble brood, such as their own, ought +always to be able to achieve comfort and splendour in the world's broad +field, by due use of those privileges which spring from a noble name. +Cauldkail Castle, in Aberdeenshire, was the family residence; but few +of the eleven young Scotts were ever to be found there after arriving at +that age at which they had been able to fly from the paternal hall. + +It is a terrible task, that of having to provide for eleven sons. With +two or three a man may hope, with some reasonable chance of seeing +his hope fulfilled, that things will go well with him, and that he may +descend to his grave without that worst of wretchedness, that gnawing +grief which comes from bad children. But who can hope that eleven sons +will all walk in the narrow path? + +Had Lord Gaberlunzie, however, been himself a patriarch, and ruled +the pastoral plains of Palestine, instead of the bleak mountains which +surround Cauldkail Castle, he could not have been more indifferent as to +the number of his sons. They flew away, each as his time came, with the +early confidence of young birds, and as seldom returned to disturb the +family nest. + +They were a cannie, comely, sensible brood. Their father and mother, if +they gave them nothing else, gave them strong bodies and sharp brains. +They were very like each other, though always with a difference. Red +hair, bright as burnished gold; high, but not very high, cheek bones; +and small, sharp, twinkling eyes, were the Gaberlunzie personal +characteristics. There were three in the army, two in the navy, and one +at a foreign embassy; one was at the diggings, another was chairman of +a railway company, and our own more particular friend, Undecimus, +was picking up crumbs about the world in a manner that satisfied the +paternal mind that he was quite able to fly alone. + +There is a privilege common to the sons of all noble lords, the full +value of which the young Scotts learnt very early in life--that of +making any woman with a tocher an honourable lady. 'Ye maun be a puir +chiel, gin ye'll be worth less than ten thoosand pound in the market o' +marriage; and ten thoosand pound is a gawcey grand heritage!' Such had +been the fatherly precept which Lord Gaberlunzie had striven to instil +into each of his noble sons; and it had not been thrown away upon them. +One after the other they had gone forth into the market-place alluded +to, and had sold themselves with great ease and admirable discretion. +There had been but one Moses in the lot: the Hon. Gordon Hamilton Scott +had certainly brought home a bundle of shagreen spectacle cases in the +guise of a widow with an exceedingly doubtful jointure; doubtful indeed +at first, but very soon found to admit of no doubt whatever. He was the +one who, with true Scotch enterprise, was prosecuting his fortunes at +the Bendigo diggings, while his wife consoled herself at home with her +title. + +Undecimus, with filial piety, had taken his father exactly at his word, +and swapped himself for L10,000. He had, however, found himself imbued +with much too high an ambition to rest content with the income arising +from his matrimonial speculation. He had first contrived to turn his +real L10,000 into a fabulous L50,000, and had got himself returned to +Parliament for the Tillietudlem district burghs on the credit of his +great wealth; he then set himself studiously to work to make a second +market by placing his vote at the disposal of the Government. + +Nor had he failed of success in his attempt, though he had hitherto been +able to acquire no high or permanent post. He had soon been appointed +private secretary to the First Lord of the Stannaries, and he found that +his duty in this capacity required him to assist the Government whip in +making and keeping houses. This occupation was congenial to his spirit, +and he worked hard and well at it; but the greatest of men are open to +the tainting breath of suspicion, and the Honourable Undecimus Scott, or +Undy Scott, as he was generally now called, did not escape. Ill-natured +persons whispered that he was not on all occasions true to his party; +and once when his master, the whip-in-chief, overborne with too much +work, had been tempted to put himself to bed comfortably in his own +house, instead of on his usual uneasy couch behind the Speaker's chair, +Undy had greatly failed. The leader of a party whose struggles for the +religion of his country had hitherto met but small success, saw at a +glance the opportunity which fortune had placed in his way; he spied +with eagle eye the nakedness of that land of promise which is compressed +in the district round the Treasury benches; the barren field before him +was all his own, and he put and carried his motion for closing the parks +on Sundays. + +He became a hero; but Undy was all but undone. The highest hope of the +Sabbatarian had been to address an almost empty house for an hour and +a half on this his favourite subject. But the chance was too good to +be lost; he sacrificed his oratorical longings on the altar of party +purpose, and limited his speech to a mere statement of his motion. Off +flew on the wings of Hansom a youthful member, more trusty than the +trusted Undy, to the abode of the now couchant Treasury Argus. Morpheus +had claimed him all for his own. He was lying in true enjoyment, with +his tired limbs stretched between the unaccustomed sheets, and snoring +with free and sonorous nose, restrained by the contiguity of no +Speaker's elbow. But even in his deepest slumber the quick wheels of +the bounding cab struck upon the tympanum of his anxious ear. He roused +himself as does a noble watch-dog when the 'suspicious tread of theft' +approaches. The hurry of the jaded horse, the sudden stop, the maddened +furious knock, all told a tale which his well-trained ear only knew too +well. He sat up for a moment, listening in his bed, stretched himself +with one involuntary yawn, and then stood upright on the floor. It +should not at any rate be boasted by any one that he had been found in +bed. + +With elastic step, three stairs at a time, up rushed that young and +eager member. It was well for the nerves of Mrs. Whip Vigil that the +calls of society still held her bound in some distant brilliant throng; +for no consideration would have stopped the patriotic energy of that +sucking statesman. Mr. Vigil had already performed the most important +act of a speedy toilet, when his door was opened, and as his young +friend appeared was already buttoning his first brace. + +'Pumpkin is up!' said the eager juvenile,' and we have only five men in +the house.' + +'And where the devil is Undy Scott?' said the Right Hon. Mr. Vigil. + +'The devil only knows,' said the other. + +'I deserve it for trusting him,' said the conscience-stricken but worthy +public servant. By this time he had on his neckcloth and boots; in his +eager haste to serve his country he had forgotten his stockings. 'I +deserve it for trusting him--and how many men have they?' + +'Forty-one when I left.' + +'Then they'll divide, of course?' + +'Of course they will,' said the promising young dove of the Treasury. + +And now Mr. Whip Vigil had buttoned on that well-made frock with which +the Parliamentary world is so conversant, and as he descended the +stairs, arranged with pocket-comb his now grizzling locks. His +well-brushed hat stood ready to his touch below, and when he entered the +cab he was apparently as well dressed a gentleman as when about three +hours after noon he may be seen with slow and easy step entering the +halls of the Treasury chambers. + +But ah! alas, he was all too late. He came but to see the ruin which +Undy's defection had brought about. He might have taken his rest, and +had a quiet mind till the next morning's _Times_ revealed to him the +fact of Mr. Pumpkin's grand success. When he arrived, the numbers +were being taken, and he, even he, Mr. Whip Vigil, he the great +arch-numberer, was excluded from the number of the counted. When the +doors were again open the Commons of England had decided by a majority +of forty-one to seven that the parks of London should, one and all, +be closed on Sundays; and Mr. Pumpkin had achieved among his own set a +week's immortality. + +'We mustn't have this again, Vigil,' said a very great man the next +morning, with a good-humoured smile on his face, however, as he uttered +the reprimand. 'It will take us a whole night, and God knows how much +talking, to undo what those fools did yesterday.' + +Mr. Vigil resolved to leave nothing again to the unassisted industry or +honesty of Undy Scott, and consequently that gentleman's claims on +his party did not stand so highly as they might have done but for this +accident. Parliament was soon afterwards dissolved, and either through +the lukewarm support of his Government friends, or else in consequence +of his great fortune having been found to be ambiguous, the independent +electors of the Tillietudlem burghs took it into their heads to unseat +Mr. Scott. Unseated for Tillietudlem, he had no means of putting himself +forward elsewhere, and he had to repent, in the sackcloth and ashes of +private life, the fault which had cost him the friendship of Mr. Vigil. + +His life, however, was not strictly private. He had used the Honourable +before his name, and the M.P. which for a time had followed after it, +to acquire for himself a seat as director at a bank board. He was a +Vice-President of the Caledonian, English, Irish, and General European +and American Fire and Life Assurance Society; such, at least, had been +the name of the joint-stock company in question when he joined it; but +he had obtained much credit by adding the word 'Oriental,' and inserting +it after the allusion to Europe; he had tried hard to include the fourth +quarter of the globe; but, as he explained to some of his friends, it +would have made the name too cumbrous for the advertisements. He was a +director also of one or two minor railways, dabbled in mining +shares, and, altogether, did a good deal of business in the private +stock-jobbing line. + +In spite of his former delinquencies, his political friends did not +altogether throw him over. In the first place, the time might come when +he would be again useful, and then he had managed to acquire that air +and tact which make one official man agreeable to another. He was always +good-humoured; when in earnest, there was a dash of drollery about him; +in his most comic moods he ever had some serious purpose in view; he +thoroughly understood the esoteric and exoteric bearings of modern +politics, and knew well that though he should be a model of purity +before the public, it did not behove him to be very strait-laced with +his own party. He took everything in good part, was not over-talkative, +over-pushing, or presumptuous; he felt no strong bias of his own; had at +his fingers' ends the cant phraseology of ministerial subordinates, and +knew how to make himself useful. He knew also--a knowledge much more +difficult to acquire--how to live among men so as never to make himself +disagreeable. + +But then he could not be trusted! True. But how many men in his walk of +life can be trusted? And those who can--at how terribly high a price +do they rate their own fidelity! How often must a minister be forced +to confess to himself that he cannot afford to employ good faith! Undy +Scott, therefore, from time to time, received some ministerial bone, +some Civil Service scrap of victuals thrown to him from the Government +table, which, if it did not suffice to maintain him in all the comforts +of a Treasury career, still preserved for him a connexion with the +Elysium of public life; gave him, as it were, a link by which he could +hang on round the outer corners of the State's temple, and there watch +with advantage till the doors of Paradise should be re-opened to him. He +was no Lucifer, who, having wilfully rebelled against the high majesty +of Heaven, was doomed to suffer for ever in unavailing, but still proud +misery, the penalties of his asserted independence; but a poor Peri, who +had made a lapse and thus forfeited, for a while, celestial joys, and +was now seeking for some welcome offering, striving to perform some +useful service, by which he might regain his lost glory. + +The last of the good things thus tendered to him was not yet all +consumed. When Mr. Hardlines, now Sir Gregory, was summoned to assist +at, or rather preside over, the deliberations of the committee which was +to organize a system of examination for the Civil Service, the Hon. U. +Scott had been appointed secretary to that committee. This, to be sure, +afforded but a fleeting moment of halcyon bliss; but a man like Mr. +Scott knew how to prolong such a moment to its uttermost stretch. The +committee had ceased to sit, and the fruits of their labour were already +apparent in the establishment of a new public office, presided over by +Sir Gregory; but still the clever Undy continued to draw his salary. + +Undy was one of those men who, though married and the fathers of +families, are always seen and known '_en garcon_'. No one had a larger +circle of acquaintance than Undy Scott; no one, apparently, a smaller +circle than Mrs. Undy Scott. So small, indeed, was it, that its _locale_ +was utterly unknown in the fashionable world. At the time of which we +are now speaking Undy was the happy possessor of a bedroom in Waterloo +Place, and rejoiced in all the comforts of a first-rate club. But +the sacred spot, in which at few and happy intervals he received the +caresses of the wife of his bosom and the children of his loins, is +unknown to the author. + +In age, Mr. Scott, at the time of the Tavistock mining inquiry, was +about thirty-five. Having sat in Parliament for five years, he had +now been out for four, and was anxiously looking for the day when the +universal scramble of a general election might give him another chance. +In person he was, as we have said, stalwart and comely, hirsute with +copious red locks, not only over his head, but under his chin and round +his mouth. He was well made, six feet high, neither fat nor thin, and he +looked like a gentleman. He was careful in his dress, but not so as to +betray the care that he took; he was imperturbable in temper, though +restless in spirit; and the one strong passion of his life was the +desire of a good income at the cost of the public. + +He had an easy way of getting intimate with young men when it suited +him, and as easy a way of dropping them afterwards when that suited him. +He had no idea of wasting his time or opportunities in friendships. Not +that he was indifferent as to his companions, or did not appreciate the +pleasure of living with pleasant men; but that life was too short, and +with him the race too much up hill, to allow of his indulging in such +luxuries. He looked on friendship as one of those costly delights with +which none but the rich should presume to gratify themselves. He could +not afford to associate with his fellow-men on any other terms than +those of making capital of them. It was not for him to walk and talk and +eat and drink with a man because he liked him. How could the eleventh +son of a needy Scotch peer, who had to maintain his rank and position by +the force of his own wit, how could such a one live, if he did not turn +to some profit even the convivialities of existence? + +Acting in accordance with his fixed and conscientious rule in this +respect, Undy Scott had struck up an acquaintance with Alaric Tudor. He +saw that Alaric was no ordinary clerk, that Sir Gregory was likely to +have the Civil Service under his thumb, and that Alaric was a great +favourite with the great man. It would but little have availed Undy +to have striven to be intimate with Sir Gregory himself. The Knight +Commander of the Bath would have been deaf to his blandishments; but it +seemed probable that the ears of Alaric might be tickled. + +And thus Alaric and Undy Scott had become fast friends; that is, as +fast as such friends generally are. Alaric was no more blind to his own +interest than was his new ally. But there was this difference between +them; Undy lived altogether in the utilitarian world which he had formed +around himself, whereas Alaric lived in two worlds. When with Undy his +pursuits and motives were much such as those of Undy himself; but at +Surbiton Cottage, and with Harry Norman, he was still susceptible of a +higher feeling. He had been very cool to poor Linda on his last visit +to Hampton; but it was not that his heart was too hard for love. He had +begun to discern that Gertrude would never attach herself to Norman; and +if Gertrude were free, why should she not be his? + +Poor Linda! + +Scott had early heard--and of what official event did he not obtain +early intelligence?--that Neverbend was to go down to Tavistock about +the Mary Jane tin mine, and that a smart colleague was required for him. +He would fain, for reasons of his own, have been that smart colleague +himself; but that he knew was impossible. He and Neverbend were +the Alpha and Omega of official virtues and vices. But he took +an opportunity of mentioning before Sir Gregory, in a passing +unpremeditated way, how excellently adapted Tudor was for the work. It +so turned out that his effort was successful, and that Tudor was sent. + +The whole of their first day at Tavistock was passed by Neverbend +and Alaric in hearing interminable statements from the various mining +combatants, and when at seven o'clock Alaric shut up for the evening +he was heartily sick of the job. The next morning before breakfast he +sauntered out to air himself in front of the hotel, and who should come +whistling up the street, with a cigar in his mouth, but his new friend +Undy Scott. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MR. MANYLODES + + +Alaric Tudor was very much surprised. Had he seen Sir Gregory himself, +or Captain Cuttwater, walking up the street of Tavistock, he could not +have been more startled. It first occurred to him that Scott must have +been sent down as a third Commissioner to assist at the investigation; +and he would have been right glad to have known that this was the case, +for he found that the management of Mr. Neverbend was no pastime. But he +soon learnt that such relief was not at hand for him. + +'Well, Tudor, my boy,' said he, 'and how do you like the clotted cream +and the thick ankles of the stout Devonshire lasses?' + +'I have neither tasted the one, nor seen the other,' said Alaric. 'As +yet I have encountered nothing but the not very civil tongues, and not +very clear brains of Cornish roughs.' + +'A Boeotian crew! but, nevertheless, they know on which side their bread +is buttered--and in general it goes hard with them but they butter it on +both sides. And how does the faithful Neverbend conduct himself? Talk of +Boeotians, if any man ever was born in a foggy air, it must have been my +friend Fidus.' + +Alaric merely shrugged his shoulders, and laughed slightly. 'But what on +earth brings you down to Tavistock?' said he. + +'Oh! I am a denizen of the place, naturalized, and all but settled; have +vast interests here, and a future constituency. Let the Russells look +well to themselves. The time is quickly coming when you will address +me in the House with bitter sarcasm as the honourable but inconsistent +member for Tavistock; egad, who knows but you may have to say Right +Honourable?' + +'Oh! I did not know the wind blew in that quarter,' said Alaric, not +ill-pleased at the suggestion that he also, on some future day, might +have a seat among the faithful Commons. + +'The wind blows from all quarters with me,' said Undy; 'but in the +meantime I am looking out for shares.' + +'Will you come in and breakfast?' asked the other. + +'What, with friend Fidus? no, thank'ee; I am not, by many degrees, +honest enough to suit his book. He would be down on some little public +peccadillo of mine before I had swallowed my first egg. Besides, I would +not for worlds break the pleasure of your _tete-a-tete_.' + +'Will you come down after dinner?' + +'No; neither after dinner, nor before breakfast; not all the coffee, nor +all the claret of the Bedford shall tempt me. Remember, my friend, you +are paid for it; I am not.' + +'Well, then, good morning,' said Alaric. 'I must go in and face my fate, +like a Briton.' + +Undy went on for a few steps, and then returned, as though a sudden +thought had struck him. 'But, Tudor, I have bowels of compassion within +me, though no pluck. I am willing to rescue you from your misery, though +I will not partake it. Come up to me this evening, and I will give you +a glass of brandy-punch. Your true miners never drink less generous +tipple.' + +'How on earth am I to shake off this incubus of the Woods and Works?' + +'Shake him off? Why, make him drunk and put him to bed; or tell him at +once that the natural iniquity of your disposition makes it necessary +that you should spend a few hours of the day in the company of a sinner +like myself. Tell him that his virtue is too heavy for the digestive +organs of your unpractised stomach. Tell him what you will, but come. I +myself am getting sick of those mining Vandals, though I am so used to +dealing with them.' + +Alaric promised that he would come, and then went in to breakfast. Undy +also returned to his breakfast, well pleased with this first success in +the little scheme which at present occupied his mind. The innocent young +Commissioner little dreamt that the Honourable Mr. Scott had come all +the way to Tavistock on purpose to ask him to drink brandy-punch at the +Blue Dragon! + +Another day went wearily and slowly on with Alaric and Mr. Neverbend. +Tedious, never-ending statements had to be taken down in writing; +the same things were repeated over and over again, and were as often +contradicted; men who might have said in five words all that they had to +say, would not be constrained to say it in less than five thousand, and +each one seemed to think, or pretended to seem to think, that all the +outer world and the Government were leagued together to defraud the +interest to which he himself was specially attached. But this was not +the worst of it. There were points which were as clear as daylight; but +Tudor could not declare them to be so, as by doing so he was sure to +elicit a different opinion from Mr. Neverbend. + +'I am not quite so clear on that point, Mr. Tudor,' he would say. + +Alaric, till experience made him wise, would attempt to argue it. + +'That is all very well, but I am not quite so sure of it. We will +reserve the point, if you please,' and so affairs went on darkly, no ray +of light being permitted to shine in on the matter in dispute. + +It was settled, however, before dinner, that they should both go down +the Wheal Mary Jane on the following day. Neverbend had done what he +could to keep this crowning honour of the inquiry altogether in his own +hands, but he had found that in this respect Tudor was much too much for +him. + +Immediately after dinner Alaric announced that he was going to spend the +evening with a friend. + +'A friend!' said Neverbend, somewhat startled; 'I did not know that you +had any friends in Tavistock.' + +'Not a great many; but it so happened that I did meet a man I know, this +morning, and promised to go to him in the evening. I hope you'll excuse +my leaving you?' + +'Oh! I don't mind for myself,' said Neverbend, 'though, when men are +together, it's as well for them to keep together. But, Mr. Tudor----' + +'Well?' said Alaric, who felt growing within him a determination to put +down at once anything like interference with his private hours. + +'Perhaps I ought not to mention it,' said Neverbend, 'but I do hope +you'll not get among mining people. Only think what our position here +is.' + +'What on earth do you mean?' said Alaric. 'Do you think I shall be +bribed over by either side because I choose to drink a glass of wine +with a friend at another hotel?' + +'Bribed! No, I don't think you'll be bribed; but I think we should both +keep ourselves absolutely free from all chance of being talked to on +the subject, except before each other and before witnesses. I would +not drink brandy-and-water at the Blue Dragon, before this report be +written, even if my brother were there.' + +'Well, Mr. Neverbend, I am not so much afraid of myself. But wherever +there are two men, there will be two opinions. So good night, if it so +chance that you are in bed before my return.' + +So Tudor went out, and Neverbend prepared himself to sit up for him. He +would sooner have remained up all night than have gone to bed before his +colleague came back. + +Three days Alaric Tudor had now passed with Mr. Neverbend, and not only +three days but three evenings also! A man may endure to be bored in the +course of business through the day, but it becomes dreadful when the +infliction is extended to post-prandial hours. It does not often occur +that one is doomed to bear the same bore both by day and night; any +change gives some ease; but poor Alaric for three days had had no +change. He felt like a liberated convict as he stepped freely forth +into the sweet evening air, and made his way through the town to the +opposition inn. + +Here he found Undy on the door-steps with a cigar in his mouth. 'Here +I am, waiting for you,' said he. 'You are fagged to death, I know, and +we'll get a mouthful of fresh air before we go upstairs,'--and so saying +he put his arm through Alaric's, and they strolled off through the +suburbs of the town. + +'You don't smoke,' said Undy, with his cigar-case in his hand. 'Well--I +believe you are right--cigars cost a great deal of money, and can't well +do a man any real good. God Almighty could never have intended us to +make chimneys of our mouths and noses. Does Fidus ever indulge in a +weed?' + +'He never indulges in anything,' said Alaric. + +'Except honesty,' said the other, 'and in that he is a beastly glutton. +He gorges himself with it till all his faculties are overpowered and his +mind becomes torpid. It's twice worse than drinking. I wonder whether +he'll do a bit of speculation before he goes back to town.' + +'Who, Neverbend?--he never speculates!' + +'Why not? Ah, my fine fellow, you don't know the world yet. Those sort +of men, dull drones like Neverbend, are just the fellows who go the +deepest. I'll be bound he will not return without a few Mary Janes in +his pocket-book. He'll be a fool if he does, I know.' + +'Why, that's the very mine we are down here about.' + +'And that's the very reason why he'll purchase Mary Janes. He has an +opportunity of knowing their value. Oh, let Neverbend alone. He is not +so young as you are, my dear fellow.' + +'Young or old, I think you mistake his character.' + +'Why, Tudor, what would you think now if he not only bought for himself, +but was commissioned to buy by the very men who sent him down here?' + +'It would be hard to make me believe it.' + +'Ah! faith is a beautiful thing; what a pity that it never survives the +thirtieth year;--except with women and fools.' + +'And have you no faith, Scott?' + +'Yes--much in myself--some little in Lord Palmerston, that is, in his +luck; and a good deal in a bank-note. But I have none at all in Fidus +Neverbend. What! have faith in a man merely because he tells me to have +it! His method of obtaining it is far too easy.' + +'I trust neither his wit nor his judgement; but I don't believe him to +be a thief.' + +'Thief! I said nothing of thieves. He may, for aught I know, be just as +good as the rest of the world; all I say is, that I believe him to be no +better. But come, we must go back to the inn; there is an ally of +mine coming to me; a perfect specimen of a sharp Cornish mining +stockjobber--as vulgar a fellow as you ever met, and as shrewd. He won't +stay very long, so you need not be afraid of him.' + +Alaric began to feel uneasy, and to think that there might by +possibility be something in what Neverbend had said to him. He did not +like the idea of meeting a Cornish stock-jobber in a familiar way +over his brandy-punch, while engaged, as he now was, on the part of +Government; he felt that there might be impropriety in it, and he would +have been glad to get off if he could. But he felt ashamed to break his +engagement, and thus followed Undy into the hotel. + +'Has Mr. Manylodes been here?' said Scott, as he walked upstairs. + +'He's in the bar now, sir,' said the waiter. + +'Beg him to come up, then. In the bar! why, that man must have a bar +within himself--the alcohol he consumes every day would be a tidy sale +for a small public-house.' + +Up they went, and Mr. Manylodes was not long in following them. He was +a small man, more like an American in appearance than an Englishman. +He had on a common black hat, a black coat, black waistcoat, and black +trousers, thick boots, a coloured shirt, and very dirty hands. Though +every article he wore was good, and most of them such as gentlemen wear, +no man alive could have mistaken him for a gentleman. No man, conversant +with the species to which he belonged, could have taken him for anything +but what he was. As he entered the room, a faint, sickly, second-hand +smell of alcohol pervaded the atmosphere. + +'Well, Manylodes,' said Scott, 'I'm glad to see you again. This is my +friend, Mr. Tudor.' + +'Your servant, sir,' said Manylodes, just touching his hat, without +moving it from his head. 'And how are you, Mr. Scott? I am glad to see +you again in these parts, sir.' + +'And how's trade? Come, Tudor, what will you drink? Manylodes, I know, +takes brandy; their sherry is vile, and their claret worse; maybe they +may have a fairish glass of port. And how is trade, Manylodes?' + +'We're all as brisk as bees at present. I never knew things sharper. If +you've brought a little money with you, now's your time. But I tell you +this, you'll find it sharp work for the eyesight.' + +'Quick's the word, I suppose.' + +'Lord love you! Quick! Why, a fellow must shave himself before he goes +to bed if he wants to be up in time these days.' + +'I suppose so.' + +'Lord love you! why there was old Sam Weazle; never caught napping +yet--why at Truro, last Monday, he bought up to 450 New Friendships, and +before he was a-bed they weren't worth, not this bottle of brandy. Well, +old Sam was just bit by those Cambourne lads.' + +'And how did that happen?' + +'Why, the New Friendships certainly was very good while they lasted; +just for three months they was the thing certainly. Why, it came +up, sir, as if there weren't no end of it, and just as clean as that +half-crown--but I know'd there was an end coming.' + +'Water, I suppose,' said Undy, sipping his toddy. + +'Them clean takes, Mr. Scott, they never lasts. There was water, but +that weren't the worst. Old Weazle knew of that; he calculated he'd +back the metal agin the water, and so he bought all up he could lay his +finger on. But the stuff was run out. Them Cambourne boys--what did they +do? Why, they let the water in on purpose. By Monday night old Weazle +knew it all, and then you may say it was as good as a play.' + +'And how did you do in the matter?' + +'Oh, I sold. I did very well--bought at L7 2s. 3d. and sold at L6 19s. +10 1/2d., and got my seven per cent, for the four months. But, Lord love +you, them clean takes never lasts. I worn't going to hang on. Here's +your health, Mr. Scott. Yours, Mr.---, I didn't just catch the +gen'leman's name;' and without waiting for further information on the +point, he finished his brandy-and-water. + +'So it's all up with the New Friendships, is it?' said Undy. + +'Up and down, Mr. Scott; every dog has his day; these Mary Janes will be +going the same way some of them days. We're all mortal;' and with +this moral comparison between the uncertainty of human life and the +vicissitudes of the shares in which he trafficked, Mr. Manylodes +proceeded to put some more sugar and brandy into his tumbler. + +'True, true--we are all mortal--Manylodes and Mary Janes; old +friendships and New Friendships: while they last we must make the most +we can of them; buy them cheap and sell them dear; and above all things +get a good percentage.' + +'That's the game, Mr. Scott; and I will say no man understands it better +than yourself--keep the ball a-running--that's your maxim. Are you going +it deep in Mary Jane, Mr. Scott?' + +'Who? I! O no--she's a cut above me now, I fear. The shares are worth +any money now, I suppose.' + +'Worth any money! I think they are, Mr. Scott, but I believe----' and +then bringing his chair close up to that of his aristocratic friend, +resting his hands, one on Mr. Scott's knee, and the other on his elbow, +and breathing brandy into his ear, he whispered to him words of great +significance. + +'I'll leave you, Scott,' said Alaric, who did not enjoy the society of +Mr. Manylodes, and to whom the nature of the conversation was, in his +present position, extremely irksome; 'I must be back at the Bedford +early.' + +'Early--why early? surely our honest friend can get himself to bed +without your interference. Come, you don't like the brandy toddy, nor +I either. We'll see what sort of a hand they are at making a bowl of +bishop.' + +'Not for me, Scott.' + +'Yes, for you, man; surely you are not tied to that fellow's +apron-strings,' he said, removing himself from the close contiguity of +Mr. Manylodes, and speaking under his voice; 'take my advice; if you +once let that man think you fear him, you'll never get the better of +him.' + +Alaric allowed himself to be persuaded and stayed. + +'I have just ten words of business to say to this fellow,' continued +Scott, 'and then we will be alone.' + +It was a lovely autumn evening, early in September, and Alaric sat +himself at an open window, looking out from the back of the hotel on to +the Brentor, with its singular parish church, built on its highest apex, +while Undy held deep council with his friend of the mines. But from time +to time, some word of moment found its way to Alaric's ears, and made +him also unconsciously fix his mind on the _irritamenta malorum_, which +are dug from the bowels of the earth in those western regions. + +'Minting money, sir; it's just minting money. There's been no chance +like it in my days. L4 12s. 6d. paid up; and they'll be at L25 in Truro +before sun sets on Saturday, Lord love you, Mr. Scott, now's your +time. If, as I hear, they--' and then there was a very low whisper, +and Alaric, who could not keep his eye altogether from Mr. Manylodes' +countenance, saw plainly that that worthy gentleman was talking of +himself; and in spite of his better instincts, a desire came over him +to know more of what they were discussing, and he could not keep from +thinking that shares bought at L4 12s. 6d., and realizing L25, must be +very nice property. + +'Well, I'll manage it,' said Scott, still in a sort of whisper, but +audibly enough for Alaric to hear. 'Forty, you say? I'll take them at +L5 1s. 1d.--very well;' and he took out his pocket-book and made a +memorandum. 'Come, Tudor, here's the bishop. We have done our business, +so now we'll enjoy ourselves. What, Manylodes, are you off?' + +'Lord love you, Mr. Scott, I've a deal to do before I get to my downy; +and I don't like those doctored tipples. Good night, Mr. Scott. I wishes +you good night, sir;' and making another slight reference to his hat, +which had not been removed from his head during the whole interview, Mr. +Manylodes took himself off. + +'There, now, is a specimen of a species of the _genus homo_, class +Englishman, which is, I believe, known nowhere but in Cornwall.' + +'Cornwall and Devonshire, I suppose,' said Alaric. + +'No; he is out of his true element here. If you want to see him in all +the glory of his native county you should go west of Truro. From Truro +to Hayle is the land of the Manylodes. And a singular species it is. +But, Tudor, you'll be surprised, I suppose, if I tell you that I have +made a purchase for you.' + +'A purchase for me!' + +'Yes; I could not very well consult you before that fellow, and yet as +the chance came in my way, I did not like to lose it. Come, the bishop +ain't so bad, is it, though it is doctored tipple?' and he refilled +Alaric's glass. + +'But what have you purchased for me, Scott?' + +'Forty shares in the Mary Jane.' + +'Then you may undo the bargain again, for I don't want them, and shall +not take them.' + +'You need not be a bit uneasy, my dear fellow. I've bought them at +a little over L5, and they'll be saleable to-morrow at double the +money--or at any rate to-morrow week. But what's your objection to +them?' + +'In the first place, I've got no money to buy shares.' + +'That's just the reason why you should buy them; having no money, you +can't but want some; and here's your way to make it. You can have no +difficulty in raising L200.' + +'And in the next place, I should not think of buying mining shares, and +more especially these, while I am engaged as I now am.' + +'Fal de ral, de ral, de ral! That's all very fine, Mr. Commissioner; +only you mistake your man; you think you are talking to Mr. Neverbend.' + +'Well, Scott, I shan't have them.' + +'Just as you please, my dear fellow; there's no compulsion. Only mark +this; the ball is at your foot now, but it won't remain there. 'There is +a tide in the affairs of men'--you know the rest; and you know also that +'tide and time wait for no man.' If you are contented with your two +or three hundred a year in the Weights and Measures, God forbid that I +should tempt you to higher thoughts--only in that case I have mistaken +my man.' + +'I must be contented with it, if I can get nothing better,' said Tudor, +weakly. + +'Exactly; you must be contented--or rather you must put up with it--if +you can get nothing better. That's the meaning of contentment all the +world over. You argue in a circle. You must be a mere clerk if you +cannot do better than other mere clerks. But the fact of your having +such an offer as that I now make you, is proof that you can do better +than others; proves, in fact, that you need not be a mere clerk, unless +you choose to remain so.' + +'Buying these shares might lose me all that I have got, and could not do +more than put a hundred pounds or so in my pocket.' + +'Gammon--' + +'Could I go back and tell Sir Gregory openly that I had bought them?' + +'Why, Tudor, you are the youngest fish I ever met, sent out to swim +alone in this wicked world of ours. Who the deuce talks openly of his +speculations? Will Sir Gregory tell you what shares he buys? Is not +every member of the House, every man in the Government, every barrister, +parson, and doctor, that can collect a hundred pounds, are not all of +them at the work? And do they talk openly of the matter? Does the bishop +put it into his charge, or the parson into his sermon?' + +'But they would not be ashamed to tell their friends.' + +'Would not they? Oh! the Rev. Mr. Pickabit, of St. Judas Without, would +not be ashamed to tell his bishop! But the long and the short of the +thing is this; most men circumstanced as you are have no chance of doing +anything good till they are forty or fifty, and then their energies are +worn out. You have had tact enough to push yourself up early, and yet it +seems you have not pluck enough to take the goods the gods provide you.' + +'The gods!--you mean the devils rather,' said Alaric, who sat listening +and drinking, almost unconsciously, his doctored tipple. + +'Call them what you will for me. Fortune has generally been esteemed +a goddess, but misfortune a very devil. But, Tudor, you don't know the +world. Here is a chance in your way. Of course that keg of brandy who +went out just now understands very well who you are. He wants to be +civil to me, and he thinks it wise to be civil to you also. He has a +hat full of these shares, and he tells me that, knowing my weakness, and +presuming that you have the same, he bought a few extra this morning, +thinking we might like them. Now, I have no hesitation in saying there +is not a single man whom the Government could send down here, from Sir +Gregory downwards, who could refuse the chance.' + +'I am quite sure that Neverbend----' + +'Oh! for Heaven's sake don't choke me with Neverbend; the fools are +fools, and will be so; they are used for their folly. I speak of men +with brains. How do you think that such men as Hardlines, Vigil, and Mr. +Estimate have got up in the world? Would they be where they are now, had +they been contented with their salaries?' + +'They had private fortunes.' + +'Very private they must have been--I never heard of them. No; what +fortunes they have they made. Two of them are in Parliament, and the +other has a Government situation of L2,000 a year, with little or +nothing to do. But they began life early, and never lost a chance.' + +'It is quite clear that that blackguard who was here just now thinks +that he can influence my opinion by inducing me to have an interest in +the matter.' + +'He had no such idea--nor have I. Do you think I would persuade you to +such villany? Do you think I do not know you too well? Of course the +possession of these shares can have no possible effect on your report, +and is not expected to have any. But when men like you and me become of +any note in the world, others, such as Manylodes, like to know that we +are embarked in the same speculation with themselves. Why are members +of Parliament asked to be directors, and vice-governors, and presidents, +and guardians, of all the joint-stock societies that are now set agoing? +Not because of their capital, for they generally have none; not for +their votes, because one vote can be but of little use in any emergency. +It is because the names of men of note are worth money. Men of note +understand this, and enjoy the fat of the land accordingly. I want to +see you among the number.' + +'Twas thus the devil pleaded for the soul of Alaric Tudor; and, alas! +he did not plead in vain. Let him but have a fair hearing, and he seldom +does. 'Tis in this way that the truth of that awful mystery, the fall of +man, comes home to us; that we cannot hear the devil plead, and resist +the charm of his eloquence. To listen is to be lost. 'Lead us not into +temptation, but deliver us from evil!' Let that petition come forth from +a man's heart, a true and earnest prayer, and he will be so led that he +shall not hear the charmer, let him charm ever so wisely. + +'Twas but a thin veil that the Hon. Undecimus Scott threw over the +bait with which he fished for the honesty of Alaric Tudor, and yet +it sufficed. One would say that a young man, fortified with such +aspirations as those which glowed in Alaric's breast, should have stood +a longer siege; should have been able to look with clearer eyesight on +the landmarks which divide honour from dishonour, integrity from fraud, +and truth from falsehood. But he had never prayed to be delivered from +evil. His desire had rather been that he might be led into temptation. + +He had never so prayed--yet had he daily said his prayers at fitting +intervals. On every returning Sunday had he gone through, with all the +fitting forms, the ordinary worship of a Christian. Nor had he done this +as a hypocrite. With due attention and a full belief he had weekly knelt +at God's temple, and given, if not his mind, at least his heart, to +the service of his church. But the inner truth of the prayer which he +repeated so often had not come home to him. Alas! how many of us from +week to week call ourselves worms and dust and miserable sinners, +describe ourselves as chaff for the winds, grass for the burning, +stubble for the plough, as dirt and filth fit only to be trodden under +foot, and yet in all our doings before the world cannot bring home to +ourselves the conviction that we require other guidance than our own! + +Alaric Tudor had sighed for permission to go forth among worldlings and +there fight the world's battle. Power, station, rank, wealth, all the +good things which men earn by tact, diligence, and fortune combined, and +which were so far from him at his outset in life, became daily more dear +to his heart. And now his honourable friend twitted him with being a +mere clerk! No, he was not, never had been, never would be such. Had he +not already, in five or six short years, distanced his competitors, and +made himself the favourite and friend of men infinitely above him in +station? Was he not now here in Tavistock on a mission which proved that +he was no mere clerk? Was not the fact of his drinking bishop in the +familiar society of a lord's son, and an ex-M.P., a proof of it? + +It would be calumny on him to say that he had allowed Scott to make him +tipsy on this occasion. He was far from being tipsy; but yet the mixture +which he had been drinking had told upon his brain. + +'But, Undy,' said he--he had never before called his honourable friend +by his Christian name--'but, Undy, if I take these shares, where am I to +get the money to pay for them? + +'The chances are you may part with them before you leave Tavistock. If +so, you will not have to pay for them. You will only have to pocket the +difference.' + +'Or pay the loss.' + +'Or pay the loss. But there's no chance of that. I'll guarantee you +against that.' + +'But I shan't like to sell them. I shan't choose to be trafficking +in shares. Buying a few as an investment may, perhaps, be a different +thing.' + +'Oh, Alaric, Alaric, to what a pass had your conscience come, when it +could be so silenced!' + +'Well, I suppose you can raise a couple of hundred--L205 will cover the +whole thing, commission and all; but, mind, I don't advise you to keep +them long--I shall take two months' dividends, and then sell.' + +'Two hundred and five pounds,' said Tudor, to whom the sum seemed +anything but trifling; 'and when must it be paid?' + +'Well, I can give Manylodes a cheque for the whole, dated this day +week. You'll be back in town before that. We must allow him L5 for the +accommodation. I suppose you can pay the money in at my banker's by that +day?' + +Alaric had some portion of the amount himself, and he knew that Norman +had money by him; he felt also a half-drunken conviction that if Norman +failed him, Captain Cuttwater would not let him want such a sum; and so +he said that he could, and the bargain was completed. + +As he went downstairs whistling with an affected ease, and a gaiety +which, he by no means felt, Undy Scott leant back in his chair, +and began to speculate whether his new purchase was worth the +purchase-money. 'He's a sharp fellow; certainly, in some things, and may +do well yet; but he's uncommonly green. That, however, will wear off. +I should not be surprised if he told Neverbend the whole transaction +before this time to-morrow.' And then Mr. Scott finished his cigar and +went to bed. + +When Alaric entered the sitting-room at the Bedford, he found Neverbend +still seated at a table covered with official books and huge bundles of +official papers. An enormous report was open before him, from which he +was culling the latent sweets, and extracting them with a pencil. He +glowered at Alaric with a severe suspicious eye, which seemed to accuse +him at once of the deed which he had done. + +'You are very late,' said Neverbend, 'but I have not been sorry to be +alone. I believe I have been able to embody in a rough draft the various +points which we have hitherto discussed. I have just been five hours +and a half at it;' and Fidus looked at his watch; 'five hours and forty +minutes. To-morrow, perhaps, that is, if you are not going to your +friend again, you'll not object to make a fair copy----' + +'Copy!' shouted Alaric, in whose brain the open air had not diminished +the effect of the bishop, and who remembered, with all the energy of pot +valour, that he was not a mere clerk; 'copy--bother; I'm going to bed, +old fellow; and I advise you to do the same.' + +And then, taking up a candlestick and stumbling somewhat awkwardly +against a chair, Tudor went off to his room, waiting no further reply +from his colleague. + +Mr. Neverbend slowly put up his papers and followed him. 'He is +decidedly the worse for drink--decidedly so,' said he to himself, as he +pulled off his clothes. 'What a disgrace to the Woods and Works--what a +disgrace!' + +And he resolved in his mind that he would be very early at the pit's +mouth. He would not be kept from his duty while a dissipated colleague +collected his senses by the aid of soda-water. + + + +CHAPTER X + +WHEAL MARY JANE + + +Mr. Manylodes was, at any rate, right in this, that that beverage, which +men call bishop, is a doctored tipple; and Alaric Tudor, when he woke in +the morning, owned the truth. It had been arranged that certain denizens +of the mine should meet the two Commissioners at the pit-mouth at eight +o'clock, and it had been settled at dinner-time that breakfast should +be on the table at seven, sharp. Half an hour's quick driving would take +them to the spot. + +At seven Mr. Fidus Neverbend, who had never yet been known to be untrue +to an appointment by the fraction of a second, was standing over the +breakfast-table alone. He was alone, but not on that account unhappy. +He could hardly disguise the pleasure with which he asked the waiter +whether Mr. Tudor was yet dressed, or the triumph which he felt when he +heard that his colleague was not _quite ready_. + +'Bring the tea and the eggs at once,' said Neverbend, very briskly. + +'Won't you wait for Mr. Tudor?' asked the waiter, with an air of +surprise. Now the landlord, waiter, boots, and chambermaid, the +chambermaid especially, had all, in Mr. Neverbend's estimation, paid +Tudor by far too much consideration; and he was determined to show that +he himself was first fiddle. + +'Wait! no; quite out of the question--bring the hot water +immediately--and tell the ostler to have the fly at the door at +half-past seven exact.' + +'Yes, sir,' said the man, and disappeared. + +Neverbend waited five minutes, and then rang the bell impetuously. 'If +you don't bring me my tea immediately, I shall send for Mr. Boteldale.' +Now Mr. Boteldale was the landlord. + +'Mr. Tudor will be down in ten minutes,' was the waiter's false reply; +for up to that moment poor Alaric had not yet succeeded in lifting his +throbbing head from his pillow. The boots was now with him administering +soda-water and brandy, and he was pondering in his sickened mind +whether, by a manful effort, he could rise and dress himself; or whether +he would not throw himself backwards on his coveted bed, and allow +Neverbend the triumph of descending alone to the nether world. + +Neverbend nearly threw the loaf at the waiter's head. Wait ten minutes +longer! what right had that vile Devonshire napkin-twirler to make +to him so base a proposition? 'Bring me my breakfast, sir,' shouted +Neverbend, in a voice that made the unfortunate sinner jump out of the +room, as though he had been moved by a galvanic battery. + +In five minutes, tea made with lukewarm water, and eggs that were not +half boiled were brought to the impatient Commissioner. As a rule Mr. +Neverbend, when travelling on the public service, made a practice of +enjoying his meals. It was the only solace which he allowed himself; the +only distraction from the cares of office which he permitted either to +his body or his mind. But on this great occasion his country required +that he should forget his comforts; and he drank his tasteless tea, and +ate his uncooked eggs, threatening the waiter as he did so with sundry +pains and penalties, in the form of sixpences withheld. + +'Is the fly there?' said he, as he bolted a last morsel of cold roast +beef. + +'Coming, sir,' said the waiter, as he disappeared round a corner. + +In the meantime Alaric sat lackadaisical on his bedside, all undressed, +leaning his head upon his hand, and feeling that his struggle to dress +himself was all but useless. The sympathetic boots stood by with a cup +of tea--well-drawn comfortable tea--in his hand, and a small bit of dry +toast lay near on an adjacent plate. + +'Try a bit o' toast, sir,' said boots. + +'Ugh!' ejaculated poor Alaric. + +'Have a leetle drop o' rum in the tea, sir, and it'll set you all to +rights in two minutes.' + +The proposal made Alaric very sick, and nearly completed the +catastrophe. 'Ugh!' he said. + +'There's the trap, sir, for Mr. Neverbend,' said the boots, whose ears +caught the well-known sound. + +'The devil it is!' said Alaric, who was now stirred up to instant +action. 'Take my compliments to Mr. Neverbend, and tell him I'll thank +him to wait ten minutes.' + +Boots, descending with the message, found Mr. Neverbend ready coated +and gloved, standing at the hotel door. The fly was there, and the lame +ostler holding the horse; but the provoking driver had gone back for his +coat. + +'Please, sir, Mr. Tudor says as how you're not to go just at present, +but to wait ten minutes till he be ready.' + +Neverbend looked at the man, but he would not trust himself to +speak. Wait ten minutes, and it now wanted five-and-twenty minutes to +eight!--no--not for all the Tudors that ever sat upon the throne of +England. + +There he stood with his watch in his hand as the returning Jehu hurried +round from the stable yard. 'You are now seven minutes late,' said he, +'and if you are not at the place by eight o'clock, I shall not give you +one farthing!' + +'All right,' said Jehu. 'We'll be at Mary Jane in less than no time;' +and off they went, not at the quickest pace. But Neverbend's heart beat +high with triumph, as he reflected that he had carried the point on +which he had been so intent. + +Alaric, when he heard the wheels roll off, shook from him his lethargy. +It was not only that Neverbend would boast that he alone had gone +through the perils of their subterranean duty, but that doubtless +he would explain in London how his colleague had been deterred from +following him. It was a grievous task, that of dressing himself, as +youthful sinners know but too well. Every now and then a qualm would +come over him, and make the work seem all but impossible. Boots, +however, stuck to him like a man, poured cold water over his head, +renewed his tea-cup, comforted him with assurances of the bracing air, +and put a paper full of sandwiches in his pocket. + +'For heaven's sake put them away,' said Alaric, to whom the very idea of +food was repulsive. + +'You'll want 'em, sir, afore you are half way to Mary Jane; and it a'n't +no joke going down and up again. I know what's what, sir.' + +The boots stuck to him like a man. He did not only get him sandwiches, +but he procured for him also Mr. Boteldale's own fast-trotting pony, +and just as Neverbend was rolling up to the pit's mouth fifteen minutes +after his time, greatly resolving in his own mind to button his breeches +pocket firmly against the recreant driver, Alaric started on the chase +after him. + +Mr. Neverbend had a presentiment that, sick as his friend might +be, nauseous as doubtless were the qualms arising from yesterday's +intemperance, he would make an attempt to recover his lost ground. He +of the Woods and Works had begun to recognize the energy of him of the +Weights and Measures, and felt that there was in it a force that would +not easily be overcome, even by the fumes of bishop. But yet it would be +a great thing for the Woods and Works if he, Neverbend, could descend +in this perilous journey to the deep bowels of the earth, leaving the +Weights and Measures stranded in the upper air. This descent among the +hidden riches of a lower world, this visit to the provocations of evils +not yet dug out from their durable confinement, was the keystone, as it +were, of the whole mission. Let Neverbend descend alone, alone inspect +the wonders of that dirty deep, and Tudor might then talk and write +as he pleased. In such case all the world of the two public offices in +Question, and of some others cognate to them, would adjudge that he, +Neverbend, had made himself master of the situation. + +Actuated by these correct calculations, Mr. Neverbend was rather fussy +to begin an immediate descent when he found himself on the spot. Two +native gentlemen, who were to accompany the Commissioners, or the +Commissioner, as appeared likely to be the case, were already there, as +were also the men who were to attend upon them. + +It was an ugly uninviting place to look at, with but few visible signs +of wealth. The earth, which had been burrowed out by these human rabbits +in their search after tin, lay around in huge ungainly heaps; +the overground buildings of the establishment consisted of a few +ill-arranged sheds, already apparently in a state of decadence; dirt and +slush, and pods of water confined by muddy dams, abounded on every side; +muddy men, with muddy carts and muddy horses, slowly crawled hither and +thither, apparently with no object, and evidently indifferent as to whom +they might overset in their course. The inferior men seemed to show no +respect to those above them, and the superiors to exercise no authority +over those below them. There was, a sullen equality among them all. On +the ground around was no vegetation; nothing green met the eye, some few +stunted bushes appeared here and there, nearly smothered by heaped-up +mud, but they had about them none of the attractiveness of foliage. The +whole scene, though consisting of earth alone, was unearthly, and looked +as though the devil had walked over the place with hot hoofs, and then +raked it with a huge rake. + +'I am afraid I am very late,' said Neverbend, getting out of his fly in +all the haste he could muster, and looking at his watch the moment his +foot touched the ground, 'very late indeed, gentlemen; I really must +apologize, but it was the driver; I was punctual to the minute, I was +indeed. But come, gentlemen, we won't lose another moment,' and Mr. +Neverbend stepped out as though he were ready at an instant's notice to +plunge head foremost down the deepest shaft in all that region of mines. + +'Oh, sir, there a'n't no cause of hurry whatsomever,' said one of the +mining authorities; 'the day is long enough.' + +'Oh, but there is cause of hurry, Mr. Undershot,' said Neverbend angrily +'great cause of hurry; we must do this work very thoroughly; and I +positively have not time to get through all that I have before me. + +'But-a'n't the other gen'leman a-coming?' asked Mr. Undershot. + +'Surely Mr. Tooder isn't a going to cry off?' said the other. 'Why, he +was so hot about it yesterday.' + +'Mr. Tudor is not very well this morning,' said Mr. Neverbend. 'As his +going down is not necessary for the inquiry, and is merely a matter of +taste on his part, he has not joined me this morning. Come, gentlemen, +are we ready?' + +It was then for the first time explained to Mr. Neverbend that he had to +go through a rather complicated adjustment of his toilet before he would +be considered fit to meet the infernal gods. He must, he was informed, +envelop himself from head to foot in miner's habiliments, if he wished +to save every stitch he had on him from dirt and destruction. He must +also cover up his head with a linen cap, so constituted as to carry a +lump of mud with a candle stuck in it, if he wished to save either his +head from filth or his feet from falling. Now Mr. Neverbend, like most +clerks in public offices, was somewhat particular about his wardrobe; it +behoved him, as a gentleman frequenting the West End, to dress well, and +it also behoved him to dress cheaply; he was, moreover, careful both as +to his head and feet; he could not, therefore, reject the recommended +precautions, but yet the time!--the time thus lost might destroy all. + +He hurried into the shed where his toilet was to be made, and suffered +himself to be prepared in the usual way. He took off his own great coat, +and put on a muddy course linen jacket that covered the upper portion +of his body completely; he then dragged on a pair of equally muddy +overalls; and lastly submitted to a most uninviting cap, which came down +over his ears, and nearly over his eyes, and on the brow of which a lump +of mud was then affixed, bearing a short tallow candle. + +But though dressed thus in miner's garb, Mr. Neverbend could not be said +to look the part he filled. He was a stout, reddish-faced gentleman, +with round shoulders and huge whiskers, he was nearly bald, and wore +spectacles, and in the costume in which he now appeared he did not seem +to be at his ease. Indeed, all his air of command, all his personal +dignity and dictatorial tone, left him as soon as he found himself +metamorphosed into a fat pseudo-miner. He was like a cock whose feathers +had been trailed through the mud, and who could no longer crow aloud, +or claim the dunghill as his own. His appearance was somewhat that of +a dirty dissipated cook who, having been turned out of one of the clubs +for drunkenness, had been wandering about the streets all night. He +began to wish that he was once more in the well-known neighbourhood of +Charing Cross. + +The adventure, however, must now be carried through. There was still +enough of manhood in his heart to make him feel that he could not return +to his colleague at Tavistock without visiting the wonders which he had +come so far to see. When he reached the head of the shaft, however, +the affair did appear to him to be more terrible than he had before +conceived. He was invited to get into a rough square bucket, in which +there was just room for himself and another to stand; he was specially +cautioned to keep his head straight, and his hands and elbows from +protruding, and then the windlass began to turn, and the upper world, +the sunlight, and all humanity receded from his view. + +The world receded from his view, but hardly soon enough; for as the +windlass turned and the bucket descended, his last terrestrial glance, +looking out among the heaps of mud, descried Alaric Tudor galloping on +Mr. Boteldale's pony up to the very mouth of the mine. + +'_Facilis descensus Averni_.' The bucket went down easy enough, and all +too quick. The manner in which it grounded itself on the first landing +grated discordantly on Mr. Neverbend's finer perceptibilities. But +when he learnt, after the interchange of various hoarse and to him +unintelligible bellowings, that he was to wait in that narrow damp lobby +for the coming of his fellow-Commissioner, the grating on his feelings +was even more discordant. He had not pluck enough left to grumble: but +he grunted his displeasure. He grunted, however, in vain; for in about +a quarter of an hour Alaric was close to him, shoulder to shoulder. He +also wore a white jacket, &c., with a nightcap of mud and candle on his +head; but somehow he looked as though he had worn them all his life. +The fast gallop, and the excitement of the masquerade, which for him +had charms the sterner Neverbend could not feel, had dissipated his +sickness; and he was once more all himself. + +'So I've caught you at the first stage,' said he, good-humouredly; for +though he knew how badly he had been treated, he was much too wise to +show his knowledge. 'It shall go hard but I'll distance you before we +have done,' he said to himself. Poor Neverbend only grunted. + +And then they all went down a second stage in another bucket; and then a +third in a third bucket; and then the business commenced. As far as this +point passive courage alone had been required; to stand upright in a +wooden tub and go down, and down, and down, was in itself easy enough, +so long as the heart did not utterly faint. Mr. Neverbend's heart had +grown faintish, but still he had persevered, and now stood on a third +lobby, listening with dull, unintelligent ears to eager questions asked, +by his colleague, and to the rapid answers of their mining guides. Tudor +was absolutely at work with paper and pencil, taking down notes in that +wretched Pandemonium. + +'There now, sir,' said the guide; 'no more of them ugly buckets, Mr. +Neverbend; we can trust to our own arms and legs for the rest of it, +and so saying, he pointed out to Mr. Neverbend's horror-stricken eyes +a perpendicular iron ladder fixed firmly against the upright side of a +shaft, and leading--for aught Mr. Neverbend could see--direct to hell +itself. + +'Down here, is it?' said Alaric peeping over. + +'I'll go first,' said the guide; and down he went, down, down, down, +till Neverbend looking over, could barely see the glimmer of his +disappearing head light. Was it absolutely intended that he should +disappear in the same way? Had he bound himself to go down that fiendish +upright ladder? And were he to go down it, what then? Would it be +possible that a man of his weight should ever come up again? + +'Shall it be you or I next?' said Alaric very civilly. Neverbend could +only pant and grunt, and Alaric, with a courteous nod, placed himself on +the ladder, and went down, down, down, till of him also nothing was left +but the faintest glimmer. Mr. Neverbend remained above with one of the +mining authorities; one attendant miner also remained with them. + +'Now, Sir,' said the authority, 'if you are ready, the ladder is quite +free.' + +Free! What would not Neverbend have given to be free also himself! He +looked down the free ladder, and the very look made him sink. It +seemed to him as though nothing but a spider could creep down that +perpendicular abyss. And then a sound, slow, sharp, and continuous, as +of drops falling through infinite space on to deep water, came upon his +ear; and he saw that the sides of the abyss were covered with slime; and +the damp air made him cough, and the cap had got over his spectacles and +nearly blinded him; and he was perspiring with a cold, clammy sweat. + +'Well, sir, shall we be going on?' said the authority. 'Mr. Tooder'll be +at the foot of the next set before this.' + +Mr. Neverbend wished that Mr. Tudor's journey might still be down, and +down, and down, till he reached the globe's centre, in which conflicting +attractions might keep him for ever fixed. In his despair he essayed +to put one foot upon the ladder, and then looked piteously up to the +guide's face. Even in that dark, dingy atmosphere the light of the +farthing candle on his head revealed the agony of his heart. His +companions, though they were miners, were still men. They saw his +misery, and relented. + +'Maybe thee be afeared?' said the working miner, 'and if so be thee +bee'st, thee'd better bide.' + +'I am sure I should never come up again,' said Neverbend, with a voice +pleading for mercy, but with all the submission of one prepared to +suffer without resistance if mercy should not be forthcoming. + +'Thee bee'st for sartan too thick and weazy like for them stairs,' said +the miner. + +'I am, I am,' said Neverbend, turning on the man a look of the warmest +affection, and shoving the horrid, heavy, encumbered cap from off his +spectacles; 'yes, I am too fat.' How would he have answered, with what +aspect would he have annihilated the sinner, had such a man dared to +call him weazy up above, on _terra firma_, under the canopy of heaven? + +His troubles, however, or at any rate his dangers, were brought to an +end. As soon as it became plainly manifest that his zeal in the public +service would carry him no lower, and would hardly suffice to keep +life throbbing in his bosom much longer, even in his present level, +preparations were made for his ascent. A bell was rung; hoarse voices +were again heard speaking and answering in sounds quite unintelligible +to a Cockney's ears; chains rattled, the windlass whirled, and the huge +bucket came tumbling down, nearly on their heads. Poor Neverbend was +all but lifted into it. Where now was all the pride of the morn that +had seen him go forth the great dictator of the mines? Where was that +towering spirit with which he had ordered his tea and toast, and rebuked +the slowness of his charioteer? Where the ambition that had soared so +high over the pet of the Weights and Measures? Alas, alas! how few of +us there are who have within us the courage to be great in adversity. +_'Aequam memento'_--&c., &c.!--if thou couldst but have thought of it, O +Neverbend, who need'st must some day die. + +But Neverbend did not think of it. How few of us do remember such +lessons at those moments in which they ought to be of use to us! He was +all but lifted into the tub, and then out of it, and then again into +another, till he reached the upper world, a sight piteous to behold. +His spectacles had gone from him, his cap covered his eyes, his lamp had +reversed itself, and soft globules of grease had fallen on his nose, he +was bathed in perspiration, and was nevertheless chilled through to his +very bones, his whiskers were fringed with mud, and his black cravat +had been pulled from his neck and lost in some infernal struggle. +Nevertheless, the moment in which he seated himself on a hard stool in +that rough shed was perhaps the happiest in his life; some Christian +brought him beer; had it been nectar from the brewery of the gods, he +could not have drunk it with greater avidity. + +By slow degrees he made such toilet as circumstances allowed, and then +had himself driven back to Tavistock, being no more willing to wait for +Tudor now than he had been in the early morning. But Jehu found him +much more reasonable on his return; and as that respectable functionary +pocketed his half-crown, he fully understood the spirit in which it was +given. Poor Neverbend had not now enough pluck left in him to combat the +hostility of a postboy. + +Alaric, who of course contrived to see all that was to be seen, and +learn all that was to be learnt, in the dark passages of the tin +mine, was careful on his return to use his triumph with the greatest +moderation. His conscience was, alas, burdened with the guilty knowledge +of Undy's shares. When he came to think of the transaction as he rode +leisurely back to Tavistock, he knew how wrong he had been, and yet +he felt a kind of triumph at the spoil which he held; for he had heard +among the miners that the shares of Mary Jane were already going up +to some incredible standard of value. In this manner, so said he to +himself, had all the great minds of the present day made their money, +and kept themselves afloat. 'Twas thus he tried to comfort himself; but +not as yet successfully. + +There were no more squabbles between Mr. Neverbend and Mr. Tudor; each +knew that of himself, which made him bear and forbear; and so the two +Commissioners returned to town on good terms with each other, and Alaric +wrote a report, which delighted the heart of Sir Gregory Hardlines, +ruined the opponents of the great tin mine, and sent the Mary Jane +shares up, and up, and up, till speculating men thought that they could +not give too high a price to secure them. + +Alaric returned to town on Friday. It had been arranged that he, and +Charley, and Norman, should all go down to Hampton on the Saturday; and +then, on the following week, the competitive examination was to take +place. But Alaric's first anxiety after his return was to procure +the L206, which he had to pay for the shares which he held in his +pocket-book. He all but regretted, as he journeyed up to town, with the +now tame Fidus seated opposite to him, that he had not disposed of them +at Tavistock even at half their present value, so that he might have +saved himself the necessity of being a borrower, and have wiped his +hands of the whole affair. + +He and Norman dined together at their club in Waterloo Place, the +Pythagorean, a much humbler establishment than that patronized by Scott, +and one that was dignified by no politics. After dinner, as they sat +over their pint of sherry, Alaric made his request. + +'Harry,' said he, suddenly, 'you are always full of money--I want you to +lend me L150.' + +Norman was much less quick in his mode of speaking than his friend, and +at the present moment was inclined to be somewhat slower than usual. +This affair of the examination pressed upon his spirits, and made him +dull and unhappy. During the whole of dinner he had said little or +nothing, and had since been sitting listlessly gazing at vacancy, and +balancing himself on the hind-legs of his chair. + +'O yes--certainly,' said he; but he said it without the eagerness with +which Alaric thought that he should have answered his request. + +'If it's inconvenient, or if you don't like it,' said Alaric, the blood +mounting to his forehead, 'it does not signify. I can do without it.' + +'I can lend it you without any inconvenience,' said Harry. 'When do you +want it--not to-night, I suppose?' + +'No--not to-night--I should like to have it early to-morrow morning; but +I see you don't like it, so I'll manage it some other way.' + +'I don't know what you mean by not liking it. I have not the slightest +objection to lending you any money I can spare. I don't think you'll +find any other of your friends who will like it better. You can have it +by eleven o'clock to-morrow.' + +Intimate as the two men were, there had hitherto been very little +borrowing or lending between them; and now Alaric felt as though he owed +it to his intimacy with his friend to explain to him why he wanted so +large a sum in so short a time. He felt, moreover, that he would not +himself be so much ashamed of what he had done if he could confess it to +some one else. He could then solace himself with the reflection that he +had done nothing secret. Norman, he supposed, would be displeased; but +then Norman's displeasure could not injure him, and with Norman there +would be no danger that the affair would go any further. + +'You must think it very strange,' said he, 'that I should want such a +sum; but the truth is I have bought some shares.' + +'Railway shares?' said Norman, in a tone that certainly did not signify +approval. He disliked speculation altogether, and had an old-fashioned +idea that men who do speculate, should have money wherewith to do it. + +'No--not railway shares exactly.' + +'Canal?' suggested Norman. + +'No--not canal.' + +'Gas?' + +'Mines,' said Alaric, bringing out the dread truth at last. + +Harry Norman's brow grew very black. 'Not that mine that you've been +down about, I hope,' said he. + +'Yes--that very identical Mary Jane that I went down, and down about,' +said Alaric, trying to joke on the subject. 'Don't look so very black, +my dear fellow. I know all that you have to say upon the matter. I did +what was very foolish, I dare say; but the idea never occurred to me +till it was too late, that I might be suspected of making a false report +on the subject, because I had embarked a hundred pounds in it.' + +'Alaric, if it were known--' + +'Then it mustn't be known,' said Tudor. 'I am sorry for it; but, as I +told you, the idea didn't occur to me till it was too late. The shares +are bought now, and must be paid for to-morrow. I shall sell them the +moment I can, and you shall have the money in three or four days.' + +'I don't care one straw about the money,' said Norman, now quick enough, +but still in great displeasure; 'I would give double the amount that you +had not done this.' + +'Don't be so suspicious, Harry,' said the other--'don't try to think the +worst of your friend. By others, by Sir Gregory Hardlines, Neverbend, +and such men, I might expect to be judged harshly in such a matter. But +I have a right to expect that you will believe me. I tell you that I +did this inadvertently, and am sorry for it; surely that ought to be +sufficient.' + +Norman said nothing more; but he felt that Tudor had done that which, +if known, would disgrace him for ever. It might, however, very probably +never be known; and it might also be that Tudor would never act so +dishonestly again. On the following morning the money was paid; and +in the course of the next week the shares were resold, and the money +repaid, and Alaric Tudor, for the first time in his life, found himself +to be the possessor of over three hundred pounds. + +Such was the price which Scott, Manylodes, & Co., had found it worth +their while to pay him for his good report on Mary Jane. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE THREE KINGS + + +And now came the all-important week. On the Saturday the three young men +went down to Hampton. Charley had lately been leading a very mixed sort +of life. One week he would consort mainly with the houri of the Norfolk +Street beer-shop, and the next he would be on his good behaviour, and +live as respectably as circumstances permitted him to do. His scope +in this respect was not large. The greatest respectability which +his unassisted efforts could possibly achieve was to dine at a cheap +eating-house, and spend his evenings, at a cigar divan. He belonged to +no club, and his circle of friends, except in the houri and navvy line, +was very limited. Who could expect that a young man from the Internal +Navigation would sit for hours and hours alone in a dull London lodging, +over his book and tea-cup? Who should expect that any young man will do +so? And yet mothers, and aunts, and anxious friends, do expect it--very +much in vain. + +During Alaric's absence at Tavistock, Norman had taken Charley by the +hand and been with him a good deal. He had therefore spent an uncommonly +respectable week, and the Norfolk Street houri would have been _au +desespoir_, but that she had other Charleys to her bow. When he found +himself getting into a first-class carriage at the Waterloo-bridge +station with his two comrades, he began to appreciate the comfort of +decency, and almost wished that he also had been brought up among the +stern morals and hard work of the Weights and Measures. + +Nothing special occurred at Surbiton Cottage. It might have been evident +to a watchful bystander that Alaric was growing in favour with all the +party, excepting Mrs. Woodward, and that, as he did so, Harry was more +and more cherished by her. + +This was specially shown in one little scene. Alaric had brought down +with him to Hampton the documents necessary to enable him to draw out +his report on Mary Jane. Indeed, it was all but necessary that he should +do so, as his coming examination would leave him but little time for +other business during the week. On Saturday night he sat up at his inn +over the papers, and on Sunday morning, when Mrs. Woodward and the girls +came down, ready bonneted, for church, he signified his intention of +remaining at his work. + +'I certainly think he might have gone to church,' said Mrs. Woodward, +when the hall-door closed behind the party, as they started to their +place of worship. + +'Oh! mamma, think how much he has to do,' said Gertrude. + +'Nonsense,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'it's all affectation, and he ought to +go to church. Government clerks are not worked so hard as all that; are +they, Harry?' + +'Alaric is certainly very busy, but I think he should go to church all +the same,' said Harry, who himself never omitted divine worship. + +'But surely this is a work of necessity?' said Linda. + +'Fiddle-de-de,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'I hate affectation, my dear. It's +very grand, I dare say, for a young man's services to be in such request +that he cannot find time to say his prayers. He'll find plenty of time +for gossiping by and by, I don't doubt.' + +Linda could say nothing further, for an unbidden tear moistened her +eyelid as she heard her mother speak so harshly of her lover. Gertrude, +however, took up the cudgels for him, and so did Captain Cuttwater. + +'I think you are a little hard upon him, mamma,' said Gertrude, +'particularly when you know that, as a rule, he always goes to church. I +have heard you say yourself what an excellent churchman he is.' + +'Young men change sometimes,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Upon my word, Bessie, I think you are very uncharitable this fine +Sunday morning,' said the captain. 'I wonder how you'll feel if we have +that chapter about the beam and the mote.' + +Mrs. Woodward did not quite like being scolded by her uncle before her +daughters, but she said nothing further. Katie, however, looked daggers +at the old man from out her big bright eyes. What right had any man, +were he ever so old, ever so much an uncle, to scold her mamma? Katie +was inclined to join her mother and take Harry Norman's side, for it was +Harry Norman who owned the boat. + +They were now at the church door, and they entered without saying +anything further. Let us hope that charity, which surpasseth all other +virtues, guided their prayers while they were there, and filled their +hearts. In the meantime Alaric, unconscious how he had been attacked and +how defended, worked hard at his Tavistock notes. + +Mrs. Woodward was quite right in this, that the Commissioner of the +Mines, though he was unable to find time to go to church, did find time +to saunter about with the girls before dinner. Was it to be expected +that he should not do so? for what other purpose was he there at +Hampton? + +They were all very serious this Sunday afternoon, and Katie could make +nothing of them. She and Charley, indeed, went off by themselves to a +desert island, or a place that would have been a desert island had the +water run round it, and there built stupendous palaces and laid out +glorious gardens. Charley was the most good-natured of men, and could he +have only brought a boat with him, as Harry so often did, he would soon +have been first favourite with Katie. + +'It shan't be at all like Hampton Court,' said Katie, speaking of the +new abode which Charley was to build for her. + +'Not at all,' said Charley. + +'Nor yet Buckingham Palace.' + +'No,' said Charley, 'I think we'll have it Gothic.' + +'Gothic!' said Katie, looking up at him with all her eyes. 'Will Gothic +be most grand? What's Gothic?' + +Charley began to consider. 'Westminster Abbey,' said he at last. + +'Oh--but Charley, I don't want a church. Is the Alhambra Gothic?' + +Charley was not quite sure, but thought it probably was. They decided, +therefore, that the new palace should be built after the model of the +Alhambra. + +The afternoon was but dull and lugubrious to the remainder of the party. +The girls seemed to feel that there was something solemn about the +coming competition between two such dear friends, which prevented and +should prevent them all from being merry. Harry perfectly sympathized in +the feeling; and even Alaric, though depressed himself by no melancholy +forebodings, was at any rate conscious that he should refrain from +any apparent anticipation of a triumph. They all went to church in the +evening; but even this amendment in Alaric's conduct hardly reconciled +him to Mrs. Woodward. + +'I suppose we shall all be very clever before long,' said she, after +tea; 'but really I don't know that we shall be any the better for it. +Now in this office of yours, by the end of next week, there will be +three or four men with broken hearts, and there will be one triumphant +jackanapes, so conceited and proud, that he'll never bring himself to +do another good ordinary day's work as long as he lives. Nothing will +persuade me but that it is not only very bad, but very unjust also.' + +'The jackanapes must learn to put up with ordinary work,' said Alaric, +'or he'll soon find himself reduced to his former insignificance.' + +'And the men with the broken hearts; they, I suppose, must put up with +their wretchedness too,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'and their wives, also, and +children, who have been looking forward for years to this vacancy as the +period of their lives at which they are to begin to be comfortable. I +hate such heartlessness. I hate the very name of Sir Gregory Hardlines.' + +'But, mamma, won't the general effect be to produce a much higher class +of education among the men?' said Gertrude. + +'In the army and navy the best men get on the best,' said Linda. + +'Do they, by jingo!' said Uncle Bat. 'It's very little you know about +the navy, Miss Linda.' + +'Well, then, at any rate they ought,' said Linda. + +'I would have a competitive examination in every service,' said +Gertrude. 'It would make young men ambitious. They would not be so idle +and empty as they now are, if they had to contend in this way for every +step upwards in the world.' + +'The world,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'will soon be like a fishpond, +very full of fish, but with very little food for them. Every one is +scrambling for the others' prey, and they will end at last by eating one +another. If Harry gets this situation, will not that unfortunate Jones, +who for years has been waiting for it, always regard him as a robber?' + +'My maxim is this,' said Uncle Bat; 'if a youngster goes into any +service, say the navy, and does his duty by his country like a man, why, +he shouldn't be passed over. Now look at me; I was on the books of the +_Catamaran_, one of the old seventy-fours, in '96; I did my duty then +and always; was never in the black book or laid up sick; was always +rough and ready for any work that came to hand; and when I went into the +_Mudlark_ as lieutenant in year '9, little Bobby Howard had just joined +the old _Cat._ as a young middy. And where am I now? and where is Bobby +Howard? Why, d----e, I'm on the shelf, craving the ladies' pardon; and +he's a Lord of the Admiralty, if you please, and a Member of Parliament. +Now I say Cuttwater's as good a name as Howard for going to sea with any +day; and if there'd been a competitive examination for Admiralty Lords +five years ago, Bobby Howard would never have been where he is now, and +somebody else who knows more about his profession than all the Howards +put together, might perhaps have been in his place. And so, my lads, +here's to you, and I hope the best man will win.' + +Whether Uncle Bat agreed with his niece or with his grandnieces was not +very apparent from the line of his argument; but they all laughed at his +eagerness, and nothing more was said that evening about the matter. + +Alaric, Harry, and Charley, of course returned to town on the following +day. Breakfast on Monday morning at Surbiton Cottage was an early affair +when the young men were there; so early, that Captain Cuttwater did not +make his appearance. Since his arrival at the cottage, Mrs. Woodward had +found an excuse for a later breakfast in the necessity of taking it with +her uncle; so that the young people were generally left alone. Linda +was the family tea-maker, and was, therefore, earliest down; and Alaric +being the first on this morning to leave the hotel, found her alone in +the dining-room. + +He had never renewed the disclosure of his passion; but Linda had +thought that whenever he shook hands with her since that memorable walk, +she had always felt a more than ordinary pressure. This she had been +careful not to return, but she had not the heart to rebuke it. Now, when +he bade her good morning, he certainly held her hand in his longer +than he need have done. He looked at her too, as though his looks meant +something more than ordinary looking; at least so Linda thought; but +yet he said nothing, and so Linda, slightly trembling, went on with the +adjustment of her tea-tray. + +'It will be all over, Linda, when we meet again,' said Alaric. His mind +she found was intent on his examination, not on his love. But this was +natural, was as it should be. If--and she was certain in her heart that +it would be so--if he should be successful, then he might speak of love +without having to speak in the same breath of poverty as well. 'It will +be all over when we meet again,' he said. + +'I suppose it will,' said Linda. + +'I don't at all like it; it seems so unnatural having to contend against +one's friend. And yet one cannot help it; one cannot allow one's self to +go to the wall.' + +'I'm sure Harry doesn't mind it,' said Linda. + +'I'm sure I do,' said he. 'If I fail I shall be unhappy, and if I +succeed I shall be equally so. I shall set all the world against me. I +know what your mother meant when she talked of a jackanapes yesterday. +If I get the promotion I may wish good-bye to Surbiton Cottage.' + +'Oh, Alaric!' + +'Harry would forgive me; but Harry's friends would never do so.' + +'How can you say so? I am sure mamma has no such feeling, nor yet even +Gertrude; I mean that none of us have.' + +'It is very natural all of you should, for he is your cousin.' + +'You are just the same as our cousin. I am sure we think quite as much +of you as of Harry. Even Gertrude said she hoped that you would get it.' + +'Dear Gertrude!' + +'Because, you know, Harry does not want it so much as you do. I am sure +I wish you success with all my heart. Perhaps it's wicked to wish for +either of you over the other; but you can't both get it at once, you +know.' + +At this moment Katie came in, and soon afterwards Gertrude and the two +other young men, and so nothing further was said on the subject. + +Charley parted with the competitors at the corner of Waterloo Bridge. +He turned into Somerset House, being there regarded on these Monday +mornings as a prodigy of punctuality; and Alaric and Harry walked back +along the Strand, arm-in-arm, toward their own office. + +'Well, lads, I hope you'll both win,' said Charley. 'And whichever wins +most, why of course he'll stand an uncommon good dinner.' + +'Oh! that's of course,' said Alaric. 'We'll have it at the Trafalgar.' + +And so the two walked on together, arm-in-arm, to the Weights and +Measures. + +The ceremony which was now about to take place at the Weights and +Measures was ordained to be the first of those examinations which, +under the auspices of Sir Gregory Hardlines, were destined to revivify, +clarify, and render perfect the Civil Service of the country. It was a +great triumph to Sir Gregory to see the darling object of his heart thus +commencing its existence in the very cradle in which he, as an infant +Hercules, had made his first exertions in the cause. It was to be his +future fortune to superintend these intellectual contests, in a stately +office of his own, duly set apart and appointed for the purpose. But the +throne on which he was to sit had not yet been prepared for him, and he +was at present constrained to content himself with exercising his power, +now here and now there, according as his services might be required, +carrying the appurtenances of his royalty about with him. + +But Sir Gregory was not a solitary monarch. In days long gone by there +were, as we all know, three kings at Cologne, and again three kings +at Brentford. So also were there three kings at the Civil Service +Examination Board. But of these three Sir Gregory was by far the +greatest king. He sat in the middle, had two thousand jewels to his +crown, whereas the others had only twelve hundred each, and his name +ran first in all the royal warrants. Nevertheless, Sir Gregory, could +he have had it so, would, like most other kings, have preferred an +undivided sceptre. + +Of his co-mates on the throne the elder in rank was a west country +baronet, who, not content with fatting beeves and brewing beer like his +sires, aspired to do something for his country. Sir Warwick Westend +was an excellent man, full of the best intentions, and not more than +decently anxious to get the good things of Government into his hand. +He was, perhaps, rather too much inclined to think that he could see +further through a millstone than another, and had a way of looking as +though he were always making the attempt. He was a man born to grace, if +not his country, at any rate his county; and his conduct was uniformly +such as to afford the liveliest satisfaction to his uncles, aunts, and +relations in general. If as a king he had a fault, it was this, that he +allowed that other king, Sir Gregory, to carry him in his pocket. + +But Sir Gregory could not at all get the third king into his pocket. +This gentleman was a worthy clergyman from Cambridge, one Mr. Jobbles by +name. Mr. Jobbles had for many years been examining undergraduates for +little goes and great goes, and had passed his life in putting posing +questions, in detecting ignorance by viva voce scrutiny, and eliciting +learning by printed papers. He, by a stupendous effort of his +mathematical mind, had divided the adult British male world into classes +and sub-classes, and could tell at a moment's notice how long it would +take him to examine them all. His soul panted for the work. Every man +should, he thought, be made to pass through some 'go.' The +greengrocer's boy should not carry out cabbages unless his fitness +for cabbage-carrying had been ascertained, and till it had also been +ascertained that no other boy, ambitious of the preferment, would carry +them better. Difficulty! There was no difficulty. Could not he, Jobbles, +get through 5,000 viva voces in every five hours--that is, with due +assistance? and would not 55,000 printed papers, containing 555,000 +questions, be getting themselves answered at the same time, with more or +less precision? + +So now Mr. Jobbles was about to try his huge plan by a small +commencement. + +On the present occasion the examination was actually to be carried on by +two of the kings in person. Sir Gregory had declared that as so large a +portion of his heart and affections was bound up with the gentlemen of +the Weights and Measures, he could not bring himself actually to ask +questions of them, and then to listen to or read their answers. Should +any of his loved ones make some fatal _faux pas_, his tears, like those +of the recording angel, would blot out the error. His eyes would refuse +to see faults, if there should be faults, in those whom he himself had +nurtured. Therefore, though he came with his colleagues to the Weights +and Measures, he did not himself take part in the examination. + +At eleven o'clock the Board-room was opened, and the candidates walked +in and seated themselves. Fear of Sir Gregory, and other causes, had +thinned the number. Poor Jones, who by right of seniority should have +had the prize, declined to put himself in competition with his juniors, +and in lieu thereof sent up to the Lords of the Treasury an awful +memorial spread over fifteen folio pages--very uselessly. The Lords +of the Treasury referred it to the three kings, whose secretary put a +minute upon it. Sir Gregory signed the minute, and some gentleman at +the Treasury wrote a short letter to Mr. Jones, apprising that unhappy +gentleman that my Lords had taken the matter into their fullest +consideration, and that nothing could be done to help him. Had Jones +been consulted by any other disappointed Civil Service Werter as to the +expediency of complaining to the Treasury Lords, Jones would have told +him exactly what would be the result. The disappointed one, however, +always thinks that all the Treasury Lords will give all their ears to +him, though they are deafer than Icarus to the world beside. + +Robinson stood his ground like a man; but Brown found out, a day or +two before the struggle came, that he could not bring himself to +stand against his friend. Jones, he said, he knew was incompetent, but +Robinson ought to get it; so he, for one, would not stand in Robinson's +way. + +Uppinall was there, as confident as a bantam cock; and so was Alphabet +Precis, who had declared to all his friends that if the pure well of +official English undefiled was to count for anything, he ought to be +pretty safe. But poor Minusex was ill, and sent a certificate. He had +so crammed himself with unknown quantities, that his mind--like a +gourmand's stomach--had broken down under the effort, and he was now +sobbing out algebraic positions under his counterpane. + +Norman and Alaric made up the five who still had health, strength, and +pluck to face the stern justice of the new kings; and they accordingly +took their seats on five chairs, equally distant, placing themselves in +due order of seniority. + +And then, first of all, Sir Gregory made a little speech, standing up at +the head of the Board-room table, with an attendant king on either hand, +and the Secretary, and two Assistant-Secretaries, standing near him. Was +not this a proud moment for Sir Gregory? + +'It had now become his duty,' he said, 'to take his position in that +room, that well-known, well-loved room, under circumstances of which he +had little dreamt when he first entered it with awe-struck steps, in +the days of his early youth. But, nevertheless, even then ambition had +warmed him. That ambition had been to devote every energy of his mind, +every muscle of his body, every hour of his life, to the Civil Service +of his country. It was not much, perhaps, that he had been able to do; +he could not boast of those acute powers of mind, of that gigantic grasp +of intellect, of which they saw in those days so wonderful an example in +a high place.' Sir Gregory here gratefully alluded to that statesman who +had given him his present appointment. 'But still he had devoted all his +mind, such as it was, and every hour of his life, to the service; and +now he had his reward. If he might be allowed to give advice to the +gentlemen before him, gentlemen of whose admirable qualifications for +the Civil Service of the country he himself was so well aware, his +advice should be this--That they should look on none of their energies +as applicable to private purposes, regard none of their hours as their +own. They were devoted in a peculiar way to the Civil Service, and they +should feel that such was their lot in life. They should know that their +intellects were a sacred pledge intrusted to them for the good of that +service, and should use them accordingly. This should be their highest +ambition. And what higher ambition,' asked Sir Gregory, 'could they +have? They all, alas! knew that the service had been disgraced in +other quarters by idleness, incompetency, and, he feared he must +say, dishonesty; till incompetency and dishonesty had become, not the +exception, but the rule. It was too notorious that the Civil Service was +filled by the family fools of the aristocracy and middle classes, and +that any family who had no fool to send, sent in lieu thereof some +invalid past hope. Thus the service had become a hospital for incurables +and idiots. It was,' said Sir Gregory, 'for him and them to cure +all that. He would not,' he said, 'at that moment, say anything with +reference to salaries. It was, as they were all aware, a very difficult +subject, and did not seem to be necessarily connected with the few +remarks which the present opportunity had seemed to him to call for.' +He then told them they were all his beloved children; that they were a +credit to the establishment; that he handed them over without a blush to +his excellent colleagues, Sir Warwick Westend and Mr. Jobbles, and that +he wished in his heart that each of them could be successful. And having +so spoken, Sir Gregory went his way. + +It was beautiful then to see how Mr. Jobbles swam down the long room +and handed out his examination papers to the different candidates as he +passed them. 'Twas a pity there should have been but five; the man did +it so well, so quickly, with such a gusto! He should have been allowed +to try his hand upon five hundred instead of five. His step was so rapid +and his hand and arm moved so dexterously, that no conceivable number +would have been too many for him. But, even with five, he showed at once +that the right man was in the right place. Mr. Jobbles was created for +the conducting of examinations. + +And then the five candidates, who had hitherto been all ears, of a +sudden became all eyes, and devoted themselves in a manner which would +have been delightful to Sir Gregory, to the papers before them. Sir +Warwick, in the meantime, was seated in his chair, hard at work looking +through his millstone. + +It is a dreadful task that of answering examination papers--only to +be exceeded in dreadfulness by the horrors of Mr. Jobbles' viva voce +torments. A man has before him a string of questions, and he looks +painfully down them, from question to question, searching for some +allusion to that special knowledge which he has within him. He too often +finds that no such allusion is made. It appears that the Jobbles of the +occasion has exactly known the blank spots of his mind and fitted them +all. He has perhaps crammed himself with the winds and tides, and there +is no more reference to those stormy subjects than if Luna were extinct; +but he has, unfortunately, been loose about his botany, and question +after question would appear to him to have been dictated by Sir Joseph +Paxton or the head-gardener at Kew. And then to his own blank face and +puzzled look is opposed the fast scribbling of some botanic candidate, +fast as though reams of folio could hardly contain all the knowledge +which he is able to pour forth. + +And so, with a mixture of fast-scribbling pens and blank faces, our five +friends went to work. The examination lasted for four days, and it +was arranged that on each of the four days each of the five candidates +should be called up to undergo a certain quantum of Mr. Jobbles' viva +voce. This part of his duty Mr. Jobbles performed with a mildness of +manner that was beyond all praise. A mother training her first-born to +say 'papa,' could not do so with a softer voice, or more affectionate +demeanour. + +'The planet Jupiter,' said he to Mr. Precis; 'I have no doubt you know +accurately the computed distance of that planet from the sun, and also +that of our own planet. Could you tell me now, how would you calculate +the distance in inches, say from London Bridge to the nearest portion of +Jupiter's disc, at twelve o'clock on the first of April?' Mr. Jobbles, +as he put his little question, smiled the sweetest of smiles, and spoke +in a tone conciliating and gentle, as though he were asking Mr. Precis +to dine with him and take part of a bottle of claret at half-past six. + +But, nevertheless, Mr. Precis looked very blank. + +'I am not asking the distance, you know,' said Mr. Jobbles, smiling +sweeter than ever; 'I am only asking how you would compute it.' + +But still Mr. Precis looked exceedingly blank. + +'Never mind,' said Mr. Jobbles, with all the encouragement which his +voice could give, 'never mind. Now, suppose that _a_ be a milestone; _b_ +a turnpike-gate--,' and so on. + +But Mr. Jobbles, in spite of his smiles, so awed the hearts of some of +his candidates, that two of them retired at the end of the second day. +Poor Robinson, thinking, and not without sufficient ground, that he +had not a ghost of a chance, determined to save himself from further +annoyance; and then Norman, put utterly out of conceit with himself by +what he deemed the insufficiency of his answers, did the same. He had +become low in spirits, unhappy in temperament, and self-diffident to a +painful degree. Alaric, to give him his due, did everything in his power +to persuade him to see the task out to the last. But the assurance and +composure of Alaric's manner did more than anything else to provoke and +increase Norman's discomfiture. He had been schooling himself to bear a +beating with a good grace, and he began to find that he could only bear +it as a disgrace. On the morning of the third day, instead of taking +his place in the Board-room, he sent in a note to Mr. Jobbles, declaring +that he withdrew from the trial. Mr. Jobbles read the note, and +smiled with satisfaction as he put it into his pocket. It was an +acknowledgement of his own unrivalled powers as an Examiner. + +Mr. Precis, still trusting to his pure well, went on to the end, and at +the end declared that so ignorant was Mr. Jobbles of his duty that he +had given them no opportunity of showing what they could do in English +composition. Why had he not put before them the papers in some memorable +official case, and desired them to make an abstract; those, for +instance, on the much-vexed question of penny versus pound, as touching +the new standard for the decimal coinage? Mr. Jobbles an Examiner +indeed! And so Mr. Precis bethought himself that he also, if +unsuccessful, would go to the Lords of the Treasury. + +And Mr. Uppinall and Alaric Tudor also went on. Those who knew anything +of the matter, when they saw how the running horses were reduced in +number, and what horses were left on the course--when they observed also +how each steed came to the post on each succeeding morning, had no doubt +whatever of the result. So that when Alaric was declared on the Saturday +morning to have gained the prize, there was very little astonishment +either felt or expressed at the Weights and Measures. + +Alaric's juniors wished him joy with some show of reality in their +manner; but the congratulations of his seniors, including the Secretary +and Assistant-Secretaries, the new Chief Clerk and the men in the class +to which he was now promoted, were very cold indeed. But to this he was +indifferent. It was the nature of Tudor's disposition, that he never for +a moment rested satisfied with the round of the ladder on which he +had contrived to place himself. He had no sooner gained a step than he +looked upwards to see how the next step was to be achieved. His motto +might well have been 'Excelsior!' if only he could have taught himself +to look to heights that were really high. When he found that the august +Secretary received him on his promotion without much _empressement_, he +comforted himself by calculating how long it would be before he should +fill that Secretary's chair--if indeed it should ever be worth his while +to fill it. + +The Secretary at the Weights and Measures had, after all, but a +dull time of it, and was precluded by the routine of his office from +parliamentary ambition and the joys of government. Alaric was already +beginning to think that this Weights and Measures should only be a +stepping-stone to him; and that when Sir Gregory, with his stern dogma +of devotion to the service, had been of sufficient use to him, he also +might with advantage be thrown over. In the meantime an income of L600 +a year brought with it to the young bachelor some very comfortable +influence. But the warmest and the pleasantest of all the +congratulations which he received was from his dear friend Undy Scott. + +'Ah, my boy,' said Undy, pressing his hand, 'you'll soon be one of us. +By the by, I want to put you up for the Downing; you should leave that +Pythagorean: there's nothing to be got by it.' + +Now, the Downing was a political club, in which, however, politics +had latterly become a good deal mixed. But the Government of the day +generally found there a liberal support, and recognized and acknowledged +its claim to consideration. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONSOLATION + + +On the following Sunday neither Tudor nor Norman was at Hampton. They +had both felt that they could not comfortably meet each other there, and +each had declined to go. They had promised to write; and now that the +matter was decided, how were they or either of them to keep the promise? + +It may be thought that the bitterness of the moment was over with Norman +as soon as he gave up; but such was not the case. Let him struggle as he +would with himself he could not rally, nor bring himself to feel happy +on what had occurred. He would have been better satisfied if Alaric +would have triumphed; but Alaric seemed to take it all as a matter of +course, and never spoke of his own promotion unless he did so in answer +to some remark of his companion; then he could speak easily enough; +otherwise he was willing to let the matter go by as one settled and +at rest. He had consulted Norman about the purchase of a horse, but he +hitherto had shown no other sign that he was a richer man than formerly. + +It was a very bitter time for Norman. He could not divest his mind of +the subject. What was he to do? Where was he to go? How was he to get +away, even for a time, from Alaric Tudor? And then, was he right in +wishing to get away from him? Had he not told himself, over and over +again, that it behoved him as a man and a friend and a Christian to +conquer the bitter feeling of envy which preyed on his spirits? Had he +not himself counselled Alaric to stand this examination? and had he +not promised that his doing so should make no difference in their +friendship? Had he not pledged himself to rejoice in the success of +his friend? and now was he to break his word both to that friend and to +himself? + +Schooling himself, or trying to school himself in this way, he made no +attempt at escaping from his unhappiness. They passed the Wednesday, +Thursday, and Friday evenings together. It was now nearly the end of +September, and London was empty; that is, empty as regards those friends +and acquaintances with whom Norman might have found some resource. On +the Saturday they left their office early; for all office routine had, +during this week, been broken through by the immense importance of the +ceremony which was going on; and then it became necessary to write to +Mrs. Woodward. + +'Will you write to Hampton or shall I?' said Alaric, as they walked +arm-in-arm under the windows of Whitehall. + +'Oh! you, of course,' said Norman; 'you have much to tell them; I have +nothing.' + +'Just as you please,' said the other. 'That is, of course, I will if you +like it. But I think it would come better from you. You are nearer to +them than I am; and it will have less a look of triumph on my part, and +less also of disappointment on yours, if you write. If you tell them +that you literally threw away your chance, you will only tell them the +truth.' + +Norman assented, but he said nothing further. What business had Alaric +to utter such words as triumph and disappointment? He could not keep his +arm, on which Alaric was leaning, from spasmodically shrinking from the +touch. He had been beaten by a man, nay worse, had yielded to a man, who +had not the common honesty to refuse a bribe; and yet he was bound to +love this man. He could not help asking himself the question which he +would do. Would he love him or hate him? + +But while he was so questioning himself, he got home, and had to +sit down and write his letter--this he did at once, but not without +difficulty. It ran as follows:-- + +'My dear Mrs. Woodward,-- + +'I write a line to tell you of my discomfiture and Alaric's success. +I gave up at the end of the second day. Of course I will tell you all +about it when we meet. No one seemed to doubt that Alaric would get it, +as a matter of course. I shall be with you on next Saturday. Alaric +says he will not go down till the Saturday after, when I shall be at +Normansgrove. My best love to the girls. Tell Katie I shan't drown +either myself or the boat. + +'Yours ever affectionately, + +'H. N. + +'Saturday, September, 185-. + +'Pray write me a kind letter to comfort me.' + +Mrs. Woodward did write him a very kind letter, and it did comfort him. +And she wrote also, as she was bound to do, a letter of congratulation +to Alaric. This letter, though it expressed in the usual terms the +satisfaction which one friend has in another's welfare, was not written +in the same warm affectionate tone as that to Norman. Alaric perceived +instantly that it was not cordial. He loved Mrs. Woodward dearly, and +greatly desired her love and sympathy. But what then? He could not have +everything. He determined, therefore, not to trouble his mind. If Mrs. +Woodward did not sympathize with him, others of the family would do +so; and success would ultimately bring her round. What woman ever yet +refused to sympathize with successful ambition? + +Alaric also received a letter from Captain Cuttwater, in which +that gallant veteran expressed his great joy at the result of the +examination--'Let the best man win all the world over,' said he, +'whatever his name is. And they'll have to make the same rule at the +Admiralty too. The days of the Howards are gone by; that is, unless they +can prove themselves able seamen, which very few of them ever did yet. +Let the best man win; that's what I say; and let every man get his fair +share of promotion.' Alaric did not despise the sympathy of Captain +Cuttwater. It might turn out that even Captain Cuttwater could be made +of use. + +Mrs. Woodward's letter to Harry was full of the tenderest affection. +It was a flattering, soothing, loving letter, such as no man ever could +have written. It was like oil poured into his wounds, and made him feel +that the world was not all harsh to him. He had determined not to go to +Hampton that Saturday; but Mrs. Woodward's letter almost made him rush +there at once that he might throw himself into her arms--into her arms, +and at her daughter's feet. The time had now come to him when he wanted +to be comforted by the knowledge that his love was returned. He resolved +that during his next visit he would formally propose to Gertrude. + +The determination to do this, and a strong hope that he might do it +successfully, kept him up during the interval. On the following week +he was to go to his father's place to shoot, having obtained leave of +absence for a month; and he felt that he could still enjoy himself if +he could take with him the conviction that all was right at Surbiton +Cottage. Mrs. Woodward, in her letter, though she had spoken much of +the girls, had said nothing special about Gertrude. Nevertheless, Norman +gathered from it that she intended that he should go thither to look for +comfort, and that he would find there the comfort that he required. + +And Mrs. Woodward had intended that such should be the effect of her +letter. It was at present the dearest wish of her heart to see Norman +and Gertrude married. That Norman had often declared his love to her +eldest daughter she knew very well, and she knew also that Gertrude +had never rejected him. Having perfect confidence in her child, she had +purposely abstained from saying anything that could bias her opinion. +She had determined to leave the matter in the hands of the young people +themselves, judging that it might be best arranged as a true love-match +between them, without interference from her; she had therefore said +nothing to Gertrude on the subject. + +Mrs. Woodward, however, discovered that she was in error, when it +was too late for her to retrieve her mistake; and, indeed, had she +discovered it before that letter was written, what could she have done? +She could not have forbidden Harry to come to her house--she could not +have warned him not to throw himself at her daughter's feet. The cup was +prepared for his lips, and it was necessary that he should drink of it. +There was nothing for which she could blame him; nothing for which she +could blame herself; nothing for which she did blame her daughter. It +was sorrowful, pitiful, to be lamented, wept for, aye, and groaned for; +many inward groans it cost her; but it was at any rate well that she +could attribute her sorrow to the spite of circumstances rather than to +the ill-conduct of those she loved. + +Nor would it have been fair to blame Gertrude in the matter. While she +was yet a child, this friend of her mother's had been thrown with her, +and when she was little more than a child, she found that this friend +had become a lover. She liked him, in one sense loved him, and was +accustomed to regard him as one whom it would be almost wrong in her not +to like and love. What wonder then that when he first spoke to her warm +words of adoration, she had not been able at once to know her own heart, +and tell him that his hopes would be in vain? + +She perceived by instinct, rather than by spoken words, that her mother +was favourable to this young lover, that if she accepted him she would +please her mother, that the course of true love might in their case run +smooth. What wonder then that she should have hesitated before she found +it necessary to say that she could not, would not, be Harry Norman's +wife? + +On the Saturday morning, the morning of that night which was, as he +hoped, to see him go to bed a happy lover, so happy in his love as to be +able to forget his other sorrows, she was sitting alone with her mother. +It was natural that their conversation should turn to Alaric and Harry. +Alaric, with his happy prospects, was soon dismissed; but Mrs. Woodward +continued to sing the praises of him who, had she been potent with the +magi of the Civil Service, would now be the lion of the Weights and +Measures. + +'I must say I think it was weak of him to retire,' said Gertrude. +'Alaric says in his letter to Uncle Bat, that had he persevered he would +in all probability have been successful.' + +'I should rather say that it was generous,' said her mother. + +'Well, I don't know, mamma; that of course depends on his motives; +but wouldn't generosity of that sort between two young men in such a +position be absurd?' + +'You mean that such regard for his friend would be Quixotic.' + +'Yes, mamma.' + +'Perhaps it would. All true generosity, all noble feeling, is now called +Quixotic. But surely, Gertrude, you and I should not quarrel with Harry +on that account.' + +'I think he got frightened, mamma, and had not nerve to go through with +it.' + +Mrs. Woodward looked vexed; but she made no immediate reply, and for +some time the mother and daughter went on working without further +conversation. At last Gertrude said:-- + +'I think every man is bound to do the best he can for himself--that is, +honestly; there is something spoony in one man allowing another to get +before him, as long as he can manage to be first himself.' + +Mrs. Woodward did not like the tone in which her daughter spoke. She +felt that it boded ill for Harry's welfare; and she tried, but tried in +vain, to elicit from her daughter the expression of a kinder feeling. + +'Well, my dear, I must say I think you are hard on him. But, probably, +just at present you have the spirit of contradiction in you. If I were +to begin to abuse him, perhaps I should get you to praise him.' + +'Oh, mamma, I did not abuse him.' + +'Something like it, my dear, when you said he was spoony.' + +'Oh, mamma, I would not abuse him for worlds--I know how good he is, +I know how you love him, but, but---' and Gertrude, though very little +given to sobbing moods, burst into tears. + +'Come here, Gertrude; come here, my child,' said Mrs. Woodward, now +moved more for her daughter than for her favourite; 'what is it? what +makes you cry? I did not really mean that you abused poor Harry.' + +Gertrude got up from her chair, knelt at her mother's feet, and hid her +face in her mother's lap. 'Oh, mamma,' she said, with a half-smothered +voice, 'I know what you mean; I know what you wish; but--but--but, oh, +mamma, you must not--must not, must not think of it any more.' + +'Then may God help him!' said Mrs. Woodward, gently caressing her +daughter, who was still sobbing with her face buried in her mother's +lap. 'May God Almighty lighten the blow to him! But oh, Gertrude, I had +hoped, I had so hoped----' + +'Oh, mamma, don't, pray don't,' and Gertrude sobbed as though she were +going into hysterics. + +'No, my child, I will not say another word. Dear as he is to me, you are +and must be ten times dearer. There, Gertrude, it is over now; over at +least between us. We know each other's hearts now. It is my fault that +we did not do so sooner.' They did understand each other at last, and +the mother made no further attempt to engage her daughter's love for the +man she would have chosen as her daughter's husband. + +But still the worst was to come, as Mrs. Woodward well knew--and as +Gertrude knew also; to come, too, on this very day. Mrs. Woodward, with +a woman's keen perception, felt assured that Harry Norman, when he +found himself at the Cottage, freed from the presence of the successful +candidate, surrounded by the affectionate faces of all her circle, would +melt at once and look to his love for consolation. She understood the +feelings of his heart as well as though she had read them in a book; and +yet she could do nothing to save him from his fresh sorrows. The cup +was prepared for him, and it was necessary that he should drink it. +She could not tell him, could not tell even him, that her daughter had +rejected him, when as yet he had made no offer. + +And so Harry Norman hurried down to his fate. When he reached the +Cottage, Mrs. Woodward and Linda and Katie were in the drawing-room. + +'Harry, my dear Harry,' said Mrs. Woodward, rushing to him, throwing +her arms round him, and kissing him; 'we know it all, we understand it +all--my fine, dear, good Harry.' + +Harry was melted in a moment, and in the softness of his mood kissed +Katie too, and Linda also. Katie he had often kissed, but never Linda, +cousins though they were. Linda merely laughed, but Norman blushed; for +he remembered that had it so chanced that Gertrude had been there, he +would not have dared to kiss her. + +'Oh, Harry,' said Katie, 'we are so sorry--that is, not sorry about +Alaric, but sorry about you. Why were there not two prizes?' + +'It's all right as it is, Katie,' said he; 'we need none of us be sorry +at all. Alaric is a clever fellow; everybody gave him credit for it +before, and now he has proved that everybody is right.' + +'He is older than you, you know, and therefore he ought to be cleverer,' +said Katie, trying to make things pleasant. + +And then they went out into the garden. But where was Gertrude all this +time? She had been in the drawing-room a moment before his arrival. They +walked out into the lawn, but nothing was said about her absence. Norman +could not bring himself to ask for her, and Mrs. Woodward could not +trust herself to talk of her. + +'Where is the captain?' said Harry. + +'He's at Hampton Court,' said Linda; 'he has found another navy captain +there, and he goes over every day to play backgammon.' As they were +speaking, however, the captain walked through the house on to the lawn. + +'Well, Norman, how are you, how are you? sorry you couldn't all win. But +you're a man of fortune, you know, so it doesn't signify.' + +'Not a great deal of fortune,' said Harry, looking sheepish. + +'Well, I only hope the best man got it. Now, at the Admiralty the worst +man gets it always.' + +'The worst man didn't get it here,' said Harry. + +'No, no,' said Uncle Bat, 'I'm sure he did not; nor he won't long at the +Admiralty either, I can tell them that. But where's Gertrude?' + +'She's in her bedroom, dressing for dinner,' said Katie. + +'Hoity toity,' said Uncle Bat, 'she's going to make herself very grand +to-day. That's all for you, Master Norman. Well, I suppose we may all +go in and get ready; but mind, I have got no sweetheart, and so I shan't +make myself grand at all;' and so they all went in to dress for dinner. + +When Norman came down, Gertrude was in the drawing-room alone. But he +knew that they would be alone but for a minute, and that a minute would +not serve for his purpose. She said one soft gentle word of condolence +to him, some little sentence that she had been studying to pronounce. +All her study was thrown away; for Norman, in his confusion, did not +understand a word that she spoke. Her tone, however, was kind and +affectionate; and she shook hands with him apparently with cordiality. +He, however, ventured no kiss with her. He did not even press her hand, +when for a moment he held it within his own. + +Dinner was soon over, and the autumn evening still admitted of their +going out. Norman was not sorry to urge the fact that the ladies had +done so, as an excuse to Captain Cuttwater for not sitting with him +over his wine. He heard their voices in the garden, and went out to +join them, prepared to ascertain his fate if fortune would give him an +opportunity of doing so. He found the party to consist of Mrs. Woodward, +Linda, and Katie; Gertrude was not there. + +'I think the evenings get warmer as the winter gets nearer,' said Harry. + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'but they are so dangerous. The night comes +on all at once, and then the air is so damp and cold.' + +And so they went on talking about the weather. + +'Your boat is up in London, I know, Harry,' said Katie, with a voice of +reproach, but at the same time with a look of entreaty. + +'Yes, it's at Searle's,' said Norman. + +'But the punt is here,' said Katie. + +'Not this evening, Katie,' said he. + +'Katie, how can you be such a tease?' said Mrs. Woodward; 'you'll make +Harry hate the island, and you too. I wonder you can be so selfish.' + +Poor Katie's eyes became suffused with tears. + +'My dear Katie, it's very bad of me, isn't it?' said Norman, 'and the +fine weather so nearly over too; I ought to take you, oughtn't I? come, +we will go.' + +'No, we won't,' said Katie, taking his big hand in both her little +ones, 'indeed we won't. It was very wrong of me to bother you; and you +with--with--with so much to think of. Dear Harry, I don't want to go at +all, indeed I don't,' and she turned away from the little path which led +to the place where the punt was moored. + +They sauntered on for a while together, and then Norman left them. +He said nothing, but merely stole away from the lawn towards the +drawing-room window. Mrs. Woodward well knew with what object he went, +and would have spared him from his immediate sorrow by following him; +but she judged that it would be better both for him and for her daughter +that he should learn the truth. + +He went in through the open drawing-room window, and found Gertrude +alone. She was on the sofa with a book in her hand; and had he been able +to watch her closely he would have seen that the book trembled as he +entered the room. But he was unable to watch anything closely. His own +heart beat so fast, his own confusion was so great, that he could hardly +see the girl whom he now hoped to gain as his wife. Had Alaric been +coming to his wooing, he would have had every faculty at his call. But +then Alaric could not have loved as Norman loved. + +And so we will leave them. In about half an hour, when the short +twilight was becoming dusk, Mrs. Woodward returned, and found Norman +standing alone on the hearthrug before the fireplace. Gertrude was away, +and he was leaning against the mantelpiece, with his hands behind +his back, staring at vacancy; but oh! with such an aspect of dull, +speechless agony in his face. + +Mrs. Woodward looked up at him, and would have burst into tears, had +she not remembered that they would not be long alone; she therefore +restrained herself, but gave one involuntary sigh; and then, taking off +her bonnet, placed herself where she might sit without staring at him in +his sorrow. + +Katie came in next. 'Oh! Harry, it's so lucky we didn't start in the +punt,' said she, 'for it's going to pour, and we never should have been +back from the island in that slow thing.' + +Norman looked at her and tried to smile, but the attempt was a ghastly +failure. Katie, gazing up into his face, saw that he was unhappy, and +slunk away, without further speech, to her distant chair. There, from +time to time, she would look up at him, and her little heart melted with +ruth to see the depth of his misery. 'Why, oh why,' thought she, 'should +that greedy Alaric have taken away the only prize?' + +And then Linda came running in with her bonnet ribbons all moist with +the big raindrops. 'You are a nice squire of dames,' said she, 'to leave +us all out to get wet through by ourselves;' and then she also, looking +up, saw that jesting was at present ill-timed, and so sat herself down +quietly at the tea-table. + +But Norman never moved. He saw them come in one after another. He saw +the pity expressed in Mrs. Woodward's face; he heard the light-hearted +voices of the two girls, and observed how, when they saw him, their +light-heartedness was abashed; but still he neither spoke nor moved. He +had been stricken with a fearful stroke, and for a while was powerless. + +Captain Cuttwater, having shaken off his dining-room nap, came for his +tea; and then, at last, Gertrude also, descending from her own chamber, +glided quietly into the room. When she did so, Norman, with a struggle, +roused himself, and took a chair next to Mrs. Woodward, and opposite to +her eldest daughter. + +Who could describe the intense discomfiture of that tea-party, or paint +in fitting colours the different misery of each one there assembled? +Even Captain Cuttwater at once knew that something was wrong, and +munched his bread-and-butter and drank his tea in silence. Linda +surmised what had taken place; though she was surprised, she was left +without any doubt. Poor Katie was still in the dark, but she also knew +that there was cause for sorrow, and crept more and more into her little +self. Mrs. Woodward sat with averted face, and ever and anon she put +her handkerchief to her eyes. Gertrude was very pale, and all but +motionless, but she had schooled herself, and managed to drink her tea +with more apparent indifference than any of the others. Norman sat as +he had before been standing, with that dreadful look of agony upon his +brow. + +Immediately after tea Mrs. Woodward got up and went to her +dressing-room. Her dressing-room, though perhaps not improperly so +called, was not an exclusive closet devoted to combs, petticoats, and +soap and water. It was a comfortable snug room, nicely furnished, with +sofa and easy chairs, and often open to others besides her handmaidens. +Thither she betook herself, that she might weep unseen; but in about +twenty minutes her tears were disturbed by a gentle knock at the door. + +Very soon after she went, Gertrude also left the room, and then Katie +crept off. + +'I have got a headache to-night,' said Norman, after the remaining three +had sat silent for a minute or two; 'I think I'll go across and go to +bed.' + +'A headache!' said Linda. 'Oh, I am so sorry that you have got to go to +that horrid inn.' + +'Oh! I shall do very well there,' said Norman, trying to smile. + +'Will you have my room?' said the captain good-naturedly; 'any sofa does +for me.' + +Norman assured them as well as he could that his present headache was of +such a nature that a bed at the inn would be the best thing for him; and +then, shaking hands with them, he moved to the door. + +'Stop a moment, Harry,' said Linda, 'and let me tell mamma. She'll give +you something for your head.' He made a sign to her, however, to let him +pass, and then, creeping gently upstairs, he knocked at Mrs. Woodward's +door. + +'Come in,' said Mrs. Woodward, and Harry Norman, with all his sorrows +still written on his face, stood before her. + +'Oh! Harry,' said she, 'come in; I am so glad that you have come to +me. Oh! Harry, dear Harry, what shall I say to comfort you? What can I +say--what can I do?' + +Norman, forgetting his manhood, burst into tears, and throwing himself +on a sofa, buried his face on the arm and sobbed like a young girl. But +the tears of a man bring with them no comfort as do those of the softer +sex. He was a strong tall man, and it was dreadful to see him thus +convulsed. + +Mrs. Woodward stood by him, and put her hand caressingly on his +shoulder. She saw he had striven to speak, and had found himself unable +to do so. 'I know how it is,' said she, 'you need not tell me; I know +it all. Would that she could have seen you with my eyes; would that she +could have judged you with my mind!' + +'Oh, Mrs. Woodward!' + +'To me, Harry, you should have been the dearest, the most welcome son. +But you are so still. No son could be dearer. Oh, that she could have +seen you as I see you!' + +'There is no hope,' said he. He did not put it as a question; but Mrs. +Woodward saw that it was intended that she should take it as such if she +pleased. What could she say to him? She knew that there was no hope. +Had it been Linda, Linda might have been moulded to her will. But with +Gertrude there could now be no hope. What could she say? She knelt down +and kissed his brow, and mingled her tears with his. + +'Oh, Harry--oh, Harry! my dearest, dearest son!' + +'Oh, Mrs. Woodward, I have loved her so truly.' + +What could Mrs. Woodward do but cry also? what but that, and throw such +blame as she could upon her own shoulders? She was bound to defend her +daughter. + +'It has been my fault, Harry,' she said; 'it is I whom you must blame, +not poor Gertrude.' + +'I blame no one,' said he. + +'I know you do not; but it is I whom you should blame. I should have +learnt how her heart stood, and have prevented this--but I thought, I +thought it would have been otherwise.' + +Norman looked up at her, and took her hand, and pressed it. 'I will go +now,' he said, 'and don't expect me here to-morrow. I could not come in. +Say that I thought it best to go to town because I am unwell. Good-bye, +Mrs. Woodward; pray write to me. I can't come to the Cottage now for a +while, but pray write to me: do not you forget me, Mrs. Woodward.' + +Mrs. Woodward fell upon his breast and wept, and bade God bless him, and +called him her son and her dearest friend, and sobbed till her heart was +nigh to break. 'What,' she thought, 'what could her daughter wish for, +when she repulsed from her feet such a suitor as Harry Norman?' + +He then went quietly down the stairs, quietly out of the house, and +having packed up his bag at the inn, started off through the pouring +rain, and walked away through the dark stormy night, through the dirt +and mud and wet, to his London lodgings; nor was he again seen at +Surbiton Cottage for some months after this adventure. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A COMMUNICATION OF IMPORTANCE + + +Norman's dark wet walk did him physically no harm, and morally some +good. He started on it in that frame of mind which induces a man to +look with indifference on all coming evils under the impression that the +evils already come are too heavy to admit of any increase. But by the +time that he was thoroughly wet through, well splashed with mud, and +considerably fatigued by his first five or six miles' walk, he began +to reflect that life was not over with him, and that he must think of +future things as well as those that were past. + +He got home about two o'clock, and having knocked up his landlady, Mrs. +Richards, betook himself to bed. Alaric had been in his room for the +last two hours, but of Charley and his latch-key Mrs. Richards knew +nothing. She stated her belief, however, that two a.m. seldom saw that +erratic gentleman in his bed. + +On the following morning, Alaric, when he got his hot water, heard +that Norman returned during the night from Hampton, and he immediately +guessed what had brought him back. He knew that nothing short of some +great trouble would have induced Harry to leave the Cottage so abruptly, +and that that trouble must have been of such a nature as to make his +remaining with the Woodwards an aggravation of it. No such trouble could +have come on him but the one. + +As Charley seldom made his appearance at the breakfast table on Sunday +mornings, Alaric foresaw that he must undergo a _tete-a-tete_ which +would not be agreeable to himself, and which must be much more +disagreeable to his companion; but for this there was no help. Harry +had, however, prepared himself for what he had to go through, and +immediately that the two were alone, he told his tale in a very few +words. + +'Alaric,' said he, 'I proposed to Gertrude last night, and she refused +me.' + +Alaric Tudor was deeply grieved for his friend. There was something in +the rejected suitor's countenance--something in the tone of voice, which +would have touched any heart softer than stone; and Alaric's heart had +not as yet been so hardened by the world as to render him callous to the +sight of such grief as this. + +'Take my word for it, Harry, she'll think better of it in a month or +two,' he said. + +'Never--never; I am sure of it. Not only from her own manner, but from +her mother's,' said Harry. And yet, during half his walk home, he had +been trying to console himself with the reflection that most young +ladies reject their husbands once or twice before they accept them. + +There is no offering a man comfort in such a sorrow as this; unless, +indeed, he be one to whom the worship of Bacchus may be made a fitting +substitute for that of the Paphian goddess. + +There is a sort of disgrace often felt, if never acknowledged, which +attaches itself to a man for having put himself into Norman's present +position, and this generally prevents him from confessing his defeat in +such matters. The misfortune in question is one which doubtless occurs +not unfrequently to mankind; but as mankind generally bear their special +disappointments in silence, and as the vanity of women is generally +exceeded by their good-nature, the secret, we believe, in most cases +remains a secret. + + Shall I, wasting in despair, + Die because a woman's fair? + If she be not fair for me, + What care I how fair she be? + +This was the upshot of the consideration which Withers, the poet, gave +to the matter, and Withers was doubtless right. 'Tis thus that rejected +lovers should think, thus that they should demean themselves; but they +seldom come to this philosophy till a few days have passed by, and +talking of their grievance does not assist them in doing so. + +When, therefore, Harry had declared what had happened to him, and had +declared also that he had no further hope, he did not at first find +himself much the better for what he had confessed. He was lackadaisical +and piteous, and Alaric, though he had endeavoured to be friendly, soon +found that he had no power of imparting any comfort. Early in the +day they parted, and did not see each other again till the following +morning. + +'I was going down to Normansgrove on Thursday,' said Harry. + +'Yes, I know,' said Alaric. + +'I think I shall ask leave to go to-day. It can't make much difference, +and the sooner I get away the better.' + +And so it was settled. Norman left town the same afternoon, and Alaric, +with his blushing honours thick upon him, was left alone. + +London was now very empty, and he was constrained to enjoy his glory +very much by himself. He had never associated much with the Minusexes +and Uppinalls, nor yet with the Joneses and Robinsons of his own +office, and it could not be expected that there should be any specially +confidential intercourse between them just at the present moment. Undy +was of course out of town with the rest of the fashionable world, and +Alaric, during the next week, was left very much on his own hands. + +'And so,' said he to himself, as he walked solitary along the lone paths +of Rotten Row, and across the huge desert to the Marble Arch, 'and so +poor Harry's hopes have been all in vain; he has lost his promotion, +and now he has lost his bride--poor Harry!'--and then it occurred to him +that as he had acquired the promotion it might be his destiny to win +the bride also. He had never told himself that he loved Gertrude; he had +looked on her as Norman's own, and he, at any rate, was not the man to +sigh in despair after anything that was out of his reach. But now, +now that Harry's chance was over, and that no bond of friendship could +interfere with such a passion, why should he not tell himself that he +loved Gertrude? 'If, as Harry had himself said, there was no longer any +hope for him, why,' said Alaric to himself, 'why should not I try my +chance?' Of Linda, of 'dear, dearest Linda,' at this moment he thought +very little, or, perhaps, not at all. Of what Mrs. Woodward might say, +of that he did think a good deal. + +The week was melancholy and dull, and it passed very slowly at Hampton. +On the Sunday morning it became known to them all that Norman was +gone, but the subject, by tacit consent, was allowed to pass all but +unnoticed. Even Katie, even Uncle Bat, were aware that something had +occurred which ought to prevent them from inquiring too particularly why +Harry had started back to town in so sudden a manner; and so they said +nothing. To Linda, Gertrude had told what had happened; and Linda, +as she heard it, asked herself whether she was prepared to be equally +obdurate with her lover. He had now the means of supporting a wife, and +why should she be obdurate? + +Nothing was said on the subject between Gertrude and her mother. What +more could Mrs. Woodward say? It would have been totally opposed to the +whole principle of her life to endeavour, by any means, to persuade +her daughter to the match, or to have used her maternal influence +in Norman's favour. And she was well aware that it would have been +impossible to do so successfully. Gertrude was not a girl to be talked +into a marriage by any parent, and certainly not by such a parent as her +mother. There was, therefore, nothing further to be said about it. + +On Saturday Alaric went down, but his arrival hardly made things more +pleasant. Mrs. Woodward could not bring herself to be cordial with him, +and the girls were restrained by a certain feeling that it would not be +right to show too much outward joy at Alaric's success. Linda said one +little word of affectionate encouragement, but it produced no apparent +return from Alaric. His immediate object was to recover Mrs. Woodward's +good graces; and he thought before he went that he had reason to hope +that he might do so. + +Of all the household, Captain Cuttwater was the most emphatic in his +congratulations. 'He had no doubt,' he said, 'that the best man had won. +He had always hoped that the best man might win. He had not had the same +luck when he was young, but he was very glad to see such an excellent +rule brought into the service. It would soon work great changes, he was +quite sure, at the Board of Admiralty.' + +On the Sunday afternoon Captain Cuttwater asked him into his own +bedroom, and told him with a solemn, serious manner that he had a +communication of importance to make to him. Alaric followed the captain +into the well-known room in which Norman used to sleep, wondering what +could be the nature of Uncle Bat's important communication. It might, +probably, be some tidings of Sir Jib Boom. + +'Mr. Alaric,' said the old man, as soon as they were both seated on +opposite sides of a little Pembroke table that stood in the middle of +the room, 'I was heartily glad to hear of your success at the Weights +and Measures; not that I ever doubted it if they made a fair sailing +match of it.' + +'I am sure I am much obliged to you, Captain Cuttwater.' + +'That is as may be, by and by. But the fact is, I have taken a fancy to +you. I like fellows that know how to push themselves.' + +Alaric had nothing for it but to repeat again that he felt himself +grateful for Captain Cuttwater's good opinion. + +'Not that I have anything to say against Mr. Norman--a very nice young +man, indeed, he is, very nice, though perhaps not quite so cheerful in +his manners as he might be.' + +Alaric began to take his friend's part, and declared what a very worthy +fellow Harry was. + +'I am sure of it--I am sure of it,' said Uncle Bat; 'but everybody can't +be A1; and a man can't make everybody his heir.' + +Alaric pricked up his ears. So after all Captain Cuttwater was right +in calling his communication important. But what business had Captain +Cuttwater to talk of making new heirs?--had he not declared that the +Woodwards were his heirs? + +'I have got a little money, Mr. Alaric,' he went on saying in a low +modest tone, very different from that he ordinarily used; 'I have got a +little money--not much--and it will of course go to my niece here.' + +'Of course,' said Alaric. + +'That is to say--it will go to her children, which is all the same +thing.' + +'Quite the same thing,' said Alaric. + +'But my idea is this: if a man has saved a few pounds himself, I think +he has a right to give it to those he loves best. Now I have no children +of my own.' + +Alaric declared himself aware of the fact. + +'And I suppose I shan't have any now.' + +'Not if you don't marry,' said Alaric, who felt rather at a loss for a +proper answer. He could not, however, have made a better one. + +'No; that's what I mean; but I don't think I shall marry. I am very well +contented here, and I like Surbiton Cottage amazingly.' + +'It's a charming place,' said Alaric. + +'No, I don't suppose I shall ever have any children of my own,'--and +then Uncle Bat sighed gently--'and so I have been considering whom I +should like to adopt.' + +'Quite right, Captain Cuttwater.' + +'Whom I should like to adopt. I should like to have one whom I could +call in a special manner my own. Now, Mr. Alaric, I have made up my +mind, and who do you think it is?' + +'Oh! Captain Cuttwater, I couldn't guess on such a matter. I shouldn't +like to guess wrong.' + +'Perhaps not--no; that's right;--well then, I'll tell you; it's +Gertrude.' + +Alaric was well aware that it was Gertrude before her name had been +pronounced. + +'Yes, it's Gertrude; of course I couldn't go out of Bessie's family--of +course it must be either Gertrude, or Linda, or Katie. Now Linda and +Katie are very well, but they haven't half the gumption that Gertrude +has.' + +'No, they have not,' said Alaric. + +'I like gumption,' said Captain Cuttwater. 'You've a great deal of +gumption--that's why I like you.' + +Alaric laughed, and muttered something. + +'Now I have been thinking of something;' and Uncle Bat looked strangely +mysterious--'I wonder what you think of Gertrude?' + +'Who--I?' said Alaric. + +'I can see through a millstone as well as another,' said the captain; +'and I used to think that Norman and Gertrude meant to hit it off +together.' + +Alaric said nothing. He did not feel inclined to tell Norman's secret, +and yet he could not belie Gertrude by contradicting the justice of +Captain Cuttwater's opinion. + +'I used to think so--but now I find there's nothing in it. I am sure +Gertrude wouldn't have him, and I think she's right. He hasn't gumption +enough.' + +'Harry Norman is no fool.' + +'I dare say not,' said the captain; 'but take my word, she'll never have +him--Lord bless you, Norman knows that as well as I do.' + +Alaric knew it very well himself also; but he did not say so. + +'Now, the long and the short of it is this--why don't you make up to +her? If you'll make up to her and carry the day, all I can say is, I +will do all I can to keep the pot a-boiling; and if you think it will +help you, you may tell Gertrude that I say so.' + +This was certainly an important communication, and one to which Alaric +found it very difficult to give any immediate answer. He said a great +deal about his affection for Mrs. Woodward, of his admiration for Miss +Woodward, of his strong sense of Captain Cuttwater's kindness, and of +his own unworthiness; but he left the captain with an impression that +he was not prepared at the present moment to put himself forward as a +candidate for Gertrude's hand. + +'I don't know what the deuce he would have,' said the captain to +himself. 'She's as fine a girl as he's likely to find; and two or three +thousand pounds isn't so easily got every day by a fellow that hasn't a +shilling of his own.' + +When Alaric took his departure the next morning, he thought he +perceived, from Mrs. Woodward's manner, that there was less than her +usual cordiality in the tone in which she said that of course he would +return at the end of the week. + +'I will if possible,' he said, 'and I need not say that I hope to do so; +but I fear I may be kept in town--at any rate I'll write.' When the end +of the week came he wrote to say that unfortunately he was kept in town. +He thoroughly understood that people are most valued when they make +themselves scarce. He got in reply a note from Gertrude, saying that +her mother begged that on the following Saturday he would come and bring +Charley with him. + +On his return to town, Alaric, by appointment, called on Sir Gregory. +He had not seen his patron yet since his great report on Wheal Mary Jane +had been sent in. That report had been written exclusively by himself, +and poor Neverbend had been obliged to content himself with putting all +his voluminous notes into Tudor's hands. He afterwards obediently signed +the report, and received his reward for doing so. Alaric never divulged +to official ears how Neverbend had halted in the course of his descent +to the infernal gods. + +'I thoroughly congratulate you,' said Sir Gregory. 'You have justified +my choice, and done your duty with credit to yourself and benefit to the +public. I hope you may go on and prosper. As long as you remember that +your own interests should always be kept in subservience to those of +the public service, you will not fail to receive the praise which such +conduct deserves.' + +Alaric thanked Sir Gregory for his good opinion, and as he did so, he +thought of his new banker's account, and of the L300 which was lying +there. After all, which of them was right, Sir Gregory Hardlines or Undy +Scott? Or was it that Sir Gregory's opinions were such as should control +the outward conduct, and Undy's those which should rule the inner man? + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +VERY SAD + + +Norman prolonged his visit to his father considerably beyond the month. +At first he applied for and received permission to stay away another +fortnight, and at the end of that fortnight he sent up a medical +certificate in which the doctor alleged that he would be unable to +attend to business for some considerable additional period. It was not +till after Christmas Day that he reappeared at the Weights and Measures. + +Alaric kept his appointment at Hampton, and took Charley with him. And +on the two following Saturdays he also went there, and on both occasions +Charley accompanied him. During these visits, he devoted himself, as +closely as he could, to Mrs. Woodward. He talked to her of Norman, and +of Norman's prospects in the office; he told her how he had intended to +abstain from offering himself as a competitor, till he had, as it were, +been forced by Norman to do so; he declared over and over again that +Norman would have been victorious had he stood his ground to the end, +and assured her that such was the general opinion through the whole +establishment. And this he did without talking much about himself, or +praising himself in any way when he did so. His speech was wholly of his +friend, and of the sorrow that he felt that his friend should have been +disappointed in his hopes. + +All this had its effects. Of Norman's rejected love they neither of them +spoke. Each knew that the other must be aware of it, but the subject was +far too tender to be touched, at any rate as yet. And so matters went +on, and Alaric regained the footing of favour which he had for a while +lost with the mistress of the house. + +But there was one inmate of Surbiton Cottage who saw that though Alaric +spent so much of his time with Mrs. Woodward, he found opportunity also +for other private conversation; and this was Linda. Why was it that in +the moments before they dressed for dinner Alaric was whispering with +Gertrude, and not with her? Why was it that Alaric had felt it necessary +to stay from church that Sunday evening when Gertrude also had been +prevented from going by a headache? He had remained, he said, in order +that Captain Cuttwater might have company; but Linda was not slow to +learn that Uncle Bat had been left to doze away the time by himself. +Why, on the following Monday, had Gertrude been down so early, and why +had Alaric been over from the inn full half an hour before his usual +time? Linda saw and knew all this, and was disgusted. But even then she +did not, could not think that Alaric could be untrue to her; that her +own sister would rob her of her lover. It could not be that there should +be such baseness in human nature! + +Poor Linda! + +And yet, though she did not believe that such falseness could exist in +this world of hers at Surbiton Cottage, she could not restrain herself +from complaining rather petulantly to her sister, as they were going to +bed on that Sunday evening. + +'I hope your headache is better,' she said, in a tone of voice as near +to irony as her soft nature could produce. + +'Yes, it is quite well now,' said Gertrude, disdaining to notice the +irony. + +'I dare say Alaric had a headache too. I suppose one was about as bad as +the other.' + +'Linda,' said Gertrude, answering rather with dignity than with anger, +'you ought to know by this time that it is not likely that I should +plead false excuses. Alaric never said he had a headache.' + +'He said he stayed from church to be with Uncle Bat; but when we came +back we found him with you.' + +'Uncle Bat went to sleep, and then he came into the drawing-room.' + +The two girls said nothing more about it. Linda should have remembered +that she had never breathed a word to her sister of Alaric's passion for +herself. Gertrude's solemn propriety had deterred her, just as she was +about to do so. How very little of that passion had Alaric breathed +himself! and yet, alas! enough to fill the fond girl's heart with dreams +of love, which occupied all her waking, all her sleeping thoughts. +Oh! ye ruthless swains, from whose unhallowed lips fall words full of +poisoned honey, do ye never think of the bitter agony of many months, +of the dull misery of many years, of the cold monotony of an uncheered +life, which follow so often as the consequence of your short hour of +pastime? + +On the Monday morning, as soon as Alaric and Charley had started for +town--it was the morning on which Linda had been provoked to find that +both Gertrude and Alaric had been up half an hour before they should +have been--Gertrude followed her mother to her dressing-room, and with +palpitating heart closed the door behind her. + +Linda remained downstairs, putting away her tea and sugar, not in the +best of humours; but Katie, according to her wont, ran up after her +mother. + +'Katie,' said Gertrude, as Katie bounced into the room, 'dearest Katie, +I want to speak a word to mamma--alone. Will you mind going down just +for a few minutes?' and she put her arm round her sister, and kissed her +with almost unwonted tenderness. + +'Go, Katie, dear,' said Mrs. Woodward; and Katie, speechless, retired. + +'Gertrude has got something particular to tell mamma; something that +I may not hear. I wonder what it is about,' said Katie to her second +sister. + +Linda's heart sank within her. 'Could it be? No, it could not, could +not be, that the sweet voice which had whispered in her ears those +well-remembered words, could have again whispered the same into other +ears--that the very Gertrude who had warned her not to listen to such +words from such lips, should have listened to them herself, and have +adopted them and made them her own! It could not, could not be!' and yet +Linda's heart sank low within her. + + + * * * * * + + +'If you really love him,' said the mother, again caressing her eldest +daughter as she acknowledged her love, but hardly with such tenderness +as when that daughter had repudiated that other love--'if you really +love him, dearest, of course I do not, of course I cannot, object.' + +'I do, mamma; I do.' + +'Well, then, Gertrude, so be it. I have not a word to say against your +choice. Had I not believed him to be an excellent young man, I should +not have allowed him to be here with you so much as he has been. We +cannot all see with the same eyes, dearest, can we?' + +'No, mamma; but pray don't think I dislike poor Harry; and, oh! mamma, +pray don't set him against Alaric because of this----' + +'Set him against Alaric! No, Gertrude. I certainly shall not do that. +But whether I can reconcile Harry to it, that is another thing.' + +'At any rate he has no right to be angry at it,' said Gertrude, assuming +her air of dignity. + +'Certainly not with you, Gertrude.' + +'No, nor with Alaric,' said she, almost with indignation. + +'That depends on what has passed between them. It is very hard to say +how men so situated regard each other.' + +'I know everything that has passed between them,' said Gertrude. 'I +never gave Harry any encouragement. As soon as I understood my own +feelings I endeavoured to make him understand them also.' + +'But, my dearest, no one is blaming you.' + +'But you are blaming Alaric.' + +'Indeed I am not, Gertrude.' + +'No man could have behaved more honourably to his friend,' said +Gertrude; 'no man more nobly; and if Harry does not feel it so, he has +not the good heart for which I always gave him credit.' + +'Poor fellow! his friendship for Alaric will be greatly tried.' + +'And, mamma, has not Alaric's friendship been tried? and has it not +borne the trial nobly? Harry told him of--of--of his intentions; Harry +told him long, long, long ago----' + +'Ah me!--poor Harry!' sighed Mrs. Woodward. + +'But you think nothing of Alaric!' + +'Alaric is successful, my dear, and can----' Think sufficiently of +himself, Mrs. Woodward was going to say, but she stopped herself. + +'Harry told him all,' continued Gertrude, 'and Alaric--Alaric said +nothing of his own feelings. Alaric never said a word to me that he +might not have said before his friend--till--till--You must own, mamma, +that no one can have behaved more nobly than Alaric has done.' + +Mrs. Woodward, nevertheless, had her own sentiments on the matter, which +were not quite in unison with those of her daughter. But then she was +not in love with Alaric, and her daughter was. She thought that Alaric's +love was a passion that had but lately come to the birth, and that had +he been true to his friend--nobly true as Gertrude had described him--it +would never have been born at all, or at any rate not till Harry had had +a more prolonged chance of being successful with his suit. Mrs. +Woodward understood human nature better than her daughter, or, at least, +flattered herself that she did so, and she felt well assured that Alaric +had not been dying for love during the period of Harry's unsuccessful +courtship. He might, she thought, have waited a little longer before he +chose for his wife the girl whom his friend had loved, seeing that he +had been made the confidant of that love. + +Such were the feelings which Mrs. Woodward felt herself unable to +repress; but she could not refuse her consent to the marriage. After +all, she had some slight twinge of conscience, some inward conviction +that she was prejudiced in Harry's favour, as her daughter was in +Alaric's. Then she had lost all right to object to Alaric, by allowing +him to be so constantly at the Cottage; and then again, there was +nothing to which in reason she could object. In point of immediate +income, Alaric was now the better match of the two. She kissed her +daughter, therefore, and promised that she would do her best to take +Alaric to her heart as her son-in-law. + +'You will tell Uncle Bat, mamma?' said Gertrude. + +'O yes--certainly, my dear; of course he'll be told. But I suppose it +does not make much matter, immediately?' + +'I think he should be told, mamma; I should not like him to think that +he was treated with anything like disrespect.' + +'Very well, my dear, I'll tell him,' said Mrs. Woodward, who was +somewhat surprised at her daughter's punctilious feelings about Uncle +Bat. However, it was all very proper; and she was glad to think that her +children were inclined to treat their grand-uncle with respect, in spite +of his long nose. + +And then Gertrude was preparing to leave the room, but her mother +stopped her. 'Gertrude, dear,' said she. + +'Yes, mamma.' + +'Come here, dearest; shut the door. Gertrude, have you told Linda yet?' + +'No, mamma, not yet.' + +As Mrs. Woodward asked the question, there was an indescribable look of +painful emotion on her brow. It did not escape Gertrude's eye, and was +not to her perfectly unintelligible. She had conceived an idea--why, she +did not know--that these recent tidings of hers would not be altogether +agreeable to her sister. + +'No, mamma, I have not told her; of course I told you first. But now I +shall do so immediately.' + +'Let me tell her,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'will you, Gertrude?' + +'Oh! certainly, mamma, if you wish it.' + +Things were going wrong with Mrs. Woodward. She had perceived, with a +mother's anxious eye, that her second daughter was not indifferent to +Alaric Tudor. While she yet thought that Norman and Gertrude would have +suited each other, this had caused her no disquietude. She herself +had entertained none of those grand ideas to which Gertrude had given +utterance with so much sententiousness, when she silenced Linda's tale +of love before the telling of it had been commenced. Mrs. Woodward had +always felt sufficiently confident that Alaric would push himself in the +world, and she would have made no objection to him as a son-in-law had +he been contented to take the second instead of the first of her flock. + +She had never spoken to Linda on the matter, and Linda had offered to +her no confidence; but she felt all but sure that her second child would +not have entertained the affection which she had been unable altogether +to conceal, had no lover's plea been poured into her ears. Mrs. Woodward +questioned her daughters but little, but she understood well the nature +of each, and could nearly read their thoughts. Linda's thoughts it was +not difficult to read. + +'Linda, pet,' she said, as soon as she could get Linda into her room +without absolutely sending for her, 'you have not yet heard Gertrude's +news?' + +'No,' said Linda, turning very pale, and feeling that her heart was like +to burst. + +'I would let no one tell you but myself, Linda. Come here, dearest; +don't stand there away from me. Can you guess what it is?' + +Linda, for a moment, could not speak. 'No, mamma,' she said at last, 'I +don't know what it is.' + +Mrs. Woodward twined her arm round her daughter's waist, as they sat on +the sofa close to each other. Linda tried to compose herself, but she +felt that she was trembling in her mother's arms. She would have given +anything to be calm; anything to hide her secret. She little guessed +then how well her mother knew it. Her eyes were turned down, and she +found that she could not raise them to her mother's face. + +'No, mamma,' she said. 'I don't know--what is it?' + +'Gertrude is to be married, Linda. She is engaged.' + +'I thought she refused Harry,' said Linda, through whose mind a faint +idea was passing of the cruelty of nature's arrangements, which gave all +the lovers to her sister. + +'Yes, dearest, she did; and now another has made an offer--she has +accepted him.' Mrs. Woodward could hardly bring herself to speak out +that which she had to say, and yet she felt that she was only prolonging +the torture for which she was so anxious to find a remedy. + +'Has she?' said Linda, on whom the full certainty of her misery had now +all but come. + +'She has accepted our dear Alaric.' + +Our dear Alaric! what words for Linda's ears! They did reach her ears, +but they did not dwell there--her soft gentle nature sank beneath the +sound. Her mother, when she looked to her for a reply, found that she +was sinking through her arms. Linda had fainted. + +Mrs. Woodward neither screamed, nor rang for assistance, nor emptied the +water-jug over her daughter, nor did anything else which would have +the effect of revealing to the whole household the fact that Linda had +fainted. She had seen girls faint before, and was not frightened. But +how, when Linda recovered, was she to be comforted? + +Mrs. Woodward laid her gently on the sofa, undid her dress, loosened her +stays, and then sat by her chafing her hands, and moistening her lips +and temples, till gradually the poor girl's eyes reopened. The +recovery from a fainting fit, a real fainting fit I beg young ladies +to understand, brings with it a most unpleasant sensation, and for +some minutes Linda's sorrow was quelled by her sufferings; but as +she recovered her strength she remembered where she was and what had +happened, and sobbing violently she burst into an hysterical storm of +tears. + +Her most poignant feeling now was one of fear lest her mother should +have guessed her secret; and this Mrs. Woodward well understood. She +could do nothing towards comforting her child till there was perfect +confidence between them. It was easy to arrive at this with Linda, nor +would it afterwards be difficult to persuade her as to the course she +ought to take. The two girls were so essentially different; the one so +eager to stand alone and guide herself, the other so prone to lean on +the nearest support that came to her hand. + +It was not long before Linda had told her mother everything. Either by +words, or tears, or little signs of mute confession, she made her mother +understand, with all but exactness, what had passed between Alaric and +herself, and quite exactly what had been the state of her own heart. She +sobbed, and wept, and looked up to her mother for forgiveness as though +she had been guilty of a great sin; and when her mother caressed her +with all a mother's tenderness, and told her that she was absolved from +all fault, free of all blame, she was to a certain degree comforted. +Whatever might now happen, her mother would be on her side. But Mrs. +Woodward, when she looked into the matter, found that it was she that +should have demanded pardon of her daughter, not her daughter of her! +Why had this tender lamb been allowed to wander out of the fold, while a +wolf in sheep's clothing was invited into the pasture-ground? + +Gertrude, with her talent, her beauty, and dignity of demeanour, had +hitherto been, perhaps, the closest to the mother's heart--had been, if +not the most cherished, yet the most valued; Gertrude had been the apple +of her eye. This should be altered now. If a mother's love could atone +for a mother's negligence, Mrs. Woodward would atone to her child for +this hour of misery! And Katie--her sweet bonny Katie--she, at least, +should be protected from the wolves. Those were the thoughts that passed +through Mrs. Woodward's heart as she sat there caressing Linda. But how +were things to be managed now at the present moment? It was quite clear +that the wolf in sheep's clothing must be admitted into the pastoral +family; either that, or the fairest lamb of the flock must be turned +out altogether, to take upon herself lupine nature, and roam the woods a +beast of prey. As matters stood it behoved them to make such a sheep of +Alaric as might be found practicable. + +And so Mrs. Woodward set to work to teach her daughter how best she +might conduct herself in her present state of wretchedness. She had to +bear with her sister's success, to listen to her sister's joy, to enter +into all her future plans, to assist at her toilet, to prepare her +wedding garments, to hear the congratulations of friends, and take a +sister's share in a sister's triumph, and to do this without once +giving vent to a reproach. And she had worse than this to do; she had to +encounter Alaric, and to wish him joy of his bride; she had to protect +her female pride from the disgrace which a hopeless but acknowledged +love would throw on it; she had to live in the house with Alaric as +though he were her brother, and as though she had never thought to live +with him in any nearer tie. She would have to stand at the altar as her +sister's bridesmaid, and see them married, and she would have to smile +and be cheerful as she did so. + +This was the lesson which Mrs. Woodward had now to teach her daughter; +and she so taught it that Linda did all that circumstances and her +mother required of her. Late on that afternoon she went to Gertrude, +and, kissing her, wished her joy. At that moment Gertrude was the more +embarrassed of the two. + +'Linda, dear Linda,' she said, embracing her sister convulsively. + +'I hope you will be happy, Gertrude, with all my heart,' said Linda; and +so she relinquished her lover. + +We talk about the weakness of women--and Linda Woodward was, in many a +way, weak enough--but what man, what giant, has strength equal to this? +It was not that her love was feeble. Her heart was capable of truest +love, and she had loved Alaric truly. But she had that within her which +enabled her to overcome herself, and put her own heart, and hopes, and +happiness--all but her maiden pride--into the background, when the hopes +and happiness of another required it. + +She still shared the same room with her sister; and those who know +how completely absorbed a girl is by her first acknowledged love, may +imagine how many questions she had to answer, to how many propositions +she was called to assent, for how many schemes she had to vouchsafe a +sister's interest, while her heart was telling her that she should have +been the questioner, she should have been the proposer, that the schemes +should all have been her own. + +But she bore it bravely. When Alaric first came down, which he did in +the middle of the week, she was, as she told her mother, too weak to +stand in his presence. Her mother strongly advised her not to absent +herself; so she sat gently by, while he kissed Mrs. Woodward and Katie. +She sat and trembled, for her turn she knew must come. It did come; +Alaric, with an assurance which told more for his courage than for his +heart, came up to her, and with a smiling face offered her his hand. She +rose up and muttered some words which she had prepared for the occasion, +and he, still holding her by the hand, stooped down and kissed her +cheek. Mrs. Woodward looked on with an angry flush on her brow, and +hated him for his cold-hearted propriety of demeanour. + +Linda went up to her mother's room, and, sitting on her mother's bed, +sobbed herself into tranquillity. + +It was very grievous to Mrs. Woodward to have to welcome Alaric to her +house. For Alaric's own sake she would no longer have troubled herself +to do so; but Gertrude was still her daughter, her dear child. Gertrude +had done nothing to disentitle her to a child's part, and a child's +protection; and even had she done so, Mrs. Woodward was not a woman to +be unforgiving to her child. For Gertrude's sake she had to make Alaric +welcome; she forced herself to smile on him and call him her son; to +make him more at home in her house even than Harry had ever been; to +give him privileges which he, wolf as he was, had so little deserved. + +But Captain Cuttwater made up by the warmth of his congratulations for +any involuntary coolness which Alaric might have detected in those of +Mrs. Woodward. It had become a strong wish of the old man's heart that +he might make Alaric, at any rate in part, his heir, without doing an +injustice to his niece or her family. He had soon seen and appreciated +what he had called the 'gumption' both of Gertrude and Alaric. Had Harry +married Gertrude, and Alaric Linda, he would have regarded either of +those matches with disfavour. But now he was quite satisfied--now he +could look on Alaric as his son and Gertrude as his daughter, and use +his money according to his fancy, without incurring the reproaches of +his conscience. + +'Quite right, my boy, 'he said to Alaric, slapping him on the back at +the same time with pretty nearly all his power--'quite right. Didn't I +know you were the winning horse?--didn't I tell you how it would be? +Do you think I don't know what gumption means? If I had not had my +own weather-eye open, aye, and d---- wide open, the most of my time, +I shouldn't have two or three thousand pounds to give away now to any +young fellow that I take a fancy to.' + +Alaric was, of course, all smiles and good humour, and Gertrude not less +so. The day after he heard of the engagement Uncle Bat went to town, +and, on his return, he gave Gertrude L100 to buy her wedding-clothes, +and half that sum to her mother, in order that the thing might go off, +as he expressed himself, 'slip-slap, and no mistake.' To Linda he gave +nothing, but promised her that he would not forget her when her time +came. + +All this time Norman was at Normansgrove; but there were three of the +party who felt that it behoved them to let him know what was going on. +Mrs. Woodward wrote first, and on the following day both Gertrude and +Alaric wrote to him, the former from Hampton, and the latter from his +office in London. + +All these letters were much laboured, but, with all this labour, not one +of them contained within it a grain of comfort. That from Mrs. +Woodward came first and told the tale. Strange to say, though Harry had +studiously rejected from his mind all idea of hope as regarded Gertrude, +nevertheless the first tidings of her betrothal with Alaric struck him +as though he had still fancied himself a favoured lover. He felt as +though, in his absence, he had been robbed of a prize which was all his +own, as though a chattel had been taken from him to which he had a full +right; as though all the Hampton party, Mrs. Woodward included, were in +a conspiracy to defraud him the moment his back was turned. + +The blow was so severe that it laid him prostrate at once. He could not +sob away his sorrow on his mother's bosom; no one could teach him how to +bear his grief with meek resignation. He had never spoken of his love +to his friends at Normansgrove. They had all been witnesses to his +deep disappointment, but that had been attributed to his failure at +his office. He was not a man to seek for sympathy in the sorrows of his +heart. He had told Alaric of his rejection, because he had already told +him of his love, but he had whispered no word of it to anyone besides. +On the day on which he received Mrs. Woodward's letter, he appeared at +dinner ghastly pale, and evidently so ill as to be all but unable to sit +at table; but he would say nothing to anybody; he sat brooding over his +grief till he was unable to sit any longer. + +And yet Mrs. Woodward had written with all her skill, with all her +heart striving to pluck the sting away from the tidings which she had to +communicate. She had felt, however, that she owed as much, at least, to +her daughter as she did to him, and she failed to call Alaric perjured, +false, dishonoured, unjust, disgraced, and treacherous. Nothing short of +her doing so would have been deemed by Norman fitting mention of Tudor's +sin; nothing else would have satisfied the fury of his wrath. + +On the next morning he received Gertrude's letter and Alaric's. The +latter he never read--he opened it, saw that it began as usual, 'My dear +Harry,' and then crammed it into his pocket. By return of post it +went back under a blank cover, addressed to Alaric at the Weights and +Measures. The days of duelling were gone by--unfortunately, as Norman +now thought, but nothing, he determined, should ever induce him again to +hold friendly intercourse with the traitor. He abstained from making any +such oath as to the Woodwards; but determined that his conduct in that +respect should be governed by the manner in which Alaric was received by +them. + +But Gertrude's letter he read over and over again, and each time he +did so he indulged in a fresh burst of hatred against the man who had +deceived him. 'A dishonest villain!' he said to himself over and over +again; 'what right had I to suppose he would be true to me when I found +that he had been so false to others?' + +'Dearest Harry,' the letter began. Dearest Harry!--Why should she begin +with a lie? He was not dearest! 'You must not, must not, must not be +angry with Alaric,' she went on to say, as soon as she had told her +tale. Oh, must he not? Not be angry with Alaric! Not angry with the man +who had forgotten every law of honour, every principle of honesty, every +tie of friendship! Not angry with the man whom he had trusted with the +key of his treasure, and who had then robbed him; who had stolen from +him all his contentment, all his joy, his very heart's blood; not angry +with him! + +'Our happiness will never be perfect unless you will consent to share +it.' Thus simply, in the affection of her heart, had Gertrude concluded +the letter by which she intended to pour balm into the wounds of her +rejected lover, and pave the way for the smoothing of such difficulties +as might still lie in the way of her love. + +'Their happiness would not be perfect unless he would consent to share +it.' Every word in the sentence was gall to him. It must have been +written with the object of lacerating his wounds, and torturing his +spirit; so at least said Norman to himself. He read the letter over and +over again. At one time he resolved to keep it till he could thrust +it back into her hand, and prove to her of what cruelty she had been +guilty. Then he thought of sending it to Mrs. Woodward, and asking her +how, after that, could she think that he should ever again enter her +doors at Hampton. Finally he tore it into a thousand bits, and threw +them behind the fire. + +'Share their happiness!' and as he repeated the words he gave the last +tear to the fragments of paper which he still held in his hand. Could +he at that moment as easily have torn to shreds all hope of earthly joys +for those two lovers, he would then have done it, and cast the ruins to +the flames. + +Oh! what a lesson he might have learnt from Linda! And yet what were his +injuries to hers? He in fact had not been injured, at least not by him +against whom the strength of his wrath most fiercely raged. The two men +had both admired Gertrude, but Norman had started on the race first. +Before Alaric had had time to know his own mind, he had learnt that +Norman claimed the beauty as his own. He had acknowledged to himself +that Norman had a right to do so, and had scrupulously abstained from +interfering with him. Why should Norman, like a dog in the manger, +begrudge to his friend the fodder which he himself could not enjoy? +To him, at any rate, Alaric had in this been no traitor. 'Twas thus +at least that Gertrude argued in her heart, and 'twas thus that Mrs. +Woodward tried to argue also. + +But who could excuse Alaric's falseness to Linda? And yet Linda had +forgiven him. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +NORMAN RETURNS TO TOWN + + +Harry Norman made no answer to either of his three letters beyond that +of sending Alaric's back unread; but this, without other reply, was +sufficient to let them all guess, nearly with accuracy, what was +the state of his mind. Alaric told Gertrude how his missive had been +treated, and Gertrude, of course, told her mother. + +There was very little of that joy at Surbiton Cottage which should +have been the forerunner of a wedding. None of the Woodward circle were +content thus to lose their friend. And then their unhappiness on +this score was augmented by hearing that Harry had sent up a medical +certificate, instead of returning to his duties when his prolonged leave +of absence was expired. + +To Alaric this, at the moment, was a relief. He had dreaded the return +of Norman to London. There were so many things to cause infinite pain +to them both. All Norman's things, his books and clothes, his desks +and papers and pictures, his whips and sticks, and all those sundry +belongings which even a bachelor collects around him--were strewing the +rooms in which Alaric still lived. He had of course felt that it was +impossible that they should ever again reside together. Not only must +they quarrel, but all the men at their office must know that they had +quarrelled. And yet some intercourse must be maintained between them; +they must daily meet in the rooms at the Weights and Measures; and it +would now in their altered position become necessary that in some things +Norman should receive instructions from Alaric as his superior officer. +But if Alaric thought of this often, so did Norman; and before the last +fortnight had expired, the thinking of it had made him so ill that his +immediate return to London was out of the question. + +Mrs. Woodward's heart melted within her when she heard that Harry was +really ill. She had gone on waiting day after day for an answer to her +letter, but no answer came. No answer came, but in lieu thereof she +heard that Harry was laid up at Normansgrove. She heard it, and Gertrude +heard it, and in spite of the coming wedding there was very little joy +at Surbiton Cottage. + +And then Mrs. Woodward wrote again; and a man must have had a heart of +stone not to be moved by such a letter. She had 'heard,' she said, 'that +he was ill, and the tidings had made her wretched--the more so inasmuch +as he had sent no answer to her last letter. Was he very ill? was he +dangerously ill? She hoped, she would fain hope, that his illness had +not arisen from any mental grief. If he did not reply to this, or get +some of his family to do so, there would be nothing for her but to go, +herself, to Normansgrove. She could not remain quiet while she was left +in such painful doubt about her dearest, well-loved Harry Norman.' How +to speak of Gertrude, or how not to speak of her, Mrs. Woodward knew +not--at last she added: 'The three girls send their kindest love; they +are all as wretchedly anxious as I am. I know you are too good to wish +that poor Gertrude should suffer, but, if you did, you might have your +wish. The tidings of your illness, together with your silence, have +robbed her of all her happiness;' and it ended thus:--'Dearest Harry! do +not be cruel to us; our hearts are all with you.' + +This was too much for Norman's sternness; and he relented, at least as +far as Mrs. Woodward was concerned. He wrote to say that though he was +still weak, he was not dangerously ill; and that he intended, if nothing +occurred amiss, to be in town about the end of the year. He hoped +he might then see her to thank her for all her kindness. She would +understand that he could not go down to Surbiton Cottage; but as she +would doubtless have some occasion for coming up to town, they might +thus contrive to meet. He then sent his love to Linda and Katie, and +ended by saying that he had written to Charley Tudor to take lodgings +for him. Not the slightest allusion was made either to Gertrude or +Alaric, except that which might seem to be conveyed in the intimation +that he could make no more visits to Hampton. + +This letter was very cold. It just permitted Mrs. Woodward to know that +Norman did not regard them all as strangers; and that was all. Linda +said it was very sad; and Gertrude said, not to her mother but to +Alaric, that it was heartless. Captain Cuttwater predicted that he would +soon come round, and be as sound as a roach again in six months' time. +Alaric said nothing; but he went on with his wooing, and this he did +so successfully, as to make Gertrude painfully alive to what would have +been, in her eyes, the inferiority of her lot, had she unfortunately +allowed herself to become the victim of Norman's love. + +Alaric went on with his wooing, and he also went on with his +share-buying. Undy Scott had returned to town for a week or two to +wind up the affairs of his expiring secretaryship, and he made Alaric +understand that a nice thing might yet be done in Mary Janes. Alaric +had been very foolish to sell so quickly; so at least said Undy. To this +Alaric replied that he had bought the shares thoughtlessly, and had felt +a desire to get rid of them as quickly as he could. Those were scruples +at which Undy laughed pleasantly, and Alaric soon laughed with him. + +'At any rate,' said Undy, 'your report is written, and off your hands +now: so you may do what you please in the matter, like a free man, with +a safe conscience.' + +Alaric supposed that he might. + +'I am as fond of the Civil Service as any man,' said Undy; 'just as fond +of it as Sir Gregory himself. I have been in it, and may be in it again. +If I do, I shall do my duty. But I have no idea of having my hands tied. +My purse is my own, to do what I like with it. Whether I buy beef or +mutton, or shares in Cornwall, is nothing to anyone. I give the Crown +what it pays for, my five or six hours a day, and nothing more. When I +was appointed private secretary to the First Lord of the Stannaries, I +told my friend Whip Vigil that those were the terms on which I accepted +office; and Vigil agreed with me.' Alaric, pupil as he was to the great +Sir Gregory, declared that he also agreed with him. 'That is not Sir +Gregory's doctrine, but it's mine,' said Undy; 'and though it's my own, +I think it by far the honester doctrine of the two.' + +Alaric did not sift the matter very deeply, nor did he ask Undy, or +himself either, whether in using the contents of his purse in the +purchase of shares he would be justified in turning to his own purpose +any information which he might obtain in his official career. Nor did +he again offer to put that broad test to himself which he had before +proposed, and ask himself whether he would dare to talk of what he was +doing in the face of day, in his own office, before Sir Gregory, +or before the Neverbends of the Service. He had already learnt the +absurdity of such tests. Did other men talk of such doings? Was it not +notorious that the world speculated, and that the world was generally +silent in the matter? Why should he attempt to be wiser than those +around him? Was it not sufficient for him to be wise in his generation? +What man had ever become great, who allowed himself to be impeded by +small scruples? If the sportsman returned from the field laden with +game, who would scrutinize the mud on his gaiters? 'Excelsior!' said +Alaric to himself with a proud ambition; and so he attempted to rise by +the purchase and sale of mining shares. + +When he was fairly engaged in the sport, his style of play so fascinated +Undy that they embarked in a sort of partnership, _pro hoc vice_, good +to the last during the ups and downs of Wheal Mary Jane. Mary Jane, no +doubt, would soon run dry, or else be drowned, as had happened to New +Friendship. But in the meantime something might be done. + +'Of course you'll be consulted about those other papers,' said Undy. 'It +might be as well they should be kept back for a week or two.' + +'Well, I'll see,' said Alaric; and as he said it, he felt that his face +was tinged with a blush of shame. But what then? Who would look at the +dirt on his gaiters, if he filled his bag with game? + +Mrs. Woodward was no whit angered by the coldness of Norman's letter. +She wished that he could have brought himself to write in a different +style, but she remembered his grief, and knew that as time should +work its cure upon it, he would come round and again be gentle and +affectionate, at any rate with her. + +She misdoubted Charley's judgement in the choice of lodgings, and +therefore she talked over the matter with Alaric. It was at last decided +that he, Alaric, should move instead of driving Norman away. His final +movement would soon take place; that movement which would rob him of +the freedom of lodginghood, and invest him with all the ponderous +responsibility and close restraint of a householder. He and Gertrude +were to be married in February, and after spending a cold honeymoon in +Paris and Brussels, were to begin their married life amidst the sharp +winds of a London March. But love, gratified love, will, we believe, +keep out even an English east wind. If so, it is certainly the only +thing that will. + +Charley, therefore, wrote to Norman, telling him that he could remain in +his old home, and humbly asking permission to remain there with him. +To this request he received a kind rejoinder in the affirmative. Though +Charley was related to Alaric, there had always apparently been a closer +friendship between him and Norman than between the two cousins; and now, +in his fierce unbridled quarrel with Alaric, and in his present coolness +with the Woodwards, he seemed to turn to Charley with more than ordinary +affection. + +Norman made his appearance at the office on the first Monday of the new +year. He had hitherto sat at the same desk with Alaric, each of them +occupying one side of it; on his return he found himself opposite to a +stranger. Alaric had, of course, been promoted to a room of his own. + +The Weights and Measures had never been a noisy office; but now it +became more silent than ever. Men there talked but little at any time, +and now they seemed to cease from talking altogether. It was known +to all that the Damon and Pythias of the establishment were Damon and +Pythias no longer; that war waged between them, and that if all accounts +were true, they were ready to fly each at the other's throat. Some +attributed this to the competitive examination; others said it was love; +others declared that it was money, the root of evil; and one rash young +gentleman stated his positive knowledge that it was all three. At any +rate something dreadful was expected; and men sat anxious at their +desks, fearing the coming evil. + +On the Monday the two men did not meet, nor on the Tuesday. On the +next morning, Alaric, having acknowledged to himself the necessity of +breaking the ice, walked into the room where Norman sat with three +or four others. It was absolutely necessary that he should make some +arrangement with him as to a certain branch of office-work; and though +it was competent for him, as the superior, to have sent for Norman as +the inferior, he thought it best to abstain from doing so, even though +he were thereby obliged to face his enemy, for the first time, in the +presence of others. + +'Well, Mr. Embryo,' said he, speaking to the new junior, and standing +with his back to the fire in an easy way, as though there was nothing +wrong under the sun, or at least nothing at the Weights and Measures, +'well, Mr. Embryo, how do you get on with those calculations?' + +'Pretty well, I believe, sir; I think I begin to understand them now,' +said the tyro, producing for Alaric's gratification five or six folio +sheets covered with intricate masses of figures. + +'Ah! yes; that will do very well,' said Alaric, taking up one of the +sheets, and looking at it with an assumed air of great interest. Though +he acted his part pretty well, his mind was very far removed from Mr. +Embryo's efforts. + +Norman sat at his desk, as black as a thunder-cloud, with his eyes +turned intently at the paper before him; but so agitated that he could +not even pretend to write. + +'By the by, Norman,' said Alaric, 'when will it suit you to look through +those Scotch papers with me?' + +'My name, sir, is Mr. Norman,' said Harry, getting up and standing by +his chair with all the firmness of a Paladin of old. + +'With all my heart,' said Alaric. 'In speaking to you I can have but one +wish, and that is to do so in any way that may best please you.' + +'Any instructions you may have to give I will attend to, as far as my +duty goes,' said Norman. + +And then Alaric, pushing Mr. Embryo from his chair without much +ceremony, sat down opposite to his former friend, and said and did what +he had to say and do with an easy unaffected air, in which there was, at +any rate, none of the usual superciliousness of a neophyte's authority. +Norman was too agitated to speak reasonably, or to listen calmly, but +Alaric knew that though he might not do so to-day, he would to-morrow, +or if not to-morrow, then the next day; and so from day to day he +came into Norman's room and transacted his business. Mr. Embryo got +accustomed to looking through the window at the Council Office for the +ten minutes that he remained there, and Norman also became reconciled to +the custom. And thus, though they never met in any other way, they daily +had a kind of intercourse with each other, which, at last, contrived to +get itself arranged into a certain amount of civility on both sides. + +Immediately that Norman's arrival was heard of at Surbiton Cottage, Mrs. +Woodward hastened up to town to see him. She wrote to him to say that +she would be at his lodgings at a certain hour, and begged him to come +thither to her. Of course he did not refuse, and so they met. Mrs. +Woodward had much doubted whether or no she would take Linda or Katie +with her, but at last she resolved to go alone. Harry, she thought, +would be more willing to speak freely to her, to open his heart to her, +if there were nobody by but herself. + +Their meeting was very touching, and characteristic of the two persons. +Mrs. Woodward was sad enough, but her sadness was accompanied by a +strength of affection that carried before it every obstacle. Norman was +also sad; but he was at first stern and cold, and would have remained +so to the last, had not his manly anger been overpowered by her feminine +tenderness. + +It was singular, but not the less true, that at this period Norman +appeared to have forgotten altogether that he had ever proposed to +Gertrude, and been rejected by her. All that he said and all that he +thought was exactly what he might have said and thought had Alaric taken +from him his affianced bride. No suitor had ever felt his suit to be +more hopeless than he had done; and yet he now regarded himself as one +whose high hopes of happy love had all been destroyed by the treachery +of a friend and the fickleness of a woman. + +This made the task of appeasing him very difficult to Mrs. Woodward. +She could not in plain language remind him that he had been plainly +rejected; nor could she, on the other hand, permit her daughter to be +branded with a fault of which she had never been guilty. + +Mrs. Woodward had wished, though she had hardly hoped, so to mollify +Norman as to induce him to promise to be at the wedding; but she soon +found that this was out of the question. There was no mitigating his +anger against Alaric. + +'Mrs. Woodward,' said he, standing very upright, and looking very stiff, +'I will never again willingly put myself in any position where I must +meet him.' + +'Oh! Harry, don't say so--think of your close friendship, think of your +long friendship.' + +'Why did he not think of it?' + +'But, Harry--if not for his sake, if not for your own, at any rate do so +for ours; for my sake, for Katie's and Linda's, for Gertrude's sake.' + +'I had rather not speak of Gertrude, Mrs. Woodward.' + +'Ah! Harry, Gertrude has done you no injury; why should you thus turn +your heart against her? You should not blame her; if you have anyone to +blame, it is me.' + +'No; you have been true to me.' + +'And has she been false? Oh! Harry, think how we have loved you! You +should be more just to us.' + +'Tush!' he said. 'I do not believe in justice; there is no justice +left. I would have given everything I had for him. I would have made any +sacrifice. His happiness was as much my thought as my own. And now--and +yet you talk to me of justice.' + +'And if he had injured you, Harry, would you not forgive him? Do you +repeat your prayers without thinking of them? Do you not wish to forgive +them that trespass against you?' Norman groaned inwardly in the spirit. +'Do you not think of this when you kneel every night before your God?' + +'There are injuries which a man cannot forgive, is not expected to +forgive.' + +'Are there, Harry? Oh! that is a dangerous doctrine. In that way every +man might nurse his own wrath till anger would make devils of us all. +Our Saviour has made no exceptions.' + +'In one sense, I do forgive him, Mrs. Woodward. I wish him no evil. +But it is impossible that I should call a man who has so injured me my +friend. I look upon him as disgraced for ever.' + +She then endeavoured to persuade him to see Gertrude, or at any rate to +send his love to her. But in this also he was obdurate. 'It could,' he +said, 'do no good.' He could not answer for himself that his feelings +would not betray him. A message would be of no use; if true, it would +not be gracious; if false, it had better be avoided. He was quite sure +Gertrude would be indifferent as to any message from him. The best thing +for them both would be that they should forget each other. + +He promised, however, that he would go down to Hampton immediately after +the marriage, and he sent his kindest love to Linda and Katie. 'And, +dear Mrs. Woodward,' said he, 'I know you think me very harsh, I know +you think me vindictive--but pray, pray believe that I understand all +your love, and acknowledge all your goodness. The time will, perhaps, +come when we shall be as happy together as we once were.' + +Mrs. Woodward, trying to smile through her tears, could only say that +she would pray that that time might soon come; and so, bidding God bless +him, as a mother might bless her child, she left him and returned to +Hampton, not with a light heart. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST WEDDING + + +In spite, however, of Norman and his anger, on a cold snowy morning in +the month of February, Gertrude stood at the altar in Hampton Church, +a happy trusting bride, and Linda stood smiling behind her, the lovely +leader of the nuptial train. Nor were Linda's smiles false or forced, +much less treacherous. She had taught herself to look on Alaric as her +sister's husband, and though in doing so she had suffered, and did still +suffer, she now thought of her own lost lover in no other guise. + +A housemaid, not long since, who was known in the family in which she +lived to be affianced to a neighbouring gardener, came weeping to her +mistress. + +'Oh, ma'am!' + +'Why, Susan, what ails you?' + +'Oh, ma'am!' + +'Well, Susan--what is it?--why are you crying?' + +'Oh, ma'am--John!' + +'Well--what of John? I hope he is not misbehaving.' + +'Indeed, ma'am, he is then; the worst of misbehaviour; for he's gone and +got hisself married.' And poor Susan gave vent to a flood of tears. + +Her mistress tried to comfort her, and not in vain. She told her that +probably she might be better as she was; that John, seeing what he had +done, must be a false creature, who would undoubtedly have used her ill; +and she ended her good counsel by trying to make Susan understand that +there were still as good fish in the sea as had ever yet been caught out +of it. + +'And that's true too, ma'am,' said Susan, with her apron to her eyes. + +'Then you should not be downhearted, you know.' + +'Nor I han't down'arted, ma'am, for thank God I could love any man, but +it's the looks on it, ma'am; it's that I mind.' + +How many of us are there, women and men too, who think most of the +'looks of it' under such circumstances; and who, were we as honest as +poor Susan, ought to thank God, as she did, that we can love anyone; +anyone, that is, of the other sex. We are not all of us susceptible of +being torn to tatters by an unhappy passion; not even all those of us +who may be susceptible of a true and honest love. And it is well that it +is so. It is one of God's mercies; and if we were as wise as Susan, we +should thank God for it. + +Linda was, perhaps, one of those. She was good, affectionate, tender, +and true. But she was made of that stuff which can bend to the north +wind. The world was not all over with her because a man had been untrue +to her. She had had her grief, and had been told to meet it like a +Christian; she had been obedient to the telling, and now felt the good +result. So when Gertrude was married she stood smiling behind her; and +when her new brother-in-law kissed her in the vestry-room she smiled +again, and honestly wished them happiness. + +And Katie was there, very pretty and bonny, still childish, with her +short dress and long trousers, but looking as though she, too, would +soon feel the strength of her own wings, and be able to fly away from +her mother's nest. Dear Katie! Her story has yet to be told. To her +belongs neither the soft easiness of her sister Linda nor the sterner +dignity of Gertrude. But she has a character of her own, which contains, +perhaps, higher qualities than those given to either of her sisters. + +And there were other bridesmaids there; how many it boots not now to +say. We must have the spaces round our altars greatly widened if +this passion for bevies of attendant nymphs be allowed to go on +increasing--and if crinolines increase also. If every bride is to have +twelve maidens, and each maiden to stand on no less than a twelve-yard +circle, what modest temple will ever suffice for a sacrifice to Hymen? + +And Mrs. Woodward was there, of course; as pretty to my thinking as +either of her daughters, or any of the bridesmaids. She was very pretty +and smiling and quiet. But when Gertrude said 'I will,' she was thinking +of Harry Norman, and grieving that he was not there. + +And Captain Cuttwater was there, radiant in a new blue coat, made +specially for the occasion, and elastic with true joy. He had been very +generous. He had given L1,000 to Alaric, and settled L150 a year on +Gertrude, payable, of course, after his death. This, indeed, was the +bulk of what he had to give, and Mrs. Woodward had seen with regret +his exuberant munificence to one of her children. But Gertrude was her +child, and of course she could not complain. + +And Charley was there, acting as best man. It was just the place and +just the work for Charley. He forgot all his difficulties, all his +duns, and also all his town delights. Without a sigh he left his lady in +Norfolk Street to mix gin-sling for other admirers, and felt no regret +though four brother navvies were going to make a stunning night of it at +the 'Salon de Seville dansant,' at the bottom of Holborn Hill. However, +he had his hopes that he might be back in time for some of that fun. + +And Undy Scott was there. He and Alaric had fraternized so greatly +of late that the latter had, as a matter of course, asked him to his +wedding, and Mrs. Woodward had of course expressed her delight at +receiving Alaric's friend. Undy also was a pleasant fellow for a wedding +party; he was full of talk, fond of ladies, being no whit abashed in his +attendance on them by the remembrance of his bosom's mistress, whom he +had left, let us hope, happy in her far domestic retirement. Undy Scott +was a good man at a wedding, and made himself specially agreeable on +this occasion. + +But the great glory of the day was the presence of Sir Gregory +Hardlines. It was a high honour, considering all that rested on Sir +Gregory's shoulders, for so great a man to come all the way down to +Hampton to see a clerk in the Weights and Measures married. + + Cum tot sustineas, et tanta negotia solus, + +--for we may call it 'solus,' Sir Warwick and Mr. Jobbles being sources +of more plague than profit in carrying out your noble schemes--while so +many things are on your shoulders, Sir Gregory; while you are defending +the Civil Service by your pen, adorning it by your conduct, perfecting +it by new rules, how could any man have had the face to ask you to a +wedding? + +Nevertheless Sir Gregory was there, and did not lose the excellent +opportunity which a speech at the breakfast-table afforded him for +expressing his opinion on the Civil Service of his country. + +And so Gertrude Woodward became Gertrude Tudor, and she and Alaric were +whirled away by a post-chaise and post-boy, done out with white bows, +to the Hampton Court station; from thence they whisked up to London, and +then down to Dover; and there we will leave them. + +They were whisked away, having first duly gone through the amount of +badgering which the bride and bridegroom have to suffer at the wedding +breakfast-table. They drank their own health in champagne. Alaric made a +speech, in which he said he was quite unworthy of his present happiness, +and Gertrude picked up all the bijoux, gold pencil-cases, and silver +cream-jugs, which were thrown at her from all sides. All the men made +speeches, and all the women laughed, but the speech of the day was that +celebrated one made by Sir Gregory, in which he gave a sketch of Alaric +Tudor as the beau ideal of a clerk in the Civil Service. 'His heart,' +said he, energetically, 'is at the Weights and Measures;' but Gertrude +looked at him as though she did not believe a word of it. + +And so Alaric and Gertrude were whisked away, and the wedding guests +were left to look sheepish at each other, and take themselves off as +best they might. Sir Gregory, of course, had important public business +which precluded him from having the gratification of prolonging his stay +at Hampton. Charley got away in perfect time to enjoy whatever there +might be to be enjoyed at the dancing saloon of Seville, and Undy Scott +returned to his club. + +Then all was again quiet at Surbiton Cottage. Captain Cuttwater, who had +perhaps drunk the bride's health once too often, went to sleep; Katie, +having taken off her fine clothes, roamed about the house disconsolate, +and Mrs. Woodward and Linda betook themselves to their needles. + +The Tudors went to Brussels, and were made welcome by the Belgian +banker, whose counters he had deserted so much to his own benefit, and +from thence to Paris, and, having been there long enough to buy a French +bonnet and wonder at the enormity of French prices, they returned to +a small but comfortable house they had prepared for themselves in the +neighbourhood of Westbourne Terrace. + +Previous to this Norman had been once, and but once, at Hampton, and, +when there, he had failed in being comfortable himself, or in making the +Woodwards so; he could not revert to his old habits, or sit, or move, +or walk, as though nothing special had happened since he had been last +there. He could not talk about Gertrude, and he could not help talking +of her. By some closer packing among the ladies a room had now been +prepared for him in the house; even this upset him, and brought to his +mind all those unpleasant thoughts which he should have endeavoured to +avoid. + +He did not repeat his visit before the Tudors returned; and then +for some time he was prevented from doing so by the movements of +the Woodwards themselves. Mrs. Woodward paid a visit to her married +daughter, and, when she returned, Linda did the same. And so for a while +Norman was, as it were, divided from his old friends, whereas Tudor, as +a matter of course, was one of themselves. + +It was only natural that Mrs. Woodward should forgive Alaric and receive +him to her bosom, now that he was her son-in-law. After all, such ties +as these avail more than any predilections, more than any effort of +judgement in the choice of the objects of our affections. We associate +with those with whom the tenor of life has thrown us, and from habit we +learn to love those with whom we are brought to associate. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE HONOURABLE MRS. VAL AND MISS GOLIGHTLY + + +The first eighteen months of Gertrude's married life were not unhappy, +though, like all persons entering on the realities of the world, +she found much to disappoint her. At first her husband's society was +sufficient for her; and to give him his due, he was not at first an +inattentive husband. Then came the baby, bringing with him, as first +babies always should do, a sort of second honeymoon of love, and a +renewal of those services which women so delight to receive from their +bosoms' lord. + +She had of course made acquaintances since she had settled herself in +London, and had, in her modest way, done her little part in adding to +the gaiety of the great metropolis. In this respect indeed Alaric's +commencement of life had somewhat frightened Mrs. Woodward, and the more +prudent of his friends. Grand as his official promotion had been, his +official income at the time of his marriage did not exceed L600 a year, +and though this was to be augmented occasionally till it reached L800, +yet even with this advantage it could hardly suffice for a man and his +wife and a coming family to live in an expensive part of London, and +enable him to 'see his friends' occasionally, as the act of feeding +one's acquaintance is now generally called. + +Gertrude, like most English girls of her age, was at first so ignorant +about money that she hardly knew whether L600 was or was not a +sufficient income to justify their present mode of living; but she soon +found reason to suspect that her husband at any rate endeavoured to +increase it by other means. We say to suspect, because he never spoke to +her on the subject; he never told her of Mary Janes and New Friendships; +or hinted that he had extensive money dealings in connexion with Undy +Scott. + +But it can be taken for granted that no husband can carry on such +dealings long without some sort of cognizance on his wife's part as to +what he is doing; a woman who is not trusted by her lord may choose +to remain in apparent darkness, may abstain from questions, and may +consider it either her duty or her interest to assume an ignorance as +to her husband's affairs; but the partner of one's bed and board, the +minister who soothes one's headaches, and makes one's tea, and looks +after one's linen, can't but have the means of guessing the thoughts +which occupy her companion's mind and occasionally darken his brow. + +Much of Gertrude's society had consisted of that into which Alaric was +thrown by his friendship with Undy Scott. There was a brother of Undy's +living in town, one Valentine Scott--a captain in a cavalry regiment, +and whose wife was by no means of that delightfully retiring disposition +evinced by Undy's better half. The Hon. Mrs. Valentine, or Mrs. Val +Scott as she was commonly called, was a very pushing woman, and pushed +herself into a prominent place among Gertrude's friends. She had been +the widow of Jonathan Golightly, Esq., umquhile sheriff of the city of +London, and stockbroker, and when she gave herself and her jointure +up to Captain Val, she also brought with her, to enliven the house, +a daughter Clementina, the only remaining pledge of her love for the +stockbroker. + +When Val Scott entered the world, his father's precepts as to the +purposes of matrimony were deeply graven on his heart. He was the best +looking of the family, and, except Undy, the youngest. He had not Undy's +sharpness, his talent for public matters, or his aptitude for the higher +branches of the Civil Service; but he had wit to wear his sash and +epaulets with an easy grace, and to captivate the heart, person, and +some portion of the purse, of the Widow Golightly. The lady was ten +years older than the gentleman; but then she had a thousand a year, and, +to make matters more pleasant, the beauteous Clementina had a fortune of +her own. + +Under these circumstances the marriage had been contracted without any +deceit, or attempt at deceit, by either party. Val wanted an income, +and the sheriff's widow wanted the utmost amount of social consideration +which her not very extensive means would purchase for her. On the whole, +the two parties to the transaction were contented with their bargain. +Mrs. Val, it is true, kept her income very much in her own hands; but +still she consented to pay Val's tailors' bills, and it is something for +a man to have bed and board found him for nothing. It is true, again, +the lady did not find that the noble blood of her husband gave her an +immediate right of entry into the best houses in London; but it did +bring her into some sort of contact with some few people of rank and +fame; and being a sensible woman, she had not been unreasonable in her +expectations. + +When she had got what she could from her husband in this particular, +she did not trouble him much further. He delighted in the Rag, and there +spent the most of his time; happily, she delighted in what she called +the charms of society, and as society expanded itself before her, she +was also, we must suppose, happy. She soon perceived that more in her +immediate line was to be obtained from Undy than from her own member of +the Gaberlunzie family, and hence had sprung up her intimacy with Mrs. +Tudor. + +It cannot be said that Gertrude was very fond of the Honourable Mrs. +Val, nor even of her daughter, Clementina Golightly, who was more of +her own age. These people had become her friends from the force of +circumstances, and not from predilection. To tell the truth, Mrs. Val, +who had in her day encountered, with much patience, a good deal of +snubbing, and who had had to be thankful when she was patronized, now +felt that her day for being a great lady had come, and that it behoved +her to patronize others. She tried her hand upon Gertrude, and found the +practice so congenial to her spirits, so pleasantly stimulating, so well +adapted to afford a gratifying compensation for her former humility, +that she continued to give up a good deal of her time to No. 5, Albany +Row, Westbourne Terrace, at which house the Tudors resided. + +The young bride was not exactly the woman to submit quietly to patronage +from any Mrs. Val, however honourable she might be; but for a while +Gertrude hardly knew what it meant; and at her first outset the natural +modesty of youth, and her inexperience in her new position, made her +unwilling to take offence and unequal to rebellion. By degrees, however, +this feeling of humility wore off; she began to be aware of the assumed +superiority of Mrs. Val's friendship, and by the time that their mutual +affection was of a year's standing, Gertrude had determined, in a quiet +way, without saying anything to anybody, to put herself on a footing of +more perfect equality with the Honourable Mrs. Val. + +Clementina Golightly was, in the common parlance of a large portion of +mankind, a 'doosed fine gal.' She stood five feet six, and stood very +well, on very good legs, but with rather large feet. She was as straight +as a grenadier, and had it been her fate to carry a milk-pail, she +would have carried it to perfection. Instead of this, however, she was +permitted to expend an equal amount of energy in every variation of +waltz and polka that the ingenuity of the dancing professors of the age +has been able to produce. Waltzes and polkas suited her admirably; for +she was gifted with excellent lungs and perfect powers of breathing, and +she had not much delight in prolonged conversation. Her fault, if she +had one, was a predilection for flirting; but she did her flirtations in +a silent sort of way, much as we may suppose the fishes do theirs, whose +amours we may presume to consist in swimming through their cool element +in close contiguity with each other. 'A feast of reason and a flow of +soul' were not the charms by which Clementina Golightly essayed to keep +her admirers spell-bound at her feet. To whirl rapidly round a room at +the rate of ten miles an hour, with her right hand outstretched in the +grasp of her partner's, and to know that she was tightly buoyed up, like +a horse by a bearing-rein, by his other hand behind her back, was for +her sufficient. To do this, as she did do it, without ever crying for +mercy, with no slackness of breath, and apparently without distress, +must have taken as much training as a horse gets for a race. But the +training had in nowise injured her; and now, having gone through her +gallops and run all her heats for three successive seasons, she was +still sound of wind and limb, and fit to run at any moment when called +upon. + +We have said nothing about the face of the beauteous Clementina, and +indeed nothing can be said about it. There was no feature in it with +which a man could have any right to find fault; that she was a 'doosed +fine girl' was a fact generally admitted; but nevertheless you might +look at her for four hours consecutively on a Monday evening, and yet +on Tuesday you would not know her. She had hair which was brownish and +sufficiently silky--and which she wore, as all other such girls do, +propped out on each side of her face by thick round velvet pads, +which, when the waltzing pace became exhilarating, occasionally showed +themselves, looking greasy. She had a pair of eyes set straight in her +head, faultless in form, and perfectly inexpressive. She had a nose +equally straight, but perhaps a little too coarse in dimensions. She had +a mouth not over large, with two thin lips and small whitish teeth; and +she had a chin equal in contour to the rest of her face, but on which +Venus had not deigned to set a dimple. Nature might have defied a French +passport officer to give a description of her, by which even her own +mother or a detective policeman might have recognized her. + +When to the above list of attractions it is added that Clementina +Golightly had L20,000 of her own, and a reversionary interest in +her mother's jointure, it may be imagined that she did not want for +good-winded cavaliers to bear her up behind, and whirl around with her +with outstretched hands. + +'I am not going to stay a moment, my dear,' said Mrs. Val, seating +herself on Gertrude's sofa, having rushed up almost unannounced into the +drawing-room, followed by Clementina; 'indeed, Lady Howlaway is +waiting for me this moment; but I must settle with you about the June +flower-show.' + +'Oh! thank you, Mrs. Scott, don't trouble yourself about me,' said +Gertrude; 'I don't think I shall go.' + +'Oh! nonsense, my dear; of course you'll go; it's the show of the year, +and the Grand duke is to be there--baby is all right now, you know; I +must not hear of your not going.' + +'All the same--I fear I must decline,' said Gertrude; 'I think I shall +be at Hampton.' + +'Oh! nonsense, my dear; of course you must show yourself. People will +say all manner of things else. Clementina has promised to meet Victoire +Jaquetanapes there and a party of French people, people of the very +highest ton. You'll be delighted, my dear.' + +'M. Jaquetanapes is the most delicious polkist you ever met,' said +Clementina. 'He has got a new back step that will quite amaze you.' As +Gertrude in her present condition was not much given to polkas, this +temptation did not have great effect. + +'Oh, you must come, of course, my dear--and pray let me recommend you to +go to Madame Bosconi for your bonnet; she has such darling little ducks, +and as cheap as dirt. But I want you to arrange about the carriage; +you can do that with Mr. Tudor, and I can settle with you afterwards. +Captain Scott won't go, of course; but I have no doubt Undecimus and Mr. +Tudor will come later and bring us home; we can manage very well with +the one carriage.' + +In spite of her thousand a year the Honourable Mrs. Val was not ashamed +to look after the pounds, shillings, and pence. And so, having made her +arrangements, Mrs. Val took herself off, hurrying to appease the anger +of Lady Howlaway, and followed by Clementina, who since her little +outburst as to the new back step of M. Jaquetanapes had not taken much +part in the conversation. + +Flower-shows are a great resource for the Mrs. Scotts of London life. +They are open to ladies who cannot quite penetrate the inner sancta of +fashionable life, and yet they are frequented by those to whom those +sancta are everyday household walks. There at least the Mrs. Scotts of +the outer world can show themselves in close contiguity, and on equal +terms, with the Mrs. Scotts of the inner world. And then, who is to +know the difference? If also one is an Honourable Mrs. Scott, and can +contrive to appear as such in the next day's _Morning Post_, may not one +fairly boast that the ends of society have been attained? Where is the +citadel? How is one to know when one has taken it? + +Gertrude could not be quite so defiant with her friends as she would +have wished to have been, as they were borne with and encouraged by +her husband. Of Undy's wife Alaric saw nothing and heard little, but +it suited Undy to make use of his sister-in-law's house, and it suited +Alaric to be intimate with Undy's sister-in-law. Moreover, had not +Clementina Golightly L20,000, and was she not a 'doosed fine girl?' This +was nothing to Alaric now, and might not be considered to be much to +Undy. But that far-seeing, acute financier knew that there were other +means of handling a lady's money than that of marrying her. He could not +at present acquire a second fortune in that way; but he might perhaps +acquire the management of this L20,000 if he could provide the lady +with a husband of the proper temperament. Undy Scott did not want +to appropriate Miss Golightly's fortune, he only wanted to have the +management of it. + +Looking round among his acquaintance for a fitting _parti_ for the sweet +Clementina, his mind, after much consideration, settled upon Charley +Tudor. There were many young men much nearer and dearer to Undy than +Charley, who might be equally desirous of so great a prize; but he could +think of none over whom he might probably exercise so direct a control. +Charley was a handsome gay fellow, and waltzed _au ravir_; he might, +therefore, without difficulty, make his way with the fair Clementina. +He was distressingly poor, and would therefore certainly jump at an +heiress--he was delightfully thoughtless and easy of leading, and +therefore the money, when in his hands, might probably be manageable. He +was also Alaric's cousin, and therefore acceptable. + +Undy did not exactly open his mind to Alaric Tudor in this matter. +Alaric's education was going on rapidly; but his mind had not yet +received with sufficient tenacity those principles of philosophy which +would enable him to look at this scheme in its proper light. He had +already learnt the great utility, one may almost say the necessity, of +having a command of money; he was beginning also to perceive that money +was a thing not to be judged of by the ordinary rules which govern +a man's conduct. In other matters it behoves a gentleman to be open, +above-board, liberal, and true; good-natured, generous, confiding, +self-denying, doing unto others as he would wish that others should do +unto him; but in the acquirement and use of money--that is, its use +with the object of acquiring more, its use in the usurer's sense--his +practice should be exactly the reverse; he should be close, secret, +exacting, given to concealment, not over troubled by scruples; +suspicious, without sympathies, self-devoted, and always doing unto +others exactly that which he is on his guard to prevent others from +doing unto him--viz., making money by them. So much Alaric had learnt, +and had been no inapt scholar. But he had not yet appreciated the full +value of the latitude allowed by the genius of the present age to men +who deal successfully in money. He had, as we have seen, acknowledged +to himself that a sportsman may return from the field with his legs and +feet a little muddy; but he did not yet know how deep a man may wallow +in the mire, how thoroughly he may besmear himself from head to foot +in the blackest, foulest mud, and yet be received an honoured guest by +ladies gay and noble lords, if only his bag be sufficiently full. + + Rem..., quocunque modo rem! + +The remainder of the passage was doubtless applicable to former times, +but now is hardly worth repeating. + +As Alaric's stomach was not yet quite suited for strong food, Undy +fitted this matter to his friend's still juvenile capacities. There +was an heiress, a 'doosed fine girl' as Undy insisted, laying peculiar +strength on the word of emphasis, with L20,000, and there was Charley +Tudor, a devilish decent fellow, without a rap. Why not bring them +together? This would only be a mark of true friendship on the part of +Undy; and on Alaric's part, it would be no more than one cousin would be +bound to do for another. Looking at it in this light, Alaric saw nothing +in the matter which could interfere with his quiet conscience. + +'I'll do what I can,' said Undy. 'Mrs. Val is inclined to have a way of +her own in most things; but if anybody can lead her, I can. Charley +must take care that Val himself doesn't take his part, that's all. If he +interferes, it would be all up with us.' + +And thus Alaric, intent mainly on the interest of his cousin, and +actuated perhaps a little by the feeling that a rich cousin would be +more serviceable than a poor one, set himself to work, in connexion with +Undy Scott, to make prey of Clementina Golightly's L20,000. + +But if Undy had no difficulty in securing the co-operation of Alaric +in this matter, Alaric by no means found it equally easy to secure the +co-operation of Charley. Charley Tudor had not yet learnt to look +upon himself as a marketable animal, worth a certain sum of money, in +consequence of such property in good appearance, address, &c., as God +had been good enough to endow him withal. + +He daily felt the depth and disagreeable results of his own poverty, and +not unfrequently, when specially short of the Queen's medium, sighed for +some of those thousands and tens of thousands with which men's mouths +are so glibly full. He had often tried to calculate what would be his +feelings if some eccentric, good-natured old stranger should leave him, +say, five thousand a year; he had often walked about the street, with +his hands in his empty pockets, building delicious castles in the air, +and doing the most munificent actions imaginable with his newly-acquired +wealth, as all men in such circumstances do; relieving distress, +rewarding virtue, and making handsome presents to all his friends, +and especially to Mrs. Woodward. So far Charley was not guiltless of +coveting wealth; but he had never for a moment thought of realizing his +dreams by means of his personal attractions. It had never occurred to +him that any girl having money could think it worth her while to marry +him. He, navvy as he was, with his infernal friends and pot-house love, +with his debts and idleness and low associations, with his saloons of +Seville, his Elysium in Fleet Street, and his Paradise near the Surrey +Gardens, had hitherto thought little enough of his own attractions. No +kind father had taught him that he was worth L10,000 in any market in +the world. When he had dreamt of money, he had never dreamt of it as +accruing to him in return for any value or worth which he had inherent +in himself. Even in his lighter moments he had no such conceit; and at +those periods, few and far between, in which he did think seriously +of the world at large, this special method of escaping from his +difficulties--never once presented itself to his mind. + +When, therefore, Alaric first spoke to him of marrying L20,000 and +Clementina Golightly, his surprise was unbounded. + +'L20,000!' said Alaric, 'and a doosed fine girl, you know;' and he +also laid great stress on the latter part of the offer, knowing how +inflammable was Charley's heart, and at the same time how little +mercenary was his mind. + +But Charley was not only surprised at the proposed arrangement, but +apparently also unwilling to enter into it. He argued that in the first +place no girl in her senses would accept him. To this Alaric replied +that as Clementina had not much sense to speak of, that objection might +fall to the ground. Then Charley expressed an idea that Miss Golightly's +friends might probably object when they learnt what were the exact +pecuniary resources of the expectant husband; to which Alaric argued +that the circumstances of the case were very lucky, inasmuch as some of +Clementina's natural friends were already prepossessed in favour of such +an arrangement. + +Driven thus from two of his strongholds, Charley, in the most modest +of voices, in a voice one may say quite shamefaced and conscious of +its master's weakness--suggested that he was not quite sure that at the +present moment he was very much in love with the lady in question. + +Alaric had married for love, and was not two years married, yet had his +education so far progressed in that short period as to enable him to +laugh at such an objection. + +'Then, my dear fellow, what the deuce do you mean to do with yourself? +You'll certainly go to the dogs. + +Charley had an idea that he certainly should; and also had an idea that +Miss Clementina and her L20,000 might not improbably go in the same +direction, if he had anything to do with them. + +'And as for loving her,' continued Alaric, 'that's all my eye. Love is +a luxury which none but the rich or the poor can afford. We middle-class +paupers, who are born with good coats on our backs, but empty purses, +can have nothing to do with it.' + +'But you married for love, Alaric?' + +'My marriage was not a very prudent one, and should not be taken as an +example. And then I did get some fortune with my wife; and what is more, +I was not so fearfully in want of it as you are.' + +Charley acknowledged the truth of this, said that he would think of the +matrimonial project, and promised, at any rate, to call on Clementina +on an early occasion. He had already made her acquaintance, had already +danced with her, and certainly could not take upon himself to deny that +she was a 'doosed fine girl.' + +But Charley had reasons of his own, reasons which he could not make +known to Alaric, for not thinking much of, or trusting much to, Miss +Golightly's fortune. In the first place, he regarded marriage on such a +grand scale as that now suggested, as a ceremony which must take a long +time to adjust; the wooing of a lady with so many charms could not +be carried on as might be the wooing of a chambermaid or a farmer's +daughter. It must take months at least to conciliate the friends of so +rich an heiress, and months at the end of them to prepare the wedding +gala. But Charley could not wait for months; before one month was over +he would probably be laid up in some vile limbo, an unfortunate poor +prisoner at the suit of an iron-hearted tailor. + +At this very moment of Alaric's proposition, at this instant when +he found himself talking with so much coolness of the expedience or +inexpedience of appropriating to his own purpose a slight trifle of +L20,000, he was in dire strait as to money difficulties. + +He had lately, that is, within the last twelve months, made acquaintance +with an interesting gentleman named Jabesh M'Ruen. Mr. Jabesh M'Ruen +was in the habit of relieving the distresses of such impoverished young +gentlemen as Charley Tudor; and though he did this with every +assurance of philanthropic regard, though in doing so he only made one +stipulation, 'Pray be punctual, Mr. Tudor, now pray do be punctual, +sir, and you may always count on me,' nevertheless, in spite of all +his goodness, Mr. M'Ruen's young friends seldom continued to hold their +heads well up over the world's waters. + +On the morning after this conversation with Alaric, Charley intended +to call on his esteemed old friend. Many were the morning calls he did +make; many were the weary, useless, aimless walks which he took to that +little street at the back of Mecklenburg Square, with the fond hope of +getting some relief from Mr. M'Ruen; and many also were the calls, +the return visits, as it were, which Mr. M'Ruen made at the Internal +Navigation, and numerous were the whispers which he would there whisper +into the ears of the young clerk, Mr. Snape the while sitting by, with +a sweet unconscious look, as though he firmly believed Mr. M'Ruen to be +Charley's maternal uncle. + +And then, too, Charley had other difficulties, which in his mind +presented great obstacles to the Golightly scheme, though Alaric would +have thought little of them, and Undy nothing. What was he to do with +his Norfolk Street lady, his barmaid houri, his Norah Geraghty, to whom +he had sworn all manner of undying love, and for whom in some sort of +fashion he really had an affection? And Norah was not a light-of-love +whom it was as easy to lay down as to pick up. Charley had sworn to love +her, and she had sworn to love Charley; and to give her her due, she had +kept her word to him. Though her life rendered necessary a sort of daily +or rather nightly flirtation with various male comers--as indeed, for +the matter of that, did also the life of Miss Clementina Golightly--yet +she had in her way been true to her lover. She had been true to him, +and Charley did not doubt her, and in a sort of low way respected her; +though it was but a dissipated and debauched respect. There had even +been talk between them of marriage, and who can say what in his softer +moments, when his brain had been too weak or the toddy too strong, +Charley may not have promised? + +And there was yet another objection to Miss Golightly; one even more +difficult of mention, one on which Charley felt himself more absolutely +constrained to silence than even either of the other two. He was +sufficiently disinclined to speak to his cousin Alaric as to the merits +either of Mr. Jabesh M'Ruen or of Miss Geraghty, but he could have been +eloquent on either rather than whisper a word as to the third person who +stood between him and the L20,000. + +The school in which Charley now lived, that of the infernal navvies, +had taught him to laugh at romance; but it had not been so successful in +quelling the early feelings of his youth, in drying up the fountains of +poetry within him, as had been the case with his cousin, in that +other school in which he had been a scholar. Charley was a dissipated, +dissolute rake, and in some sense had degraded himself; but he had still +this chance of safety on his side, that he himself reprobated his own +sins. He dreamt of other things and a better life. He made visions to +himself of a sweet home, and a sweeter, sweetest, lovely wife; a love +whose hair should not be redolent of smoke, nor her hands reeking with +gin, nor her services at the demand of every libertine who wanted a +screw of tobacco, or a glass of 'cold without.' + +He had made such a vision to himself, and the angel with which he had +filled it was not a creature of his imagination. She who was to reign +in this ethereal paradise, this happy home, far as the poles away +from Norfolk Street, was a living being in the sublunar globe, present +sometimes to Charley's eyes, and now so often present to his thoughts; +and yet she was but a child, and as ignorant that she had ever touched a +lover's heart by her childish charms as though she had been a baby. + +After all, even on Charley's part, it was but a vision. He never really +thought that his young inamorata would or could be to him a real true +heart's companion, returning his love with the double love of a woman, +watching his health, curing his vices, and making the sweet things +of the world a living reality around him. This love of his was but +a vision, but not the less on that account did it interfere with his +cousin Alaric's proposition, in reference to Miss Clementina Golightly. + +That other love also, that squalid love of his, was in truth no +vision--was a stern, palpable reality, very difficult to get rid of, +and one which he often thought to himself would very probably swallow up +that other love, and drive his sweet dream far away into utter darkness +and dim chaotic space. + +But at any rate it was clear that there was no room in his heart for +the beauteous Clementina, 'doosed fine girl' as she undoubtedly was, and +serviceable as the L20,000 most certainly would have been. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--MORNING + + +On the morning after this conversation with Alaric, Charley left his +lodgings with a heavy heart, and wended his way towards Mecklenburg +Square. At the corner of Davies Street he got an omnibus, which for +fourpence took him to one of the little alleys near Gray's Inn, and +there he got down, and threading the well-known locality, through +Bedford Place and across Theobald's Road, soon found himself at the door +of his generous patron. Oh! how he hated the house; how he hated the +blear-eyed, cross-grained, dirty, impudent fish-fag of an old woman who +opened the door for him; how he hated Mr. Jabesh M'Ruen, to whom he now +came a supplicant for assistance, and how, above all, he hated himself +for being there. + +He was shown into Mr. M'Ruen's little front parlour, where he had to +wait for fifteen minutes, while his patron made such a breakfast as +generally falls to the lot of such men. We can imagine the rancid +butter, the stale befingered bread, the ha'porth of sky-blue milk, the +tea innocent of China's wrongs, and the soiled cloth. Mr. M'Ruen +always did keep Charley waiting fifteen minutes, and so he was no whit +surprised; the doing so was a part of the tremendous interest which the +wretched old usurer received for his driblets of money. + +There was not a bit of furniture in the room on which Charley had not +speculated till speculation could go no further; the old escritoire or +secretaire which Mr. M'Ruen always opened the moment he came into the +room; the rickety Pembroke table, covered with dirty papers which stood +in the middle of it; the horsehair-bottomed chairs, on which Charley +declined to sit down, unless he had on his thickest winter trousers, so +perpendicular had become some atoms on the surface, which, when new, had +no doubt been horizontal; the ornaments (!) on the chimney, broken bits +of filthy crockery, full of wisps of paper, with a china duck without a +tail, and a dog to correspond without a head; the pictures against +the wall, with their tarnished dingy frames and cracked glasses, +representing three of the Seasons; how the fourth had gone before its +time to its final bourne by an unhappy chance, Mr. M'Ruen had once +explained to Charley, while endeavouring to make his young customer +take the other three as a good value for L7 10s. in arranging a little +transaction, the total amount of which did not exceed L15. + +In that instance, however, Charley, who had already dabbled somewhat +deeply in dressing-cases, utterly refused to trade in the articles +produced. + +Charley stood with his back to the dog and duck, facing Winter, with +Spring on his right and Autumn on his left; it was well that Summer was +gone, no summer could have shed light on that miserable chamber. He knew +that he would have to wait, and was not therefore impatient, and at +the end of fifteen minutes Mr. M'Ruen shuffled into the room in his +slippers. + +He was a little man, with thin grey hair, which stood upright from his +narrow head--what his age might have been it was impossible to guess; he +was wizened, and dry, and grey, but still active enough on his legs +when he had exchanged his slippers for his shoes; and as keen in all his +senses as though years could never tell upon him. + +He always wore round his neck a stiff-starched deep white handkerchief, +not fastened with a bow in front, the ends being tucked in so as to be +invisible. This cravat not only covered his throat but his chin also, so +that his head seemed to grow forth from it without the aid of any neck; +and he had a trick of turning his face round within it, an inch or two +to the right or to the left, in a manner which seemed to indicate that +his cranium was loose and might be removed at pleasure. + +He shuffled into the room where Charley was standing with little +short quick steps, and putting out his hand, just touched that of his +customer, by way of going through the usual process of greeting. + +Some short statement must be made of Charley's money dealings with Mr. +M'Ruen up to this period. About two years back a tailor had an over-due +bill of his for L20, of which he was unable to obtain payment, and being +unwilling to go to law, or perhaps being himself in Mr. M'Ruen's +power, he passed this bill to that worthy gentleman--what amount of +consideration he got for it, it matters not now to inquire; Mr. M'Ruen +very shortly afterwards presented himself at the Internal Navigation, +and introduced himself to our hero. He did this with none of the +overbearing harshness of the ordinary dun, or the short caustic decision +of a creditor determined to resort to the utmost severity of the law. +He turned his head about and smiled, and just showed the end of the +bill peeping out from among a parcel of others, begged Mr. Tudor to be +punctual, he would only ask him to be punctual, and would in such case +do anything for him, and ended his visit by making an appointment to +meet Charley in the little street behind Mecklenburg Square. +Charley kept his appointment, and came away from Mr. M'Ruen's with a +well-contented mind. He had, it is true, left L5 behind him, and had +also left the bill, still entire; but he had obtained a promise of +unlimited assistance from the good-natured gentleman, and had also +received instructions how he was to get a brother clerk to draw a bill, +how he was to accept it himself, and how his patron was to discount it +for him, paying him real gold out of the Bank of England in exchange for +his worthless signature. + +Charley stepped lighter on the ground as he left Mr. M'Ruen's house +on that eventful morning than he had done for many a day. There was +something delightful in the feeling that he could make money of his name +in this way, as great bankers do of theirs, by putting it at the bottom +of a scrap of paper. He experienced a sort of pride too in having +achieved so respectable a position in the race of ruin which he was +running, as to have dealings with a bill-discounter. He felt that he was +putting himself on a par with great men, and rising above the low level +of the infernal navvies. Mr. M'Ruen had pulled the bill out of a heap +of bills which he always carried in his huge pocket-book, and showed to +Charley the name of an impoverished Irish peer on the back of it; and +the sight of that name had made Charley quite in love with rum. +He already felt that he was almost hand-and-glove with Lord +Mount-Coffeehouse; for it was a descendant of the nobleman so celebrated +in song. 'Only be punctual, Mr. Tudor; only be punctual, and I will +do anything for you,' Mr. M'Ruen had said, as Charley left the house. +Charley, however, never had been punctual, and yet his dealings with +Mr. M'Ruen had gone on from that day to this. What absolute money he had +ever received into his hand he could not now have said, but it was very +little, probably not amounting in all to L50. Yet he had already paid +during the two years more than double that sum to this sharp-clawed +vulture, and still owed him the amounts of more bills than he could +number. Indeed he had kept no account of these double-fanged little +documents; he had signed them whenever told to do so, and had even been +so preposterously foolish as to sign them in blank. All he knew was that +at the beginning of every quarter Mr. M'Ruen got nearly the half of his +little modicum of salary, and that towards the middle of it he usually +contrived to obtain an advance of some small, some very small sum, and +that when doing so he always put his hand to a fresh bit of paper. + +He was beginning to be heartily sick of the bill-discounter. His +intimacy with the lord had not yet commenced, nor had he experienced any +of the delights which he had expected to accrue to him from the higher +tone of extravagance in which he entered when he made Mr. M'Ruen's +acquaintance. And then the horrid fatal waste of time which he incurred +in pursuit of the few pounds which he occasionally obtained, filled even +his heart with a sort of despair. Morning after morning he would wait in +that hated room; and then day after day, at two o'clock, he would attend +the usurer's city haunt--and generally all in vain. The patience of Mr. +Snape was giving way, and the discipline even of the Internal Navigation +felt itself outraged. + +And now Charley stood once more in that dingy little front parlour in +which he had never yet seen a fire, and once more Mr. Jabesh M'Ruen +shuffled into the room in his big cravat and dirty loose slippers. + +'How d'ye do, Mr. Tudor, how d'ye do? I hope you have brought a little +of this with you;' and Jabesh opened out his left hand, and tapped the +palm of it with the middle finger of his right, by way of showing that +he expected some money: not that he did expect any, cormorant that he +was; this was not the period of the quarter in which he ever got money +from his customer. + +'Indeed I have not, Mr. M'Ruen; but I positively must get some.' + +'Oh--oh--oh--oh--Mr. Tudor--Mr. Tudor! How can we go on if you are +so unpunctual? Now I would do anything for you if you would only be +punctual.' + +'Oh! bother about that--you know your own game well enough.' + +'Be punctual, Mr. Tudor, only be punctual, and we shall be all +right--and so you have not got any of this?' and Jabesh went through the +tapping again. + +'Not a doit,' said Charley; 'but I shall be up the spout altogether if +you don't do something to help me.' + +'But you are so unpunctual, Mr. Tudor.' + +'Oh, d---- it; you'll make me sick if you say that again. What else do +you live by but that? But I positively must have some money from you +to-day. If not I am done for.' + +'I don't think I can, Mr. Tudor; not to-day, Mr. Tudor--some other day, +say this day month; that is, if you'll be punctual.' + +'This day month! no, but this very day, Mr. M'Ruen--why, you got L18 +from me when I received my last salary, and I have not had a shilling +back since.' + +'But you are so unpunctual, Mr. Tudor,' and Jabesh twisted his head +backwards and forwards within his cravat, rubbing his chin with the +interior starch. + +'Well, then, I'll tell you what it is,' said Charley, 'I'll be shot if +you get a shilling from me on the 1st of October, and you may sell me up +as quick as you please. If I don't give a history of your business that +will surprise some people, my name isn't Tudor.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mr. M'Ruen, with a soft quiet laugh. + +'Well, really, Mr. Tudor, I would do more for you than any other young +man that I know, if you were only a little more punctual. How much is it +you want now?' + +'L15--or L10--L10 will do.' + +'Ten pounds!' said Jabesh, as though Charley had asked for ten +thousand--'ten pounds!--if two or three would do--' + +'But two or three won't do.' + +'And whose name will you bring?' + +'Whose name! why Scatterall's, to be sure.' Now Scatterall was one of +the navvies; and from him Mr. M'Ruen had not yet succeeded in extracting +one farthing, though he had his name on a volume of Charley's bills. + +'Scatterall--I don't like Mr. Scatterall,' said Jabesh; 'he is very +dissipated, and the most unpunctual young man I ever met--you really +must get some one else, Mr. Tudor; you really must.' + +'Oh, that's nonsense--Scatterall is as good as anybody--I couldn't ask +any of the other fellows--they are such a low set.' + +'But Mr. Scatterall is so unpunctual. There's your cousin, Mr. Alaric +Tudor.' + +'My cousin Alaric! Oh, nonsense! you don't suppose I'd ask him to do +such a thing? You might as well tell me to go to my father.' + +'Or that other gentleman you live with; Mr. Norman. He is a most +punctual gentleman. Bring me his name, and I'll let you have L10 or +L8--I'll let you have L8 at once.' + +'I dare say you will, Mr. M'Ruen, or L80; and be only too happy to give +it me. But you know that is out of the question. Now I won't wait any +longer; just give me an answer to this: if I come to you in the city +will you let me have some money to-day? If you won't, why I must go +elsewhere--that's all.' + +The interview ended by an appointment being made for another meeting to +come off at two p.m. that day, at the 'Banks of Jordan,' a public-house +in Sweeting's Alley, as well known to Charley as the little front +parlour of Mr. M'Ruen's house. 'Bring the bill-stamp with you, Mr. +Tudor,' said Jabesh, by way of a last parting word of counsel; 'and let +Mr. Scatterall sign it--that is, if it must be Mr. Scatterall; but I +wish you would bring your cousin's name.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'Well, then, bring it signed--but I'll fill it; you young fellows +understand nothing of filling in a bill properly.' + +And then taking his leave the infernal navvy hurried off, and reached +his office in Somerset House at a quarter past eleven o'clock. As he +walked along he bought the bit of stamped paper on which his friend +Scatterall was to write his name. + +When he reached the office he found that a great commotion was going on. +Mr. Snape was standing up at his desk, and the first word which greeted +Charley's ears was an intimation from that gentleman that Mr. Oldeschole +had desired that Mr. Tudor, when he arrived, should be instructed to +attend in the board-room. + +'Very well,' said Charley, in a tone of great indifference, 'with all my +heart; I rather like seeing Oldeschole now and then. But he mustn't keep +me long, for I have to meet my grandmother at Islington at two o'clock;' +and Charley, having hung up his hat, prepared to walk off to the +Secretary's room. + +'You'll be good enough to wait a few minutes, Mr. Tudor,' said Snape. +'Another gentleman is with Mr. Oldeschole at present. You will be good +enough to sit down and go on with the Kennett and Avon lock entries, +till Mr. Oldeschole is ready to see you.' + +Charley sat down at his desk opposite to his friend Scatterall. 'I hope, +Mr. Snape, you had a pleasant meeting at evening prayers yesterday,' +said he, with a tone of extreme interest. + +'You had better mind the lock entries at present, Mr. Tudor; they are +greatly in arrear.' + +'And the evening meetings are docketed up as close as wax, I suppose. +What the deuce is in the wind, Dick?' Mr. Scatterall's Christian name +was Richard. 'Where's Corkscrew?' Mr. Corkscrew was also a navvy, and +was one of those to whom Charley had specially alluded when he spoke of +the low set. + +'Oh, here's a regular go,' said Scatterall. 'It's all up with Corkscrew, +I believe.' + +'Why, what's the cheese now?' + +'Oh! it's all about some pork chops, which Screwy had for supper last +night.' Screwy was a name of love which among his brother navvies was +given to Mr. Corkscrew. 'Mr. Snape seems to think they did not agree +with him.' + +'Pork chops in July!' exclaimed Charley. + +'Poor Screwy forgot the time of year,' said another navvy; 'he ought to +have called it lamb and grass.' + +And then the story was told. On the preceding afternoon, Mr. Corkscrew +had been subjected to the dire temptation of a boating party to the +Eel-pie Island for the following day, and a dinner thereon. There were +to be at the feast no less than four-and-twenty jolly souls, and it was +intimated to Mr. Corkscrew that as no soul was esteemed to be more jolly +than his own, the party would be considered as very imperfect unless he +could join it. Asking for a day's leave Mr. Corkscrew knew to be out +of the question; he had already taken too many without asking. He was +therefore driven to take another in the same way, and had to look about +for some excuse which might support him in his difficulty. An excuse it +must be, not only new, but very valid; one so strong that it could +not be overset; one so well avouched that it could not be doubted. +Accordingly, after mature consideration, he sat down after leaving his +office, and wrote the following letter, before he started on an evening +cruising expedition with some others of the party to prepare for the +next day's festivities. + +'Thursday morning,--July, 185-. + +'MY DEAR SIR, + +'I write from my bed where I am suffering a most tremendous +indiggestion, last night I eat a stunning supper off pork chopps and +never remembered that pork chopps always does disagree with me, but I +was very indiscrete and am now teetotally unable to rise my throbing +head from off my pillar, I have took four blu pills and some salts and +sena, plenty of that, and shall be the thing to-morrow morning no +doubt, just at present I feel just as if I had a mill stone inside my +stomac--Pray be so kind as to make it all right with Mr. Oldeschole and +believe me to remain, + +'Your faithful and obedient servant, + +'VERAX CORKSCREW. + +'Thomas Snape, Esq., &c., + +'Internal Navigation Office, Somerset House.' + +Having composed this letter of excuse, and not intending to return +to his lodgings that evening, he had to make provision for its safely +reaching the hands of Mr. Snape in due time on the following morning. +This he did, by giving it to the boy who came to clean the lodging-house +boots, with sundry injunctions that if he did not deliver it at the +office by ten o'clock on the following morning, the sixpence accruing to +him would never be paid. Mr. Corkscrew, however, said nothing as to the +letter not being delivered before ten the next morning, and as other +business took the boy along the Strand the same evening, he saw no +reason why he should not then execute his commission. He accordingly did +so, and duly delivered the letter into the hands of a servant girl, who +was cleaning the passages of the office. + +Fortune on this occasion was blind to the merits of Mr. Corkscrew, and +threw him over most unmercifully. It so happened that Mr. Snape had +been summoned to an evening conference with Mr. Oldeschole and the +other pundits of the office, to discuss with them, or rather to hear +discussed, some measure which they began to think it necessary to +introduce, for amending the discipline of the department. + +'We are getting a bad name, whether we deserve it or not,' said Mr. +Oldeschole. 'That fellow Hardlines has put us into his blue-book, and +now there's an article in the _Times_!' + +Just at this moment, a messenger brought in to Mr. Snape the unfortunate +letter of which we have given a copy. + +'What's that?' said Mr. Oldeschole. + +'A note from Mr. Corkscrew, sir,' said Snape. + +'He's the worst of the whole lot,' said Mr. Oldeschole. + +'He is very bad,' said Snape; 'but I rather think that perhaps, sir, Mr. +Tudor is the worst of all.' + +'Well, I don't know,' said the Secretary, muttering _sotto voce_ to the +Under-Secretary, while Mr. Snape read the letter--'Tudor, at any rate, +is a gentleman.' + +Mr. Snape read the letter, and his face grew very long. There was a sort +of sneaking civility about Corkscrew, not prevalent indeed at all +times, but which chiefly showed itself when he and Mr. Snape were alone +together, which somewhat endeared him to the elder clerk. He would have +screened the sinner had he had either the necessary presence of mind or +the necessary pluck. But he had neither. He did not know how to account +for the letter but by the truth, and he feared to conceal so flagrant a +breach of discipline at the moment of the present discussion. + +Things at any rate so turned out that Mr. Corkscrew's letter was read in +full conclave in the board-room of the office, just as he was describing +the excellence of his manoeuvre with great glee to four or five other +jolly souls at the 'Magpie and Stump.' + +At first it was impossible to prevent a fit of laughter, in which even +Mr. Snape joined; but very shortly the laughter gave way to the serious +considerations to which such an epistle was sure to give rise at such a +moment. What if Sir Gregory Hardlines should get hold of it and put it +into his blue-book! What if the _Times_ should print it and send it over +the whole world, accompanied by a few of its most venomous touches, +to the eternal disgrace of the Internal Navigation, and probably utter +annihilation of Mr. Oldeschole's official career! An example must be +made! + +Yes, an example must be made. Messengers were sent off scouring the town +for Mr. Corkscrew, and about midnight he was found, still true to the +'Magpie and Stump,' but hardly in condition to understand the misfortune +which had befallen him. So much as this, however, did make itself +manifest to him, that he must by no means join his jolly-souled brethren +at the Eel-pie Island, and that he must be at his office punctually at +ten o'clock the next morning if he had any intention of saving himself +from dismissal. When Charley arrived at his office, Mr. Corkscrew was +still with the authorities, and Charley's turn was to come next. + +Charley was rather a favourite with Mr. Oldeschole, having been +appointed by himself at the instance of Mr. Oldeschole's great friend, +Sir Gilbert de Salop; and he was, moreover, the best-looking of the +whole lot of navvies; but he was no favourite with Mr. Snape. + +'Poor Screwy--it will be all up with him,' said Charley. 'He might just +as well have gone on with his party and had his fun out.' + +'It will, I imagine, be necessary to make more than one example, Mr. +Tudor,' said Mr. Snape, with a voice of utmost severity. + +'A-a-a-men,' said Charley. 'If everything else fails, I think I'll go +into the green line. You couldn't give me a helping hand, could you, Mr. +Snape?' There was a rumour afloat in the office that Mr. Snape's wife +held some little interest in a small greengrocer's establishment. + +'Mr. Tudor to attend in the board-room, immediately,' said a fat +messenger, who opened the door wide with a start, and then stood with it +in his hand while he delivered the message. + +'All right,' said Charley; 'I'll tumble up and be with them in ten +seconds;' and then collecting together a large bundle of the arrears of +the Kennett and Avon lock entries, being just as much as he could carry, +he took the disordered papers and placed them on Mr. Snape's desk, +exactly over the paper on which he was writing, and immediately under +his nose. + +'Mr. Tudor--Mr. Tudor!' said Snape. + +'As I am to tear myself away from you, Mr. Snape, it is better that I +should hand over these valuable documents to your safe keeping. There +they are, Mr. Snape; pray see that you have got them all;' and +so saying, he left the room to attend to the high behests of Mr. +Oldeschole. + +As he went along the passages he met Verax Corkscrew returning from his +interview. 'Well, Screwy,' said he, 'and how fares it with you? Pork +chops are bad things in summer, ain't they?' + +'It's all U-P,' said Corkscrew, almost crying. 'I'm to go down to the +bottom, and I'm to stay at the office till seven o'clock every day for +a month; and old Foolscap says he'll ship me the next time I'm absent +half-an-hour without leave.' + +'Oh! is that all?' said Charley. 'If that's all you get for pork chops +and senna, I'm all right. I shouldn't wonder if I did not get promoted;' +and so he went in to his interview. + +What was the nature of the advice given him, what amount of caution he +was called on to endure, need not here be exactly specified. We all know +with how light a rod a father chastises the son he loves, let Solomon +have given what counsel he may to the contrary. Charley, in spite of his +manifold sins, was a favourite, and he came forth from the board-room an +unscathed man. In fact, he had been promoted as he had surmised, seeing +that Corkscrew who had been his senior was now his junior. He came forth +unscathed, and walking with an easy air into his room, put his hat on +his head and told his brother clerks that he should be there to-morrow +morning at ten, or at any rate soon after. + +'And where are you going now, Mr. Tudor?' said Snape. + +'To meet my grandmother at Islington, if you please, sir,' said Charley. +'I have permission from Mr. Oldeschole to attend upon her for the rest +of the day--perhaps you would like to ask him.' And so saying he went +off to his appointment with Mr. M'Ruen at the 'Banks of Jordan.' + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--AFTERNOON + + +The 'Banks of Jordan' was a public-house in the city, which from its +appearance did not seem to do a very thriving trade; but as it was +carried on from year to year in the same dull, monotonous, dead-alive +sort of fashion, it must be surmised that some one found an interest in +keeping it open. + +Charley, when he entered the door punctually at two o'clock, saw that it +was as usual nearly deserted. One long, lanky, middle-aged man, seedy as +to his outward vestments, and melancholy in countenance, sat at one of +the tables. But he was doing very little good for the establishment: +he had no refreshment of any kind before him, and was intent only on a +dingy pocket-book in which he was making entries with a pencil. + +You enter the 'Banks of Jordan' by two folding doors in a corner of a +very narrow alley behind the Exchange. As you go in, you observe on +your left a little glass partition, something like a large cage, inside +which, in a bar, are four or five untempting-looking bottles; and also +inside the cage, on a chair, is to be seen a quiet-looking female, who +is invariably engaged in the manufacture of some white article of inward +clothing. Anything less like the flashy-dressed bar-maidens of the +western gin palaces it would be difficult to imagine. To this encaged +sempstress no one ever speaks unless it be to give a rare order for a +mutton chop or pint of stout. And even for this she hardly stays her +sewing for a moment, but touches a small bell, and the ancient waiter, +who never shows himself but when called for, and who is the only other +inhabitant of the place ever visible, receives the order from her +through an open pane in the cage as quietly as she received it from her +customer. + +The floor of the single square room of the establishment is sanded, and +the tables are ranged round the walls, each table being fixed to the +floor, and placed within wooden partitions, by which the occupier is +screened from any inquiring eyes on either side. + +Such was Mr. Jabesh M'Ruen's house-of-call in the city, and of many a +mutton chop and many a pint of stout had Charley partaken there while +waiting for the man of money. To him it seemed to be inexcusable to sit +down in a public inn and call for nothing; he perceived, however, +that the large majority of the frequenters of the 'Banks of Jordan' so +conducted themselves. + +He was sufficiently accustomed to the place to know how to give his +orders without troubling that diligent barmaid, and had done so about +ten minutes when Jabesh, more punctual than usual, entered the place. +This Charley regarded as a promising sign of forthcoming cash. It very +frequently happened that he waited there an hour, and that after all +Jabesh would not come; and then the morning visit to Mecklenburg Square +had to be made again; and so poor Charley's time, or rather the time of +his poor office, was cut up, wasted, and destroyed. + +'A mutton chop!' said Mr. M'Ruen, looking at Charley's banquet. 'A very +nice thing indeed in the middle of the day. I don't mind if I have one +myself,' and so Charley had to order another chop and more stout. + +'They have very nice sherry here, excellent sherry,' said M'Ruen. 'The +best, I think, in the city--that's why I come here.' + +'Upon my honour, Mr. M'Ruen, I shan't have money to pay for it until I +get some from you,' said Charley, as he called for a pint of sherry. + +'Never mind, John, never mind the sherry to-day,' said M'Ruen. 'Mr. +Tudor is very kind, but I'll take beer;' and the little man gave a laugh +and twisted his head, and ate his chop and drank his stout, as though +he found that both were very good indeed. When he had finished, Charley +paid the bill and discovered that he was left with ninepence in his +pocket. + +And then he produced the bill stamp. 'Waiter,' said he, 'pen and ink,' +and the waiter brought pen and ink. + +'Not to-day,' said Jabesh, wiping his mouth with the table-cloth. 'Not +to-day, Mr. Tudor--I really haven't time to go into it to-day--and I +haven't brought the other bills with me; I quite forgot to bring the +other bills with me, and I can do nothing without them,' and Mr. M'Ruen +got up to go. + +But this was too much for Charley. He had often before bought bill +stamps in vain, and in vain had paid for mutton chops and beer for Mr. +M'Ruen's dinner; but he had never before, when doing so, been so hard +pushed for money as he was now. He was determined to make a great +attempt to gain his object. + +'Nonsense,' said he, getting up and standing so as to prevent M'Ruen +from leaving the box; 'that's d---- nonsense.' + +'Oh! don't swear,' said M'Ruen--'pray don't take God's name in vain; I +don't like it.' + +'I shall swear, and to some purpose too, if that's your game. Now look +here----' + +'Let me get up, and we'll talk of it as we go to the bank--you are so +unpunctual, you know.' + +'D---- your punctuality.' + +'Oh! don't swear, Mr. Tudor.' + +'Look here--if you don't let me have this money to-day, by all that is +holy I will never pay you a farthing again--not one farthing; I'll go +into the court, and you may get your money as you can.' + +'But, Mr. Tudor, let me get up, and we'll talk about it in the street, +as we go along.' + +'There's the stamp,' said Charley. 'Fill it up, and then I'll go with +you to the bank.' + +M'Ruen took the bit of paper, and twisted it over and over again in his +hand, considering the while whether he had yet squeezed out of the young +man all that could be squeezed with safety, or whether by an additional +turn, by giving him another small advancement, he might yet get +something more. He knew that Tudor was in a very bad state, that he was +tottering on the outside edge of the precipice; but he also knew that +he had friends. Would his friends when they came forward to assist their +young Pickle out of the mire, would they pay such bills as these or +would they leave poor Jabesh to get his remedy at law? That was the +question which Mr. M'Ruen had to ask and to answer. He was not one of +those noble vultures who fly at large game, and who are willing to run +considerable risk in pursuit of their prey. Mr. M'Ruen avoided courts of +law as much as he could, and preferred a small safe trade; one in which +the fall of a single customer could never be ruinous to him; in which +he need run no risk of being transported for forgery, incarcerated for +perjury, or even, if possibly it might be avoided, gibbeted by some +lawyer or judge for his malpractices. + +'But you are so unpunctual,' he said, having at last made up his mind +that he had made a very good thing of Charley, and that probably he +might go a _little_ further without much danger. 'I wish to oblige you, +Mr. Tudor; but pray do be punctual;' and so saying he slowly spread the +little document before him, across which Scatterall had already scrawled +his name, and slowly began to write in the date. Slowly, with his head +low down over the table, and continually twisting it inside his cravat, +he filled up the paper, and then looking at it with the air of a +connoisseur in such matters, he gave it to Charley to sign. + +'But you haven't put in the amount,' said Charley. + +Mr. M'Ruen twisted his head and laughed. He delighted in playing with +his game as a fisherman does with a salmon. 'Well--no--I haven't put in +the amount yet. Do you sign it, and I'll do that at once.' + +'I'll do it,' said Charley; 'I'll say L15, and you'll give me L10 on +that.' + +'No, no, no!' said Jabesh, covering the paper over with his hands; 'you +young men know nothing of filling bills; just sign it, Mr. Tudor, and +I'll do the rest.' And so Charley signed it, and then M'Ruen, again +taking the pen, wrote in 'fifteen pounds' as the recognized amount of +the value of the document. He also took out his pocket-book and filled +a cheque, but he was very careful that Charley should not see the amount +there written. 'And now,' said he, 'we will go to the bank.' + +As they made their way to the house in Lombard Street which Mr. M'Ruen +honoured by his account, Charley insisted on knowing how much he was to +have for the bill. Jabesh suggested L3 10s.; Charley swore he would take +nothing less than L8; but by the time they had arrived at the bank, it +had been settled that L5 was to be paid in cash, and that Charley was +to have the three Seasons for the balance whenever he chose to send for +them. When Charley, as he did at first, positively refused to accede +to these terms, Mr. M'Ruen tendered him back the bill, and reminded +him with a plaintive voice that he was so unpunctual, so extremely +unpunctual. + +Having reached the bank, which the money-lender insisted on Charley +entering with him, Mr. M'Ruen gave the cheque across the counter, and +wrote on the back of it the form in which he would take the money, +whereupon a note and five sovereigns were handed to him. The cheque +was for L15, and was payable to C. Tudor, Esq., so that proof might be +forthcoming at a future time, if necessary, that he had given to his +customer full value for the bill. Then in the outer hall of the bank, +unseen by the clerks, he put, one after another, slowly and unwillingly, +four sovereigns into Charley's hand. + +'The other--where's the other?' said Charley. + +Jabesh smiled sweetly and twisted his head. + +'Come, give me the other,' said Charley roughly. + +'Four is quite enough, quite enough for what you want; and remember my +time, Mr. Tudor; you should remember my time.' + +'Give me the other sovereign,' said Charley, taking hold of the front of +his coat. + +'Well, well, you shall have ten shillings; but I want the rest for a +purpose.' + +'Give me the sovereign,' said Charley, 'or I'll drag you in before them +all in the bank and expose you; give me the other sovereign, I say.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mr. M'Ruen; 'I thought you liked a joke, Mr. +Tudor. Well, here it is. And now do be punctual, pray do be punctual, +and I'll do anything I can for you.' + +And then they parted, Charley going westward towards his own haunts, and +M'Ruen following his daily pursuits in the city. + +Charley had engaged to pull up to Avis's at Putney with Harry Norman, +to dine there, take a country walk, and row back in the cool of the +evening; and he had promised to call at the Weights and Measures with +that object punctually at five. + +'You can get away in time for that, I suppose,' said Harry. + +'Well, I'll try and manage it,' said Charley, laughing. + +Nothing could be kinder, nay, more affectionate, than Norman had been to +his fellow-lodger during the last year and a half. It seemed as though +he had transferred to Alaric's cousin all the friendship which he had +once felt for Alaric; and the deeper were Charley's sins of idleness and +extravagance, the wider grew Norman's forgiveness, and the more sincere +his efforts to befriend him. As one result of this, Charley was already +deep in his debt. Not that Norman had lent him money, or even paid bills +for him; but the lodgings in which they lived had been taken by Norman, +and when the end of the quarter came he punctually paid his landlady. + +Charley had once, a few weeks before the period of which we are now +writing, told Norman that he had no money to pay his long arrear, and +that he would leave the lodgings and shift for himself as best he could. +He had said the same thing to Mrs. Richards, the landlady, and had gone +so far as to pack up all his clothes; but his back was no sooner turned +than Mrs. Richards, under Norman's orders, unpacked them all, and hid +away the portmanteau. It was well for him that this was done. He had +bespoken for himself a bedroom at the public-house in Norfolk Street, +and had he once taken up his residence there he would have been ruined +for ever. + +He was still living with Norman, and ever increasing his debt. In his +misery at this state of affairs, he had talked over with Harry all +manner of schemes for increasing his income, but he had never told him +a word about Mr. M'Ruen. Why his salary, which was now L150 per annum, +should not be able to support him, Norman never asked. Charley the while +was very miserable, and the more miserable he was, the less he found +himself able to rescue himself from his dissipation. What moments of +ease he had were nearly all spent in Norfolk Street; and such being the +case how could he abstain from going there? + +'Well, Charley, and how do 'Crinoline and Macassar' go on?' said Norman, +as they sauntered away together up the towing-path above Putney. Now +there were those who had found out that Charley Tudor, in spite of his +wretched, idle, vagabond mode of life, was no fool; indeed, that there +was that talent within him which, if turned to good account, might +perhaps redeem him from ruin and set him on his legs again; at least +so thought some of his friends, among whom Mrs. Woodward was the most +prominent. She insisted that if he would make use of his genius he +might employ his spare time to great profit by writing for magazines or +periodicals; and, inspirited by so flattering a proposition, Charley had +got himself introduced to the editor of a newly-projected publication. +At his instance he was to write a tale for approval, and 'Crinoline and +Macassar' was the name selected for his first attempt. + +The affair had been fully talked over at Hampton, and it had been +arranged that the young author should submit his story, when completed, +to the friendly criticism of the party assembled at Surbiton Cottage, +before he sent it to the editor. He had undertaken to have 'Crinoline +and Macassar' ready for perusal on the next Saturday, and in spite of +Mr. M'Ruen and Norah Geraghty, he had really been at work. + +'Will it be finished by Saturday, Charley?' said Norman. + +'Yes--at least I hope so; but if that's not done, I have another all +complete.' + +'Another! and what is that called?' + +'Oh, that's a very short one,' said Charley, modestly. + +'But, short as it is, it must have a name, I suppose. What's the name of +the short one?' + +'Why, the name is long enough; it's the longest part about it. The +editor gave me the name, you know, and then I had to write the +story. It's to be called "Sir Anthony Allan-a-dale and the Baron of +Ballyporeen."' + +'Oh! two rival knights in love with the same lady, of course,' and Harry +gave a gentle sigh as he thought of his own still unhealed grief. 'The +scene is laid in Ireland, I presume?' + +'No, not in Ireland; at least not exactly. I don't think the scene is +laid anywhere in particular; it's up in a mountain, near a castle. There +isn't any lady in it--at least, not alive.' + +'Heavens, Charley! I hope you are not dealing with dead women.' + +'No--that is, I have to bring them to life again. I'll tell you how it +is. In the first paragraph, Sir Anthony Allan-a-dale is lying dead, and +the Baron of Ballyporeen is standing over him with a bloody sword. You +must always begin with an incident now, and then hark back for your +explanation and description; that's what the editor says is the great +secret of the present day, and where we beat all the old fellows that +wrote twenty years ago.' + +'Oh!--yes--I see. They used to begin at the beginning; that was very +humdrum.' + +'A devilish bore, you know, for a fellow who takes up a novel because +he's dull. Of course he wants his fun at once. If you begin with a long +history of who's who and all that, why he won't read three pages; but if +you touch him up with a startling incident or two at the first go off, +then give him a chapter of horrors, then another of fun, then a little +love or a little slang, or something of that sort, why, you know, about +the end of the first volume, you may describe as much as you like, and +tell everything about everybody's father and mother for just as many +pages as you want to fill. At least that's what the editor says.' + +'_Meleager ab ovo_ may be introduced with safety when you get as far as +that,' suggested Norman. + +'Yes, you may bring him in too, if you like,' said Charley, who was +somewhat oblivious of his classicalities. 'Well, Sir Anthony is lying +dead and the Baron is standing over him, when out come Sir Anthony's +retainers----' + +'Out--out of what?' + +'Out of the castle: that's all explained afterwards. Out come the +retainers, and pitch into the Baron till they make mincemeat of him.' + +'They don't kill him, too?' + +'Don't they though? I rather think they do, and no mistake.' + +'And so both your heroes are dead in the first chapter.' + +'First chapter! why that's only the second paragraph. I'm only to be +allowed ten paragraphs for each number, and I am expected to have an +incident for every other paragraph for the first four days.' + +'That's twenty incidents.' + +'Yes--it's a great bother finding so many.--I'm obliged to make the +retainers come by all manner of accidents; and I should never have +finished the job if I hadn't thought of setting the castle on fire. 'And +now forked tongues of liquid fire, and greedy lambent flames burst forth +from every window of the devoted edifice. The devouring element----.' +That's the best passage in the whole affair.' + +'This is for the _Daily Delight_, isn't it?' + +'Yes, for the _Daily Delight_. It is to begin on the 1st of September +with the partridges. We expect a most tremendous sale. It will be the +first halfpenny publication in the market, and as the retailers will get +them for sixpence a score--twenty-four to the score--they'll go off like +wildfire.' + +'Well, Charley, and what do you do with the dead bodies of your two +heroes?' + +'Of course I needn't tell you that it was not the Baron who killed Sir +Anthony at all.' + +'Oh! wasn't it? O dear--that was a dreadful mistake on the part of the +retainers.' + +'But as natural as life. You see these two grandees were next-door +neighbours, and there had been a feud between the families for seven +centuries--a sort of Capulet and Montague affair. One Adelgitha, the +daughter of the Thane of Allan-a-dale--there were Thanes in those +days, you know--was betrothed to the eldest son of Sir Waldemar de +Ballyporeen. This gives me an opportunity of bringing in a succinct +little account of the Conquest, which will be beneficial to the lower +classes. The editor peremptorily insists upon that kind of thing.' + +'_Omne tulit punctum_,' said Norman. + +'Yes, I dare say,' said Charley, who was now too intent on his own new +profession to attend much to his friend's quotation. 'Well, where was +I?--Oh! the eldest son of Sir Waldemar went off with another lady and so +the feud began. There is a very pretty scene between Adelgitha and her +lady's-maid.' + +'What, seven centuries before the story begins?' + +'Why not? The editor says that the unities are altogether thrown over +now, and that they are regular bosh--our game is to stick in a good bit +whenever we can get it--I got to be so fond of Adelgitha that I rather +think she's the heroine.' + +'But doesn't that take off the interest from your dead grandees?' + +'Not a bit; I take it chapter and chapter about. Well, you see, the +retainers had no sooner made mincemeat of the Baron--a very elegant +young man was the Baron, just returned from the Continent, where he had +learnt to throw aside all prejudices about family feuds and everything +else, and he had just come over in a friendly way, to say as much to Sir +Anthony, when, as he crossed the drawbridge, he stumbled over the corpse +of his ancient enemy--well, the retainers had no sooner made mincemeat +of him, than they perceived that Sir Anthony was lying with an open +bottle in his hand, and that he had taken poison.' + +'Having committed suicide?' asked Norman. + +'No, not at all. The editor says that we must always have a slap at some +of the iniquities of the times. He gave me three or four to choose from; +there was the adulteration of food, and the want of education for the +poor, and street music, and the miscellaneous sale of poisons.' + +'And so you chose poisons and killed the knight?' + +'Exactly; at least I didn't kill him, for he comes all right again after +a bit. He had gone out to get something to do him good after a hard +night, a Seidlitz powder, or something of that sort, and an apothecary's +apprentice had given him prussic acid in mistake.' + +'And how is it possible he should have come to life after taking prussic +acid?' + +'Why, there I have a double rap at the trade. The prussic acid is so +bad of its kind, that it only puts him into a kind of torpor for a week. +Then we have the trial of the apothecary's boy; that is an excellent +episode, and gives me a grand hit at the absurdity of our criminal +code.' + +'Why, Charley, it seems to me that you are hitting at everything.' + +'Oh! ah! right and left, that's the game for us authors. The press is +the only _censor morum_ going now--and who so fit? Set a thief to catch +a thief, you know. Well, I have my hit at the criminal code, and then +Sir Anthony comes out of his torpor.' + +'But how did it come to pass that the Baron's sword was all bloody?' + +'Ah, there was the difficulty; I saw that at once. It was necessary to +bring in something to be killed, you know. I thought of a stray tiger +out of Wombwell's menagerie; but the editor says that we must not +trespass against the probabilities; so I have introduced a big dog. The +Baron had come across a big dog, and seeing that the brute had a wooden +log tied to his throat, thought he must be mad, and so he killed him.' + +'And what's the end of it, Charley?' + +'Why, the end is rather melancholy. Sir Anthony reforms, leaves off +drinking, and takes to going to church everyday. He becomes a Puseyite, +puts up a memorial window to the Baron, and reads the Tracts. At last +he goes over to the Pope, walks about in nasty dirty clothes all full +of vermin, and gives over his estate to Cardinal Wiseman. Then there are +the retainers; they all come to grief, some one way and some another. I +do that for the sake of the Nemesis.' + +'I would not have condescended to notice them, I think,' said Norman. + +'Oh! I must; there must be a Nemesis. The editor specially insists on a +Nemesis.' + +The conclusion of Charley's novel brought them back to the boat. Norman, +when he started, had intended to employ the evening in giving good +counsel to his friend, and in endeavouring to arrange some scheme by +which he might rescue the brand from the burning; but he had not the +heart to be severe and sententious while Charley was full of his fun. +It was so much pleasanter to talk to him on the easy terms of equal +friendship than turn Mentor and preach a sermon. + +'Well, Charley,' said he, as they were walking up from the boat +wharf--Norman to his club, and Charley towards his lodgings--from which +route, however, he meant to deviate as soon as ever he might be left +alone--'well, Charley, I wish you success with all my heart; I wish you +could do something--I won't say to keep you out of mischief.' + +'I wish I could, Harry,' said Charley, thoroughly abashed; 'I wish I +could--indeed I wish I could--but it is so hard to go right when one has +begun to go wrong.' + +'It is hard; I know it is.' + +'But you never can know how hard, Harry, for you have never tried,' and +then they went on walking for a while in silence, side by side. + +'You don't know the sort of place that office of mine is,' continued +Charley. 'You don't know the sort of fellows the men are. I hate the +place; I hate the men I live with. It is all so dirty, so disreputable, +so false. I cannot conceive that any fellow put in there as young as I +was should ever do well afterwards.' + +'But at any rate you might try your best, Charley.' + +'Yes, I might do that still; and I know I don't; and where should I have +been now, if it hadn't been for you?' + +'Never mind about that; I sometimes think we might have done more for +each other if we had been more together. But remember the motto you +said you'd choose, Charley--Excelsior! We can none of us mount the hill +without hard labour. Remember that word, Charley--Excelsior! Remember it +now--now, to-night; remember how you dream of higher things, and begin +to think of them in your waking moments also;' and so they parted. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A DAY WITH ONE OF THE NAVVIES.--EVENING + + 'Excelsior!' said Charley to himself, as he walked on a few +steps towards his lodgings, having left Norman at the door of his club. +'Remember it now--now, to-night.' + +Yes--now is the time to remember it, if it is ever to be remembered +to any advantage. He went on with stoic resolution to the end of the +street, determined to press home and put the last touch to 'Crinoline +and Macassar;' but as he went he thought of his interview with Mr. +M'Ruen and of the five sovereigns still in his pocket, and altered his +course. + +Charley had not been so resolute with the usurer, so determined to get +L5 from him on this special day, without a special object in view. His +credit was at stake in a more than ordinary manner; he had about a week +since borrowed money from the woman who kept the public-house in Norfolk +Street, and having borrowed it for a week only, felt that this was a +debt of honour which it was incumbent on him to pay. Therefore, when he +had walked the length of one street on his road towards his lodgings, he +retraced his steps and made his way back to his old haunts. + +The house which he frequented was hardly more like a modern London +gin-palace than was that other house in the city which Mr. M'Ruen +honoured with his custom. It was one of those small tranquil shrines +of Bacchus in which the god is worshipped perhaps with as constant a +devotion, though with less noisy demonstrations of zeal than in his +larger and more public temples. None absolutely of the lower orders +were encouraged to come thither for oblivion. It had about it nothing +inviting to the general eye. No gas illuminations proclaimed its +midnight grandeur. No huge folding doors, one set here and another +there, gave ingress and egress to a wretched crowd of poverty-stricken +midnight revellers. No reiterated assertions in gaudy letters, each a +foot long, as to the peculiar merits of the old tom or Hodge's cream of +the valley, seduced the thirsty traveller. The panelling over the window +bore the simple announcement, in modest letters, of the name of the +landlady, Mrs. Davis; and the same name appeared with equal modesty on +the one gas lamp opposite the door. + +Mrs. Davis was a widow, and her customers were chiefly people who knew +her and frequented her house regularly. Lawyers' clerks, who were either +unmarried, or whose married homes were perhaps not so comfortable as the +widow's front parlour; tradesmen, not of the best sort, glad to get away +from the noise of their children; young men who had begun the cares of +life in ambiguous positions, just on the confines of respectability, and +who, finding themselves too weak in flesh to cling on to the round of +the ladder above them, were sinking from year to year to lower steps, +and depths even below the level of Mrs. Davis's public-house. To these +might be added some few of a somewhat higher rank in life, though +perhaps of a lower rank of respectability; young men who, like Charley +Tudor and his comrades, liked their ease and self-indulgence, and were +too indifferent as to the class of companions against whom they might +rub their shoulders while seeking it. + +The 'Cat and Whistle,' for such was the name of Mrs. Davis's +establishment, had been a house of call for the young men of the +Internal Navigation long before Charley's time. What first gave rise to +the connexion it is not now easy to say; but Charley had found it, and +had fostered it into a close alliance, which greatly exceeded any amount +of intimacy which existed previously to his day. + +It must not be presumed that he, in an ordinary way, took his place +among the lawyers' clerks, and general run of customers in the front +parlour; occasionally he condescended to preside there over the quiet +revels, to sing a song for the guests, which was sure to be applauded to +the echo, and to engage in a little skirmish of politics with a retired +lamp-maker and a silversmith's foreman from the Strand, who always +called him 'Sir,' and received what he said with the greatest respect; +but, as a rule, he quaffed his Falernian in a little secluded parlour +behind the bar, in which sat the widow Davis, auditing her accounts in +the morning, and giving out orders in the evening to Norah Geraghty, her +barmaid, and to an attendant sylph, who ministered to the front parlour, +taking in goes of gin and screws of tobacco, and bringing out the price +thereof with praiseworthy punctuality. + +Latterly, indeed, Charley had utterly deserted the front parlour; for +there had come there a pestilent fellow, highly connected with the +Press, as the lamp-maker declared, but employed as an assistant +shorthand-writer somewhere about the Houses of Parliament, according to +the silversmith, who greatly interfered with our navvy's authority. +He would not at all allow that what Charley said was law, entertained +fearfully democratic principles of his own, and was not at all the +gentleman. So Charley drew himself up, declined to converse any further +on politics with a man who seemed to know more about them than himself, +and confined himself exclusively to the inner room. + +On arriving at this elysium, on the night in question, he found Mrs. +Davis usefully engaged in darning a stocking, while Scatterall sat +opposite with a cigar in his mouth, his hat over his nose, and a glass +of gin and water before him. + +'I began to think you weren't coming,' said Scatterall, 'and I was +getting so deuced dull that I was positively thinking of going home.' + +'That's very civil of you, Mr. Scatterall,' said the widow. + +'Well, you've been sitting there for the last half-hour without saying +a word to me; and it is dull. Looking at a woman mending stockings is +dull, ain't it, Charley?' + +'That depends,' said Charley, 'partly on whom the woman may be, and +partly on whom the man may be. Where's Norah, Mrs. Davis?' + +'She's not very well to-night; she has got a headache; there ain't many +of them here to-night, so she's lying down.' + +'A little seedy, I suppose,' said Scatterall. + +Charley felt rather angry with his friend for applying such an epithet +to his lady-love; however, he did not resent it, but sitting down, +lighted his pipe and sipped his gin and water. + +And so they sat for the next quarter of an hour, saying very little to +each other. What was the nature of the attraction which induced two such +men as Charley Tudor and Dick Scatterall to give Mrs. Davis the benefit +of their society, while she was mending her stockings, it might be +difficult to explain. They could have smoked in their own rooms as well, +and have drunk gin and water there, if they had any real predilection +for that mixture. Mrs. Davis was neither young nor beautiful, nor more +than ordinarily witty. Charley, it is true, had an allurement to entice +him thither, but this could not be said of Scatterall, to whom the +lovely Norah was never more than decently civil. Had they been desired, +in their own paternal halls, to sit and see their mother's housekeeper +darn the family stockings, they would, probably, both of them have +rebelled, even though the supply of tobacco and gin and water should be +gratuitous and unlimited. + +It must be presumed that the only charm of the pursuit was in its +acknowledged impropriety. They both understood that there was something +fast in frequenting Mrs. Davis's inner parlour, something slow in +remaining at home; and so they both sat there, and Mrs. Davis went on +with her darning-needle, nothing abashed. + +'Well, I think I shall go,' said Scatterall, shaking off the last ash +from the end of his third cigar. + +'Do,' said Charley; 'you should be careful, you know; late hours will +hurt your complexion.' + +'It's so deuced dull,' said Scatterall. + +'Why don't you go into the parlour, and have a chat with the gentlemen?' +suggested Mrs. Davis; 'there's Mr. Peppermint there now, lecturing about +the war; upon my word he talks very well.' + +'He's so deuced low,' said Scatterall. + +'He's a bumptious noisy blackguard too,' said Charley; 'he doesn't know +how to speak to a gentleman, when he meets one.' + +Scatterall gave a great yawn. 'I suppose you're not going, Charley?' +said he. + +'Oh yes, I am,' said Charley, 'in about two hours.' + +'Two hours! well, good night, old fellow, for I'm off. Three cigars, +Mrs. Davis, and two goes of gin and water, the last cold.' Then, having +made this little commercial communication to the landlady, he gave +another yawn, and took himself away. Mrs. Davis opened her little book, +jotted down the items, and then, having folded up her stockings, and put +them into a basket, prepared herself for conversation. + +But, though Mrs. Davis prepared herself for conversation, she did not +immediately commence it. Having something special to say, she probably +thought that she might improve her opportunity of saying it by allowing +Charley to begin. She got up and pottered about the room, went to a +cupboard, and wiped a couple of glasses, and then out into the bar and +arranged the jugs and pots. This done, she returned to the little room, +and again sat herself down in her chair. + +'Here's your five pounds, Mrs. Davis,' said Charley; 'I wish you knew +the trouble I have had to get it for you.' + +To give Mrs. Davis her due, this was not the subject on which she was +anxious to speak. She would have been at present well inclined that +Charley should remain her debtor. 'Indeed, Mr. Tudor, I am very sorry +you should have taken any trouble on such a trifle. If you're short of +money, it will do for me just as well in October.' + +Charley looked at the sovereigns, and bethought himself how very short +of cash he was. Then he thought of the fight he had had to get them, in +order that he might pay the money which he had felt so ashamed of having +borrowed, and he determined to resist the temptation. + +'Did you ever know me flush of cash? You had better take them while you +can get them,' and as he pushed them across the table with his stick, he +remembered that all he had left was ninepence. + +'I don't want the money at present, Mr. Tudor,' said the widow. 'We're +such old friends that there ought not to be a word between us about such +a trifle--now don't leave yourself bare; take what you want and settle +with me at quarter-day.' + +'Well, I'll take a sovereign,' said he, 'for to tell you the truth, I +have only the ghost of a shilling in my pocket.' And so it was settled; +Mrs. Davis reluctantly pocketed four of Mr. M'Ruen's sovereigns, and +Charley kept in his own possession the fifth, as to which he had had so +hard a combat in the lobby of the bank. + +He then sat silent for a while and smoked, and Mrs. Davis again waited +for him to begin the subject on which she wished to speak. 'And what's +the matter with Norah all this time?' he said at last. + +'What's the matter with her?' repeated Mrs. Davis. 'Well, I think you +might know what's the matter with her. You don't suppose she's made of +stone, do you?' + +Charley saw that he was in for it. It was in vain that Norman's last +word was still ringing in his ears. 'Excelsior!' What had he to do with +'Excelsior?' What miserable reptile on God's earth was more prone to +crawl downwards than he had shown himself to be? And then again a vision +floated across his mind's eye of a young sweet angel face with large +bright eyes, with soft delicate skin, and all the exquisite charms of +gentle birth and gentle nurture. A single soft touch seemed to press +his arm, a touch that he had so often felt, and had never felt without +acknowledging to himself that there was something in it almost divine. +All this passed rapidly through his mind, as he was preparing to answer +Mrs. Davis's question touching Norah Geraghty. + +'You don't think she's made of stone, do you?' said the widow, repeating +her words. + +'Indeed I don't think she's made of anything but what's suitable to a +very nice young woman,' said Charley. + +'A nice young woman! Is that all you can say for her? I call her a very +fine girl.' Miss Golightly's friends could not say anything more, even +for that young lady. 'I don't know where you'll pick up a handsomer, or +a better-conducted one either, for the matter of that.' + +'Indeed she is,' said Charley. + +'Oh! for the matter of that, no one knows it better than yourself, Mr. +Tudor; and she's as well able to keep a man's house over his head as +some others that take a deal of pride in themselves.' + +'I'm quite sure of it,' said Charley. + +'Well, the long and the short of it is this, Mr. Tudor.' And as she +spoke the widow got a little red in the face: she had, as Charley +thought, an unpleasant look of resolution about her--a roundness about +her mouth, and a sort of fierceness in her eyes. 'The long and the short +of it is this, Mr. Tudor, what do you mean to do about the girl?' + +'Do about her?' said Charley, almost bewildered in his misery. + +'Yes, do about her. Do you mean to make her your wife? That's plain +English. Because I'll tell you what: I'll not see her put upon any +longer. It must be one thing or the other; and that at once. And +if you've a grain of honour in you, Mr. Tudor--and I think you are +honourable--you won't back from your word with the girl now.' + +'Back from my word?' said Charley. + +'Yes, back from your word,' said Mrs. Davis, the flood-gates of whose +eloquence were now fairly opened. 'I'm sure you're too much of the +gentleman to deny your own words, and them repeated more than once in my +presence--Cheroots--yes, are there none there, child?--Oh, they are in +the cupboard.' These last words were not part of her address to Charley, +but were given in reply to a requisition from the attendant nymph +outside. 'You're too much of a gentleman to do that, I know. And so, as +I'm her natural friend--and indeed she's my cousin, not that far off--I +think it's right that we should all understand one another.' + +'Oh, quite right,' said Charley. + +'You can't expect that she should go and sacrifice herself for you, you +know,' said Mrs. Davis, who now that she had begun hardly knew how to +stop herself. 'A girl's time is her money. She's at her best now, and +a girl like her must make her hay while the sun shines. She can't go +on fal-lalling with you, and then nothing to come of it. You mustn't +suppose she's to lose her market that way.' + +'God knows I should be sorry to injure her, Mrs. Davis.' + +'I believe you would, because I take you for an honourable gentleman as +will be as good as your word. Now, there's Peppermint there.' + +'What! that fellow in the parlour?' + +'And an honourable gentleman he is. Not that I mean to compare him to +you, Mr. Tudor, nor yet doesn't Norah; not by no means. But there he is. +Well, he comes with the most honourablest proposals, and will make her +Mrs. Peppermint to-morrow, if so be that she'll have it.' + +'You don't mean to say that there has been anything between them?' said +Charley, who in spite of the intense desire which he had felt a few +minutes since to get the lovely Norah altogether off his hands, now felt +an acute pang of jealousy.' You don't mean to say that there has been +anything between them?' + +'Nothing as you have any right to object to, Mr. Tudor. You may be sure +I wouldn't allow of that, nor yet wouldn't Norah demean herself to it.' + +'Then how did she get talking to him?' + +'She didn't get talking to him. But he has eyes in his head, and you +don't suppose but what he can see with them. If a girl is in the public +line, of course any man is free to speak to her. If you don't like it, +it is for you to take her out of it. Not but what, for a girl that is in +the public line, Norah Geraghty keeps herself to herself as much as any +girl you ever set eyes on.' + +'What the d---- has she to do with this fellow then?' + +'Why, he's a widower, and has three young children; and he's looking +out for a mother for them; and he thinks Norah will suit. There, now you +have the truth, and the whole truth.' + +'D---- his impudence!' said Charley. + +'Well, I don't see that there's any impudence. He has a house of his +own and the means to keep it. Now I'll tell you what it is. Norah can't +abide him--' + +Charley looked a little better satisfied when he heard this declaration. + +'Norah can't abide the sight of him; nor won't of any man as long as you +are hanging after her. She's as true as steel, and proud you ought to +be of her.' Proud, thought Charley, as he again muttered to himself, +'Excelsior!'--'But, Mr. Tudor, I won't see her put upon; that's the long +and the short of it. If you like to take her, there she is. I don't say +she's just your equal as to breeding, though she's come of decent people +too; but she's good as gold. She'll make a shilling go as far as any +young woman I know; and if L100 or L150 are wanting for furniture or the +like of that, why, I've that regard for her, that that shan't stand in +the way. Now, Mr. Tudor, I've spoke honest; and if you're the gentleman +as I takes you to be, you'll do the same.' + +To do Mrs. Davis justice, it must be acknowledged that in her way she +had spoken honestly. Of course she knew that such a marriage would be +a dreadful misalliance for young Tudor; of course she knew that all his +friends would be heart-broken when they heard of it. But what had she +to do with his friends? Her sympathies, her good wishes, were for her +friend. Had Norah fallen a victim to Charley's admiration, and then been +cast off to eat the bitterest bread to which any human being is ever +doomed, what then would Charley's friends have cared for her? There +was a fair fight between them. If Norah Geraghty, as a reward for her +prudence, could get a husband in a rank of life above her, instead of +falling into utter destruction as might so easily have been the case, +who could do other than praise her--praise her and her clever friend who +had so assisted her in her struggle? + + Dolus an virtus-- + +Had Mrs. Davis ever studied the classics she would have thus expressed +herself. + +Poor Charley was altogether thrown on his beam-ends. He had altogether +played Mrs. Davis's game in evincing jealousy at Mr. Peppermint's +attentions. He knew this, and yet for the life of him he could not help +being jealous. He wanted to get rid of Miss Geraghty, and yet he could +not endure that anyone else should lay claim to her favour. He was very +weak. He knew how much depended on the way in which he might answer this +woman at the present moment; he knew that he ought now to make it plain +to her, that however foolish he might have been, however false he might +have been, it was quite out of the question that he should marry her +barmaid. But he did not do so. He was worse than weak. It was not only +the disinclination to give pain, or even the dread of the storm that +would ensue, which deterred him; but an absurd dislike to think that +Mr. Peppermint should be graciously received there as the barmaid's +acknowledged admirer. + +'Is she really ill now?' said he. + +'She's not so ill but what she shall make herself well enough to welcome +you, if you'll say the word that you ought to say. The most that ails +her is fretting at the long delay.--Bolt the door, child, and go to bed; +there will be no one else here now. Go up, and tell Miss Geraghty to +come down; she hasn't got her clothes off yet, I know.' + +Mrs. Davis was too good a general to press Charley for an absolute, +immediate, fixed answer to her question. She knew that she had already +gained much, by talking thus of the proposed marriage, by setting it +thus plainly before Charley, without rebuke or denial from him. He +had not objected to receiving a visit from Norah, on the implied +understanding that she was to come down to him as his affianced bride. +He had not agreed to this in words; but silence gives consent, and +Mrs. Davis felt that should it ever hereafter become necessary to prove +anything, what had passed would enable her to prove a good deal. + +Charley puffed at his cigar and sipped his gin and water. It was now +twelve o'clock, and he thoroughly wished himself at home and in bed. The +longer he thought of it the more impossible it appeared that he should +get out of the house without the scene which he dreaded. The girl had +bolted the door, put away her cups and mugs, and her step upstairs had +struck heavily on his ears. The house was not large or high, and he +fancied that he heard mutterings on the landing-place. Indeed he did not +doubt but that Miss Geraghty had listened to most of the conversation +which had taken place. + +'Excuse me a minute, Mr. Tudor,' said Mrs. Davis, who was now smiling +and civil enough; 'I will go upstairs myself; the silly girl is +shamefaced, and does not like to come down'; and up went Mrs. Davis to +see that her barmaid's curls and dress were nice and jaunty. It would +not do now, at this moment, for Norah to offend her lover by any +untidiness. Charley for a moment thought of the front door. The enemy +had allowed him an opportunity for retreating. He might slip out before +either of the women came down, and then never more be heard of in +Norfolk Street again. He had his hand in his waistcoat pocket, with the +intent of leaving the sovereign on the table; but when the moment came +he felt ashamed of the pusillanimity of such an escape, and therefore +stood, or rather sat his ground, with a courage worthy of a better +purpose. + +Down the two women came, and Charley felt his heart beating against +his ribs. As the steps came nearer the door, he began to wish that Mr. +Peppermint had been successful. The widow entered the room first, and at +her heels the expectant beauty. We can hardly say that she was blushing; +but she did look rather shamefaced, and hung back a little at the door, +as though she still had half a mind to think better of it, and go off to +her bed. + +'Come in, you little fool,' said Mrs. Davis. 'You needn't be ashamed of +coming down to see him; you have done that often enough before now.' + +Norah simpered and sidled. 'Well, I'm sure now!' said she. 'Here's a +start, Mr. Tudor; to be brought downstairs at this time of night; and +I'm sure I don't know what it's about'; and then she shook her curls, +and twitched her dress, and made as though she were going to pass +through the room to her accustomed place at the bar. + +Norah Geraghty was a fine girl. Putting her in comparison with Miss +Golightly, we are inclined to say that she was the finer girl of the +two; and that, barring position, money, and fashion, she was qualified +to make the better wife. In point of education, that is, the effects +of education, there was not perhaps much to choose between them. Norah +could make an excellent pudding, and was willing enough to exercise her +industry and art in doing so; Miss Golightly could copy music, but she +did not like the trouble; and could play a waltz badly. Neither of them +had ever read anything beyond a few novels. In this respect, as to the +amount of labour done, Miss Golightly had certainly far surpassed her +rival competitor for Charley's affections. + +Charley got up and took her hand; and as he did so, he saw that her +nails were dirty. He put his arms round her waist and kissed her; and as +he caressed her, his olfactory nerves perceived that the pomatum in her +hair was none of the best. He thought of those young lustrous eyes that +would look up so wondrously into his face; he thought of the gentle +touch, which would send a thrill through all his nerves; and then he +felt very sick. + +'Well, upon my word, Mr. Tudor,' said Miss Geraghty, 'you're making very +free to-night.' She did not, however, refuse to sit down on his knee, +though while sitting there she struggled and tossed herself, and shook +her long ringlets in Charley's face, till he wished her--safe at home in +Mr. Peppermint's nursery. + +'And is that what you brought me down for, Mrs. Davis?' said Norah. +'Well, upon my word, I hope the door's locked; we shall have all the +world in here else.' + +'If you hadn't come down to him, he'd have come up to you,' said Mrs. +Davis. + +'Would he though?' said Norah; 'I think he knows a trick worth two of +that;' and she looked as though she knew well how to defend herself, if +any over-zeal on the part of her lover should ever induce him to violate +the sanctum of her feminine retirement. + +There was no over-zeal now about Charley. He ought to have been happy +enough, for he had his charmer in his arms; but he showed very little +of the ecstatic joy of a favoured lover. There he sat with Norah in his +arms, and as we have said, Norah was a handsome girl; but he would much +sooner have been copying the Kennett and Avon canal lock entries in Mr. +Snape's room at the Internal Navigation. + +'Lawks, Mr. Tudor, you needn't hold me so tight,' said Norah. + +'He means to hold you tight enough now,' said Mrs. Davis. 'He's very +angry because I mentioned another gentleman's name.' + +'Well, now you didn't?' said Norah, pretending to look very angry. + +'Well, I just did; and if you'd only seen him! You must be very careful +what you say to that gentleman, or there'll be a row in the house.' + +'I!' said Norah. 'What I say to him! It's very little I have to say to +the man. But I shall tell him this; he'd better take himself somewhere +else, if he's going to make himself troublesome.' + +All this time Charley had said nothing, but was sitting with his hat on +his head, and his cigar in his mouth. The latter appendage he had laid +down for a moment when he saluted Miss Geraghty; but he had resumed it, +having at the moment no intention of repeating the compliment. + +'And so you were jealous, were you?' said she, turning round and looking +at him. 'Well now, some people might have more respect for other people +than to mix up their names that way, with the names of any men that +choose to put themselves forward. What would you say if I was to talk to +you about Miss----' + +Charley stopped her mouth. It was not to be borne that she should be +allowed to pronounce the name that was about to fall from her lips. + +'So you were jealous, were you?' said she, when she was again able to +speak. 'Well, my!' + +'Mrs. Davis told me flatly that you were going to marry the man,' said +Charley; 'so what was I to think?' + +'It doesn't matter what you think now,' said Mrs. Davis; 'for you must +be off from this. Do you know what o'clock it is? Do you want the house +to get a bad name? Come, you two understand each other now, so you may +as well give over billing and cooing for this time. It's all settled +now, isn't it, Mr. Tudor?' + +'Oh yes, I suppose so,' said Charley. + +'Well, and what do you say, Norah?' + +'Oh, I'm sure I'm agreeable if he is. Ha! ha! ha! I only hope he won't +think me too forward--he! he! he!' + +And then with another kiss, and very few more words of any sort, Charley +took himself off. + +'I'll have nothing more to do with him,' said Norah, bursting into +tears, as soon as the door was well bolted after Charley's exit. 'I'm +only losing myself with him. He don't mean anything, and I said he +didn't all along. He'd have pitched me to Old Scratch, while I was +sitting there on his knee, if he'd have had his own way--so he would;' +and poor Norah cried heartily, as she went to her work in her usual way +among the bottles and taps. + +'Why, you fool you, what do you expect? You don't think he's to jump +down your throat, do you? You can but try it on; and then if it don't +do, why there's the other one to fall back on; only, if I had the +choice, I'd rather have young Tudor, too.' + +'So would I,' said Norah; 'I can't abide that other fellow.' + +'Well, there, that's how it is, you know--beggars can't be choosers. But +come, make us a drop of something hot; a little drop will do yourself +good; but it's better not to take it before him, unless when he presses +you.' + +So the two ladies sat down to console themselves, as best they might, +for the reverses which trade and love so often bring with them. + +Charley walked off a miserable man. He was thoroughly ashamed of +himself, thoroughly acknowledged his own weakness; and yet as he went +out from the 'Cat and Whistle,' he felt sure that he should return there +again to renew the degradation from which he had suffered this night. +Indeed, what else could he do now? He had, as it were, solemnly plighted +his troth to the girl before a third person who had brought them +together, with the acknowledged purpose of witnessing that ceremony. He +had, before Mrs. Davis, and before the girl herself, heard her spoken +of as his wife, and had agreed to the understanding that such an +arrangement was a settled thing. What else had he to do now but to +return and complete his part of the bargain? What else but that, and +be a wretched, miserable, degraded man for the rest of his days; lower, +viler, more contemptible, infinitely lower, even than his brother +clerics at the office, whom in his pride he had so much despised? + +He walked from Norfolk Street into the Strand, and there the world was +still alive, though it was now nearly one o'clock. The debauched misery, +the wretched outdoor midnight revelry of the world was there, streaming +in and out from gin-palaces, and bawling itself hoarse with horrid, +discordant, screech-owl slang. But he went his way unheeding and +uncontaminated. Now, now that it was useless, he was thinking of the +better things of the world; nothing now seemed worth his grasp, nothing +now seemed pleasurable, nothing capable of giving joy, but what was +decent, good, reputable, cleanly, and polished. How he hated now that +lower world with which he had for the last three years condescended to +pass so much of his time! how he hated himself for his own vileness! He +thought of what Alaric was, of what Norman was, of what he himself might +have been--he that was praised by Mrs. Woodward for his talent, he that +was encouraged to place himself among the authors of the day! He thought +of all this, and then he thought of what he was--the affianced husband +of Norah Geraghty! + +He went along the Strand, over the crossing under the statue of Charles +on horseback, and up Pall Mall East till he came to the opening into +the park under the Duke of York's column. The London night world was +all alive as he made his way. From the Opera Colonnade shrill voices +shrieked out at him as he passed, and drunken men coming down from +the night supper-houses in the Haymarket saluted him with affectionate +cordiality. The hoarse waterman from the cabstand, whose voice had +perished in the night air, croaked out at him the offer of a vehicle; +and one of the night beggar-women who cling like burrs to those who roam +the street a these unhallowed hours still stuck to him, as she had done +ever since he had entered the Strand. + +'Get away with you,' said Charley, turning at the wretched creature in +his fierce anger; 'get away, or I'll give you in charge.' + +'That you may never know what it is to be in misery yourself!' said the +miserable Irishwoman. + +'If you follow me a step farther I'll have you locked up,' said Charley. + +'Oh, then, it's you that have the hard heart,' said she; 'and it's you +that will suffer yet.' + +Charley looked round, threw her the odd halfpence which he had in his +pocket, and then turned down towards the column. The woman picked up her +prize, and, with a speedy blessing, took herself off in search of other +prey. + +His way home would have taken him up Waterloo Place, but the space round +the column was now deserted and quiet, and sauntering there, without +thinking of what he did, he paced up and down between the Clubs and +the steps leading into the park. There, walking to and fro slowly, he +thought of his past career, of all the circumstances of his life since +his life had been left to his own control, and of the absence of all +hope for the future. + +What was he to do? He was deeply, inextricably in debt. That wretch, +M'Ruen, had his name on bills which it was impossible that he should +ever pay. Tradesmen held other bills of his which were either now +over-due, or would very shortly become so. He was threatened with +numerous writs, any one of which would suffice to put him into gaol. +From his poor father, burdened as he was with other children, he knew +that he had no right to expect further assistance. He was in debt to +Norman, his best, he would have said his only friend, had it not been +that in all his misery he could not help still thinking of Mrs. Woodward +as his friend. + +And yet how could his venture to think longer of her, contaminated as he +now was with the horrid degradation of his acknowledged love at the 'Cat +and Whistle!' No; he must think no more of the Woodwards; he must dream +no more of those angel eyes which in his waking moments had so often +peered at him out of heaven, teaching him to think of higher things, +giving him higher hopes than those which had come to him from the +working of his own unaided spirit. Ah! lessons taught in vain! vain +hopes! lessons that had come all too late! hopes that had been cherished +only to be deceived! It was all over now! He had made his bed, and he +must lie on it; he had sown his seed, and he must reap his produce; +there was now no 'Excelsior' left for him within the bounds of human +probability. + +He had promised to go to Hampton with Harry Norman on Saturday, and +he would go there for the last time. He would go there and tell Mrs. +Woodward so much of the truth as he could bring himself to utter; he +would say farewell to that blest abode; he would take Linda's soft hand +in his for the last time; for the last time he would hear the young, +silver-ringing, happy voice of his darling Katie; for the last time look +into her bright face; for the last time play with her as with a child of +heaven--and then he would return to the 'Cat and Whistle.' + +And having made this resolve he went home to his lodgings. It was +singular that in all his misery the idea hardly once occurred to him of +setting himself right in the world by accepting his cousin's offer of +Miss Golightly's hand and fortune. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HAMPTON COURT BRIDGE + + +Before the following Saturday afternoon Charley's spirits had somewhat +recovered their natural tone. Not that he was in a happy frame of mind; +the united energies of Mr. M'Ruen and Mrs. Davis had been too powerful +to allow of that; not that he had given over his projected plan of +saying a long farewell to Mrs. Woodward, or at any rate of telling her +something of his position; he still felt that he could not continue to +live on terms of close intimacy both with her daughters and with Norah +Geraghty. But the spirits of youth are ever buoyant, and the spirits of +no one could be endowed, with more natural buoyancy than those of the +young navvy. Charley, therefore, in spite of his misfortunes, was ready +with his manuscript when Saturday afternoon arrived, and, according to +agreement, met Norman at the railway station. + +Only one evening had intervened since the night in which he had ratified +his matrimonial engagement, and in spite of the delicate nature of his +position he had for that evening allowed Mr. Peppermint to exercise his +eloquence on the heart of the fair Norah without interruption. He the +while had been engaged in completing the memoirs of 'Crinoline and +Macassar.' + +'Well, Charley,' they asked, one and all, as soon as he reached the +Cottage, 'have you got the story? Have you brought the manuscript? Is it +all finished and ready for that dreadful editor?' + +Charley produced a roll, and Linda and Katie instantly pounced upon it. + +'Oh! it begins with poetry,' said Linda. + +'I am so glad,' said Katie. 'Is there much poetry in it, Charley? I do +so hope there is.' + +'Not a word of it,' said Charley; 'that which Linda sees is a song +that the heroine is singing, and it isn't supposed to be written by the +author at all.' + +'I'm so sorry that there's no poetry,' said Katie. 'Can't you write +poetry, Charley?' + +'At any rate there's lots of love in it,' said Linda, who was turning +over the pages. + +'Is there?' said Katie. 'Well, that's next best; but they should go +together. You should have put all your love into verse, Charley, and +then your prose would have done for the funny parts.' + +'Perhaps it's all fun,' said Mrs. Woodward. 'But come, girls, this +is not fair; I won't let you look at the story till it's read in full +committee.' And so saying, Mrs. Woodward took the papers from her +daughters, and tying them up, deposited them safe in custody. 'We'll +have it out when the tea-things are gone.' + +But before the tea-things had come, an accident happened, which had been +like to dismiss 'Crinoline and Macassar' altogether from the minds of +the whole of the Woodward family. The young men had, as usual, dined in +town, and therefore they were all able to spend the long summer evening +out of doors. Norman's boat was down at Hampton, and it was therefore +determined that they should row down as far as Hampton Court Park +and back. Charley and Norman were to row; and Mrs. Woodward agreed to +accompany her daughters. Uncle Bat was left at home, to his nap and rum +and water. + +Norman was so expert a Thames waterman, that he was quite able to manage +the boat without a steersman, and Charley was nearly his equal. But +there is some amusement in steering, and Katie was allowed to sit +between the tiller-ropes. + +'I can steer very well, mamma: can't I, Harry? I always steer when we go +to the island, and we run the boat straight into the little creek, only +just broad enough to hold it.' Katie's visits to the island, however, +were not so frequent as they had heretofore been, for she was +approaching to sixteen years of age, and wet feet and draggled +petticoats had lost some of their charms. Mrs. Woodward, trusting more +to the experience of her two knights than to the skill of the lady at +the helm, took her seat, and they went off merrily down the stream. + +All the world knows that it is but a very little distance from Hampton +Church to Hampton Court Bridge, especially when one has the stream with +one. They were very soon near to the bridge, and as they approached it, +they had to pass a huge barge, that was lazily making its way down to +Brentford. + +'There's lots of time for the big arch,' said Charley. + +'Pull away then,' said Harry. + +They both pulled hard, and shot alongside and past the barge. But the +stream was strong, and the great ugly mass of black timber moved behind +them quicker than it seemed to do. + +'It will be safer to take the one to the left,' said Harry. + +'Oh! there's lots of time,' said Charley. + +'No,' said Harry, 'do as I tell you and go to the left.--Pull your left +hand a little, Katie.' + +Charley did as he was bid, and Katie intended to do the same; but +unfortunately she pulled the wrong hand. They were now very near the +bridge, and the barge was so close to them as to show that there might +have been danger in attempting to get through the same arch with her. + +'Your left hand, Katie, your left,' shouted Norman; 'your left string.' +Katie was confused, and gave first a pull with her right, and then a +pull with her left, and then a strong pull with her right. The two men +backed water as hard as they could, but the effect of Katie's steering +was to drive the nose of the boat right into one of the wooden piers of +the bridge. + +The barge went on its way, and luckily made its entry under the arch +before the little craft had swung round into the stream before it; as +it was, the boat, still clinging by its nose, came round with its stern +against the side of the barge, and as the latter went on, the timbers of +Norman's wherry cracked and crumpled in the rude encounter. + +The ladies should all have kept their seats. Mrs. Woodward did do so. +Linda jumped up, and being next to the barge, was pulled up into it by +one of the men. Katie stood bolt upright, with the tiller-ropes still in +her hand, awe-struck at the misfortune she had caused; but while she was +so standing, the stern of the boat was lifted nearly out of the water +by the weight of the barge, and Katie was pitched, behind her mother's +back, head foremost into the water. + +Norman, at the moment, was endeavouring to steady the boat, and shove +it off from the barge, and had also lent a hand to assist Linda in her +escape. Charley was on the other side, standing up and holding on by +the piers of the bridge, keeping his eyes on the ladies, so as to be of +assistance to them when assistance might be needed. + +And now assistance was sorely needed, and luckily had not to be long +waited for. Charley, with a light and quick step, passed over the +thwarts, and, disregarding Mrs. Woodward's scream, let himself down, +over the gun-wale behind her seat into the water. Katie can hardly be +said to have sunk at all. She had, at least, never been so much under +the water as to be out of sight. Her clothes kept up her light body; and +when Charley got close to her, she had been carried up to the piers of +the bridge, and was panting with her head above water, and beating the +stream with her little hands. + +She was soon again in comparative safety. Charley had her by one arm as +he held on with the other to the boat, and kept himself afloat with his +legs. Mrs. Woodward leaned over and caught her daughter's clothes; while +Linda, who had seen what had happened, stood shrieking on the barge, as +it made its way on, heedless of the ruin it left behind. + +Another boat soon came to their assistance from the shore, and Mrs. +Woodward and Katie were got safely into it. Charley returned to +the battered wherry, and assisted Norman in extricating it from its +position; and a third boat went to Linda's rescue, who would otherwise +have found herself in rather an uncomfortable position the next morning +at Brentford. + +The hugging and kissing to which Katie was subjected when she was +carried up to the inn, near the boat-slip on the Surrey side of +the river, may be imagined; as may also the faces she made at the +wineglassful of stiff brandy and water which she was desired to drink. +She was carried home in a fly, and by the time she arrived there, had so +completely recovered her life and spirits as to put a vehement negative +on her mother's proposition that she should at once go to bed. + +'And not hear dear Charley's story?' said she, with tears in her eyes. +'And, mamma, I can't and won't go to bed without seeing Charley. I +didn't say one word yet to thank him for jumping into the water after +me.' + +It was in vain that her mother told her that Charley's story would amuse +her twice as much when she should read it printed; it was in vain that +Mrs. Woodward assured her that Charley should come up to her room door; +and hear her thanks as he stood in the passage, with the door ajar. +Katie was determined to hear the story read. It must be read, if read +at all, that Saturday night, as it was to be sent to the editor in the +course of the week; and reading 'Crinoline and Macassar' out loud on +a Sunday was not to be thought of at Surbiton Cottage. Katie was +determined to hear the story read, and to sit very near the author too +during the reading; to sit near him, and to give him such praise as even +in her young mind she felt that an author would like to hear. Charley +had pulled her out of the river, and no one, as far as her efforts could +prevent it, should be allowed to throw cold water on him. + +Norman and Charley, wet as the latter was, contrived to bring the +shattered boat back to Hampton. When they reached the lawn at Surbiton +Cottage they were both in high spirits. An accident, if it does no +material harm, is always an inspiriting thing, unless one feels that it +has been attributable to one's own fault. Neither of them could in this +instance attach any blame to himself, and each felt that he had done +what in him lay to prevent the possible ill effect of the mischance. As +for the boat, Harry was too happy to think that none of his friends were +hurt to care much about that. + +As they walked across the lawn Mrs. Woodward ran out to them. 'My dear, +dear Charley,' she said, 'what am I to say to thank you?' It was the +first time Mrs. Woodward had ever called him by his Christian name. It +had hitherto made him in a certain degree unhappy that she never did so, +and now the sound was very pleasant to him. + +'Oh, Mrs. Woodward,' said he, laughing, 'you mustn't touch me, for I'm +all mud.' + +'My dear, dear Charley, what can I say to you? and dear Harry, I fear +we've spoilt your beautiful new boat.' + +'I fear we've spoilt Katie's beautiful new hat,' said Norman. + +Mrs. Woodward had taken and pressed a hand of each of them, in spite of +Charley's protestations about the mud. + +'Oh! you're in a dreadful state,' said she; 'you had better take +something at once; you'll catch your death of cold.' + +'I'd better take myself off to the inn,' said Charley, 'and get some +clean clothes; that's all I want. But how is Katie--and how is Linda?' + +And so, after a multitude of such inquiries on both sides, and of all +manner of affectionate greetings, Charley went off to make himself dry, +preparatory to the reading of the manuscript. + +During his absence, Linda and Katie came down to the drawing-room. Linda +was full of fun as to her journey with the bargeman; but Katie was a +little paler than usual, and somewhat more serious and quiet than she +was wont to be. + +Norman was the first in the drawing-room, and received the thanks of the +ladies for his prowess in assisting them; and Charley was not slow to +follow him, for he was never very long at his toilet. He came in with a +jaunty laughing air, as though nothing particular had happened, and as +if he had not a care in the world. And yet while he had been dressing he +had been thinking almost more than ever of Norah Geraghty. O that she, +and Mrs. Davis with her, and Jabesh M'Ruen with both of them, could be +buried ten fathom deep out of his sight, and out of his mind! + +When he entered the room, Katie felt her heart beat so strongly that she +hardly knew how to thank him for saving her life. A year ago she +would have got up and kissed him innocently; but a year makes a great +difference. She could not do that now, so she gave him her little hand, +and held his till he came and sat down at his place at the table. + +'Oh, Charley, I don't know what to say to you,' said she; and he could +see and feel that her whole body was shaking with emotion. + +'Then I'll tell you what to say: 'Charley, here is your tea, and some +bread, and some butter, and some jam, and some muffin,' for I'll tell +you what, my evening bath has made me as hungry as a hunter. I hope it +has done the same to you.' + +Katie, still holding his hand, looked up into his face, and he saw that +her eyes were suffused with tears. She then left his side, and, running +round the room, filled a plate with all the things he had asked for, +and, bringing them to him, again took her place beside him. 'I wish I +knew how to do more than that,' said she. + +'I suppose, Charley, you'll have to make an entry about that barge +on Monday morning, won't you?' said Linda. 'Mind you put in it how +beautiful I looked sailing through the arch.' + + 'Yes, and how very gallant the bargeman was,' said Norman. + +'Yes, and how much you enjoyed the idea of going down the river with +him, while, we came back to the Cottage,' said Charley. 'We'll put it +all down at the Navigation, and old Snape shall make a special minute +about it.' + +Katie drank her tea in silence, and tried to eat, though without much +success. When chatting voices and jokes were to be heard at the Cottage, +the sound of her voice was usually the foremost; but now she sat demure +and quiet. She was realizing the danger from which she had escaped, and, +as is so often the case, was beginning to fear it now that it was over. + +'Ah, Katie, my bonny bird,' said her mother, seeing that she was not +herself, and knowing that the excitement and overpowering feelings of +gratitude were too much for her--come here; you should be in bed, my +foolish little puss, should you not?' + +'Indeed, she should,' said Uncle Bat, who was somewhat hard-hearted +about the affair of the accident, and had been cruel enough, after +hearing an account of it, to declare that it was all Katie's fault. + +'Indeed, she should; and if she had gone to bed a little earlier in the +evening it would have been all the better for Master Norman's boat.' + +'Oh! mamma, don't send me to bed,' said she, with tears in her eyes. +'Pray don't send me to bed now; I'm quite well, only I can't talk +because I'm thinking of what Charley did for me;' and so saying she got +up, and, hiding her face on her mother's shoulder, burst into tears. + +'My dearest child,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'I'm afraid you'll make yourself +ill. We'll put off the reading, won't we, Charley? We have done enough +for one evening.' + +'Of course we will,' said he. 'Reading a stupid story will be very slow +work after all we've gone through today.' + +'No, no, no,' said Katie; 'it shan't be put off; there won't be any +other time for hearing it. And, mamma it must be read; and I know it +won't be stupid. Oh; mamma, dear mamma, do let us hear it read; I'm +quite well now.' + +Mrs. Woodward found herself obliged to give way. She had not the heart +to bid her daughter go away to bed, nor, had she done so, would it have +been of any avail. Katie would only have lain and sobbed in her own +room, and very probably have gone into hysterics. The best thing for her +was to try to turn the current of her thoughts, and thus by degrees tame +down her excited feelings. + +'Well, darling, then we will have the story, if Charley will let us. Go +and fetch it, dearest.' Katie raised herself from her mother's bosom, +and, going across the room, fetched the roll of papers to Charley. As +he prepared to take it she took his hand in hers, and, bending her +head over it, tenderly kissed it. 'You mustn't think,' said she, 'that +because I say nothing, I don't know what it is that you've done for me; +but I don't know how to say it.' + +Charley was at any rate as ignorant what he ought to say as Katie was. +He felt the pressure of her warm lips on his hand, and hardly knew +where he was. He felt that he blushed and looked abashed, and dreaded, +fearfully dreaded, lest Mrs. Woodward should surmise that he estimated +at other than its intended worth, her daughter's show of affection for +him. + +'I shouldn't mind doing it every night,' said he, 'in such weather as +this. I think it rather good fun going into the water with my clothes +on.' Katie looked up at him through her tears, as though she would say +that she well understood what that meant. + +Mrs. Woodward saw that if the story was to be read, the sooner they +began it the better. + +'Come, Charley,' said she, 'now for the romance. Katie, come and sit +by me.' But Katie had already taken her seat, a little behind Charley, +quite in the shade, and she was not to be moved. + +'But I won't read it myself,' said Charley; 'you must read it, Mrs. +Woodward.' + +'O yes, Mrs. Woodward, you are to read it,' said Norman. + +'O yes, do read it, manna,' said Linda. + +Katie said nothing, but she would have preferred that Charley should +have read it himself. + +'Well, if I can,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Snape says I write the worst hand in all Somerset House,' said Charley; +'but still I think you'll be able to manage it.' + +'I hate that Mr. Snape,' said Katie, _sotto voce_. And then Mrs. +Woodward unrolled the manuscript and began her task. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +CRINOLINE AND MACASSAR; OR, MY AUNT'S WILL + + +'Well, Linda was right,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'it does begin with +poetry.' + +'It's only a song,' said Charley, apologetically--'and after all there +is only one verse of that'--and then Mrs. Woodward began + +"CRINOLINE AND MACASSAR." + +'Ladies and gentlemen, that is the name of Mr. Charles Tudor's new +novel.' + +'Crinoline and Macassar!' said Uncle Bat. 'Are they intended for human +beings' names?' + +'They are the heroine and the hero, as I take it,' said Mrs. Woodward, +'and I presume them to be human, unless they turn out to be celestial.' + +'I never heard such names in my life,' said the captain. + +'At any rate, uncle, they are as good as Sir Jib Boom and Captain +Hardaport,' said Katie, pertly. + +'We won't mind about that,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'I'm going to begin, and +I beg I may not be interrupted.' + +"CRINOLINE AND MACASSAR." + +"The lovely Crinoline was sitting alone at a lattice window on a summer +morning, and as she sat she sang with melancholy cadence the first part +of the now celebrated song which had then lately appeared, from the +distinguished pen of Sir G-- H--," + +'Who is Sir G-- H--, Charley?' + +'Oh, it wouldn't do for me to tell that,' said Charley. 'That must be +left to the tact and intelligence of my readers.' + +'Oh, very well,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'we will abstain from all +impertinent questions'--'from the distinguished pen of Sir G-- H--. The +ditty which she sang ran as follows:-- + + My heart's at my office, my heart is always there-- + My heart's at my office, docketing with care; + Docketing the papers, and copying all day, + My heart's at my office, though I be far away. + +"'Ah me!' said the Lady Crinoline--" + +'What--is she a peer's daughter?' said Uncle Bat. + +'Not exactly,' said Charley, 'it's only a sort of semi-poetic way one +has of speaking of one's heroine.' + +"'Ah me!' said the Lady Crinoline--'his heart! his heart!--I wonder +whether he has got a heart;' and then she sang again in low plaintive +voice the first line of the song, suiting the cadence to her own case:-- + + His heart is at his office, his heart is _always_ there. + +"'It was evident that the Lady Crinoline did not repeat the words in the +feeling of their great author, who when he wrote them had intended to +excite to high deeds of exalted merit that portion of the British youth +which is employed in the Civil Service of the country. + +"Crinoline laid down her lute--it was in fact an accordion--and gazing +listlessly over the rails of the balcony, looked out at the green +foliage which adorned the enclosure of the square below. + +"It was Tavistock Square. The winds of March and the showers of April +had been successful in producing the buds of May." + +'Ah, Charley, that's taken from the old song,' said Katie, 'only you've +put buds instead of flowers.' + +'That's quite allowable,' said Mrs. Woodward--"successful in producing +the buds of May. The sparrows chirped sweetly on the house-top, and the +coming summer gladdened the hearts of all--of all except poor Crinoline. + +"'I wonder whether he has a heart, said she; 'and if he has, I wonder +whether it is at his office.' + +"As she thus soliloquized, the door was opened by a youthful page, on +whose well-formed breast, buttons seemed to grow like mushrooms in the +meadows in August. + +"'Mr. Macassar Jones,' said the page; and having so said, he discreetly +disappeared. He was in his line of life a valuable member of society. +He had brought from his last place a twelvemonth's character that +was creditable alike to his head and heart; he was now found to be a +trustworthy assistant in the household of the Lady Crinoline's mother, +and was the delight of his aged parents, to whom he regularly remitted +no inconsiderable portion of his wages. Let it always be remembered +that the life even of a page may be glorious. All honour to the true and +brave!" + +'Goodness, Charley--how very moral you are!' said Linda. + +'Yes,' said he; 'that's indispensable. It's the intention of the _Daily +Delight_ always to hold up a career of virtue to the lower orders as +the thing that pays. Honesty, high wages, and hot dinners. Those are our +principles.' + +'You'll have a deal to do before you'll bring the lower orders to agree +with you,' said Uncle Bat. + +'We have a deal to do,' said Charley, 'and we'll do it. The power of the +cheap press is unbounded.' + +"As the page closed the door, a light, low, melancholy step was heard +to make its way across the drawing-room. Crinoline's heart had given one +start when she had heard the announcement of the well-known name. She +had once glanced with eager inquiring eye towards the door. But not in +vain to her had an excellent mother taught the proprieties of elegant +life. Long before Macassar Jones was present in the chamber she had +snatched up the tambour-frame that lay beside her, and when he entered +she was zealously engaged on the fox's head that was to ornament the toe +of a left-foot slipper. Who shall dare to say that those slippers were +intended to grace the feet of Macassar Jones?" + +'But I suppose they were,' said Katie. + +'You must wait and see,' said her mother; 'for my part I am not at all +so sure of that.' + +'Oh, but I know they must be; for she's in love with him,' said Katie. + +"'Oh, Mr. Macassar,' said the Lady Crinoline, when he had drawn nigh +to her, 'and how are you to-day?' This mention of his Christian name +betrayed no undue familiarity, as the two families were intimate, and +Macassar had four elder brothers. 'I am so sorry mamma is not at home; +she will regret not seeing you amazingly.' + +"Macassar had his hat in his hand, and he stood a while gazing at the +fox in the pattern. 'Won't you sit down?' said Crinoline. + +"'Is it very dusty in the street to-day?' asked Crinoline; and as +she spoke she turned upon him a face wreathed in the sweetest smiles, +radiant with elegant courtesy, and altogether expressive of extreme +gentility, unsullied propriety, and a very high tone of female +education. 'Is it very dusty in the street to-day?' + +"Charmed by the involuntary grace of her action, Macassar essayed to +turn his head towards her as he replied; he could not turn it much, for +he wore an all-rounder; but still he was enabled by a side glance to see +more of that finished elegance than was perhaps good for his peace of +mind. + +"'Yes,' said he, 'it is dusty;--it certainly is dusty, rather;--but not +very--and then in most streets they've got the water-carts.' + +"'Ah, I love those water-carts!' said Crinoline; 'the dust, you know, is +so trying.' + +"'To the complexion?' suggested Macassar, again looking round as best he +might over the bulwark of his collar. + +"Crinoline laughed slightly; it was perhaps hardly more than a simper, +and turning her lovely eyes from her work, she said, 'Well, to the +complexion, if you will. What would you gentlemen say if we ladies were +to be careless of our complexions?' + +"Macassar merely sighed gently--perhaps he had no fitting answer; +perhaps his heart was too full for him to answer. He sat with his eye +fixed on his hat, which still dangled in his hand; but his mind's eye +was far away. + +"'Is it in his office?' thought Crinoline to herself; 'or is it here? Is +it anywhere?' + +"'Have you learnt the song I sent you? said he at last, waking, as it +were, from a trance. + +"'Not yet,' said she--'that is, not quite; that is, I could not sing it +before strangers yet.' + +"'Strangers!' said Macassar; and he looked at her again with an energy +that produced results not beneficial either to his neck or his collar. + +"Crinoline was delighted at this expression of feeling. 'At any rate +it is somewhere,' said she to herself; 'and it can hardly be all at his +office.' + +"'Well, I will not say strangers,' she said out loud; 'it sounds--it +sounds--I don't know how it sounds. But what I mean is, that as yet I've +only sung it before mamma!'" + +'I declare I don't know which is the biggest fool of the two,' said +Uncle Bat, very rudely.' As for him, if I had him on the forecastle of a +man-of-war for a day or two, I'd soon teach him to speak out.' + +'You forget, sir,' said Charley,' he's not a sailor, he's only in the +Civil Service; we're all very bashful in the Civil Service.' + +'I think he is rather spooney, I must say,' said Katie; whereupon Mrs. +Woodward went on reading. + +"'It's a sweet thing, isn't it?' said Macassar. + +"'Oh, very!' said Crinoline, with a rapturous expression which pervaded +her whole head and shoulders as well as her face and bust--'very sweet, +and so new.' + +"'It quite comes home to me,' said Macassar, and he sighed deeply. + +"'Then it is at his office,' said Crinoline to herself; and she sighed +also. + +"They both sat silent for a while, looking into the square--Crinoline +was at one window, and Macassar at the other: 'I must go now,' said he: +'I promised to be back at three.' + +"'Back where?' said she. + +"'At my office,' said he. + +"Crinoline sighed. After all, it was at his office; it was too evident +that it was there, and nowhere else. Well, and why should it not be +there? why should not Macassar Jones be true to his duty and to his +country? What had she to do with his heart? Why should she wish it +elsewhere? 'Twas thus she tried to console herself, but in vain. Had +she had an office of her own it might perhaps have been different; but +Crinoline was only a woman; and often she sighed over the degradation of +her lot. + +"'Good morning, Miss Crinoline,' said he. + +"'Good morning, Mr. Macassar,' said she; 'mamma will so regret that she +has lost the pleasure of seeing you.' + +"And then she rung the bell. Macassar went downstairs perhaps somewhat +slower, with perhaps more of melancholy than when he entered. The page +opened the hall-door with alacrity, and shut it behind him with a slam. + +"All honour to the true and brave! + +"Crinoline again took up the note of her sorrow, and with her lute in +her hand, she warbled forth the line which stuck like a thorn in her +sweet bosom:-- + +His heart is in his office--his heart IS ALWAYS _there_." + +'There,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'that's the end of the first chapter.' + +'Well, I like the page the best,' said Linda, 'because he seems to know +what he is about.' + +'Oh, so does the lady,' said Charley; 'but it wouldn't at all do if +we made the hero and heroine go about their work like humdrum people. +You'll see that the Lady Crinoline knows very well what's what.' + +'Oh, Charley, pray don't tell us,' said Katie; 'I do so like Mr. +Macassar, he is so spooney; pray go on, mamma.' + +'I'm ready,' said Mrs. Woodward, again taking up the manuscript. + +"CHAPTER II + +"The lovely Crinoline was the only daughter of fond parents; and though +they were not what might be called extremely wealthy, considering the +vast incomes of some residents in the metropolis, and were not perhaps +wont to mix in the highest circles of the Belgravian aristocracy, yet +she was enabled to dress in all the elegance of fashion, and contrived +to see a good deal of that society which moves in the highly respectable +neighbourhood of Russell Square and Gower Street. + +"Her dresses were made at the distinguished establishment of Madame +Mantalini, in Hanover Square; at least she was in the habit of getting +one dress there every other season, and this was quite sufficient among +her friends to give her a reputation for dealing in the proper quarter. +Once she had got a bonnet direct from Paris, which gave her ample +opportunity of expressing a frequent opinion not favourable to the +fabricators of a British article. She always took care that her shoes +had within them the name of a French cordonnier; and her gloves were +made to order in the Rue Du Bac, though usually bought and paid for in +Tottenham Court Road." + +'What a false creature!' said Linda. + +'False!' said Charley; 'and how is a girl to get along if she be not +false? What girl could live for a moment before the world if she were to +tell the whole truth about the get-up of her wardrobe--the patchings and +make-believes, the chipped ribbons and turned silks, the little bills +here, and the little bills there? How else is an allowance of L20 a year +to be made compatible with an appearance of unlimited income? How else +are young men to be taught to think that in an affair of dress money is +a matter of no moment whatsoever?' + +'Oh, Charley, Charley, don't be slanderous,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'I only repeat what the editor says to me--I know nothing about it +myself. Only we are requested 'to hold the mirror up to nature,'--and to +art too, I believe. We are to set these things right, you know.' + +'We--who are we?' said Katie. + +'Why, the _Daily Delight_,' said Charley. + +'But I hope there's nothing false in patching and turning,' said Mrs. +Woodward; 'for if there be, I'm the falsest woman alive. + + To gar the auld claes look amaist as weel's the new + +is, I thought, one of the most legitimate objects of a woman's +diligence.' + +'It all depends on the spirit of the stitches,' said Charley the censor. + +'Well, I must say I don't like mending up old clothes a bit better than +Charley does,' said Katie; 'but pray go on, mamma;' so Mrs. Woodward +continued to read. + +"On the day of Macassar's visit in Tavistock Square, Crinoline was +dressed in a most elegant morning costume. It was a very light barege +muslin, extremely full; and which, as she had assured her friend, Miss +Manasseh, of Keppel Street, had been sent home from the establishment +in Hanover Square only the day before. I am aware that Miss Manasseh +instantly propagated an ill-natured report that she had seen the +identical dress in a milliner's room up two pairs back in Store Street; +but then Miss Manasseh was known to be envious; and had moreover seen +twelve seasons out in those localities, whereas the fair Crinoline, +young thing, had graced Tavistock Square only for two years; and her +mother was ready to swear that she had never passed the nursery door +till she came there. The ground of the dress was a light pea-green, +and the pattern was ivy wreaths entwined with pansies and tulips--each +flounce showed a separate wreath--and there were nine flounces, the +highest of which fairy circles was about three inches below the smallest +waist that ever was tightly girded in steel and whalebone. + +"Macassar had once declared, in a moment of ecstatic energy, that a +small waist was the chiefest grace in woman. How often had the Lady +Crinoline's maid, when in the extreme agony of her labour, put a +malediction on his name on account of this speech! + +"It is unnecessary to speak of the drapery of the arms, which showed +the elaborate lace of the sleeve beneath, and sometimes also the pearly +whiteness of that rounded arm. This was a sight which would almost +drive Macassar to distraction. At such moments as that the hopes of +the patriotic poet for the good of the Civil Service were not strictly +fulfilled in the heart of Macassar Jones. Oh, if the Lady Crinoline +could but have known! + +"It is unnecessary also to describe the strange and hidden mechanism of +that mysterious petticoat which gave such full dimensions, such ample +sweeping proportions to the _tout ensemble_ of the lady's appearance. +It is unnecessary, and would perhaps be improper, and as far as I am +concerned, is certainly impossible." + +Here Charley blushed, as Mrs. Woodward looked at him from over the top +of the paper. + +"Let it suffice to say that she could envelop a sofa without the +slightest effort, throw her draperies a yard and a half from her on +either side without any appearance of stretching, completely fill a +carriage; or, which was more frequently her fate, entangle herself all +but inextricably in a cab. + +"A word, however, must be said of those little feet that peeped out now +and again so beautifully from beneath the artistic constructions above +alluded to-of the feet, or perhaps rather of the shoes. But yet, what +can be said of them successfully? That French name so correctly spelt, +so elaborately accented, so beautifully finished in gold letters, which +from their form, however, one would say that the _cordonnier_ must have +imported from England, was only visible to those favoured knights who +were occasionally permitted to carry the shoes home in their pockets. + +"But a word must be said about the hair dressed _a l'imperatrice_, +redolent of the sweetest patchouli, disclosing all the glories of that +ingenuous, but perhaps too open brow. A word must be said; but, +alas! how inefficacious to do justice to the ingenuity so wonderfully +displayed! The hair of the Lady Crinoline was perhaps more lovely than +abundant: to produce that glorious effect, that effect which has now +symbolized among English lasses the head-dress _a l'imperatrice_ as +the one idea of feminine beauty, every hair was called on to give its +separate aid. As is the case with so many of us who are anxious to put +our best foot foremost, everything was abstracted from the rear in order +to create a show in the front. Then to complete the garniture of +the head, to make all perfect, to leave no point of escape for the +susceptible admirer of modern beauty, some dorsal appendage was +necessary of mornings as well as in the more fully bedizened period of +evening society. + +"Everything about the sweet Crinoline was wont to be green. It is the +sweetest and most innocent of colours; but, alas! a colour dangerous for +the heart's ease of youthful beauty. Hanging from the back of her head +were to be seen moss and fennel, and various grasses--rye grass and +timothy, trefoil and cinquefoil, vetches, and clover, and here and there +young fern. A story was told, but doubtless false, as it was traced to +the mouth of Miss Manasseh, that once while Crinoline was reclining in +a paddock at Richmond, having escaped with the young Macassar from the +heat of a neighbouring drawing-room, a cow had attempted to feed from +her head." + +'Oh, Charley, a cow!' said Katie. + +'Well, but you see I don't give it as true,' said Charley. + +'I shall never get it done if Katie won't hold her tongue,' said Mrs. +Woodward. + +"But perhaps it was when at the seaside in September, at Broadstairs, +Herne Bay, or Dover, Crinoline and her mamma invigorated themselves with +the sea-breezes of the ocean--perhaps it was there that she was enabled +to assume that covering for her head in which her soul most delighted. +It was a Tom and Jerry hat turned up at the sides, with a short but +knowing feather, velvet trimmings, and a steel buckle blinking brightly +in the noonday sun. Had Macassar seen her in this he would have yielded +himself her captive at once, quarter or no quarter. It was the most +marked, and perhaps the most attractive peculiarity of the Lady +Crinoline's face, that the end of her nose was a little turned up. This +charm, in unison with the upturned edges of her cruel-hearted hat, was +found by many men to be invincible. + +"We all know how dreadful is the spectacle of a Saracen's head, as it +appears, or did appear, painted on a huge board at the top of Snow +Hill. From that we are left to surmise with what tremendous audacity of +countenance, with what terror-striking preparations of the outward +man, an Eastern army is led to battle. Can any men so fearfully bold in +appearance ever turn their backs and fly? They look as though they could +destroy by the glance of their ferocious eyes. Who could withstand the +hirsute horrors of those fiery faces? + +"There is just such audacity, a courage of a similar description, +perhaps we may say an equal invincibility, in the charms of those +Tom and Jerry hats when duly put on, over a face of the proper +description--over such a face as that of the Lady Crinoline. They +give to the wearer an appearance of concentration of pluck. But as the +Eastern array does quail before the quiet valour of Europe, so, we may +perhaps say, does the open, quick audacity of the Tom and Jerry tend to +less powerful results than the modest enduring patience of the bonnet." + +'So ends the second chapter--bravo, Charley,' said Mrs. Woodward. 'In +the name of the British female public, I beg to thank you for your +exertions.' + +'The editor said I was to write down turned-up hats,' said Charley. 'I +rather like them myself.' + +'I hope my new slouch is not an audacious Saracen's head,' said Linda. + +'Or mine,' said Katie. 'But you may say what you like about them now; +for mine is drowned.' + +'Come, girls, there are four more chapters, I see. Let me finish it, and +then we can discuss it afterwards.' + +"CHAPTER III + +"Having thus described the Lady Crinoline----" + +'You haven't described her at all,' said Linda; 'you haven't got beyond +her clothes yet.' + +'There is nothing beyond them,' said Charley. + +'You haven't even described her face,' said Katie; 'you have only said +that she had a turned-up nose.' + +'There is nothing further that one can say about it,' said Charley. + +"Having thus described the Lady Crinoline,' continued Mrs. Woodward, 'it +now becomes our duty, as impartial historians, to give some account of +Mr. Macassar Jones. + +"We are not prepared to give the exact name of the artist by whom Mr. +Macassar Jones was turned out to the world so perfectly dressed a man. +Were we to do so, the signal service done to one establishment by such +an advertisement would draw down on us the anger of the trade at +large, and the tailors of London would be in league against the _Daily +Delight_. It is sufficient to remark that the artist's offices are not +a hundred miles from Pall Mall. Nor need we expressly name the bootmaker +to whom is confided the task of making those feet 'small by degrees and +beautifully less.' The process, we understand, has been painful, but the +effect is no doubt remunerative. + +"In three especial walks of dress has Macassar Jones been more than +ordinarily careful to create a sensation; and we believe we may assert +that he has been successful in all. We have already alluded to his feet. +Ascending from them, and ascending not far, we come to his coat. It is +needless to say that it is a frock; needless to say that it is a long +frock--long as those usually worn by younger infants, and apparently +made so for the same purpose. But look at the exquisitely small +proportions of the collar; look at the grace of the long sleeves, the +length of back, the propriety, the innate respectability, the perfect +decorum--we had almost said the high moral worth--of the whole. Who +would not willingly sacrifice any individual existence that he might +become the exponent of such a coat? Macassar Jones was proud to do so. + +"But he had bestowed perhaps the greatest amount of personal attention +on his collar. It was a matter more within his own grasp than those +great and important articles to which attention has been already drawn; +but one, nevertheless, on which he was able to expend the whole amount +of his energy and genius. Some people may think that an all-rounder is +an all-rounder, and that if one is careful to get an all-rounder one has +done all that is necessary. But so thought not Macassar Jones. Some +men wear collars of two plies of linen, some men of three; but Macassar +Jones wore collars of four plies. Some men--some sensual, self-indulgent +men--appear to think that the collar should be made for the neck; but +Macassar Jones knew better. He, who never spared him self when the cause +was good, he knew that the neck had been made for the collar--it was at +any rate evident that such was the case with his own. Little can be said +of his head, except that it was small, narrow, and genteel; but his hat +might be spoken of, and perhaps with advantage. Of the loose but studied +tie of his inch-wide cravat a paragraph might be made; but we would fain +not be tedious. + +"We will only further remark that he always carried with him a wonderful +representation of himself, like to him to a miracle, only smaller in its +dimensions, like as a duodecimo is to a folio--a babe, as it were, of +his own begetting--a little _alter ego_ in which he took much delight. +It was his umbrella. Look at the delicate finish of its lower extremity; +look at the long, narrow, and well-made coat in which it is enveloped +from its neck downwards, without speck, or blemish, or wrinkle; look at +the little wooden head, nicely polished, with the effigy of a human face +on one side of it--little eyes it has, and a sort of nose; look closer +at it, and you will perceive a mouth, not expressive indeed, but still +it is there--a mouth and chin; and is it, or is it not, an attempt at a +pair of whiskers? It certainly has a moustache. + +"Such were Mr. Macassar Jones and his umbrella. He was an excellent +clerk, and did great credit to the important office to which he was +attached--namely, that of the Episcopal Audit Board. He was much beloved +by the other gentlemen who were closely connected with him in that +establishment; and may be said, for the first year or two of his +service, to have been, not exactly the life and soul, but, we may +perhaps say with more propriety, the pervading genius of the room in +which he sat. + +"But, alas! at length a cloud came over his brow. At first it was but +a changing shadow; but it settled into a dark veil of sorrow which +obscured all his virtues, and made the worthy senior of his room shake +his thin grey locks once and again. He shook them more in sorrow than in +anger; for he knew that Macassar was in love, and he remembered the +days of his youth. Yes; Macassar was in love. He had seen the lovely +Crinoline. To see was to admire; to admire was to love; to love--that +is, to love her, to love Crinoline, the exalted, the sought-after, the +one so much in demand, as he had once expressed himself to one of +his bosom friends--to love her was to despair. He did despair; and +despairing sighed, and sighing was idle. + +"But he was not all idle. The genius of the man had that within it +which did not permit itself to evaporate in mere sighs. Sighs, with the +high-minded, force themselves into the guise of poetry, and so it had +been with him. He got leave of absence for a week, and shut himself +up alone in his lodgings; for a week in his lodgings, during the long +evenings of winter, did he remain unseen and unheard of. His landlady +thought that he was in debt, and his friends whispered abroad that he +had caught scarlatina. But at the end of the seven days he came forth, +pale indeed, but with his countenance lighted up by ecstatic fire, +and as he started for his office, he carefully folded and put into +his pocket the elegantly written poem on which he had been so intently +engaged." + +'I'm so glad we are to have more poetry,' said Katie. 'Is it another +song?' + +'You'll see,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +"Macassar had many bosom friends at his office, to all of whom, one by +one, he had confided the tale of his love. For a while he doubted to +which of them he should confide the secret of his inspiration; but +genius will not hide its head under a bushel; and thus, before long, did +Macassar's song become the common property of the Episcopal Audit Board. +Even the Bishops sang it, so Macassar was assured by one of his brother +clerks who was made of a coarser clay than his colleague--even the +Bishops sang it when they met in council together on their own peculiar +bench. + +"It would be useless to give the whole of it here; for it contained +ten verses. The last two were those which Macassar was wont to sing to +himself, as he wandered lonely under the elms of Kensington Gardens. + + "'Oh, how she walks, + And how she talks, + And sings like a bird serene; + But of this be sure + While the world shall endure, + The loveliest lady that'll ever be seen + Will still be the Lady Crinoline, + The lovely Lady Crinoline. + +With her hair done all _a l'imperatrice_, Sweetly done with the best of grease, + She looks like a Goddess or Queen,-- + And so I declare, + And solemnly swear, + That the loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is still the Lady Crinoline, + The lovely Lady Crinoline.'" + +'And so ends the third chapter,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +Both Katie and Linda were beginning to criticize, but Mrs. Woodward +repressed them sternly, and went on with + +"CHAPTER IV + +"'It was a lovely day towards the end of May that Macassar Jones, +presenting himself before the desk of the senior clerk at one o'clock, +begged for permission to be absent for two hours. The request was +preferred with meek and hesitating voice, and with downcast eyes. + +"The senior clerk shook his grey locks sadly! sadly he shook his thin +grey locks, for he grieved at the sight which he saw. 'Twas sad to see +the energies of this young man thus sapped in his early youth by the +all-absorbing strength of a hopeless passion. Crinoline was now, as it +were, a household word at the Episcopal Audit Board. The senior clerk +believed her to be cruel, and as he knew for what object these two hours +of idleness were requested, he shook his thin grey locks in sorrow. + +"'I'll be back at three, sir, punctual,' said Macassar. + +"'But, Mr. Jones, you are absent nearly every day for the same period.' + +"'To-day shall be the last; to-day shall end it all,' said Macassar, +with a look of wretched desperation. + +"'What--what would Sir Gregory say?' said the senior clerk. + +"Macassar Jones sighed deeply. Nature had not made the senior clerk a +cruel man; but yet this allusion _was_ cruel. The young Macassar +had drunk deeply of the waters that welled from the fountain of Sir +Gregory's philosophy. He had been proud to sit humbly at the feet of +such a Gamaliel; and now it rent his young heart to be thus twitted with +the displeasure of the great master whom he so loved and so admired. + +"'Well, go, Mr. Jones,' said the senior clerk, 'go, but as you go, +resolve that to-morrow you will remain at your desk. Now go, and may +prosperity attend you!' + +"'All shall be decided to-day,' said Macassar, and as he spoke an +unusual spark gleamed in his eye. He went, and as he went the senior +clerk shook his thin grey hairs. He was a bachelor, and he distrusted +the charms of the sex. + +"Macassar, returning to his desk, took up his hat and his umbrella, and +went forth. His indeed was a plight at which that old senior clerk might +well shake his thin grey hairs in sorrow, for Macassar was the victim of +mysterious circumstances, which, from his youth upwards, had marked him +out for a fate of no ordinary nature. The tale must now be told." + +'O dear!' said Linda; 'is it something horrid?' + +'I hope it is,' said Katie; 'perhaps he's already married to some old +hag or witch.' + +'You don't say who his father and mother are; but I suppose he'll turn +out to be somebody else's son,' said Linda. + +'He's a very nice young man for a small tea-party, at any rate,' said +Uncle Bat. + +"The tale must now be told," continued Mrs. Woodward. "In his early +years Macassar Jones had had a maiden aunt. This lady died--" + +'Oh, mamma, if you read it in that way I shall certainly cry,' said +Katie. + +'Well, my dear, if your heart is so susceptible you had better indulge +it.' "This lady died and left behind her----" + +'What?' said Linda. + +'A diamond ring?' said Katie. + +'A sealed manuscript, which was found in a secret drawer?' suggested +Linda. + +'Perhaps a baby,' said Uncle Bat. + +"And left behind her a will----" + +'Did she leave anything else?' asked Norman. + +'Ladies and gentlemen, if I am to be interrupted in this way, I really +must resign my task,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'we shall never get to bed.' + +'I won't say another word,' said Katie. + +"In his early years Macassar had had a maiden aunt. This lady died and +left behind her a will, in which, with many expressions of the warmest +affection and fullest confidence, she left L3,000 in the three per +cents----" + +'What are the three per cents?' said Katie. + +'The three per cents is a way in which people get some of their money +to spend regularly, when they have got a large sum locked up somewhere,' +said Linda. + +'Oh!' said Katie. + +'Will you hold your tongue, miss?' said Mrs. Woodward. + +"Left L3,000 in the three per cents to her nephew. But she left it on +these conditions, that he should be married before he was twenty-five, +and that he should have a child lawfully born in the bonds of wedlock +before he was twenty-six. And then the will went on to state that the +interest of the money should accumulate till Macassar had attained the +latter age; and that in the event of his having failed to comply with +the conditions and stipulations above named, the whole money, principal +and interest, should be set aside, and by no means given up to the said +Macassar, but applied to the uses, purposes, and convenience of that +excellent charitable institution, denominated the Princess Charlotte's +Lying-in Hospital. + +"Now the nature of this will had been told in confidence by Macassar +to some of his brother clerks, and was consequently well known at +the Episcopal Audit Board. It had given rise there to a spirit of +speculation against which the senior clerk had protested in vain. Bets +were made, some in favour of Macassar, and some in that of the hospital; +but of late the odds were going much against our hero. It was well known +that in three short months he would attain that disastrous age, which, +if it found him a bachelor, would find him also denuded of his legacy. +And then how short a margin remained for the second event! The odds +were daily rising against Macassar, and as he heard the bets offered and +taken at the surrounding desks, his heart quailed within him. + +"And the lovely Crinoline, she also had heard of this eccentric will; +she and her mother. L3,000 with interest arising for some half score +of years would make a settlement by no means despicable in Tavistock +Square, and would enable Macassar to maintain a house over which even +Crinoline need not be ashamed to preside. But what if the legacy should +be lost! She also knew to a day what was the age of her swain; she knew +how close upon her was that day, which, if she passed it unwedded, would +see her resolved to be deaf for ever to the vows of Macassar. Still, if +she managed well, there might be time--at any rate for the marriage. + +"But, alas! Macassar made no vows; none at least which the most +attentive ear could consider to be audible. Crinoline's ear was +attentive, but hitherto in vain. He would come there daily to Tavistock +Square; daily would that true and valiant page lay open the path to his +mistress's feet; daily would Macassar sit there for a while and sigh. +But the envious hour would pass away, while the wished-for word was +still unsaid; and he would hurry back, and complete with figures, too +often erroneous, the audit of some diocesan balance. + +"'You must help him, my dear,' said Crinoline's mamma. + +"'But he says nothing, mamma,' said Crinoline in tears. + +"'You must encourage him to speak, my dear.' + +"'I do encourage him; but by that time it is always three o'clock, and +then he has to go away.' + +"'You should be quicker, my dear. You should encourage him more at once. +Now try to-day; if you can't do anything to-day I really must get your +papa to interfere.' + +"Crinoline had ever been an obedient child, and now, as ever, she +determined to obey. But it was a hard task for her. In three months he +would be twenty-five--in fifteen months twenty-six. She, however, would +do her best; and then, if her efforts were unavailing, she could only +trust to Providence and her papa. + +"With sad and anxious heart did Macassar that day take up his new silk +hat, take up also his darling umbrella, and descend the sombre steps +of the Episcopal Audit Office. 'Seven to one on the Lying-in,' were the +last words which reached his ears as the door of his room closed behind +him. His was a dreadful position. What if that sweet girl, that angel +whom he so worshipped, what if she, melted by his tale of sorrow--that +is, if he could prevail on himself to tell it--should take pity, and +consent to be hurried prematurely to the altar of Hymen; and then if, +after all, the legacy should be forfeited! Poverty for himself he could +endure; at least he thought so; but poverty for her! could he bear that? +What if he should live to see her deprived of that green headdress, +robbed of those copious draperies, reduced to English shoes, compelled +to desert that shrine in Hanover Square, and all through him! His brain +reeled round, his head swam, his temples throbbed, his knees knocked +against each other, his blood stagnated, his heart collapsed, a cold +clammy perspiration covered him from head to foot; he could hardly +reach the courtyard, and there obtain the support of a pillar. Dreadful +thoughts filled his mind; the Thames, the friendly Thames, was running +close to him; should he not put a speedy end to all his misery? Those +horrid words, that 'seven to one on the Lying-in,' still rang in his +ears; were the chances really seven to one against his getting his +legacy? 'Oh!' said he, 'my aunt, my aunt, my aunt, my aunt, my aunt!' + +"But at last he roused the spirit of the man within him. 'Faint heart +never won fair lady,' seemed to be whispered to him from every stone in +Somerset House. The cool air blowing through the passages revived him, +and he walked forth through the wide portals, resolving that he would +return a happy, thriving lover, or that he would return no more--that +night. What would he care for Sir Gregory, what for the thin locks of +the senior clerk, if Crinoline should reject him? + +"It was his custom, as he walked towards Tavistock Square, to stop at a +friendly pastry-cook's in Covent Garden, and revive his spirits for the +coming interview with Banbury tarts and cherry-brandy. In the moments +of his misery something about the pastry-cook's girl, something that +reminded him of Crinoline, it was probably her nose, had tempted him +to confide to her his love. He had told her everything; the kind young +creature pitied him, and as she ministered to his wants, was wont to ask +sweetly as to his passion. + +"'And how was the lovely Lady Crinoline yesterday?' asked she. He had +entrusted to her a copy of his poem. + +"'More beauteous than ever,' he said, but somewhat indistinctly, for his +mouth was clogged with the Banbury tart. + +"'And good-natured, I hope. Indeed, I don't know how she can resist,' +said the girl; 'I'm sure you'll make it all right to-day, for I see +you've got your winning way with you.' + +"Winning way, with seven to one against him! Macassar sighed, and spilt +some of his cherry-brandy over his shirt front. The kind-hearted girl +came and wiped it for him. 'I think I'll have another glass,' said he, +with a deep voice. He did take another glass--and also ate another tart. + +"'He'll pop to-day as sure as eggs, now he's taken them two glasses of +popping powder,' said the girl, as he went out of the shop. 'Well, it's +astonishing to me what the men find to be afraid of.' + +"And so Macassar hastened towards Tavistock Square, all too quickly; +for, as he made his way across Great Russell Street, he found that he +was very hot. He leant against the rail, and, taking off his hat +and gloves, began to cool himself, and wipe away the dust with his +pocket-handkerchief. 'I wouldn't have minded the expense of a cab,' said +he to himself, 'only the chances are so much against me: seven to one!' + +"But he had no time to lose. He had had but two precious hours at +his disposal, and thirty minutes were already gone. He hurried on to +Tavistock Square, and soon found that well-known door open before him. + +"'The Lady Crinoline sits upstairs alone,' said the page, 'and is +a-thinking of you.' Then he added in a whisper, 'Do you go at her +straight, Mr. Macassar; slip-slap, and no mistake.' + +"All honour to the true and brave! + +"CHAPTER V + +"As Macassar walked across the drawing-room, Crinoline failed to +perceive his presence, although his boots did creak rather loudly. +Such at least must be presumed to have been the case, for she made +no immediate sign of having noticed him. She was sitting at the open +window, with her lute in hand, gazing into the vacancy of the square +below; and as Macassar walked across the room, a deep sigh escaped from +her bosom. The page closed the door, and at the same moment Crinoline +touched her lute, or rather pulled it at the top and bottom, and threw +one wild witch note to the wind. As she did so, a line of a song escaped +from her lips with a low, melancholy, but still rapturous cadence-- + + 'His heart is at his office, his heart is _always_ there.' + +"'Oh, Mr. Macassar, is that you?' she exclaimed. She struggled to rise, +but, finding herself unequal to the effort, she sank back again on a +chair, dropped her lute on a soft footstool, and then buried her face in +her hands. It was dreadful for Macassar to witness such agony. + +"'Is anything the matter?' said he. + +"'The matter!' said she. 'Ah! ah!' + +"'I hope you are not sick?' said he. + +"'Sick!' said she. 'Well, I fear I am very sick.' + +"'What is it?' said he. 'Perhaps only bilious,' he suggested. + +"'Oh! oh! oh!' said she. + +"'I see I'm in the way; and I think I had better go,' and so he prepared +to depart. 'No! no! no!' said she, jumping up from her chair. 'Oh! Mr. +Macassar, don't be so cruel. Do you wish to see me sink on the carpet +before your feet?' + +"Macassar denied the existence of any such wish; and said that he humbly +begged her pardon if he gave any offence. + +"'Offence!' said she, smiling sweetly on him; sweetly, but yet sadly. +'Offence! no--no offence. Indeed, I don't know how you could--but never +mind--I am such a silly thing. One's feelings will sometimes get the +better of one; don't you often find it so?' + +"'O yes! quite so,' said Macassar. 'I think it's the heat.' + +"'He's a downright noodle,' said Crinoline's mamma to her sister-in-law, +who lived with them. The two were standing behind a chink in the door, +which separated the drawing-room from a chamber behind it. + +"'Won't you sit down, Mr. Macassar?' Macassar sat down. 'Mamma will be +so sorry to miss you again. She's calling somewhere in Grosvenor Square, +I believe. She wanted me to go with her; but I could not bring myself to +go with her to-day. It's useless for the body to go out, when the heart +still remains at home. Don't you find it so?' + +"'Oh, quite so,' said Macassar. The cherry-brandy had already evaporated +before the blaze of all that beauty, and he was bethinking himself how +he might best take himself off. Let the hospital have the filthy lucre! +He would let the money go, and would show the world that he loved for +the sake of love alone! He looked at his watch, and found that it was +already past two. + +"Crinoline, when she saw that watch, knew that something must be done +at once. She appreciated more fully than her lover did the value of this +world's goods; and much as she doubtless sympathized with the wants of +the hospital in question, she felt that charity should begin at home. So +she fairly burst out into a flood of tears. + +"Macassar was quite beside himself. He had seen her weep before, but +never with such frightful violence. She rushed up from her chair, +and passing so close to him as nearly to upset him by the waft of her +petticoats, threw herself on to an ottoman, and hiding her face on the +stump in the middle of it, sobbed and screeched, till Macassar feared +that the buttons behind her dress would crack and fly off. + +"'Oh! oh! oh!' sobbed Crinoline. + +"'It must be the heat,' said Macassar, knocking down a flower-pot in his +attempt to open the window a little wider. 'O dear, what have I done?' +said he. 'I think I'd better go.' + +"'Never mind the flower-pot,' said Crinoline, looking up through her +tears. 'Oh! oh! oh! oh! me. Oh! my heart.' + +"Macassar looked at his watch. He had only forty-five minutes left for +everything. The expense of a cab would, to be sure, be nothing if he +were successful; but then, what chance was there of that? + +"'Can I do anything for you in the Strand?' said he. 'I must be at my +office at three.' + +"'In the Strand!' she screeched. 'What could he do for me in the Strand? +Heartless--heartless--heartless! Well, go--go--go to your office, Mr. +Macassar; your heart is there, I know. It is always there. Go--don't let +me stand between you and your duties--between you and Sir Gregory. Oh! +how I hate that man! Go! why should I wish to prevent you? Of course I +have no such wish. To me it is quite indifferent; only, mamma will be +so sorry to miss you. You don't know how mamma loves you. She loves you +almost as a son. But go--go; pray go!' + +"And then Crinoline looked at him. Oh! how she looked at him! It was +as though all the goddesses of heaven were inviting him to come and eat +ambrosia with them on a rosy-tinted cloud. All the goddesses, did we +say? No, but one goddess, the most beautiful of them all. His heart beat +violently against his ribs, and he felt that he was almost man enough +for anything. Instinctively his hand went again to his waistcoat pocket. + +"'You shan't look at your watch so often,' said she, putting up her +delicate hand and stopping his. 'There, I'll look at it for you. It's +only just two, and you needn't go to your office for this hour;' and +as she squeezed it back into his pocket, he felt her fingers pressing +against his heart, and felt her hair--done all _a l'imperatrice_--in +sweet contact with his cheek. 'There, I shall hold it there,' said she, +'so that you shan't look at it again.' + +"'Will you stay till I bid you go?' said Crinoline. + +"Macassar declared that he did not care a straw for the senior clerk, or +for Sir Gregory either. He would stay there for ever, he said. + +"'What! for ever in mamma's drawing-room?' said Crinoline, opening wide +her lovely eyes with surprise. + +"'For ever near to you,' said Macassar. + +"'Oh, Mr. Macassar,' said Crinoline, dropping her hand from his +waistcoat, and looking bashfully towards the ground, 'what can you +mean?' + +"Down went Macassar on his knees, and down went Crinoline into her +chair. There was perhaps rather too much distance between them, but +that did not much matter now. There he was on both knees, with his hands +clasped together as they were wont to be when he said his prayers, with +his umbrella beside him on one side, and his hat on the other, making +his declaration in full and unmistakable terms. A yard or two of floor, +more or less, between them, was neither here nor there. At first the +bashful Crinoline could not bring herself to utter a distinct consent, +and Macassar was very nearly up and away, in a returning fit of despair. +But her good-nature came to his aid; and as she quickly said, 'I will, +I will, I will,' he returned to his posture in somewhat nearer quarters, +and was transported into the seventh heaven by the bliss of kissing her +hand. + +"'Oh, Macassar!' said she. + +"'Oh, Crinoline!' said he. + +"'You must come and tell papa to-morrow,' said she. + +"He readily promised to do so. + +"'You had better come to breakfast; before he goes into the city,' said +she. + +"And so the matter was arranged, and the lovely Lady Crinoline became +the affianced bride of the happy Macassar. + +"It was past three when he left the house, but what did he care for +that? He was so mad with joy that he did not even know whither he was +going. He went on straight ahead, and came to no check, till he found +himself waving his hat over his head in the New Road. He then began to +conceive that his conduct must have been rather wild, for he was brought +to a stand-still in a crossing by four or five cabmen, who were rival +candidates for his custom. + +"'Somerset House, old brick!' he shouted out, as he jumped into a +hansom, and as he did so he poked one of the other cabbies playfully in +the ribs with his umbrella. + +"'Is mamma don't know as 'ow 'e's hout, I shouldn't vonder,' said the +cabman--and away went Macassar, singing at the top of his voice as he +sat in the cab-- + + 'The loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is the lovely Lady Crinoline.' + +"The cab passed through Covent Garden on its way. 'Stop at the +pastry-cook's at the corner,' said Macassar up through the little +trap-door. The cab drew up suddenly. 'She's mine, she's mine!' shouted +Macassar, rushing into the shop, and disregarding in the ecstasy of the +moment the various customers who were quietly eating their ices. 'She's +mine, she's mine! + + With her hair done all _a l'imperatrice_, + Sweetly done with the best of grease. + +And now for Somerset House.' + +"Arrived at those ancient portals, he recklessly threw eighteenpence to +the cabman, and ran up the stone stairs which led to his office. As he +did so the clock, with iron tongue, tolled four. But what recked he +what it tolled? He rushed into his room, where his colleagues were +now locking their desks, and waving abroad his hat and his umbrella, +repeated the chorus of his song. 'She's mine, she's mine-- + + The loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is the lovely Lady Crinoline; + +and she's mine, she's mine!' + +"Exhausted nature could no more. He sank into a chair, and his brother +clerks stood in a circle around him. Soon a spirit of triumph seemed to +actuate them all; they joined hands in that friendly circle, and dancing +with joyful glee, took up with one voice the burden of the song-- + + 'Oh how she walks, + And how she talks, + And sings like a bird serene, + But of this be sure, + While the world shall endure, + The loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is still the Lady Crinoline-- + The lovely Lady Crinoline.' + +"And that old senior clerk with the thin grey hair--was he angry at this +general ebullition of joy? O no! The just severity of his discipline was +always tempered with genial mercy. Not a word did he say of that broken +promise, not a word of the unchecked diocesan balance, not a word of Sir +Gregory's anger. He shook his thin grey locks; but he shook them neither +in sorrow nor in anger. 'God bless you, Macassar Jones,', said he, 'God +bless you!' + +"He too had once been young, had once loved, had once hoped and feared, +and hoped again, and had once knelt at the feet of beauty. But alas! he +had knelt in vain. + +"'May God be with you, Macassar Jones,' said he, as he walked out of the +office door with his coloured bandana pressed to his eyes. 'May God be +with you, and make your bed fruitful!' + + "'For the loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is the lovely Lady Crinoline,' + +shouted the junior clerks, still dancing in mad glee round the happy +lover. + +"We have said that they all joined in this kindly congratulation to +their young friend. But no. There was one spirit there whom envy had +soured, one whom the happiness of another had made miserable, one whose +heart beat in no unison with these jocund sounds. As Macassar's joy was +at its height, in the proud moment of his triumph, a hated voice struck +his ears, and filled his soul with dismay once more. + +"'There's two to one still on the Lying-in,' said this hateful Lucifer. + +"And so Macassar was not all happy even yet, as he walked home to his +lodgings. + +"CHAPTER VI + +"We have but one other scene to record, but one short scene, and then +our tale will be told and our task will be done. And this last scene +shall not, after the usual manner of novelists, be that of the wedding, +but rather one which in our eyes is of a much more enduring interest. +Crinoline and Macassar were duly married in Bloomsbury Church. The +dresses are said to have come from the house in Hanover Square. +Crinoline behaved herself with perfect propriety, and Macassar went +through his work like a man. When we have said that, we have said all +that need be said on that subject. + +"But we must beg our readers to pass over the space of the next twelve +months, and to be present with us in that front sitting-room of the +elegant private lodgings, which the married couple now prudently +occupied in Alfred Place. Lodgings! yes, they were only lodgings; for +not as yet did they know what might be the extent of their income. + +"In this room during the whole of a long autumn day sat Macassar in a +frame of mind not altogether to be envied. During the greater portion of +it he was alone; but ever and anon some bustling woman would enter and +depart without even deigning to notice the questions which he asked. And +then after a while he found himself in company with a very respectable +gentleman in black, who belonged to the medical profession. 'Is it +coming?' asked Macassar. 'Is it, is it coming?' + +"'Well, we hope so--we hope so,' said the medical gentleman. 'If not +to-day, it will be to-morrow. If I should happen to be absent, Mrs. +Gamp is all that you could desire. If not to-day, it will certainly be +to-morrow,'--and so the medical gentleman went his way. + +"Now the coming morrow would be Macassar's birthday. On that morrow he +would be twenty-six. + +"All alone he sat there till the autumn sun gave way to the shades of +evening. Some one brought him a mutton chop, but it was raw and he could +not eat; he went to the sideboard and prepared to make himself a glass +of negus, but the water was all cold. His water at least was cold, +though Mrs. Gamp's was hot enough. It was a sad and mournful evening. He +thought he would go out, for he found that he was not wanted; but a low +drizzling rain prevented him. Had he got wet he could not have changed +his clothes, for they were all in the wardrobe in his wife's room. +All alone he sat till the shades of evening were hidden by the veil of +night. + +"But what sudden noise is that he hears within the house? Why do those +heavy steps press so rapidly against the stairs? What feet are they +which are so busy in the room above him? He opens the sitting-room door, +but he can see nothing. He has been left there without a candle. He +peers up the stairs, but a faint glimmer of light shining through the +keyhole of his wife's door is all that meets his eye. 'Oh, my aunt! my +aunt!' he says as he leans against the banisters. 'My aunt, my aunt, my +aunt!' + +"What a birthday will this be for him on the morrow! He already hears +the sound of the hospital bells as they ring with joy at the acquisition +of their new wealth; he must dash from his lips, tear from his heart, +banish for ever from his eyes, that vision of a sweet little cottage at +Brompton, with a charming dressing-room for himself, and gas laid on all +over the house. + +"'Lodgings! I hate, I detest lodgings!' he said to himself. 'Connubial +bliss and furnished lodgings are not compatible. My aunt, my aunt, for +what misery hast thou not to answer! Oh, Mrs. Gamp, could you be so +obliging as to tell me what o'clock it is?' The last question was asked +as Mrs. Gamp suddenly entered the room with a candle. Macassar's watch +had been required for the use of one of the servants. + +"'It's just half-past heleven, this wery moment as is,' said Mrs. Gamp; +'and the finest boy babby as my heyes, which has seen a many, has ever +sat upon.' + +"Up, up to the ceiling went the horsehair cushion of the lodging-house +sofa--up went the footstool after it, and its four wooden legs in +falling made a terrible clatter on the mahogany loo-table. Macassar in +his joy got hold of Mrs. Gamp, and kissed her heartily, forgetful of the +fumes of gin. 'Hurrah!' shouted he,' hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! Oh, Mrs. +Gamp, I feel so--so--so--I really don't know how I feel.' + +"He danced round the room with noisy joy, till Mrs. Gamp made him +understand how very unsuited were such riotous ebullitions to the weak +state of his lady-love upstairs. He then gave over, not the dancing but +the noise, and went on capering round the room with suppressed steps, +ever and anon singing to himself in a whisper, + + 'The loveliest lady that ever was seen + Is still the Lady Crinoline.' + +"A few minutes afterwards a knock at the door was heard, and the monthly +nurse entered. She held something in her embrace; but he could not see +what. He looked down pryingly into her arms, and at the first glance +thought that it was his umbrella. But then he heard a little pipe, and +he knew that it was his child. + +"We will not intrude further on the first interview between Macassar and +his heir." + + + * * * * * + + +'And so ends the romantic history of "Crinoline and Macassar",' said +Mrs. Woodward; 'and I am sure, Charley, we are all very much obliged to +you for the excellent moral lessons you have given us.' + +'I'm so delighted with it,' said Katie; 'I do so like that Macassar.' + +'So do I,' said Linda, yawning; 'and the old man with the thin grey +hair.' + +'Come, girls, it's nearly one o'clock, and we'll go to bed,' said the +mother. 'Uncle Bat has been asleep these two hours.' + +And so they went off to their respective chambers. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SURBITON COLLOQUIES + + +All further conversation in the drawing-room was forbidden for that +night. Mrs. Woodward would have willingly postponed the reading of +Charley's story so as to enable Katie to go to bed after the accident, +had she been able to do so. But she was not able to do so without an +exercise of a species of authority which was distasteful to her, and +which was very seldom heard, seen, or felt within the limits of Surbiton +Cottage. It would moreover have been very ungracious to snub Charley's +manuscript, just when Charley had made himself such a hero; and she +had, therefore, been obliged to read it. But now that it was done, she +hurried Katie off to bed, not without many admonitions. + +'Good night,' she said to Charley; 'and God bless you, and make you +always as happy as we are now. What a household we should have had +to-night, had it not been for you!' + +Charley rubbed his eyes with his hand, and muttered something about +there not having been the slightest danger in the world. + +'And remember, Charley,' she said, paying no attention to his +mutterings, 'we always liked you--liked you very much; but liking and +loving are very different things. Now you are a dear, dear friend--one +of the dearest.' + +In answer to this, Charley was not even able to mutter; so he went his +way to the inn, and lay awake half the night thinking how Katie had +kissed his hand: during the other half he dreamt, first that Katie was +drowned, and then that Norah was his bride. + +Linda and Katie had been so hurried off, that they had only been just +able to shake hands with Harry and Charley. There is, however, an old +proverb, that though one man may lead a horse to water, a thousand +cannot make him drink. It was easy to send Katie to bed, but very +difficult to prevent her talking when she was there. + +'Oh, Linda,' she said, 'what can I do for him?' + +'Do for him?' said Linda; 'I don't know that you can do anything for +him. I don't suppose he wants you to do anything.' Linda still looked +on her sister as a child; but Katie was beginning to put away childish +things. + +'Couldn't I make something for him, Linda--something for him to keep as +a present, you know? I would work so hard to get it done.' + +'Work a pair of slippers, as Crinoline did,' said Linda. + +Katie was brushing her hair at the moment, and then she sat still with +the brush in her hand, thinking. 'No,' said she, after a while, 'not a +pair of slippers--I shouldn't like a pair of slippers.' + +'Why not?' said Linda. + +'Oh--I don't know--but I shouldn't.' Katie had said that Crinoline was +working slippers for Macassar because she was in love with him; and +having said so, she could not now work slippers for Charley. Poor Katie! +she was no longer a child when she thought thus. + +'Then make him a purse,' said Linda. + +'A purse is such a little thing.' + +'Then work him the cover for a sofa, like what mamma and I are doing for +Gertrude.' + +'But he hasn't got a house,' said Katie. + +'He'll have a house by the time you've done the sofa, and a wife to sit +on it too.' + +'Oh, Linda, you are so ill-natured.' + +'Why, child, what do you want me to say? If you were to give him one +of those grand long tobacco pipes they have in the shop windows, that's +what he'd like the best; or something of that sort. I don't think he +cares much for girls' presents, such as purses and slippers.' + +'Doesn't he?' said Katie, mournfully. + +'No; not a bit. You know he's such a rake.' + +'Oh! Linda; I don't think he's so very bad, indeed I don't; and mamma +doesn't think so; and you know Harry said on Easter Sunday that he was +much better than he used to be.' + +'I know Harry is very good-natured to him.' + +'And isn't Charley just as good-natured to Harry? I am quite sure he is. +Harry has only to ask the least thing, and Charley always does it. +Do you remember how Charley went up to town for him the Sunday before +last?' + +'And so he ought,' said Linda. 'He ought to do whatever Harry tells +him.' + +'Well, Linda, I don't know why he ought,' said Katie. 'They are not +brothers, you know, nor yet even cousins.' + +'But Harry is very--so very--so very superior, you know,' said Linda. + +'I don't know any such thing,' said Katie. + +'Oh! Katie, don't you know that Charley is such a rake?' + +'But rakes are just the people who don't do whatever they are told; +so that's no reason. And I am quite sure that Charley is much the +cleverer.' + +'And I am quite sure he is not--nor half so clever; nor nearly so well +educated. Why, don't you know the navvies are the most ignorant young +men in London? Charley says so himself.' + +'That's his fun,' said Katie: 'besides, he always makes little of +himself. I am quite sure Harry could never have made all that about +Macassar and Crinoline out of his own head.' + +'No! because he doesn't think of such nonsensical things. I declare, +Miss Katie, I think you are in love with Master Charley.' + +Katie, who was still sitting at the dressing-table, blushed up to her +forehead; and at the same time her eyes were suffused with tears. But +there was no one to see either of those tell-tale symptoms, for Linda +was in bed. + +'I know he saved my life,' said Katie, as soon as she could trust +herself to speak without betraying her emotion--'I know he jumped into +the river after me, and very, very nearly drowned himself; and I don't +think any other man in the world would have done so much for me besides +him.' + +'Oh, Katie! Harry would in a moment.' + +'Not for me; perhaps he might for you--though I'm not quite sure that he +would.' It was thus that Katie took her revenge on her sister. + +'I'm quite sure he would for anybody, even for Sally.' Sally was an +assistant in the back kitchen. 'But I don't mean to say, Katie, that you +shouldn't feel grateful to Charley; of course you should.' + +'And so I do,' said Katie, now bursting out into tears, overdone by her +emotion and fatigue; 'and so I do--and I do love him, and will love him, +if he's ever so much a rake! But you know, Linda, that is very different +from being in love; and it was very ill-natured of you to say so, very.' + +Linda was out of bed in a trice, and sitting with her arm round her +sister's neck. + +'Why, you darling little foolish child, you! I was only quizzing,' said +she. 'Don't you know that I love Charley too?' + +'But you shouldn't quiz about such a thing as that. If you'd fallen into +the river, and Harry had pulled you out, then you'd know what I mean; +but I'm not at all sure that he could have done it.' + +Katie's perverse wickedness on this point was very nearly giving rise +to another contest between the sisters. Linda's common sense, however, +prevailed, and giving up the point of Harry's prowess, she succeeded at +last in getting Katie into bed. 'You know mamma will be so angry if she +hears us,' said Linda, 'and I am sure you will be ill to-morrow.' + +'I don't care a bit about being ill to-tomorrow; and yet I do too,' she +added, after a pause, 'for it's Sunday. It would be so stupid not to be +able to go out to-morrow.' + +'Well, then, try to go to sleep at once'--and Linda carefully tucked the +clothes around her sister. + +'I think it shall be a purse,' said Katie. + +'A purse will certainly be the best; that is, if you don't like the +slippers,' and Linda rolled herself up comfortably in the bed. + +'No--I don't like the slippers at all. It shall be a purse. I can +do that the quickest, you know. It's so stupid to give a thing when +everything about it is forgotten, isn't it?' + +'Very stupid,' said Linda, nearly asleep. + +'And when it's worn out I can make another, can't I?' + +'H'm'm'm,' said Linda, quite asleep. + +And then Katie went asleep also, in her sister's arms. + +Early in the morning--that is to say, not very early, perhaps between +seven and eight--Mrs. Woodward came into their room, and having +inspected her charges, desired that Katie should not get up for morning +church, but lie in bed till the middle of the day. + +'Oh, mamma, it will be so stupid not going to church after tumbling into +the river; people will say that all my clothes are wet.' + +'People will about tell the truth as to some of them,' said Mrs. +Woodward; 'but don't you mind about people, but lie still and go to +sleep if you can. Linda, do you come and dress in my room.' + +'And is Charley to lie in bed too?' said Katie. 'He was in the river +longer than I was.' + +'It's too late to keep Charley in bed,' said Linda, 'for I see him +coming along the road now with a towel; he's been bathing.' + +'Oh, I do so wish I could go and bathe,' said Katie. + +Poor Katie was kept in bed till the afternoon. Charley and Harry, +however, were allowed to come up to her bedroom door, and hear her +pronounce herself quite well. + +'How d'ye do, Mr. Macassar?' said she. + +'And how d'ye do, my Lady Crinoline?' said Harry. After that Katie never +called Charley Mr. Macassar again. + +They all went to church, and Katie was left to sleep or read, or think +of the new purse that she was to make, as best she might. + +And then they dined, and then they walked out; but still without Katie. +She was to get up and dress while they were out, so as to receive +them in state in the drawing-room on their return. Four of them walked +together; for Uncle Bat now usually took himself off to his friend at +Hampton Court on Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Woodward walked with Charley, +and Harry and Linda paired together. + +'Now,' said Charley to himself, 'now would have been the time to have +told Mrs. Woodward everything, but for that accident of yesterday. Now +I can tell her nothing; to do so now would be to demand her sympathy and +to ask for assistance;' and so he determined to tell her nothing. + +But the very cause which made Charley dumb on the subject of his own +distresses made Mrs. Woodward inquisitive about them. She knew that his +life was not like that of Harry--steady, sober, and discreet; but +she felt that she did not like him, or even love him the less on this +account. Nay, it was not clear to her that these failings of his did not +give him additional claims on her sympathies. What could she do for him? +how could she relieve him? how could she bring him back to the +right way? She spoke to him of his London life, praised his talents, +encouraged him to exertion, besought him to have some solicitude, and, +above all, some respect for himself. And then, with that delicacy which +such a woman, and none but such a woman, can use in such a matter, she +asked him whether he was still in debt. + +Charley, with shame we must own it, had on this subject been false to +all his friends. He had been false to his father and his mother, and +had never owned to them the half of what he owed; he had been false to +Alaric, and false to Harry; but now, now, at such a moment as this, he +would not allow himself to be false to Mrs. Woodward. + +'Yes,' he said, 'he was in debt--rather.' + +Mrs. Woodward pressed him to say whether his debts were heavy--whether +he owed much. + +'It's no use thinking of it, Mrs. Woodward,' said he; 'not the least. I +know I ought not to come down here; and I don't think I will any more.' + +'Not come down here!' said Mrs. Woodward. 'Why not? There's very little +expense in that. I dare say you'd spend quite as much in London.' + +'Oh--of course--three times as much, perhaps; that is, if I had it--but +I don't mean that.' + +'What do you mean?' said she. + +Charley walked on in silence, with melancholy look, very crestfallen, +his thumbs stuck into his waistcoat pockets. + +'Upon my word I don't know what you mean,' said Mrs. Woodward. 'I should +have thought coming to Hampton might perhaps--perhaps have kept you--I +don't exactly mean out of mischief.' That, however, in spite of her +denial, was exactly what Mrs. Woodward did mean. + +'So it does--but--' said Charley, now thoroughly ashamed of himself. + +'But what?' said she. + +'I am not fit to be here,' said Charley; and as he spoke his manly +self-control all gave way, and big tears rolled down his cheeks. + +Mrs. Woodward, in her woman's heart, resolved, that if it might in any +way be possible, she would make him fit, fit not only to be there, but +to hold his head up with the best in any company in which he might find +himself. + +She questioned him no further then. Her wish now was not to torment him +further, but to comfort him. She determined that she would consult with +Harry and with her uncle, and take counsel from them as to what steps +might be taken to save the brand from the burning. She talked to him as +a mother might have done, leaning on his arm, as she returned; leaning +on him as a woman never leans on a man whom she deems unfit for her +society. All this Charley's heart and instinct fully understood, and he +was not ungrateful. + +But yet he had but little to comfort him. He must return to town on +Monday; return to Mr. Snape and the lock entries, to Mr. M'Ruen and +the three Seasons--to Mrs. Davis, Norah Geraghty, and that horrid Mr. +Peppermint. He never once thought of Clementina Golightly, to whom at +that moment he was being married by the joint energies of Undy Scott and +his cousin Alaric. + +And what had Linda and Norman been doing all this time? Had they been +placing mutual confidence in each other? No; they had not come to that +yet. Linda still remembered the pang with which she had first heard of +Gertrude's engagement, and Harry Norman had not yet been able to open +his seared heart to a second love. + +In the course of the evening a letter was brought to Captain Cuttwater, +which did not seem to raise his spirits. + +'Whom is your letter from, uncle?' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'From Alaric,' said he, gruffly, crumpling it up and putting it into his +pocket. And then he turned to his rum and water in a manner that showed +his determination to say nothing more on the matter. + +In the morning Harry and Charley returned to town. Captain Cuttwater +went up with them; and all was again quiet at Surbiton Cottage. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MR. M'BUFFER ACCEPTS THE CHILTERN HUNDREDS + + +It was an anxious hour for the Honourable Undecimus Scott when he first +learnt that Mr. M'Buffer had accepted the Stewardship of the Chiltern +Hundreds. The Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds! Does it never occur +to anyone how many persons are appointed to that valuable situation? Or +does anyone ever reflect why a Member of Parliament, when he wishes +to resign his post of honour, should not be simply gazetted in the +newspapers as having done so, instead of being named as the new Steward +of the Chiltern Hundreds? No one ever does think of it; resigning and +becoming a steward are one and the same thing, with this difference, +however, that one of the grand bulwarks of the British constitution is +thus preserved. + +Well, Mr. M'Buffer, who, having been elected by the independent electors +of the Tillietudlem burghs to serve them in Parliament, could not, in +accordance with the laws of the constitution, have got himself out of +that honourable but difficult position by any scheme of his own, found +himself on a sudden a free man, the Queen having selected him to be her +steward for the district in question. We have no doubt but that the deed +of appointment set forth that her Majesty had been moved to this step +by the firm trust she had in the skill and fidelity of the said Mr. +M'Buffer; but if so her Majesty's trust would seem to have been somewhat +misplaced, as Mr. M'Buffer, having been a managing director of a +bankrupt swindle, from which he had contrived to pillage some thirty or +forty thousand pounds, was now unable to show his face at Tillietudlem, +or in the House of Commons; and in thus retreating from his membership +had no object but to save himself from the expulsion which he feared. +It was, however, a consolation for him to think that in what he had done +the bulwarks of the British constitution had been preserved. + +It was an anxious moment for Undy. The existing Parliament had still +a year and a half, or possibly two years and a half, to run. He had +already been withdrawn from the public eye longer than he thought +was suitable to the success of his career. He particularly disliked +obscurity for he had found that in his case obscurity had meant +comparative poverty. An obscure man, as he observed early in life, had +nothing to sell. Now, Undy had once had something to sell, and a very +good market he had made of it. He was of course anxious that those +halcyon days should return. Fond of him as the electors of Tillietudlem +no doubt were, devoted as they might be in a general way to his +interests still, still it was possible that they might forget him, if he +remained too long away from their embraces. 'Out of sight out of mind' +is a proverb which opens to us the worst side of human nature. But even +at Tillietudlem nature's worst side might sometimes show itself. + +Actuated by such feelings as these, Undy heard with joy the tidings of +M'Buffer's stewardship, and determined to rush to the battle at once. +Battle he knew there must be. To be brought in for the district of +Tillietudlem was a prize which had never yet fallen to any man's +lot without a contest. Tillietudlem was no poor pocket borough to be +disposed of, this way or that way, according to the caprice or venal +call of some aristocrat. The men of Tillietudlem knew the value of their +votes, and would only give them according to their consciences. The way +to win these consciences, to overcome the sensitive doubts of a free and +independent Tillietudlem elector, Undy knew to his cost. + +It was almost a question, as he once told Alaric, whether all that he +could sell was worth all that he was compelled to buy. But having put +his neck to the collar in this line of life, he was not now going to +withdraw. Tillietudlem was once more vacant, and Undy determined to try +it again, undaunted by former outlays. To make an outlay, however, at +any rate, in electioneering matters, it is necessary that a man should +have in hand some ready cash; at the present moment Undy had very +little, and therefore the news of Mr. M'Buffer's retirement to the +German baths for his health was not heard with unalloyed delight. + +He first went into the city, as men always do when they want money; +though in what portion of the city they find it, has never come to the +author's knowledge. Charley Tudor, to be sure, did get L5 by going to +the 'Banks of Jordan;' but the supply likely to be derived from such +a fountain as that would hardly be sufficient for Undy's wants. Having +done what he could in the city, he came to Alaric, and prayed for the +assistance of all his friend's energies in the matter. Alaric would not +have been, and was not unwilling to assist him to the extent of his own +immediate means; but his own immediate means were limited, and Undy's +desire for ready cash was almost unlimited. + +There was a certain railway or proposed railway in Ireland, in which +Undy had ventured very deeply, more so indeed than he had deemed it +quite prudent to divulge to his friend; and in order to gain certain +ends he had induced Alaric to become a director of this line. The line +in question was the Great West Cork, which was to run from Skibbereen to +Bantry, and the momentous question now hotly debated before the Railway +Board was on the moot point of a branch to Ballydehob. If Undy could +carry the West Cork and Ballydehob branch entire, he would make a pretty +thing of it; but if, as there was too much reason to fear, his Irish +foes should prevail, and leave--as Undy had once said in an eloquent +speech at a very influential meeting of shareholders--and leave the +unfortunate agricultural and commercial interest of Ballydehob steeped +in Cimmerian darkness, the chances were that poor Undy would be well +nigh ruined. + +Such being the case, he had striven, not unsuccessfully, to draw Alaric +into the concern. Alaric had bought very cheaply a good many shares, +which many people said were worth nothing, and had, by dint of Undy's +machinations, been chosen a director on the board. Undy himself +meanwhile lay by, hoping that fortune might restore him to Parliament, +and haply put him on that committee which must finally adjudicate as to +the great question of the Ballydehob branch. + +Such were the circumstances under which he came to Alaric with the +view of raising such a sum of money as might enable him to overcome the +scruples of the Tillietudlem electors, and place himself in the shoes +lately vacated by Mr. M'Buffer. + +They were sitting together after dinner when he commenced the subject. +He and Mrs. Val and Clementina had done the Tudors the honour of dining +with them; and the ladies had now gone up into the drawing-room, and +were busy talking over the Chiswick affair, which was to come off in +the next week, and after which Mrs. Val intended to give a small evening +party to the most _elite_ of her acquaintance. + +'We won't have all the world, my dear,' she had said to Gertrude, 'but +just a few of our own set that are really nice. Clementina is dying to +try that new back step with M. Jaquetanape, so we won't crowd the room.' +Such were the immediate arrangements of the Tudor and Scott party. + +'So M'Buffer is off at last,' said Scott, as he seated himself and +filled his glass, after closing the dining-room door. 'He brought his +pigs to a bad market after all.' + +'He was an infernal rogue,' said Alaric. + +'Well, I suppose he was,' said Undy; 'and a fool into the bargain to be +found out.' + +'He was a downright swindler,' said Alaric. + +'After all,' said the other, not paying much attention to Alaric's +indignation, 'he did not do so very badly. Why, M'Buffer has been at it +now for thirteen years. He began with nothing; he had neither blood nor +money; and God knows he had no social merits to recommend him. He is +as vulgar as a hog, as awkward as an elephant, and as ugly as an ape. +I believe he never had a friend, and was known at his club to be the +greatest bore that ever came out of Scotland; and yet for thirteen +years he has lived on the fat of the land; for five years he has been +in Parliament, his wife has gone about in her carriage, and every man in +the city has been willing to shake hands with him.' + +'And what has it all come to?' said Alaric, whom the question of +M'Buffer's temporary prosperity made rather thoughtful. + +'Well, not so bad either; he has had his fling for thirteen years, and +that's something. Thirteen good years out of a man's life is more +than falls to the lot of every one. And then, I suppose, he has saved +something.' + +'And he is spoken of everywhere as a monster for whom hanging is too +good.' + +'Pshaw! that won't hang him. Yesterday he was a god; to-day he is a +devil; to-morrow he'll be a man again; that's all.' + +'But you don't mean to tell me, Undy, that the consciousness of such +crimes as those which M'Buffer has committed must not make a man +wretched in this world, and probably in the next also?' + +'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged,' said Undy, quoting Scripture as +the devil did before him; 'and as for consciousness of crime, I suppose +M'Buffer has none at all. I have no doubt he thinks himself quite as +honest as the rest of the world. He firmly believes that all of us +are playing the same game, and using the same means, and has no idea +whatever that dishonesty is objectionable.' + +'And you, what do you think about it yourself?' + +'I think the greatest rogues are they who talk most of their honesty; +and, therefore, as I wish to be thought honest myself, I never talk of +my own.' + +They both sat silent for a while, Undy bethinking himself what arguments +would be most efficacious towards inducing Alaric to strip himself of +every available shilling that he had; and Alaric debating in his own +mind that great question which he so often debated, as to whether men, +men of the world, the great and best men whom he saw around him, really +endeavoured to be honest, or endeavoured only to seem so. Honesty was +preached to him on every side; but did he, in his intercourse with the +world, find men to be honest? Or did it behove him, a practical man like +him, a man so determined to battle with the world as he had determined, +did it behove such a one as he to be more honest than his neighbours? + +He also encouraged himself by that mystic word, 'Excelsior!' To him it +was a watchword of battle, repeated morning, noon, and night. It was the +prevailing idea of his life. 'Excelsior'! Yes; how great, how grand, how +all-absorbing is the idea! But what if a man may be going down, down to +Tophet, and yet think the while that he is scaling the walls of heaven? + +'But you wish to think yourself honest,' he said, disturbing Undy +just as that hero had determined on the way in which he would play his +present hand of cards. + +'I have not the slightest difficulty about that,' said Undy; 'and I dare +say you have none either. But as to M'Buffer, his going will be a great +thing for us, if, as I don't doubt, I can get his seat.' + +'It will be a great thing for you,' said Alaric, who, as well as Undy, +had his Parliamentary ambition. + +'And for you too, my boy. We should carry the Ballydehob branch to a +dead certainty; and even if we did not do that, we'd bring it so near it +that the expectation of it would send the shares up like mercury in fine +weather. They are at L2 12s. 6d. now, and, if I am in the House next +Session, they'll be up to L7 10s. before Easter; and what's more, my +dear fellow, if we can't help ourselves in that way, they'll be worth +nothing in a very few months.' + +Alaric looked rather blank; for he had invested deeply in this line, of +which he was now a director, of a week's standing, or perhaps we should +say sitting. He had sold out all his golden hopes in the Wheal Mary +Jane for the sake of embarking his money and becoming a director in this +Irish Railway, and in one other speculation nearer home, of which Undy +had a great opinion, viz.: the Limehouse Thames Bridge Company. +Such being the case, he did not like to hear the West Cork with the +Ballydehob branch spoken of so slightingly. + +'The fact is, a man can do anything if he is in the House, and he can +do nothing if he is not,' said Undy. 'You know our old Aberdeen saying, +'You scratch me and I'll scratch you.' It is not only what a man may do +himself for himself, but it is what others will do for him when he is +in a position to help them. Now, there are those fellows; I am +hand-and-glove with all of them; but there is not one of them would +lift a finger to help me as I am now; but let me get my seat again, and +they'll do for me just anything I ask them. Vigil moves the new writ +to-night; I got a line from him asking me whether I was ready. There was +no good to be got by waiting, so I told him to fire away.' + +'I suppose you'll go down at once?' said Alaric. + +'Well, that as may be--at least, yes; that's my intention. But there's +one thing needful--and that is the needful.' + +'Money?' suggested Alaric. + +'Yes, money--cash--rhino--tin--ready--or by what other name the goddess +would be pleased to have herself worshipped; money, sir; there's the +difficulty, now as ever. Even at Tillietudlem money will have its +weight.' + +'Can't your father assist you?' said Alaric. + +'My father! I wonder how he'd look if he got a letter from me asking for +money. You might as well expect a goose to feed her young with blood out +of her own breast, like a pelican, as expect that a Scotch lord should +give money to his younger sons like an English duke. What would my +father get by my being member for Tillietudlem? No; I must look nearer +home than my father. What can you do for me?' + +'I?' + +'Yes, you,' said Undy; 'I am sure you don't mean to say you'll refuse to +lend me a helping hand if you can. I must realize by the Ballydehobs, if +I am once in the House; and then you'd have your money back at once.' + +'It is not that,' said Alaric; 'but I haven't got it.' + +'I am sure you could let me have a thousand or so,' said Undy. 'I think +a couple of thousand would carry it, and I could make out the other +myself.' + +'Every shilling I have,' said Alaric, 'is either in the Ballydehobs or +in the Limehouse Bridge. Why don't you sell yourself?' + +'So I have,' said Undy; 'everything that I can without utter ruin. The +Ballydehobs are not saleable, as you know.' + +'What can I do for you, then?' + +Undy set himself again to think. 'I have no doubt I could get a thousand +on our joint names. That blackguard, M'Ruen, would do it.' + +'Who is M'Ruen?' asked Alaric. + +'A low blackguard of a discounting Jew Christian. He would do it; +but then, heaven knows what he would charge, and he'd make so many +difficulties that I shouldn't have the money for the next fortnight.' + +'I wouldn't have my name on a bill in such a man's hands on any +account,' said Alaric. + +'Well, I don't like it myself,' said Undy; 'but what the deuce am I +to do? I might as well go to Tillietudlem without my head as without +money.' + +'I thought you'd kept a lot of the Mary Janes,' said Alaric. + +'So I had, but they're gone now. I tell you I've managed L1,000 myself. +It would murder me now if the seat were to go into other hands. I'd get +the Committee on the Limehouse Bridge, and we should treble our money. +Vigil told me he would not refuse the Committee, though of course the +Government won't consent to a grant if they can help it.' + +'Well, Undy, I can let you have L250, and that is every shilling I have +at my banker's.' + +'They would not let you overdraw a few hundreds?' suggested Undy. + +'I certainly shall not try them,' said Alaric. + +'You are so full of scruple, so green, so young,' said Undy, almost in +an enthusiasm of remonstrance. 'What can be the harm of trying them?' + +'My credit.' + +'Fal lal. What's the meaning of credit? How are you to know whether you +have got any credit if you don't try? Come, I'll tell you how you can do +it. Old Cuttwater would lend it you for the asking.' + +To this proposition Alaric at first turned a deaf ear; but by degrees +he allowed Undy to talk him over. Undy showed him that if he lost the +Tillietudlem burghs on this occasion it would be useless for him +to attempt to stand for them again. In such case, he would have no +alternative at the next general election but to stand for the borough of +Strathbogy in Aberdeenshire; whereas, if he could secure Tillietudlem +as a seat for himself, all the Gaberlunzie interest in the borough +of Strathbogy, which was supposed to be by no means small, should be +transferred to Alaric himself. Indeed, Sandie Scott, the eldest hope of +the Gaberlunzie family, would, in such case, himself propose Alaric +to the electors. Ca'stalk Cottage, in which the Hon. Sandie lived, and +which was on the outskirts of the Gaberlunzie property, was absolutely +within the boundary of the borough. + +Overcome by these and other arguments, Alaric at last consented to ask +from Captain Cuttwater the loan of L700. That sum Undy had agreed to +accept as a sufficient contribution to that desirable public object, +the re-seating himself for the Tillietudlem borough, and as Alaric on +reflection thought that it would be uncomfortable to be left penniless +himself, and as it was just as likely that Uncle Bat would lend him +L700 as L500, he determined to ask for a loan of the entire sum. He +accordingly did so, and the letter, as we have seen, reached the captain +while Harry and Charley were at Surbiton Cottage. The old gentleman was +anything but pleased. In the first place he liked his money, though not +with any overweening affection; in the next place, he had done a great +deal for Alaric, and did not like being asked to do more; and lastly, +he feared that there must be some evil cause for the necessity of such a +loan so soon after Alaric's marriage. + +Alaric in making his application had not done so actually without making +any explanation on the subject. He wrote a long letter, worded very +cleverly, which only served to mystify the captain, as Alaric had +intended that it should do. Captain Cuttwater was most anxious that +Alaric, whom he looked on as his adopted son, should rise in the world; +he would have been delighted to think that he might possibly live to +see him in Parliament; would probably have made considerable pecuniary +sacrifice for such an object. With the design, therefore, of softening +Captain Cuttwater's heart, Alaric in his letter had spoken about +great changes that were coming, of the necessity that there was of his +stirring himself, of the great pecuniary results to be expected from a +small present expenditure; and ended by declaring that the money was +to be used in forwarding the election of his friend Scott for the +Tillietudlem district burghs. + +Now, the fact was, that Uncle Bat, though he cared a great deal for +Alaric, did not care a rope's end for Undy Scott, and could enjoy his +rum-punch just as keenly if Mr. Scott was in obscurity as he could +possibly hope to do even if that gentleman should be promoted to be +a Lord of the Treasury. He was not at all pleased to think that his +hard-earned moidores should run down the gullies of the Tillietudlem +boroughs in the shape of muddy ale or vitriolic whisky; and yet this was +the first request that Alaric had ever made to him, and he did not like +to refuse Alaric's first request. So he came up to town himself on the +following morning with Harry and Charley, determined to reconcile all +these difficulties by the light of his own wisdom. + +In the evening he returned to Surbiton Cottage, having been into the +city, sold out stock for L700, and handed over the money to Alaric +Tudor. + +On the following morning Undy Scott set out for Scotland, properly +freighted, Mr. Whip Vigil having in due course moved for a new writ for +the Tillietudlem borough in the place of Mr. M'Buffer, who had accepted +the situation of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHISWICK GARDENS + + +The following Thursday was as fine as a Chiswick flower-show-day ought +to be, and so very seldom is. The party who had agreed to congregate +there--the party, that is, whom we are to meet--was very select. Linda +and Katie had come up to spend a few days with their sister. Mrs. Val, +Clementina, Gertrude, and Linda were to go in a carriage, for which +Alaric was destined to pay, and which Mrs. Val had hired, having +selected it regardless of expense, as one which, by its decent exterior +and polished outward graces, conferred on its temporary occupiers an +agreeable appearance of proprietorship. The two Miss Neverbends, sisters +of Fidus, were also to be with them, and they with Katie followed +humbly, as became their station, in a cab, which was not only hired, but +which very vulgarly told the fact to all the world. + +Slight as had been the intimacy between Fidus Neverbend and Alaric at +Tavistock, nevertheless a sort of friendship had since grown up between +them. Alaric had ascertained that Fidus might in a certain degree be +useful to him, that the good word of the Aristides of the Works and +Buildings might be serviceable, and that, in short, Neverbend was worth +cultivating. Neverbend, on the other hand, when he perceived that +Tudor was likely to become a Civil Service hero, a man to be named +with glowing eulogy at all the Government Boards in London, felt +unconsciously a desire to pay him some of that reverence which a mortal +always feels for a god. And thus there was formed between them a sort of +alliance, which included also the ladies of the family. + +Not that Mrs. Val, or even Mrs. A. Tudor, encountered Lactimel and +Ugolina Neverbend on equal terms. There is a distressing habitual +humility in many unmarried ladies of an uncertain age, which at the +first blush tells the tale against them which they are so painfully +anxious to leave untold. In order to maintain their places but yet +a little longer in that delicious world of love, sighs, and dancing +partners, from which it must be so hard for a maiden, with all her +youthful tastes about her, to tear herself for ever away, they smile and +say pretty things, put up with the caprices of married women, and play +second fiddle, though the doing so in no whit assists them in their +task. Nay, the doing so does but stamp them the more plainly with that +horrid name from which they would so fain escape. Their plea is for +mercy--'Have pity on me, have pity on me; put up with me but for one +other short twelve months; and then, if then I shall still have failed, +I will be content to vanish from the world for ever.' When did such +plea for pity from one woman ever find real entrance into the heart of +another? + +On such terms, however, the Misses Neverbend were content to follow Mrs. +Val to the Chiswick flower-show, and to feed on the crumbs which might +chance to fall from the rich table of Miss Golightly; to partake of +broken meat in the shape of cast-off adorers, and regale themselves with +lukewarm civility from the outsiders in the throng which followed that +adorable heiress. + +And yet the Misses Neverbend were quite as estimable as the divine +Clementina, and had once been, perhaps, as attractive as she is now. +They had never waltzed, it is true, as Miss Golightly waltzes. It may +be doubted, indeed, whether any lady ever did. In the pursuit of that +amusement Ugolina was apt to be stiff and ungainly, and to turn herself, +or allow herself to be turned, as though she were made of wood; she +was somewhat flat in her figure, looking as though she had been +uncomfortably pressed into an unbecoming thinness of substance, and a +corresponding breadth of surface, and this conformation did not assist +her in acquiring a graceful flowing style of motion. The elder sister, +Lactimel, was of a different form, but yet hardly more fit to shine +in the mazes of the dance than her sister. She had her charms, +nevertheless, which consisted of a somewhat stumpy dumpy comeliness. She +was altogether short in stature, and very short below the knee. She had +fair hair and a fair skin, small bones and copious soft flesh. She had a +trick of sighing gently in the evolutions of the waltz, which young men +attributed to her softness of heart, and old ladies to her shortness +of breath. They both loved dancing dearly, and were content to enjoy +it whenever the chance might be given to them by the aid of Miss +Golightly's crumbs. + +The two sisters were as unlike in their inward lights as in their +outward appearance. Lactimel walked ever on the earth, but Ugolina never +deserted the clouds. Lactimel talked prose and professed to read it; +Ugolina read poetry and professed to write it. Lactimel was utilitarian. +_Cui bono_?--though probably in less classic phrase--was the question +she asked as to everything. Ugolina was transcendental, and denied that +there could be real good in anything. Lactimel would have clothed and +fed the hungry and naked, so that all mankind might be comfortable. +Ugolina would have brought mankind back to their original nakedness, and +have taught them to feed on the grasses of the field, so that the claims +of the body, which so vitally oppose those of the mind, might remain +unheeded and despised. They were both a little nebulous in their +doctrines, and apt to be somewhat unintelligible in their discourse, +when indulged in the delights of unrestrained conversation. Lactimel had +a theory that every poor brother might eat of the fat and drink of +the sweet, might lie softly, and wear fine linen, if only some body +or bodies could be induced to do their duties; and Ugolina was equally +strong in a belief that if the mind were properly looked to, +all appreciation of human ill would cease. But they delighted in +generalizing rather than in detailed propositions; and had not probably, +even in their own minds, realized any exact idea as to the means by +which the results they desired were to be brought about. + +They toadied Mrs. Val--poor young women, how little should they be +blamed for this fault, which came so naturally to them in their forlorn +position!--they toadied Mrs. Val, and therefore Mrs. Val bore with them; +they bored Gertrude, and Gertrude, for her husband's sake, bore with +them also; they were confidential with Clementina, and Clementina, of +course, snubbed them. They called Clementina 'the sweetest creature.' +Lactimel declared that she was born to grace the position of a wife and +mother, and Ugolina swore that her face was perfect poetry. Whereupon +Clementina laughed aloud, and elegantly made a grimace with her nose and +mouth, as she turned the 'perfect poetry' to her mother. Such were +the ladies of the party who went to the Chiswick flower-show, and who +afterwards were to figure at Mrs. Val's little evening 'the dansant,' at +which nobody was to be admitted who was not nice. + +They were met at the gate of the Gardens by a party of young men, of +whom Victoire Jaquetanape was foremost. Alaric and Charley were to come +down there when their office work was done. Undy was by this time on his +road to Tillietudlem; and Captain Val was playing billiards at his club. +The latter had given a promise that he would make his appearance--a +promise, however, which no one expected, or wished him to keep. + +The happy Victoire was dressed up to his eyes. That, perhaps, is not +saying much, for he was only a few feet high; but what he wanted in +quantity he fully made up in quality. He was a well-made, shining, +jaunty little Frenchman, who seemed to be perfectly at ease with +himself and all the world. He had the smallest little pair of moustaches +imaginable, the smallest little imperial, the smallest possible pair of +boots, and the smallest possible pair of gloves. Nothing on earth could +be nicer, or sweeter, or finer, than he was. But he did not carry his +finery like a hog in armour, as an Englishman so often does when an +Englishman stoops to be fine. It sat as naturally on Victoire as though +he had been born in it. He jumped about in his best patent leather +boots, apparently quite heedless whether he spoilt them or not; and +when he picked up Miss Golightly's parasol from the gravel, he seemed to +suffer no anxiety about his gloves. + +He handed out the ladies one after another, as though his life had been +passed in handing out ladies, as, indeed, it probably had--in handing +them out and handing them in; and when Mrs. Val's 'private' carriage +passed on, he was just as courteous to the Misses Neverbend and Katie in +their cab, as he had been to the greater ladies who had descended from +the more ambitious vehicle. As Katie said afterwards to Linda, when she +found the free use of her voice in their own bedroom, 'he was a darling +little duck of a man, only he smelt so strongly of tobacco.' + +But when they were once in the garden, Victoire had no time for +anyone but Mrs. Val and Clementina. He had done his duty by the Misses +Neverbend and those other two insipid young English girls, and now he +had his own affairs to look after. He also knew that Miss Golightly had +L20,000 of her own! + +He was one of those butterfly beings who seem to have been created that +they may flutter about from flower to flower in the summer hours of such +gala times as those now going on at Chiswick, just as other butterflies +do. What the butterflies were last winter, or what will become of them +next winter, no one but the naturalist thinks of inquiring. How they may +feed themselves on flower-juice, or on insects small enough to be their +prey, is matter of no moment to the general world. It is sufficient that +they flit about in the sunbeams, and add bright glancing spangles to the +beauty of the summer day. + +And so it was with Victoire Jaquetanape. He did no work. He made no +honey. He appeared to no one in the more serious moments of life. He was +the reverse of Shylock; he would neither buy with you nor sell with you, +but he would eat with you and drink with you; as for praying, he did +little of that either with or without company. He was clothed in purple +and fine linen, as butterflies should be clothed, and fared sumptuously +everyday; but whence came his gay colours, or why people fed him with +pate and champagne, nobody knew and nobody asked. + +Like most Frenchmen of his class, he never talked about himself. He +understood life, and the art of pleasing, and the necessity that he +should please, too well to do so. All that his companions knew of him +was that he came from France, and that when the gloomy months came on in +England, the months so unfitted for a French butterfly, he packed up his +azure wings and sought some more genial climate, certain to return and +be seen again when the world of London became habitable. + +If he had means of living no one knew it; if he was in debt no one ever +heard of it; if he had a care in the world he concealed it. He abounded +in acquaintances who were always glad to see him, and would have +regarded it as quite de trop to have a friend. Nevertheless time was +flying on with him as with others; and, butterfly as he was, the idea of +Miss Golightly's L20,000 struck him with delightful amazement--500,000 +francs! 500,000 francs! and so he resolved to dance his very best, warm +as the weather undoubtedly was at the present moment. + +'Ah, he was charmed to see madame and mademoiselle look so charmingly,' +he said, walking between mother and daughter, but paying apparently much +the greater share of attention to the elder lady. In this respect we +Englishmen might certainly learn much from the manners of our dear +allies. We know well enough how to behave ourselves to our fair young +countrywomen; we can be civil enough to young women--nature teaches us +that; but it is so seldom that we are sufficiently complaisant to be +civil to old women. And yet that, after all, is the soul of gallantry. +It is to the sex that we profess to do homage. Our theory is, that +feminine weakness shall receive from man's strength humble and +respectful service. But where is the chivalry, where the gallantry, +if we only do service in expectation of receiving such guerdon as rosy +cheeks and laughing eyes can bestow? + +It may be said that Victoire had an object in being civil to Mrs. Val. +But the truth is, all French Victoires are courteous to old ladies. An +Englishman may probably be as forward as a Frenchman in rushing into +a flaming building to save an old woman's life; but then it so rarely +happens that occasion offers itself for gallantry such as that. A man, +however, may with ease be civil to a dozen old women in one day. + +And so they went on, walking through parterres and glass-houses, talking +of theatres, balls, dinner-parties, picnics, concerts, operas, of ladies +married and single, of single gentlemen who should be married, and of +married gentlemen who should be single, of everything, indeed, except +the flowers, of which neither Victoire nor his companions took the +slightest notice. + +'And madame really has a dance to-night in her own house?' + +'O yes,' said Mrs. Val; 'that is, just a few quadrilles and waltzes for +Clementina. I really hardly know whether the people will take the carpet +up or no.' The people, consisting of the cook and housemaid--for the +page had, of course, come with the carriage--were at this moment hard at +work wrenching up the nails, as Mrs. Val was very well aware. + +'It will be delightful, charming,' said Victoire. + +'Just a few people of our own set, you know,' said Mrs. Val: 'no crowd, +or fuss, or anything of that sort; just a few people that we know are +nice, in a quiet homely way.' + +'Ah, that is so pleasing,' said M. Victoire: 'that is just what I like; +and is mademoiselle engaged for--?' + +No. Mademoiselle was not engaged either for--or for--or for--&c., &c., +&c.; and then out came the little tablets, under the dome of a huge +greenhouse filled with the most costly exotics, and Clementina and her +fellow-labourer in the cause of Terpsichore went to work to make their +arrangements for the evening. + +And the rest of the party followed them. Gertrude was accompanied by +an Englishman just as idle and quite as useless as M. Victoire, of the +butterfly tribe also, but not so graceful, and without colour. + +And then came the Misses Neverbend walking together, and with them, one +on each side, two tall Frenchmen, whose faces had been remodelled in +that mould into which so large a proportion of Parisians of the present +day force their heads, in order that they may come out with some look +of the Emperor about them. Were there not some such machine as this in +operation, it would be impossible that so many Frenchmen should appear +with elongated, angular, hard faces, all as like each other as though +they were brothers! The cut of the beard, the long prickly-ended, +clotted moustache, which looks as though it were being continually +rolled up in saliva, the sallow, half-bronzed, apparently unwashed +colour--these may all, perhaps, be assumed by any man after a certain +amount of labour and culture. But how it has come to pass that every +Parisian has been able to obtain for himself a pair of the Emperor's +long, hard, bony, cruel-looking cheeks, no Englishman has yet been able +to guess. That having the power they should have the wish to wear this +mask is almost equally remarkable. Can it be that a political phase, +when stamped on a people with an iron hand of sufficient power of +pressure, will leave its impress on the outward body as well as on the +inward soul? If so, a Frenchman may, perhaps, be thought to have gained +in the apparent stubborn wilfulness of his countenance some recompense +for his compelled loss of all political wilfulness whatever. + +Be this as it may, the two Misses Neverbend walked on, each with a +stubborn long-faced Frenchman at her side, looking altogether not ill +pleased at this instance of the excellence of French manners. After them +came Linda, talking to some acquaintance of her own, and then poor dear +little Katie with another Frenchman, sterner, more stubborn-looking, +more long-faced, more like the pattern after whom he and they had been +remodelled, than any of them. + +Poor little Katie! This was her first day in public. With many imploring +caresses, with many half-formed tears in her bright eyes, with many +assurances of her perfect health, she had induced her mother to allow +her to come to the flower-show; to allow her also to go to Mrs. Val's +dance, at which there were to be none but such very nice people. Katie +was to commence her life, to open her ball with this flower-show. In +her imagination it was all to be one long bright flower-show, in which, +however, the sweet sorrowing of the sensitive plant would ever and anon +invite her to pity and tears. When she entered that narrow portal she +entered the world, and there she found herself walking on the well-mown +grass with this huge, stern, bearded Frenchman by her side! As to +talking to him, that was quite out of the question. At the gate some +slight ceremony of introduction had been gone through, which had +consisted in all the Frenchmen taking off their hats and bowing to the +two married ladies, and in the Englishmen standing behind and poking +the gravel with their canes. But in this no special notice had of course +been taken of Katie; and she had a kind of idea, whence derived she knew +not, that it would be improper for her to talk to this man, unless she +were actually and _bona fide_ introduced to him. And then, again, poor +Katie was not very confident in her French, and then her companion was +not very intelligible in his English; so when the gentleman asked, 'Is +it that mademoiselle lofe de fleurs?' poor little Katie felt herself +tremble, and tried in vain to mutter something; and when, again essaying +to do his duty, he suggested that 'all de beaute of Londres did delight +to valk itself at Chisveek,' she was equally dumb, merely turning on him +her large eyes for one moment, to show that she knew that he addressed +her. After that he walked on as silent as herself, still keeping close +to her side; and other ladies, who had not the good fortune to have male +companions, envied her happiness in being so attended. + +But Alaric and Charley were coming, she knew; Alaric was her +brother-in-law now, and therefore she would be delighted to meet him; +and Charley, dear Charley! she had not seen him since he went away that +morning, now four days since; and four days was a long time, considering +that he had saved her life. Her busy little fingers had been hard at +work the while, and now she had in her pocket the purse which she had +been so eager to make, and which she was almost afraid to bestow. + +'Oh, Linda,' she had said, 'I don't think I will, after all; it is such +a little thing.' + +'Nonsense, child, you wouldn't give him a worked counterpane; little +things are best for presents.' + +'But it isn't good enough,' she said, looking at her handiwork in +despair. But, nevertheless, she persevered, working in the golden beads +with constant diligence, so that she might be able to give it to Charley +among the Chiswick flowers. Oh! what a place it was in which to bestow a +present, with all the eyes of all the world upon her! + +And then this dance to which she was going! The thought of what she +would do there troubled her. Would anyone ask her to dance? Would +Charley think of her when he had so many grown-up girls, girls quite +grown up, all around him? It would be very sad if at this London party +it should be her fate to sit down the whole evening and see others +dance. It would suffice for her, she thought, if she could stand up with +Linda, but she had an idea that this would not be allowed at a London +party; and then Linda, perhaps, might not like it. Altogether she had +much upon her mind, and was beginning to think that, perhaps, she might +have been happier to have stayed at home with her mamma. She had not +quite recovered from the effect of her toss into the water, or the +consequent excitement, and a very little misery would upset her. And so +she walked on with her Napoleonic companion, from whom she did not know +how to free herself, through one glass-house after another, across lawns +and along paths, attempting every now and then to get a word with Linda, +and not at all so happy as she had hoped to have been. + +At last Gertrude came to her rescue. They were all congregated for a +while in one great flower-house, and Gertrude, finding herself near her +sister, asked her how she liked it all. + +'Oh! it is very beautiful,' said Katie, 'only--' + +'Only what, dear?' + +'Would you let me come with you a little while! Look here'--and she +crept softly around to the other side of her sister, sidling with little +steps away from the Frenchman, at whom, however, she kept furtively +looking, as though she feared that he would detect her in the act. 'Look +here, Gertrude,' she said, twitching her sister's arm; 'that gentleman +there--you see him, don't you? he's a Frenchman, and I don't know how to +get away from him.' + +'How to get away from him?' said Gertrude. 'That's M. Delabarbe de +l'Empereur, a great friend of Mrs. Val's, and a very quiet sort of man, +I believe; he won't eat you.' + +'No, he won't eat me, I know; but I can't look at anything, because he +will walk so close to me! Mayn't I come with you?' + +Gertrude told her she might, and so Katie made good her escape, +hiding herself from her enemy as well as she could behind her sister's +petticoats. He, poor man, was perhaps as rejoiced at the arrangement as +Katie herself; at any rate he made no attempt to regain his prey, but +went on by himself, looking as placidly stern as ever, till he was +absorbed by Mrs. Val's more immediate party, and then he devoted himself +to her, while M. Jaquetanape settled with Clementina the properest +arrangement for the waltzes of the evening. + +Katie was beginning to be tranquilly happy, and was listening to the +enthusiasm of Ugolina Neverbend, who declared that flowers were the +female poet's fitting food--it may be doubted whether she had ever +tried it--when her heart leaped within her on hearing a sharp, clear, +well-known voice, almost close behind her. It was Charley Tudor. After +her silent promenade with M. Delabarbe de l'Empereur, Katie had been +well pleased to put up with the obscure but yet endurable volubility of +Ugolina; but now she felt almost as anxious to get quit of Ugolina as +she had before been to shake off the Frenchman. + +'Flowers are Nature's chef-d'oeuvre,' said Ugolina; 'they convey to me +the purest and most direct essence of that heavenly power of production +which is the sweetest evidence which Jehovah gives us of His presence.' + +'Do they?' said Katie, looking over her shoulder to watch what Charley +was doing, and to see whether he was coming to notice her. + +'They are the bright stars of His immediate handiwork,' said Ugolina; +'and if our dim eyes could read them aright, they would whisper to us +the secret of His love.' + +'Yes, I dare say they would,' said Katie, who felt, perhaps, a little +disappointed because Charley lingered a while shaking hands with Mrs. +Val and Clementina Golightly. + +It was, however, but for a moment. There was much shaking of hands to be +done, and a considerable taking off of hats to be gone through; and as +Alaric and Charley encountered the head of the column first, it was only +natural that they should work their way through it gradually. Katie, +however, never guessed--how could she?--that Charley had calculated that +by reaching her last he would be able to remain with her. + +She was still listening to Ugolina, who was mounting higher and higher +up to heaven, when she found her hand in Charley's. Ugolina might now +mount up, and get down again as best she could, for Katie could no +longer listen to her. + +Alaric had not seen her yet since her ducking. She had to listen to +and to answer his congratulations, Charley standing by and making his +comments. + +'Charley says you took to the water quite naturally, and swam like a +duck,' said Alaric. + +'Only she went in head foremost,' said Charley. + +'All bathers ought to do that,' said Alaric; 'and tell me, Katie, did +you feel comfortable when you were in the water?' + +'Indeed I don't recollect anything about it,' said she, 'only that I saw +Charley coming to me, just when I was going to sink for the last time.' + +'Sink! Why, I'm told that you floated like a deal board.' + +'The big hat and the crinoline kept her up,' said Charley; 'she had no +idea of sinking.' + +'Oh! Charley, you know I was under the water for a long time; and that +if you had not come, just at that very moment, I should never have come +up again.' + +And then Alaric went on, and Charley and Katie were left together. + +How was she to give him the purse? It was burning a hole in her +pocket till she could do so; and yet how was she to get it out of her +possession into his, and make her little speech, here in the public +garden? She could have done it easily enough at home in the drawing-room +at Surbiton Cottage. + +'And how do you like the gardens?' asked Charley. + +'Oh! they are beautiful; but I have hardly been able to see anything +yet. I have been going about with a great big Frenchman--there, that +man there--he has such a queer name.' + +'Did his name prevent your seeing?' + +'No, not his name; I didn't know his name then. + +But it seemed so odd to be walking about with such a man as that. But I +want to go back, and look at the black and yellow roses in that house, +there. Would you go with me? that is, if we may. I wonder whether we +may!' + +Charley was clearly of opinion that they might, and should, and would; +and so away they sallied back to the roses, and Katie began to enjoy +the first instalment of the happiness which she had anticipated. In the +temple of the roses the crowd at first was great, and she could not get +the purse out of her pocket, nor make her speech; but after a while +the people passed on, and there was a lull before others filled their +places, and Katie found herself opposite to a beautiful black rose, with +no one close to her but Charley. + +'I have got something for you,' she said; and as she spoke she felt +herself to be almost hot with blushing. + +'Something for me!' said Charley; and he also felt himself abashed, he +did not know why. + +'It's only a very little thing,' said Katie, feeling in her pocket, 'and +I am almost ashamed to ask you to take it. But I made it all myself; no +one else put a stitch in it,' and so saying, and looking round to see +that she was not observed, she handed her gift to Charley. + +'Oh! Katie, dearest Katie,' said he, 'I am so much obliged to you--I'll +keep it till I die.' + +'I didn't know what to make that was better,' said she. + +'Nothing on earth could possibly be better,' said he. + +'A plate of bread and butter and a purse are a very poor return for +saving one's life,' said she, half laughing, half crying. + +He looked at her with his eyes full of love; and as he looked, he swore +within himself that come what might, he would never see Norah Geraghty +again, but would devote his life to an endeavour to make himself worthy +of the angel that was now with him. Katie the while was looking up +anxiously into his face. She was thinking of no other love than that +which it became her to feel for the man who had saved her life. She was +thinking of no other love; but her young heart was opening itself to a +very different feeling. She was sinking deep, deep in waters which were +to go near to drown her warm heart; much nearer than those other waters +which she fancied had all but closed for ever over her life. + +She looked into his face and saw that he was pleased; and that, for +the present, was enough for her. She was at any rate happy now. So +they passed on through the roses, and then lost themselves among the +geraniums, and wondered at the gigantic rhododendrons, and beautiful +azaleas, and so went on from house to house, and from flower-bed to +flower-bed, Katie talking and Charley listening, till she began to +wonder at her former supineness, and to say both to herself and out loud +to her companion, how very, very, very glad she was that her mother had +let her come. + +Poor Katie!--dear, darling, bonny Katie!--sweet sweetest, dearest +child! why, oh why, has that mother of thine, that tender-hearted loving +mother, put thee unguarded in the way of such peril as this? Has she not +sworn to herself that over thee at least she would watch as a hen does +over her young, so that no unfortunate love should quench thy young +spirit, or blanch thy cheek's bloom? Has she not trembled at the thought +of what would have befallen thee, had thy fate been such as Linda's? +Has she not often--oh, how often!--on her knees thanked the Almighty God +that Linda's spirit was not as thine; that this evil had happened to +the lamb whose temper had been fitted by Him to endure it? And yet--here +thou art--all unguarded, all unaided, left by thyself to drink of the +cup of sweet poison, and none near to warn thee that the draught is +deadly. + +Alas!--'twould be useless to warn thee now. The false god has been +placed upon the altar, the temple all shining with gems and gold has +been built around him, the incense-cup is already swinging; nothing will +now turn the idolater from her worship, nothing short of a miracle. + +Our Katie's childish days are now all gone. A woman's passion glows +within her breast, though as yet she has not scanned it with a woman's +intelligence. Her mother, listening to a child's entreaty, had suffered +her darling to go forth for a child's amusement. It was doomed that the +child should return no more; but in lieu of her, a fair, heart-laden +maiden, whose every fondest thought must henceforth be of a stranger's +welfare and a stranger's fate. + +But it must not be thought that Charley abused the friendship of Mrs. +Woodward, and made love to Katie, as love is usually made--with warm +words, assurances of affection, with squeezing of the hand, with sighs, +and all a lover's ordinary catalogue of resources. Though we have said +that he was a false god, yet he was hardly to be blamed for the temple, +and gems, and gold, with which he was endowed; not more so, perhaps, +than the unconscious bud which is made so sacred on the banks of the +Egyptian river. He loved too, perhaps as warmly, though not so fatally +as Katie did; but he spoke no word of his love. He walked among +the flowers with her, laughing and listening to her in his usual +light-hearted, easy manner; every now and again his arm would thrill +with pleasure, as he felt on it the touch of her little fingers, and his +heart would leap within him as he gazed on the speaking beauty of her +face; but he was too honest-hearted to talk to the young girl, to Mrs. +Woodward's child, of love. He talked to her as to a child--but she +listened to him and loved him as a woman. + +And so they rambled on till the hour appointed for quitting this Elysium +had arrived. Every now and again they had a glimpse of some one of +their party, which had satisfied Katie that they were not lost. At first +Clementina was seen tracing with her parasol on the turf the plan of +a new dance. Then Ugolina passed by them describing the poetry of the +motion of the spheres in a full flow of impassioned eloquence to M. +Delabarbe de l'Empereur: '_C'est toujours vrai; ce que mademoiselle dit +est toujours vrai_,' was the Frenchman's answer, which they heard thrice +repeated. And then Lactimel and Captain Val were seen together, the +latter having disappointed the prophecies which had been made respecting +him. Lactimel had an idea that as the Scotts were great people, they +were all in Parliament, and she was endeavouring to persuade Captain Val +that something ought to be done for the poor. + +'Think,' said she, 'only think, Captain Scott, of all the money that +this _fete_ must cost.' + +'A doosed sight,' said the captain, hardly articulating from under his +thick, sandy-coloured moustache, which, growing downwards from his +nose, looked like a heavy thatch put on to protect his mouth from the +inclemency of the clouds above. 'A doosed sight,' said the captain. + +'Now suppose, Captain Scott, that all this money could be collected. The +tickets, you know, and the dresses, and----' + +'I wish I knew how to do it,' said the captain. + +Lactimel went on with her little scheme for expending the cost of the +flower-show in bread and bacon for the poor Irish of Saffron Hill; but +Charley and Katie heard no more, for the mild philosopher passed out of +hearing and out of sight. + +At last Katie got a poke in her back from a parasol, just as Charley had +expended half a crown, one of Mr. M'Ruen's last, in purchasing for her +one simple beautiful flower, to put into her hair that night. + +'You naughty puss!' said Gertrude, 'we have been looking for you all +over the gardens. Mrs. Val and the Miss Neverbends have been waiting +this half-hour.' Katie looked terribly frightened. 'Come along, and +don't keep them waiting any longer. They are all in the passage. This +was your fault, Master Charley.' + +'O no, it was not,' said Katie; 'but we thought----' + +'Never mind thinking,' said Gertrude, 'but come along.' And so they +hurried on, and were soon replaced in their respective vehicles, and +then went back to town. + +'Well, I do think the Chiswick Gardens is the nicest place in all the +world,' said Katie, leaning back in the cab, and meditating on her past +enjoyment. + +'They are very pretty--very,' said Lactimel Neverbend. 'I only wish +every cottar had such a garden behind his cottage. I am sure we might +manage it, if we set about it in the right way.' + +'What! as big as Chiswick?' said Katie. + +'No; not so big,' said Lactimel; 'but quite as nicely kept.' + +'I think the pigs would get in,' said Katie. + +'It would be much easier, and more important too, to keep their minds +nicely,' said Ugolina; and there the pigs could never get in.' + +'No; I suppose not,' said Katie. + +'I don't know that,' said Lactimel. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +KATIE'S FIRST BALL + + +In spite of Mrs. Val's oft-repeated assurance that they would have +none but nice people, she had done her best to fill her rooms, and not +unsuccessfully. She had, it is true, eschewed the Golightly party, who +resided some north of Oxford Street, in the purlieus of Fitzroy Square, +and some even to the east of Tottenham Court Road. She had eschewed the +Golightlys, and confined herself to the Scott connexion; but so great +had been her success in life, that, even under these circumstances, she +had found herself able to fill her rooms respectably. If, indeed, +there was no absolute crowding, if some space was left in the front +drawing-room sufficient for the operations of dancers, she could still +attribute this apparent want of fashionable popularity to the selections +of the few nice people whom she had asked. The Hon. Mrs. Val was no +ordinary woman, and understood well how to make the most of the goods +with which the gods provided her. + +The Miss Neverbends were to dine with the Tudors, and go with them +to the dance in the evening, and their brother Fidus was to meet them +there. Charley was, of course, one of the party at dinner; and as there +was no other gentleman there, Alaric had an excellent opportunity, +when the ladies went up to their toilets, to impress on his cousin the +expediency of his losing no time in securing to himself Miss Golightly's +twenty thousand pounds. The conversation, as will be seen, at last +became rather animated. + +'Well, Charley, what do you think of the beautiful Clementina?' said +Alaric, pushing over the bottle to his cousin, as soon as they found +themselves alone. 'A 'doosed' fine girl, as Captain Val says, isn't +she?' + +'A 'doosed' fine girl, of course,' said Charley, laughing. 'She has too +much go in her for me, I'm afraid.' + +'Marriage and children will soon pull that down. She'd make an excellent +wife for such a man as you; and to tell you the truth, Charley, if +you'll take my advice, you'll lose no time in making up to her. She has +got that d---- French fellow at her heels, and though I don't suppose +she cares one straw about him, it may be well to make sure.' + +'But you don't mean in earnest that you think that Miss Golightly would +have me?' + +'Indeed I do--you are just the man to get on with girls; and, as far as +I can see, you are just the man that will never get on in any other way +under the sun.' + +Charley sighed as he thought of his many debts, his poor prospects, and +his passionate love. There seemed, indeed, to be little chance that he +ever would get on at all in the ordinary sense of the word. 'I'm sure +she'd refuse me,' said he, still wishing to back out of the difficulty. +'I'm sure she would--I've not got a penny in the world, you know.' + +'That's just the reason--she has got lots of money, and you have got +none.' + +'Just the reason why she should refuse me, you should say.' + +'Well--what if she does? There's no harm done. 'Faint heart never won +fair lady.' You've everything to back you--Mrs. Val is led by Undy +Scott, and Undy is all on your side.' + +'But she has got guardians, hasn't she?' + +'Yes--her father's first cousin, old Sam Golightly. He is dying; or dead +probably by this time; only Mrs. Val won't have the news brought to her, +because of this party. He had a fit of apoplexy yesterday. Then there's +her father's brother-in-law, Figgs; he's bedridden. When old Golightly +is off the hooks altogether, another will be chosen, and Undy talks of +putting in my name as that of a family friend; so you'll have everything +to assist you.' + +Charley looked very grave. He had not been in the habit of discussing +such matters, but it seemed to him, that if Alaric was about to become +in any legal manner the guardian of Miss Golightly's fortune, that that +in itself was reason enough why he, Alaric, should not propose such a +match as this. Needy men, to be sure, did often marry rich ladies, and +the world looked on and regarded it only as a matter of course; but +surely it would be the duty of a guardian to protect his ward from such +a fate, if it were in his power to do so. + +Alaric, who saw something of what was going on in his cousin's mind, +essayed to remove the impression which was thus made. 'Besides, you +know, Clementina is no chicken. Her fortune is at her own disposal. All +the guardians on earth cannot prevent her marrying you if she makes up +her mind to do so.' + +Charley gulped down his glass of wine, and then sat staring at the fire, +saying nothing further. It was true enough that he was very poor--true +enough that Miss Golightly's fortune would set him on his legs, and make +a man of him--true enough, perhaps, that no other expedient of which he +could think would do so. But then there were so many arguments that were +'strong against the deed.' In the first place, he thought it impossible +that he should be successful in such a suit, and then again it would +hardly be honest to obtain such success, if it were possible; then, +thirdly, he had no sort of affection whatsoever for Miss Golightly; and +fourthly, lastly, and chiefly, he loved so dearly, tenderly, loved poor +Katie Woodward. + +As he thought of this, he felt horror-stricken with himself at allowing +the idea of his becoming a suitor to another to dwell for an instant on +his mind, and looking up with all the resolution which he was able to +summon, he said--'It's impossible, Alaric, quite impossible! I couldn't +do it.' + +'Then what do you mean to do?' said Alaric, who was angry at having his +scheme thus thwarted; 'do you mean to be a beggar?--or if not, how do +you intend to get out of your difficulties?' + +'I trust not a beggar,' said Charley, sadly. + +'What other hope have you? what rational hope of setting yourself +right?' + +'Perhaps I may do something by writing,' said Charley, very bashfully. + +'By writing! ha, ha, ha,' and Alaric laughed somewhat cruelly at the +poor navvy--' do something by writing! what will you do by writing? will +you make L20,000--or 20,000 pence? Of all trades going, that, I should +say, is likely to be the poorest for a poor man--the poorest and the +most heart-breaking. What have you made already to encourage you?' + +'The editor says that 'Crinoline and Macassar' will come to L4 10s.' + +'And when will you get it?' + +'The editor says that the rule is to pay six months after the date of +publication. The _Daily Delight_ is only a new thing, you know. The +editor says that, if the sale comes up to his expectations, he will +increase the scale of pay.' + +'A prospect of L4 10s. for a fortnight's hard work! That's a bad +look-out, my boy; you had better take the heiress.' + +'It may be a bad look-out,' said Charley, whose spirit was raised by his +cousin's sneers--'but at any rate it's honest. And I'll tell you what, +Alaric, I'd sooner earn L50 by writing for the press, than get L1,000 in +any other way you can think of. It may be a poor trade in one way; and +authors, I believe, are poor; but I am sure it has its consolations.' + +'Well, Charley, I hope with all my heart that you may find them. For my +own part, seeing what a place the world is, seeing what are the general +aspirations of other men, seeing what, as it appears to me, the Creator +has intended for the goal of our labours, I look for advancement, +prosperity, and such rank and station as I may be able to win for +myself. The labourer is worthy of his hire, and I do not mean to refuse +such wages as may come in my way.' + +'Yes,' said Charley, who, now that his spirit was roused, determined to +fight his battle manfully, 'yes, the labourer is worthy of his hire; +but were I to get Miss Golightly's fortune I should be taking the hire +without labour.' + +'Bah!' said Alaric. + +'It would be dishonest in every way, for I do not love her, and should +not love her at the moment that I married her.' + +'Honesty!' said Alaric, still sneering; 'there is no sign of the +dishonesty of the age so strong as the continual talk which one hears +about honesty!' It was quite manifest that Alaric had not sat at the +feet of Undy Scott without profiting by the lessons which he had heard. + +'With what face,' continued he, 'can you pretend to be more honest than +your neighbours?' + +'I know that it is wrong, and unmanly too, to hunt a girl down merely +for what she has got.' + +'There are a great many wrong and unmanly men about, then,' said Alaric. +'Look through the Houses of Parliament, and see how many men there have +married for money; aye, and made excellent husbands afterwards. I'll +tell you what it is, Charley, it is all humbug in you to pretend to be +better than others; you are not a bit better;--mind, I do not say you +are worse. We have none of us too much of this honesty of which we are +so fond of prating. Where was your honesty when you ordered the coat for +which you know you cannot pay? or when you swore to the bootmaker that +he should have the amount of his little bill after next quarter-day, +knowing in your heart at the time that he wouldn't get a farthing of it? +If you are so honest, why did you waste your money to-day in going to +Chiswick, instead of paying some portion of your debts? Honest! you are, +I dare say, indifferently honest as the world goes, like the rest of +us. But I think you might put the burden of Clementina's fortune on your +conscience without feeling much the worse for it after what you have +already gone through.' + +Charley became very red in the face as he sat silent, listening to +Alaric's address--nor did he speak at once at the first pause, so Alaric +went on. 'The truth, I take it, is, that at the present moment you have +no personal fancy for this girl.' + +'No, I have not,' said Charley. + +'And you are so incredibly careless as to all prudential considerations +as to prefer your immediate personal fancies to the future welfare +of your whole life. I can say no more. If you will think well of my +proposition, I will do all I can to assist you. I have no doubt you +would make a good husband to Miss Golightly, and that she would be very +happy with you. If you think otherwise there is an end of it; but pray +do not talk so much about your honesty--your tailor would arrest you +to-morrow if he heard you.' + +'There are two kinds of honesty, I take it,' said Charley, speaking with +suppressed anger and sorrow visible in his face, 'that which the world +sees and that which it does not see. For myself, I have nothing to say +in my own defence. I have made my bed badly, and must lie on it as it +is. I certainly will not mend it by marrying a girl that I can never +love. And as for you, Alaric, all who know you and love you watch your +career with the greatest hope. We know your ambition, and all look to +see you rise in the world. But in rising, as you will do, you should +remember this--that nothing that is wrong can become right because other +people do it.' + +'Well, Charley,' said the other, 'thank you for the lecture. I did not +certainly expect it from you; but it is not on that account the less +welcome. And now, suppose we go upstairs and dress for Mrs. Val;' and so +they went upstairs. + +Katie's heart beat high as she got out of the carriage--Mrs. Val's +private carriage had been kept on for the occasion--and saw before and +above her on the stairs a crowd of muslin crushing its way on towards +the room prepared for dancing. Katie had never been to a ball before. We +hope that the word ball may not bring down on us the adverse criticism +of the _Morning Post_. It was probably not a ball in the strictly +fashionable sense of the word, but it was so to Katie to all intents +and purposes. Her dancing had hitherto been done either at children's +parties, or as a sort of supplemental amusement to the evening +tea-gatherings at Hampton or Hampton Court. She had never yet seen the +muse worshipped with the premeditated ceremony of banished carpets, +chalked floors, and hired musicians. Her heart consequently beat high as +she made her way upstairs, linked arm-in-arm with Ugolina Neverbend. + +'Shall you dance much?' said Ugolina. + +'Oh, I hope so,' said Katie. + +'I shall not. It is an amusement of which I am peculiarly fond, and +for which my active habits suit me.' This was probably said with some +allusion to her sister, who was apt to be short of breath. 'But in the +dances of the present day conversation is impossible, and I look upon +any pursuit as barbaric which stops the "feast of reason and the flow of +soul."' + +Katie did not quite understand this, but she thought in her heart that +she would not at all mind giving up talking for the whole evening if she +could only get dancing enough. But on this matter her heart misgave +her. To be sure, she was engaged to Charley for the first quadrille and +second waltz; but there her engagements stopped, whereas Clementina, as +she was aware, had a whole book full of them. What if she should get no +more dancing when Charley's good nature should have been expended? She +had an idea that no one would care to dance with her when older partners +were to be had. Ah, Katie, you do not yet know the extent of your +riches, or half the wealth of your own attractions! + +And then they all heard another little speech from Mrs. Val. 'She was +really quite ashamed--she really was--to see so many people; she could +not wish any of her guests away, that would be impossible--though +perhaps one or two might be spared,' she said in a confidential whisper +to Gertrude. Who the one or two might be it would be difficult to +decide, as she had made the same whisper to every one; 'but she really +was ashamed; there was almost a crowd, and she had quite intended that +the house should be nearly empty. The fact was, everybody asked had +come, and as she could not, of course, have counted on that, why, she +had got, you see, twice as many people as she had expected.' And then +she went on, and made the same speech to the next arrival. + +Katie, who wanted to begin the play at the beginning, kept her eye +anxiously on Charley, who was still standing with Lactimel Neverbend +on his arm. 'Oh, now,' said she to herself, 'if he should forget me and +begin dancing with Miss Neverbend!' But then she remembered how he had +jumped into the water, and determined that, even with such provocation +as that, she must not be angry with him. + +But there was no danger of Charley's forgetting. 'Come,' said he, 'we +must not lose any more time, if we mean to dance the first set. Alaric +will be our _vis-a-vis_--he is going to dance with Miss Neverbend,' and +so they stood up. Katie tightened her gloves, gave her dress a little +shake, looked at her shoes, and then the work of the evening began. + +'I shouldn't have liked to have sat down for the first dance,' she said +confidentially to Charley, 'because it's my first ball.' + +'Sit down! I don't suppose you'll be let to sit down the whole evening. +You'll be crying out for mercy about three or four o'clock in the +morning.' + +'It's you to go on now,' said Katie, whose eyes were intent on the +figure, and who would not have gone wrong herself, or allowed her +partner to do so, on any consideration. And so the dance went on right +merrily. + +'I've got to dance the first polka with Miss Golightly,' said Charley. + +'And the next with me,' said Katie. + +'You may be sure I shan't forget that.' + +'You lucky man to get Miss Golightly for a partner. I am told she is the +most beautiful dancer in the world.' + +'O no--Mademoiselle ---- is much better,' said Charley, naming the +principal stage performer of the day. 'If one is to go the whole hog, +one had better do it thoroughly.' + +Katie did not quite understand then what he meant, and merely replied +that she would look at the performance. In this, however, she was +destined to be disappointed, for Charley had hardly left her before Miss +Golightly brought up to her the identical M. Delabarbe de l'Empereur who +had so terribly put her out in the gardens. This was done so suddenly, +that Katie's presence of mind was quite insufficient to provide her +with any means of escape. The Frenchman bowed very low and said nothing. +Katie made a little curtsy, and was equally silent. Then she felt her +own arm gathered up and put within his, and she stood up to take her +share in the awful performance. She felt herself to be in such a nervous +fright that she would willingly have been home again at Hampton if +she could; but as this was utterly impossible, she had only to bethink +herself of her steps, and get through the work as best she might. + +Away went Charley and Clementina leading the throng; away went M. +Jaquetanape and Linda; away went another Frenchman, clasping in his +arms the happy Ugolina. Away went Lactimel with a young Weights and +Measures--and then came Katie's turn. She pressed her lips together, +shut her eyes, and felt the tall Frenchman's arms behind her back, and +made a start. 'Twas like plunging into cold water on the first bathing +day of the season--'_ce n'est que le premier pas que coute._' When once +off Katie did not find it so bad. The Frenchman danced well, and Katie +herself was a wicked little adept. At home, at Surbiton, dancing with +another girl, she had with great triumph tired out the fingers both of +her mother and sister, and forced them to own that it was impossible to +put her down. M. de l'Empereur, therefore, had his work before him, and +he did it like a man--as long as he could. + +Katie, who had not yet assumed the airs or will of a grown-up young +lady, thought that she was bound to go on as long as her grand partner +chose to go with her. He, on the other hand, accustomed in his gallantry +to obey all ladies' wishes, considered himself bound to leave it to +her to stop when she pleased. And so they went on with apparently +interminable gyrations. Charley and the heiress had twice been in +motion, and had twice stopped, and still they were going on; Ugolina +had refreshed herself with many delicious observations, and Lactimel had +thrice paused to advocate dancing for the million, and still they went +on; the circle was gradually left to themselves, and still they went +on; people stood round, some admiring and others pitying; and still they +went on. Katie, thinking of her steps and her business, did not perceive +that she and her partner were alone; and ever and anon, others of course +joined in--and so they went on--and on--and on. + +M. Delabarbe de l'Empereur was a strong and active man, but he began to +perceive that the lady was too much for him. He was already melting away +with his exertions, while his partner was as cool as a cucumber. She, +with her active young legs, her lightly filled veins, and small agile +frame, could have gone on almost for ever; but M. de l'Empereur was more +encumbered. Gallantry was at last beat by nature, his overtasked muscles +would do no more for him, and he was fain to stop, dropping his partner +into a chair, and throwing himself in a state of utter exhaustion +against the wall. + +Katie was hardly out of breath as she received the congratulations of +her friends; but at the moment she could not understand why they were +quizzing her. In after times, however, she was often reproached with +having danced a Frenchman to death in the evening, in revenge for his +having bored her in the morning. It was observed that M. Delabarbe de +l'Empereur danced no more that evening. Indeed, he very soon left the +house. + +Katie had not been able to see Miss Golightly's performance, but it had +been well worth seeing. She was certainly no ordinary performer, and if +she did not quite come up to the remarkable movements which one sees on +the stage under the name of dancing, the fault was neither in her will +nor her ability, but only in her education. Charley also was peculiarly +well suited to give her 'ample verge and room enough' to show off all +her perfections. Her most peculiar merit consisted, perhaps, in her +power of stopping herself suddenly, while going on at the rate of a hunt +one way, and without any pause or apparent difficulty going just as fast +the other way. This was done by a jerk which must, one would be inclined +to think, have dislocated all her bones and entirely upset her internal +arrangements. But no; it was done without injury, or any disagreeable +result either to her brain or elsewhere. We all know how a steamer is +manoeuvred when she has to change her course, how we stop her and ease +her and back her; but Miss Golightly stopped and eased and backed all at +once, and that without collision with any other craft. It was truly very +wonderful, and Katie ought to have looked at her. + +Katie soon found occasion to cast off her fear that her evening's +happiness would be destroyed by a dearth of partners. Her troubles began +to be of an exactly opposite description. She had almost envied Miss +Golightly her little book full of engagements, and now she found herself +dreadfully bewildered by a book of her own. Some one had given her a +card and a pencil, and every moment she could get to herself was taken +up in endeavouring to guard herself from perfidy on her own part. All +down the card, at intervals which were not very far apart, there were +great C's, which stood for Charley, and her firmest feeling was that +no earthly consideration should be allowed to interfere with those +landmarks. And then there were all manner of hieroglyphics--sometimes, +unfortunately, illegible to Katie herself--French names and English +names mixed together in a manner most vexatious; and to make matters +worse, she found that she had put down both Victoire Jaquetanape and Mr. +Johnson of the Weights, by a great I, and she could not remember with +whom she was bound to dance the lancers, and to which she had promised +the last polka before supper. One thing, however, was quite fixed: when +supper should arrive she was to go downstairs with Charley. + +'What dreadful news, Linda!' said Charley; 'did you hear it?' Linda was +standing up with Mr. Neverbend for a sober quadrille, and Katie also was +close by with her partner. 'Dreadful news indeed!' + +'What is it?' said Linda. + +'A man can die but once, to be sure; but to be killed in such a manner +as that, is certainly very sad.' + +'Killed! who has been killed?' said Neverbend. + +'Well, perhaps I shouldn't say killed. He only died in the cab as he +went home.' + +'Died in a cab! how dreadful!' said Neverbend. 'Who? who was it, Mr. +Tudor?' + +'Didn't you hear? How very odd! Why M. de l'Empereur, to be sure. I +wonder what the coroner will bring it in.' + +'How can you talk such nonsense, Charley?' said Linda. + +'Very well, Master Charley,' said Katie. 'All that comes of being a +writer of romances. I suppose that's to be the next contribution to the +_Daily Delight_.' + +Neverbend went off on his quadrille not at all pleased with the joke. +Indeed, he was never pleased with a joke, and in this instance he +ventured to suggest to his partner that the idea of a gentleman expiring +in a cab was much too horrid to be laughed at. + +'Oh, we never mind Charley Tudor,' said Linda; 'he always goes on in +that way. We all like him so much.' + +Mr. Neverbend, who, though not very young, still had a susceptible heart +within his bosom, had been much taken by Linda's charms. He already +began to entertain an idea that as a Mrs. Neverbend would be a desirable +adjunct to his establishment at some future period, he could not do +better than offer himself and his worldly goods to the acceptance of +Miss Woodward; he therefore said nothing further in disparagement of the +family friend; but he resolved that no such alliance should ever induce +him to make Mr. Charles Tudor welcome at his house. But what could he +have expected? The Internal Navigation had ever been a low place, and +he was surprised that the Hon. Mrs. Val should have admitted one of the +navvies inside her drawing-room. + +And so the ball went on. Mr. Johnson came duly for the lancers, and M. +Jaquetanape for the polka. Johnson was great at the lancers, knowing +every turn and vagary in that most intricate and exclusive of dances; +and it need hardly be said that the polka with M. Jaquetanape was +successful. The last honour, however, was not without evil results, for +it excited the envy of Ugolina, who, proud of her own performance, +had longed, but hitherto in vain, to be whirled round the room by that +wondrously expert foreigner. + +'Well, my dear,' said Ugolina, with an air that plainly said that Katie +was to be treated as a child, 'I hope you have had dancing enough.' + +'Oh, indeed I have not,' said Katie, fully appreciating the purport and +cause of her companion's remark; 'not near enough.' + +'Ah--but, my dear--you should remember,' said Ugolina; 'your mamma will +be displeased if you fatigue yourself.' + +'My mamma is never displeased because we amuse ourselves, and I am not a +bit fatigued;' and so saying Katie walked off, and took refuge with her +sister Gertrude. What business had any Ugolina Neverbend to interfere +between her and her mamma? + +Then came the supper. There was a great rush to get downstairs, but +Charley was so clever that even this did not put him out. Of course +there was no sitting down; which means that the bashful, retiring, +and obedient guests were to stand on their legs; while those who were +forward, and impudent, and disobedient, found seats for themselves +wherever they could. Charley was certainly among the latter class, and +he did not rest therefore till he had got Katie into an old arm-chair in +one corner of the room, in such a position as to enable himself to eat +his own supper leaning against the chimney-piece. + +'I say, Johnson,' said he, 'do bring me some ham and chicken--it's for a +lady--I'm wedged up here and can't get out--and, Johnson, some sherry.' + +The good-natured young Weights obeyed, and brought the desired +provisions. + +'And Johnson--upon my word I'm sorry to be so troublesome--but one more +plateful if you please--for another lady--a good deal, if you please, +for this lady, for she's very hungry; and some more sherry.' + +Johnson again obeyed--the Weights are always obedient--and Charley of +course appropriated the second portion to his own purposes. + +'Oh, Charley, that was a fib--now wasn't it? You shouldn't have said it +was for a lady.' + +'But then I shouldn't have got it.' + +'Oh, but that's no reason; according to that everybody might tell a fib +whenever they wanted anything.' + +'Well, everybody does--everybody except you, Katie.' + +'O no,' said Katie--'no they don't--mamma, and Linda, and Gertrude never +do; nor Harry Norman, he never does, nor Alaric.' + +'No, Harry Norman never does,' said Charley, with something like +vexation in his tone. He made no exception to Katie's list of +truth-tellers, but he was thinking within himself whether Alaric had a +juster right to be in the catalogue than himself. 'Harry Norman never +does, certainly. You must not compare me with them, Katie. They are +patterns of excellence. I am all the other way, as everybody knows.' He +was half laughing as he spoke, but Katie's sharp ear knew that he was +more than half in earnest, and she felt she had pained him by what she +had said. + +'Oh, Charley, I didn't mean that; indeed I did not. I know that in all +serious things you are as truthful as they are--and quite as good--that +is, in many ways.' Poor Katie! she wanted to console him, she wanted to +be kind, and yet she could not be dishonest. + +'Quite as good! no, you know I am not.' + +'You are as good-hearted, if not better; and you will be as steady, +won't you, Charley? I am sure you will; and I know you are more clever, +really more clever than either of them.' + +'Oh! Katie.' + +'I am quite sure you are. I have always said so; don't be angry with me +for what I said.' + +'Angry with you! I couldn't be angry with you.' + +'I wouldn't, for the world, say anything to vex you. I like you better +than either of them, though Alaric is my brother-in-law. Of course I do; +how could I help it, when you saved my life?' + +'Saved your life! Pooh! I didn't save your life. Any boy could have done +the same, or any waterman about the place. When you fell in, the person +who was nearest you pulled you out, that was all.' + +There was something almost approaching to ferocity in his voice as he +said this; and yet when Katie timidly looked up she saw that he had +turned his back to the room, and that his eyes were full of tears. He +had felt that he was loved by this child, but that he was loved from a +feeling of uncalled-for gratitude. He could not stop to analyse this, +to separate the sweet from the bitter; but he knew that the latter +prevailed. It is so little flattering to be loved when such love is the +offspring of gratitude. And then when that gratitude is unnecessary, +when it has been given in mistake for supposed favours, the acceptance +of such love is little better than a cheat! + +'That was not all,' said Katie, very decidedly. 'It never shall be all +in my mind. If you had not been with us I should now have been drowned, +and cold, and dead; and mamma! where would she have been? Oh! Charley, I +shall think myself so wicked if I have said anything to vex you.' + +Charley did not analyse his feelings, nor did Katie analyse hers. It +would have been impossible for her to do so. But could she have done it, +and had she done it, she would have found that her gratitude was but the +excuse which she made to herself for a passionate love which she could +not have excused, even to herself, in any other way. + +He said everything he could to reassure her and make her happy, and she +soon smiled and laughed again. + +'Now, that's what my editor would call a Nemesis,' said Charley. + +'Oh, that's a Nemesis, is it?' + +'Johnson was cheated into doing my work, and getting me my supper; and +then you scolded me, and took away my appetite, so that I couldn't eat +it; that's a Nemesis. Johnson is avenged, only, unluckily, he doesn't +know it, and wickedness is punished.' + +'Well, mind you put it into the _Daily Delight_. But all the girls are +going upstairs; pray let me get out,' and so Katie went upstairs again. + +It was then past one. About two hours afterwards, Gertrude, looking for +her sister that she might take her home, found her seated on a bench, +with her feet tucked under her dress. She was very much fatigued, and +she looked to be so; but there was still a bright laughing sparkle in +her eye, which showed that her spirits were not even yet weary. + +'Well, Katie, have you had enough dancing?' + +'Nearly,' said Katie, yawning. + +'You look as if you couldn't stand.' + +'Yes, I am too tired to stand; but still I think I could dance a little +more, only--' + +'Only what?' + +'Whisper,' said Katie; and Gertrude put down her ear near to her +sister's lips. 'Both my shoes are quite worn out, and my toes are all +out on the floor.' + +It was clearly time for them to go home, so away they all went. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +EXCELSIOR + + +The last words that Katie spoke as she walked down Mrs. Val's hall, +leaning on Charley's arm, as he led her to the carriage, were these-- + +'You will be steady, Charley, won't you? you will try to be steady, +won't you, dear Charley?' and as she spoke she almost imperceptibly +squeezed the arm on which she was leaning. Charley pressed her little +hand as he parted from her, but he said nothing. What could he say, in +that moment of time, in answer to such a request? Had he made the reply +which would have come most readily to his lips, it would have been this: +'It is too late, Katie--too late for me to profit by a caution, even +from you--no steadiness now will save me.' Katie, however, wanted no +other answer than the warm pressure which she felt on her hand. + +And then, leaning back in the carriage, and shutting her eyes, she +tried to think quietly over the events of the night. But it was, alas! a +dream, and yet so like reality that she could not divest herself of the +feeling that the ball was still going on. She still seemed to see the +lights and hear the music, to feel herself whirled round the room, and +to see others whirling, whirling, whirling on every side of her. She +thought over all the names on her card, and the little contests that +had taken place for her hand, and all Charley's jokes, and M. de +l'Empereur's great disaster; and then as she remembered how long she had +gone on twisting round with the poor unfortunate ill-used Frenchman, she +involuntarily burst out into a fit of laughter. + +'Good gracious, Katie, what is the matter? I thought you were asleep,' +said Gertrude. + +'So did I,' said Linda. 'What on earth can you be laughing at now?' + +'I was laughing at myself,' said Katie, still going on with her +half-suppressed chuckle, 'and thinking what a fool I was to go on +dancing so long with that M. de l'Empereur. Oh dear, Gertrude, I am so +tired: shall we be home soon?' and then she burst out crying. + +The excitement and fatigue of the day had been too much for her, and +she was now completely overcome. Ugolina Neverbend's advice, though not +quite given in the kindest way, had in itself been good. Mrs. Woodward +would, in truth, have been unhappy could she have seen her child at this +moment. Katie made an attempt to laugh off her tears, but she failed, +and her sobs then became hysterical, and she lay with her head on her +married sister's shoulder, almost choking herself in her attempts to +repress them. + +'Dear Katie, don't sob so,' said Linda--'don't cry, pray don't cry, dear +Katie.' + +'She had better let it have its way,' said Gertrude; 'she will be better +directly, won't you, Katie?' + +In a little time she was better, and then she burst out laughing again. +'I wonder why the man went on when he was so tired. What a stupid man he +must be!' + +Gertrude and Linda both laughed in order to comfort her and bring her +round. + +'Do you know, I think it was because he didn't know how to say 'stop' in +English;' and then she burst out laughing again, and that led to another +fit of hysterical tears. + +When they reached home Gertrude and Linda soon got her into bed. Linda +was to sleep with her, and she also was not very long in laying her head +on her pillow. But before she did so Katie was fast asleep, and twice in +her sleep she cried out, 'Oh, Charley! Oh, Charley!' Then Linda guessed +how it was with her sister, and in the depths of her loving heart she +sorrowed for the coming grief which she foresaw. + +When the morning came Katie was feverish, and had a headache. It was +thought better that she should remain in town, and Alaric took Linda +down to Hampton. The next day Mrs. Woodward came up, and as the invalid +was better she took her home. But still she was an invalid. The doctor +declared that she had never quite recovered from her fall into the +river, and prescribed quiet and cod-liver oil. All the truth about the +Chiswick fete and the five hours' dancing, and the worn-out shoes, was +not told to him, or he might, perhaps, have acquitted the water-gods of +the injury. Nor was it all, perhaps, told to Mrs. Woodward. + +'I'm afraid she tired herself at the ball,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'I think she did a little,' said Linda. + +'Did she dance much?' said Mrs. Woodward, looking anxiously. + +'She did dance a good deal,' said Linda. + +Mrs. Woodward was too wise to ask any further questions. + +As it was a fine night Alaric had declared his intention of walking home +from Mrs. Val's party, and he and Charley started together. They soon +parted on their roads, but not before Alaric had had time to notice +Charley's perverse stupidity as to Miss Golightly. + +'So you wouldn't take my advice about Clementina?' said he. + +'It was quite impossible, Alaric,' said Charley, in an apologetic voice. +'I couldn't do it, and, what is more, I am sure I never shall.' + +'No, not now; you certainly can't do it now. If I am not very much +mistaken, the chance is gone. I think you'll find she engaged herself to +that Frenchman tonight.' + +'Very likely,' said Charley. + +'Well--I did the best I could for you. Good night, old fellow.' + +'I'm sure I'm much obliged to you. Good night,' said Charley. + +Alaric's suggestion with reference to the heiress was quite correct: M. +Jaquetanape had that night proposed, and been duly accepted. He was to +present himself to his loved one's honourable mother on the following +morning as her future son-in-law, comforted and supported in his task of +doing so by an assurance from the lady that if her mother would not +give her consent the marriage should go on all the same without it. How +delightful to have such a dancer for her lover! thought Clementina. That +was her 'Excelsior.' + +Charley walked home with a sad heart. He had that day given a pledge +that he would on the morrow go to the 'Cat and Whistle,' and visit his +lady-love. Since the night when he sat there with Norah Geraghty on his +knee, now nearly a fortnight since, he had spent but little of his +time there. He had, indeed, gone there once or twice with his friend +Scatterall, but had contrived to avoid any confidential intercourse +with either the landlady or the barmaid, alleging, as an excuse for his +extra-ordinary absence, that his time was wholly occupied by the demands +made on it by the editor of the _Daily Delight_. Mrs. Davis, however, +was much too sharp, and so also we may say was Miss Geraghty, to be +deceived. They well knew that such a young man as Charley would go +wherever his inclination led him. Till lately it had been all but +impossible to get him out of the little back parlour at the 'Cat and +Whistle'; now it was nearly as difficult to get him into it. They both +understood what this meant. + +'You'd better take up with Peppermint and have done with it,' said the +widow. 'What's the good of your shilly-shallying till you're as thin as +a whipping-post? If you don't mind what you're after he'll be off too.' + +'And the d---- go along with him,' said Miss Geraghty, who had still +about her a twang of the County Clare, from whence she came. + +'With all my heart,' said Mrs. Davis; 'I shall save my hundred pounds: +but if you'll be led by me you'll not throw Peppermint over till you're +sure of the other; and, take my word for it, you're----' + +'I hate Peppermint.' + +'Nonsense; he's an honest good sort of man, and a deal more likely to +keep you out of want than the other.' + +Hereupon Norah began to cry, and to wipe her beautiful eyes with the +glass-cloth. Hers, indeed, was a cruel position. Her face was her +fortune, and her fortune she knew was deteriorating from day to day. She +could not afford to lose the lover that she loved, and also the lover +that she did not love. Matrimony with her was extremely desirable, and +she was driven to confess that it might very probably be either now or +never. Much as she hated Peppermint, she was quite aware that she would +take him if she could not do better. But then, was it absolutely certain +that she must lose the lover that so completely suited her taste? Mrs. +Davis said it was. Norah herself, confiding, as it is so natural that +ladies should do, a little too much in her own beauty, thought that she +couldn't but have a chance left. She also had her high aspirations; she +desired to rise in the world, to leave goes of gin and screws of tobacco +behind her, and to reach some position more worthy of the tastes of a +woman. 'Excelsior,' translated doubtless into excellent Irish, was +her motto also. It would be so great a thing to be the wife of Charles +Tudor, Esq., of the Civil Service, and more especially as she dearly and +truly loved the same Charles Tudor in her heart of hearts. + +She knew, however, that it was not for her to indulge in the luxury of +a heart, if circumstances absolutely forbade it. To eat and drink and +clothe herself, and, if possible, to provide eating and drinking and +clothes for her future years, this was the business of life, this was +the only real necessity. She had nothing to say in opposition to Mrs. +Davis, and therefore she went on crying, and again wiped her eyes with +the glass-cloth. + +Mrs. Davis, however, was no stern monitor, unindulgent to the weakness +of human nature. When she saw how Norah took to heart her sad fate, she +resolved to make one more effort in her favour. She consequently dressed +herself very nicely, put on her best bonnet, and took the unprecedented +step of going off to the Internal Navigation, and calling on Charley in +the middle of his office. + +Charley was poking over the Kennett and Avon lock entries, with his +usual official energy, when the office messenger came up and informed +him that a lady was waiting to see him. + +'A lady!' said Charley: 'what lady?' and he immediately began thinking +of the Woodwards, whom he was to meet that afternoon at Chiswick. + +'I'm sure I can't say, sir: all that she said was that she was a lady,' +answered the messenger, falsely, for he well knew that the woman was +Mrs. Davis, of the 'Cat and Whistle.' + +Now the clerks at the Internal Navigation were badly off for a +waiting-room; and in no respect can the different ranks of different +public offices be more plainly seen than in the presence or absence of +such little items of accommodation as this. At the Weights and +Measures there was an elegant little chamber, carpeted, furnished +with leathern-bottomed chairs, and a clock, supplied with cream-laid +note-paper, new pens, and the _Times_ newspaper, quite a little Elysium, +in which to pass half an hour, while the Secretary, whom one had called +to see, was completing his last calculation on the matter of the decimal +coinage. But there were no such comforts at the Internal Navigation. +There was, indeed, a little room at the top of the stairs, in which +visitors were requested to sit down; but even here two men were always +at work--at work, or else at play. + +Into this room Mrs. Davis was shown, and there Charley found her. Long +and intimately as the young navvy had been acquainted with the landlady +of the 'Cat and Whistle,' he had never before seen her arrayed for the +outer world. It may be doubted whether Sir John Falstaff would, at the +first glance, have known even Dame Quickly in her bonnet, that is, if +Dame Quickly in those days had had a bonnet. At any rate Charley was at +fault for a moment, and was shaking hands with the landlady before he +quite recognized who she was. + +The men in the room, however, had recognized her, and Charley well knew +that they had done so. + +'Mr. Tudor,' she began, not a bit abashed, 'I want to know what it is +you are a-going to do?' + +Though she was not abashed, Charley was, and very much so. However, +he contrived to get her out of the room, so that he might speak to her +somewhat more privately in the passage. The gentlemen at the Internal +Navigation were well accustomed to this mode of colloquy, as their +tradesmen not unfrequently called, with the view of having a little +conversation, which could not conveniently be held in the public room. + +'And, Mr. Tudor, what are you a-going to do about that poor girl there?' +said Mrs. Davis, as soon as she found herself in the passage, and saw +that Charley was comfortably settled with his back against the wall. + +'She may go to Hong-Kong for me.' That is what Charley should have said. +But he did not say it. He had neither the sternness of heart nor the +moral courage to enable him to do so. He was very anxious, it is true, +to get altogether quit of Norah Geraghty; but his present immediate care +was confined to a desire of getting Mrs. Davis out of the office. + +'Do!' said Charley. 'Oh, I don't know; I'll come and settle something +some of these days; let me see when--say next Tuesday.' + +'Settle something,' said Mrs. Davis. 'If you are an honest man, as I +take you, there is only one thing to settle; when do you mean to marry +her?' + +'Hush!' said Charley; for, as she was speaking, Mr. Snape came down +the passage leading from Mr. Oldeschole's room. 'Hush!' Mr. Snape as he +passed walked very slowly, and looked curiously round into the widow's +face. 'I'll be even with you, old fellow, for that,' said Charley to +himself; and it may be taken for granted that he kept his word before +long. + +'Oh! it is no good hushing any more,' said Mrs. Davis, hardly waiting +till Mr. Snape's erect ears were out of hearing. 'Hushing won't do no +good; there's that girl a-dying, and her grave'll be a-top of your head, +Mr. Tudor; mind I tell you that fairly; so now I want to know what it to +you're a-going to do.' And then Mrs. Davis lifted up the lid of a market +basket which hung on her left arm, took out her pocket-handkerchief, and +began to wipe her eyes. + +Unfortunate Charley! An idea occurred to him that he might bolt and +leave her. But then the chances were that she would make her way into +his very room, and tell her story there, out before them all. He well +knew that this woman was capable of many things if her temper were +fairly roused. And yet what could he say to her to induce her to go out +from that building, and leave him alone to his lesser misfortunes? + +'She's a-dying, I tell you, Mr. Tudor,' continued the landlady, 'and if +she do die, be sure of this, I won't be slow to tell the truth about it. +I'm the only friend she's got, and I'm not going to see her put upon. +So just tell me this in two words--what is it you're a-going to do?' And +then Mrs. Davis replaced her kerchief in the basket, stood boldly erect +in the middle of the passage, waiting for Charley's answer. + +Just at this moment Mr. Snape again appeared in the passage, going +towards Mr. Oldeschole's room. The pernicious old man! He hated Charley +Tudor; and, to tell the truth, there was no love lost between them. +Charley, afflicted and out of spirits as he was at the moment, could not +resist the opportunity of being impertinent to his old foe: 'I'm afraid +you'll make yourself very tired, Mr. Snape, if you walk about so much,' +said he. Mr. Snape merely looked at him, and then hard at Mrs. Davis, +and passed on to Mr. Oldeschole's room. + +'Well, Mr. Tudor, will you be so good as to tell me what it is you're +going to do about this poor girl?' + +'My goodness, Mrs. Davis, you know how I am situated--how can you expect +me to give an answer to such a question in such a place as this? I'll +come to the 'Cat and Whistle' on Tuesday.' + +'Gammon!' said the eloquent lady. 'You know you means gammon.' + +Charley, perhaps, did mean gammon; but he protested that he had never +been more truthfully in earnest in his life. Mr. Oldeschole's door +opened, and Mrs. Davis perceiving it, whipped out her handkerchief +in haste, and again began wiping her eyes, not without audible sobs. +'Confound the woman!' said Charley to himself; 'what on earth shall I do +with her?' + +Mr. Oldeschole's door opened, and out of it came Mr. Oldeschole, and Mr. +Snape following him. What means the clerk had used to bring forth the +Secretary need not now be inquired. Forth they both came, and passed +along the passage, brushing close by Charley and Mrs. Davis; Mr. +Oldeschole, when he saw that one of the clerks was talking to a woman +who apparently was crying, looked very intently on the ground, and +passed by with a quick step; Mr. Snape looked as intently at the woman, +and passed very slowly. Each acted according to his lights. + +'I don't mean gammon at all, Mrs. Davis--indeed, I don't--I'll be there +on Tuesday night certainly, if not sooner--I will indeed--I shall be in +a desperate scrape if they see me here talking to you any longer; there +is a rule against women being in the office at all.' + +'And there's a rule against the clerks marrying, I suppose,' said Mrs. +Davis. + +The colloquy ended in Charley promising to spend the Saturday evening at +the 'Cat and Whistle,' with the view of then and there settling what +he meant to do about 'that there girl'; nothing short of such an +undertaking on his part would induce Mrs. Davis to budge. Had she known +her advantage she might have made even better terms. He would almost +rather have given her a written promise to marry her barmaid, than have +suffered her to remain there till Mr. Oldeschole should return and see +her there again. So Mrs. Davis, with her basket and pocket-handkerchief, +went her way about her marketing, and Charley, as he returned to his +room, gave the strictest injunctions to the messenger that not, on any +ground or excuse whatever, was any woman to be again allowed to see him +at the office. + +When, therefore, on the fine summer morning, with the early daylight +all bright around him, Charley walked home from Mrs. Val's party, he +naturally felt sad enough. He had one sixpence left in his pocket; +he was engaged to spend the evening of the following day with the +delightful Norah at the 'Cat and Whistle,' then and there to plight her +his troth, in whatever formal and most irretrievable manner Mrs. Davis +might choose to devise; and as he thought of these things he had ringing +in his ears the last sounds of that angel voice, 'You will be steady, +Charley, won't you? I know you will, dear Charley--won't you now?' + +Steady! Would not the best thing for him be to step down to Waterloo +Bridge and throw himself over? He still had money enough left to pay the +toll--though not enough to hire a pistol. And so he went home and got +into bed. + +On that same day, the day that was to witness Charley's betrothal to +Miss Geraghty, and that of M. Jaquetanape with Miss Golightly, Alaric +Tudor had an appointment with Sir Gregory Hardlines at the new office +of the Civil Service Examination Board. Alaric had been invited to wait +upon the great man, in terms which made him perfectly understand that +the communication to be made was one which would not be unpleasing or +uncomplimentary to himself. Indeed, he pretty well guessed what was to +be said to him. Since his promotion at the Weights and Measures he had +gone on rising in estimation as a man of value to the Civil Service at +large. Nearly two years had now passed since that date, and in these +pages nothing has been said of his official career during the time. It +had, however, been everything that he or his friends could have wished +it to be. He had so put himself forward as absolutely to have satisfied +the actual chief clerk of his office, and was even felt by some of the +secretaries to be treading very closely on their heels. + +And yet a great portion of his time had been spent, not at the Weights +and Measures, but in giving some sort of special assistance to Sir +Gregory's Board. The authorities at the Weights and Measures did not +miss him; they would have been well content that he should have remained +for ever with Sir Gregory. + +He had also become somewhat known to the official world, even beyond the +confines of the Weights and Measures, or the Examination Board. He had +changed his club, and now belonged to the Downing. He had there been +introduced by his friend Undy to many men, whom to know should be the +very breath in the nostrils of a rising official aspirant. Mr. Whip +Vigil, of the Treasury, had more than once taken him by the hand, and +even the Chancellor of the Exchequer usually nodded to him whenever that +o'ertasked functionary found a moment to look in at the official club. + +Things had not been going quite smoothly at the Examination Board. +Tidings had got about that Mr. Jobbles was interfering with Sir Gregory, +and that Sir Gregory didn't like it. To be sure, when this had been +indiscreetly alluded to in the House by one of those gentlemen who +pass their leisure hours in looking out for raws in the hide of the +Government carcass, some other gentleman, some gentleman from the +Treasury bench, had been able to give a very satisfactory reply. For +why, indeed, should any gentleman sit on the Treasury bench if he be +not able, when so questioned, to give very satisfactory replies? Giving +satisfactory replies to ill-natured questions is, one may say, the +constitutional work of such gentlemen, who have generally well learned +how to do so, and earned their present places by asking the selfsame +questions themselves, when seated as younger men in other parts of the +House. + +But though the answer given in this instance was so eminently +satisfactory as to draw down quite a chorus of triumphant acclamations +from the official supporters of Government, nevertheless things had not +gone on at the Board quite as smoothly as might have been desirable. Mr. +Jobbles was enthusiastically intent on examining the whole adult male +population of Great Britain, and had gone so far as to hint that +female competitors might, at some future time, be made subject to his +all-measuring rule and compass. Sir Gregory, however, who, having passed +his early days in an office, may, perhaps, be supposed to have had +some slight prejudice remaining in favour of ancient customs, was not +inclined to travel so quickly. Moreover, he preferred following his own +lead, to taking any other lead whatever that Mr. Jobbles might point out +as preferable. + +Mr. Jobbles wanted to crush all patronage at a blow; any system of +patronage would lamentably limit the number of candidates among whom his +examination papers would be distributed. He longed to behold, crowding +around him, an attendance as copious as Mr. Spurgeon's, and to see every +head bowed over the posing questions which he should have dictated. No +legion could be too many for him. He longed to be at this great work; +but his energies were crushed by the opposition of his colleagues. Sir +Gregory thought--and Sir Warwick, though he hardly gave a firm support +to Sir Gregory, would not lend his countenance to Mr. Jobbles--Sir +Gregory thought that enough would be done for the present, if they +merely provided that every one admitted into the Service should be +educated in such a manner as to be fit for any profession or calling +under the sun; and that, with this slight proviso, the question of +patronage might for the present remain untouched. 'Do you,' he would +have said to the great officers of Government, 'appoint whom you like. +In this respect remain quite unfettered. I, however, I am the St. Peter +to whom are confided the keys of the Elysium. Do you send whatever +candidates you please: it is for me merely to say whether or not they +shall enter.' But Mr. Jobbles would have gone much farther. He would +have had all mankind for candidates, and have selected from the whole +mass those most worthy of the high reward. And so there was a split +at the Examination Board, which was not to be healed even by the very +satisfactory reply given by the Treasury gentleman in the House of +Commons. + +Neither Sir Gregory nor his rival were men likely to give way, and it +soon appeared manifest to the powers that be, that something must be +done. It therefore came to light that Mr. Jobbles had found that his +clerical position was hardly compatible with a seat at a lay board, and +he retired to the more congenial duties of a comfortable prebendal stall +at Westminster. 'So that by his close vicinity,' as was observed by a +newspaper that usually supported the Government, 'he might be able to be +of material use, whenever his advice should be required by the Board of +Commissioners.' Sir Gregory in the meantime was instructed to suggest +the name of another colleague; and, therefore, he sent for Alaric Tudor. + +Alaric, of course, knew well what had been going on at the Board. He had +been Sir Gregory's confidential man all through; had worked out cases +for him, furnished him with arguments, backed his views, and had +assisted him, whenever such a course had been necessary, in holding Mr. +Jobbles' head under the pump. Alaric knew well on which side his +bread was buttered, and could see with a glance which star was in the +ascendant; he perfectly understood the points and merits of the winning +horse. He went in to win upon Sir Gregory, and he won. When Mr. Jobbles +made his last little speech at the Board, and retired to his house in +the Dean's yard, Alaric felt tolerably certain that he himself would be +invited to fill the vacant place. + +And he was so invited. 'That is L1,200 a year, at any rate,' said he +to himself, as with many words of submissive gratitude he thanked his +patron for the nomination. 'That is L1,200 a year. So far, so good. +And now what must be the next step? Excelsior! It is very nice to be a +Commissioner, and sit at a Board at Sir Gregory's right hand: much +nicer than being a junior clerk at the Weights and Measures, like Harry +Norman. But there are nicer things even than that; there are greater men +even than Sir Gregory; richer figures than even L1,200 a year!' + +So he went to his old office, wrote his resignation, and walked home +meditating to what next step above he should now aspire to rise. +'Excelsior!' he still said to himself, 'Excelsior!' + +At the same moment Charley was leaving the Internal Navigation, and as +he moved with unusual slowness down the steps, he bethought himself how +he might escape from the fangs of his Norah; how, if such might still +be possible, he might fit himself for the love of Katie Woodward. +Excelsior! such also was the thought of his mind; but he did not dare to +bring the word to utterance. It was destined that his thoughts should be +interrupted by no very friendly hand. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +OUTERMAN _v_ TUDOR + + +Charley sat at his office on the Saturday afternoon, very meditative and +unlike himself. What was he to do when his office hours were over? In +the first place he had not a shilling in the world to get his dinner. +His habit was to breakfast at home at his lodgings with Harry, and +then to dine, as best he might, at some tavern, if he had not the good +fortune to be dining out. He had a little dinner bill at a house which +he frequented in the Strand; but the bill he knew had reached its +culminating point. It would, he was aware, be necessary that it should +be decreased, not augmented, at the next commercial transaction which +might take place between him and the tavern-keeper. + +This was not the first time by many in which he had been in a similar +plight--but his resource in such case had been to tell the truth +gallantly to his friend Mrs. Davis; and some sort of viands, not at all +unprepossessing to him in his hunger, would always be forthcoming for +him at the 'Cat and Whistle.' This supply was now closed to him. Were +he, under his present circumstances, to seek for his dinner from the +fair hands of Norah Geraghty, it would be tantamount to giving himself +up as lost for ever. + +This want of a dinner, however, was a small misfortune in comparison +with others which afflicted him. Should or should he not keep his +promise to Mrs. Davis, and go to the 'Cat and Whistle' that evening? +That was the question which disturbed his equanimity, and hindered him +from teasing Mr. Snape in his usual vivacious manner. + +And here let it not be said that Charley must be altogether despicable +in being so weak; that he is not only a vulgar rake in his present +habits, but a fool also, and altogether spiritless, and of a low +disposition. Persons who may so argue of him, who so argue of those +whom they meet in the real living world, are ignorant of the twists and +turns, and rapid changes in character which are brought about by outward +circumstances. Many a youth, abandoned by his friends to perdition on +account of his folly, might have yet prospered, had his character not +been set down as gone, before, in truth, it was well formed. It is not +one calf only that should be killed for the returning prodigal. Oh, +fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, guardians, and elderly friends in +general, kill seven fatted calves if seven should unfortunately be +necessary! + +And then there was a third calamity. Charley had, at this moment, in his +pocket a certain document, which in civil but still somewhat peremptory +language invited him to meet a very celebrated learned pundit, being +no less than one of Her Majesty's puisne judges, at some court in +Westminster, to explain why he declined to pay to one Nathaniel +Outerman, a tailor, the sum of &c., &c., &c.; and the document then +went on to say, that any hesitation on Charley's part to accept this +invitation would be regarded as great contempt shown to the said learned +pundit, and would be treated accordingly. Now Charley had not paid the +slightest attention to this requisition from the judge. It would, he +conceived, have been merely putting his head into the lion's mouth to do +so. But yet he knew that such documents meant something; that the day of +grace was gone by, and that Mr. Nathaniel Outerman would very speedily +have him locked up. + +So Charley sat meditative over his lock entries, and allowed even his +proposed vengeance on Mr. Snape to be delayed. + +'I say, Charley,' said Scatterall, coming over and whispering to him, +'you couldn't lend me half a crown, could you?' + +Charley said nothing, but looked on his brother navvy in a manner that +made any other kind of reply quite unnecessary. + +'I was afraid it was so,' said Scatterall, in a melancholy voice. And +then, as if by the brilliance of his thought he had suddenly recovered +his spirits, he made a little proposition. + +'I'll tell you what you might do, Charley. I put my watch up the spout +last week. It's a silver turnip, so I only got fifteen shillings; +yours is a Cox and Savary, and it's gold. I'm sure you'd get L3 for it +easily--perhaps L3 3s. Now, if you'll do that, and take my turnip +down, I'll let you have the turnip to wear, if you'll let me have ten +shillings of the money. You see, you'd get clear--let me see how much.' +And Scatterall went to work with a sheet of foolscap paper, endeavouring +to make some estimate of what amount of ready cash Charley might have in +his pocket on completion of this delicate little arrangement. + +'You be d----,' said Charley. + +'You'll not do it, then?' said Dick. + +Charley merely repeated with a little more emphasis the speech which he +had just before made. + +'Oh, very well,' said Scatterall; 'there couldn't have been a fairer +bargain; at least it was all on your side; for you would have had the +watch to wear, and nearly all the money too.' + +Charley still repeated the same little speech. This was uncivil; for it +had evidently been looked on by Scatterall as unsatisfactory. + +'Oh, very well,' said that gentleman, now in a state of mild anger--'only +I saw that you had a fine new purse, and I thought you'd wish to +have something to put in it.' + +Charley again repeated his offensive mandate; but he did it in a spirit +of bravado, in order to maintain his reputation. The allusion to the +purse made him sadder than ever. He put his hand into his breast-pocket, +and felt that it was near his heart: and then he fancied that he again +heard her words--'You will be steady; won't you, dear Charley?' + +At four o'clock, he was by no means in his usual hurry to go away, and +he sat there drawing patterns on his blotting-paper, and chopping up +a stick of sealing-wax with his penknife, in a very disconsolate way. +Scatterall went. Corkscrew went. Mr. Snape, having carefully brushed his +hat and taken down from its accustomed peg the old cotton umbrella, also +took his departure; and the fourth navvy, who inhabited the same room, +went also. The iron-fingered hand of time struck a quarter past four +on the Somerset House clock, and still Charley Tudor lingered at his +office. The maid who came to sweep the room was thoroughly amazed, and +knew that something must be wrong. + +Just as he was about to move, Mr. Oldeschole came bustling into +the room. 'Where is Corkscrew?' said he. 'Gone,' said Charley. 'And +Scatterall?' asked Oldeschole. 'Gone, sir,' said Charley. 'And Mr. +Snape?' said the Secretary. 'Oh, he is gone, of course,' said Charley, +taking his revenge at last. + +'Then, Mr. Tudor, I must trouble you to copy these papers for me at +once. They are wanted immediately for Sir Gregory Hardlines.' It was +quite clear that Mr. Oldeschole was very much in earnest about the job, +and that he was rejoiced to find that he still had one clerk to aid him. + +Charley sat down and did the required work. On any other day he would +greatly have disliked such a summons, but now he did not care much about +it. He made the copies, however, as quickly as he could, and then took +them in to Mr. Oldeschole. + +The worthy Secretary rewarded him by a lecture; a lecture, however, +which, as Charley well understood, was intended all in kindness. He told +him how Mr. Snape complained of him, how the office books told against +him, how the clerks talked, and all Somerset House made stories of +his grotesque iniquities. With penitential air Charley listened and +promised. Mr. Oldeschole promised also that bygones should be bygones. +'I wonder whether the old cock would lend me a five-pound note! I +dare say he would,' said Charley to himself, as he left the office. He +abstained, however, from asking for it. + +Returning to his room, he took his hat and went downstairs. As he was +sauntering forth through the archway into the Strand, a man with a +decent coat but a very bad hat came up to him. + +'I'm afraid I must trouble you to go with me, Mr. Tudor,' said the man. + +'All right,' said Charley; 'Outerman, I suppose; isn't it?' + +'All right,' said the bailiff. + +And away the two walked together to a sponging-house in Cursitor Street. + +Charley had been arrested at the suit of Mr. Outerman, the tailor. +He perfectly understood the fact, and made no special objection to +following the bailiff. One case was at any rate off his mind; he could +not now, be his will to do so ever so good, keep his appointment with +Norah Geraghty. Perhaps it was quite as well for him to be arrested +just at this moment, as be left at liberty. It must have come sooner +or later. So he walked on with the bailiff not without some feeling of +consolation. + +The man had suggested to him a cab; but Charley had told him, without +the slightest _mauvaise honte_, that he had not about him the means of +paying for a cab. The man again suggested that perhaps he had better +go home and get some money, as he would find it in Cursitor Street very +desirable to have some. To this Charley replied that neither had he any +money at home. + +'That's blue,' said the man. + +'It is rather blue,' said Charley; and on they went very amicably +arm-in-arm. + +We need not give any detailed description of Charley's prison-house. He +was luckily not detained there so long as to make it necessary that we +should become acquainted with his fellow-captives, or even have much +intercourse with his jailers. He was taken to the sponging-house, and it +was there imparted to him that he had better send for two things--first +of all for money, which was by far the more desirable of the two; and +secondly, for bail, which even if forthcoming was represented as being +at best but a dubious advantage. + +'There's Mrs. Davis, she'd bail you, of course, and willing,' said the +bailiff. + +'Mrs. Davis!' said Charley, surprised that the man should know aught of +his personal acquaintances. + +'Yes, Mrs. Davis of the 'Cat and Whistle.' She'd do it in course, along +of Miss Geraghty.' + +Charley perceived with a shudder that his matrimonial arrangements were +known and talked of even in the distant world of Cursitor Street. He +declined, however, the assistance of the landlady, which no doubt would +have been willingly forthcoming, and was divided between his three +friends, Alaric, Harry, and Mr. M'Ruen. Alaric was his cousin and his +natural resource in such a position, but he had lately rejected +Alaric's advice, and now felt a disinclination to call upon him in +his difficulty. Harry he knew would assist him, would at once pay Mr. +Outerman's bill, and relieve him from all immediate danger; but the +sense of what he already owed to Norman made him unwilling to incur +further obligations;--so he decided on sending for Mr. M'Ruen. In spite +of his being so poorly supplied with immediate cash, it was surmised +from his appearance, clothes, and known rank, that any little outlay +made in his behalf would be probably repaid, and he was therefore +furnished with a messenger on credit. This man was first to call at Mr. +M'Ruen's with a note, and then to go to Charley's lodgings and get his +brushes, razors, &c., these being the first necessaries of life for +which a man naturally looks when once overtaken by such a misfortune as +that with which Charley was now afflicted. + +In the process of time the brushes and razors came, and so did Mr. +M'Ruen. + +'This is very kind of you,' said Charley, in rather a doleful voice, for +he was already becoming tired of Cursitor Street. + +Mr. M'Ruen twisted his head round inside his cravat, and put out three +fingers by way of shaking hands with the prisoner. + +'You seem pretty comfortable here,' said M'Ruen. Charley dissented to +this, and said that he was extremely uncomfortable. + +'And what is it that I can do for you, Mr. Tudor?' said M'Ruen. + +'Do for me! Why, bail me, to be sure; they won't let me out unless +somebody bails me. You know I shan't run away.' + +'Bail you!' said M'Ruen. + +'Yes, bail me,' said Charley. 'You don't mean to say that you have any +objection?' + +Mr. M'Ruen looked very sharply at his young client from head to foot. 'I +don't know about bail,' he said: 'it's very dangerous, very; why didn't +you send for Mr. Norman or your cousin?' + +'Because I didn't choose,' said Charley--'because I preferred sending to +some one I could pay for the trouble.' + +'Ha--ha--ha,' laughed M'Ruen; 'but that's just it--can you pay? You owe +me a great deal of money, Mr. Tudor. You are so unpunctual, you know.' + +'There are two ways of telling that story,' said Charley; 'but come, I +don't want to quarrel with you about that now--you go bail for me now, +and you'll find your advantage in it. You know that well enough.' + +'Ha--ha--ha,' laughed the good-humoured usurer; 'ha--ha--ha--well, upon +my word I don't know. You owe me a great deal of money, Mr. Tudor. Now, +what o'clock is it by you, I wonder?' + +Charley took out his watch--the Cox and Savary, before alluded to--and +said that it was past seven. + +'Aye; you've a very nice watch, I see. Come, Mr. Tudor, you owe me a +great deal of money, and you are the most unpunctual young man I know; +but yet I don't like to see you distressed. I'll tell you what, now--do +you hand over your watch to me, just as a temporary loan--you can't want +it here, you know; and I'll come down and bail you out to-morrow.' + +Charley declined dealing on these terms; and then Mr. M'Ruen at last +went away, leaving Charley to his fate, and lamenting quite pathetically +that he was such an unpunctual young man, so very unpunctual that it +was impossible to do anything to assist him. Charley, however, manfully +resisted the second attack upon his devoted watch. + +'That's very blue, very blue indeed,' said the master of the house, as +Mr. M'Ruen took his departure--'ha'n't you got no huncles nor hants, nor +nothin' of that sort?' + +Charley declared that he had lots of uncles and aunts, grandfathers and +grandmothers, and a perfect wealth of cousins, and that he would send +for some of the leading members of his family to-morrow. Satisfied with +this, the man supplied him with bread and cheese, gin and water, and +plenty of tobacco; and, fortified with these comforts, Charley betook +himself at last very lugubriously, to a filthy, uninviting bed. + +He had, we have seen, sent for his brushes, and hence came escape; but +in a manner that he had little recked of, and of which, had he been +asked, he would as little have approved. Mrs. Richards, his landlady, +was not slow in learning from the messenger how it came to pass that +Charley wanted the articles of his toilet so suddenly demanded. 'Why, +you see, he's just been quodded,' said the boy. + +Mrs. Richards was quite enough up to the world, and had dealt with +young men long enough, to know what this meant; nor indeed was she +much surprised. She had practical knowledge that Charley had no strong +propensity to pay his debts, and she herself was not unaccustomed to +answer the emissaries of Mr. Outerman and other greedy tradesmen who +were similarly situated. To Mrs. Richards herself Charley was not in +debt, and she had therefore nothing to embitter her own feelings against +him. Indeed, she had all that fondness for him which a lodging-house +keeper generally has for a handsome, dissipated, easy-tempered young +man; and when she heard that he had been 'quodded,' immediately made up +her mind that steps must be taken for his release. + +But what was she to do? Norman, who she was aware would 'unquod' him +immediately, if he were in the way, was down at Hampton, and was +not expected to be at his lodgings for two or three days. After some +cogitation, Mrs. Richards resolved that there was nothing for it but to +go down to Hampton herself, and break the news to his friends. Charley +would not have been a bit obliged to her had he known it, but Mrs. +Richards acted for the best. There was a train down to Hampton Court +that night, and a return train to bring her home again--so off she +started. + +Mrs. Woodward had on that same afternoon taken down Katie, who was still +an invalid;--Norman had gone down with them, and was to remain there +for some few days--going up and down every morning and evening. Mrs. +Woodward was sitting in the drawing-room; Linda and Katie were with her, +the latter lying in state on her sofa as invalid young ladies should +do; Captain Cuttwater was at Hampton Court, and Norman was on the water; +when a fly from the railway made its way up to the door of the Cottage. + +'Mrs. Richards, ma'am,' said the demure parlour-maid, ushering in the +lodging-house keeper, who in her church-going best made a very decent +appearance. + +'Oh, Mrs. Richards, how are you?' said Mrs. Woodward, who knew the woman +very well--'pray sit down--are there any news from London?' + +'Oh, ma'am, such news--such bad news--Mister Charley--.' Up jumped Katie +from her sofa and stood erect upon the floor. She stood there, with her +mouth slightly open, with her eyes intently fixed on Mrs. Richards, with +her little hands each firmly clenched, drawing her breath with hard, +short, palpitating efforts. There she stood, but said nothing. + +'Oh, Mrs. Richards--what is it?' said Mrs. Woodward; 'for Heaven's sake +what is the matter?' + +'Oh, ma'am; he's been took,' said Mrs. Richards. + +'Took!' repeated Mrs. Woodward. 'Katie, dear Katie--sit down, my +child--sit down.' + +'Oh, mamma! oh, mamma!' said she, apparently unable to move, and +certainly all but unable to stand. + +'Tell us, Mrs. Richards, what is it--what has happened to Mr. Tudor?' +and as she spoke Mrs. Woodward got up and passed her arm around her +younger daughter's waist--Linda also got up and joined the group. + +'Why, ma'am,' said Mrs. Richards, 'he's been took by the bailiffs, and +now he's in prison.' + +Katie did not faint. She never had fainted, and probably did not know +the way; but she clenched her hands still tighter, breathed harder than +before, and repeated her appeal to her mother in a voice of agony. 'Oh, +mamma! oh, mamma!' + +Katie had no very accurate conception of what an arrest for debt meant. +She knew that next to death imprisonment was the severest punishment +inflicted on erring mortals, and she now heard that Charley was in +prison. She did not stop to think whether it was for his life, or for +some more limited period. It was enough for her to know, that this +terrible misfortune had come upon him, to him who, to her young fancy, +was so bright, so good, so clever, so excellent, upon him who had saved +her life--upon him whom she so dearly loved. + +'Oh, mamma! oh, mamma!' she said, and then in agony she shut her eyes +and shuddered violently. + +Mrs. Woodward was greatly afflicted. She was indeed sorry to hear such +tidings of Charley Tudor; but her grief was now deeper even than that. +She could not be longer blind to the sort of feeling which her child +evinced for this young man; she could not think that these passionate +bursts of overpowering sorrow were the result of mere childish +friendship; she could not but see that her Katie's bosom now held a +woman's heart, and that that heart was no longer her own. + +And then Mrs. Woodward reflected of what nature, of what sort, was this +man whom she had allowed to associate with her darling, almost as a +brother does with his sister; whom she had warmed in her bosom till he +had found an opportunity of inflicting this deadly wound. With terrible +bitterness she upbraided herself as she sat down and bade Mrs. Richards +go on with her tale. She knew that nothing which could now be said would +add to Katie's anguish. + +Mrs. Richards' story was soon told. It simply amounted to this--that +'Mister Charley,' as she always called him, had been arrested for debt +at the suit of a tailor, and that she had learnt the circumstances from +the fact of the prisoner having sent for his brushes. + +'And so I thought the best thing was to come and tell Mr. Norman,' said +Mrs. Richards, concluding her speech. + +Nothing could be done till Norman came in. Linda went out with Mrs. +Richards to get some refreshment in the dining-room, and Mrs. Woodward +sat with her arm round Katie's neck on the sofa, comforting her with +kisses and little caressing touches, but saying nothing. Katie, still +unconscious of her passion, gave way to spasmodic utterance of her own +grief. + +'Oh, mamma!' she said--' what can be done? What can we do? You will do +something, mamma, won't you? Poor Charley! Dear Charley! Harry will do +something--won't he? Won't Harry go to London, and do something?' + +Mrs. Woodward did what she could to quiet her. Something should be done, +she said. They must wait till Harry came in, and then settle what was +best. Nothing could be done till Harry came in. 'You must be patient, +Katie, or else you will make yourself really ill.' + +Katie became afraid that she would be sent off to bed on the score +of her illness before Harry had come, and thus lose the advantage of +hearing what was the step decided on. So she sat silent in the corner of +her sofa feigning to be asleep, but pondering in her mind what sort +of penalties were the penalties of imprisonment, how dreadful, how +endurable, or how unendurable. Would they put chains on him? would they +starve him? would they cut off his beautiful brown hair? + +Mrs. Woodward sat silent waiting for Harry's return. When first she had +watched Katie's extreme misery, and guessed the secret of her child's +heart, she had felt something like hard, bitter anger against Charley. +But by degrees this feeling softened down. It was by no means natural to +her, nor akin to her usual tenderness. After all, the fault hitherto was +probably more her own than his. + +Mrs. Richards was sent back to town. She was thanked for the trouble she +had taken, and told that Mr. Norman would do in the matter all that was +necessary to be done. So she took her departure, and Linda returned to +the drawing-room. + +Unfortunately Captain Cuttwater came in first. They none of them +mentioned Charley's misfortune to him. Charley was no favourite with +Uncle Bat, and his remarks would not have been of the most cheering +tendency. + +At last Norman came also. He came, as was his wont, through the +drawing-room window, and, throwing himself into a chair, began to tell +the girls how much they had lost by not joining him on the river. + +'Harry,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'step into the dining-room with me for a +moment.' + +Harry got up to follow her. Katie and Linda also instantly jumped from +their seats to do the same. Mrs. Woodward looked round, and motioned +to them to stay with their uncle. Linda obediently, though reluctantly, +remained; but Katie's impulse was too strong for her. She gave +one imploring look at her mother, a look which Mrs. Woodward well +understood, and then taking silence for consent, crept into the +dining-room. + +'Harry,' said Mrs. Woodward, as soon as the dining-room door was closed, +'Charley has been arrested;' and then she told him how Mrs. Richards +had been at the Cottage, and what was the nature of the tidings she had +brought. + +Norman was not much surprised, nor did he feign to be so. He took +the news so coolly that Katie almost hated him. 'Did she say who had +arrested him, or what was the amount?' he asked. + +Mrs. Woodward replied that she knew no more than what she had already +told. Katie stood in the shade with her eyes fixed upon her cousin, but +as yet she said nothing. How cruel, how stony-hearted must he be to hear +such dreadful tidings and remain thus undisturbed! Had Charley heard +that Norman was arrested, he would have been half way to London by this +time. So, at least, thought Katie. + +'Something can be done for him, Harry, can there not? We must contrive +to do something--eh, Harry?' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'I fear it is too late to do anything to-night,' said Harry, looking at +his watch. 'The last train is gone, and I could not possibly find him +out before twelve.' + +'And to-morrow is Sunday,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Oh, Harry, pray do something!' said Katie, 'pray, pray, pray, do! Oh, +Harry, think of Charley being in prison! Oh, Harry, he would do anything +for you!' and then she burst into tears, and caught hold of Harry's arm +and the front of his coat to add force to her entreaty. + +'Katie,' said her mother, 'don't be so foolish. Harry will, of course, +do whatever is best.' + +'But, mamma, he says he will do nothing; why does he not go at once?' + +'I will go at once, dear Katie,' said he; 'I will go now directly. I +don't know whether we can set him free to-night, or even to-morrow, as +to-morrow is Sunday; but it certainly shall be done on Monday, you may +be sure of that at any rate. Whatever can be done shall be done;' and, +without further talk upon the subject, he took his hat and went his way. + +'May God Almighty bless him!' said Mrs. Woodward. 'How infinitely +greater are truth and honesty than any talent, however brilliant!' She +spoke only to herself and no one even guessed what was the nature of the +comparison which she thus made. + +As soon as Norman was gone, Katie went to bed: and in the morning she +was pronounced to be too unwell to get up. And, indeed, she was far from +well. During the night she only slept by short starts, and in her sleep +she was restless and uneasy; then, when she woke, she would burst out +into fits of tears, and lie sobbing hysterically till she slept again. +In the morning, Mrs. Woodward said something about Charley's misconduct, +and this threw her into a wretched state of misery, from which nothing +would rouse her till her mother promised that the prodigal should not be +thrown over and abandoned. + +Poor Mrs. Woodward was in a dreadful state of doubt as to what it now +behoved her to do. She felt that, however anxious she might be to assist +Charley for his own sake, it was her bounden duty to separate him +from her child. Whatever merits he might have--and in her eyes he had +many--at any rate he had not those which a mother would desire to see +in the future husband of her daughter. He was profligate, extravagant, +careless, and idle; his prospects in life were in every respect bad; +he had no self-respect, no self-reliance, no moral strength. Was it not +absolutely necessary that she should put a stop to any love that might +have sprung up between such a man as this and her own young bright-eyed +darling? + +Put a stop to it! Yes, indeed, most expedient; nay, absolutely +necessary--if it were only possible. Now, when it was too late, she +began to perceive that she had not known of what material her own child +was formed. At sixteen, Gertrude and Linda had in reality been little +more than children. In manner, Katie had been more childish even than +them, and yet--Mrs. Woodward, as she thought of these things, felt her +heart faint within her. + +She was resolved that, cost what it might, Charley must be banished +from the Cottage. But at the first word of assumed displeasure that she +uttered, Katie fell into such an agony of grief that her soft heart gave +way, and she found herself obliged to promise that the sinner should be +forgiven. Katie the while was entirely unconscious of the state of her +own feelings. Had she thought that she loved him as women love, had +any thought of such love and of him together even entered her mind, she +could not have talked of him as she now talked. Had he been her brother, +she could not have been less guarded in her protestations of affection, +or more open in her appeals to her mother that he might be forgiven. +Such was her present state; but it was doomed that her eyes should soon +be opened, and that she should know her own sorrow. + +On the Sunday afternoon, Norman returned to Hampton with the tidings +that Charley was once more a free man. The key of gold which he had +taken with him had been found potent enough to open all barriers, even +those with which the sanctity of Sunday had surrounded the prisoner. Mr. +Outerman, and the bailiff, and the messenger, had all been paid their +full claims, and Charley, with his combs and brushes, had returned to +the more benign custody of Mrs. Richards. + +'And why didn't he come down with you?' said Katie to Norman, who had +gone up to her bedroom to give her the good tidings. + +Norman looked at Mrs. Woodward, but made no reply. + +'He would probably prefer remaining in town at present,' said Mrs. +Woodward. 'It will be more comfortable for him to do so.' + +And then Katie was left alone to meditate why Charley should be more +comfortable after his arrest in London than at Hampton; and after +a while she thought that she had surmised the truth. 'Poor Charley! +perhaps he is ashamed. He need not be ashamed to come at any rate to +me.' + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +EASY IS THE SLOPE OF HELL + + +The electors for the Tillietudlem district burghs, disgusted by the +roguery of Mr. M'Buffer, and anxiously on the alert to replace him by a +strictly honest man, returned our friend Undy by a glorious majority. +He had no less than 312 votes, as opposed to 297, and though threatened +with the pains and penalties of a petition, he was not a little elated +by his success. A petition with regard to the Tillietudlem burghs was +almost as much a matter of course as a contest; at any rate the threat +of a petition was so. Undy, however, had lived through this before, and +did not fear but that he might do so again. Threatened folks live long; +parliamentary petitions are very costly, and Undy's adversaries were, if +possible, even in more need of money than himself. + +He communicated his good fortune to his friend Alaric in the following +letter:-- + +'Bellenden Arms, Tillietudlem, July, 185-. + +'My DEAR DIRECTOR, + +'Here I am once more a constituent part of the legislative wisdom of the +United Kingdom, thanks to the patriotic discretion of the pot-wallopers, +burgage-tenants, and ten-pound freeholders of these loyal towns. The +situation is a proud one; I could only wish that it had been less +expensive. I am plucked as clean as ever was pigeon; and over and above +the loss of every feather I carried, old M'Cleury, my agent here, will +have a bill against me that will hardly be settled before the next +election. I do not complain, however; a man cannot have luxuries without +paying for them; and this special luxury of serving one's country in +Parliament is one for which a man has so often to pay, without the +subsequent fruition of the thing paid for, that a successful candidate +should never grumble, however much he may have been mulcted. They +talk of a petition; but, thank God, there are still such things as +recognizances; and, moreover, to give M'Cleury his due, I do not think +he has left a hole open for them to work at. He is a thorough rascal, +but no man does better work. + +'I find there is already a slight rise in the West Corks. Keep your eye +open. If you find you can realize L4 4s. or even L4, sell, and let the +West of Cork and Ballydehob go straight to the devil. We should then +be able to do better with our money. But I doubt of such a sale with +so large a stock as we hold. I got a letter yesterday from that Cork +attorney, and I find that he is quite prepared to give way about the +branch. He wants his price, of course; and he must have it. When once we +have carried that point, then it will be plain sailing; our only regret +then will be that we didn't go further into it. The calls, of course, +must be met; I shall be able to do something in October, but shall not +have a shilling sooner--unless I sell, which I will not do under 80s. + +'I was delighted to hear of your promotion; not that you'll remain in +the shop long, but it gives you a better name and a better claim. Old +Golightly was buried yesterday, as of course you have heard. Mrs. Val +quite agrees with me that your name had better be put in as that of +Clem's trustee. She's going to marry that d---- Frenchman. What an +unmitigated ass that cousin of yours must be! I can't say I admire her +taste; but nevertheless she is welcome for me. It would, however, be +most scandalous if we were to allow him to get possession of her money. +He would, as a matter of course, make ducks and drakes of it in no time. +Speculate probably in some Russian railway, or Polish mine, and lose +every shilling. You will of course see it tied up tight in the hands of +the trustees, and merely pay him, or if possible her, the interest of +it. Now that I am once more in, I hope we shall be able to do something +to protect the fortunes of married women. + +'You will be quite safe in laying out Clem's money, or a portion of it, +in the West Corks. Indeed, I don't know how you could well do better +with it. You will find Figgs a mere shadow. I think we can pull through +in this manner. If not we must get--to take our joint bill. He would +sooner do that than have the works stopped. But then we should have to +pay a tremendous price for it. + +'So we were well out of the Mary Janes at last. The take last month was +next to nothing, and now she's full of water. Manylodes hung on till +just the last, and yet got out on his feet after all. That fellow will +make a mint of money yet. What a pity that he should be such a rogue! +If he were honest, honest enough I mean to be trusted, he might do +anything. + +'I shall leave this on Wednesday night, take the oaths on Thursday, and +will see you in the evening. M'Carthy Desmond will at once move that I +be put on the West Cork Committee, in place of Nogo, who won't act. My +shares are all at present registered in Val's name. It will be well, +however, to have them all transferred to you. + +'Yours ever, + +'U.S. + +'M'Cleury has pledged himself to put me in again without further +expense, if I have to stand before the next general election, in +consequence of taking place under Government. I earnestly hope his +sincerity may be tried.' + +During the month of July, Alaric was busy enough. He had to do the work +of his new office, to attend to his somewhat critical duties as director +of the West Cork Railway, to look after the interests of Miss +Golightly, whose marriage was to take place in August, and to watch the +Parliamentary career of his friend Undy, with whose pecuniary affairs he +was now bound up in a manner which he could not avoid feeling to be very +perilous. + +July passed by, and was now over, and members were looking to be +relieved from their sultry labours, and to be allowed to seek air and +exercise on the mountains. The Ballydehob branch line had received the +sanction of Parliament through the means which the crafty Undy had +so well understood how to use; but from some cause hitherto not +sufficiently fathomed, the shares had continued to be depressed in value +in spite of that desirable event. It was necessary, however, that calls +should be paid up to the amount of L5 a share, and as Undy and Alaric +held nearly a thousand shares between them, a large amount of money +was required. This, however, was made to be forthcoming from Miss +Golightly's fortune. + +On the first of August that interesting young lady was married to the +man--shall we say of her heart or of her feet? The marriage went off +very nicely, but as we have already had one wedding, and as others +may perhaps be before us, we cannot spare much time or many pages to +describe how Miss Golightly became Madame Jaquetanape. The lady seemed +well pleased with everything that was done, and had even in secret +but one care in the world. There was to be a dance after she and her +Victoire were gone, and she could not join in it! + +We, however, are in the position, as regards Clementina, in which needy +gentlemen not unfrequently place themselves with reference to rich +heiresses. We have more concern with her money than herself. She was +married, and M. Jaquetanape became the happy possessor of an income of +L800 a year. Everybody conceived him to behave well on the occasion. +He acknowledged that he had very little means of his own--about 4,000 +francs a year, from rents in Paris. He expressed himself willing to +agree to any settlement, thinking, perhaps with wisdom, that he might in +this way best make sure of his wife's income, and was quite content +when informed that he would receive his quarterly payments from so +respectable a source as one of Her Majesty's Commissioners for the +regulation of the Civil Service. The Bank of France could not have +offered better security. + +Thus Alaric obtained full control of Miss Golightly's fortune: for +Figgs, his co-trustee, was, as has been said, a shadow. He obtained the +full control of L20,000, and out of it he paid the calls due upon the +West Cork shares, held both by himself and Undy Scott. But he put a +salve upon his conscience, and among his private memoranda, appertaining +to that lady's money affairs he made an entry, intelligible to any who +might read it, that he had so invested this money on her behalf. The +entry was in itself a lie--a foolish, palpable lie--and yet he found in +it something to quiet remorse and stupefy his conscience. + +Undy Scott had become tyrannical in his logic as soon as he had +persuaded Alaric to make use of a portion of Madame Jaquetanape's +marriage portion. 'You have taken part of the girl's money,' was Undy's +argument; 'you have already converted to your own purposes so much of +her fortune; it is absurd for you now to talk of conscience and honesty, +of your high duties as a trustee, of the inviolable distinction between +meum and tuum. You have already shown that the distinction is not +inviolable; let us have no more such nonsense; there are still +left L15,000 on which we can trade; open the till, and let us go on +swimmingly with the business.' + +Alaric was not addressed absolutely in these words; he would not +probably have allowed the veil with which he still shrouded his +dishonesty to be withdrawn with so rough a hand; but that which was said +was in effect the same. In September he left town for a few weeks and +went down to Scotland, still with Undy Scott. He had at first much +liked this man's society, for Scott was gay, lively, clever, and a good +companion at all points. But latterly he had become weary of him. He +now put up with him as men in business have to put up with partners whom +they may not like; or, perhaps, to speak the truth openly, he bore with +him as a rogue bears with his confederate, though he absolutely hates +his brother rogue on account of his very roguery. Alaric Tudor was now +a rogue; despite his high office, his grand ideas, his exalted ambition; +despite his talent, zeal, and well-directed official labours, he was a +rogue; a thief, a villain who had stolen the money of the orphan, who +had undertaken a trust merely that he might break it; a robber, doubly +disgraced by being a robber with an education, a Bill Sykes without any +of those excuses which a philanthropist cannot but make for wretches +brought up in infamy. + +Alas, alas! how is it that in these days such men become rogues? How is +it that we see in such frightful instances the impotency of educated men +to withstand the allurements of wealth? Men are not now more keen after +the pleasures which wealth can buy than were their forefathers. One +would rather say that they are less so. The rich labour now, and work +with an assiduity that often puts to shame the sweat in which the poor +man earns his bread. The rich rogue, or the rogue that would be rich, +is always a laborious man. He allows himself but little recreation, for +dishonest labour admits of no cessation. His wheel is one which cannot +rest without disclosing the nature of the works which move it. It is not +for pleasure that men + + Put rancours in the vessel of their peace; + +nor yet primarily for ambition. Men do not wish to rise by treachery, +or to become great through dishonesty. The object, the ultimate object, +which a man sets before himself, is generally a good one. But he sets +it up in so enviable a point of view, his imagination makes it so richly +desirable, by being gazed at it becomes so necessary to existence, +that its attainment is imperative. The object is good, but the means of +attaining it--the path to the object--ah! there is the slip. Expediency +is the dangerous wind by which so many of us have wrecked our little +boats. + +And we do so more now than ever, because great ships, swimming in +deepest waters, have unluckily come safe to haven though wafted there +by the same pernicious wind. Every great man, who gains a great end +by dishonest means, does more to deteriorate his country and lower the +standard of his countrymen than legions of vulgar thieves, or nameless +unaspiring rogues. Who has injured us so much in this way as he whose +name still stands highest among modern politicians? Who has given so +great a blow to political honesty, has done so much to banish from men's +minds the idea of a life-ruling principle, as Sir Robert Peel? + +It would shock many were we to attribute to him the roguery of the +Sadleirs and Camerons, of the Robsons and Redpaths of the present day; +but could we analyse causes and effects, we might perhaps do so with no +injustice. He has taught us as a great lesson, that a man who has before +him a mighty object may dispense with those old-fashioned rules of truth +to his neighbours and honesty to his own principles, which should guide +us in ordinary life. At what point ordinary life ends, at what +crisis objects may be considered great enough to justify the use of a +dispensing power, that he has not taught us; that no Sir Robert Peel +can teach us; that must unfortunately be left to the judgement of the +individual. How prone we are, each of us, to look on our own object as +great, how ready to make excuses for receiving such a lesson for +our guide; how willing to think that we may be allowed to use this +dispensing power ourselves--this experience teaches us in very plain +language. + +Thrice in his political life did Sir Robert Peel change his +political creed, and carry, or assist to carry, with more or less of +self-gratulation, the measures of his adversaries. Thrice by doing so +he kept to himself that political power which he had fairly forfeited +by previous opposition to the requirements of his country. Such an +apposition of circumstances is at any rate suspicious. But let us give +him credit for the expression of a true belief; of a belief at first +that the corn-laws should be maintained, and then of a belief that they +should not; let us, with a forced confidence in his personal honesty, +declare so much of him; nevertheless, he should surely have felt, had he +been politically as well as personally honest, that he was not the man +to repeal them. + +But it was necessary, his apologist will say, that the corn-laws should +be repealed; he saw the necessity, and yielded to it. It certainly was +necessary, very necessary, very unavoidable; absolutely necessary one +may say; a fact, which the united efforts of all the Peels of the day +could in nowise longer delay, having already delayed it to the utmost +extent of their power. It was essential that the corn-laws should be +repealed; but by no means essential that this should be done by Sir +Robert Peel. + +It was a matter of indifference to us Englishmen who did the deed. But +to Sir Robert Peel it was a matter of great moment that he should do +it. He did it, and posterity will point at him as a politician without +policy, as a statesman without a principle, as a worshipper at the altar +of expediency, to whom neither vows sworn to friends, nor declarations +made to his country, were in any way binding. Had Sir Robert Peel lived, +and did the people now resolutely desire that the Church of England +should be abandoned, that Lords and Commons should bow the neck, that +the Crown should fall, who can believe that Sir Robert Peel would not +be ready to carry out their views? Readers, it may be that to you such +deeds as those are horrible even to be thought of or expressed; to me +I own that they are so. So also to Sir Robert Peel was Catholic +Emancipation horrible, so was Reform of Parliament, so was the Corn Law +Repeal. They were horrible to him, horrible to be thought of, horrible +to be expressed. But the people required these measures, and therefore +he carried them, arguing on their behalf with all the astuteness of a +practised statesman. + +That Sir Robert Peel should be a worshipper of expediency might be +matter of small moment to any but his biographer, were it not that we +are so prone to copy the example of those whose names are ever in our +mouths. It has now become the doctrine of a large class of politicians +that political honesty is unnecessary, slow, subversive of a man's +interests, and incompatible with quick onward movement. Such a doctrine +in politics is to be deplored; but alas! who can confine it to politics? +It creeps with gradual, but still with sure and quick motion, into all +the doings of our daily life. How shall the man who has taught himself +that he may be false in the House of Commons, how shall he be true in +the Treasury chambers? or if false there, how true on the Exchange? and +if false there, how shall he longer have any truth within him? + +And thus Alaric Tudor had become a rogue, and was obliged, as it were in +his own defence, to consort with a rogue. He went down to Scotland with +Undy, leaving his wife and child at home, not because he could thus +best amuse his few leisure days, but because this new work of his, +this laborious trade of roguery, allowed him no leisure days. When can +villany have either days or hours of leisure? + +Among other things to be done in the north, Alaric was to make +acquaintance with the constituents of the little borough of Strathbogy, +which it was his ambition to represent in the next Parliament. +Strathbogy was on the confines of the Gaberlunzie property; and indeed +the lord's eldest son, who was the present member, lived almost within +the municipal boundary. Ca'stocks Cottage, as his residence was called, +was but a humble house for a peer's eldest son; but Mr. Scott was not +ashamed to live there, and there for a while he entertained his brother +Undy and Alaric Tudor. Mr. Scott intended, when the present session was +over, to retire from the labours of parliamentary life. It may be that +he thought that he had done enough for his country; it may be that the +men of Strathbogy thought that he had not done enough for them; it may +be that there was some family understanding between him and his brother. +This, however, was clear, that he did not intend to stand again himself, +and that he professed himself ready to put forward Alaric Tudor as a +worthy successor, and to give him the full benefit and weight of the +Gaberlunzie interest. + +But not for nothing was Alaric to receive such important assistance. + +'There are but 312 electors altogether,' said Undy one morning as +they went out shooting, 'and out of these we can command a hundred and +twenty. It must be odd if you cannot get enough outsiders to turn them +into a majority. Indeed you may look on it as a certain seat. No man in +England or Scotland could give you one more certain.' + +This was not the first occasion on which Undy had spoken of all that he +was doing for his friend, and Alaric therefore, somewhat disgusted with +the subject, made no reply. + +'I never had things made so easy for me when I wasn't in,' continued +Undy; 'nor have I ever found them so easy since. I don't suppose it will +cost you above L500, or at most L600, altogether.' + +'Well, that will be a comfort,' said Alaric. + +'A comfort! why I should say it would. What with the election and +petition together, Tillietudlem never cost me less than L2,000. It cost +me just as much, too, when I was thrown out.' + +'That was a bore for you,' said Alaric. + +'Upon my word you take it rather coolly,' said Undy; 'another man would +thank a fellow for putting such a nice thing in his way.' + +'If the obligation be so deep,' said Alaric, becoming very red in the +face, 'I would rather not accept it. It is not too late for you to +take the cheaper seat to yourself, if you prefer it; and I will look +elsewhere.' + +'Oh, of course; perhaps at Tillietudlem; but for Heaven's sake, my dear +fellow, don't let us quarrel about it. You are perfectly welcome to +whatever assistance we can give you at Strathbogy. I only meant to say +that I hope it will be efficacious. And on the score of expense I'll +tell you what we'll do--that is, if you think that fair; we'll put the +cost of the two elections together, and share and share alike.' + +'Considering that the election will not take place for at least more +than twelve months, there will be time enough to settle that,' said +Alaric. + +'Well, that's true, too,' said Undy; and then they went on, and for some +time separated on the mountain, complaining, when they met again, of +the game being scarce and the dogs wild, as men always do. But as they +walked home, Undy, who regretted the loss of good time, again began +about money matters. + +'How many of those bridge shares will you take?' said he. This was a +projected bridge from Poplar to Rotherhithe, which had been got up by +some city gentlemen, and as to which Undy Scott was, or pretended to be, +very sanguine. + +'None,' said Alaric. 'Unless I can get rid of those confounded West Cork +and Ballydehobs, I can buy nothing more of anything.' + +'Believe me, my dear fellow, the Ballydehobs are no such confounded +things at all. If you are ever a rich man it will be through the +Ballydehobs. But what you say about the bridge shares is nonsense. You +have a large command of capital, and you cannot apply it better.' + +Alaric winced, and wished in his heart that Clementina Jaquetanape, +_nee_ Golightly, with all her money, was buried deep in the bogs of +Ballydehob. Though he was a rogue, he could not yet bear his roguery +with comfort to himself. It sat, however, as easy on Undy as though he +had been to the manner born. + +'I have no capital now at my disposal,' said he; 'and I doubt whether I +should be doing right to lay out a ward's money in such a manner.' + +A slight smile came over Undy's gay unconcerned features; it was very +slight, but nevertheless it was very eloquent and very offensive also. +Alaric understood it well; it made him hate the owner of it, but it made +him hate himself still more. + +'It is as well to be hung for a sheep as for a lamb,' said Undy's smile; +'and, moreover,' continued the smile, 'is it not ridiculous enough for +you, Alaric Tudor, rogue as you are, to profess to me, Undy Scott, rogue +as I am, any solicitude as to your ward's welfare, seeing that you +have already taken to yourself, for your own dishonest purposes, a +considerable slice of the fortune that has been trusted to your keeping? +You have done this, and yet you talk to me of not having capital at your +disposal! You have capital, and you will dispose of that capital for +your own purposes, as long as a shilling remains uninvested of your +ward's money. We are both rogues. God knows it, and you and I know it; +but I am not such a hypocritical rogue as to make mock boasts of my +honesty to my brother rogue.' + +This was certainly a long speech to have been made by a smile which +crossed Mr. Scott's face but for a moment, but every word of it was +there expressed, and every word of it was there read. Alaric did not at +all like being addressed so uncivilly. It seemed to tend but little to +that 'Excelsior' for which his soul panted; but what could he do? how +could he help himself? Was it not all true? could he contradict the +smile? Alas! it was true; it was useless for him now to attempt even +to combat such smiles. 'Excelsior,' indeed! his future course might now +probably be called by some very different designation. Easy, very easy, +is the slope of hell. + +Before they had returned to Ca'stocks Cottage, Undy had succeeded in +persuading his friend that the game must be played on--on and on, and +out. If a man intends to make a fortune in the share-market he +will never do it by being bold one day and timid the next. No turf +betting-book can be made up safely except on consistent principles. +Half-measures are always ruinous. In matters of speculation one attempt +is made safe by another. No man, it is true, can calculate accurately +what may be the upshot of a single venture; but a sharp fellow may +calculate with a fair average of exactness what will be the aggregate +upshot of many ventures. All mercantile fortunes have been made by the +knowledge and understanding of this rule. If a man speculates but once +and again, now and then, as it were, he must of course be a loser. He +will be playing a game which he does not understand, and playing it +against men who do understand it. Men who so play always lose. But he +who speculates daily puts himself exactly in the reversed position. He +plays a game which experience teaches him to play well, and he plays +generally against men who have no such advantage. Of course he wins. + +All these valuable lessons did Undy Scott teach to Alaric Tudor, and +the result was that Alaric agreed to order--for self and partner--a +considerable number of shares in the Limehouse Bridge Company. Easy, +very easy, is the slope of hell. + +And then in the evening, on this evening and other evenings, on all +evenings, they talked over the prospects of the West Cork and Ballydehob +branch, and of the Limehouse Bridge, which according to Undy's theory +is destined to work quite a revolution in the East-end circles of the +metropolis. Undy had noble ideas about this bridge. The shares at the +present moment were greatly at a discount--so much the better, for they +could be bought at a cheaper rate; and they were sure to rise to some +very respectable figure as soon as Undy should have played out with +reference to them the parliamentary game which he had in view. + +And so from morning to morning, and from night to night, they talked +over their unholy trade till the price of shares and the sounds of sums +of money entered into Alaric's soul. And this, perhaps, is one of the +greatest penalties to which men who embark in such trade are doomed, +that they can never shake off the remembrance of their calculations; +they can never drop the shop; they have no leisure, no ease; they can +never throw themselves with loose limbs and vacant mind at large upon +the world's green sward, and call children to come and play with them. +At the Weights and Measures Alaric's hours of business had been from ten +to five. In Undy's office they continued from one noon till the next, +incessantly; even in his dreams he was working in the share market. + +On his return to town Alaric found a letter from Captain Cuttwater, +pressing very urgently for the repayment of his money. It had been lent +on the express understanding that it was to be repaid when Parliament +broke up. It was now the end of October, and Uncle Bat was becoming +uneasy. + +Alaric, when he received the letter, crushed it in his hand, and cursed +the strictness of the man who had done so much for him. On the next day +another slice was taken from the fortune of Madame Jaquetanape; and his +money, with the interest, was remitted to Captain Cuttwater. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +MRS. WOODWARD'S REQUEST + + +We will now go back for a while to Hampton. The author, for one, does +so with pleasure. Though those who dwell there be not angels, yet it is +better to live with the Woodwards and Harry Norman, with Uncle Bat, or +even with the unfortunate Charley, than with such as Alaric and Undy +Scott. The man who is ever looking after money is fitting company only +for the devils, of whom, indeed, he is already one. + +But Charley cannot any longer be called one of the Cottage circle. It +was now the end of October, and since the day of his arrest, he had not +yet been there. He had not been asked; nor would he go uninvited, as +after what had passed at Hampton Court Bridge he surely might have done. + +And consequently they were all unhappy. No one was more so than Charley. +When the prospect of the happy evening with Norah had been so violently +interrupted by his arrest, he had, among his other messages, sent word +to the 'Cat and Whistle,' excusing his absence by a statement of the +true cause. From that day to this of which we are now speaking he had +seen neither Mrs. Davis nor her fair protegee. + +Nor were they better contented at the Cottage. Mrs. Woodward was +harassed by different feelings and different fears, which together made +her very unhappy. Her Katie was still ill; not ill indeed so that she +was forced to keep her bed and receive daily visits from pernicious +doctors, but, nevertheless, so ill as to make a mother very anxious. + +She had never been quite strong, quite herself, from the night of Mrs. +Val's dance. The doctor who had attended her declared that her ducking +in the river had given her cold: and that this, not having been duly +checked, still hung about her. Then she had been taken to a physician in +London, who poked her on the back and tapped her on the breast, listened +to her lungs through a wooden pipe--such was the account which Katie +gave herself when she returned home--and prescribed rum and milk and +cod-liver oil, declaring, with an authoritative nod, that there was no +organic disease--as yet. + +'And what shall we do with her, doctor?' asked Mrs. Woodward. + +'Go on with the rum and milk and cod-liver oil, you can't do better.' + +'And the cough, doctor?' + +'Why, if that doesn't go before the cold weather begins, you may as well +take her to Torquay for the winter.' + +Oh! consumption, thou scourge of England's beauty! how many mothers, +gasping with ill-suppressed fears, have listened to such words as +these--have listened and then hoped; listened again and hoped again with +fainter hopes; have listened again, and then hoped no more! + +But there was much on Mrs. Woodward's mind which she could not bring +herself to tell to any doctor, but which still left in her breast an +impression that she was perhaps keeping back the true cause of Katie's +illness. Charley had not been at Hampton since his arrest, and it was +manifest to all that Katie was therefore wretched. + +'But why do you not ask him, mamma?' she had urged when her mother +suggested that he stayed away because he did not like to show himself +after what had occurred. 'What will he think of us? he that saved my +life, mamma! Oh, mamma! you promised to forgive him. Do ask him. You +know he will come if you ask him.' + +Mrs. Woodward could not explain to her--could not explain to any +one--why she did not invite him. Norman guessed it all, and Mrs. +Woodward saw that he had done so; but still she could not talk to him +of Katie's feelings, could not tell him that she feared her child was +heart-laden with so sad a love. So Mrs. Woodward had no confidant in +her sorrow, no counsel which she could seek to aid her own wavering +judgement. It was prudent, she thought, that Katie and Charley should be +kept apart. Prudent! was it not even imperative on her to save her child +from such a fate? But then, when she saw the rosy cheek grow pale by +degrees, as she watched the plump little arms grow gradually thin and +wan, as those high spirits fell, and that voice which had ever been so +frequent in the house and so clear,--when the sound of it became low and +rare, then her heart would misgive her, and she would all but resolve +to take the only step which she knew would bring a bright gleam on her +child's face, and give a happy tone to her darling's voice. + +During the earlier portion of these days, Katie had with eager constancy +reiterated her request that Charley should be asked to Hampton; but of a +sudden her prayers ceased. She spoke no more of Charley, asked no longer +after his coming, ceased even to inquire frequently of his welfare. But +yet, when his name was mentioned, she would open wide her bright eyes, +would listen with all her ears, and show only too plainly to one who +watched her as a mother only can watch, what were the thoughts which +filled her heart. + +'Linda,' she had said one night, as they sat in their room, preparing +themselves for bed, 'Linda, why does not mamma invite Charley to come +down to Hampton?' + +'Oh! I don't know,' said Linda; who, however, if she did not know, +was not far wrong in the guess she made. 'I suppose she thinks he'd be +ashamed to show himself after having been in prison.' + +'Ashamed! Why should he be ashamed after so long? Didn't you hear Harry +say that the same thing often happens to young men? Is he never to come +here again? Dear Linda, I know you know; do tell me.' + +'Well, I'm sure I do not know, if that's not the reason.' + +'Oh! Linda, dear Linda, yes, you do,' said Katie, throwing herself +on her knees, resting her arms on her sister's lap, and looking up +wistfully into her sister's face. Her long hair was streaming down her +back; her white, naked feet peeped out from beneath her bedroom dress, +and large tears glistened in her eyes. Who could have resisted the +prayers of such a suppliant? Certainly not Linda, the soft-hearted +Linda. + +'Do tell me,' continued Katie, 'do tell me--I am sure you know; and, +Linda, if it is wrong to ask mamma about it, I'll never, never ask her +again. I know mamma is unhappy about it. If my asking is wrong, I'll not +make her unhappy any more in that way.' + +Linda, for a while, did not know what to answer. Her hesitating manner +immediately revealed to Katie that there was a secret, and that her +sister could tell it if she would. + +'Oh! Linda, do tell me, do tell me, dear Linda; you ought to tell me for +mamma's sake.' + +At last, with much hesitation, Linda told her the whole tale. + +'Perhaps mamma thinks that you are too fond of Charley.' + +An instant light flashed across Katie's heart--across her heart, and +brain, and senses. Not another word was necessary to explain to her the +whole mystery, to tell the whole tale, to reveal to her the secret of +her own love, of her mother's fears, and of his assumed unwillingness. +She got up slowly from her knees, kissed her sister's cheek and neck, +smiled at her so sweetly, so sadly, and then sitting on her old seat, +began playing with her long hair, and gazing at vacancy. + +'It is only what I guess, you know, Katie--you would make me tell you, +but I am sure there is nothing in it.' + +'Dear Linda,' said she, 'you are so good; I am so much obliged to you.' + +After that Katie spoke no further of Charley. But it was evident to them +all, that though she said nothing, she had not ceased to think of him. +Nor did her cheek again become rosy, nor her arms round, nor her voice +happy. She got weaker than ever, and poor Mrs. Woodward was overcome +with sorrow. + +Nor was this the only cause of grief at Surbiton Cottage. During +the last few weeks a bitter estrangement had taken place between the +Woodwards and the Tudors, Alaric Tudor, that is, and Gertrude. Two +years had now passed since Norman had chosen to quarrel with Alaric, +and during all that period the two had never spoken amicably together, +though they had met on business very frequently; on all such occasions +Alaric had been unperturbed and indifferent, whereas Norman had been +gloomy, and had carried a hostile brow and angry eye. At their period +of life, two years generally does much to quiet feelings of ill-will and +pacify animosity; but Norman's feelings had by no means been quieted, +nor his animosity pacified. He had loved Alaric with a close and manly +love; now he hated him with a close and, I fear I may say, a manly +hatred. Alaric had, as he thought, answered his love by treachery; and +there was that in Norman's heart which would not allow him to forgive +one who had been a traitor to him. He had that kind of selfishness so +common to us, but of which we are so unconscious, which will not allow +us to pardon a sin against our own _amour propre_. Alaric might have +been forgiven, though he had taken his friend's money, distanced him in +his office, though he had committed against him all offences which one +friend can commit against another, all but this. Norman had been proud +of his love, and yet ashamed of it--proud of loving such a girl as +Gertrude, and ashamed of being known to be in love at all. He had +confided his love to Alaric, and Alaric had robbed him of his love, and +wounded both his pride and his shame. + +Norman lacked the charity which should have been capable of forgiving +even this. He now looked at all Alaric's doings through a different +glass from that which he had used when Alaric had been dear to him. +He saw, or thought that he saw, that his successful rival was false, +ambitious, treacherous, and dishonest; he made no excuses for him, gave +him no credit for his industry, accorded no admiration to his talent. +He never spoke ill of Alaric Tudor, to others; but he fed his own heart +with speaking and thinking ill of him to himself. + +Of Gertrude he thought very differently. He had taught himself to +disconnect her from the treachery of her husband--or rather her memory; +for, from the day on which he had learnt that she was engaged to Alaric, +he had never seen her. He still loved the remembrance of her. In his +solitary walks with Mrs. Woodward he would still speak of her as he +might of one in some distant clime, for whose welfare he was deeply +interested. He had seen and caressed her baby at Hampton. She was still +dear to him. Had Alaric been called to his long account, it would have +been his dearest wish to have become at some future time the husband of +his widow. + +To all these feelings on Norman's part Alaric was very indifferent; but +their existence operated as a drawback on his wife's comfort, and, to a +certain degree, on his own. Mrs. Woodward would not banish Norman from +the Cottage, even for her daughter's sake, and it came by degrees to +be understood that the Tudors, man and wife, should not go there unless +they were aware that Norman was absent. Norman, on the other hand, did +absent himself when it was understood that Alaric and Gertrude were +coming; and thus the Woodwards kept up their intercourse with both. + +But this was a bore. Alaric thought it most probable that Norman would +marry one of the younger sisters, and he knew that family quarrels are +uncomfortable and injudicious. When therefore he became a Civil Service +Commissioner, and was thus removed from business intercourse with +Norman, he conceived that it would be wise to arrange a reconciliation. +He discussed the matter with Gertrude, and she, fully agreeing with him, +undertook the task of making the proposal through her mother. This +she did with all the kindness and delicacy of a woman. She desired her +mother to tell Harry how much she had valued his friendship, how greatly +she regretted the loss of it, how anxious her husband was to renew, if +possible, their former terms of affection. Mrs. Woodward, by no means +sanguine, undertook the commission. She undertook it, and utterly +failed; and when Gertrude, in her disappointment, spoke bitterly of +Norman's bitterness, both mother and sister, both Mrs. Woodward and +Linda, took Norman's part. + +'I wish it could be otherwise,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'I wish it for all +our sakes; but he is a man not easily to be turned, and I cannot blame +him. He has suffered very much.' + +Gertrude became very red. Her mother's words contained a reproach +against herself, tacit and unintended indeed, but not the less keenly +felt. + +'I am not aware that Mr. Norman has any cause of just complaint,' she +said, 'against any one, unless it be himself. For the sake of charity +and old associations we have wished that all ideas of injury should be +forgiven and forgotten. If he chooses still to indulge his rancour, he +must do so. I had taken him to be a better Christian.' + +More words had sprung from these. Mrs. Woodward, who, in truth, loved +Norman the better for the continuance of his sorrow, would not give +up his part; and so the mother and child parted, and the two sisters +parted, not quarrelling indeed, not absolutely with angry words, but in +a tone of mind towards each other widely differing from that of former +years. Mrs. Woodward had lost none of the love of the parent; but +Gertrude had forgotten somewhat of the reverence of the child. + +All this had added much to the grief created by Katie's illness. + +And then of a sudden Katie became silent, as well as sad and ill--silent +and sad, but so soft, so loving in her manner. Her gentle +little caresses, the tender love ever lying in her eye, the constant +pressure of her thin small hand, would all but break her mother's heart. +Katie would sit beside her on the sofa in the drawing-room for hours; +a book, taken up as an excuse, would be in her lap, and she would sit +there gazing listlessly into the vacant daylight till the evening would +come; and then, when the room was shaded and sombre, when the light of +the fire merely served to make the objects indistinct, she would lean +gently and by degrees upon her mother's bosom, would coax her mother's +arm round her neck, and would thus creep as it were into her mother's +heart of hearts. And then slow tears would trickle down her cheeks, +very slow, one by one, till they would fall as telltales on her mother's +hand. + +'Katie, my darling Katie,' the mother would say. + +'I'm only tired, mamma,' would be her answer. 'Don't move, mamma; pray +don't move. I am so comfortable.' + +And then at night she would put herself to rest close circled in Linda's +arms. She would twist up her little feet, and lie so quiet there, that +Linda would remain motionless that she might not disturb her Katie's +sleep; but soon warm tears would be running on her bosom, and she would +know that Katie was still thinking of her love. + +Linda, among all her virtues, had not that of reticence, and her mother +had soon learnt from her what had been said that night in their bedroom +about Charley. But this violation of confidence, if it was a violation, +was hardly necessary to make Mrs. Woodward aware of what was passing +in her daughter's bosom. When Katie ceased to ask that Charley might +be sent for, when she ceased to plead for his pardon and to praise his +virtues, Mrs. Woodward knew well the cause of her silence. It was not +that others suspected her love, but that she had learned to suspect it +herself. It was not that she was ashamed of loving Charley, but that she +felt at once that such love would distress her mother's heart. + +As she sat there that night fingering her silken hair, she had asked +herself whether in truth this man was master of her heart; she had +probed her young bosom, which now, by a sudden growth, became quick with +a woman's impulse, and she had owned to herself that she did love him. +He was dearer to her, she found, than all in the world beside. Fondly as +she loved her sister, sweet to her as were her mother's caresses, their +love was not as precious to her as his might be. And then she remembered +what he was, what was the manner of his life, what his character; how +different he was from Alaric or Harry Norman; she remembered this, +and knew that her love was an unhappy passion. Herself she would +have sacrificed: prisoner as he had been, debtor as he was, drunkard, +penniless, and a spendthrift, she would not have hesitated to take him +for her guide through life, and have done what a woman might to guide +him in return. But she would not sacrifice her mother. She saw now why +Charley was not asked, and silently acquiesced in his banishment. + +She was not yet quite seventeen. Not yet seventeen! the reader will say. +She was still such a child, and yet arguing to herself about spendthrift +debtors and self-sacrifice! All this bombast at sixteen and a half. +No, my ungentle reader, not all this bombast at sixteen and a half. The +bombast is mine. It is my fault if I cannot put into fitting language +the thoughts which God put into her young heart. In her mind's +soliloquy, Charley's vices were probably all summed up in the one word, +unsteady. 'Why is he so unsteady? Why does he like these wicked things?' +And then as regarded Mrs. Woodward, she did but make a resolve that +not even for her love would she add to the unhappiness of that loving, +tenderest mother. There was no bombast in Katie, either expressed or +unexpressed. + +After much consideration on the matter, Mrs. Woodward determined that +she should ask Charley down to the Cottage. In the first place, she +felt bitterly her apparent ingratitude to him. When last they had been +together, the day after Katie's escape at the bridge, when his tale had +just been read, she had told him, with the warmth of somewhat more +than friendly affection, that henceforth they must be more than common +friends. She had promised him her love, she had almost promised him the +affection and care of a mother; and now how was she keeping her promise? +He had fallen into misfortune, and she had immediately deserted him. +Over and over again she said to herself that her first duty was to her +own child; but even with this reflection, she could hardly reconcile +herself to her neglect of him. + +And then, moreover, she felt that it was impossible that all their +friendship, all their mutual regard, should die away suddenly without +any explanation. An attempt to bring about this would not cure Katie's +love. If this were done, would not Katie always think of Charley's +wrong? + +And, lastly, it was quite clear that Katie had put a check on her own +heart. A meeting now might be the reverse of dangerous. It would be well +that Katie should use herself to be with him now again; well, at any +rate, that she should see him once before their proposed journey to +Torquay; for, alas, the journey to Torquay was now insisted on by the +London physician--insisted on, although he opined with a nod, somewhat +less authoritative than his former nod, that the young lady was touched +by no organic disease. + +'And then,' said Mrs. Woodward to herself, 'his heart is good, and +I will speak openly to him.' And so Charley was again invited to the +cottage. After some demurring between him and Norman, he accepted the +invitation. + +Mrs. Val's dance had taken place in June, and it was now late in +October. Four months had intervened, and during that period Charley had +seen none of the Woodwards. He had over and over again tried to convince +himself that this was his own fault, and that he had no right to accuse +Mrs. Woodward of ingratitude. But he was hardly successful. He did feel, +in spite of himself, that he had been dropped because of the disgrace +attaching to his arrest; that Mrs. Woodward had put him aside as +being too bad to associate with her and her daughters; and that it was +intended that henceforth they should be strangers. + +He still had Katie's purse, and he made a sort of resolve that as long +as he kept that in his possession, as long as he had that near his +heart, he would not go near Norah Geraghty. This resolution he had kept; +but though he did not go to the 'Cat and Whistle,' he frequented other +places which were as discreditable, or more so. He paid many very +fruitless visits to Mr. M'Ruen; contrived to run up a score with the +proprietor of the dancing saloon in Holborn; and was as negligent as +ever in the matter of the lock entries. + +'It is no use now,' he would say to himself, when some aspirations for +higher things came across his heart; 'it is too late now to go back. +Those who once cared for me have thrown me over.' And then he would +again think of Waterloo Bridge, and the Monument, and of what might be +done for threepence or fourpence in a pistol gallery. + +And then at last came the invitation to Hampton. He was once more to +talk to Mrs. Woodward, and associate with Linda--to see Katie once more. +When he had last left the house he had almost been as much at home +as any one of the family; and now he was to return to it as a perfect +stranger. As he travelled down with Norman by the railway, he could not +help feeling that the journey was passing over too quickly. He was like +a prisoner going to his doom. As he crossed the bridge, and remembered +how Katie had looked when she lay struggling in the water, how he had +been feted and caressed after pulling her out, he made a bitter contrast +between his present position and that which he then enjoyed. Were it not +for very shame, he would have found it in his heart to return to London. + +And then in a moment they were at the Cottage door. The road had never +been so short. Norman, who had not fathomed Charley's feelings, was +happy and light-hearted--more so than was usual with him, for he was +unaffectedly glad to witness Charley's return to Hampton. He rang +sharply at the door, and when it was opened, walked with happy +confidence into the drawing-room. Charley was bound to follow him, and +there he found himself again in the presence of Mrs. Woodward and her +daughters. Katie would fain have absented herself, but Mrs. Woodward +knew that the first meeting could take place in no more favourable +manner. + +Mrs. Woodward bade him welcome with a collected voice, and assured, +if not easy manner. She shook hands with him cordially, and said a few +words as to her pleasure of seeing him again. Then he next took Linda's +hand, and she too made a little speech, more awkwardly than her mother, +saying something mal a propos about the very long time he had been away; +and then she laughed with a little titter, trying to recover herself. +And at last he came to Katie. There was no getting over it. She +also stretched out her now thin hand, and Charley, as he touched it, +perceived how altered she was. Katie looked up into his face, and tried +to speak, but she could not articulate a word. She looked into his face, +and then at Mrs. Woodward, as though imploring her mother's aid to tell +her how to act or what to say; and then finding her power of utterance +impeded by rising sobs, she dropped back again on her seat, and hid her +face upon the arm of the sofa. + +'Our Katie is not so well as when you last saw her--is she, Charley?' +said Mrs. Woodward. 'She is very weak just now; but thank God she has, +we believe, no dangerous symptoms about her. You have heard, perhaps, +that we are going to Torquay for the winter?' + +And so they went on talking. The ice was broken and the worst was +over. They did not talk, it is true, as in former days; there was no +confidence between them now, and each of them felt that there was none; +but they nevertheless fell into a way of unembarrassed conversation, and +were all tolerably at their ease. + +And then they went to dinner, and Charley was called on to discuss +Admiralty matters with Uncle Bat; and then he and Norman sat after +dinner a little longer than usual; and then they had a short walk, +during which Katie remained at home; but short as it was, it was quite +long enough, for it was very dull; and then there was tea; and then more +constrained conversation, in which Katie took no part whatever; and then +Mrs. Woodward and the girls took their candles, and Charley went over to +the inn on the other side of the road. Oh! how different was this from +the former evenings at Surbiton Cottage. + +Charley had made no plan for any special interview with Katie; had, +indeed, not specially thought about it at all; but he could not but feel +an intense desire to say one word to her in private, and learn whether +all her solicitude for him was over. 'Dear Charley, you will be steady; +won't you?' Those had been her last words to him. Nothing could have +been sweeter; although they brought before his mind the remembrance +of his own unworthy career, they had been inexpressibly sweet, as +testifying the interest she felt in him. And was that all over now? Had +it all been talked away by Mrs. Woodward's cautious wisdom, because he +had lain for one night in a sponging-house? + +But the next day came, and as it passed, it appeared to him that no +opportunity of speaking one word to her was to be allowed to him. + +She did not, however, shun him. She was not up at breakfast, but she sat +next to him at lunch, and answered him when he spoke to her. + +In the evening they again went out to walk, and then Charley found that +Linda and Norman went one way, and that he was alone with Mrs. Woodward. +It was manifest to him that this arrangement had been made on purpose, +and he felt that he was to undergo some private conversation, the nature +of which he dreaded. He dreaded it very much; when he heard it, it made +him very wretched; but it was not the less full of womanly affection and +regard for him. + +'I cannot let you go from us, Charley,' began Mrs. Woodward, 'without +telling you how deep a sorrow it has been to me to be so long without +seeing you. I know you have thought me very ungrateful.' + +'Ungrateful, Mrs. Woodward! 'O no! I have done nothing to make gratitude +necessary.' + +'Yes, Charley, you have--you have done much, too much. You have saved my +child's life.' + +'O no, I did not,' said he; 'besides, I hate gratitude. I don't want any +one to be grateful to me. Gratitude is almost as offensive as pity. Of +course I pulled Kate out of the water when she fell in; and I would have +done as much for your favourite cat.' He said this with something of +bitterness in his tone; it was not much, for though he felt bitterly he +did not intend to show it; but Mrs. Woodward's ear did not fail to catch +it. + +'Don't be angry with us, Charley; don't make us more unhappy than we +already are.' + +'Unhappy!' said he, as though he thought that all the unhappiness in the +world was at the present moment reserved for his own shoulders. + +'Yes, we are not so happy now as we were when you were last with us. +Poor Katie is very ill.' + +'But you don't think there is any danger, Mrs. Woodward?' + +There are many tones in which such a question may be asked--and is +asked from day to day--all differing widely from each other, and +giving evidence of various shades of feeling in the speaker. Charley +involuntarily put his whole heart into it. Mrs. Woodward could not but +love him for feeling for her child, though she would have given so much +that the two might have been indifferent to each other. + +'I do not know,' she said. 'We hope not. But I should not be sent with +her to Torquay if she were not very ill. She is very ill, and it is +absolutely essential that nothing should be allowed to excite her +painfully. I tell you this, Charley, to excuse our apparent unkindness +in not having you here sooner.' + +Charley walked by her in silence. Why should his coming excite her more +than Norman's? What could there be painful to her in seeing him? Did +the fact of his having been arrested attach to his visit any peculiar +probability of excitement? + +'Do not suppose that we have not thought of you,' continued Mrs. +Woodward.' We have all done so daily. Nay, I have done so myself all but +hourly. Ah, Charley, you will never know how truly I love you.' + +Charley's heart was as soft as it was inflammable. He was utterly unable +to resist such tenderness as Mrs. Woodward showed to him. He had made +a little resolution to be stiff and stern, to ask for no favour and to +receive none, not to palliate his own conduct, or to allow Mrs. Woodward +to condemn it. He had felt that as the Woodwards had given him up, they +had no longer any right to criticize him. To them at least, one and +all, to Mrs. Woodward and her daughters, his conduct had been _sans +reproche_. They had no cause to upbraid him on their own account; and +they had now abandoned the right to do so on his own. With such assumed +sternness he began his walk; but now it had all melted before the warmth +of one tender word from a woman's mouth. + +'I know I am not worth thinking about,' said he. + +'Do not say so; pray do not say so. Do not think that we say so to +ourselves. I grieve for your faults. Charley; I know they are grievous +and wicked; but I know how much there is of good in you. I know how +clever you are, how excellent your heart is, how sweet your disposition. +I trust, I trust in God, you may reform, and be the pride of your +friends. I trust that I yet may be proud of knowing you----' + +'No one will ever be proud of me,' said Charley. + +'We shall all be proud of you, if you will resolve to turn away from +childish things now that you are no longer a child--your faults are +faults which as yet may be so easily relinquished. But, oh, Charley----' +and then Mrs. Woodward paused and looked wistfully into his face. She +had now come to the point at which she had to make her prayer to him. +She had resolved to tell him the cause of her fears, and to trust to his +honour to free her from them. Now was the moment for her to speak out; +but now that the moment was come, the words were wanting. + +She looked wistfully into his face, but he did not even guess what was +her meaning. He knew the secret of his own love; but he did not know +that Katie also had her secret. He had never dreamt that his faults, +among all their ill effects, had paled her cheek, made wan her arm, +silenced her voice, and dimmed her eye. When he had heard Katie cough, +he had in nowise connected the hated sound with his own arrest. He had +thought only of his own love. + +'Oh! Charley--I know I can trust you,' said Mrs. Woodward. 'I know you +are gentle and good. You will be gentle and good to us, will you not? +you will not make us all wretched?' + +Charley declared that he would not willingly do anything to cause pain +to any of them. + +'No--I am sure you will not. And therefore, Charley, you must not see +Katie any more.' + +At this time they had turned off the road into a shady lane, in which +the leaves of autumn were beginning to fall. A path led over a stile +away from the lane into the fields, and Mrs. Woodward had turned towards +it, as though intending to continue their walk in that direction. But +when she had reached the stile, she had sat down upon the steps of it, +and Charley had been listening to her, standing by, leaning on the top +rail. + +'And therefore, Charley, you must not see Katie any more.' So much she +said, and then she looked into his face with imploring eyes. + +It was impossible that he should answer her at once. He had to realize +so much that had hitherto not been expressed between them, before he +could fully understand what she meant; and then he was called on to give +up so much that he now learnt for the first time was within his reach! +Before he could answer her he had to assure himself that Katie loved +him; he had to understand that her love for one so abandoned was +regarded as fatal; and he had to reply to a mother's prayer that he +would remove himself from the reach of a passion which to him was worth +all the world beside. + +He turned his face away from her, but still stood leaning on the stile, +with his arms folded on it. She watched him for a while in silence, and +at last she saw big tears drop from his face on to the dust of the path +on the farther side. There they came rolling down, large globules of +sorrow. Nothing is so painful to a woman as a man in tears, and Mrs. +Woodward's heart was wrung to its very core. Why was he not like Alaric +or Norman, so that she might make him welcome to her daughter's heart? + +She leant towards him and put her hand caressingly on his arm. 'It shall +be so, shall it not, Charley?' + +'Oh, of course, if you say so.' + +'I have your word, then? If I have your word, that will be a perfect +bond. I have your word, have I not, Charley?' + +'What!--never see her in my life?' said he, turning almost fiercely on +Mrs. Woodward. + +'That, you know, is more than you can promise,' said she, very gently. +'It is not to the letter of the promise that I would bind you, but to +its spirit. You understand well what I mean; you know what I wish, and +why I wish it. Say that you will obey my wish, and I will leave the mode +of doing it to your own honour. Have I your promise?' + +He shook her hand off his arm almost roughly, though unintentionally, +and turning sharply round leant with his back against the stile. The +traces of tears were still on his cheeks, but he was no longer crying; +there was, however, a look on his face of heart-rending sorrow which +Mrs. Woodward could hardly endure. + +'I do understand you,' said he, 'and since you demand it, I will +promise;' and then they walked home side by side, without interchanging +a single word. + +When they reached the house, Mrs. Woodward went to her room, and Charley +found himself alone with Katie. + +'I hope you find yourself better this evening,' said he. + +'Oh, I am quite well,' she answered, with her sweetest, kindest voice; +'I am quite well, only sometimes I am a little weak.' + +He walked up to the window as though to pass on to the lawn; but the +season was too far advanced for that, and the window was locked. He +retraced his steps, therefore, and passing out of the drawing-room into +the hall, stood at the open front door till he heard Mrs. Woodward come +down. Then he followed her into the room. + +'Good-bye,' he said to her suddenly; 'I shall start by the early train +to-morrow, and shall not see you.' She pressed his hand, but he in +nowise returned the pressure. 'Good-bye, Linda; good-bye, Katie; good +night, Captain Cuttwater.' And so he went his way, as Adam did when he +was driven out of Paradise. + +Early on the following morning, the cook, while engaged in her most +matutinal duties, was disturbed by a ring at the front door. She, and +she only of the household, was up, and as she had not completed her +toilet with much minuteness, she was rather embarrassed when, on opening +the door, she saw Mr. Charles Tudor. + +'I beg your pardon, cook, for troubling you so early; but I have left +something in the drawing-room. I can find it myself;' and, so saying, he +hurried into the room, so as to prevent the servant from following him. + +Katie had a well-worn, well-known little workbox, which, in years now +long past; had been given to her either by Alaric or Harry. Doubtless +she had now work-boxes grander both in appearance and size; but, +nevertheless, whether from habit or from choice, her custom was, in her +daily needlework, to use this old friend. Often and often had Charley +played with it many wicked pranks. Once, while Katie had as yet no +pretension to be grown up, he had put a snail into it, and had incurred +her severe displeasure. He had stuffed it full of acorns, and been +rewarded by being pelted with them round the lawn; and had filled it +with nuts, for which he had not found it so difficult to obtain pardon. +He knew every hole and corner in it! he was intimate with all her little +feminine nicknacks--her silver thimble, her scissors, her bit of wax, +and the yard-measure, which twisted itself in and out of an ivory +cottage--he knew them all, as well as though they were his own; and he +knew also where the workbox stood. + +He closed the door behind him, and then, with his quickest motion, +raised the lid and put within the box, just under the bit of work on +which she was employed, a light small paper parcel. It contained the +purse which she had worked for him, and had given to him with such sweet +affection at the Chiswick flower-show. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +HOW APOLLO SAVED THE NAVVY + + +About the middle of November, the Woodwards went to Torquay, and +remained there till the following May. Norman went with them to see them +properly settled in their new lodgings, and visited them at Christmas, +and once again during their stay there. He then went down to fetch them +home, and when they all returned, informed Charley, with whom he was +still living, that he was engaged to Linda. It was arranged, he said, +that they were to be married in August. + +On the whole, the journey to Torquay was considered to have been +successful. Katie's health had been the only object in going there, and +the main consideration while they remained. She returned, if not well, +at any rate not worse. She had got through the winter, and her lungs +were still pronounced to be free from those dreadful signs of decay, the +name of which has broken so many mothers' hearts, and sent dismay into +the breasts of so many fathers. During her sojourn at Torquay she had +grown much, and, as is often the case with those who grow quickly, she +had become weak and thin. People at Torquay are always weak and thin, +and Mrs. Woodward had not, therefore, been greatly frightened at this. +Her spirits, though by no means such as they had been in former days, +had improved, she had occupied herself more than she had done during the +last two months at Hampton, and had, at least so Mrs. Woodward fondly +flattered herself, ceased to be always thinking of Charley Tudor. It was +quite clear that she had firmly made up her mind to some certain line of +conduct with reference to him; she never mentioned his name, nor was +it mentioned in her hearing by either her mother or sister during +their stay at Torquay. When Norman came down, she always found some +opportunity of inquiring from him as to Charley's health and welfare; +but she did this in a manner which showed that she had succeeded in +placing her feelings wonderfully under control. + +On that Monday morning, on which Charley had returned to town after his +early visit to her workbox, she had not failed to find the purse. Linda +was with her when she did so, but she had contrived so to conceal her +emotion, that nothing was seen and nothing suspected. She felt at once +that it was intended that all intercourse should be broken off between +them. She knew instinctively that this was the effect of some precaution +on her mother's part, and with a sad bosom and a broken heart, she +acquiesced in it. She said nothing, even to herself, of the truth and +constancy of her love; she made no mental resolution against any other +passion; she did not even think whether or not she might ever be tempted +to love another; but she felt a dumb aching numbness about her heart; +and, looking round about her, she seemed to feel that all was dark and +dismal. + +And so they sojourned through the winter at Torquay. The effort which +Katie made was undoubtedly salutary to her. She took again to her work +and her lessons--studies we should probably now call them--and before +she left Torquay, she had again learned how to smile; but not to laugh +with that gay ringing silver laughter, ringing, but yet not loud, which +to Charley's ear had been as sweet as heavenly music. During this time +Uncle Bat remained at Hampton, keeping bachelor's house by himself. + +And then while they were at Torquay, Linda and Norman became engaged +to each other. Their loves were honest, true, and happy; but not of a +nature to give much scope to a novelist of a romantic turn. Linda knew +she was not Norman's first love, and requited Norman, of course, by +telling him something, not much, of Alaric's falseness to her. Norman +made but one ungenerous stipulation. It was this: that in marrying him +Linda must give up all acquaintance with her brother-in-law. He would +never, he said, be the means of separating two sisters; she and Gertrude +might have such intercourse together as their circumstances might render +possible; but it was quite out of the question that either he, Harry +Norman, or his wife, should ever again associate with Alaric Tudor. + +In such matters Linda had always been guided by others; so she sighed +and promised, and the engagement was duly ratified by all the parties +concerned. + +We must now return to Charley. When he got back to town, he felt that he +had lost his amulet; his charm had gone from him, and he had nothing now +left whereby to save himself from ruin and destruction. He was utterly +flung over by the Woodwards; that now was to him an undoubted fact. When +Mrs. Woodward told him that he was never again to see Katie, that was, +of course, tantamount to turning him out of the Cottage. It might be +all very well to talk to him of affection and friendship; but it was +manifest that no further signs of either were to be shown to him. He had +proved himself to be unworthy, and was no more to be considered as +one of the circle which made the drawing-room at Surbiton Cottage its +centre. He could not quite explain all this to Norman, as he could not +tell him what had passed between him and Mrs. Woodward; but he said +enough to make his friend know that he intended to go to Hampton no +more. + +It would be wrong, perhaps, to describe Charley as being angry with Mrs. +Woodward. He knew that she was only doing her duty by her child; he knew +that she was actuated by the purest and best of motives; he was not able +to say a word against her even to himself; but, nevertheless, he desired +to be revenged on her--not by injuring her, not by injuring Katie--but +by injuring himself. He would make Mrs. Woodward feel what she had done, +by rushing, himself, on his own ruin. He would return to the 'Cat and +Whistle'--he would keep his promise and marry Norah Geraghty--he would +go utterly to destruction, and then Mrs. Woodward would know and feel +what she had done in banishing him from her daughter's presence! + +Having arrived at this magnanimous resolution after a fortnight's doubt +and misery, he proceeded to put his purpose into execution. It was now +some considerable time since he had been at the 'Cat and Whistle;' he +had had no further visit from Mrs. Davis, but he had received one or +two notes both from her and Norah, to which, as long as he had Katie's +purse, he was resolute in not replying; messages also had reached him +from the landlady through Dick Scatterall, in the last of which he was +reminded that there was a trifle due at the bar, and another trifle for +money lent. + +One night, having lashed himself up to a fit state of wretched +desperation, he found himself at the well-known corner of the street +leading out of the Strand. On his journey thither he had been trying to +realize to himself what it would be to be the husband of Norah Geraghty; +what would be the joy of returning to a small house in some dingy suburb +and finding her to receive him. Could he really love her when she would +be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, the wife of his bosom and +the mother of his children? In such a case would he ever be able to +forget that he had known Katie Woodward? Would those words of hers ever +ring in his ears, then as now--'You will be steady, dear Charley; won't +you?' + +There are those who boast that a gentleman must always be a gentleman; +that a man, let him marry whom he will, raises or degrades his wife to +the level of his own condition, and that King Cophetua could share his +throne with a beggar-woman without sullying its splendour or diminishing +its glory. How a king may fare in such a condition, the author, knowing +little of kings, will not pretend to say; nor yet will he offer an +opinion whether a lowly match be fatally injurious to a marquess, +duke, or earl; but this he will be bold to affirm, that a man from +the ordinary ranks of the upper classes, who has had the nurture of a +gentleman, prepares for himself a hell on earth in taking a wife from +any rank much below his own--a hell on earth, and, alas! too often +another hell elsewhere also. He must either leave her or loathe her. +She may be endowed with all those moral virtues which should adorn all +women, and which, thank God, are common to women in this country; but +he will have to endure habits, manners, and ideas, which the close +contiguity of married life will force upon his disgusted palate, +and which must banish all love. Man by instinct desires in his wife +something softer, sweeter, more refined than himself; and though in +failing to obtain this, the fault may be all his own, he will not on +that account the more easily reconcile himself to the want. + +Charley knew that he was preparing such misery for himself. As he went +along, determined to commit a moral suicide by allying himself to the +barmaid, he constrained himself to look with his mind's eye 'upon this +picture and on that.' + +He had felt of what nature was the sort of love with which Katie +Woodward had inspired his heart; and he felt also what was that other +sort of love to which the charms of Norah Geraghty had given birth. + +Norah was a fine girl, smart enough in her outward apparel, but apt +occasionally to disclose uncomfortable secrets, if from any accident +more than her outward apparel might momentarily become visible. When +dressed up for a Sunday excursion she had her attractions, and even on +ordinary evenings, a young man such as Charley, after imbibing two or +three glasses of spirits and water, and smoking two or three cigars, +might find her to be what some of her friends would have called 'very +good company.' As to her mind, had Charley been asked about it, he would +probably have said that he was ignorant whether she had any; but this +he did know, that she was sharp and quick, alert in counting change, and +gifted with a peculiar power of detecting bad coin by the touch. Such +was Norah Geraghty, whom Charley was to marry. + +And then that other portrait was limned with equal accuracy before his +eyes. Katie, with all her juvenile spirit, was delightfully feminine; +every motion of hers was easy, and every form into which she could twist +her young limbs was graceful. She had all the nice ideas and ways which +a girl acquires when she grows from childhood to woman's stature, under +the eye of a mother who is a lady. Katie could be untidy on occasions; +but her very untidiness was inviting. All her belongings were nice; she +had no hidden secrets, the chance revealing of which would disgrace her. +She might come in from her island palaces in a guise which would call +down some would-be-censorious exclamation from her mother; but all +others but her mother would declare that Katie in such moments was more +lovely than ever. And Katie's beauty pleased more than the eye--it came +home to the mind and heart of those who saw her. It spoke at once to the +intelligence, and required, for its full appreciation, an exercise of +the mental faculties, as well as animal senses. If the owner of that +outward form were bad or vile, one would be inclined to say that Nature +must have lied when she endowed her with so fair an index. Such was +Katie Woodward, whom Charley was not to marry. + +As he turned down Norfolk Street, he thought of all this, as the +gambler, sitting with his razor before him with which he intends to cut +his throat, may be supposed to think of the stakes which he has failed +to win, and the fortune he has failed to make. Norah Geraghty was +Charley's razor, and he plunged boldly into the 'Cat and Whistle,' +determined to draw it at once across his weasand, and sever himself for +ever from all that is valuable in the world. + +It was now about eleven o'clock, at which hour the 'Cat and Whistle' +generally does its most stirring trade. This Charley knew; but he also +knew that the little back parlour, even if there should be an inmate +in it at the time of his going in, would soon be made private for his +purposes. + +When he went in, Mrs. Davis was standing behind the counter, dressed in +a cap of wonderful grandeur, and a red tabinet gown, which rustled among +the pots and jars, sticking out from her to a tremendous width, inflated +by its own magnificence and a substratum of crinoline. Charley had never +before seen her arrayed in such royal robes. Her accustomed maid was +waiting as usual on the guests, and another girl also was assisting; but +Norah did not appear to Charley's first impatient glance. + +He at once saw that something wonderful was going on. The front parlour +was quite full, and the ministering angel was going in and out quickly, +with more generous supplies of the gifts of Bacchus than were usual +at the 'Cat and Whistle.' Gin and water was the ordinary tipple in the +front parlour; and any one of its denizens inclined to cut a dash above +his neighbours generally did so with a bottom of brandy. But now Mrs. +Davis was mixing port-wine negus as fast as her hands could make it. + +And then there were standing round the counter four or five customers, +faces well known to Charley, all of whom seemed to be dressed with a +splendour second only to that of the landlady. One man had on an almost +new brown frock coat with a black velvet collar, and white trousers. +Two had blue swallow-tailed coats with brass buttons; and a fourth, a +dashing young lawyer's clerk from Clement's Inn, was absolutely stirring +a mixture, which he called a mint julep, with a yellow kid glove +dangling out of his hand. + +They all stood back when Charley entered; they had been accustomed to +make way for him in former days, and though he had latterly ceased to +rule at the 'Cat and Whistle' as he once did, they were too generous to +trample on fallen greatness. He gave his hand to Mrs. Davis across the +counter, and asked her in the most unconcerned voice which he could +assume what was in the wind. She tittered and laughed, told him he +had come too late for the fun, and then retreated into the little back +parlour, whither he followed her. She was at any rate in a good humour, +and seemed quite inclined to forgive his rather uncivil treatment of her +notes and messages. + +In the back parlour Charley found more people drinking, and among them +three ladies of Mrs. Davis's acquaintance. They were all very fine in +their apparel, and very comfortable as to their immediate employment, +for each had before her a glass of hot tipple. One of them, a +florid-faced dame about fifty, Charley had seen before, and knew to +be the wife of a pork butcher and sausage maker in the neighbourhood. +Directly he entered the room, Mrs. Davis formally introduced him to them +all. 'A very particular friend of mine, Mrs. Allchops; and of Norah's +too, I can assure you,' said Mrs. Davis. + +'Ah, Mr. Tudor, and how be you? A sight of you is good for sore eyes,' +said she of the sausages, rising with some difficulty from her chair, +and grasping Charley's hand with all the pleasant cordiality of old +friendship. + +'The gen'leman seems to be a little too late for the fair,' said a +severe lodging-house keeper from Cecil Street. + + 'Them as wills not, when they may, + When they wills they shall have nay,' + +said a sarcastic rival barmaid from a neighbouring public, to whom all +Norah's wrongs and all Mr. Tudor's false promises were fully known. + +Charley was not the fellow to allow himself to be put down, even by +feminine raillery; so he plucked up his spirit, sad as he was at heart, +and replied to them all _en masse_. + +'Well, ladies, what's in the wind now? You seem to be very cosy here, +all of you; suppose you allow me to join you.' + +'With a 'eart and a 'alf,' said Mrs. Allchops, squeezing her corpulence +up to the end of the horsehair sofa, so as to make room for him between +herself and the poetic barmaid. 'I'd sooner have a gentleman next to me +nor a lady hany day of the week; so come and sit down, my birdie.' + +But Charley, as he was about to accept the invitation of his friend Mrs. +Allchops, caught Mrs. Davis's eye, and followed her out of the room into +the passage. 'Step up to the landing, Mr. Tudor,' said she; and Charley +stepped up. 'Come in here, Mr. Tudor--you won't mind my bedroom for +once.' And Charley followed her in, not minding her bedroom. + +'Of course you know what has happened, Mr. Tudor?' said she. + +'Devil a bit,' said Charley. + +'Laws, now--don't you indeed? Well, that is odd.' + +'How the deuce should I know? Where's Norah?' + +'Why--she's at Gravesend.' + +'At Gravesend--you don't mean to say she's----' + +'I just do then; she's just gone and got herself spliced to Peppermint +this morning. They had the banns said these last three Sundays; and this +morning they was at St. Martin's at eight o'clock, and has been here +junketing ever since, and now they're away to Gravesend.' + +'Gravesend!' said Charley, struck by the suddenness of his rescue, as +the gambler would have been had some stranger seized the razor at the +moment when it was lifted to his throat. + +'Yes, Gravesend,' said Mrs. Davis; 'and they'll come up home to his own +house by the first boat to-morrow.' + +'So Norah's married!' said Charley, with a slight access of sentimental +softness in his voice. + +'She's been and done it now, Mr. Tudor, and no mistake; and it's better +so, ain't it? Why, Lord love you, she'd never have done for you, you +know; and she's the very article for such a man as Peppermint.' + +There was something good-natured in this, and so Charley felt it. As +long as Mrs. Davis could do anything to assist her cousin's views, by +endeavouring to seduce or persuade her favourite lover into a marriage, +she left no stone unturned, working on her cousin's behalf. But now, +now that all those hopes were over, now that Norah had consented to +sacrifice love to prudence, why should Mrs. Davis quarrel with an old +friend any longer?--why should not things be made pleasant to him as to +the others? + +'And now, Mr. Tudor, come down, and drink a glass to their healths, and +wish 'em both well, and don't mind what them women says to you. You're +well out of a mess; and now it's all over, I'm glad it is as it is.' + +Charley went down and took his glass and drank 'prosperity to the bride +and bridegroom.' The sarcastic rival barmaid said little snappish things +to him, offered him a bit of green ribbon, and told him that if he +'minded hisself,' somebody might, perhaps, take him yet. But Charley was +proof against this. + +He sat there about half an hour, and then went his way, shaking hands +with all the ladies and bowing to the gentlemen. On the following day, +as soon as he left his office, he called at the 'Cat and Whistle,' and +paid his little bill there, and said his last farewell to Mrs. Davis. He +never visited the house again. Now that Norah was gone the attractions +were not powerful. Reader, you and I will at the same time say our +farewells to Mrs. Davis, to Mr. Peppermint also, and to his bride. If +thou art an elegant reader, unaccustomed to the contamination of pipes +and glasses, I owe thee an apology in that thou hast been caused to +linger a while among things so unsavoury. But if thou art one who of +thine own will hast taken thine ease in thine inn, hast enjoyed the +freedom of a sanded parlour, hast known 'that ginger is hot in the +mouth,' and made thyself light-hearted with a yard of clay, then thou +wilt confess there are worse establishments than the 'Cat and Whistle,' +less generous landladies than Mrs. Davis. + +When all this happened the Woodwards had not been long at Torquay. Mr. +Peppermint was made a happy man before Christmas; and therefore Charley +was left to drift before the wind without the ballast of any lady's love +to keep him in sailing trim. Poor fellow! he had had wealth on one side, +beauty and love on another, and on the third all those useful qualities +which Miss Geraghty has been described as possessing. He had been thus +surrounded by feminine attractions, and had lost them all. Two of those, +from whom he had to choose, had married others, and he was banished from +the presence of the third. Under such circumstances what could he do but +drift about the gulfs and straits of the London ocean without compass or +rudder, and bruise his timbers against all the sunken rocks that might +come in his way? + +And then Norman told him of his coming marriage, and Charley was more +sad than ever. And thus matters went on with him till the period at +which our story will be resumed at the return of the Woodwards to +Hampton. + +In the meantime another winter and another spring had passed over +Alaric's head, and now the full tide of the London season found him +still rising, and receiving every day more of the world's homage. Sir +Gregory Hardlines had had every reason to praise his own judgement in +selecting Mr. Tudor for the vacant seat among the Magi. + +From that moment all had gone smooth with Sir Gregory; there was no one +to interfere with his hobby, or run counter to his opinion. Alaric +was all that was conciliatory and amiable in a colleague. He was not +submissive and cringing; and had he been so, Sir Gregory, to do him +justice, would have been disgusted; but neither was he self-opinionated +nor obstinate like Mr. Jobbles. He insisted on introducing no crotchets +of his own, and allowed Sir Gregory all the credit of the Commission. + +This all went on delightfully for a while; but on one morning, early +in May, Alaric somewhat disturbed the equanimity of his chief by +communicating to him his intention of becoming a candidate for the +representation of the borough of Strathbogy, at the next general +election, which was to take place very shortly after the close of the +session. Sir Gregory was dumbfounded, and expressed himself as incapable +of believing that Tudor really meant to throw up L1,200 a year on +the mere speculation of its being possible that he should get into +Parliament. Men in general, as Sir Gregory endeavoured to explain with +much eloquence, go into Parliament for the sake of getting places of +L1,200 a year. For what earthly reason should Alaric again be going to +the bottom of the ladder, seeing that he had already attained a rung of +such very respectable altitude? Alaric said to himself, 'Excelsior!' To +Sir Gregory he suggested that it might be possible that he should get +into Parliament without giving up his seat at the Board. Earth and +heaven, it might be hoped, would not come together, even though so great +a violence as this should be done to the time-honoured practices of +the Government. Sir Gregory suggested that it was contrary to the +constitution. Alaric replied that the constitution had been put upon to +as great an extent before this, and had survived. Sir Gregory regarded +it as all but impossible, and declared it to be quite unusual. Alaric +rejoined that something of the same kind had been done at the Poor Law +Board. To this Sir Gregory replied, gently pluming his feathers with +conscious greatness, that at the Poor Law Board the chief of the +Commission was the Parliamentary officer. Alaric declared that he was +perfectly willing to give way if Sir Gregory would go into the House +himself. To this Sir Gregory demurred; not feeling himself called on to +change the sphere of his utility. And so the matter was debated between +them, till at last Sir Gregory promised to consult his friend the +Chancellor of the Exchequer. The ice was thus broken, and Alaric was +quite contented with the part which he had taken in the conversation. + +With his own official prospects, in spite of the hazardous step which he +now meditated, he was quite contented. He had an idea that in the public +service of the Government, as well as in all other services, men who +were known to be worth their wages would find employment. He was worth +his wages. Men who could serve their country well, who could adapt +themselves to work, who were practical, easy in harness, able to drive +and patient to be driven, were not, unfortunately, as plentiful as +blackberries. He began to perceive that a really useful man could not +be found miscellaneously under every hat in Pall Mall. He knew his own +value, and did not fear but that he should find a price for it in some +of the world's markets. He would not, therefore, allow himself to be +deterred from further progress by any fear that in doing so he risked +the security of his daily bread; no, not though the risk extended to +his wife; she had taken him for better or worse; if the better came she +should share it; if the worse, why let her share that also, with such +consolation as his affection might be able to offer. + +There was something noble in this courage, in this lack of prudence. It +may be a question whether men, in marrying, do not become too prudent. +A single man may risk anything, says the world; but a man with a wife +should be sure of his means. Why so? A man and a woman are but two +units. A man and a woman with ten children are but twelve units. It is +sad to see a man starving--sad to see a woman starving--very sad to see +children starving. But how often does it come to pass that the man who +will work is seen begging his bread? we may almost say never--unless, +indeed, he be a clergyman. Let the idle man be sure of his wife's bread +before he marries her; but the working man, one would say, may generally +trust to God's goodness without fear. + +With his official career Alaric was, as we have said, well contented; +in his stock-jobbing line of business he also had had moments of great +exaltation, and some moments of considerable depression. The West Corks +had vacillated. Both he and Undy had sold and bought and sold again; +and on the whole their stake in that stupendous national line of +accommodation was not so all-absorbing as it had once been. But if money +had been withdrawn from this, it had been invested elsewhere, and the +great sum borrowed from Madame Jaquetanape's fortune had been in no +part replaced--one full moiety of it had been taken--may one not say +stolen?--to enable Alaric and Undy to continue their speculations. + +The undertaking to which they were now both wedded was the Limehouse +and Rotherhithe Bridge. Of this Undy was chairman, and Alaric was a +director, and at the present moment they looked for ample fortune, or +what would nearly be ample ruin, to the decision of a committee of the +House of Commons which was about to sit with the view of making inquiry +as to the necessity of the bridge in question. + +Mr. Nogo, the member for Mile End, was the parent of this committee. He +asserted that the matter was one of such vital importance not only to +the whole metropolis, but to the country at large, that the Government +were bound in the first place to give a large subsidy towards building +the bridge, and afterwards to pay a heavy annual sum towards the amount +which it would be necessary to raise by tolls. Mr. Whip Vigil, on the +other hand, declared on the part of Government that the bridge was +wholly unnecessary; that if it were built it ought to be pulled down +again; and that not a stiver could be given out of the public purse with +such an object. + +On this they joined issue. Mr. Nogo prayed for a committee, and Mr. +Vigil, having duly consulted his higher brethren in the Government, +conceded this point. It may easily be conceived how high were now the +hopes both of Undy Scott and Alaric Tudor. It was not at all necessary +for them that the bridge should ever be built; that, probably, was +out of the question; that, very likely, neither of them regarded as a +possibility. But if a committee of the House of Commons could be got to +say that it ought to be built, they might safely calculate on selling +out at a large profit. + +But who were to sit on the committee? That was now the all-momentous +question. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE + + +There is a sport prevalent among the downs in Hampshire to which, though +not of a high degree, much interest is attached. Men and boys, with +social glee and happy boyish shouts, congregate together on a +hill-side, at the mouth of a narrow hole, and proceed, with the aid of +a well-trained bull-dog, to draw a badger. If the badger be at all +commendable in his class this is by no means an easy thing to do. He is +a sturdy animal, and well fortified with sharp and practised teeth; his +hide is of the toughest; his paws of the strongest, and his dead power +of resistance so great as to give him more than an equal chance with the +bull-dog. The delighted sportsmen stand round listening to the growls +and snarls, the tearings, gnawings, and bloody struggles of the +combatants within.--'Well done, badger!--Well done, bull-dog!--Draw him, +bulldog!--Bite him, badger!' Each has his friends, and the interest of +the moment is intense. The badger, it is true, has done no harm. He has +been doing as it was appointed for him to do, poor badger, in that hole +of his. But then, why were badgers created but to be drawn? Why, indeed, +but to be drawn, or not to be drawn, as the case may be? See! the +bull-dog returns minus an ear, with an eye hanging loose, his nether +lip torn off, and one paw bitten through and through. Limping, dejected, +beaten, glaring fearfully from his one remaining eye, the dog comes out; +and the badger within rolls himself up with affected ease, hiding his +bloody wounds from the public eye. + +So it is that the sport is played in Hampshire; and so also at +Westminster--with a difference, however. In Hampshire the two brutes +retain ever their appointed natures. The badger is always a badger, +and the bull-dog never other than a bull-dog. At Westminster there is +a juster reciprocity of position. The badger when drawn has to take his +place outside the hole, and fight again for the home of his love; while +the victorious bull-dog assumes a state of badgerdom, dons the skin of +his enemy, and, in his turn, submits to be baited. + +The pursuit is certainly full of interest, but it is somewhat deficient +in dignity. + +The parliamentary committee, which was to sit with reference to the +Limehouse and Rotherhithe Bridge, had been one of the effects of a +baiting-match such as that above described. In this contest the enemies +of the proud occupier of the den on the mountain-side had not been +contented to attempt to expel him with a single bull-dog. A whole pack +had been let loose at his devoted throat. Bull-dogs had been at him, and +terriers, mastiffs, blood-hounds, lurchers, and curs; but so accustomed +was he to the contest, so knowing in his fence, so ready with all the +weapons given to him by nature, that, in spite of the numbers and venom +of his enemies, he had contrived to hold his own. Some leading hounds +had fallen to rise no more; others had retreated, yelping to their +kennels, to lie quiet for a while, till time might give them courage +for a new attack. The country round was filled with the noise of their +plaints, and the yowling and howling of canine defeat. The grey old +badger meanwhile sat proud in his hole, with all his badger kin around +him, and laughed his well-known badger laugh at his disconsolate foes. +Such a brock had not for years been seen in the country-side; so cool, +so resolute, so knowing in his badger ways, so impregnable in his badger +hole, and so good-humoured withal. He could bite full sore with those +old teeth of his, and yet he never condescended to show them. A badger +indeed of whom the country might well be proud! + +But in the scramble of the fight some little curs had been permitted to +run away with some little bones; and, in this way, Mr. Nogo, the member +for Mile End, had been allowed to carry his motion for a committee to +inquire as to the expediency of the Government's advancing a quarter of +a million towards the completion of that momentous national undertaking, +the building of a bridge from Limehouse to Rotherhithe. + +Very much had been said about this bridge, till men living out of the +light of parliamentary life, nine hundred and ninety-nine men, that is, +out of every thousand in the Queen's dominions, had begun to think +that it was the great want of the age. Men living in the light, the +supporters of the bridge as well as its enemies, knew very well that +such an erection was quite unneeded, and would in all probability never +be made. But then the firm of Blocks, Piles, and Cofferdam, who held a +vast quantity of the bridge shares, and who were to be the contractors +for building it, had an all-powerful influence in the borough of +Limehouse. Where would Mr. Nogo be if he did not cultivate the +friendship of such men as Blocks, Piles, and Cofferdam? + +And so Mr. Nogo, and those who acted with Mr. Nogo--men, that is, who +had little jobs of their own to do, and in the doing of which Mr. Nogo +occasionally assisted, Undy Scott, for instance, and such-like--these +men, I say, had talked much about the bridge; and gentlemen on the +Treasury bench, who could have afforded to show up the folly of the +scheme, and to put Mr. Nogo down at once, had he been alone, felt +themselves under the necessity of temporizing. As to giving a penny +of the public money for such a purpose, that they knew was out of the +question; that Mr. Nogo never expected; that they all knew Mr. Nogo +never expected. But as Mr. Nogo's numbers were so respectable, it was +necessary to oppose him in a respectable parliamentary steady manner. +He had fifteen with him! Had he been quite alone, Mr. Vigil would have +sneered him off; had he had but four to back him, the old badger would +have laughed them out of face with a brace of grins. But fifteen--! Mr. +Whip Vigil thought that the committee would be the most safe. So would +the outer world be brought to confess that the interests of Limehouse +and Poplar, Rotherhithe and Deptford, had not been overlooked by a +careful Government. + +But of whom was the committee to be made up? That was now the question +which to Mr. Nogo, in his hour of temporary greatness, was truly +momentous. He of course was to be the chairman, and to him appertained +the duty of naming the other members; of naming them indeed--so much he +could undoubtedly do by the strength of his own privilege. But of what +use to name a string of men to whom Mr. Vigil would not consent? Mr. +Nogo, did he do so, would have to divide on every name, and be beaten +at every division. There would be no triumph in that. No; Mr. Nogo fully +understood that his triumph must be achieved--if he were destined to a +triumph--by an astute skill in his selection, not by an open choice +of friends. He must obtain a balance on his side, but one in which the +scale would lean so slightly to his side that Mr. Vigil's eyes might be +deceived. Those who knew Mr. Vigil best were inclined to surmise that +such an arrangement was somewhat beyond Mr. Nogo's political capacity. +There is a proverb which goes to show that a certain little lively +animal may be shaved if he be caught napping; but then the difficulty of +so catching him is extreme. + +Mr. Nogo, at the head of the list, put Mr. Vigil himself. This, of +course, was a necessity to him--would that he could have dispensed with +it! Then he named sundry supporters of the Government, sundry members +also of the opposition; and he filled up the list with certain others +who could not be regarded as sure supporters of one side or the +other, but with whom, for certain reasons, he thought he might in this +particular case be safe. Undy Scott was of course not among the number, +as Mr. Nogo would only have damaged his cause by naming a man known to +have a pecuniary interest in the concern. + +The member for Mile End was doubtless sharp, but Mr. Vigil was sharper. +His object was, in fact, merely to do his duty to the country by +preventing a profuse and useless expenditure of money. His anxiety was +a perfectly honest one--to save the Exchequer namely. But the +circumstances of the case required that he should fight the battle +according to the tactics of the House, and he well understood how to do +so. + +When the list was read he objected to two or three names--only to two or +three. They were not those of staunch enemies of the Government; nor did +he propose in their places the names of staunch supporters. He suggested +certain gentlemen who, from their acquaintance with bridges, tolls, +rivers, &c., would, as he said, be probably of use. He, also, was sure +of his men, and as he succeeded with two of them, he was also pretty +sure of his committee. + +And then the committee met, and a lot of witnesses were in attendance. +The chairman opened his case, and proceeded to prove, by the evidence +of sundry most respectable men connected with Limehouse, and with the +portions of Surrey and Kent lying immediately opposite to it, that the +most intense desire for friendly and commercial intercourse was felt; +but that, though absolutely close to each other, the districts were so +divided by adverse circumstances, circumstances which were monstrous +considering the advance of science in the nineteenth century, that +the dearest friends were constrained to perpetual banishment from each +other; and that the men of Kent were utterly unable to do any trade at +Limehouse, and the Limehousians equally unable to carry on traffic in +Surrey. + +It was wonderful that the narrow river should be so effective for +injury. One gentleman from Poplar proved that, having given his daughter +in marriage to a man of Deptford two years since, he had not yet been +able to see her since that day. Her house, by the crow's flight, was but +seven furlongs from his own; but, as he kept no horse, he could not get +to her residence without a four hours' walk, for which he felt himself +to be too old. He was, however, able to visit his married daughter at +Reading, and be back to tea. The witness declared that his life was made +miserable by his being thus debarred from his child, and he wiped his +eyes with his pocket-handkerchief piteously, sitting there in front of +the committee. In answer to Mr. Vigil he admitted that there might be a +ferry, but stated that he did not know. Having had, from childhood, an +aversion to the water, he had not inquired. He was aware that some rash +people had gone through the Tunnel, but for himself he did not think the +Tunnel a safe mode of transit. + +Another gentleman belonging to Rotherhithe, who was obliged to be almost +daily at Blackwall, maintained two horses for the express purpose of +going backwards and forwards, round by London Bridge. They cost him +L70 per annum each. Such a bridge as that now proposed, and which the +gentleman declared that he regarded as an embryo monument of national +glory, would save him L140 per annum. He then proceeded to make a little +speech about the spirit of the age, and the influence of routine, which +he described as a gloomy gnome. But his oratory was cruelly cut short by +Mr. Vigil, who demanded of him whether he ever used the river steamers. +The witness shuddered fearfully as he assured the committee that he +never did, and referred to the _Cricket_, whose boilers burst in the +year 1842; besides, he had, he said, his things to carry with him. + +Another witness told how unsafe was the transit of heavy goods by barge +from one side of the river to another. He had had a cargo of marine +stores which would go to sea before their time. The strong ebb of the +tide, joined to the river current, had positively carried the barge +away, and its course had not been stopped till it had drifted on shore +at Purfleet. He acknowledged that something had transpired of the +bargemen being drunk, but he had no knowledge himself that such had been +the case. No other cargoes of his own had been carried away, but he +had heard that such was often the case. He thought that the bridge +was imperatively demanded. Would the tolls pay? He felt sure that +they would. Why, then, should not the bridge be built as a commercial +speculation, without Government aid? He thought that in such cases a +fostering Government was bound to come forward and show the way. He had +a few shares in the bridge himself. He had paid up L1 a share. They were +now worth 2s. 6d. each. They had been worth nothing before the committee +had been ordered to sit. He declined to give any opinion as to what the +shares would be worth if the money were granted. + +Ladies at Limehouse proved that if there were a bridge they could save +30s. a year each, by buying their tea and sugar at Rotherhithe; and so +singular are the usages of trade, that the ladies of Rotherhithe would +benefit their husbands equally, and return the compliment, by consuming +the bread of Limehouse. The shores of Kent were pining for the beef of +the opposite bank, and only too anxious to give in return the surplus +stock of their own poultry. + +'Let but a bridge be opened,' as was asserted by one animated vendor of +rope, 'and Poplar would soon rival Pimlico. Perhaps that might not be +desirable in the eyes of men who lived in the purlieus of the Court, +and who were desirous to build no new bridge, except that over +the ornamental water in St. James's Park.' Upon uttering which the +rope-vendor looked at Mr. Vigil as though he expected him to sink at +once under the table. + +Mr. Blocks, of the great firm of Blocks, Piles, and Cofferdam, then came +forward. He declared that a large sum of money was necessary before +this great national undertaking could be begun in a spirit worthy of the +nineteenth century. It was intended to commence the approaches on each +side of the river a quarter of a mile from the first abutment of the +bridge, in order to acquire the necessary altitude without a steep +ascent. He then described what a glorious bridge this bridge would +be; how it would eclipse all bridges that had ever been built; how the +fleets of all nations would ride under it; how many hundred thousand +square feet of wrought iron would be consumed in its construction; how +many tons of Portland stone in the abutments, parapets, and supporting +walls; how much timber would be buried twenty fathoms deep in the mud of +the river; how many miles of paving-stone would be laid down. Mr. Blocks +went on with his astonishing figures till the committee were bewildered, +and even Mr. Vigil, though well used to calculations, could hardly raise +his mind to the dimensions of the proposed undertaking. + +The engineer followed, and showed how easily this great work could be +accomplished. There was no difficulty, literally none. The patronage of +the Crown was all that was required. The engineer was asked whether by +the word patronage he meant money, and after a little laughing and a few +counter questions, he admitted that, in his estimation, patronage and +money did mean the same thing. + +Such was the case made out by the promoters of the bridge, and the +chairman and his party were very sanguine of success. They conceived +that Mr. Blocks' figures had completely cowed their antagonists. + +Mr. Vigil then took his case in hand, and brought forward his witnesses. +It now appeared that the intercourse between the people living on each +side of the river was immense, and ever on the increase. Limehouse, it +would seem, had nothing to do but to go to Deptford, and that Deptford +consumed all its time in returning the visit. Little children were sent +across continually on the most trifling errands, going and coming for +one halfpenny. An immense income was made by the owners of the ferry. No +two adjacent streets in London had more to do with each other than had +the lanes of Rotherhithe and the lanes of Limehouse. Westminster and +Lambeth were further apart, and less connected by friendly intercourse. +The frequenters of the ferry were found to outnumber the passengers over +Waterloo Bridge by ten to one. + +Indeed, so lamentable a proposition as this of building a bridge across +the river had never before been mooted by the public. Men conversant +with such matters gave it as their opinion that no amount of tolls that +could reasonably be expected would pay one per cent on the money which +it was proposed to expend; that sum, however, they stated, would not +more than half cover the full cost of the bridge. Traffic would be +prohibited by the heavy charges which would be necessary, and the +probability would be that the ferry would still continue to be the +ordinary mode of crossing the river. + +A gentleman, accustomed to use strong figures of speech, declared that +if such a bridge were built, the wisest course would be to sow the +surface with grass, and let it out for grazing. This witness was taken +specially in hand by Mr. Nogo, and targed very tightly. Mr. Vigil had +contrived to prove, out of the mouths of inimical witnesses, the very +reverse of that which they had been summoned thither to assert. The +secret of the ferry had been first brought to the light by the gentleman +who could not visit his daughter at Deptford, and so on. These triumphs +had evidently been very pleasant to Mr. Vigil, and Mr. Nogo thought that +he might judiciously take a leaf out of the Treasury book. Actuated +by this ambition, he, with the assistance of his friend, the M'Carthy +Desmond, put no less than 2,250 questions to the gentleman who suggested +the grazing, in order to induce him to say, that if there were a bridge, +men would probably walk over it. But they could not bring him to own to +a single passenger, unless they would abandon the tolls. The most that +they could get from him was, that perhaps an old woman, with more money +than wit, might go over it on a Sunday afternoon, if--which he did not +believe--any old woman existed, _in that part of the world_, who had +more money than wit. + +This witness was kept in the chair for three days, during which Mr. +Vigil was nearly driven wild by the loss of his valuable time. But he +did not complain. Nor would he have complained, though he might have +absented himself, had the witness been kept in the chair three +weeks instead of three days. The expense of the committee, including +witnesses, shorthand-writers, and printing, was about L60 a day, but +it never occurred to any one of the number to get up and declare with +indignation, that such a waste of money and time on so palpably absurd a +scheme was degrading, and to demand an immediate close of their labours. +It all went smoothly to the end, and Mr. Nogo walked off from his task +with the approving conscience of a patriotic legislator. + +At the close the members met to prepare their report. It was then the +first week in August, and they were naturally in a hurry to finish their +work. It was now their duty to decide on the merits of what they had +heard, to form a judgement as to the veracity of the witnesses, and +declare, on behalf of the country which they represented, whether or no +this bridge should be built at the expense of the nation. + +With his decision each was ready enough; but not one of them dreamed of +being influenced by anything which had been said before them. All the +world--that is, all that were in any way concerned in the matter--knew +that the witnesses for the bridge were anxious to have it built, and +that the witnesses against the bridge were anxious to prevent the +building. It would be the worst of ignorance, ignorance of the usage of +the world we live in, to suppose that any member of Parliament could +be influenced by such manoeuvres. Besides, was not the mind of each man +fully known before the committee met? + +Various propositions were made by the members among themselves, and +various amendments moved. The balance of the different parties had been +nearly preserved. A decided victory was not to be expected on either +side. At last the resolution to which the committee came was this: +'That this committee is not prepared, under existing circumstances, to +recommend a grant of public money for the purpose of erecting a bridge +at Limehouse; but that the committee consider that the matter is still +open to consideration should further evidence be adduced.' + +Mr. Vigil was perfectly satisfied. He did not wish to acerbate the +member for Mile End, and was quite willing to give him a lift towards +keeping his seat for the borough, if able to do so without cost to the +public exchequer. At Limehouse the report of the committee was declared +by certain persons to be as good as a decision in their favour; it was +only postponing the matter for another session. But Mr. Vigil knew that +he had carried his point, and the world soon agreed with him. He at +least did his work successfully, and, considering the circumstances of +his position, he did it with credit to himself. + +A huge blue volume was then published, containing, among other things, +all Mr. Nogo's 2,250 questions and their answers; and so the Limehouse +and Rotherhithe bridge dropped into oblivion and was forgotten. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +TO STAND, OR NOT TO STAND + + +Sir Gregory Hardlines had been somewhat startled by Alaric's +announcement of his parliamentary intentions. It not unnaturally +occurred to that great man that should Mr. Tudor succeed at Strathbogy, +and should he also succeed in being allowed to hold his office and seat +together, he, Tudor, would very soon become first fiddle at the Civil +Service Examination Board. This was a view of the matter which was by +no means agreeable to Sir Gregory. Not for this had he devoted his time, +his energy, and the best powers of his mind to the office of which he +was at present the chief; not for this had he taken by the hand a young +clerk, and brought him forward, and pushed him up, and seated him in +high places. To have kept Mr. Jobbles would have been better than this; +he, at any rate, would not have aspired to parliamentary honours. + +And when Sir Gregory came to look into it, he hardly knew whether those +bugbears with which he had tried to frighten Tudor were good serviceable +bugbears, such as would stand the strain of such a man's logic and +reason. Was there really any reason why one of the commissioners +should not sit in Parliament? Would his doing so be subversive of the +constitution? Or would the ministers of the day object to an additional +certain vote? This last point of view was one in which it did not at all +delight Sir Gregory to look at the subject in question. He determined +that he would not speak on the matter to the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, or to any of the Government wigs who might be considered to +be bigger wigs than himself. + +And Alaric thought over the matter coolly also. He looked at it till the +bugbears shrank into utter insignificance; till they became no more +than forms of shreds and patches put up to frighten birds out of +cherry-orchards. + +Why should the constitution be wounded by the presence of one more +commissioner in Parliament? Why should not he do his public duty and +hold his seat at the same time, as was done by so many others? But +he would have to go out if the ministry went out. That was another +difficulty, another bugbear, more substantial perhaps than the others; +but he was prepared to meet even that. He was a poor man; his profession +was that of the Civil Service; his ambition was to sit in Parliament. He +would see whether he could not combine his poverty with his profession, +and with his ambition also. Sir Gregory resolved in his fear that +he would not speak to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the matter; +Alaric, on the other hand, in his audacity, resolved that he would do +so. + +It was thus that Sir Gregory regarded the matter. 'See all that I have +done for this man,' said he to himself; 'see how I have warmed him in +my bosom, how I have lifted him to fortune and renown, how I have heaped +benefits on his head! If gratitude in this world be possible, that man +should be grateful to me; if one man can ever have another's interest at +heart, that man should have a heartfelt anxiety as to my interest. And +yet how is it? I have placed him in the chair next to my own, and now he +is desirous of sitting above me!' + +'Twas thus Sir Gregory communed with himself. But Alaric's soliloquy was +very different. A listener who could have overheard both would hardly +have thought that the same question was being discussed by the two. 'I +have got so high,' said Alaric, 'by my own labour, by my own skill and +tact; and why should I stop here? I have left my earliest colleagues far +behind me; have distanced those who were my competitors in the walk of +life; why should I not still go on and distance others also? why stop +when I am only second or third? It is very natural that Sir Gregory +should wish to keep me out of Parliament; I cannot in the least blame +him; let us all fight as best each may for himself. He does not wish a +higher career; I do. Sir Gregory will now do all that he can to impede +my views, because they are antagonistic to his own; very well; I must +only work the harder to overcome his objections.' There was no word in +all this of gratitude; there was no thought in Alaric's mind that it +behoved him to be grateful to Sir Gregory. It was for his own sake, +not for his pupil's, that Sir Gregory had brought this pupil forward. +Grateful, indeed! In public life when is there time for gratitude? Who +ever thinks of other interest than his own? + +Such was Alaric's theory of life. But not the less would he have +expected gratitude from those whom he might serve. Such also very +probably was Sir Gregory's theory when he thought of those who had +helped him, instead of those whom he himself had helped. + +And so they met, and discussed Alaric's little proposition. + +'Since I saw you yesterday,' said Sir Gregory, 'I have been thinking +much of what you were saying to me of your wish to go into Parliament.' + +'I am very much obliged to you,' said Alaric. + +'I need hardly tell you, Tudor, how anxious I am to further your +advancement. I greatly value your ability and diligence, and have shown +that I am anxious to make them serviceable to the public.' + +'I am fully aware that I owe you a great deal, Sir Gregory.' + +'Oh, I don't mean that; that's nothing; I am not thinking of myself. I +only want you to understand that I am truly anxious to see you take that +line in public matters which may make your services most valuable to +the public, and which may redound the most to your own advantage. I have +thought of what you said to me with the most mature deliberation, and I +am persuaded that I shall best do my duty to you, and to the service, +by recommending you to abandon altogether your idea of going into +Parliament.' + +Sir Gregory said this in his weightiest manner. He endeavoured to assume +some of that authority with which he had erst cowed the young Tudor at +the Weights and Measures, and as he finished his speech he assumed a +profound look which ought to have been very convincing. + +But the time was gone by with Alaric when such tricks of legerdemain +were convincing to him. A grave brow, compressed lips, and fixed eyes, +had no longer much effect upon him. He had a point to gain, and he was +thinking of that, and not of Sir Gregory's grimaces. + +'Then you will not see the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject?' + +'No,' said Sir Gregory; 'it would be useless for me to do so. I could +not advocate such a scheme, feeling certain that it would be injurious +both to yourself and to the service; and I would not desire to see the +Chancellor with the view of opposing your wishes.' + +'I am much obliged to you for that, at any rate,' said Alaric. + +'But I do hope that you will not carry your plan any farther. When I +tell you, as I do with the utmost sincerity, that I feel certain that an +attempt to seat yourself in Parliament can only lead to the ruin of +your prospects as a Civil servant--prospects which are brighter now than +those of any other young man in the service--I cannot but think that you +must hesitate before you take any step which will, in my opinion, render +your resignation necessary.' + +'I shall be sorry to resign, Sir Gregory, as I have such true pleasure +in serving with you.' + +'And, I presume, a salary of L1,200 a year is not unacceptable?' said +Sir Gregory, with the very faintest of smiles. + +'By no means,' said Alaric; 'I am a poor man, depending altogether on my +own exertions for an income. I cannot afford to throw away a chance.' + +'Then take my word for it, you should give up all idea of Parliament,' +said Sir Gregory, who thought that he had carried his point. + +'But I call a seat in Parliament a chance,' said Alaric; 'the best +chance that a man, circumstanced as I am, can possibly have. I have the +offer of a seat, Sir Gregory, and I can't afford to throw it away.' + +'Then it is my duty to tell you, as the head of your office, that it +will be your duty to resign before you offer yourself as a candidate.' + +'That you mean is your present opinion, Sir Gregory?' + +'Yes, Mr. Tudor, that is my opinion--an opinion which I shall be forced +to express to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if you persist in this +infatuation.' + +Alaric looked very grave, but not a whit angry. 'I am sorry for it, Sir +Gregory, very sorry; I had hoped to have had your countenance.' + +'I would give it you, Mr. Tudor, if I could consistently with my duty as +a public servant; but as I cannot, I am sure you will not ask for it.' +How Fidus Neverbend would have admired the chief commissioner could he +have seen and heard him at this moment! 'But,' he continued, relaxing +for a while the muscles of his face, 'I hope, I do hope, you will think +better of this. What are you to gain? Come, Tudor, think of it that way. +What are you to gain? You, with a wife and young family coming up about +your heels, what are you to gain by going into Parliament? That is +what I ask you. What are you to gain?' It was delightful to see how +pleasantly practical Sir Gregory could become when he chose to dismount +from his high horse. + +'It is considered a high position in this country, that of a member of +Parliament,' said Alaric. 'A man in gaining that is generally supposed +to have gained something.' + +'True, quite true. It is a desirable position for a rich man, or a rich +man's eldest son, or even for a poor man, if by getting into Parliament +he can put himself in the way of improving his income. But, my dear +Tudor, you are in none of these positions. Abandon the idea, my dear +Tudor--pray abandon it. If not for your own sake, at any rate do so for +that of your wife and child.' + +Sir Gregory might as well have whistled. Not a word that he said had the +slightest effect on Alaric. How was it possible that his words should +have any effect, seeing that Alaric was convinced that Sir Gregory was +pleading for his own advantage, and not for that of his listener? Alaric +did listen. He received all that Sir Gregory said with the most profound +attention; schooled his face into a look of the most polite deference; +and then, with his most cruel tone, informed Sir Gregory that his mind +was quite made up, and that he did intend to submit himself to the +electors of Strathbogy. + +'And as to what you say about my seat at the board, Sir Gregory, you +may probably be right. Perhaps it will be as well that I should see the +Chancellor of the Exchequer myself.' + +'"Who will to Cupar maun to Cupar,"' said Sir Gregory; 'I can only +say, Mr. Tudor, that I am very sorry for you, and very sorry for your +wife--very sorry, very sorry indeed.' + +'And who will to Strathbogy maun to Strathbogy,' said Alaric, laughing; +'there is certainly an air of truth about the proverb as applied to +myself just at present. But the fact is, whether for good or for bad, I +maun to Strathbogy. That is my present destiny. The fact that I have +a wife and a child does make the step a most momentous one. But, Sir +Gregory, I should never forgive myself were I to throw away such an +opportunity.' + +'Then I have nothing more to say, Mr. Tudor.' + +'Of course I shall try to save my place,' continued Alaric. + +'I look upon that as quite impossible,' said Sir Gregory. + +'It can do me no harm at any rate to see the Chancellor of the +Exchequer. If he tells me that a seat in Parliament and a seat at +the board are incompatible, and that as one of the Civil Service +Commissioners I am not free to stand for the borough, I will in that +case, Sir Gregory, put my resignation in your hands before I publish my +address.' + +And so they parted, each determined to do all that in him lay to thwart +the wishes of the other. Alaric was not in the least influenced by +anything that Sir Gregory had said to him; he had made up his mind, and +was determined to be turned from it by no arguments that his colleague +could use; but nevertheless he could not but be meditative, as, walking +home across the Parks, he thought of his wife and child. It is true that +he had a second trade; he was a stock-jobber as well as a Civil Service +Commissioner; but he already perceived how very difficult it was to +realize an income to which he could trust from that second precarious +pursuit. He had also lived in a style considerably beyond that which his +official income would have enabled him to assume. He had on the whole, +he thought, done very well; but yet it would be a dreadful thing to have +to trust to so precarious a livelihood. He had realized nothing; he had +not yet been able to pay back the money which he had so fraudulently +taken, and to acquit himself of a debt which now lay daily heavier and +heavier on his soul. He felt that he must repay not only that but Undy's +share also, before he could again pass a happy day or a quiet night. +This plan of throwing up L1,200 a year would badly assist him in getting +rid of this incubus. + +But still that watchword of his goaded him on--'Excelsior!' he still +said to himself; 'Excelsior!' If he halted now, now when the ball was at +his foot, he might never have another chance. Very early in life before +a beard was on his chin, before he could style himself a man according +to the laws of his country, he had determined within himself that a seat +in Parliament was the only fitting ambition for an Englishman. That was +now within his reach. Would he be such a dastard as to draw back his +hand, and be deterred from taking it, by old women's tales of prudence, +and the self-interested lectures of Sir Gregory Hardlines? + +'Excelsior!' There was not much that could be so styled in that debt of +his to M. and Madame Jaquetanape. If he could only pay that off he felt +that he could brave the world without a fear. Come what come might he +would sell out and do so. The bridge committee was sitting, and his +shares were already worth more than he had paid for them. Mr. Blocks had +just given his evidence, and the commercial world was willing enough to +invest in the Limehouse bridge. He would sell out and put his conscience +at rest. + +But then to do so successfully, he must induce Undy to do so too; and +that he knew would not at present be an easy task. Who had ever been +successful in getting back money from Undy Scott? He had paid the last +half-year's interest with most commendable punctuality, and was not that +a great deal from Undy Scott? + +But what if this appropriation of another's money, what if this fraud +should be detected and exposed before he had succeeded in paying back +the L10,000. What if he should wake some morning and find himself in the +grip of some Newgate myrmidon? A terrible new law had just been passed +for the protection of trust property; a law in which he had not felt the +slightest interest when he had first seen in the daily newspapers some +tedious account of the passing of the various clauses, but which was now +terrible to his innermost thoughts. + +His walk across the Parks was not made happy by much self-triumph. In +spite of his commissionership and coming parliamentary honours, his +solitary moments were seldom very happy. It was at his club, when living +with Undy and Undy's peers, that he was best able to throw off his +cares and enjoy himself. But even then, high as he was mounted on his +fast-trotting horse, black Care would sit behind him, ever mounted on +the same steed. + +And bitterly did poor Gertrude feel the misery of these evenings which +her husband passed at his club; but she never reviled him or complained; +she never spoke of her sorrow even to her mother or sister. She did not +even blame him in her own heart. She knew that he had other business +than that of his office, higher hopes than those attached to his board; +and she taught herself to believe that his career required him to be +among public men. + +He had endeavoured to induce her to associate constantly with Mrs. Val, +so that her evenings might not be passed alone; but Gertrude, after +trying Mrs. Val for a time, had quietly repudiated the closeness of this +alliance. Mrs. Val had her ideas of 'Excelsior,' her ambition to rule, +and these ideas and this ambition did not at all suit Gertrude's temper. +Not even for her husband's sake could she bring herself to be patronized +by Mrs. Val. They were still very dear friends, of course; but they did +not live in each other's arms as Alaric had intended they should do. + +He returned home after his interview with Sir Gregory, and found his +wife in the drawing-room with her child. He usually went down from his +office to his club, and she was therefore the more ready to welcome him +for having broken through his habit on the present occasion. + +She left her infant sprawling on the floor, and came up to greet him +with a kiss. + +'Ger,'--said he, putting his arm round her and embracing her--'I have +come home to consult you on business;' and then he seated himself on the +sofa, taking her with him, and still in his arms. There was but little +doubt that she would consent to anything which he could propose to her +after such a fashion, in such a guise as this; that he knew full well. + +'Well, love,' said she, 'and what is the business about? You know that I +always think that to be best which you think to be best.' + +'Yes, Ger; but this is a very important matter;' and then he looked +grave, but managed at the same time to look happy and contented. 'This +is a matter of vital importance to you, and I will do nothing in it +without your consent.' + +'What is best for you must be best for me,' said Gertrude, kissing his +forehead. + +Then he explained to her what had passed between himself and Sir +Gregory, and what his own ideas were as regarded the borough of +Strathbogy. 'Sir Gregory,' said he, 'is determined that I shall not +remain at the board and sit in Parliament at the same time; but I do not +see why Sir Gregory is to have his own way in everything. If you are not +afraid of the risk, I will make up my mind to stand it at all events, +and to resign if the Minister makes it imperative. If, however, you +fear the result, I will let the matter drop, and tell the Scotts to find +another candidate. I am anxious to go into Parliament, I confess; but I +will never do so at the expense of your peace of mind.' + +The way in which he put upon her the whole weight of the decision was +not generous. Nor was the mode he adopted of inducing her to back his +own wishes. If there were risk to her--and in truth there was fearful +risk--it was his duty to guard her from the chance, not hers to say +whether such danger should be encountered or no. The nature of her +answer may be easily surmised. She was generous, though he was not. +She would never retard his advance, or be felt as a millstone round his +neck. She encouraged him with all her enthusiasm, and bade him throw +prudence to the winds. If he rose, must she not rise also? Whatever step +in life was good for him, must it not be good for her as well? And so +that matter was settled between them--pleasantly enough. + +He endured a fortnight of considerable excitement, during which he and +Sir Gregory did not smile at each other, and then he saw the Chancellor +of the Exchequer. That gentleman promised to speak to the Prime +Minister, feeling himself unable to answer the question put to him, +definitely out of his own head; and then another fortnight passed on. +At the end of that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer sent for Alaric, +and they had a second interview. + +'Well, Mr. Tudor,' said the great man, 'this is a matter of very +considerable importance, and one on which I am not even yet prepared to +give you a positive answer.' + +This was very good news for Alaric. Sir Gregory had spoken of the matter +as one on which there could be no possible doubt. He had asserted that +the British lion would no longer sleep peaceably in his lair, if such +a violence were put on the constitution as that meditated by the young +commissioner. It was quite clear that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, +and the Prime Minister also, looked at it in a very different light. +They doubted, and Alaric was well aware that their doubt was as good as +certainty to him. + +The truth was that the Prime Minister had said to the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, in a half-serious, half-jocular way, that he didn't see why +he should reject a vote when offered to him by a member of the Civil +Service. The man must of course do his work--and should it be found that +his office work and his seat in Parliament interfered with each other, +why, he must take the consequences. And if--or--or--made a row about it +in the House and complained, why in that case also Mr. Tudor must take +the consequences. And then, enough having been said on that matter, the +conversation dropped. + +'I am not prepared to give a positive answer,' said the Chancellor of +the Exchequer, who of course did not choose to commit himself. + +Alaric assured the great man that he was not so unreasonable as to +expect a positive answer. Positive answers, as he well knew, were not +often forthcoming among official men; official men, as he had already +learnt, prefer to do their business by answers which are not positive. +He himself had become adverse to positive answers since he had become +a commissioner, and was quite prepared to dispense with them in the +parliamentary career which he hoped that he was now about to commence. +This much, however, was quite clear, that he might offer himself as a +candidate to the electors of Strathbogy without resigning; and that Sir +Gregory's hostile remonstrance on the subject, should he choose to make +one, would not be received as absolute law by the greater powers. + +Accordingly as Alaric was elated, Sir Gregory was depressed. He had +risen high, but now this young tyro whom he had fostered was about to +climb above his head. O the ingratitude of men! + +Alaric, however, showed no triumph. He was more submissive, more +gracious than ever to his chief. It was only to himself that he muttered +'Excelsior! + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +WESTMINSTER HALL + + +The parliamentary committee pursued their animated inquiries respecting +the Limehouse bridge all through the sultry month of July. How Mr. Vigil +must have hated Mr. Nogo, and the M'Carthy Desmond! how sick he must +have been of that eternal witness who, with imperturbable effrontery, +answered the 2,250 questions put to him without admitting anything! To +Mr. Vigil it was all mere nonsense, sheer waste of time. Had he been +condemned to sit for eight days in close contiguity to the clappers of +a small mill, he would have learnt as much as he did from the witnesses +before the committee. Nevertheless he went through it and did not lose +his temper. He smiled sweetly on Mr. Nogo every morning, and greeted +the titled Irishman with his easy familiar nod, as though the continued +sitting of this very committee was of all things to him the most +desirable. Such is Mr. Vigil's peculiar tact, such his special talent; +these are the gifts--gifts by no means ordinary--which have made him +Right Honourable, and recommended him to the confidence of successive +badgers. + +But though the committee was uninteresting to Mr. Vigil, it was not +so to the speculative inhabitants of Limehouse, or to the credulous +shopkeepers of Rotherhithe. On the evening of the day on which Mr. +Blocks was examined, the shares went up 20 per cent; and when his +evidence was published _in extenso_ the next Saturday morning by the +_Capel Court Share-buyer_, a periodical which served for Bible and +Prayer-book, as well as a Compendium of the Whole Duty of Man, to Undy +Scott and his friends, a further rise in the price of this now valuable +property was the immediate consequence. + +Now, then, was the time for Alaric to sell and get out of his +difficulties if ever he could do so. Shares which he bought for 30s. +were now worth nearly L2 10s. He was strongly of opinion that they would +fall again, and that the final result of the committee would leave +them of a less value than their original purchase-money, and probably +altogether valueless. He could not, however, act in the matter without +consulting Undy, so closely linked were they in the speculation; and +even at the present price his own shares would not enable him to pay +back the full amount of what he had taken. + +The joint property of the two was, however, at its present market price, +worth L12,000--L10,000 would make him a free man. He was perfectly +willing to let Undy have the full use of the difference in amount; nay, +he was ready enough to give it to him altogether, if by so doing he +could place the whole of his ward's money once more in safety. With the +power of offering such a douceur to his friend's rapacity, he flattered +himself that he might have a chance of being successful. He was thus +prepared to discuss the matter with his partner. + +It so happened that at the same moment Undy was desirous of discussing +the same subject, their joint interest, namely, in the Limehouse bridge; +there was no difficulty therefore in their coming together. They met +at the door of the committee-room when Mr. Nogo had just put his 999th +question to the adverse witness; and as the summons to prayers prevented +the 1,000th being proceeded with at that moment, Undy and Alaric +sauntered back along the passages, and then walking up and down the +immense space of Westminster Hall, said each to the other what he had to +say on the matter mooted between them. + +Undy was in great glee, and seemed to look on his fortune as already +made. They had at first confined their remarks to the special evidence +of the witness who had last been in the chair; and Undy, with the +volubility which was common to him when he was in high spirits, had +been denouncing him as an ass who was injuring his own cause by his over +obstinacy. + +'Nothing that he can say,' said Undy, 'will tell upon the share-market. +The stock is rising from hour to hour; and Piles himself told me that +he knew from sure intelligence that the Chancellor of the Exchequer +is prepared to give way, whatever Vigil may say to the contrary. Their +firm, Piles says, is buying every share they can lay their hands on.' + +'Then in God's name let them buy ours,' said Alaric. + +'Buy ours!' said Undy. 'You don't mean to tell me that you wish to sell +now? You don't mean to say that you want to back out, now that the game +is all going our own way?' + +'Indeed I do, and I intend to do so; just listen to me, Undy----' + +'I tell you fairly, Tudor, I will not sell a share; what you may choose +to do with your own I cannot say. But if you will be guided by me you +will keep every share you have got. Instead of selling we should both +add to our stock. I at any rate am resolved to do so.' + +'Listen to me, Undy,' said Alaric. + +'The truth is,' said Undy--who at the present moment preferred talking +to listening--'the truth is, you do not understand buying and selling +shares. We should both be ruined very quickly were I to allow myself to +be led by you; you are too timid, too much afraid of risking your money; +your speculative pluck hardly rises higher than the Three per cents, and +never soars above a first-class mortgage on land.' + +'I could be as sanguine as you are, and as bold,' said Alaric, 'were I +venturing with my own money.' + +'In the name of goodness get that bugbear out of your head,' said Undy. +'Whatever good it might have done you to think of that some time ago, +it can do you no good now.' There was a bitter truth in this which made +Alaric's heart sink low within his breast. 'Wherever the money came +from, whose property it may have been or be, it has been used; and now +your only safety is in making the best use of it. A little daring, a +little audacity--it is that which ruins men. When you sit down to play +brag, you must brag it out, or lose your money.' + +'But, my dear fellow, there is no question here of losing money. If we +sell now we shall realize about L2,000.' + +'And will that, or the half of that, satisfy you? Is that your idea of +a good thing? Will that be sufficient to pay for the dozen of bad things +which a fellow is always putting his foot into? It won't satisfy me. I +can tell you that, at any rate.' + +Alaric felt very desirous of keeping Undy in a good humour. He wished, +if possible, to persuade him rather than to drive him; to coax him into +repaying this money, and not absolutely to demand the repayment. 'Come,' +said he, 'what do you call a good thing yourself?' + +'I call cent per cent a good thing, and I'll not sell a share till they +come up to that.' + +'They'll never do that, Undy.' + +'That's your opinion. I think differently. And I'm sure you will own I +have had more experience of the share-market than you have. When I see +such men as Blocks and Piles buying fast, I know very well which way the +wind blows. A man may be fishing a long time, Tudor, in these waters, +before he gets such a haul as this; but he must be a great fool to let +go his net when he does get it.' + +They both then remained silent for a time, for each was doubtful how +best to put forward the view which he himself wished to urge. Their +projects were diametrically different, and yet neither could carry his +own without the assistance of the other. + +'I tell you what I propose,' said Undy. + +'Wait a moment, Undy,' said Alaric; 'listen to me for one moment. I can +hear nothing till you do so, and then I will hear anything.' + +'Well, what is it?' + +We have each of us put something near to L5,000 into this venture.' + +'I have put more,' said Scott. + +'Very well. But we have each of us withdrawn a sum equal to that I have +named from my ward's fortune for this purpose.' + +'I deny that,' said Undy. 'I have taken nothing from your ward's +fortune. I have had no power to do so. You have done as you pleased with +that fortune. But I am ready to admit that I have borrowed L5,000--not +from your ward, but from you.' + +Alaric was nearly beside himself; but he still felt that he should have +no chance of carrying his point if he lost his temper. + +'That is ungenerous of you, Scott, to say the least of it; but we'll let +that pass. To enable me to lend you the L5,000, and to enable me to join +you in this speculation, L10,000 has been withdrawn from Clementina's +fortune.' + +'I know nothing about that,' said Scott. + +'Know nothing about it!' said Alaric, looking at him with withering +scorn. But Undy was not made of withering material, and did not care a +straw for his friend's scorn. + +'Nothing whatever,' said he. + +'Well, so be it,' said Alaric; 'but the fact is, the money has been +withdrawn.' + +'I don't doubt that in the least,' said Undy. 'I am not now going to +argue whether the fault has been most mine or yours,' continued Alaric. + +'Well, that is kind of you,' said Undy, 'considering that you are the +girl's trustee, and that I have no more to do with it than that fellow +in the wig there.' + +'I wish at any rate you would let me explain myself,' said Alaric, who +felt that his patience was fast going, and who could hardly resist the +temptation of seizing his companion by the throat, and punishing him on +the spot for his iniquity. + +'I don't prevent you, my dear fellow--only remember this: I will not +permit you to assert, without contradicting you, that I am responsible +for Clem's fortune. Now, go on, and explain away as hard as you like.' + +Alaric, under these circumstances, found it not very easy to put what +he had to say into any words that his companion would admit. He fully +intended at some future day to thrust Scott's innocence down his throat, +and tell him that he was not only a thief, but a mean, lying, beggarly +thief. But the present was not the time. Too much depended on his +inducing Undy to act with him. + +'Ten thousand pounds has at any rate been taken.' + +'That I won't deny.' + +'And half that sum has been lent to you.' + +'I acknowledge a debt of L5,000.' + +'It is imperative that L10,000 should at once be repaid.' + +'I have no objection in life.' + +'I can sell my shares in the Limehouse bridge,' continued Alaric, 'for +L6,000, and I am prepared to do so.' + +'The more fool you,' said Undy,' if you do it; especially as L6,000 +won't pay L10,000, and as the same property, if overheld another month +or two, in all probability will do so.' + +'I am ready to sacrifice that and more than that,' said Alaric. 'If you +will sell out L4,000, and let me at once have that amount, so as to make +up the full sum I owe, I will make you a free present of the remainder +of the debt. Come, Undy, you cannot but call that a good thing. You will +have pocketed two thousand pounds, according to the present market value +of the shares, and that without the slightest risk.' + +Undy for a while seemed staggered by the offer. Whether it was Alaric's +extreme simplicity in making it, or his own good luck in receiving +it, or whether by any possible chance some all but dormant remnant of +feeling within his heart was touched, we will not pretend to say. But +for a while he walked on silent, as though wavering in his resolution, +and looking as if he wished to be somewhat more civil, somewhat less of +the bully, than he had been. + +There was no one else to whom Alaric could dare to open his heart on +this subject of his ward's fortune; there was none other but this ally +of his to whom he could confide, whom he could consult. Unpromising, +therefore, though Undy was as a confederate, Alaric, when he thought he +saw this change in his manner, poured forth at once the full tide of his +feelings. + +'Undy,' said he, 'pray bear with me a while. The truth is, I cannot +endure this misery any longer. I do not now want to blame anyone but +myself. The thing has been done, and it is useless now to talk of blame. +The thing has been done, and all that now remains for me is to undo it; +to put this girl's money back again, and get this horrid weight from off +my breast.' + +'Upon my word, my dear fellow, I did not think that you took it in such +a light as that,' said Undy. + +'I am miserable about it,' said Alaric. 'It keeps me awake all night, +and destroys all my energy during the day.' + +'Oh, that's all bile,' said Undy. 'You should give up fish for a few +days, and take a blue pill at night.' + +'Scott, this money must be paid back at once, or I shall lose my senses. +Fortune has so far favoured me as to enable me to put my hand at once on +the larger portion of it. You must let me have the remainder. In God's +name say that you will do so.' + +Undy Scott unfortunately had not the power to do as he was asked. +Whether he would have done so, had he had the power, may be doubtful. He +was somewhat gravelled for an answer to Alaric's earnest supplication, +and therefore made none till the request was repeated. + +'In God's name let me have this money,' repeated Alaric. 'You will then +have made two thousand pounds by the transaction.' + +'My dear Tudor,' said he, 'your stomach is out of order, I can see it as +well as possible from the way you talk.' + +Here was an answer for a man to get to the most earnest appeal which he +could make! Here was comfort for a wretch suffering from fear, remorse, +and shame, as Alaric was suffering. He had spoken of his feelings and +his heart, but these were regions quite out of Undy Scott's cognizance. +'Take a blue pill,' said he, 'and you'll be as right as a trivet in a +couple of days.' + +What was Alaric to say? What could he say to a man who at such a crisis +could talk to him of blue pills? For a while he said nothing; but the +form of his face changed, a darkness came over his brow which Scott +had never before seen there, the colour flew from his face, his eyes +sparkled, and a strange appearance of resolute defiance showed itself +round his mouth. Scott began to perceive that his medical advice would +not be taken in good part. + +'Scott,' said he, stopping short in his walk and taking hold of the +collar of his companion's coat, not loosely by the button, but with +a firm grip which Undy felt that it would be difficult to shake +off--'Scott, you will find that I am not to be trifled with. You have +made a villain of me. I can see no way to escape from my ruin without +your aid; but by the living God, if I fall, you shall fall with me. Tell +me now; will you let me have the sum I demand? If you do not, I will go +to your brother's wife and tell her what has become of her daughter's +money.' + +'You may go to the devil's wife if you like it,' said Undy, 'and tell +her whatever you please.' + +'You refuse, then?' said Alaric, still keeping hold of Undy's coat. + +'Come, take your hand off,' said Undy. 'You will make me think your head +is wrong as well as your stomach, if you go on like this. Take your hand +off and listen to me. I will then explain to you why I cannot do what +you would have me. Take your hand away, I say; do you not see that +people are looking at us.' + +They were now standing at the upper end of the hall--close under the +steps which lead to the Houses of Parliament; and, as Undy said, the +place was too public for a display of physical resentment. Alaric took +his hand away. 'Well,' said he, 'now tell me what is to hinder you from +letting me have the money you owe me?' + +'Only this,' said Undy, 'that every share I have in the concern is made +over by way of security to old M'Cleury, and he now holds them. Till I +have redeemed them, I have no power of selling.' + +Alaric, when he heard these words, could hardly prevent himself from +falling in the middle of the hall. All his hopes were then over; he had +no chance of shaking this intolerable burden from his shoulders; he +had taken the woman's money, this money which had been entrusted to his +honour and safe-keeping, and thrown it into a bottomless gulf. + +'And now listen to me,' said Undy, looking at his watch. 'I must be in +the House in ten or fifteen minutes, for this bill about married women +is on, and I am interested in it: listen to me now for five minutes. All +this that you have been saying is sheer nonsense.' + +'I think you'll find that it is not all nonsense,' said Alaric. + +'Oh, I am not in the least afraid of your doing anything rash. You'll be +cautious enough I know when you come to be cool; especially if you +take a little physic. What I want to say is this--Clem's money is +safe enough. I tell you these bridge shares will go on rising till the +beginning of next session. Instead of selling, what we should do is to +buy up six or seven thousand pounds more.' + +'What, with Clementina's money?' + +'It's as well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Besides, your doing so +is your only safety. My brother Val insists upon having 250 shares.' + +'Your brother Val!' said Alaric. + +'Yes, Val; and why shouldn't he? I would give them to him if I could, +but I can't. M'Cleury, as I tell you, has every share of mine in his +possession.' + +'Your brother Val wants 250 shares! And does he expect me to give them +to him?' + +'Well--I rather think he does. That is, not to give them, of course; you +don't suppose he wants you to make him a present of money. But he wants +you to accommodate him with the price of them. You can either do that, +or let him have so many of your own; it will be as broad as it is long; +and he'll give you his note of hand for the amount.' + +Now it was well known among the acquaintance of the Scott family, that +the note of hand of the Honourable Captain Val was not worth the paper +on which it was written. + +Alaric was so astonished at this monstrous request, coming as it did +after such a conversation, that he did not well know how to take it. + +Was Undy mad, or was he in joke? What man in his senses would think of +lending six or seven hundred pounds to Val Scott! 'I suppose you are in +jest,' said he, somewhat bitterly. + +'I never was more in earnest in my life,' said Undy. 'I'll just explain +how the matter is; and as you are sharp enough, you'll see at once that +you had better oblige him. Val, you know, is always hard up; he can't +touch a shilling of that woman's money, and just at present he has none +of his own. So he came to me this morning to raise the wind.' + +'And you are kind enough to pass him on to me.' + +'Listen a moment. I did not do anything of the kind. I never lend money +to Val. It's a principle with me not to do so, and he knows it.' + +'Then just tell him that my principles in this respect are identical +with your own.' + +'That's all very well; and you may tell him so yourself, if you like +it; but hear first of all what his arguments are. Of course I told him I +could do nothing for him. 'But,' said he, 'you can get Tudor to do it.' +I told him, of course, that I could do nothing of the kind. 'Oh!' said +Val, 'I know the game you are both playing. I know all about Clem's +money.' Val, you know, never says much. He was playing pool at the +time, at the club; but he came back after his stroke, and whispered to +me--'You and Tudor must let me have 250 of those shares, and then it'll +be all right.' Now Val, you know, is a most determined fellow. + +Alaric, when he heard this, looked up into his companion's face to see +whether he was talking to the Evil One himself. Oh, what a net of ruin +was closing round him!--how inextricable were the toils into which he +had fallen! + +'After all,' continued Undy,' what he asks is not much, and I really +think you should do it for him. He is quite willing to give you his +assistance at Strathbogy, and he is entitled to some accommodation.' + +'Some accommodation!' repeated Alaric, almost lost in the consideration +of his own misery. + +'Yes; I really think he is. And, Tudor, you may be sure of this, you +know; you will be quite safe with him. Val is the very soul of honour. +Do this for him, and you'll hear no more about it. You may be quite sure +he'll ask for nothing further, and that he'll never say a word to annoy +you. He's devilish honourable is Val; no man can be more so; though, +perhaps, you wouldn't think it.' + +'Devilish honourable!' said Alaric. 'Only he would like to have a +bribe.' + +'A bribe!' said Scott. 'Come, my dear fellow, don't you make an ass of +yourself. Val is like the rest of us; when money is going, he likes to +have a share of it. If you come to that, every man who is paid either +for talking or for not talking is bribed.' + +'I don't know that I ever heard of a much clearer case of a bribe than +this which you now demand for your brother.' + +'Bribe or no bribe,' said Undy, looking at his watch, 'I strongly advise +you to do for him what he asks; it will be better for all of us. And let +me give you another piece of advice: never use hard words among friends. +Do you remember the Mary Janes which Manylodes brought for you in his +pocket to the hotel at Tavistock?' Here Alaric turned as pale as a +spectre. 'Don't talk of bribes, my dear fellow. We are all of us giving +and taking bribes from our cradles to our graves; but men of the world +generally call them by some prettier names. Now, if you are not desirous +to throw your cards up altogether, get these shares for Val, and let him +or me have them to-morrow morning.' And so saying Undy disappeared into +the House, through the side door out of the hall, which is appropriated +to the use of honourable members. + +And then Alaric was left alone. He had never hitherto realized the true +facts of the position in which he had placed himself; but now he did so. +He was in the hands of these men, these miscreants, these devils; he was +completely at their mercy, and he already felt that they were as devoid +of mercy as they were of justice. A cold sweat broke out all over him, +and he continued walking up and down the hall, ignorant as to where he +was and what he was doing, almost thoughtless, stunned, as it were, by +his misery and the conviction that he was a ruined man. He had remained +there an hour after Undy had left him, before he roused himself +sufficiently to leave the hall and think of returning home. It was then +seven o'clock, and he remembered that he had asked his cousin to dine +with him. He got into a cab, therefore, and desired to be driven home. + +What was he to do? On one point he instantly made up his mind. He would +not give one shilling to Captain Val; he would not advance another +shilling to Undy; and he would at once sell out his own shares, and make +such immediate restitution as might now be in his power. The mention +of Manylodes and the mining shares had come home to him with frightful +reality, and nearly stunned him. What right, indeed, had he to talk of +bribes with scorn--he who so early in his own life had allowed himself +to be bought? How could he condemn the itching palm of such a one as Val +Scott--he who had been so ready to open his own when he had been tempted +by no want, by no poverty? + +He would give nothing to Captain Val to bribe him to silence. He knew +that if he did so, he would be a slave for ever. The appetite of such a +shark as that, when once he has tasted blood, is unappeasable. There is +nothing so ruinous as buying the silence of a rogue who has a secret. + +What you buy you never possess; and the price that is once paid must +be repaid again and again, as often as the rogue may demand it. Any +alternative must be better than this. + +And yet what other alternative was there? He did not doubt that Val, +when disappointed of his prey, would reveal whatever he might know to +his wife, or to his stepson. Then there would be nothing for Alaric but +confession and ruin. And how could he believe what Undy Scott had told +him? Who else could have given information against him but Undy himself? +Who else could have put up so heavily stupid a man as Captain Scott to +make such a demand? Was it not clear that his own colleague, his own +partner, his own intimate associate, Undy Scott himself, was positively +working out his ruin? Where were now his high hopes, where now his seat +in Parliament, his authority at the board, his proud name, his soaring +ambition, his constant watchword? 'Excelsior'--ah me--no! no longer +'Excelsior'; but he thought of the cells of Newgate, of convict prisons, +and then of his young wife and of his baby. + +He made an effort to assume his ordinary demeanour, and partially +succeeded. He went at once up to his drawing-room, and there he found +Charley and Gertrude waiting dinner for him; luckily he had no other +guests. + +'Are you ill, Alaric?' said Gertrude, directly she saw him. + +'Ill! No,' said he; 'only fagged, dearest; fagged and worried, and +badgered and bored; but, thank God, not ill;' and he endeavoured to put +on his usual face, and speak in his usual tone. 'I have kept you waiting +most unmercifully for your dinner, Charley; but then I know you navvies +always lunch on mutton chops.' + +'Oh, I am not particularly in a hurry,' said Charley; 'but I deny the +lunch. This has been a bad season for mutton chops in the neighbourhood +of Somerset House; somehow they have not grown this year.' + +Alaric ran up to prepare for dinner, and his wife followed him. + +'Oh! Alaric,' said she, 'you are so pale: what is the matter? Do tell +me,' and she put her arm through his, took hold of his hand, and looked +up into his face. + +'The matter! Nothing is the matter--a man can't always be grinning;' +and he gently shook her off, and walked through their bedroom to his +own dressing-room. Having entered it he shut the door, and then, sitting +down, bowed his head upon a small table and buried it in his hands. All +the world seemed to go round and round with him; he was giddy, and he +felt that he could not stand. + +Gertrude paused a moment in the bedroom to consider, and then followed +him. 'What is it you want?' said he, as soon as he heard the handle +turn, 'do leave me alone for one moment. I am fagged with the heat, and +I want one minute's rest.' + +'Oh, Alaric, I see you are ill,' said she. 'For God's sake do not send +me from you,' and coming into the room she knelt down beside his chair. +'I know you are suffering, Alaric; do let me do something for you.' + +He longed to tell her everything. He panted to share his sorrows with +one other bosom; to have one near him to whom he could speak openly of +everything, to have one counsellor in his trouble. In that moment he all +but resolved to disclose everything to her, but at last he found that he +could not do it. Charley was there waiting for his dinner; and were he +now to tell his secret to his wife, neither of them, neither he nor she, +would be able to act the host or hostess. If done at all, it could not +at any rate be done at the present moment. + +'I am better now,' said he, giving a long and deep sigh; and then he +threw his arms round his wife and passionately embraced her. 'My own +angel, my best, best love, how much too good or much too noble you are +for such a husband as I am!' + +'I wish I could be good enough for you,' she replied, as she began to +arrange his things for dressing. 'You are so tired, dearest; wash your +hands and come down--don't trouble yourself to dress this evening; +unless, indeed, you are going out again.' + +'Gertrude,' said he, 'if there be a soul on earth that has not in it a +spark of what is good or generous, it is the soul of Undy Scott;' and so +saying he began the operations of his toilet. + +Now Gertrude had never liked Undy Scott; she had attributed to him +whatever faults her husband might have as a husband; and at the present +moment she was not inclined to fight for any of the Scott family. + +'He is a very worldly man, I think,' said she. + +'Worldly!--no--but hellish,' said Alaric; 'hellish, and damnable, and +fiendish.' + +'Oh, Alaric, what has he done?' + +'Never mind; I cannot tell you; he has done nothing. It is not that he +has done anything, or can do anything to me--but his heart--but never +mind--I wish--I wish I had never seen him.' + +'Alaric, if it be about money tell me the worst, and I'll bear it +without a murmur. As long as you are well I care for nothing else--have +you given up your place?' + +'No, dearest, no; I can keep my place. It is nothing about that. I have +lost no money; I have rather made money. It is the ingratitude of +that man which almost kills me. But come, dearest, we will go down to +Charley. And Gertrude, mind this, be quite civil to Mrs. Val at present. +We will break from the whole set before long; but in the meantime I +would have you be very civil to Mrs. Val.' + +And so they went down to dinner, and Alaric, after taking a glass of +wine, played his part almost as though he had no weight upon his soul. +After dinner he drank freely, and as he drank his courage rose. 'Why +should I tell her?' he said to himself as he went to bed. 'The chances +are that all will yet go well.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +MRS. VAL'S NEW CARRIAGE + + +On the next morning Alaric went to his office without speaking further +as to the trouble on his mind, and endeavoured to comfort himself as +best he might as he walked down to his office. Then he had also to +decide whether it would better suit his purpose to sell out at once and +pay up every shilling that he could, or whether he would hold on, and +hope that Undy's predictions would be fulfilled, and that the bridge +shares would go on rising till they would sell for all that was required +of him. + +Unfortunate man! what would he have given now to change his position for +Norman's single clerkship, or even for Charley's comparative poverty! + +Gertrude stayed within all day; but not all day in solitude. About +four in the afternoon the Hon. Mrs. Val called, and with her came her +daughter Clem, now Madame Jaquetanape, and the two Misses Neverbend. M. +Jaquetanape had since his marriage made himself very agreeable to his +honourable mother-in-law, so much so that he now occupied the place in +her good graces which Undy had formerly filled, and which after Undy's +reign had fallen to Alaric's lot. Mrs. Val liked to have about her +some confidential gentleman; and as she never thought of placing her +confidence in her husband, she was prone to select first one man and +then another as her taste and interest dictated. Immediately after their +marriage, Victoire and Clem had consented to join housekeeping with +their parent. Nothing could be more pleasant than this; their income was +unembarrassed, and Mrs. Val, for the first time in her life, was able +to set up her carriage. Among the effects arising from this cause, the +female Neverbends, who had lately been worshippers of Gertrude, veered +round in their idolatry, and paid their vows before Mrs. Val's new +yellow panels. In this new carriage now came the four ladies to pay +a morning visit to Mrs. Tudor. It was wonderful to see into how small +dimensions the Misses Neverbend had contrived to pack, not themselves, +but their crinoline. + +As has before been hinted, Gertrude did not love Mrs. Val; nor did she +love Clem the danseuse; nor did she specially love the Misses Neverbend. +They were all of a class essentially different from that in which she +had been brought up; and, moreover, Mrs. Val was not content to +allow Gertrude into her set without ruling over her, or at any rate +patronizing her. Gertrude had borne with them all for her husband's +sake; and was contented to do so yet for a while longer, but she thought +in her heart that she would be able to draw some consolation from her +husband's misfortune if it should be the means of freeing her from Mrs. +Val. + +'Oh, my dear,' said Mrs. Val, throwing herself down into a sofa as +though she were exhausted--'what a dreadful journey it is to you up +here! How those poor horses will stand it this weather I don't know, but +it nearly kills me; it does indeed.' The Tudors, as has been said, lived +in one of the quiet streets of Westbournia, not exactly looking into +Hyde Park, but very near to it; Mrs. Val, on the other hand, lived +in Ebury Street, Pimlico; her house was much inferior to that of the +Tudors; it was small, ill built, and afflicted with all the evils which +bad drainage and bad ventilation can produce; but then it was reckoned +to be within the precincts of Belgravia, and was only five minutes' +walk from Buckingham Palace. Mrs. Val, therefore, had fair ground for +twitting her dear friend with living so far away from the limits of +fashion. 'You really must come down somewhat nearer to the world; indeed +you must, my dear,' said the Hon. Mrs. Val. + +'We are thinking of moving; but then we are talking of going to St. +John's Wood, or Islington,' said Gertrude, wickedly. + +'Islington!' said the Honourable Mrs. Val, nearly fainting. + +'Is not Islington and St. Giles' the same place?' asked the innocent +Clem, with some malice, however, to counterbalance her innocence. + +'O no!' said Lactimel. 'St Giles' is where the poor wretched starving +Irish dwell. Their utter misery in the middle of this rich metropolis is +a crying disgrace to the Prime Minister.' Poor Badger, how much he has +to bear! 'Only think,' continued Lactimel, with a soft pathetic drawl, +'they have none to feed them, none to clothe them, none to do for them!' + +'It is a great question,' said Ugolina, 'whether promiscuous charity is +a blessing or a curse. It is probably the greatest question of the age. +I myself am inclined to think--' + +'But, ma,' said Madame Jaquetanape, 'Mrs. Tudor doesn't really mean that +she is going to live at St. Giles', does she?' + +'I said Islington,' said Gertrude. 'We may go to St. Giles' next, +perhaps.' Had she known all, how dreadful would such jokes have been to +her! + +Mrs. Val saw that she was being quizzed, and, not liking it, changed the +conversation. 'Ugolina,' said she, 'might I trouble you to look out of +the front window? I hope those stupid men of mine are not letting the +horses stand still. They were so warm coming here, that they will be +sure to catch cold.' The stupid men, however, were round the corner at +the public-house, and Ugolina could only report that as she did not see +them she supposed the horses were walking about. + +'And so,' said Mrs. Val, 'Mr. Tudor is thinking of resigning his place +at the Civil Service Board, and standing for that borough of Lord +Gaberlunzie's, in Aberdeenshire?' + +'I really cannot say,' said Gertrude; 'but I believe he has some idea +of going into Parliament. I rather believe he will continue to hold his +place.' + +'Oh, that I know to be impossible! I was told that by a gentleman who +has been much longer in the service than Mr. Tudor, and who understands +all its bearings.' She here alluded to Fidus Neverbend. + +'I cannot say,' said Gertrude. 'I do not think Mr. Tudor has quite made +up his mind yet.' + +'Well, my dear, I'll tell you fairly what I think about it. You know the +regard I have for you and Mr. Tudor. He, too, is Clementina's trustee; +that is to say, her fortune is partly consigned to his care; so I cannot +but have a very great interest about him, and be very anxious that he +should do well. Now, my dear, I'll tell you fairly what I think, and +what all the world is saying. He ought not to think of Parliament. He +ought not, indeed, my dear. I speak for your sake, and your child's. He +is not a man of fortune, and he ought not to think of Parliament. He has +a very fine situation, and he really should be contented.' + +This was intolerable to Gertrude. She felt that she must put Mrs. Val +down, and yet she hardly knew how to do it without being absolutely +rude; whereas her husband had specially begged her to be civil to this +woman at present. 'Oh,' said she, with a slight smile, 'Mr. Tudor will +be able to take care of himself; you will find, I hope, that there is no +cause for uneasiness.' + +'Well, I hope not, I am sure I hope not,' said Mrs. Val, looking very +grave. 'But I tell you fairly that the confidence which we all have in +your husband will be much shaken if he does anything rash. He should +think of this, you know. He has no private fortune to back him; we must +remember that.' + +Gertrude became very red in the face; but she would not trust herself to +answer Mrs. Val at the spur of the moment. + +'It makes such a difference, when one has got no private fortune,' said +Madame Jaquetanape, the heiress. 'Does it not, Lactimel?' + +'Oh, indeed it does,' said Lactimel. 'I wish every one had a private +fortune; it would be so nice, wouldn't it?' + +'There would be very little poetry in the world if you were to banish +poverty,' said Ugolina. 'Poverty may be called the parent of poetry. +Look at Milton, how poor he was; and Homer, he begged his bread.' + +'But Lord Byron was not a beggar,' said Clem, contemptuously. + +'I do hope Mr. Tudor will think of what he is doing,' continued Mrs. +Val. 'It is certainly most good-natured and most disinterested of +my dear father-in-law, Lord Gaberlunzie, to place his borough at Mr. +Tudor's disposal. It is just like him, dear good old nobleman. But, my +dear, it will be a thousand pities if Mr. Tudor should be led on by his +lordship's kindness to bring about his own ruin.' + +Mrs. Val had once in her life seen his good-natured lordship. Soon after +her marriage she had insisted on Captain Val taking her down to the +family mansion. She stayed there one night, and then left it, and since +that had shown no further desire to visit Cauldkail Castle. She did not +the less delight to talk about her dear good father-in-law, the lord. +Why should she give his son Val board and lodging, but that she might be +enabled to do so? She was not the woman to buy an article, and not make +of it all the use of which it might be capable. + +'Pray do not concern yourself,' said Gertrude. 'I can assure you Mr. +Tudor will manage very well for himself--but should any misfortune +happen to him he will not, you may be certain, attribute it to Lord +Gaberlunzie.' + +'I am told that Sir Gregory is most opposed to it,' continued Mrs. Val. +'I heard that from Mr. Neverbend, who is altogether in Sir Gregory's +confidence--did not you, my dears?' and she turned round to the sisters +of Fidus for confirmation. + +'I heard my brother say that as Mr. Tudor's office is not parliamentary +but permanent, and as he has to attend from ten till four----' + +'Alaric has not to attend from ten till four,' said Gertrude, who +could not endure the idea that her husband should be ranked with common +clerks, like Fidus Neverbend. + +'Oh, I didn't know,' said Lactimel, meekly. 'Perhaps Fidus only meant +that as it is one of those offices where the people have something to +do, the commissioners couldn't be in their offices and in Parliament at +the same time.' + +'I did understand,' said Ugolina, 'that Sir Gregory Hardlines had put +his veto upon it; but I must confess that it is a subject which I have +not sufficiently studied to enable me----' + +'It's L1,200 a year, isn't it?' asked the bride. + +'Twelve hundred pounds a year,' said her mother--'a very serious +consideration when there is no private fortune to back it, on either +side. Now if it were Victoire----' + +'He couldn't sit in Parliament, ma, because he's an alien--only for that +I shouldn't think of his doing anything else.' + +'Perhaps that may be altered before long,' said Lactimel, graciously. + +'If Jews are to be admitted,' said Ugolina, 'who certainly belong to +an alien nation; a nation expressly set apart and separated from all +people--a peculiar nation distinct from all others, I for one cannot +discern----' + +What Ugolina could or could not discern about the Jews was communicated +perhaps to Madame Jaquetanape or to Lactimel, but not to Gertrude or to +Mrs. Val; for the latter, taking Gertrude apart into a corner as it were +of the sofa, began confidentially to repeat to her her fears about her +husband. + +'I see, my dear,' said she, 'that you don't like my speaking about it.' + +'Upon my word,' said Gertrude, 'I am very indifferent about it. But +would it not be better if you said what you have to say to my husband?' + +'I intend to do so. I intend to do that also. But I know that a wife +ought to have influence over her husband, and I believe that you have +influence over yours.' + +'Not the least,' said Gertrude, who was determined to contradict Mrs. +Val in everything. + +'I am sorry to hear it,' said Mrs. Val, who among all her excellent +acquirements, did not possess that specially excellent one of +understanding repartee. 'I am very sorry to hear it, and I shall +certainly speak to him the more seriously on that account. I think I +have some influence over him; at any rate I ought to have.' + +'I dare say you have,' said Gertrude; 'Alaric always says that no +experience is worth anything that is not obtained by years.' + +Mrs. Val at least understood this, and continued her lecture with some +additional severity. 'Well, my dear, I am glad he has so much wisdom. +But what I was going to say is this: you know how much we have at stake +with Mr. Tudor--what a very large sum of Clementina's money lies in his +hands. Now I really should not have consented to the arrangement had I +thought it possible that Mr. Tudor would have given up his income +with the idea of going into Parliament. It wouldn't have been right or +prudent of me to do so. I have the greatest opinion of your husband's +talents and judgement, or I should not of course have entrusted him +with the management of Clementina's fortune; but I really shall think it +right to make some change if this project of his goes on.' + +'Why, what is it you suspect?' said Gertrude. 'Do you think that Mr. +Tudor intends to use your daughter's income if he loses a portion of his +own? I never heard such a thing in my life.' + +'Hush! my dear--gently--I would not for worlds let Clementina hear a +word of this; it might disturb her young happiness. She is so charmed +with her husband; her married life is so fortunate; Victoire is +so--so--so everything that we all wish, that I would not for the world +breathe in her hearing a shadow of a suspicion.' + +'Good gracious! Mrs. Scott, what do you mean? Suspicion!--what +suspicion? Do you suspect my husband of robbing you?' Oh, Gertrude; poor +Gertrude! she was doomed to know it all before long. + +'Oh dear, no,' said Mrs. Val; 'nothing of the kind, I assure you. Of +course we suspect nothing of the sort. But one does like to have one's +money in safe hands. Of course Mr. Tudor wouldn't have been chosen as +trustee if he hadn't had a good income of his own; and look here, my +dear,'--and Mrs. Val whispered very confidentially--'Mr. Tudor we all +know is greatly concerned in this bridge that the committee is sitting +about; and he and my brother-in-law, Undecimus, are always dealing in +shares. Gentlemen do, I know; and therefore I don't say that there is +anything against it. But considering all, I hope Mr. Tudor won't take it +ill if we propose to change our trustee.' + +'I am very certain he will not,' said Gertrude. 'It is a laborious +business, and he will be glad enough to be rid of it. When he was +asked to accept it, he thought it would be ill-natured to refuse; I am +certain, however, he will be very glad to give up the work to any other +person who may be appointed. I will be sure to tell him this evening +what you have said.' + +'You need not trouble yourself to do that,' said Mrs. Val. 'I shall see +him myself before long.' + +'It will be no trouble,' said Gertrude, very indignantly, for she was +very angry, and had, as she thought, great cause for anger. 'I shall +certainly think it my duty to do so after what has passed. Of course you +will now take steps to relieve him as soon as possible.' + +'You have taken me up a great deal too quick, my dear,' said Mrs. Val. +'I did not intend----' + +'Oh--one can't be too quick on such a matter as this,' said Gertrude. +'When confidence is once lost between two persons it is better that the +connexion which has grown out of confidence should be put an end to as +soon as possible.' + +'Lost confidence! I said nothing about lost confidence!' + +'Alaric will so understand it, I am quite sure; at any rate I will tell +him what you have said. Suspicion indeed! who has dared to suspect him +of anything not honest or upright?' + +Gertrude's eyes flashed with anger as she vindicated her absent lord. +Mrs. Val had been speaking with bated breath, so that no one had heard +her but she to whom she was speaking; but Gertrude had been unable so to +confine her answers, and as she made her last reply Madame Jaquetanape +and the Misses Neverbend were all ears. + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mrs. Val. 'Upon my word, my dear, it is amusing to +hear you take it up. However, I assure you I meant nothing but what was +kind and friendly. Come, Clementina, we have been sitting here a +most unconscionable time. Will you allow me, my dear, to ring for my +carriage?' + +'Mamma,' said Clem, 'have you asked Mrs. Tudor to our little dance?' + +'No, my dear; I have left that for you to do. It's your party, you +know--but I sincerely hope Mrs. Tudor will come.' + +'Oh yes,' said Clementina, the tongue of whose eloquence was now +loosened. 'You must come, Mrs. Tudor; indeed you must. It will be so +charming; just a few nice people, you know, and nothing more.' + +'Thank you,' said Gertrude; 'but I never dance now.' She had inwardly +resolved that nothing should ever induce her again to enter Mrs. Val's +house. + +'Oh, but you must come,' said Clementina. 'It will be so charming. We +only mean to dance one kind of dance--that new thing they have just +brought over from Spain--the Contrabandista. It is a polka step, only +very quick, and you take every other turn by yourself; so you have to +take your partner up and let him go as quick as possible. You don't +know how charming it is, and it will be all the rage. We are to have the +music out in the street, just as they have in Spain.' + +'It would be much too difficult for me,' said Gertrude. + +'It is difficult,' said the enthusiastic Clem; 'but Victoire gives us +lessons in it everyday from twelve to two--doesn't he, Ugolina?' + +'I'm afraid I shouldn't have time to go to school,' said Gertrude. + +'Oh, it doesn't take much time--six or seven or eight lessons will do it +pretty well. I have almost learnt it already, and Ugolina is coming on +very fast. Lactimel is not quite so perfect. She has learnt the step, +but she cannot bring herself to let Victoire go quick enough. Do come, +and bring Mr. Tudor with you.' + +'As he has not to attend from ten till four, he could come and take +lessons too,' said Lactimel, who, now that she was no longer a hanger-on +of Gertrude's, could afford to have her little revenge. + +'That would be delightful,' said Clem. 'Mr. Charles Tudor does come in +sometimes at twelve o'clock, and I think he does it almost as well as +Victoire.' + +Gertrude, however, would go neither to the rehearsals nor to the +finished performance; and as Mrs. Val's men had by this time been +induced to leave the beershop, the whole party went away, leaving +Gertrude to her meditations. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +TICKLISH STOCK + + +Alaric returned from his office worn and almost as wretched as he had +been on the day before. He had spent a miserable day. In the morning Sir +Gregory had asked him whether he had finally made up his mind to address +the electors of Strathbogy. 'No, not finally,' said Alaric, 'but I think +I shall do so.' + +'Then I must tell you, Tudor,' said Sir Gregory, speaking more in sorrow +than in anger, 'that you will not have my countenance. I cannot but +think also that you are behaving with ingratitude.' Alaric prepared to +make some petulant answer, but Sir Gregory, in the meantime, left the +room. + +Every one was falling away from him. He felt inclined to rush after Sir +Gregory, and promise to be guided in this matter solely by him, but his +pride prevented him: though he was no longer sanguine and confident as +he had been a week ago, still his ambition was high. 'Those who play +brag must brag it out, or they will lose their money.' This had been +said by Undy; but it was not the less true on that account. Alaric felt +that he was playing brag, and that his only game was to brag it out. + +He walked home slowly through the Parks. His office and house were so +circumstanced that, though they were some two miles distant, he could +walk from one to the other almost without taking his feet off the grass. +This had been the cause of great enjoyment to him; but now he sauntered +on with his hands behind his back, staring straight before him, with +fixed eyes, going by his accustomed route, but never thinking for a +moment where he was. The time was gone when he could watch the gambols +of children, smile at the courtships of nursery-maids, watch the changes +in the dark foliage of the trees, and bend from his direct path hither +and thither to catch the effects of distant buildings, and make for his +eye half-rural landscapes in the middle of the metropolis. No +landscapes had beauty for him now; the gambols even of his own baby were +unattractive to him; leaves might bud forth and nourish and fall without +his notice. How went the share-market? that was the only question that +had an interest for him. The dallyings of Capel Court were the only +courtships that he now cared to watch. + +And with what a terribly eager eye had he now to watch them! If his +shares went up quickly, at once, with an unprecedented success, he might +possibly be saved. That was all. But if they did not--! Such was the +phase of life under which at the present moment it behoved him to exist. + +And then, when he reached his home, how was he welcomed? With all the +fond love which a loving wife can show; so much at least was his; +but before he had felt the sweetness of her caresses, before he had +acknowledged how great was the treasure that he possessed, forth from +her eager lips had come the whole tale of Mrs. Val's impertinence. + +'I will never see her again, Alaric! never; she talked of her daughter's +money, and said something of suspicion!' Suspicion! Gertrude's eye again +flashed fire with anger; and she all but stamped with her little foot +upon the ground. Suspicion! suspect him, her husband, the choice of her +heart, her Alaric, the human god whom she worshipped! suspect him of +robbery! her lord, her heart, her soul, the strong staff on which she +leaned so securely, with such true feminine confidence! Suspect him of +common vile dishonesty!--'You will never ask me to see her again--will +you, Alaric?' + +What was he to say to her? how was he to bear this? His heart yearned +to tell her all; he longed for the luxury of having one bosom to whom +he could entrust his misery, his slight remaining hope. But how could he +himself, at one blow, by one word, destroy the high and polished shaft +on which she whom he loved had placed him? He could not do it. He would +suffer by himself; hope by himself, cease to hope by himself, and endure +all, till either his sufferings or his hopes should be over. + +He had to pretend that he was indignant at Mrs. Val's interference; he +had to counterfeit the feelings of outraged honour, which was so natural +to Gertrude. This he failed to do well. Had he been truly honest--had +that woman's suspicion really done him injustice--he would have received +his wife's tidings with grave displeasure, and have simply resolved to +acquit himself as soon as possible of the disagreeable trust which had +been reposed in him. But such was not now his conduct. He contented +himself by calling Mrs. Val names, and pretended to laugh at her +displeasure. + +'But you will give up this trust, won't you?' said Gertrude. + +'I will think about it,' said he. 'Before I do anything I must consult +old Figgs. Things of that kind can't be put out of their course by the +spleen of an old woman like Mrs. Val.' + +'Oh, Alaric, I do so wish you had had nothing to do with these Scotts!' + +'So do I,' said he, bitterly; 'I hate them--but, Gertrude, don't talk +about them now; my head aches, and I am tired.' + +He sat at home the whole evening; and though he was by no means gay, and +hardly affectionate in his demeanour to her, yet she could not but feel +that some good effect had sprung from his recent dislike to the Scotts, +since it kept him at home with her. Lately he had generally spent his +evenings at his club. She longed to speak to him of his future career, +of his proposed seat in Parliament, of his office-work; but he gave her +no encouragement to speak of such things, and, as he pleaded that he was +ill, she left him in quiet on the sofa. + +On the next morning he again went to his office, and in the course of +the morning a note was brought to him from Undy. It ran as follows:-- + +'MY DEAR TUDOR, + +'Is Val to have the shares? Let me have a line by the bearer. + +'Yours ever, + +'U. S.' + +To this he replied by making an appointment to meet Undy before dinner +at his own office. + +At the time fixed Undy came, and was shown by the sole remaining +messenger into Alaric's private room. The two shook hands together in +their accustomed way. Undy smiled good-humouredly, as he always did; and +Alaric maintained his usual composed and uncommunicative look. + +'Well,' said Undy, sitting down, 'how about those shares?' + +'I am glad you have come,' said Alaric, 'because I want to speak to you +with some earnestness.' + +'I am quite in earnest myself,' said Undy; 'and so, by G--, is Val. I +never saw a fellow more in earnest--nor yet apparently more hard up. I +hope you have the shares ready, or else a cheque for the amount.' + +'Look here, Undy; if my doing this were the only means of saving both +you and me from rotting in gaol, by the Creator that made me I would not +do it!' + +'I don't know that it will have much effect upon me, one way or the +other,' said Undy, coolly; 'but it seems to me to be the only way that +can save yourself from some such fate. Shall I tell you what the clauses +are of this new bill about trust property?' + +'I know the clauses well enough; I know my own position; and I know +yours also.' + +'D---- your impudence!' said Undy; 'how do you dare to league me with +your villany? Have I been the girl's trustee? have I drawn, or could I +have drawn, a shilling of her money? I tell you, Tudor, you are in the +wrong box. You have one way of escape, and one only. I don't want to +ruin you; I'll save you if I can; I think you have treated the girl in +a most shameful way, nevertheless I'll save you if I can; but mark this, +if this money be not at once produced I cannot save you.' + +Alaric felt that he was covered with cold perspiration. His courage did +not fail him; he would willingly have taken Undy by the throat, could +his doing so have done himself or his cause any good; but he felt that +he was nearly overset by the cool deep villany of his companion. + +'I have treated the girl badly--very badly,' he said, after a pause; +'whether or no you have done so too I leave to your own conscience, if +you have a conscience. I do not now mean to accuse you; but you may know +this for certain--my present anxiety is to restore to her that which I +have taken from her; and for no earthly consideration--not to save my +own wife--will I increase the deficiency.' + +'Why, man, what nonsense you talk--as if I did not know all the time +that you have your pocket full of these shares.' + +'Whatever I have, I hold for her. If I could succeed in getting out of +your hands enough to make up the full sum that I owe her--' + +'You will succeed in getting nothing from me. When I borrowed L5,000 +from you, it was not understood that I was to be called upon for the +money in three or four months' time.' + +'Now look here, Scott; you have threatened me with ruin and a prison, +and I will not say but your threats may possibly prove true. It may be +that I am ruined; but, if I fall, you shall share my fall.' + +'That's false,' said Undy. 'I am free to hold my head before the world, +which you are not. I have done nothing to bring me to shame.' + +'Nothing to bring you to shame, and yet you would now have me give you a +further portion of this girl's money!' + +'Nothing! I care nothing about the girl's money. I have not touched it, +nor do I want to touch it. I bring you a message from my brother; you +have ample means of your own to comply with his request.' + +'Then tell your brother,' said Alaric, now losing all control over +his temper--'tell your brother, if indeed he have any part in this +villany--tell your brother that if it were to save me from the gallows, +he should not have a shilling. I have done very badly in this matter; I +have acted shamefully, and I am ashamed, but----' + +'Oh, I want to hear none of your rhapsodies,' said Undy. 'If you will +not now do what I ask you, I may as well go, and you may take the +consequences;' and he lifted his hat as though preparing to take his +leave. + +'But you shall hear me,' said Alaric, rising quickly from his seat, and +standing between Undy and the door. Undy very coolly walked to the bell +and rang it. 'I have much to answer for,' continued Alaric, 'but I +would not have your sin on my soul, I would not be as black as you are, +though, by being so, I could save myself with certainty from all earthly +punishment.' + +As he finished, the messenger opened the door. 'Show Mr. Scott out,' +said Alaric. + +'By, by,' said Undy. 'You will probably hear from Mrs. Val and her +daughter to-morrow,' and so saying he walked jauntily along the +passage, and went jauntily to his dinner at his club. It was part of +his philosophy that nothing should disturb the even tenor of his way, +or interfere with his animal comforts. He was at the present moment +over head and ears in debt; he was playing a game which, in all human +probability, would end in his ruin; the ground was sinking beneath his +feet on every side; and yet he thoroughly enjoyed his dinner. Alaric +could not make such use of his philosophy. Undy Scott might be the worse +man of the two, but he was the better philosopher. + +Not on the next day, or on the next, did Alaric hear from Mrs. Val, but +on the following Monday he got a note from her begging him to call in +Ebury Street. She underscored every line of it once or twice, and added, +in a postscript, that he would, she was sure, at once acknowledge the +NECESSITY of her request, as she wished to communicate with him on the +subject of her DAUGHTER'S FORTUNE. + +Alaric immediately sent an answer to her by a messenger. 'My dear Mrs. +Scott,' said he, 'I am very sorry that an engagement prevents my going +to you this evening; but, as I judge by your letter, and by what I have +heard from Gertrude, that you are anxious about this trust arrangement, +I will call at ten to-morrow morning on my way to the office.' + +Having written and dispatched this, he sat for an hour leaning with +his elbows on the table and his hands clasped, looking with apparent +earnestness at the rows of books which stood inverted before him, trying +to make up his mind as to what step he should now take. + +Not that he sat an hour undisturbed. Every five minutes some one would +come knocking at the door; the name of some aspirant to the Civil +Service would be brought to him, or the card of some influential +gentleman desirous of having a little job perpetrated in favour of his +own peculiarly interesting, but perhaps not very highly-educated, young +candidate. But on this morning Alaric would see no one; to every such +intruder he sent a reply that he was too deeply engaged at the present +moment to see any one. After one he would be at liberty, &c., &c. + +And so he sat and looked at the books; but he could in nowise make up +his mind. He could in nowise bring himself even to try to make up his +mind--that is, to make any true effort towards doing so. His thoughts +would run off from him, not into the happy outer world, but into a +multitude of noisy, unpleasant paths, all intimately connected with his +present misery, but none of which led him at all towards the conclusions +at which he would fain arrive. He kept on reflecting what Sir Gregory +would think when he heard of it; what all those clerks would say at +the Weights and Measures, among whom he had held his head so high; what +shouts there would be among the navvies and other low pariahs of the +service; how Harry Norman would exult--(but he did not yet know Harry +Norman);--how the Woodwards would weep; how Gertrude--and then as he +thought of that he bowed his head, for he could no longer endure the +open light of day. At one o'clock he was no nearer to any decision than +he had been when he reached his office. + +At three he put himself into a cab, and was taken to the city. Oh, the +city, the weary city, where men go daily to look for money, but find +none; where every heart is eaten up by an accursed famishing after gold; +where dark, gloomy banks come thick on each other, like the black, +ugly apertures to the realms below in a mining district, each of them +a separate little pit-mouth into hell. Alaric went into the city, and +found that the shares were still rising. That imperturbable witness was +still in the chair at the committee, and men said that he was disgusting +the members by the impregnable endurance of his hostility. A man who +could answer 2,250 questions without admitting anything must be a liar! +Such a one could convince no one! And so the shares went on rising, +rising, and rising, and Messrs. Blocks, Piles, and Cofferdam were buying +up every share; either doing that openly--or else selling on the sly. + +Alaric found that he could at once realize L7,600. Were he to do this, +there would be at any rate seven-eighths of his ward's fortune secure. + +Might he not, in such a case, calculate that even Mrs. Val's heart would +be softened, and that time would be allowed him to make up the small +remainder? Oh, but in such case he must tell Mrs. Val; and could he +calculate on her forbearance? Might he not calculate with much more +certainty on her love of triumphing? Would he not be her slave if she +had the keeping of his secret? And why should he run so terrible a risk +of destroying himself? Why should he confide in Mrs. Val, and deprive +himself of the power of ever holding up his head again, when, possibly, +he might still run out his course with full sails, and bring his vessel +into port, giving no knowledge to the world of the perilous state in +which she had been thus ploughing the deep? He need not, at any rate, +tell everything to Mrs. Val at his coming visit on the morrow. + +He consulted his broker with his easiest air of common concern as to his +money; and the broker gave him a dubious opinion. 'They may go a little +higher, sir; indeed I think they will. But they are ticklish stock, +sir--uncommon ticklish. I should not like to hold many myself, sir.' +Alaric knew that the man was right; they were ticklish stock: but +nevertheless he made up his mind to hold on a little longer. + +He then got into another cab and went back to his office; and as he went +he began to bethink himself to whom of all his friends he might apply +for such a loan as would enable him to make up this sum of money, if he +sold his shares on the morrow. Captain Cuttwater was good for L1,000, +but he knew that he could not get more from him. It would be bad +borrowing, he thought, from Sir Gregory. Intimate as he had been with +that great man, he knew nothing of his money concerns; but he had +always heard that Sir Gregory was a close man. Sir Warwick, his other +colleague, was in easy circumstances; but then he had never been +intimate with Sir Warwick. Norman--ah, if he had known Norman now, +Norman would have pulled him through; but hope in that quarter there +was, of course, none. Norman was gone, and Norman's place had been +filled by Undy Scott! What could be done with Undy Scott he had already +tried. Fidus Neverbend! he had a little money saved; but Fidus was not +the man to do anything without security. He, he, Alaric Tudor, he, whose +credit had stood, did stand, so high, did not know where to borrow, how +to raise a thousand pounds; and yet he felt that had he not wanted it so +sorely, he could have gotten it easily. + +He was in a bad state for work when he got back to the office on +that day. He was flurried, ill at ease, wretched, all but distracted; +nevertheless he went rigidly to it, and remained there till late in the +evening. He was a man generally blessed with excellent health; but now +he suddenly found himself ill, and all but unable to accomplish the +task which he had prescribed to himself. His head was heavy and his eyes +weak, and he could not bring himself to think of the papers which lay +before him. + +Then at last he went home, and had another sad and solitary walk across +the Parks, during which he vainly tried to rally himself again, and +collect his energies for the work which he had to do. It was in such +emergencies as this that he knew that it most behoved a man to fall back +upon what manliness there might be within him; now was the time for +him to be true to himself; he had often felt proud of his own energy of +purpose; and now was the opportunity for him to use such energy, if his +pride in this respect had not been all in vain. + +Such were the lessons with which he endeavoured to strengthen himself, +but it was in vain; he could not feel courageous--he could not feel +hopeful--he could not do other than despair. When he got home, he again +prostrated himself, again declared himself ill, again buried his face in +his hands, and answered the affection of his wife by saying that a man +could not always be cheerful, could not always laugh. Gertrude, though +she was very far indeed from guessing the truth, felt that something +extraordinary was the matter, and knew that her husband's uneasiness was +connected with the Scotts. + +He came down to dinner, and though he ate but little, he drank glass +after glass of sherry. He thus gave himself courage to go out in the +evening and face the world at his club. He found Undy there as he +expected, but he had no conversation with him, though they did not +absolutely cut each other. Alaric fancied that men stared at him, and +sat apart by himself, afraid to stand up among talking circles, or to +put himself forward as it was his wont to do. He himself avoided other +men, and then felt that others were avoiding him. He took up one evening +paper after another, pretending to read them, but hardly noticing a word +that came beneath his eye: at last, however, a name struck him which +riveted his attention, and he read the following paragraph, which was +among many others, containing information as to the coming elections. + +'STRATHBOGY.--We hear that Lord Gaberlunzie's eldest son will retire +from this borough, and that his place will be filled by his brother, +the Honourable Captain Valentine Scott. The family have been so long +connected with Strathbogy by ties of friendship and near neighbourhood, +and the mutual alliance has been so much to the taste of both parties, +that no severance need be anticipated.' + +Alaric's first emotion was one of anger at the whole Scott tribe, and +his first resolve was to go down to Strathbogy and beat that inanimate +fool, Captain Val, on his own ground; but he was not long in reflecting +that, under his present circumstances, it would be madness in him to +bring his name prominently forward in any quarrel with the Scott family. +This disappointment he might at any rate bear; it would be well for him +if this were all. He put the paper down with an affected air of easy +composure, and walked home through the glaring gas-lights, still trying +to think--still trying, but in vain, to come to some definite resolve. + +And then on the following morning he went off to call on Mrs. Val. He +had as yet told Gertrude nothing. When she asked him what made him start +so early, he merely replied that he had business to do on his road. As +he went, he had considerable doubt whether or no it would be better for +him to break his word to Mrs. Val, and not go near her at all. In such +event he might be sure that she would at once go to work and do her +worst; but, nevertheless, he would gain a day, or probably two, and one +or two days might do all that he required; whereas he could not see +Mrs. Val without giving her some explanation, which if false would +be discovered to be false, and if true would be self-condemnatory. He +again, however, failed to decide, and at last knocked at Mrs. Val's door +merely because he found himself there. + +He was shown up into the drawing-room, and found, of course, Mrs. Val +seated on a sofa; and he also found, which was not at all of course, +Captain Val, on a chair on one side of the table, and M. Victoire +Jaquetanape on the other. Mrs. Val shook hands with him much in +her usual way, but still with an air of importance in her face; the +Frenchman was delighted to see M. Tudere, and the Honourable Val got up +from his chair, said 'How do?' and then sat down again. + +'I requested you to call, Mr. Tudor,' said Mrs. Val, opening her tale +in a most ceremonious manner, 'because we all think it necessary to know +somewhat more than has yet been told to us of the manner in which my +daughter's money has been invested.' + +Captain Val wiped his moustache with the middle finger of his right +hand, by way of saying that he quite assented to his wife's proposition; +and Victoire remarked that 'Madame was a leetle anxious, just a leetle +anxious; not that anything could be wrong with M. Tudere, but because +she was one excellent mamma.' + +'I thought you knew, Mrs. Scott,' said Alaric, 'that your daughter's +money is in the funds.' + +'Then I may understand clearly that none of the amount so invested has +been sold out or otherwise appropriated by you.' said Mrs. Val. + +'Will you allow me to inquire what has given rise to these questions +just at the present moment?' asked Alaric. + +'Yes, certainly,' said Mrs. Val; 'rumours have reached my +husband--rumours which, I am happy to say, I do not believe--that my +daughter's money has been used for purposes of speculation.' Whereupon +Captain Val again wiped his upper lip, but did not find it necessary to +speak. + +'May I venture to ask Captain Scott from what source such rumours have +reached him!' + +'Ah-ha-what source? d---- lies, very likely; d---- lies, I dare say; but +people do talk--eh--you know,' so much the eloquent embryo member for +Strathbogy vouchsafed. + + 'And therefore, Mr. Tudor, you mustn't be surprised that we +should ask you this question.' + +'It is one simple, simple question,' said Victoire, 'and if M. Tudere +will say that it is all right, I, for myself, will be satisfied.' The +amiable Victoire, to tell the truth, was still quite satisfied to leave +his wife's income in Alaric's hands, and would not have been at all +satisfied to remove it to the hands of his respected step-papa-in-law, +or even his admired mamma-in-law. + +'When I undertook this trust,' said Alaric, 'which I did with +considerable hesitation, I certainly did not expect to be subjected +to any such cross-examination as this. I consider such questions as +insults, and therefore I shall refuse to answer them. You, Mrs. Scott, +have of course a right to look after your daughter's interests, as +has M. Jaquetanape to look after those of his wife; but I will not +acknowledge that Captain Scott has any such right whatsoever, nor can I +think that his conduct in this matter is disinterested;' and as he spoke +he looked at Captain Val, but he might just as well have looked at the +door; Captain Val only wiped his moustache with his finger once +more. 'My answer to your inquiries, Mrs. Scott, is this--I shall not +condescend to go into any details as to Madame Jaquetanape's fortune +with anyone but my co-trustee. I shall, however, on Saturday next, +be ready to give up my trust to any other person who may be legally +appointed to receive it, and will then produce all the property that has +been entrusted to my keeping:' and so saying, Alaric got up and took his +hat as though to depart. + +'And do you mean to say, Mr. Tudor, that you will not answer my +question?' said Mrs. Scott. + +'I mean to say, most positively, that I will answer no questions,' said +Alaric. + +'Oh, confound, not do at all; d----,' said the captain. 'The girl's +money all gone, and you won't answer questions!' + +'No!' shouted Alaric, walking across the room till he closely confronted +the captain. 'No--no--I will answer no questions that may be asked in +your hearing. But that your wife's presence protects you, I would kick +you down your own stairs before me.' + +Captain Val retreated a step--he could retreat no more--and wiped his +moustache with both hands at once. Mrs. Val screamed. Victoire took hold +of the back of a chair, as though he thought it well that he should +be armed in the general battle that was to ensue; and Alaric, without +further speech, walked out of the room, and went away to his office. + +'So you have given up Strathbogy?' said Sir Gregory to him, in the +course of the day. + +'I think I have,' said Alaric; 'considering all things, I believe it +will be the best for me to do so.' + +'Not a doubt of it,' said Sir Gregory--'not a doubt of it, my dear +fellow;' and then Sir Gregory began to evince, by the cordiality of his +official confidence, that he had fully taken Alaric back into his +good graces. It was nothing to him that Strathbogy had given up Alaric +instead of Alaric giving up Strathbogy. He was sufficiently pleased at +knowing that the danger of his being supplanted by his own junior was +over. + +And then Alaric again went into the weary city, again made inquiries +about his shares, and again returned to his office, and thence to his +home. + +But on his return to his office, he found lying on his table a note in +Undy's handwriting, but not signed, in which he was informed that things +would yet be well, if the required shares should be forthcoming on the +following day. + +He crumpled the note tight in his hand, and was about to fling it among +the waste paper, but in a moment he thought better of it, and smoothing +the paper straight, he folded it, and laid it carefully on his desk. + +That day, on his visit into the city, he had found that the +bridge shares had fallen to less than the value of their original +purchase-money; and that evening he told Gertrude everything. The author +does not dare to describe the telling. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +TRIBULATION + + +We must now return for a short while to Surbiton Cottage. It was not so +gay a place as it once had been; merry laughter was not so often heard +among the shrubbery walks, nor was a boat to be seen so often glancing +in and out between the lawn and the adjacent island. The Cottage had +become a demure, staid abode, of which Captain Cuttwater was in general +the most vivacious inmate; and yet there was soon to be marrying, and +giving in marriage. + +Linda's wedding-day had twice been fixed. That first-named had been +postponed in consequence of the serious illness of Norman's elder +brother. The life of that brother had been very different in its course +from Harry's; it had been dissipated at college in riotous living, and +had since been stained with debauchery during the career of his early +manhood in London. The consequence had been that his health had been +broken down, and he was now tottering to an early grave. + +Cuthbert Norman was found to be so ill when the day first named for +Linda's marriage approached, that it had been thought absolutely +necessary to postpone the ceremony. What amount of consolation Mrs. +Woodward might have received from the knowledge that her daughter, by +this young man's decease, would become Mrs. Norman of Normansgrove, we +need not inquire; but such consolation, if it existed at all, did not +tend to dispel the feeling of sombre disappointment which such delay was +sure to produce. The heir, however, rallied, and another day, early in +August, was fixed. + +Katie, the while, was still an invalid; and, as such, puzzled all the +experience of that very experienced medical gentleman, who has the best +aristocratic practice in the neighbourhood of Hampton Court. He, and the +London physician, agreed that her lungs were not affected; but yet she +would not get well. The colour would not come to her cheeks, the flesh +would not return to her arms, nor the spirit of olden days shine forth +in her eyes. She did not keep her bed, or confine herself to her room, +but she went about the house with a slow, noiseless, gentle tread, so +unlike the step of that Katie whom we once knew. + +But that which was a mystery to the experienced medical gentleman, was +no mystery to her mother. Mrs. Woodward well knew why her child was +no longer rosy, plump, and _debonnaire_. As she watched her Katie move +about so softly, as she saw her constant attempt to smile whenever her +mother's eye was on her, that mother's heart almost gave way; she almost +brought herself to own that she would rather see her darling the wife +of an idle, ruined spendthrift, than watch her thus drifting away to an +early grave. These days were by no means happy days for Mrs. Woodward. + +When that July day was fixed for Linda's marriage, certain invitations +were sent out to bid the family friends to the wedding. These calls were +not so numerous as they had been when Gertrude became a bride. No Sir +Gregory was to come down from town, no gallant speech-makers from London +clubs were to be gathered there, to wake the echoes of the opposite +shore with matrimonial wit. Mrs. Woodward could not bear that her +daughter should be married altogether, as it were, in the dark; but for +many considerations the guests were to be restricted in numbers, and the +mirth was to be restrained and quiet. + +When the list was made out, Katie saw it, and saw that Charley's name +was not there. + +'Mamma,' she said, touching her mother's arm in her sweet winning way, +'may not Charley come to Linda's wedding? You know how fond Harry is of +him: would not Harry wish that he should be here?' + +Mrs. Woodward's eyes immediately filled with tears, and she looked at +her daughter, not knowing how to answer her. She had never spoken to +Katie of her love; no word had ever passed between them on the subject +which was now always nearest to the hearts of them both. Mrs. Woodward +had much in her character, as a mother, that was excellent, nay, all but +perfect; but she could not bring herself to question her own children +as to the inward secrets of their bosoms. She knew not at once how to +answer Katie's question; and so she looked up at her with wistful eyes, +laden with tears. + +'You may do so, mamma,' said Katie. Katie was already a braver woman +than her mother. 'I think Harry would like it, and poor Charley will +feel hurt at being left out; you may do it, mamma, if you like; it will +not do any harm.' + +Mrs. Woodward quite understood the nature of the promise conveyed in her +daughter's assurance, and replied that Charley should be asked. He +was asked, and promised, of course, to come. But when the wedding was +postponed, when the other guests were put off, he also was informed that +his attendance at Hampton was not immediately required; and so he still +remained a stranger to the Cottage. + +And then after a while another day was named, the guests, and Charley +with them, were again invited, and Norman was again assured that he +should be made happy. But, alas! his hopes were again delusive. News +arrived at Surbiton Cottage which made it indispensable that the +marriage should be again postponed, news worse than any which had ever +yet been received there, news which stunned them all, and made it +clear to them that this year was no time for marrying. Alaric had been +arrested. Alaric, their own Gertrude's own husband, their son-in-law and +brother-in-law, the proud, the high, the successful, the towering man of +the world, Alaric had been arrested, and was to be tried for embezzling +the money of his ward. + +These fatal tidings were brought to Hampton by Harry Norman himself; how +they were received we must now endeavour to tell. + +But that it would be tedious we might describe the amazement with which +that news was received at the Weights and Measures. Though the great men +at the Weights were jealous of Alaric, they were not the less proud of +him. They had watched him rise with a certain amount of displeasure, and +yet they had no inconsiderable gratification in boasting that two of the +Magi, the two working Magi of the Civil Service, had been produced by +their own establishment. When therefore tidings reached them that Tudor +had been summoned in a friendly way to Bow Street, that he had there +passed a whole morning, and that the inquiry had ended in his temporary +suspension from his official duties, and in his having to provide two +bailsmen, each for L1,000, as security that he would on a certain day +be forthcoming to stand his trial at the Old Bailey for defrauding his +ward--when, I say, these tidings were carried from room to room at the +Weights and Measures, the feelings of surprise were equalled by those of +shame and disappointment. + +No one knew who brought this news to the Weights and Measures. No one +ever does know how such tidings fly; one of the junior clerks had heard +it from a messenger, to whom it had been told downstairs; then another +messenger, who had been across to the Treasury Chambers with an +immediate report as to a projected change in the size of the authorized +butter-firkin, heard the same thing, and so the news by degrees was +confirmed. + +But all this was not sufficient for Norman. As soon as the rumour +reached him, he went off to Bow Street, and there learnt the actual +truth as it has been above stated. Alaric was then there, and the +magistrates had decided on requiring bail; he had, in fact, been +committed. + +It would be dreadful that the Woodwards should first hear all this from +the lips of a stranger, and this reflection induced Norman at once to go +to Hampton; but it was dreadful, also, to find himself burdened with the +task of first telling such tidings. When he found himself knocking at +the Cottage door he was still doubtful how he might best go through the +work he had before him. + +He found that he had a partial reprieve; but then it was so partial that +it would have been much better for him to have had no such reprieve at +all. Mrs. Woodward was at Sunbury with Linda, and no one was at home +but Katie. What was he to do? was he to tell Katie? or was he to +pretend that all was right, that no special business had brought him +unexpectedly to Hampton? + +'Oh, Harry, Linda will be so unhappy,' said Katie as soon as she saw +him. 'They have gone to dine at Sunbury, and they won't be home till +ten or eleven. Uncle Bat dined early with me, and he has gone to Hampton +Court. Linda will be so unhappy. But, good gracious, Harry, is there +anything the matter?' + +'Mrs. Woodward has not heard from Gertrude to-day, has she?' + +'No--not a word--Gertrude is not ill, is she? Oh, do tell me,' said +Katie, who now knew that there was some misfortune to be told. + +'No; Gertrude is not ill.' + +'Is Alaric ill, then? Is there anything the matter with Alaric?' + +'He is not ill,' said Norman, 'but he is in some trouble. I came down as +I thought your mother should be told.' + +So much he said, but would say no more. In this he probably took the +most unwise course that was open to him. He might have held his tongue +altogether, and let Katie believe that love alone had brought him down, +as it had done so often before; or he might have told her all, feeling +sure that all must be told her before long. But he did neither; he left +her in suspense, and the consequence was that before her mother's return +she was very ill. + +It was past eleven before the fly was heard in which Linda and her +mother returned home. Katie had then gone upstairs, but not to bed. She +had seated herself in the armchair in her mother's dressing-room, and +sitting there waited till she should be told by her mother what had +occurred. When the sound of the wheels caught her ears, she came to +the door of the room and held it in her hand that she might learn what +passed. She heard Linda's sudden and affectionate greeting; she heard +Mrs. Woodward's expression of gratified surprise; and then she heard +also Norman's solemn tone, by which, as was too clear, all joy, all +gratification, was at once suppressed. Then she heard the dining-room +door close, and she knew that he was telling his tale to Linda and her +mother. + +O the misery of that next hour! For an hour they remained there talking, +and Katie knew nothing of what they were talking; she knew only that +Norman had brought unhappiness to them all. A dozen different ideas +passed across her mind. First she thought that Alaric was dismissed, +then that he was dead; was it not possible that Harry had named Alaric's +name to deceive her? might not this misfortune, whatever it was, be with +Charley? might not he be dead? Oh! better so than the other. She knew, +and said as much to herself over and over again; but she did not the +less feel that his death must involve her own also. + +At last the dining-room door opened, and she heard her mother's step on +the stairs. Her heart beat so that she could hardly support herself. She +did not get up, but sat quite quiet, waiting for the tidings which she +knew that she should now hear. Her mother's face, when she entered +the room, nearly drove her to despair; Mrs. Woodward had been crying, +bitterly, violently, convulsively crying; and when one has reached the +age of forty, the traces of such tears are not easily effaced even from +a woman's cheek. + +'Mamma, mamma, what is it? pray, pray tell me; oh! mamma, what is it?' +said Katie, jumping up and rushing into her mother's arms. + +'Oh! Katie,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'why are you not in bed? Oh! my +darling, I wish you were in bed; I do so wish you were in bed--my child, +my child!' and, seating herself in the nearest chair, Mrs. Woodward +again gave herself up to uncontrolled weeping. + +Then Linda came up with the copious tears still streaming down her face. +She made no effort to control them; at her age tears are the easiest +resource in time of grief. Norman had kept her back a moment to whisper +one word of love, and she then followed her mother into the room. + +Katie was now kneeling at her mother's feet. 'Linda,' she said, with +more quietness than either of the others was able to assume, 'what has +happened? what makes mamma so unhappy? Has anything happened to Alaric?' +But Linda was in no state to tell anything. + +'Do tell me, mamma,' said Katie; 'do tell me all at once. Has +anything--anything happened to--to Charley?' + +'Oh, it is worse than that, a thousand times worse than that!' said Mrs. +Woodward, who, in the agony of her own grief, became for the instant +ungenerous. + +Katie's blood rushed back to her heart, and for a moment her own hand +relaxed the hold which she had on that of her mother. She had never +spoken of her love; for her mother's sake she had been silent; for her +mother's sake she had determined to suffer and be silent--now, and ever! +Well; she would bear this also. It was but for a moment she relaxed her +hold; and then again she tightened her fingers round her mother's hand, +and held it in a firmer grasp. 'It is Alaric, then?' she said. + +'God forgive me,' said Mrs. Woodward, speaking through her sobs--'God +forgive me! I am a brokenhearted woman, and say I know not what. My +Katie, my darling, my best of darlings--will you forgive me?' + +'Oh, mamma,' said Katie, kissing her mother's hands, and her arms, and +the very hem of her garment, 'oh, mamma, do not speak so. But I wish I +knew what this sorrow is, so that I might share it with you; may I not +be told, mamma? is it about Alaric?' + +'Yes, Katie. Alaric is in trouble.' + +'What trouble--is he ill?' + +'No--he is not ill. It is about money.' + +'Has he been arrested?' asked Katie, thinking of Charley's misfortune. +'Could not Harry get him out? Harry is so good; he would do anything, +even for Alaric, when he is in trouble.' + +'He will do everything for him that he can,' said Linda, through her +tears. + +'He has not been arrested,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'he is still at home; +but he is in trouble about Miss Golightly's money--and--and he is to be +tried.' + +'Tried,' said Katie; 'tried like a criminal!' + +Katie might well express herself as horrified. Yes, he had to be tried +like a criminal; tried as pickpockets, housebreakers, and shoplifters +are tried, and for a somewhat similar offence; with this difference, +however, that pickpockets, housebreakers, and shoplifters, are seldom +educated men, and are in general led on to crime by want. He was to be +tried for the offence of making away with some of Miss Golightly's money +for his own purposes. This was explained to Katie, with more or less +perspicuity; and then Gertrude's mother and sisters lifted up their +voices together and wept. + +He might, it is true, be acquitted; they would none of them believe +him to be guilty, though they all agreed that he had probably been +imprudent; but then the public shame of the trial! the disgrace which +must follow such an accusation! What a downfall was here! 'Oh, Gertrude! +oh, Gertrude!' sobbed Mrs. Woodward; and indeed, at that time, it did +not fare well with Gertrude. + +It was very late before Mrs. Woodward and her daughters went to bed that +night; and then Katie, though she did not specially complain, was +very ill. She had lately received more than one wound, which was still +unhealed; and now this additional blow, though she apparently bore it +better than the others, altogether upset her. When the morning came, she +complained of headache, and it was many days after that before she left +her bed. + +But Mrs. Woodward was up early. Indeed, she could hardly be said to have +been in bed at all; for though she had lain down for an hour or two, +she had not slept. Early in the morning she knocked at Harry's door, and +begged him to come out to her. He was not long in obeying her summons, +and soon joined her in the little breakfast parlour. + +'Harry, said she, 'you must go and see Alaric.' + +Harry's brow grew black. On the previous evening he had spoken of Alaric +without bitterness, nay, almost with affection; of Gertrude he had +spoken with the truest brotherly love; he had assured Mrs. Woodward +that he would do all that was in his power for them; that he would spare +neither his exertions nor his purse. He had a truer idea than she had of +what might probably be the facts of the case, and was prepared, by all +the means at his disposal, to help his sister-in-law, if such aid would +help her. But he had not thought of seeing Alaric. + +'I do not think it would do any good,' said he. + +'Yes, Harry, it will; it will do the greatest good; whom else can I +get to see him? who else can find out and let us know what really is +required of us, what we ought to do? I would do it myself, but I could +not understand it; and he would never trust us sufficiently to tell me +all the truth.' + +'We will make Charley go to him. He will tell everything to Charley, if +he will to anyone.' + +'We cannot trust Charley; he is so thoughtless, so imprudent. Besides, +Harry, I cannot tell everything to Charley as I can to you. If there be +any deficiency in this woman's fortune, of course it must be made good; +and in that case I must raise the money. I could not arrange all this +with Charley.' + +'There cannot, I think, be very much wanting,' said Norman, who had +hardly yet realized the idea that Alaric had actually used his ward's +money for his own purposes. 'He has probably made some bad investment, +or trusted persons that he should not have trusted. My small property +is in the funds, and I can get the amount at a moment's notice. I do not +think there will be any necessity to raise more money than that. At any +rate, whatever happens, you must not touch your own income; think of +Katie.' + +'But, Harry--dear, good, generous Harry--you are so good, so generous! +But, Harry, we need not talk of that now. You will see him, though, +won't you?' + +'It will do no good,' said Harry; 'we have no mutual trust in each +other.' + +'Do not be unforgiving, Harry, now that he requires forgiveness.' + +'If he does require forgiveness, Mrs. Woodward, if it shall turn out +that he has been guilty, God knows that I will forgive him. I trust this +may not be the case; and it would be useless for me to thrust myself +upon him now, when a few days may replace us again in our present +relations to each other.' + +'I don't understand you, Harry; why should there always be a quarrel +between two brothers, between the husbands of two sisters? I know you +mean to be kind, I know you are most kind, most generous; but why should +you be so stern?' + +'What I mean is this--if I find him in adversity, I shall be ready to +offer him my hand; it will then be for him to say whether he will take +it. But if the storm blow over, in such case I would rather that we +should remain as we are.' + +Norman talked of forgiveness, and accused himself of no want of charity +in this respect. He had no idea that his own heart was still hard as the +nether millstone against Alaric Tudor. But yet such was the truth. His +money he could give; he could give also his time and mind, he could lend +his best abilities to rescue his former friend and his own former love +from misfortune. He could do this, and he thought therefore that he was +forgiving; but there was no forgiveness in such assistance. There was +generosity in it, for he was ready to part with his money; there was +kindness of heart, for he was anxious to do good to his fellow-creature; +but there were with these both pride and revenge. Alaric had out-topped +him in everything, and it was sweet to Norman's pride that his hand +should be the one to raise from his sudden fall the man who had soared +so high above him. Alaric had injured him, and what revenge is so +perfect as to repay gross injuries by great benefits? Is it not thus +that we heap coals of fire on our enemies' heads? Not that Norman +indulged in thoughts such as these; not that he resolved thus to gratify +his pride, thus to indulge his revenge. He was unconscious of his own +sin, but he was not the less a sinner. + +'No,' said he, 'I will not see him myself; it will do no good.' + +Mrs. Woodward found that it was useless to try to bend him. That, +indeed, she knew from a long experience. It was then settled that she +should go up to Gertrude that morning, travelling up to town together +with Norman, and that when she had learned from her daughter, or from +Alaric--if Alaric would talk to her about his concerns--what was really +the truth of the matter, she should come to Norman's office, and tell +him what it would be necessary for him to do. + +And then the marriage was again put off. This, in itself, was a great +misery, as young ladies who have just been married, or who may now be +about to be married, will surely own. The words 'put off' are easily +written, the necessity of such a 'put off' is easily arranged in the +pages of a novel; an enforced delay of a month or two in an affair which +so many folk willingly delay for so many years, sounds like a slight +thing; but, nevertheless, a matrimonial 'put off' is, under any +circumstances, a great grief. To have to counter-write those halcyon +notes which have given glad promise of the coming event; to pack up and +put out of sight, and, if possible, out of mind, the now odious finery +with which the house has for the last weeks been strewed; to give the +necessary information to the pastry-cook, from whose counter the sad +tidings will be disseminated through all the neighbourhood; to annul the +orders which have probably been given for rooms and horses for the happy +pair; to live, during the coming interval, a mark for Pity's unpitying +finger; to feel, and know, and hourly calculate, how many slips there +may be between the disappointed lip and the still distant cup; all these +things in themselves make up a great grief, which is hardly lightened by +the knowledge that they have been caused by a still greater grief. + +These things had Linda now to do, and the poor girl had none to help her +in the doing of them. A few hurried words were spoken on that morning +between her and Norman, and for the second time she set to work to put +off her wedding. Katie, the meantime, lay sick in bed, and Mrs. Woodward +had gone to London to learn the worst and to do the best in this dire +affliction that had come upon them. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +ALARIC TUDOR TAKES A WALK + + +There is, undoubtedly, a propensity in human love to attach itself +to excellence; but it has also, as undoubtedly, a propensity directly +antagonistic to this, and which teaches it to put forth its strongest +efforts in favour of inferiority. Watch any fair flock of children in +which there may be one blighted bud, and you will see that that blighted +one is the mother's darling. What filial affection is ever so strong +as that evinced by a child for a parent in misfortune? Even among the +rough, sympathies of schoolboys, the cripple, the sickly one, or the +orphan without a home, will find the warmest friendship and a stretch +of kindness. Love, that must bow and do reverence to superiority, can +protect and foster inferiority; and what is so sweet as to be able to +protect? + +Gertrude's love for her husband had never been so strong as when +she learnt that that love must now stand in the place of all other +sympathies, of all other tenderness. Alaric told her of his crime, and +in his bitterness he owned that he was no longer worthy of her love. +She answered by opening her arms to him with more warmth than ever, and +bidding him rest his weary head upon her breast. Had they not taken +each other for better or for worse? had not their bargain been that they +would be happy together if such should be their lot, or sad together if +God should so will it?--and would she be the first to cry off from such +a bargain? + +It seldom happens that a woman's love is quenched by a man's crime. +Women in this respect are more enduring than men; they have softer +sympathies, and less acute, less selfish, appreciation of the misery of +being joined to that which has been shamed. It was not many hours since +Gertrude had boasted to herself of the honour and honesty of her lord, +and tossed her head with defiant scorn when a breath of suspicion had +been muttered against his name. Then she heard from his own lips the +whole truth, learnt that that odious woman had only muttered what she +soon would have a right to speak out openly, knew that fame and honour, +high position and pride of life, were all gone; and then in that bitter +hour she felt that she had never loved him as she did then. + +He had done wrong, he had sinned grievously; but no sooner did she +acknowledge so much than she acknowledged also that a man may sin and +yet not be all sinful; that glory may be tarnished, and yet not utterly +destroyed; that pride may get a fall, and yet live to rise again. He had +sinned, and had repented; and now to her eyes he was again as pure as +snow. Others would now doubt him, that must needs be the case; but +she would never doubt him; no, not a whit the more in that he had once +fallen. He should still be the cynosure of her eyes, the pride of her +heart, the centre of her hopes. Marina said of her lord, when he came to +her shattered in limb, from the hands of the torturer-- + + 'I would not change + My exiled, mangled, persecuted husband, + Alive or dead, for prince or paladin, + In story or in fable, with a world + To back his suit.' + +Gertrude spoke to herself in the same language. She would not have +changed her Alaric, branded with infamy as he now was, or soon would be, +for the proudest he that carried his head high among the proud ones of +the earth. Such is woman's love; such is the love of which a man's heart +is never capable! + +Alaric's committal had taken place very much in the manner in which it +was told at the Weights and Measures. He had received a note from one of +the Bow Street magistrates, begging his attendance in the private room +at the police-office. There he had passed nearly the whole of one day; +and he was also obliged to pass nearly the whole of another in the same +office. On this second day the proceedings were not private, and he was +accompanied by his own solicitor. + +It would be needless to describe how a plain case was, as usual, made +obscure by the lawyers, how Acts of Parliament were consulted, how the +magistrate doubted, how indignant Alaric's attorney became when it was +suggested that some insignificant piece of evidence should be admitted, +which, whether admitted or rejected, could have no real bearing on +the case. In these respects this important examination was like other +important examinations of the same kind, such as one sees in the +newspapers whenever a man above the ordinary felon's rank becomes +amenable to the outraged laws. It ended, however, in Alaric being +committed, and giving bail to stand his trial in about a fortnight's +time; and in his being assured by his attorney that he would most +certainly be acquitted. That bit of paper on which he had made an entry +that certain shares bought by him had been bought on behalf of his ward, +would save him; so said the attorney: to which, however, Alaric answered +not much. Could any acutest lawyer, let him be made of never so fine an +assortment of forensic indignation, now whitewash his name and set +him again right before the world? He, of course, communicated with Sir +Gregory, and agreed to be suspended from his commissionership till the +trial should be over. His two colleagues then became bail for him. + +So much having been settled, he got into a cab with his attorney, +and having dropped that gentleman on the road, he returned home. The +excitement of the examination and the necessity for action had sustained +him? but now--what was to sustain him now? How was he to get through +the intervening fortnight, banished as he was from his office, from his +club, and from all haunts of men? His attorney, who had other rogues to +attend to besides him, made certain set appointments with him--and for +the rest, he might sit at home and console himself as best he might with +his own thoughts. 'Excelsior!' This was the pass to which 'Excelsior' +had brought _Sic itur ad astro!_--Alas, his road had taken him hitherto +in quite a different direction. + +He sent for Charley, and when Charley came he made Gertrude explain to +him what had happened. He had confessed his own fault once, to his +own wife, and he could not bring himself to do it again. Charley +was thunderstruck at the greatness of the ruin, but he offered what +assistance he could give. Anything that he could do, he would. Alaric +had sent for him for a purpose, and that purpose at any rate Charley +could fulfil. He went into the city to ascertain what was now the price +of the Limehouse bridge shares, and returned with the news that they +were falling, falling, falling. + +No one else called at Alaric's door that day. Mrs. Val, though she did +not come there, by no means allowed her horses to be idle; she went +about sedulously among her acquaintance, dropping tidings of her +daughter's losses. 'They will have enough left to live upon, thank +God,' said she; 'but did you ever hear of so barefaced, so iniquitous +a robbery? Well, I am not cruel; but my own opinion is that he should +certainly be hanged.' + +To this Ugolina assented fully, adding, that she had been so shocked +by the suddenness and horror of the news, as to have become perfectly +incapacitated ever since for any high order of thought. + +Lactimel, whose soft bosom could not endure the idea of putting an end +to the life of a fellow-creature, suggested perpetual banishment to the +penal colonies; perhaps Norfolk Island. 'And what will she do?' said +Lactimel. + +'Indeed I cannot guess,' said Ugolina; 'her education has been sadly +deficient.' + +None but Charley called on Alaric that day, and he found himself shut up +alone with his wife and child. His own house seemed to him a prison. +He did not dare to leave it; he did not dare to walk out and face the +public as long as daylight continued; he was ashamed to show himself, +and so he sat alone in his dining-room thinking, thinking, thinking. Do +what he would, he could not get those shares out of his mind; they had +entered like iron into his soul, as poison into his blood; they might +still rise, they might yet become of vast value, might pay all his +debts, and enable him to begin again. And then this had been a committee +day; he had had no means of knowing how things had gone there, of +learning the opinions of the members, of whispering to Mr. Piles, or +hearing the law on the matter laid down by the heavy deep voice of the +great Mr. Blocks. And so he went on thinking, thinking, thinking, but +ever as though he had a clock-weight fixed to his heart and pulling at +its strings. For, after all, what were the shares or the committee to +him? Let the shares rise to ever so fabulous a value, let the Chancellor +of the Exchequer be ever so complaisant in giving away his money, what +avail would it be to him? what avail now? He must stand his trial for +the crime of which he had been guilty. + +With the utmost patience Gertrude endeavoured to soothe him, and to +bring his mind into some temper in which it could employ itself. She +brought him their baby, thinking that he would play with his child, but +all that he said was--'My poor boy! I have ruined him already;' and +then turning away from the infant, he thrust his hands deep into his +trousers-pockets, and went on calculating about the shares. + +When the sun had well set, and the daylight had, at last, dwindled out, +he took up his hat and wandered out among the new streets and rows of +houses which lay between his own house and the Western Railway. He got +into a district in which he had never been before, and as he walked +about here, he thought of the fate of other such swindlers as +himself;--yes, though he did not speak the word, he pronounced it as +plainly, and as often, in the utterance of his mind, as though it was +being rung out to him from every steeple in London; he thought of the +fate of such swindlers as himself; how one had been found dead in the +streets, poisoned by himself; how another, after facing the cleverest +lawyers in the land, was now dying in a felon's prison; how a third had +vainly endeavoured to fly from justice by aid of wigs, false whiskers, +painted furrows, and other disguises. Should he try to escape also, +and avoid the ignominy of a trial? He knew it would be in vain; he knew +that, at this moment, he was dogged at the distance of some thirty yards +by an amiable policeman in mufti, placed to watch his motions by his two +kind bailsmen, who preferred this small expense to the risk of losing a +thousand pounds a-piece. + +As he turned short round a corner, into the main road leading from the +railway station to Bayswater, he came close upon a man who was walking +quickly in the opposite direction, and found himself face to face +with Undy Scott. How on earth should Undy Scott have come out there to +Bayswater, at that hour of the night, he, the constant denizen of clubs, +the well-known frequenter of Pall Mall, the member for the Tillietudlem +burghs, whose every hour was occupied in the looking after things +political, or things commercial? Who could have expected him in a back +road at Bayswater? There, however, he was, and Alaric, before he knew of +his presence, had almost stumbled against him. + +'Scott!' said Alaric, starting back. + +'Hallo, Tudor, what the deuce brings you here? but I suppose you'll ask +me the same question?' said Undy. + +Alaric Tudor could not restrain himself. 'You scoundrel,' said he, +seizing Undy by the collar; 'you utterly unmitigated scoundrel! You +premeditated, wilful villain!' and he held Undy as though he intended to +choke him. + +But Undy Scott was not a man to be thus roughly handled with impunity; +and in completing the education which he had received, the use of his +fists had not been overlooked. He let out with his right hand, and +struck Alaric twice with considerable force on the side of his jaw, so +that the teeth rattled in his mouth. + +But Alaric, at the moment, hardly felt it. 'You have brought me and mine +to ruin,' said he; 'you have done it purposely, like a fiend. But, low +as I have fallen, I would not change places with you for all that the +earth holds. I have been a villain; but such villany as yours--ugh--' +and so saying, he flung his enemy from him, and Undy, tottering back, +saved himself against the wall. + +In a continued personal contest between the two men, Undy would probably +have had the best of it, for he would certainly have been the cooler of +the two, and was also the more skilful in such warfare; but he felt in +a moment that he could gain nothing by thrashing Tudor, whereas he might +damage himself materially by having his name brought forward at the +present moment in connexion with that of his old friend. + +'You reprobate!' said he, preparing to pass on; 'it has been my +misfortune to know you, and one cannot touch pitch and not be defiled. +But, thank God, you'll come by your deserts now. If you will take my +advice you'll hang yourself;' and so they parted. + +The amiable policeman in mufti remained at a convenient distance during +this little interview, having no special mission to keep the peace, +pending his present employment; but, as he passed by, he peered into +Undy's face, and recognized the honourable member for the Tillietudlem +burghs. A really sharp policeman knows every one of any note in London. +It might, perhaps, be useful that evidence should be given at the +forthcoming trial of the little contest which we have described. If so, +our friend in mufti was prepared to give it. + +On the following morning, at about eleven, a cab drove up to the door, +and Alaric, standing at the dining-room window, saw Mrs. Woodward get +out of it. + +'There's your mother,' said Alaric to his wife. 'I will not see her--let +her go up to the drawing-room.' + +'Oh! Alaric, will you not see mamma?' + +'How can I, with my face swollen as it is now? Besides, what would be +the good? What can I say to her? I know well enough what she has to say +to me, without listening to it.' + +'Dear Alaric, mamma will say nothing to you that is not kind; do see +her, for my sake, Alaric.' + +But misery had not made him docile. He merely turned from her, and shook +his head impatiently. Gertrude then ran out to welcome her mother, who +was in the hall. + +And what a welcoming it was! 'Come upstairs, mamma, come into the +drawing-room,' said Gertrude, who would not stop even to kiss her mother +till they found themselves secured from the servants' eyes. She knew +that one word of tenderness would bring her to the ground. + +'Mamma, mamma!' she almost shrieked, and throwing herself into her +mother's arms wept convulsively. Mrs. Woodward wanted no more words to +tell her that Alaric had been guilty. + +'But, Gertrude, how much is it?' whispered the mother, as, after a few +moments of passionate grief, they sat holding each other's hands on the +sofa. 'How much money is wanting? Can we not make it up? If it be all +paid before the day of trial, will not that do? will not that prevent +it?' + +Gertrude could not say. She knew that L10,000 had been abstracted. Mrs. +Woodward groaned as she heard the sum named. But then there were those +shares, which had not long since been worth much more than half that +sum, which must still be worth a large part of it. + +'But we must know, dearest, before Harry can do anything,' said Mrs. +Woodward. + +Gertrude blushed crimson when Harry Norman's name was mentioned. And had +it come to that--that they must look to him for aid? + +'Can you not ask him, love?' said Mrs. Woodward. 'I saw him in the +dining-room; go and ask him; when he knows that we are doing our best +for him, surely he will help us.' + +Gertrude, with a heavy heart, went down on her message, and did not +return for fifteen or twenty minutes. It may easily be conceived that +Norman's name was not mentioned between her and her husband, but she +made him understand that an effort would be made for him if only the +truth could be ascertained. + +'It will be of no use,' said he. + +'Don't say so, Alaric; we cannot tell what may be of use. But at any +rate it will be weight off your heart to know that this money has been +paid. It is that which overpowers you now, and not your own misfortune.' + +At last he suffered her to lead him, and she put down on paper such +figures as he dictated to her. It was, however, impossible to say what +was the actual deficiency; that must depend upon the present value +of the shares; these he said he was prepared to give over to his own +attorney, if it was thought that by so doing he should be taking the +best steps towards repairing the evil he had done; and then he began +calculating how much the shares might possibly be worth, and pointing +out under what circumstances they should be sold, and under what again +they should be overheld till the market had improved. All this was worse +than Greek to Gertrude; but she collected what facts she could, and then +returned to her mother. + +And they discussed the matter with all the wit and all the volubility +which women have on such occasions. Paper was brought forth, and +accounts were made out between them, not such as would please the eyes +of a Civil Service Examiner, but yet accurate in their way. How they +worked and racked their brains, and strained their women's nerves in +planning how justice might be defeated, and the dishonesty of the loved +one covered from shame! Uncle Bat was ready with his share. He had +received such explanation as Mrs. Woodward had been able to give, and +though when he first heard the news he had spoken severely of Alaric, +still his money should be forthcoming for the service of the family. He +could produce some fifteen hundred pounds; and would if needs be that +he should do so. Then Harry--but the pen fell from Gertrude's fingers as +she essayed to write down Harry Norman's contribution to the relief of +her husband's misery. + +'Remember, Gertrude, love, in how short a time he will be your brother.' + +'But when will it be, mamma? Is it to be on Thursday, as we had planned? +Of course, mamma, I cannot be there.' + +And then there was a break in their accounts, and Mrs. Woodward +explained to Gertrude that they had all thought it better to postpone +Linda's marriage till after the trial; and this, of course was +the source of fresh grief. When men such as Alaric Tudor stoop to +dishonesty, the penalties of detection are not confined to their own +hearthstone. The higher are the branches of the tree and the wider, the +greater will be the extent of earth which its fall will disturb. + +Gertrude's pen, however, again went to work. The shares were put down +at L5,000. 'If they can only be sold for so much, I think we may +manage it,' said Mrs. Woodward; 'I am sure that Harry can get the +remainder--indeed he said he could have more than that.' + +'And what will Linda do?' + +'Linda will never want it, love; and if she did, what of that? would she +not give all she has for you?' + +And then Mrs. Woodward went her way to Norman's office, without having +spoken to Alaric. 'You will come again soon, mamma,' said Gertrude. Mrs. +Woodward promised that she would. + +'And, mamma,' and she whispered close into her mother's ear, as she made +her next request; 'and, mamma, you will be with me on that day?' + +We need not follow Norman in his efforts to have her full fortune +restored to Madame Jaquetanape. He was daily in connexion with Alaric's +lawyer, and returned sometimes with hope and sometimes without it. Mrs. +Val's lawyer would receive no overtures towards a withdrawal of the +charge, or even towards any mitigation in their proceedings, unless the +agent coming forward on behalf of the lady's late trustee, did so with +the full sum of L20,000 in his hands. + +We need not follow Charley, who was everyday with Alaric, and who was, +unknown to Alaric, an agent between him and Norman. 'Well, Charley, what +are they doing to-day?' was Alaric's constant question to him, even up +to the very eve of his trial. + +If any spirit ever walks it must be that of the stockjobber, for how can +such a one rest in its grave without knowing what shares are doing? + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE LAST BREAKFAST + + +And that day was not long in coming; indeed, it came with terrible +alacrity; much too quickly for Gertrude, much too quickly for Norman; +and much too quickly for Alaric's lawyer. To Alaric only did the time +pass slowly, for he found himself utterly without employment. + +Norman and Uncle Bat between them had raised something about L6,000; but +when the day came on which they were prepared to dispose of the shares, +the Limehouse bridge was found to be worth nothing. They were, as the +broker had said, ticklish stock; so ticklish that no one would have them +at any price. When Undy, together with his agent from Tillietudlem, +went into the market about the same time to dispose of theirs, they were +equally unsuccessful. How the agent looked and spoke and felt may +be imagined; for the agent had made large advances, and had no other +security; but Undy had borne such looks and speeches before, and merely +said that it was very odd--extremely odd; he had been greatly deceived +by Mr. Piles. Mr. Piles also said it was very odd; but he did not appear +to be nearly so much annoyed as the agent from Tillietudlem; and it was +whispered that, queer as things now looked, Messrs. Blocks, Piles, and +Cofferdam, had not made a bad thing of the bridge. + +Overture after overture was made to the lawyer employed by Mrs. Val's +party. Norman first offered the L6,000 and the shares; then when the +shares were utterly rejected by the share-buying world, he offered to +make himself personally responsible for the remainder of the debt, and +to bind himself by bond to pay it within six months. At first these +propositions were listened to, and Alaric's friends were led to believe +that the matter would be handled in such a way that the prosecution +would fall to the ground. But at last all composition was refused. The +adverse attorney declared, first, that he was not able to accept any +money payment short of the full amount with interest, and then he +averred, that as criminal proceedings had been taken they could not now +be stayed. Whether or no Alaric's night attack had anything to do +with this, whether Undy had been the means of instigating this rigid +adherence to justice, we are not prepared to say. + +That day for which Gertrude had prayed her mother's assistance came +all too soon. They had become at last aware that the trial must go on. +Charley was with them on the last evening, and completed their despair +by telling them that their attorney had resolved to make no further +efforts at a compromise. + +Perhaps the most painful feeling to Gertrude through the whole of the +last fortnight had been the total prostration of her husband's energy, +and almost of his intellect; he seemed to have lost the power of judging +for himself, and of thinking and deciding what conduct would be best for +him in his present condition. He who had been so energetic, so full of +life, so ready for all emergencies, so clever at devices, so able to +manage not only for himself but for his friends, he was, as it were, +paralysed and unmanned. He sat from morning to night looking at the +empty fire-grate, and hardly ventured to speak of the ordeal that he had +to undergo. + +His lawyer was to call for him on the morning of the trial, and Mrs. +Woodward was to be at the house soon after he had left it. He had not +yet seen her since the inquiry had commenced, and it was very plain that +he did not wish to do so. Mrs. Woodward was to be there and to remain +till his fate had been decided, and then-- Not a word had yet been said +as to the chance of his not returning; but Mrs. Woodward was aware that +he would probably be unable to do so, and felt, that if such should be +the case, she could not leave her daughter alone. + +And so Alaric and his wife sat down to breakfast on that last morning. +She had brought their boy down; but as she perceived that the child's +presence did not please his father, he had been sent back to the +nursery, and they were alone. She poured out his tea for him, put bread +upon his plate, and then sat down close beside him, endeavouring to +persuade him to eat. She had never yet found fault with him, she had +never even ventured to give him counsel, but now she longed to entreat +him to collect himself and take a man's part in the coming trial. He +sat in the seat prepared for him, but, instead of eating, he thrust his +hands after his accustomed manner into his pockets and sat glowering at +the teacups. + +'Come, Alaric, won't you eat your breakfast?' said she. + +'No; breakfast! no-how can I eat now? how can you think that I could eat +at such a time as this? Do you take yours; never mind me.' + +'But, dearest, you will be faint if you do not eat; think what you have +to go through; remember how many eyes will be on you to-day.' + +He shuddered violently as she spoke, and motioned to her with his hand +not to go on with what she was saying. + +'I know, I know,' said she passionately, 'dearest, dearest love--I know +how dreadful it is; would that I could bear it for you! would that I +could!' + +He turned away his head, for a tear was in his eye. It was the first +that had come to his assistance since this sorrow had come upon him. + +'Don't turn from me, dearest Alaric; do not turn from me now at our +last moments. To me at least you are the same noble Alaric that you ever +were.' + +'Noble!' said he, with all the self-scorn which he so truly felt. + +'To me you are, now as ever; but, Alaric, I do so fear that you will +want strength, physical strength, you know, to go through all this. I +would have you bear yourself like a man before them all.' + +'It will be but little matter,' said he. + +'It will be matter. It will be matter to me. My darling, darling +husband, rouse yourself,' and she knelt before his knees and prayed to +him; 'for my sake do it; eat and drink that you may have the power of a +man when all the world is looking at you. If God forgives us our sins, +surely we should so carry ourselves that men may not be ashamed to do +so.' + +He did not answer her, but he turned to the table and broke the bread, +and put his lips to the cup. And then she gave him food as she would +give it to a child, and he with a child's obedience ate and drank what +was put before him. As he did so, every now and again a single tear +forced itself beneath his eyelid and trickled down his face, and in some +degree Gertrude was comforted. + +He had hardly finished his enforced breakfast when the cab and the +lawyer came to the door. The learned gentleman had the good taste not to +come in, and so the servant told them that Mr. Gitemthruet was there. + +'Say that your master will be with him in a minute,' said Gertrude, +quite coolly; and then the room door was again closed, and the husband +and wife had now to say adieu. + +Alaric rose from his chair and made a faint attempt to smile. 'Well, +Gertrude,' said he, 'it has come at last.' + +She rushed into his embrace, and throwing her arms around him, buried +her face upon his breast. 'Alaric, Alaric, my husband! my love, my best, +my own, my only love!' + +'I cannot say much now, Gertrude, but I know how good you are; you will +come and see me, if they will let you, won't you?' + +'See you!' said she, starting back, but still holding him and looking +up earnestly into his face. 'See you!' and then she poured out her love +with all the passion of a Ruth: '"Whither thou goest, I will go; and +where thou lodgest, I will lodge.... Where thou diest, will I die, and +there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught +but death part thee and me." See you, Alaric; oh, it cannot be that they +will hinder the wife from being with her husband. But, Alaric,' she went +on, 'do not droop now, love--will you?' + +'I cannot brazen it out,' said he. 'I know too well what it is that I +have done.' + +'No, not that, Alaric; I would not have that. But remember, all is not +over, whatever they may do. Ah, how little will really be over, whatever +they can do! You have repented, have you not, Alaric?' + +'I think so, I hope so,' said Alaric, with his eyes upon the ground. + +'You have repented, and are right before God; do not fear then what man +can do to you. I would not have you brazen, Alaric; but be manly, be +collected, be your own self, the man that I have loved, the man that I +do now love so well, better, better than ever;' and she threw herself +on him and kissed him and clung to him, and stroked his hair and put her +hand upon his face, and then holding him from her, looked up to him as +though he were a hero whom she all but worshipped. + +'Gertrude, Gertrude--that I should have brought you to this!' + +'Never mind,' said she; 'we will win through it yet--we will yet be +happy together, far, far away from here--remember that--let that support +you through all. And now, Alaric, you will come up for one moment and +kiss him before you go.' + +'The man will be impatient.' + +'Never mind; let him be impatient--you shall not go away without blessing +your boy; come up, Alaric.' And she took him by the hand and led him +like a child into the nursery. + +'Where is the nurse? bring him here--papa is going away-- Alley, boy, +give papa a big kiss.' + +Alaric, for the first time for the fortnight, took the little fellow +into his arms and kissed him. 'God bless you, my bairn,' said he, +'and grant that all this may never be visited against you, here or +hereafter!' + +'And now go,' said Gertrude, as they descended the stairs together, 'and +may God in His mercy watch over and protect you and give you back to me! +And, Alaric, wherever you are I will be close to you, remember that. I +will be quite, quite close to you. Now, one kiss--oh, dearest, dearest +Alaric--there--there--now go.' And so he went, and Gertrude shutting +herself into her room threw herself on to the bed, and wept aloud. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +MR. CHAFFANBRASS + + +We must now follow Alaric to his trial. He was, of course, much too soon +at court. All people always are, who are brought to the court perforce, +criminals for instance, and witnesses, and other such-like unfortunate +wretches; whereas many of those who only go there to earn their bread +are very often as much too late. He was to be tried at the Old Bailey. +As I have never seen the place, and as so many others have seen it, I +will not attempt to describe it. Here Mr. Gitemthruet was quite at +home; he hustled and jostled, elbowed and ordered, as though he were the +second great man of the place, and the client whom he was to defend was +the first. In this latter opinion he was certainly right. Alaric was +the hero of the day, and people made way for him as though he had won a +victory in India, and was going to receive the freedom of the city in a +box. As he passed by, a gleam of light fell on him from a window, and +at the instant three different artists had him photographed, +daguerreotyped, and bedevilled; four graphic members of the public press +took down the details of his hat, whiskers, coat, trousers, and boots; +and the sub-editor of the _Daily Delight_ observed that 'there was a +slight tremor in the first footstep which he took within the precincts +of the prison, but in every other respect his demeanour was dignified +and his presence manly; he had light-brown gloves, one of which was on +his left hand, but the other was allowed to swing from his fingers. +The court was extremely crowded, and some fair ladies appeared there to +grace its customarily ungracious walls. On the bench we observed Lord +Killtime, Sir Gregory Hardlines, and Mr. Whip Vigil. Mr. Undecimus +Scott, who had been summoned as a witness by the prisoner, was also +accommodated by the sheriffs with a seat.' Such was the opening +paragraph of the seven columns which were devoted by the _Daily Delight_ +to the all-absorbing subject. + +But Mr. Gitemthruet made his way through artists, reporters, and the +agitated crowd with that happy air of command which can so easily be +assumed by men at a moment's notice, when they feel themselves to be for +that moment of importance. 'Come this way, Mr. Tudor; follow me and +we will get on without any trouble; just follow me close,' said Mr. +Gitemthruet to his client, in a whisper which was audible to not a few. +Tudor, who was essaying, and not altogether unsuccessfully, to bear the +public gaze undismayed, did as he was bid, and followed Mr. Gitemthruet. + +'Now,' said the attorney, 'we'll sit here--Mr. Chaffanbrass will be +close to us, there; so that I can touch him up as we go along; of +course, you know, you can make any suggestion, only you must do it +through me. Here's his lordship; uncommon well he looks, don't he? You'd +hardly believe him to be seventy-seven, but he's not a day less, if he +isn't any more; and he has as much work in him yet as you or I, pretty +nearly. If you want to insure a man's life, Mr. Tudor, put him on the +bench; then he'll never die. We lawyers are not like bishops, who are +always for giving up, and going out on a pension.' + +But Alaric was not at the moment inclined to meditate much on the long +years of judges. He was thinking, or perhaps trying to think, whether +it would not be better for him to save this crowd that was now gathered +together all further trouble, and plead guilty at once. He knew he was +guilty, he could not understand that it was possible that any juryman +should have a doubt about it; he had taken the money that did not belong +to him; that would be made quite clear; he had taken it, and had not +repaid it; there was the absolute _corpus delicti_ in court, in the +shape of a deficiency of some thousands of pounds. What possible doubt +would there be in the breast of anyone as to his guilt? Why should he +vex his own soul by making himself for a livelong day the gazing-stock +for the multitude? Why should he trouble all those wigged counsellors, +when one word from him would set all at rest? + +'Mr. Gitemthruet, I think I'll plead guilty,' said he. + +'Plead what!' said Mr. Gitemthruet, turning round upon his client with a +sharp, angry look. It was the first time that his attorney had shown any +sign of disgust, displeasure, or even disapprobation since he had taken +Alaric's matter in hand. 'Plead what! Ah, you're joking, I know; upon my +soul you gave me a start.' + +Alaric endeavoured to explain to him that he was not joking, nor in +a mood to joke; but that he really thought the least vexatious course +would be for him to plead guilty. + +'Then I tell you it would be the most vexatious proceeding ever I heard +of in all my practice. But you are in my hands, Mr. Tudor, and you can't +do it. You have done me the honour to come to me, and now you must be +ruled by me. Plead guilty! Why, with such a case as you have got, you +would disgrace yourself for ever if you did so. Think of your friends, +Mr. Tudor, if you won't think of me or of yourself.' + +His lawyer's eloquence converted him, and he resolved that he would run +his chance. During this time all manner of little legal preliminaries +had been going on; and now the court was ready for business; the jury +were in their box, the court-keeper cried silence, and Mr. Gitemthruet +was busy among his papers with frantic energy. But nothing was yet seen +of the great Mr. Chaffanbrass. + +'I believe we may go on with the trial for breach of trust,' said the +judge. 'I do not know why we are waiting.' + +Then up and spoke Mr. Younglad, who was Alaric's junior counsel. Mr. +Younglad was a promising common-law barrister, now commencing his +career, of whom his friends were beginning to hope that he might, if +he kept his shoulders well to the collar, at some distant period make a +living out of his profession. He was between forty and forty-five years +of age, and had already overcome the natural diffidence of youth in +addressing a learned bench and a crowded court. + +'My lud,' said Younglad, 'my learned friend, Mr. Chaffanbrass, who leads +for the prisoner, is not yet in court. Perhaps, my lud, on behalf of my +client, I may ask for a few moments' delay.' + +'And if Mr. Chaffanbrass has undertaken to lead for the prisoner, why +is he not in court?' said the judge, looking as though he had uttered a +poser which must altogether settle Mr. Younglad's business. + +But Mr. Younglad had not been sitting, and walking and listening, let +alone talking occasionally, in criminal courts, for the last twenty +years, to be settled so easily. + +'My lud, if your ludship will indulge me with five minutes' delay--we +will not ask more than five minutes--your ludship knows, no one better, +the very onerous duties--' + +'When I was at the bar I took no briefs to which I could not attend,' +said the judge. + +'I am sure you did not, my lud; and my learned friend, should he ever +sit in your ludship's seat, will be able to say as much for himself, +when at some future time he may be--; but, my lud, Mr. Chaffanbrass is +now in court.' And as he spoke, Mr. Chaffanbrass, carrying in his hand a +huge old blue bag, which, as he entered, he took from his clerk's hands, +and bearing on the top of his head a wig that apparently had not been +dressed for the last ten years, made his way in among the barristers, +caring little on whose toes he trod, whose papers he upset, or whom he +elbowed on his road. Mr. Chaffanbrass was the cock of this dunghill, and +well he knew how to make his crowing heard there. + +'And now, pray, let us lose no more time,' said the judge. + +'My lord, if time has been lost through me, I am very sorry; but if your +lordship's horse had fallen down in the street as mine did just now----' + +'My horse never falls down in the street, Mr. Chaffanbrass.' + +'Some beasts, my lord, can always keep their legs under them, and others +can't; and men are pretty much in the same condition. I hope the former +may be the case with your lordship and your lordship's cob for many +years.' The judge, knowing of old that nothing could prevent Mr. +Chaffanbrass from having the last word, now held his peace, and the +trial began. + +There are not now too many pages left to us for the completion of our +tale; but, nevertheless, we must say a few words about Mr. Chaffanbrass. +He was one of an order of barristers by no means yet extinct, but of +whom it may be said that their peculiarities are somewhat less often +seen than they were when Mr. Chaffanbrass was in his prime. He confined +his practice almost entirely to one class of work, the defence, namely, +of culprits arraigned for heavy crimes, and in this he was, if not +unrivalled, at least unequalled. Rivals he had, who, thick as the skins +of such men may be presumed to be, not unfrequently writhed beneath +the lashes which his tongue could inflict. To such a perfection had he +carried his skill and power of fence, so certain was he in attack, so +invulnerable when attacked, that few men cared to come within the reach +of his forensic flail. To the old stagers who were generally opposed to +him, the gentlemen who conducted prosecutions on the part of the Crown, +and customarily spent their time and skill in trying to hang those +marauders on the public safety whom it was the special business of Mr. +Chaffanbrass to preserve unhung, to these he was, if not civil, at least +forbearing; but when any barrister, who was comparatively a stranger +to him, ventured to oppose him, there was no measure to his impudent +sarcasm and offensive sneers. + +Those, however, who most dreaded Mr. Chaffanbrass, and who had most +occasion to do so, were the witnesses. A rival lawyer could find a +protection on the bench when his powers of endurance were tried too +far; but a witness in a court of law has no protection. He comes there +unfeed, without hope of guerdon, to give such assistance to the State +in repressing crime and assisting justice as his knowledge in this +particular case may enable him to afford; and justice, in order to +ascertain whether his testimony be true, finds it necessary to subject +him to torture. One would naturally imagine that an undisturbed thread +of clear evidence would be best obtained from a man whose position was +made easy and whose mind was not harassed; but this is not the fact: to +turn a witness to good account, he must be badgered this way and that +till he is nearly mad; he must be made a laughingstock for the court; +his very truths must be turned into falsehoods, so that he may be +falsely shamed; he must be accused of all manner of villany, threatened +with all manner of punishment; he must be made to feel that he has +no friend near him, that the world is all against him; he must be +confounded till he forget his right hand from his left, till his mind be +turned into chaos, and his heart into water; and then let him give his +evidence. What will fall from his lips when in this wretched collapse +must be of special value, for the best talents of practised forensic +heroes are daily used to bring it about; and no member of the Humane +Society interferes to protect the wretch. Some sorts of torture are, +as it were, tacitly allowed even among humane people. Eels are skinned +alive, and witnesses are sacrificed, and no one's blood curdles at the +sight, no soft heart is sickened at the cruelty. + +To apply the thumbscrew, the boot, and the rack to the victim before him +was the work of Mr. Chaffanbrass's life. And it may be said of him that +the labour he delighted in physicked pain. He was as little averse to +this toil as the cat is to that of catching mice. And, indeed, he was +not unlike a cat in his method of proceeding; for he would, as it were, +hold his prey for a while between his paws, and pat him with gentle taps +before he tore him. He would ask a few civil little questions in his +softest voice, glaring out of his wicked old eye as he did so at those +around him, and then, when he had his mouse well in hand, out would come +his envenomed claw, and the wretched animal would feel the fatal wound +in his tenderest part. + +Mankind in general take pleasure in cruelty, though those who are +civilized abstain from it on principle. On the whole Mr. Chaffanbrass +is popular at the Old Bailey. Men congregate to hear him turn a witness +inside out, and chuckle with an inward pleasure at the success of his +cruelty. This Mr. Chaffanbrass knows, and, like an actor who is kept up +to his high mark by the necessity of maintaining his character, he never +allows himself to grow dull over his work. Therefore Mr. Chaffanbrass +bullies when it is quite unnecessary that he should bully; it is a +labour of love; and though he is now old, and stiff in his joints, +though ease would be dear to him, though like a gladiator satiated with +blood, he would as regards himself be so pleased to sheathe his sword, +yet he never spares himself. He never spares himself, and he never +spares his victim. + +As a lawyer, in the broad and high sense of the word, it may be presumed +that Mr. Chaffanbrass knows little or nothing. He has, indeed, no +occasion for such knowledge. His business is to perplex a witness and +bamboozle a jury, and in doing that he is generally successful. He +seldom cares for carrying the judge with him: such tactics, indeed, as +his are not likely to tell upon a judge. That which he loves is, that +a judge should charge against him, and a jury give a verdict in his +favour. When he achieves that he feels that he has earned his money. +Let others, the young lads and spooneys of his profession, undertake +the milk-and-water work of defending injured innocence; it is all but +an insult to his practised ingenuity to invite his assistance to such +tasteless business. Give him a case in which he has all the world +against him; Justice with her sword raised high to strike; Truth with +open mouth and speaking eyes to tell the bloody tale; outraged humanity +shrieking for punishment; a case from which Mercy herself, with averted +eyes, has loathing turned and bade her sterner sister do her work; give +him such a case as this, and then you will see Mr. Chaffanbrass in his +glory. Let him, by the use of his high art, rescue from the gallows and +turn loose upon the world the wretch whose hands are reeking with +the blood of father, mother, wife, and brother, and you may see Mr. +Chaffanbrass, elated with conscious worth, rub his happy hands with +infinite complacency. Then will his ambition be satisfied, and he will +feel that in the verdict of the jury he has received the honour due +to his genius. He will have succeeded in turning black into white, in +washing the blackamoor, in dressing in the fair robe of innocence the +foulest, filthiest wretch of his day; and as he returns to his home, he +will be proudly conscious that he is no little man. + +In person, however, Mr. Chaffanbrass is a little man, and a very dirty +little man. He has all manner of nasty tricks about him, which make +him a disagreeable neighbour to barristers sitting near to him. He +is profuse with snuff, and very generous with his handkerchief. He +is always at work upon his teeth, which do not do much credit to his +industry. His wig is never at ease upon his head, but is poked about by +him, sometimes over one ear, sometimes over the other, now on the back +of his head, and then on his nose; and it is impossible to say in which +guise he looks most cruel, most sharp, and most intolerable. His linen +is never clean, his hands never washed, and his clothes apparently never +new. He is about five feet six in height, and even with that stoops +greatly. His custom is to lean forward, resting with both hands on the +sort of desk before him, and then to fix his small brown basilisk eye +on the victim in the box before him. In this position he will remain +unmoved by the hour together, unless the elevation and fall of his +thick eyebrows and the partial closing of his wicked eyes can be called +motion. But his tongue! that moves; there is the weapon which he knows +how to use! + +Such is Mr. Chaffanbrass in public life; and those who only know him in +public life can hardly believe that at home he is one of the most easy, +good-tempered, amiable old gentlemen that ever was pooh-poohed by his +grown-up daughters, and occasionally told to keep himself quiet in a +corner. Such, however, is his private character. Not that he is a fool +in his own house; Mr. Chaffanbrass can never be a fool; but he is so +essentially good-natured, so devoid of any feeling of domestic tyranny, +so placid in his domesticities, that he chooses to be ruled by his own +children. But in his own way he is fond of hospitality; he delights in +a cosy glass of old port with an old friend in whose company he may be +allowed to sit in his old coat and old slippers. He delights also in his +books, in his daughters' music, and in three or four live pet dogs, +and birds, and squirrels, whom morning and night he feeds with his +own hands. He is charitable, too, and subscribes largely to hospitals +founded for the relief of the suffering poor. + +Such was Mr. Chaffanbrass, who had been selected by the astute Mr. +Gitemthruet to act as leading counsel on behalf of Alaric. If any human +wisdom could effect the escape of a client in such jeopardy, the +wisdom of Mr. Chaffanbrass would be likely to do it; but, in truth, the +evidence was so strong against him, that even this Newgate hero almost +feared the result. + +I will not try the patience of anyone by stating in detail all the +circumstances of the trial. In doing so I should only copy, or, at +any rate, might copy, the proceedings at some of those modern _causes +celebres_ with which all those who love such subjects are familiar. And +why should I force such matters on those who do not love them? The usual +opening speech was made by the chief man on the prosecuting side, who, +in the usual manner, declared 'that his only object was justice; that +his heart bled within him to see a man of such acknowledged public +utility as Mr. Tudor in such a position; that he sincerely hoped that +the jury might find it possible to acquit him, but that--' And then went +into his 'but' with so much venom that it was clearly discernible +to all, that in spite of his protestations, his heart was set upon a +conviction. + +When he had finished, the witnesses for the prosecution were called--the +poor wretches whose fate it was to be impaled alive that day by Mr. +Chaffanbrass. They gave their evidence, and in due course were impaled. +Mr. Chaffanbrass had never been greater. The day was hot, and he thrust +his wig back till it stuck rather on the top of his coat-collar than on +his head; his forehead seemed to come out like the head of a dog from +his kennel, and he grinned with his black teeth, and his savage eyes +twinkled, till the witnesses sank almost out of sight as they gazed at +him. + +And yet they had very little to prove, and nothing that he could +disprove. They had to speak merely to certain banking transactions, to +say that certain moneys had been so paid in and so drawn out, in stating +which they had their office books to depend on. But not the less on this +account were they made victims. To one clerk it was suggested that +he might now and then, once in three months or so, make an error in +a figure; and, having acknowledged this, he was driven about until he +admitted that it was very possible that every entry he made in the bank +books in the course of the year was false. 'And you, such as you,' +said Mr. Chaffanbrass, 'do you dare to come forward to give evidence on +commercial affairs? Go down, sir, and hide your ignominy.' The wretch, +convinced that he was ruined for ever, slunk out of court, and was +ashamed to show himself at his place of business for the next three +days. + +There were ten or twelve witnesses, all much of the same sort, who +proved among them that this sum of twenty thousand pounds had been +placed at Alaric's disposal, and that now, alas! the twenty thousand +pounds were not forthcoming. It seemed to be a very simple case; and, to +Alaric's own understanding, it seemed impossible that his counsel should +do anything for him. But as each impaled victim shrank with agonized +terror from the torture, Mr. Gitemthruet would turn round to Alaric +and assure him that they were going on well, quite as well as he had +expected. Mr. Chaffanbrass was really exerting himself; and when Mr. +Chaffanbrass did really exert himself he rarely failed. + +And so the long day faded itself away in the hot sweltering court, +and his lordship, at about seven o'clock, declared his intention of +adjourning. Of course a _cause celebre_ such as this was not going to +decide itself in one day. Alaric's guilt was clear as daylight to all +concerned; but a man who had risen to be a Civil Service Commissioner, +and to be entrusted with the guardianship of twenty thousand pounds, was +not to be treated like a butcher who had merely smothered his wife in an +ordinary way, or a housebreaker who had followed his professional career +to its natural end; more than that was due to the rank and station +of the man, and to the very respectable retaining fee with which +Mr. Gitemthruet had found himself enabled to secure the venom of Mr. +Chaffanbrass. So the jury retired to regale themselves _en masse_ at a +neighbouring coffee-house; Alaric was again permitted to be at large on +bail (the amiable policeman in mufti still attending him at a distance); +and Mr. Chaffanbrass and his lordship retired to prepare themselves by +rest for the morrow's labours. + +But what was Alaric to do? He soon found himself under the guardianship +of the constant Gitemthruet in a neighbouring tavern, and his cousin +Charley was with him. Charley had been in court the whole day, except +that he had twice posted down to the West End in a cab to let Gertrude +and Mrs. Woodward know how things were going on. He had posted down and +posted back again, and, crowded as the court had been, he had +contrived to make his way in, using that air of authority to which +the strongest-minded policeman will always bow; till at last the very +policemen assisted him, as though he were in some way connected with the +trial. + +On his last visit at Gertrude's house he had told her that it was very +improbable that the trial should be finished that day. She had then +said nothing as to Alaric's return to his own house; it had indeed not +occurred to her that he would be at liberty to do so: Charley at once +caught at this, and strongly recommended his cousin to remain where he +was. 'You will gain nothing by going home,' said he; 'Gertrude does +not expect you; Mrs. Woodward is there; and it will be better for all +parties that you should remain.' Mr. Gitemthruet strongly backed his +advice, and Alaric, so counselled, resolved to remain where he was. +Charley promised to stay with him, and the policeman in mufti, without +making any promise at all, silently acquiesced in the arrangement. +Charley made one more visit to the West, saw Norman at his lodgings, and +Mrs. Woodward and Gertrude in Albany Place, and then returned to make a +night of it with Alaric. We need hardly say that Charley made a night +of it in a very different manner from that to which he and his brother +navvies were so well accustomed. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE OLD BAILEY + + +The next morning, at ten o'clock, the court was again crowded. The +judge was again on his bench, prepared for patient endurance; and Lord +Killtime and Sir Gregory Hardlines were alongside of him. The jury were +again in their box, ready with pen and paper to give their brightest +attention--a brightness which will be dim enough before the long day be +over; the counsel for the prosecution were rummaging among their papers; +the witnesses for the defence were sitting there among the attorneys, +with the exception of the Honourable Undecimus Scott, who was +accommodated with a seat near the sheriff, and whose heart, to tell the +truth, was sinking somewhat low within his breast, in spite of the glass +of brandy with which he had fortified himself. Alaric was again present +under the wings of Mr. Gitemthruet; and the great Mr. Chaffanbrass was +in his place. He was leaning over a slip of paper which he held in +his hand, and with compressed lips was meditating his attack upon his +enemies; on this occasion his wig was well over his eyes, and as he +peered up from under it to the judge's face, he cocked his nose with an +air of supercilious contempt for all those who were immediately around +him. + +It was for him to begin the day's sport by making a speech, not so much +in defence of his client as in accusation of the prosecutors. 'It had +never,' he said, 'been his fate, he might say his misfortune, to hear a +case against a man in a respectable position, opened by the Crown with +such an amount of envenomed virulence.' He was then reminded that the +prosecution was not carried on by the Crown. 'Then,' said he, 'we +may attribute this virulence to private malice; that it is not to be +attributed to any fear that this English bride should lose her fortune, +or that her French husband should be deprived of any portion of his +spoil, I shall be able to prove to a certainty. Did I allow myself that +audacity of denunciation which my learned friend has not considered +incompatible with the dignity of his new silk gown? Could I permit +myself such latitude of invective as he has adopted?'--a slight laugh +was here heard in the court, and an involuntary smile played across the +judge's face--'yes,' continued Mr. Chaffanbrass, 'I boldly aver that I +have never forgotten myself, and what is due to humanity, as my learned +friend did in his address to the jury. Gentlemen of the jury, you +will not confound the natural indignation which counsel must feel when +defending innocence from the false attacks, with the uncalled-for, the +unprofessional acerbity which has now been used in promoting such an +accusation as this. I may at times be angry, when I see mean falsehood +before me in vain assuming the garb of truth--for with such juries as +I meet here it generally is in vain--I may at times forget myself in +anger; but, if we talk of venom, virulence, and eager hostility, I yield +the palm, without a contest, to my learned friend in the new silk gown.' + +He then went on to dispose of the witnesses whom they had heard on the +previous day, and expressed a regret that an _expose_ should have been +made so disgraceful to the commercial establishments of this +great commercial city. It only showed what was the effect on such +establishments of that undue parsimony which was now one of the crying +evils of the times. Having thus shortly disposed of them, he came to +what all men knew was the real interest of the day's doings. 'But,' said +he, 'the evidence in this case, to which your attention will be chiefly +directed, will be, not that for the accusation, but that for the +defence. It will be my business to show to you, not only that my client +is guiltless, but to what temptations to be guilty he has been purposely +and wickedly subjected. I shall put into that bar an honourable member +of the House of Commons, who will make some revelations as to his +own life, who will give us an insight into the ways and means of a +legislator, which will probably surprise us all, not excluding his +lordship on the bench. He will be able to explain to us--and I trust I +may be able to induce him to do so, for it is possible that he may be a +little coy--he will be able to explain to us why my client, who is in no +way connected either with the Scotts, or the Golightlys, or the Figgs, +or the Jaquetanapes, why he was made the lady's trustee; and he will +also, perhaps, tell us, after some slight, gentle persuasion, whether he +has himself handled, or attempted to handle, any of this lady's money.' + +Mr. Chaffanbrass then went on to state that, as the forms of the court +would not give him the power of addressing the jury again, he must now +explain to them what he conceived to be the facts of the case. He then +admitted that his client, in his anxiety to do the best he could with +the fortune entrusted to him, had invested it badly. The present fate +of these unfortunate bridge shares, as to which the commercial world +had lately held so many different opinions, proved that: but it had +nevertheless been a _bona fide_ investment, made in conjunction with, +and by the advice of, Mr. Scott, the lady's uncle, who thus, for his own +purposes, got possession of money which was in truth confided to him for +other purposes. His client, Mr. Chaffanbrass acknowledged, had behaved +with great indiscretion; but the moment he found that the investment +would be an injurious one to the lady whose welfare was in his hands, he +at once resolved to make good the whole amount from his own pocket. That +he had done so, or, at any rate, would have done so, but for this trial, +would be proved to them. Nobler conduct than this it was impossible to +imagine. Whereas, the lady's uncle, the honourable member of Parliament, +the gentleman who had made a stalking-horse of his, Mr. Chaffanbrass's, +client, refused to refund a penny of the spoil, and was now the +instigator of this most unjust proceeding. + +As Mr. Chaffanbrass thus finished his oration, Undy Scott tried to smile +complacently on those around him. But why did the big drops of +sweat stand on his brow as his eye involuntarily caught those of Mr. +Chaffanbrass? Why did he shuffle his feet, and uneasily move his hands +and feet hither and thither, as a man does when he tries in vain to be +unconcerned? Why did he pull his gloves on and off, and throw himself +back with that affected air which is so unusual to him? All the court +was looking at him, and every one knew that he was wretched. Wretched! +aye, indeed he was; for the assurance even of an Undy Scott, the +hardened man of the clubs, the thrice elected and twice rejected of +Tillietudlem, fell prostrate before the well-known hot pincers of +Chaffanbrass, the torturer! + +The first witness called was Henry Norman. Alaric looked up for a moment +with surprise, and then averted his eyes. Mr. Gitemthruet had concealed +from him the fact that Norman was to be called. He merely proved +this, that having heard from Mrs. Woodward, who was the prisoner's +mother-in-law, and would soon be his own mother-in-law, that a +deficiency had been alleged to exist in the fortune of Madame +Jaquetanape, he had, on the part of Mrs. Woodward, produced what he +believed would cover this deficiency, and that when he had been informed +that more money was wanting, he had offered to give security that the +whole should be paid in six months. Of course, on him Mr. Chaffanbrass +exercised none of his terrible skill, and as the lawyers on the other +side declined to cross-examine him, he was soon able to leave the court. +This he did speedily, for he had no desire to witness Alaric's misery. + +And then the Honourable Undecimus Scott was put into the witness-box. It +was suggested, on his behalf, that he might give his evidence from the +seat which he then occupied, but this Mr. Chaffanbrass would by no means +allow. His intercourse with Mr. Scott, he said, must be of a nearer, +closer, and more confidential nature than such an arrangement as that +would admit. A witness, to his way of thinking, was never an efficient +witness till he had his arm on the rail of a witness-box. He must +trouble Mr. Scott to descend from the grandeur of his present position; +he might return to his seat after he had been examined--if he then +should have a mind to do so. Our friend Undy found that he had to obey, +and he was soon confronted with Mr. Chaffanbrass in the humbler manner +which that gentleman thought so desirable. + +'You are a member of the House of Commons, I believe, Mr. Scott?' began +Mr. Chaffanbrass. + +Undy acknowledged that he was so. + +'And you are the son of a peer, I believe?' + +'A Scotch peer,' said Undy. + +'Oh, a Scotch peer,' said Mr. Chaffanbrass, bringing his wig forward +over his left eye in a manner that was almost irresistible--'a Scotch +peer--a member of Parliament, and son of a Scotch peer; and you have +been a member of the Government, I believe, Mr. Scott?' + +Undy confessed that he had been in office for a short time. + +'A member of Parliament, a son of a peer, and one of the Government of +this great and free country. You ought to be a proud and a happy man. +You are a man of fortune, too, I believe, Mr. Scott?' + +'That is a matter of opinion,' said Undy; 'different people have +different ideas. I don't know what you call fortune.' + +'Why I call L20,000 a fortune--this sum that the lady had who married +the Frenchman. Have you L20,000?' + +'I shall not answer that question.' + +'Have you L10,000? You surely must have as much as that, as I know you +married a fortune yourself,--unless, indeed, a false-hearted trustee has +got hold of your money also. Come, have you got L10,000?' + +'I shall not answer you.' + +'Have you got any income at all? Now, I demand an answer to that on your +oath, sir.' + +'My lord, must I answer such questions?' said Undy. + +'Yes, sir; you must answer them, and many more like them,' said Mr. +Chaffanbrass. 'My lord, it is essential to my client that I should prove +to the jury whether this witness is or is not a penniless adventurer; if +he be a respectable member of society, he can have no objection to let +me know whether he has the means of living.' + +'Perhaps, Mr. Scott,' said the judge, 'you will not object to state +whether or no you possess any fixed income.' + +'Have you, or have you not, got an income on which you live?' demanded +Mr. Chaffanbrass. + +'I have an income,' said Undy, not, however, in a voice that betokened +much self-confidence in the strength of his own answer. + +'You have an income, have you? And now, Mr. Scott, will you tell us what +profession you follow at this moment with the object of increasing your +income? I think we may surmise, by the tone of your voice, that your +income is not very abundant.' + +'I have no profession,' said Undy. + +'On your oath, you are in no profession?' + +'Not at present.' + +'On your oath, you are not a stock-jobber?' + +Undy hesitated for a moment. + +'By the virtue of your oath, sir, are you a stock-jobber, or are you +not?' + +'No, I am not. At least, I believe not.' + +'You believe not!' said Mr. Chaffanbrass--and it would be necessary to +hear the tone in which this was said to understand the derision which +was implied. 'You believe you are not a stock-jobber! Are you, or +are you not, constantly buying shares and selling shares--railway +shares--bridge shares--mining shares--and such-like?' + +'I sometimes buy shares.' + +'And sometimes sell them?' + +'Yes--and sometimes sell them.' + +Where Mr. Chaffanbrass had got his exact information, we cannot say; +but very exact information he had acquired respecting Undy's +little transactions. He questioned him about the Mary Janes and Old +Friendships, about the West Corks and the Ballydehob Branch, about +sundry other railways and canals, and finally about the Limehouse +bridge; and then again he asked his former question. 'And now,' said he, +'will you tell the jury whether you are a stock-jobber or no?' + +'It is all a matter of opinion,' said Undy. 'Perhaps I may be, in your +sense of the word.' + +'My sense of the word!' said Mr. Chaffanbrass. 'You are as much a +stock-jobber, sir, as that man is a policeman, or his lordship is +a judge. And now, Mr. Scott, I am sorry that I must go back to your +private affairs, respecting which you are so unwilling to speak. I fear +I must trouble you to tell me this--How did you raise the money with +which you bought that latter batch--the large lump of the bridge +shares--of which we were speaking?' + +'I borrowed it from Mr. Tudor,' said Undy, who had prepared himself to +answer this question glibly. + +'You borrowed it from Mr. Alaric Tudor--that is, from the gentleman now +upon his trial. You borrowed it, I believe, just at the time that he +became the lady's trustee?' + +'Yes,' said Undy; 'I did so.' + +'You have not repaid him as yet?' + +'No--not yet,' said Undy. + +'I thought not. Can you at all say when Mr. Tudor may probably get his +money?' + +'I am not at present prepared to name a day. When the money was lent it +was not intended that it should be repaid at an early day.' + +'Oh! Mr. Tudor did not want his money at an early day--didn't he? But, +nevertheless, he has, I believe, asked for it since, and that very +pressingly?' + +'He has never asked for it,' said Undy. + +'Allow me to remind you, Mr. Scott, that I have the power of putting my +client into that witness-box, although he is on his trial; and, having +so reminded you, let me again beg you to say whether he has not asked +you for repayment of this large sum of money very pressingly.' + +'No; he has never done so.' + +'By the value of your oath, sir--if it has any value--did not my +client beseech you to allow these shares to be sold while they were yet +saleable, in order that your niece's trust money might be replaced in +the English funds?' + +'He said something as to the expediency of selling them, and I differed +from him.' + +'You thought it would be better for the lady's interest that they should +remain unsold?' + +'I made no question of the lady's interest. I was not her trustee.' + +'But the shares were bought with the lady's money.' + +'What shares?' asked Undy. + +'What shares, sir? Those shares which you had professed to hold on the +lady's behalf, and which afterwards you did not scruple to call your +own. Those shares of yours--since you have the deliberate dishonesty +so to call them--those shares of yours, were they not bought with the +lady's money?' + +'They were bought with the money which I borrowed from Mr. Tudor.' + +'And where did Mr. Tudor get that money?' + +'That is a question you must ask himself,' said Undy. + +'It is a question, sir, that just at present I prefer to ask you. Now, +sir, be good enough to tell the jury, whence Mr. Tudor got that money; +or tell them, if you dare do so, that you do not know.' + +Undy for a minute remained silent, and Mr. Chaffanbrass remained silent +also. But if the fury of his tongue for a moment was at rest, that of +his eyes was as active as ever. He kept his gaze steadily fixed upon the +witness, and stood there with compressed lips, still resting on his two +hands, as though he were quite satisfied thus to watch the prey that was +in his power. For an instant he glanced up to the jury, and then allowed +his eyes to resettle on the face of the witness, as though he might have +said, 'There, gentlemen, there he is--the son of a peer, a member of +Parliament; what do you think of him?' + +The silence of that minute was horrible to Undy, and yet he could hardly +bring himself to break it. The judge looked at him with eyes which +seemed to read his inmost soul; the jury looked at him, condemning him +one and all; Alaric looked at him with fierce, glaring eyes of hatred, +the same eyes that had glared at him that night when he had been +collared in the street; the whole crowd looked at him derisively; but +the eyes of them all were as nothing to the eyes of Mr. Chaffanbrass. + +'I never saw him so great; I never did,' said Mr. Gitemthruet, +whispering to his client; and Alaric, even he, felt some consolation in +the terrible discomfiture of his enemy. + +'I don't know where he got it,' said Undy, at last breaking the terrible +silence, and wiping the perspiration from his brow. + +'Oh, you don't!' said Mr. Chaffanbrass, knocking his wig back, and +coming well out of his kennel. 'After waiting for a quarter of an +hour or so, you are able to tell the jury at last that you don't know +anything about it. He took the small trifle of change out of his pocket, +I suppose?' + +'I don't know where he took it from.' + +'And you didn't ask?' + +'No.' + +'You got the money; that was all you know. But this was just at the +time that Mr. Tudor became the lady's trustee; I think you have admitted +that.' + +'It may have been about the time.' + +'Yes; it may have been about the time, as you justly observe, Mr. Scott. +Luckily, you know, we have the dates of the two transactions. But it +never occurred to your innocent mind that the money which you got into +your hands was a part of the lady's fortune; that never occurred to your +innocent mind--eh, Mr. Scott?' + +'I don't know that my mind is a more innocent mind than your own,' said +Undy. + +'I dare say not. Well, did the idea ever occur to your guilty mind?' + +'Perhaps my mind is not more guilty than your own, either.' + +'Then may God help me,' said Mr. Chaffanbrass, 'for I must be at a bad +pass. You told us just now, Mr. Scott, that some time since Mr. Tudor +advised you to sell these shares--what made him give you this advice?' + +'He meant, he said, to sell his own.' + +'And he pressed you to sell yours?' + +'Yes.' + +'He urged you to do so more than once?' + +'Yes; I believe he did.' + +'And now, Mr. Scott, can you explain to the jury why he was so +solicitous that you should dispose of your property?' + +'I do not know why he should have done so, unless he wanted back his +money.' + +'Then he did ask for his own money?' + +'No; he never asked for it. But if I had sold the shares perhaps he +might have asked for it.' + +'Oh!' said Mr. Chaffanbrass; and as he uttered the monosyllable he +looked up at the jury, and gently shook his head, and gently shook his +hands. Mr. Chaffanbrass was famous for these little silent addresses to +the jury-box. + +But not even yet had he done with this suspicious loan. We cannot follow +him through the whole of his examination; for he kept our old friend +under the harrow for no less than seven hours. Though he himself made no +further statement to the jury, he made it perfectly plain, by Undy's own +extracted admissions, or by the hesitation of his denials, that he had +knowingly received this money out of his niece's fortune, and that he +had refused to sell the shares bought with this money, when pressed to +do so by Tudor, in order that the trust-money might be again made up. + +There were those who blamed Mr. Chaffanbrass for thus admitting that his +client had made away with his ward's money by lending it to Undy; but +that acute gentleman saw clearly that he could not contend against the +fact of the property having been fraudulently used; but he saw that he +might induce the jury to attach so much guilt to Undy, that Tudor would, +as it were, be whitened by the blackness of the other's villany. The +judge, he well knew, would blow aside all this froth; but then the judge +could not find the verdict. + +Towards the end of the day, when Undy was thoroughly worn out--at which +time, however, Mr. Chaffanbrass was as brisk as ever, for nothing ever +wore him out when he was pursuing his game--when the interest of those +who had been sweltering in the hot court all the day was observed to +flag, Mr. Chaffanbrass began twisting round his finger a bit of paper, +of which those who were best acquainted with his manner knew that he +would soon make use. + +'Mr. Scott,' said he, suddenly dropping the derisive sarcasm of his +former tone, and addressing him with all imaginable courtesy, 'could you +oblige me by telling me whose handwriting that is?' and he handed to him +the scrap of paper. Undy took it, and saw that the writing was his own; +his eyes were somewhat dim, and he can hardly be said to have read it. +It was a very short memorandum, and it ran as follows: 'All will yet be +well, if those shares be ready to-morrow morning.' + +'Well, Mr. Scott,' said the lawyer, 'do you recognize the handwriting?' + +Undy looked at it, and endeavoured to examine it closely, but he could +not; his eyes swam, and his head was giddy, and he felt sick. Could he +have satisfied himself that the writing was not clearly and manifestly +his own, he would have denied the document altogether; but he feared to +do this; the handwriting might be proved to be his own. + +'It is something like my own,' said he. + +'Something like your own, is it?' said Mr. Chaffanbrass, as though he +were much surprised. 'Like your own! Well, will you have the goodness to +read it?' + +Undy turned it in his hand as though the proposed task were singularly +disagreeable to him. Why, thought he to himself, should he be thus +browbeaten by a dirty old Newgate lawyer? Why not pluck up his courage, +and, at any rate, show that he was a man? 'No,' said he, 'I will not +read it.' + +'Then I will. Gentlemen of the jury, have the goodness to listen to me.' +Of course there was a contest then between him and the lawyers on the +other side whether the document might or might not be read; but equally +of course the contest ended in the judge's decision that it should be +read. And Mr. Chaffanbrass did read it in a voice audible to all men. +'All will yet be well, if those shares be ready to-morrow morning.' We +may take it as admitted, I suppose, that this is in your handwriting, +Mr. Scott?' + +'It probably may be, though I will not say that it is.' + +'Do you not know, sir, with positive certainty that it is your writing?' + +To this Undy made no direct answer. 'What is your opinion, Mr. Scott?' +said the judge; 'you can probably give an opinion by which the jury +would be much guided.' + +'I think it is, my lord,' said Undy. + +'He thinks it is, said Mr. Chaffanbrass, addressing the jury. 'Well, +for once I agree with you. I think it is also--and how will you have the +goodness to explain it. To whom was it addressed?' + +'I cannot say.' + +'When was it written?' + +'I do not know.' + +'What does it mean?' + +'I cannot remember.' + +'Was it addressed to Mr. Tudor?' + +'I should think not.' + +'Now, Mr. Scott, have the goodness to look at the jury, and to speak a +little louder. You are in the habit of addressing a larger audience than +this, and cannot, therefore, be shamefaced. You mean to tell the jury +that you think that that note was not intended by you for Mr. Tudor?' + +'I think not,' said Undy. + +'But you can't say who it was intended for?' + +'No.' + +'And by the virtue of your oath, you have told us all that you know +about it?' Undy remained silent, but Mr. Chaffanbrass did not press +him for an answer. 'You have a brother, named Valentine, I think.' Now +Captain Val had been summoned also, and was at this moment in court. +Mr. Chaffanbrass requested that he might be desired to leave it, and, +consequently, he was ordered out in charge of a policeman. + +'And now, Mr. Scott--was that note written by you to Mr. Tudor, with +reference to certain shares, which you proposed that Mr. Tudor should +place in your brother's hands? Now, sir, I ask you, as a member of +Parliament, as a member of the Government, as the son of a peer, to give +a true answer to that question.' And then again Undy was silent; +and again Mr. Chaffanbrass leant on the desk and glared at him. 'And +remember, sir, member of Parliament and nobleman as you are, you shall +be indicted for perjury, if you are guilty of perjury.' + +'My lord,' said Undy, writhing in torment, 'am I to submit to this?' + +'Mr. Chaffanbrass,' said the judge, 'you should not threaten your +witness. Mr. Scott--surely you can answer the question.' + +Mr. Chaffanbrass seemed not to have even heard what the judge said, so +intently were his eyes fixed on poor Undy. 'Well, Mr. Scott,' he said at +last, very softly, 'is it convenient for you to answer me? Did that note +refer to a certain number of bridge shares, which you required Mr. Tudor +to hand over to the stepfather of this lady?' + +Undy had no trust in his brother. He felt all but sure that, under +the fire of Mr. Chaffanbrass, he would confess everything. It would be +terrible to own the truth, but it would be more terrible to be indicted +for perjury. So he sat silent. + +'My lord, perhaps you will ask him,' said Mr. Chaffanbrass. + +'Mr. Scott, you understand the question--why do you not answer it?' +asked the judge. But Undy still remained silent. + +'You may go now,' said Mr. Chaffanbrass. 'Your eloquence is of the +silent sort; but, nevertheless, it is very impressive. You may go now, +and sit on that bench again, if, after what has passed, the sheriff +thinks proper to permit it.' + +Undy, however, did not try that officer's complaisance. He retired +from the witness-box, and was not again seen during the trial in any +conspicuous place in the court. + +It was then past seven o'clock; but Mr. Chaffanbrass insisted on going +on with the examination of Captain Val. It did not last long. Captain +Val, also, was in that disagreeable position, that he did not know what +Undy had confessed, and what denied. So he, also, refused to answer +the questions of Mr. Chaffanbrass, saying that he might possibly damage +himself should he do so. This was enough for Mr. Chaffanbrass, and then +his work was done. + +At eight o'clock the court again adjourned; again Charley posted +off--for the third time that day--to let Gertrude know that, even +as yet, all was not over; and again he and Alaric spent a melancholy +evening at the neighbouring tavern; and then, again, on the third +morning, all were re-assembled at the Old Bailey. + +Or rather they were not all re-assembled. But few came now, and they +were those who were obliged to come. The crack piece of the trial, that +portion to which, among the connoisseurs, the interest was attached, +that was all over. Mr. Chaffanbrass had done his work. Undy Scott, +the member of Parliament, had been gibbeted, and the rest was, in +comparison, stale, flat, and unprofitable. The judge and jury, however, +were there, so were the prosecuting counsel, so were Mr. Chaffanbrass +and Mr. Younglad, and so was poor Alaric. The work of the day was +commenced by the judge's charge, and then Alaric, to his infinite +dismay, found how all the sophistry and laboured arguments of his very +talented advocate were blown to the winds, and shown to be worthless. +'Gentlemen,' said the judge to the jurors, after he had gone through +all the evidence, and told them what was admissible, and what was +not--'gentlemen, I must especially remind you, that in coming to a +verdict in the matter, no amount of guilt on the part of any other +person can render guiltless him whom you are now trying, or palliate his +guilt if he be guilty. An endeavour has been made to affix a deep stigma +on one of the witnesses who has been examined before you; and to induce +you to feel, rather than to think, that Mr. Tudor is, at any rate, +comparatively innocent--innocent as compared with that gentleman. That +is not the issue which you are called on to decide; not whether Mr. +Scott, for purposes of his own, led Mr. Tudor on to guilt, and then +turned against him; but whether Mr. Tudor himself has, or has not, been +guilty under this Act of Parliament that has been explained to you. + +'As regards the evidence of Mr. Scott, I am justified in telling you, +that if the prisoner's guilt depended in any way on that evidence, it +would be your duty to receive it with the most extreme caution, and +to reject it altogether if not corroborated. That evidence was not +trustworthy, and in a great measure justified the treatment which the +witness encountered from the learned barrister who examined him. But Mr. +Scott was a witness for the defence, not for the prosecution. The case +for the prosecution in no way hangs on his evidence. + +'If it be your opinion that Mr. Tudor is guilty, and that he was +unwarily enticed into guilt by Mr. Scott; that the whole arrangement of +this trust was brought about by Mr. Scott or others, to enable him or +them to make a cat's-paw of this new trustee, and thus use the lady's +money for their own purposes, such an opinion on your part may justify +you in recommending the prisoner to the merciful consideration of the +bench; but it cannot justify you in finding a verdict of not guilty.' + +As Alaric heard this, and much more to the same effect, his hopes, which +certainly had been high during the examination of Undy Scott, again sank +to zero, and left him in despair. He had almost begun to doubt the fact +of his own guilt, so wondrously had his conduct been glossed over by +Mr. Chaffanbrass, so strikingly had any good attempt on his part been +brought to the light, so black had Scott been made to appear. Ideas +floated across his brain that he might go forth, not only free of the +law, but whitewashed also in men's opinions, that he might again sit on +his throne at the Civil Service Board, again cry to himself 'Excelsior,' +and indulge the old dreams of his ambition. + +But, alas! the deliberate and well-poised wisdom of the judge seemed to +shower down cold truth upon the jury from his very eyes. His words +were low in their tone, though very clear, impassive, delivered without +gesticulation or artifice, such as that so powerfully used by Mr. +Chaffanbrass; but Alaric himself felt that it was impossible to doubt +the truth of such a man; impossible to suppose that any juryman should +do so. Ah me! why had he brought himself thus to quail beneath the gaze +of an old man seated on a bench? with what object had he forced himself +to bend his once proud neck? He had been before in courts such as this, +and had mocked within his own spirit the paraphernalia of the horsehair +wigs, the judges' faded finery, and the red cloth; he had laughed at +the musty, stale solemnity by which miscreants were awed, and policemen +enchanted; now, these things told on himself heavily enough; he felt now +their weight and import. + +And then the jury retired from the court to consider their verdict, and +Mr. Gitemthruet predicted that they would be hungry enough before they +sat down to their next meal. 'His lordship was dead against us,' said +Mr. Gitemthruet; 'but that was a matter of course; we must look to the +jury, and the city juries are very fond of Mr. Chaffanbrass; I am not +quite sure, however, that Mr. Chaffanbrass was right: I would not have +admitted so much myself; but then no one knows a city jury so well as +Mr. Chaffanbrass.' + +Other causes came on, and still the jury did not return to court. Mr. +Chaffanbrass seemed to have forgotten the very existence of Alaric +Tudor, and was deeply engaged in vindicating a city butcher from +an imputation of having vended a dead ass by way of veal. All his +indignation was now forgotten, and he was full of boisterous fun, +filling the court with peals of laughter. One o'clock came, two, three, +four, five, six, seven, and still no verdict. At the latter hour, when +the court was about to be adjourned, the foreman came in, and assured +the judge that there was no probability that they could agree; eleven of +them thought one way, while the twelfth was opposed to them. 'You must +reason with the gentleman,' said the judge. 'I have, my lord,' said the +foreman, 'but it's all thrown away upon him.' 'Reason with him again,' +said the judge, rising from his bench and preparing to go to his dinner. + +And then one of the great fundamental supports of the British +constitution was brought into play. Reason was thrown away upon this +tough juryman, and, therefore, it was necessary to ascertain what effect +starvation might have upon him. A verdict, that is, a unanimous decision +from these twelve men as to Alaric's guilt, was necessary; it might be +that three would think him innocent, and nine guilty, or that any other +division of opinion might take place; but such divisions among a jury +are opposed to the spirit of the British constitution. Twelve men must +think alike; or, if they will not, they must be made to do so. 'Reason +with him again,' said the judge, as he went to his own dinner. Had the +judge bade them remind him how hungry he would soon be if he remained +obstinate, his lordship would probably have expressed the thought which +was passing through his mind. 'There is one of us, my lord,' said the +foreman, 'who will I know be very ill before long; he is already so bad +that he can't sit upright.' + +There are many ludicrous points in our blessed constitution, but perhaps +nothing so ludicrous as a juryman praying to a judge for mercy. He has +been caught, shut up in a box, perhaps, for five or six days together, +badgered with half a dozen lawyers till he is nearly deaf with their +continual talking, and then he is locked up until he shall die or find a +verdict. Such at least is the intention of the constitution. The death, +however, of three or four jurymen from starvation would not suit the +humanity of the present age, and therefore, when extremities are nigh +at hand, the dying jurymen, with medical certificates, are allowed to +be carried off. It is devoutly to be wished that one juryman might be +starved to death while thus serving the constitution; the absurdity then +would cure itself, and a verdict of a majority would be taken. + +But in Alaric's case, reason or hunger did prevail at the last moment, +and as the judge was leaving the court, he was called back to +receive the verdict. Alaric, also, was brought back, still under Mr. +Gitemthruet's wing, and with him came Charley. A few officers of +the court were there, a jailer and a policeman or two, those whose +attendance was absolutely necessary, but with these exceptions the place +was empty. Not long since men were crowding for seats, and the policemen +were hardly able to restrain the pressure of those who pushed forward; +but now there was no pushing; the dingy, dirty benches, a few inches of +which had lately been so desirable, were not at all in request, and were +anything but inviting in appearance; Alaric sat himself down on the +very spot which had lately been sacred to Mr. Chaffanbrass, and Mr. +Gitemthruet, seated above him, might also fancy himself a barrister. +There they sat for five minutes in perfect silence; the suspense of the +moment cowed even the attorney, and Charley, who sat on the other side +of Alaric, was so affected that he could hardly have spoken had he +wished to do so. + +And then the judge, who had been obliged to re-array himself before he +returned to the bench, again took his seat, and an officer of the court +inquired of the foreman of the jury, in his usual official language, +what their finding was. + +'Guilty on the third count,' said the foreman. 'Not guilty on the four +others. We beg, however, most strongly to recommend the prisoner to your +lordship's merciful consideration, believing that he has been led into +this crime by one who has been much more guilty than himself.' + +'I knew Mr. Chaffanbrass was wrong,' said Mr. Gitemthruet. 'I knew he +was wrong when he acknowledged so much. God bless my soul! in a court of +law one should never acknowledge anything! what's the use?' + +And then came the sentence. He was to be confined at the Penitentiary +at Millbank for six months. 'The offence,' said the judge, 'of which +you have been found guilty, and of which you most certainly have been +guilty, is one most prejudicial to the interests of the community. That +trust which the weaker of mankind should place in the stronger, that +reliance which widows and orphans should feel in their nearest and +dearest friends, would be destroyed, if such crimes as these were +allowed to pass unpunished. But in your case there are circumstances +which do doubtless palliate the crime of which you have been guilty; the +money which you took will, I believe, be restored; the trust which you +were courted to undertake should not have been imposed on you; and in +the tale of villany which has been laid before us, you have by no +means been the worst offender. I have, therefore, inflicted on you the +slightest penalty which the law allows me. Mr. Tudor, I know what +has been your career, how great your services to your country, how +unexceptionable your conduct as a public servant; I trust, I do trust, I +most earnestly, most hopefully trust, that your career of utility is not +over. Your abilities are great, and you are blessed with the power +of thinking; I do beseech you to consider, while you undergo that +confinement which you needs must suffer, how little any wealth is worth +an uneasy conscience.' + +And so the trial was over. Alaric was taken off in custody; the +policeman in mufti was released from his attendance; and Charley, with a +heavy heart, carried the news to Gertrude and Mrs. Woodward. + +'And as for me,' said Gertrude, when she had so far recovered from the +first shock as to be able to talk to her mother--'as for me, I will have +lodgings at Millbank.' + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +A PARTING INTERVIEW + + +Mrs. Woodward remained with her eldest daughter for two days after the +trial, and then she was forced to return to Hampton. She had earnestly +entreated Gertrude to accompany her, with her child; but Mrs. Tudor was +inflexible. She had, she said, very much to do; so much, that she could +not possibly leave London; the house and furniture were on her hands, +and must be disposed of; their future plans must be arranged; and +then nothing, she said, should induce her to sleep out of sight of her +husband's prison, or to omit any opportunity of seeing him which the +prison rules would allow her. + +Mrs. Woodward would not have left one child in such extremity, had +not the state of another child made her presence at the Cottage +indispensable. Katie's anxiety about the trial had of course been +intense, so intense as to give her a false strength, and somewhat to +deceive Linda as to her real state. Tidings of course passed daily +between London and the Cottage, but for three days they told nothing. On +the morning of the fourth day, however, Norman brought the heavy news, +and Katie sank completely under it. When she first heard the result +of the trial she swooned away, and remained for some time nearly +unconscious. But returning consciousness brought with it no relief, and +she lay sobbing on her pillow, till she became so weak, that Linda in +her fright wrote up to her mother begging her to return at once. Then, +wretched as it made her to leave Gertrude in her trouble, Mrs. Woodward +did return. + +For a fortnight after this there was an unhappy household at Surbiton +Cottage. Linda's marriage was put off till the period of Alaric's +sentence should be over, and till something should be settled as to his +and Gertrude's future career. It was now August, and they spoke of the +event as one which perhaps might occur in the course of the following +spring. At this time, also, they were deprived for a while of the +comfort of Norman's visits by his enforced absence at Normansgrove. +Harry's eldest brother was again ill, and at last the news of his death +was received at Hampton. Under other circumstances such tidings as those +might, to a certain extent, have brought their own consolation with +them. Harry would now be Mr. Norman of Normansgrove, and Linda would +become Mrs. Norman of Normansgrove; Harry's mother had long been dead, +and his father was an infirm old man, who would be too glad to give up +to his son the full management of the estate, now that the eldest son +was a man to whom that estate could be trusted. All those circumstances +had, of course, been talked over between Harry and Linda, and it was +understood that Harry was now to resign his situation at the Weights +and Measures. But Alaric's condition, Gertrude's misery, and Katie's +illness, threw all such matters into the background. Katie became no +better; but then the doctors said that she did not become any worse, and +gave it as their opinion that she ought to recover. She had youth, they +said, on her side; and then her lungs were not affected. This was the +great question which they were all asking of each other continually. The +poor girl lived beneath a stethoscope, and bore all their pokings and +tappings with exquisite patience. She herself believed that she was +dying, and so she repeatedly told her mother. Mrs. Woodward could +only say that all was in God's hands, but that the physicians still +encouraged them to hope the best. + +One day Mrs. Woodward was sitting with a book in her usual place at the +side of Katie's bed; she looked every now and again at her patient, and +thought that she was slumbering; and at last she rose from her chair to +creep away, so sure was she that she might be spared for a moment. But +just as she was silently rising, a thin, slight, pale hand crept out +from beneath the clothes, and laid itself on her arm. + +'I thought you were asleep, love,' said she. + +'No, mamma, I was not asleep. I was thinking of something. Don't go +away, mamma, just now. I want to ask you something.' + +Mrs. Woodward again sat down, and taking her daughter's hand in her own, +caressed it. + +'I want to ask a favour of you, mamma,' said Katie. + +'A favour, my darling! what is it? you know I will do anything in my +power that you ask me.' + +'Ah, mamma, I do not know whether you will do this.' + +'What is it, Katie? I will do anything that is for your good. I am sure +you know that, Katie.' + +'Mamma, I know I am going to die. Oh, mamma, don't say anything now, +don't cry now--dear, dear mamma; I don't say it to make you unhappy; +but you know when I am so ill I ought to think about it, ought I not, +mamma?' + +'But, Katie, the doctor says that he thinks you are not so dangerously +ill; you should not, therefore, despond; it will increase your illness, +and hinder your chance of getting well. That would be wrong, wouldn't +it, love?' + +'Mamma, I feel that I shall never again be well, and therefore--' It was +useless telling Mrs. Woodward not to cry; what else could she do? 'Dear +mamma, I am so sorry to make you unhappy, but you are my own mamma, and +therefore I must tell you. I can be happy still, mamma, if you will let +me talk to you about it.' + +'You shall talk, dearest; I will hear what you say; but oh, Katie, I +cannot bear to hear you talk of dying. I do not think you are dying. If +I did think so, my child, my trust in your goodness is so strong that I +should tell you.' + +'You know, mamma, it might have been much worse; suppose I had been +drowned, when he, when Charley, you know, saved me;' and as she +mentioned his name a tear for the first time ran down each cheek; 'how +much worse that would have been! think, mamma, what it would be to be +drowned without a moment for one's prayers.' + +'It is quite right we should prepare ourselves for death. Whether we +live, or whether we die, we shall be better for doing that.' + +Katie still held her mother's hand in hers, and lay back against the +pillows which had been placed behind her back. 'And now, mamma,' she +said at last, 'I am going to ask you this favour--I want to see Charley +once more.' + +Mrs. Woodward was so much astonished at the request that at first she +knew not what answer to make. 'To see Charley!' she said at last. + +'Yes, mamma; I want to see Charley once more; there need be no secrets +between us now, mamma.' + +'There have never been any secrets between us,' said Mrs. Woodward, +embracing her. 'You have never had any secrets from me?' + +'Not intentionally, mamma; I have never meant to keep anything secret +from you. And I know you have known what I felt about Charley.' + +'I know that you have behaved like an angel, my child; I know your want +of selfishness, your devotion to others, has been such as to shame me; I +know your conduct has been perfect: oh, my Katie, I have understood it, +and I have so loved you, so admired you.' + +Katie smiled through her tears as she returned her mother's embrace. +'Well, mamma,' she said, 'at any rate you know that I love him. Oh, +mamma, I do love him so dearly. It is not now like Gertrude's love, or +Linda's. I know that I can never be his wife. I did know before, that +for many reasons I ought not to wish to be so; but now I know I never, +never can be.' + +Mrs. Woodward was past the power of speaking, and so Katie went on. + +'But I do not love him the less for that reason; I think I love him the +more. I never, never, could have loved anyone else, mamma; never, never; +and that is one reason why I do not so much mind being ill now.' + +Mrs. Woodward bowed forward, and hid her face in the counterpane, but +she still kept hold of her daughter's hand. + +'And, mamma,' she continued, 'as I do love him so dearly, I feel that +I should try to do something for him. I ought to do so; and, mamma, I +could not be happy without seeing him. He is not just like a brother +or a brother-in-law, such as Harry and Alaric; we are not bound to each +other as relations are; but yet I feel that something does bind me to +him. I know he doesn't love me as I love him; but yet I think he loves +me dearly; and if I speak to him now, mamma, now that I am--that I am so +ill, perhaps he will mind me. Mamma, it will be as though one came unto +him from the dead.' + +Mrs. Woodward did not know how to refuse any request that Katie might +now make to her, and felt herself altogether unequal to the task of +refusing this request. For many reasons she would have done so, had +she been able; in the first place she did not think that all chance of +Katie's recovery was gone; and then at the present moment she felt no +inclination to draw closer to her any of the Tudor family. She could not +but feel that Alaric had been the means of disgracing and degrading one +child; and truly, deeply, warmly, as she sympathized with the other, she +could not bring herself to feel the same sympathy for the object of her +love. It was a sore day for her and hers, that on which the Tudors had +first entered her house. + +Nevertheless she assented to Katie's proposal, and undertook the task of +asking Charley down to Hampton. + +Since Alaric's conviction Charley led a busy life; and as men who have +really something to do have seldom time to get into much mischief, he +had been peculiarly moral and respectable. It is not surprising that at +such a moment Gertrude found that Alaric's newer friends fell off +from him. Of course they did; nor is it a sign of ingratitude or +heartlessness in the world that at such a period of great distress new +friends should fall off. New friends, like one's best coat and polished +patent-leather dress boots, are only intended for holiday wear. At other +times they are neither serviceable nor comfortable; they do not answer +the required purposes, and are ill adapted to give us the ease we seek. +A new coat, however, has this advantage, that it will in time become old +and comfortable; so much can by no means be predicted with certainty of +a new friend. Woe to those men who go through the world with none but +new coats on their backs, with no boots but those of polished leather, +with none but new friends to comfort them in adversity. + +But not the less, when misfortune does come, are we inclined to grumble +at finding ourselves deserted. Gertrude, though she certainly wished to +see no Mrs. Val and no Miss Neverbends, did feel lonely enough when +her mother left her, and wretched enough. But she was not altogether +deserted. At this time Charley was true to her, and did for her all +those thousand nameless things which a woman cannot do for herself. +He came to her everyday after leaving his office, and on one excuse or +another remained with her till late every evening. + +He was not a little surprised one morning on receiving Mrs. Woodward's +invitation to Hampton. Mrs. Woodward in writing had had some difficulty +in wording her request. She hardly liked asking Charley to come because +Katie was ill; nor did she like to ask him without mentioning Katie's +illness. 'I need not explain to you,' she said in her note, 'that we are +all in great distress; poor Katie is very ill, and you will understand +what we must feel about Alaric and Gertrude. Harry is still at +Normansgrove. We shall all be glad to see you, and Katie, who never +forgets what you did for her, insists on my asking you at once. I am +sure you will not refuse her, so I shall expect you to-morrow.' Charley +would not have refused her anything, and it need hardly be said that he +accepted the invitation. + +Mrs. Woodward was at a loss how to receive him, or what to say to him. +Though Katie was so positive that her own illness would be fatal--a +symptom which might have confirmed those who watched her in their +opinion that her disease was not consumption--her mother was by no means +so desponding. She still thought it not impossible that her child might +recover, and so thinking could not but be adverse to any declaration on +Katie's part of her own feelings. She had endeavoured to explain this +to her daughter; but Katie was so carried away by her enthusiasm, was +at the present moment so devoted, and, as it were, exalted above her +present life, that all that her mother said was thrown away upon her. +Mrs. Woodward might have refused her daughter's request, and have run +the risk of breaking her heart by the refusal; but now that the petition +had been granted, it was useless to endeavour to teach her to repress +her feelings. + +'Charley,' said Mrs. Woodward, when he had been some little time in the +house, 'our dear Katie wants to see you; she is very ill, you know.' + +Charley said he knew she was ill. + +'You remember our walk together, Charley.' + +'Yes,' said Charley, 'I remember it well. I made you a promise then, and +I have kept it. I have now come here only because you have sent for me.' +This he said in the tone which a man uses when he feels himself to have +been injured. + +'I know it, Charley; you have kept your promise; I knew you would, and +I know you will. I have the fullest trust in you; and now you shall come +and see her.' + +Charley was to return to town that night, and they had not therefore +much time to lose; they went upstairs at once, and found Linda and +Uncle Bat in the patient's room. It was a lovely August evening, and the +bedroom window opening upon the river was unclosed. Katie, as she sat +propped up against the pillows, could look out upon the water and see +the reedy island, on which in happy former days she had so delighted to +let her imagination revel. + +'It is very good of you to come and see me, Charley,' said she, as he +made his way up to her bedside. + +He took her wasted hand in his own and pressed it, and, as he did so, a +tear forced itself into each corner of his eyes. She smiled as though to +cheer him, and said that now she saw him she could be quite happy, only +for poor Alaric and Gertrude. She hoped she might live to see Alaric +again; but if not, Charley was to give him her best-best love. + +'Live to see him! of course you will,' said Uncle Bat. + +'What's to hinder you?' Uncle Bat, like the rest of them, tried to cheer +her, and make her think that she might yet live. + +After a while Uncle Bat went out of the room, and Linda followed him. +Mrs. Woodward would fain have remained, but she perfectly understood +that it was part of the intended arrangement with Katie, that Charley +should be alone with her. 'I will come back in a quarter of an hour,' +she said, rising to follow the others. 'You must not let her talk too +much, Charley: you see how weak she is.' + +'Mamma, when you come, knock at the door, will you?' said Katie. Mrs. +Woodward, who found herself obliged to act in complete obedience to her +daughter, promised that she would; and then they were left alone. + +'Sit down, Charley,' said she; he was still standing by her bedside, +and now at her bidding he sat in the chair which Captain Cuttwater +had occupied. 'Come here nearer to me,' said she; 'this is where mamma +always sits, and Linda when mamma is not here.' Charley did as he was +bid, and, changing his seat, came and sat down close to her bed-head. + +'Charley, do you remember how you went into the water for me?' said she, +again smiling, and pulling her hand out and resting it on his arm which +lay on the bed beside her. + +'Indeed I do, Katie--I remember the day very well.' + +'That was a very happy day in spite of the tumble, was it not, Charley? +And do you remember the flower-show, and the dance at Mrs. Val's?' + +Charley did remember them all well. Ah me! how often had he thought of +them! + +'I think of those days so often--too often,' continued Katie. 'But, dear +Charley, I cannot remember too often that you saved my life.' + +Charley once more tried to explain to her that there was nothing worthy +of notice in his exploit of that day. + +'Well, Charley, I may think as I like, you know,' she said, with +something of the obstinacy of old days. 'I think you did save my life, +and all the people in the world won't make me think anything else; but, +Charley, I have something now to tell you.' + +He sat and listened. It seemed to him as though he were only there +to listen; as though, were he to make his own voice audible, he would +violate the sanctity of the place. His thoughts were serious enough, +but he could not pitch his voice so as to suit the tone in which she +addressed him. + +'We were always friends, were we not?' said she; 'we were always good +friends, Charley. Do you remember how you were to build a palace for me +in the dear old island out there? You were always so kind, so good to +me.' + +Charley said he remembered it all--they were happy days; the happiest +days, he said, that he had ever known. + +'And you used to love me, Charley?' + +'Used!' said he, 'do you think I do not love you now?' + +'I am sure you do. And, Charley, I love you also. That it is that I want +to tell you. I love you so well that I cannot go away from this world +in peace without wishing you farewell. Charley, if you love me, you will +think of me when I am gone; and then for my sake you will be steady.' + +Here were all her old words over again--'You will be steady, won't you, +Charley? I know you will be steady, now.' How much must she have thought +of him! How often must his career have caused her misery and pain! How +laden must that innocent bosom have been with anxiety on his account! +He had promised her then that he would reform; but he had broken his +promise. He now promised her again, but how could he hope that she would +believe him? + +'You know how ill I am, don't you? You know that I am dying, Charley?' + +Charley of course declared that he still hoped that she would recover. + +'If I thought so,' said she, 'I should not say what I am now saying; but +I feel that I may tell the truth. Dear Charley, dearest Charley, I love +you with all my heart--I do not know how it came so; I believe I have +always loved you since I first knew you; I used to think it was because +you saved my life; but I know it was not that. I was so glad it was you +that came to me in the water, and not Harry; so that I know I loved you +before that.' + +'Dear Katie, you have not loved me, or thought of me, more than I have +loved and thought of you.' + +'Ah, Charley,' she said, smiling in her sad sweet way--'I don't think +you know how a girl can love; you have so many things to think of, so +much to amuse you up in London; you don't know what it is to think of +one person for days and days, and nights and nights together. That is +the way I have thought of you, I don't think there can be any harm,' she +continued, 'in loving a person as I have loved you. Indeed, how could I +help it? I did not love you on purpose. But I think I should be wrong +to die without telling you. When I am dead, Charley, will you think of +this, and try--try to give up your bad ways? When I tell you that I love +you so dearly, and ask you on my deathbed, I think you will do this.' + +Charley went down on his knees, and bowing his head before her and +before his God, he made the promise. He made it, and we may so far +anticipate the approaching end of our story as to declare that the +promise he then made was faithfully kept. + +'Katie, Katie, my own Katie, my own, own, own Katie--oh, Katie, you must +not die, you must not leave me! Oh, Katie, I have so dearly loved you! +Oh, Katie, I do so dearly love you! If you knew all, if you could know +all, you would believe me.' + +At this moment Mrs. Woodward knocked at the door, and Charley rose from +his knees. 'Not quite yet, mamma,' said Katie, as Mrs. Woodward opened +the door. 'Not quite yet; in five minutes, mamma, you may come.' Mrs. +Woodward, not knowing how to refuse, again went away. + +'Charley, I never gave you anything but once, and you returned it to me, +did you not?' + +'Yes,' said he, 'the purse--I put it in your box, because----' + +And then he remembered that he could not say why he had returned it +without breaking in a manner that confidence which Mrs. Woodward had put +in him. + +'I understand it all. You must not think I am angry with you. I know how +good you were about it. But Charley, you may have it back now; here it +is;' and putting her hand under the pillow, she took it out, carefully +folded up in new tissue paper. 'There, Charley, you must never part with +it again as long as there are two threads of it together; but I know +you never will; and Charley, you must never talk of it to anybody but to +your wife; and you must tell her all about it.' + +He took the purse, and put it to his lips, and then pressed it to his +heart. 'No,' said he, 'I will never part with it again. I think I can +promise that.' 'And now, dearest, good-bye,' said she; 'dearest, dearest +Charley, good-bye; perhaps we shall know each other in heaven. Kiss me, +Charley, before you go,' So he stooped down over her, and pressed his +lips to hers. + +Charley, leaving the room, found Mrs. Woodward at the other end of the +passage, standing at the door of her own dressing-room. 'You are to go +to her now,' he said. 'Good-bye,' and without further speech to any of +them he hurried out of the house. + +None but Mrs. Woodward had seen him; but she saw that the tears were +streaming down his cheeks as he passed her, and she expressed no +surprise that he had left the Cottage without going through the +formality of making his adieux. + +And then he walked up to town, as Norman once had done after a parting +interview with her whom he had loved. It might be difficult to say which +at the moment suffered the bitterest grief. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +MILLBANK + + +The immediate neighbourhood of Millbank Penitentiary is not one which we +should, for its own sake, choose for our residence, either on account of +its natural beauty, or the excellence of its habitations. That it is +a salubrious locality must be presumed from the fact that it has been +selected for the site of the institution in question; but salubrity, +though doubtless a great recommendation, would hardly reconcile us to +the extremely dull, and one might almost say, ugly aspect which this +district bears. + +To this district, however, ugly as it is, we must ask our readers +to accompany us, while we pay a short visit to poor Gertrude. It +was certainly a sad change from her comfortable nursery and elegant +drawing-room near Hyde Park. Gertrude had hitherto never lived in an +ugly house. Surbiton Cottage and Albany Place were the only two homes +that she remembered, and neither of them was such as to give her much +fitting preparation for the melancholy shelter which she found at No. 5, +Paradise Row, Millbank. + +But Gertrude did not think much of this when she changed her residence. +Early one morning, leaning on Charley's arm, she had trudged down across +the Park, through Westminster, and on to the close vicinity of the +prison; and here they sought for and obtained such accommodation as she +thought fitting to her present situation. Charley had begged her to get +into a cab, and when she refused that, had implored her to indulge in +the luxury of an omnibus; but Gertrude's mind was now set upon economy; +she would come back, she said, in an omnibus when the day would be +hotter, and she would be alone, but she was very well able to walk the +distance once. + +She procured, for seven shillings a week, a sitting-room and bedroom, +from whence she could see the gloomy prison walls, and also a +truckle-bed for the young girl whom she was to bring with her as her +maid. This was a little Hampton maiden, whom she had brought from the +country to act as fag and deputy to her grand nurse; but the grand nurse +was now gone, and the fag was promoted to the various offices of nurse, +lady's-maid, and parlour servant. The rest of the household in Albany +Place had already dispersed with the discreet view of bettering their +situations. + +Everything in the house was given up to pay what Alaric owed. +Independently of his dreadful liability to Madame Jaquetanape, he could +not have been said to be in debt; but still, like most other men who +live as he had done, when his career was thus brought to a sudden close, +it was found that there were many people looking for money. There were +little bills, as the owners said of them, which had been forgotten, +of course, on account of their insignificance, but which being so very +little might now be paid, equally of course, without any trouble. It is +astonishing how easy it is to accumulate three or four hundred pounds' +worth of little bills, when one lives before the world in a good house +and in visible possession of a good income. + +At the moment of Alaric's conviction, there was but a slender stock of +money forthcoming for these little bills. The necessary expense of his +trial,--and it had been by no means trifling,--he had, of course, been +obliged to pay. His salary had been suspended, and all the money that +he could lay his hands on had been given up towards making restitution +towards the dreadful sum of L20,000 that had been his ruin. The bills, +however, did not come in till after his trial, and then there was but +little left but the furniture. + +As the new trustees employed on behalf of Madame Jaquetanape and +Mr. Figgs were well aware that they had much more to expect from +the generosity of Tudor's friends than from any legal seizure of his +property, they did not interfere in the disposal of the chairs and +tables. But not on that account did Gertrude conceive herself entitled +to make any use on her own behalf of such money as might come into her +hands. The bills should be paid, and then every farthing that could be +collected should be given towards lessening the deficiency. Six thousand +pounds had already been made up by the joint efforts of Norman and +Captain Cuttwater. Undy Scott's acknowledgement for the other four +thousand had been offered, but the new trustees declined to accept it as +of any value whatsoever. They were equally incredulous as to the bridge +shares, which from that day to this have never held up their heads, even +to the modest height of half a crown a share. + +Gertrude's efforts to make the most of everything had been unceasing. +When her husband was sentenced, she had in her possession a new dress +and some finery for her baby, which were not yet paid for; these she +took back with her own hand, offering to the milliners her own trinkets +by way of compensation for their loss. When the day for removal came, +she took with her nothing that she imagined could be sold. She would +have left the grander part of her own wardrobe, if the auctioneers +would have undertaken to sell it. Some few things, books and trifling +household articles, which she thought were dear to Alaric, she packed +up; and such were sent to Hampton. On the day of her departure she +dressed herself in a plain dark gown, one that was almost mourning, +and then, with her baby in her lap, and her young maid beside her, and +Charley fronting her in the cab, she started for her new home. + +I had almost said that her pride had left her. Such an assertion would +be a gross libel on her. No; she was perhaps prouder than ever, as she +left her old home. There was a humility in her cheap dress, in her large +straw bonnet coming far over her face, in her dark gloves and little +simple collar; nay, there was a humility in her altered voice, and +somewhat chastened mien; but the spirit of the woman was wholly +unbroken. She had even a pride in her very position, in her close and +dear tie with the convicted prisoner. She was his for better and for +worse; she would now show him what was her idea of the vow she had +made. To the men who came to ticket and number the furniture, to the +tradesmen's messengers who called for money, to the various workmen with +whom the house was then invaded, she was humble enough; but had Mrs. Val +come across her with pity, or the Miss Neverbends with their sententious +twaddlings, she would have been prouder than ever. Fallen indeed! +She had had no fall; nor had he; he was still a man, with a greater +aggregate of good in him than falls to the average lot of mortals. Who +would dare to tell her that he had fallen? 'Twas thus that her pride was +still strong within her; and as it supported her through this misery, +who can blame her for it? + +She was allowed into the prison twice a week; on Tuesdays and Fridays +she was permitted to spend one hour with her husband, and to take her +child with her. It is hardly necessary to say that she was punctual to +the appointed times. This, however, occupied but a short period, even +of those looked-for days; and in spite of her pride, and her constant +needle, the weary six months went from her all too slowly. + +Nor did they pass with swifter foot within the prison. Alaric was +allowed the use of books and pens and paper, but even with these he +found a day in prison to be almost an unendurable eternity. This was the +real punishment of his guilt; it was not that he could not eat well, +and lie soft, or enjoy the comforts which had always surrounded him; +but that the day would not pass away. The slowness of the lagging hours +nearly drove him mad. He made a thousand resolutions as to reading, +writing, and employment for his mind. He attempted to learn whole pages +by rote, and to fatigue himself to rest by exercise of his memory. But +his memory would not work; his mind would continue idle; he was impotent +over his own faculties. Oh, if he could only sleep while these horrid +weeks were passing over him! + +All hope of regaining his situation had of course passed from him, all +hope of employment in England. Emigration must now be his lot; and hers +also, and the lot of that young one that was already born to them, and +of that other one who was, alas! now coming to the world, whose fate +it would be first to see the light under the walls of its father's +prison.--Yes, they must emigrate.--But there was nothing so very +terrible in that. Alaric felt that even his utter poverty would be no +misfortune if only his captivity were over. Poverty!--how could any man +be poor who had liberty to roam the world? + +We all of us acknowledge that the educated man who breaks the laws +is justly liable to a heavier punishment than he who has been born +in ignorance, and bred, as it were, in the lap of sin; but we hardly +realize how much greater is the punishment which, when he be punished, +the educated man is forced to undergo. Confinement to the man whose mind +has never been lifted above vacancy is simply remission from labour. +Confinement, with labour, is simply the enforcement of that which has +hitherto been his daily lot. But what must a prison be to him whose +intellect has received the polish of the world's poetry, who has known +what it is to feed more than the belly, to require other aliment than +bread and meat? + +And then, what does the poor criminal lose? His all, it will be said; +and the rich can lose no more. But this is not so. No man loses his +all by any sentence which a human judge can inflict. No man so loses +anything approaching to his all, however much he may have lost before. +But the one man has too often had no self-respect to risk; the other +has stood high in his own esteem, has held his head proudly before +the world, has aspired to walk in some way after the fashion of a god. +Alaric had so aspired, and how must he have felt during those prison +days! Of what nature must his thoughts have been when they turned to +Gertrude and his child! His sin had indeed been heavy, and heavy was +the penalty which he suffered. When they had been thus living for about +three months, Gertrude's second child was born. Mrs. Woodward was with +her at the time, and she had suffered but little except that for three +weeks she was unable to see her husband; then, in the teeth of all +counsel, and in opposition to all medical warning, she could resist no +longer, and carried the newborn stranger to his father. + +'Poor little wretch!' said Alaric, as he stooped to kiss him. + +'Wretch!' said Gertrude, looking up to him with a smile upon her +face--'he is no wretch. He is a sturdy little man, that shall yet live +to make your heart dance with joy.' + +Mrs. Woodward came often to see her. She did not stay, for there was +no bed in which she could have slept; but the train put her down at +Vauxhall, and she had but to pass the bridge, and she was close to +Gertrude's lodgings. And now the six months had nearly gone by, when, by +appointment, she brought Norman with her. At this time he had given +up his clerkship at the Weights and Measures, and was about to go to +Normansgrove for the remainder of the winter. Both Alaric and Norman had +shown a great distaste to meet each other. But Harry's heart softened +towards Gertrude. Her conduct during her husband's troubles had been +so excellent, that he could not but forgive her the injuries which he +fancied he owed to her. + +Everything was now prepared for their departure. They were to sail +on the very day after Alaric's liberation, so as to save him from the +misery of meeting those who might know him. And now Harry came with Mrs. +Woodward to bid farewell, probably for ever on this side the grave, to +her whom he had once looked on as his own. How different were their lots +now! Harry was Mr. Norman of Normansgrove, immediately about to take his +place as the squire of his parish, to sit among brother magistrates, to +decide about roads and poachers, parish rates and other all-absorbing +topics, to be a rural magistrate, and fill a place among perhaps the +most fortunate of the world's inhabitants. Gertrude was the wife of a +convicted felon, who was about to come forth from his prison in utter +poverty, a man who, in such a catalogue as the world makes of its +inhabitants, would be ranked among the very lowest. + +And did Gertrude even now regret her choice? No, not for a moment! She +still felt certain in her heart of hearts that she had loved the one who +was the most worthy of a woman's love. We cannot, probably, all agree in +her opinion; but we will agree in this, at least, that she was now right +to hold such opinion. Had Normansgrove stretched from one boundary of +the county to the other, it would have weighed as nothing. Had Harry's +virtues been as bright as burnished gold--and indeed they had been +bright--they would have weighed as nothing. A nobler stamp of manhood +was on her husband--so at least Gertrude felt;--and manhood is the one +virtue which in a woman's breast outweighs all others. + +They had not met since the evening on which Gertrude had declared to him +that she never could love him; and Norman, as he got out of the cab with +Mrs. Woodward, at No. 5, Paradise Row, Millbank, felt his heart beat +within him almost as strongly as he had done when he was about to +propose to her. He followed Mrs. Woodward into the dingy little house, +and immediately found himself in Gertrude's presence. + +I should exaggerate the fact were I to say that he would not have known +her; but had he met her elsewhere, met her where he did not expect to +meet her, he would have looked at her more than once before he felt +assured that he was looking at Gertrude Woodward. It was not that she +had grown pale, or worn, or haggard; though, indeed, her face had on it +that weighty look of endurance which care will always give; it was not +that she had lost her beauty, and become unattractive in his eyes; but +that the whole nature of her mien and form, the very trick of her gait +was changed. Her eye was as bright as ever, but it was steady, composed, +and resolved; her lips were set and compressed, and there was no +playfulness round her mouth. Her hair was still smooth and bright, but +it was more brushed off from her temples than it had been of yore, and +was partly covered by a bit of black lace, which we presume we must call +a cap; here and there, too, through it, Norman's quick eye detected +a few grey hairs. She was stouter too than she had been, or else she +seemed to be so from the changes in her dress. Her step fell heavier +on the floor than it used to do, and her voice was quicker and more +decisive in its tones. When she spoke to her mother, she did so as +one sister might do to another; and, indeed, Mrs. Woodward seemed to +exercise over her very little of the authority of a parent. The truth +was that Gertrude had altogether ceased to be a girl, had altogether +become a woman. Linda, with whom Norman at once compared her, though but +one year younger, was still a child in comparison with her elder sister. +Happy, happy Linda! + +Gertrude had certainly proved herself to be an excellent wife; but +perhaps she might have made herself more pleasing to others if she had +not so entirely thrown off from herself all traces of juvenility. Could +she, in this respect, have taken a lesson from her mother, she would +have been a wiser woman. We have said that she consorted with Mrs. +Woodward as though they had been sisters; but one might have said that +Gertrude took on herself the manners of the elder sister. It is true +that she had hard duties to perform, a stern world to overcome, an +uphill fight before her with poverty, distress, and almost, nay, +absolutely, with degradation. It was well for her and Alaric that she +could face it all with the true courage of an honest woman. But yet +those who had known her in her radiant early beauty could not but regret +that the young freshness of early years should all have been laid aside +so soon. + +'Linda, at any rate, far exceeds her in beauty,' was Norman's first +thought, as he stood for a moment to look at her--'and then Linda too is +so much more feminine.' 'Twas thus that Harry Norman consoled himself in +the first moment of his first interview with Alaric's wife. And he was +right in his thoughts. The world would now have called Linda the more +lovely of the two, and certainly the more feminine in the ladylike +sense of the word. If, however, devotion be feminine, and truth to one +selected life's companion, if motherly care be so, and an indomitable +sense of the duties due to one's own household, then Gertrude was not +deficient in feminine character. + +'You find me greatly altered, Harry, do you not?' said she, taking his +hand frankly, and perceiving immediately the effect which she had made +upon him. 'I am a steady old matron, am I not?--with a bairn on each +side of me,' and she pointed to her baby in the cradle, and to her other +boy sitting on his grandmother's knee. + +Harry said he did find her altered. It was her dress, he said, and the +cap on her head. + +'Yes, Harry; and some care and trouble too. To you, you know, to a +friend such as you are, I must own that care and trouble do tell upon +one. Not, thank God, that I have more than I can bear; not that I have +not blessings for which I cannot but be too thankful.' + +'And so these are your boys, Gertrude?' + +'Yes,' said she, cheerfully; 'these are the little men, that in the good +times coming will be managing vast kingdoms, and giving orders to this +worn-out old island of yours. Alley, my boy, sing your new song +about the 'good and happy land.' But Alley, who had got hold of his +grandmother's watch, and was staring with all his eyes at the stranger, +did not seem much inclined to be musical at the present moment. + +'And this is Charley's godson,' continued Gertrude, taking up the baby. +'Dear Charley! he has been such a comfort to me.' + +'I have heard all about you daily from him,' said Harry. + +'I know you have--and he is daily talking of you, Harry. And so he +should do; so we all should do. What a glorious change this is for him! +is it not, Harry?' + +Charley by this time had torn himself away from Mr. Snape and the +navvies, and transferred the whole of his official zeal and energies to +the Weights and Measures. The manner and reason of this must, however, +be explained in a subsequent chapter. + +'Yes,' said Harry, 'he has certainly got into a better office.' + +'And he will do well there?' + +'I am sure he will. It was impossible he should do well at that other +place. No man could do so. He is quite an altered man now. The only +fault I find with him is that he is so full of his heroes and heroines.' + +'So he is, Harry; he is always asking me what he is to do with some +forlorn lady or gentleman, 'Oh, smother her!' I said the other day. +'Well,' said he, with a melancholy gravity, 'I'll try it; but I fear it +won't answer.' Poor Charley! what a friend you have been to him, Harry!' + +'A friend!' said Mrs. Woodward, who was still true to her adoration of +Norman. 'Indeed he has been a friend--a friend to us all. Who is there +like him?' + +Gertrude could have found it in her heart to go back to the subject of +old days, and tell her mother that there was somebody much better +even than Harry Norman. But the present was hardly a time for such an +assertion of her own peculiar opinion. + +'Yes, Harry,' she said, 'we have all much, too much, to thank you for. I +have to thank you on his account.' + +'Oh no,' said he, ungraciously; 'there is nothing to thank me for,--not +on his account. Your mother and Captain Cuttwater----' and then he +stopped himself. What he meant was that he had sacrificed his little +fortune--for at the time his elder brother had still been living--not to +rescue, or in attempting to rescue, his old friend from misfortune--not, +at least, because that man had been his friend; but because he was the +husband of Gertrude Woodward, and of Mrs. Woodward's daughter. Could he +have laid bare his heart, he would have declared that Alaric Tudor owed +him nothing; that he had never forgiven, never could forgive, the wrongs +he had received from him; but that he had forgiven Alaric's wife; and +that having done so in the tenderness of his heart, he had been ready to +give up all that he possessed for her protection. He would have spared +Gertrude what pain he could; but he would not lie, and speak of Alaric +Tudor with affection. + +'But there is, Harry; there is,' said Gertrude; 'much--too much +--greatly too much. It is that now weighs me down more than anything. +Oh! Harry, how are we to pay to you all this money?' + +'It is with Mrs. Woodward,' said he coldly, 'and Captain Cuttwater, not +with me, that you should speak of that. Mr. Tudor owes me nothing.' + +'Oh, Harry, Harry,' said she, 'do not call him Mr. Tudor--pray, pray; +now that we are going--now that we shall never wound your sight again! +do not call him Mr. Tudor. + +He has done wrong; I do not deny it; but which of us is there that has +not?' + +'It was not on that account,' said he; 'I could forgive all that.' + +Gertrude understood him, and her cheeks and brow became tinged with red. +It was not from shame, nor yet wholly from a sense of anger, but mingled +feelings filled her heart; feelings which she could in nowise explain. +'If you have forgiven him that'--she would have said, had she thought it +right to speak out her mind--'if you have forgiven him that, then there +is nothing left for further forgiveness.' + +Gertrude had twice a better knowledge of the world than he had, twice a +quicker perception of how things were going, and should be made to go. +She saw that it was useless to refer further to her husband. Norman had +come there at her request to say adieu to her; that she and he, who had +been friends since she was a child, might see each other before they +were separated for ever by half a world, and that they might part in +love and charity. She would be his sister-in-law, he would be son to her +mother, husband to her Linda; he had been, though he now denied it, her +husband's staunchest friend in his extremity; and it would have added +greatly to the bitterness of her departure had she been forced to go +without speaking to him one kindly word. The opportunity was given to +her, and she would not utterly mar its sweetness by insisting on his +injustice to her husband. + +They all remained silent for a while, during which Gertrude fondled her +baby, and Norman produced before the elder boy some present that he had +brought for him. + +'Now, Alley,' said Mrs. Woodward, 'you're a made man; won't that do +beautifully to play with on board the big ship?' + +'And so, Harry, you have given up official life altogether,' said +Gertrude. + +'Yes,' said he--'the last day of the last year saw my finale at the +Weights and Measures. I did not live long--officially--to enjoy my +promotion. I almost wish myself back again.' + +'You'll go in on melting days, like the retired tallow-chandler,' +said Gertrude; 'but, joking apart, I wish you joy on your freedom from +thraldom; a government office in England is thraldom. If a man were to +give his work only, it would be well. All men who have to live by labour +must do that; but a man has to give himself as well as his work; +to sacrifice his individuality; to become body and soul a part of a +lumbering old machine.' + +This hardly came well from Gertrude, seeing that Alaric at any rate had +never been required to sacrifice any of his individuality. But she was +determined to hate all the antecedents of his life, as though those +antecedents, and not the laxity of his own principles, had brought about +his ruin. She was prepared to live entirely for the future, and to look +back on her London life as bad, tasteless, and demoralizing. England +to her was no longer a glorious country; for England's laws had made a +felon of her husband. She would go to a new land, new hopes, new ideas, +new freedom, new work, new life, and new ambition. 'Excelsior!' there +was no longer an excelsior left for talent and perseverance in this +effete country. She and hers would soon find room for their energies in +a younger land; and as she went she could not but pity those whom she +left behind. Her reasoning was hardly logical, but, perhaps, it was not +unfortunate. + +'For myself,' said Norman, not quite following all this--'I always liked +the Civil Service, and now I leave it with a sort of regret. I am quite +glad that Charley has my old desk; it will keep up a sort of tie between +me and the place.' + +'What does Linda say about it, mamma?' + +'Linda and I are both of Harry's way of thinking,' said Mrs. Woodward, +'because Normansgrove is such a distance.' + +'Distance!' repeated Gertrude, with something of sorrow, but more of +scorn in her tone. 'Distance, mamma! why you can get to her between +breakfast and dinner. Think where Melbourne is, mamma!' + +'It has nearly broken my heart to think of it,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'And you will still have Linda, mamma, and our darling Katie, and Harry, +and dear Charley. If the idea of distance should frighten anyone it is +me. But nothing shall frighten me while I have my husband and children. +Harry, you must not let mamma be too often alone when some other knight +shall have come and taken away Katie.' + +'We will take her to Normansgrove for good and all, if she will let us,' +said Harry. + +And now the time came for them to part. Harry was to say good-bye +to her, and then to see her no more. Early on the following morning +Gertrude was to go to Hampton and see Katie for the last time; to see +Katie for the last time, and the Cottage, and the shining river, and +all the well-known objects among which she had passed her life. To Mrs. +Woodward, to Linda, and Katie, all this was subject of inexpressible +melancholy; but with Gertrude every feeling of romance seemed to have +been absorbed by the realities of life. She would, of course, go to +Katie and give her a farewell embrace, since Katie was still too weak to +come to her; she would say farewell to Uncle Bat, to whom she and Alaric +owed so much; she would doubtless shed a tear or two, and feel some +emotion at parting, even from the inanimate associations of her youth; +but all this would now impress no lasting sorrow on her. + +She was eager to be off, eager for her new career, eager that he should +stand on a soil where he could once more face his fellow-creatures +without shame. She panted to put thousands of leagues of ocean between +him and his disgrace. + +On the following morning Gertrude was to go to Hampton for two hours, +and then to return to Millbank, with her mother and sister, for whose +accommodation a bed had been hired in the neighbourhood. On that evening +Alaric would be released from his prison; and then before daybreak on +the following day they were to take their way to the far-off docks, and +place themselves on board the vessel which was to carry them to their +distant home. + +'God bless you, Gertrude,' said Norman, whose eyes were not dry. + +'God Almighty bless you, Harry, you and Linda--and make you happy. If +Linda does not write constantly very constantly, you must do it for her. +We have delayed the happiness of your marriage, Harry--you must forgive +us that, as well as all our other trespasses. I fear Linda will never +forgive that.' + +'You won't find her unmerciful on that score,' said he. 'Dear Gertrude, +good-bye.' + +She put up her face to him, and he kissed her, for the first time in his +life. 'He bade me give you his love,' said she, in her last whisper; 'I +must, you know, do his bidding.' + +Norman's heart palpitated so that he could hardly compose his voice for +his last answer; but even then he would not be untrue to his inexorable +obstinacy; he could not send his love to a man he did not love. 'Tell +him,' said he, 'that he has my sincerest wishes for success wherever +he may be; and Gertrude, I need hardly say----' but he could get no +further. + +And so they parted. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE CRIMINAL POPULATION IS DISPOSED OF + + +Before we put Alaric on board the ship which is to take him away from +the land in which he might have run so exalted a career, we must say +one word as to the fate and fortunes of his old friend Undy Scott. +This gentleman has not been represented in our pages as an amiable or +high-minded person. He has indeed been the bad spirit of the tale, the +Siva of our mythology, the devil that has led our hero into temptation, +the incarnation of evil, which it is always necessary that the novelist +should have personified in one of his characters to enable him to +bring about his misfortunes, his tragedies, and various requisite +catastrophes. Scott had his Varney and such-like; Dickens his Bill Sykes +and such-like; all of whom are properly disposed of before the end of +those volumes in which are described their respective careers. + +I have ventured to introduce to my readers, as my devil, Mr. Undy Scott, +M.P. for the Tillietudlem district burghs; and I also feel myself bound +to dispose of him, though of him I regret I cannot make so decent an end +as was done with Sir Richard Varney and Bill Sykes. + +He deserves, however, as severe a fate as either of those heroes. With +the former we will not attempt to compare him, as the vices and devilry +of the days of Queen Elizabeth are in no way similar to those in which +we indulge; but with Bill Sykes we may contrast him, as they flourished +in the same era, and had their points of similitude, as well as their +points of difference. + +They were both apparently born to prey on their own species; they both +resolutely adhered to a fixed rule that they would in nowise earn their +bread, and to a rule equally fixed that, though they would earn no +bread, they would consume much. They were both of them blessed with +a total absence of sensibility and an utter disregard to the pain of +others, and had no other use for a heart than that of a machine for +maintaining the circulation of the blood. It is but little to say that +neither of them ever acted on principle, on a knowledge, that is, of +right and wrong, and a selection of the right; in their studies of the +science of evil they had progressed much further than this, and had +taught themselves to believe that that which other men called virtue +was, on its own account, to be regarded as mawkish, insipid, and useless +for such purposes as the acquisition of money or pleasure; whereas vice +was, on its own account, to be preferred, as offering the only road to +those things which they were desirous of possessing. + +So far there was a great resemblance between Bill Sykes and Mr. Scott; +but then came the points of difference, which must give to the latter +a great pre-eminence in the eyes of that master whom they had both so +worthily served. Bill could not boast the merit of selecting the course +which he had run; he had served the Devil, having had, as it were, no +choice in the matter; he was born and bred and educated an evil-doer, +and could hardly have deserted from the colours of his great Captain, +without some spiritual interposition to enable him to do so. To Undy +a warmer reward must surely be due: he had been placed fairly on the +world's surface, with power to choose between good and bad, and had +deliberately taken the latter; to him had, at any rate, been explained +the theory of _meum_ and _tuum_, and he had resolved that he liked +_tuum_ better than _meum_; he had learnt that there is a God ruling over +us, and a Devil hankering after us, and had made up his mind that he +would belong to the latter. Bread and water would have come to him +naturally without any villany on his part, aye, and meat and milk, +and wine and oil, the fat things of the world; but he elected to be a +villain; he liked to do the Devil's bidding.--Surely he was the better +servant; surely he shall have the richer reward. + +And yet poor Bill Sykes, for whom here I would willingly say a word or +two, could I, by so saying, mitigate the wrath against him, is always +held as the more detestable scoundrel. Lady, you now know them both. Is +it not the fact, that, knowing him as you do, you could spend a pleasant +hour enough with Mr. Scott, sitting next to him at dinner; whereas your +blood would creep within you, your hair would stand on end, your voice +would stick in your throat, if you were suddenly told that Bill Sykes +was in your presence? + +Poor Bill! I have a sort of love for him, as he walks about wretched +with that dog of his, though I know that it is necessary to hang him. +Yes, Bill; I, your friend, cannot gainsay that, must acknowledge that. +Hard as the case may be, you must be hung; hung out of the way of +further mischief; my spoons, my wife's throat, my children's brains, +demand that. You, Bill, and polecats, and such-like, must be squelched +when we can come across you, seeing that you make yourself so +universally disagreeable. It is your ordained nature to be disagreeable; +you plead silently. I know it; I admit the hardship of your case; but +still, my Bill, self-preservation is the first law of nature. You +must be hung. But, while hanging you, I admit that you are more sinned +against than sinning. There is another, Bill, another, who will surely +take account of this in some way, though it is not for me to tell you +how. + +Yes, I hang Bill Sykes with soft regret; but with what a savage joy, +with what exultation of heart, with what alacrity of eager soul, with +what aptitude of mind to the deed, would I hang my friend, Undy Scott, +the member of Parliament for the Tillietudlem burghs, if I could but get +at his throat for such a purpose! Hang him! aye, as high as Haman! In +this there would be no regret, no vacillation of purpose, no doubt as to +the propriety of the sacrifice, no feeling that I was so treating him, +not for his own desert, but for my advantage. + +We hang men, I believe, with this object only, that we should deter +others from crime; but in hanging Bill we shall hardly deter his +brother. Bill Sykes must look to crime for his bread, seeing that he has +been so educated, seeing that we have not yet taught him another trade. + +But if I could hang Undy Scott, I think I should deter some others. The +figure of Undy swinging from a gibbet at the broad end of Lombard Street +would have an effect. Ah! my fingers itch to be at the rope. + +Fate, however, and the laws are averse. To gibbet him, in one sense, +would have been my privilege, had I drunk deeper from that Castalian +rill whose dark waters are tinged with the gall of poetic indignation; +but as in other sense I may not hang him, I will tell how he was driven +from his club, and how he ceased to number himself among the legislators +of his country. + +Undy Scott, among his other good qualities, possessed an enormous +quantity of that which schoolboys in these days call 'cheek.' He was not +easily browbeaten, and was generally prepared to browbeat others. +Mr. Chaffanbrass certainly did get the better of him; but then Mr. +Chaffanbrass was on his own dunghill. Could Undy Scott have had Mr. +Chaffanbrass down at the clubs, there would have been, perhaps, another +tale to tell. + +Give me the cock that can crow in any yard; such cocks, however, we know +are scarce. Undy Scott, as he left the Old Bailey, was aware that he had +cut a sorry figure, and felt that he must immediately do something to +put himself right again, at any rate before his portion of the world. He +must perform some exploit uncommonly cheeky in order to cover his late +discomfiture. To get the better of Mr. Chaffanbrass at the Old Bailey +had been beyond him; but he might yet do something at the clubs to set +aside the unanimous verdict which had been given against him in the +city. Nay, he must do something, unless he was prepared to go to the +wall utterly, and at once. + +Going to the wall with Undy would mean absolute ruin; he lived but +on the cheekiness of his gait and habits; he had become member of +Parliament, Government official, railway director, and club aristocrat, +merely by dint of cheek. He had now received a great blow; he had +stood before a crowd, and been annihilated by the better cheek of Mr. +Chaffanbrass, and, therefore, it behoved him at once to do something. +When the perfume of the rose grows stale, the flower is at once thrown +aside, and carried off as foul refuse. It behoved Undy to see that his +perfume was maintained in its purity, or he, too, would be carried off. + +The club to which Undy more especially belonged was called the Downing; +and of this Alaric was also a member, having been introduced into it by +his friend. Here had Alaric spent by far too many of the hours of his +married life, and had become well known and popular. At the time of +his conviction, the summer was far advanced; it was then August; +but Parliament was still sitting, and there were sufficient club men +remaining in London to create a daily gathering at the Downing. + +On the day following that on which the verdict was found, Undy convened +a special committee of the club, in order that he might submit to it a +proposition which he thought it indispensable should come from him; so, +at least, he declared. The committee did assemble, and when Undy met it, +he saw among the faces before him not a few with whom he would willingly +have dispensed. However, he had come there to exercise his cheek; no +one there should cow him; the wig of Mr. Chaffanbrass was, at any rate, +absent. + +And so he submitted his proposition. I need not trouble my readers with +the neat little speech in which it was made. Undy was true to himself, +and the speech was neat. The proposition was this: that as he had +unfortunately been the means of introducing Mr. Alaric Tudor to the +club, he considered it to be his duty to suggest that the name of +that gentleman should be struck off the books. He then expressed his +unmitigated disgust at the crime of which Tudor had been found guilty, +uttered some nice little platitudes in the cause of virtue, and +expressed a hope 'that he might so far refer to a personal matter as +to say that his father's family would take care that the lady, whose +fortune had been the subject of the trial, should not lose one penny +through the dishonesty of her trustee.' + +Oh, Undy, as high as Haman, if I could! as high as Haman! and if not in +Lombard Street, then on that open ground where Waterloo Place bisects +Pall Mall, so that all the clubs might see thee! + +'He would advert,' he said, 'to one other matter, though, perhaps, his +doing so was unnecessary. It was probably known to them all that he had +been a witness at the late trial; an iniquitous attempt had been made +by the prisoner's counsel to connect his name with the prisoner's guilt. +They all too well knew the latitude allowed to lawyers in the criminal +courts, to pay much attention to this. Had he' (Undy Scott) 'in any way +infringed the laws of his country, he was there to answer for it. But he +would go further than this, and declare that if any member of that club +doubted his probity in the matter, he was perfectly willing to submit to +such member documents which would,' &c., &c. + +He finished his speech, and an awful silence reigned around him. No +enthusiastic ardour welcomed the well-loved Undy back to his club, and +comforted him after the rough usage of the unpolished Chaffanbrass. No +ten or twenty combined voices expressed, by their clamorous negation of +the last-proposed process, that their Undy was above reproach. The eyes +around looked into him with no friendly alacrity. Undy, Undy, more cheek +still, still more cheek, or you are surely lost. + +'If,' said he, in a well-assumed indignant tone of injured innocence, +'there be any in the club who do suspect me of anything unbecoming a +gentleman in this affair, I am willing to retire from it till the +matter shall have been investigated; but in such case I demand that the +investigation be immediate.' + +Oh, Undy, Undy, the supply of cheek is not bad; it is all but unlimited; +but yet it suffices thee not. 'Can there be positions in this modern +West End world of mine,' thought Undy to himself, 'in which cheek, +unbounded cheek, will not suffice?' Oh, Undy, they are rare; but still +there are such, and this, unfortunately for thee, seemeth to be one of +them. + +And then got up a discreet old baronet, one who moveth not often in the +affairs around him, but who, when he moveth, stirreth many waters; a man +of broad acres, and a quiet, well-assured fame which has grown to him +without his seeking it, as barnacles grow to the stout keel when it has +been long a-swimming; him, of all men, would Undy have wished to see +unconcerned with these matters. + +Not in many words, nor eloquent did Sir Thomas speak. 'He felt it his +duty,' he said, 'to second the proposal made by Mr. Scott for removing +Mr. Tudor from amongst them. He had watched this trial with some care, +and he pitied Mr. Tudor from the bottom of his heart. He would not have +thought that he could have felt so strong a sympathy for a man convicted +of dishonesty. But, Mr. Tudor had been convicted, and he must incur the +penalties of his fault. One of these penalties must, undoubtedly, be his +banishment from this club. He therefore seconded Mr. Scott's proposal.' + +He then stood silent for a moment, having finished that task; but yet he +did not sit down. Why, oh, why does he not sit down? why, O Undy, +does he thus stand, looking at the surface of the table on which he is +leaning? + +'And now,' he said, 'he had another proposition to make; and that was +that Mr. Undecimus Scott should also be expelled from the club,' and +having so spoken, in a voice of unusual energy, he then sat down. + +And now, Undy, you may as well pack up, and be off, without further +fuss, to Boulogne, Ostend, or some such idle Elysium, with such +money-scrapings as you may be able to collect together. No importunity +will avail thee anything against the judges and jurymen who are now +trying thee. One word from that silent old baronet was worse to thee +than all that Mr. Chaffanbrass could say. Come! pack up; and begone. + +But he was still a Member of Parliament. The Parliament, however, was +about to be dissolved, and, of course, it would be useless for him +to stand again; he, like Mr. M'Buffer had had his spell of it, and he +recognized the necessity of vanishing. He at first thought that his life +as a legislator might be allowed to come to a natural end, that he might +die as it were in his bed, without suffering the acute pain of applying +for the Chiltern Hundreds. In this, however, he found himself wrong. +The injured honour of all the Tillietudlemites rose against him with one +indignant shout; and a rumour, a horrid rumour, of a severer fate met +his ears. He applied at once for the now coveted sinecure,--and was +refused. Her Majesty could not consent to entrust to him the duties of +the situation in question--; and in lieu thereof the House expelled him +by its unanimous voice. + +And now, indeed, it was time for him to pack and begone. He was now +liable to the vulgarest persecution from the vulgar herd; his very +tailor and bootmaker would beleaguer him, and coarse unwashed bailiffs +take him by the collar. Yes, now indeed, it was time to be off. + +And off he was. He paid one fleeting visit to my Lord at Cauldkail +Castle, collecting what little he might; another to his honourable wife, +adding some slender increase to his little budget, and then he was off. +Whither, it is needless to say--to Hamburg perhaps, or to Ems, or the +richer tables of Homburg. How he flourished for a while with ambiguous +success; how he talked to the young English tourists of what he had done +when in Parliament, especially for the rights of married women; how +he poked his 'Honourable' card in every one's way, and lugged Lord +Gaberlunzie into all conversations; how his face became pimply and his +wardrobe seedy; and how at last his wretched life will ooze out from +him in some dark corner, like the filthy juice of a decayed fungus +which makes hideous the hidden wall on which it bursts, all this is +unnecessary more particularly to describe. He is probably still living, +and those who desire his acquaintance will find him creeping round some +gambling table, and trying to look as though he had in his pocket ample +means to secure those hoards of money which men are so listlessly raking +about. From our view he has now vanished. + +It was a bitter February morning, when two cabs stood packing themselves +at No. 5, Paradise Row, Millbank. It was hardly yet six o'clock, and +Paradise Row was dark as Erebus; that solitary gas-light sticking out +from the wall of the prison only made darkness visible; the tallow +candles which were brought in and out with every article that was +stuffed under a seat, or into a corner, would get themselves blown out; +and the sleet which was falling fast made the wicks wet, so that they +could with difficulty be relighted. + +But at last the cabs were packed with luggage, and into one got Gertrude +with her husband, her baby, and her mother; and into the other Charley +handed Linda, then Alley, and lastly, the youthful maiden, who humbly +begged his pardon as she stepped up to the vehicle; and then, having +given due directions to the driver, he not without difficulty squeezed +himself into the remaining space. + +Such journeys as these are always made at a slow pace. Cabmen know very +well who must go fast, and who may go slow. Women with children going +on board an emigrant vessel at six o'clock on a February morning may be +taken very slowly. And very slowly Gertrude and her party were taken. +Time had been--nay, it was but the other day--when Alaric's impatient +soul would have spurned at such a pace as this. But now he sat tranquil +enough. His wife held one of his hands, and the other he pressed against +his eyes, as though shading them from the light. Light there was none, +but he had not yet learnt to face Mrs. Woodward even in the darkness. + +He had come out of the prison on the day before, and had spent an +evening with her. It is needless to say that no one had upbraided him, +that no one had hinted that his backslidings had caused all this present +misery, had brought them all to that wretched cabin, and would on the +morrow separate, perhaps for ever, a mother and a child who loved each +other so dearly. No one spoke to him of this; perhaps no one thought of +it; he, however, did so think of it that he could not hold his head up +before them. + +'He was ill,' Gertrude said; 'his long confinement had prostrated him; +but the sea air would revive him in a day or two.' And then she made +herself busy, and got the tea for them, and strove, not wholly in vain,' +to drive dull care away!' + +But slowly as the cabs went in spite of Charley's vocal execrations, +they did get to the docks in time. Who, indeed, was ever too late at +the docks? Who, that ever went there, had not to linger, linger, linger, +till every shred of patience was clean worn out? They got to the +docks in time, and got on board that fast-sailing, clipper-built, +never-beaten, always-healthy ship, the _Flash of Lightning_, 5,600 tons, +A 1. Why, we have often wondered, are ships designated as A 1, seeing +that all ships are of that class? Where is the excellence, seeing that +all share it? Of course the _Flash of Lightning_ was A 1. The author has +for years been looking out, and has not yet found a ship advertised as A +2, or even as B 1. What is this catalogue of comparative excellence, of +which there is but one visible number? + +The world, we think, makes a great mistake on the subject of saying, or +acting, farewell. The word or deed should partake of the suddenness +of electricity; but we all drawl through it at a snail's pace. We are +supposed to tear ourselves from our friends; but tearing is a process +which should be done quickly. What is so wretched as lingering over +a last kiss, giving the hand for the third time, saying over and over +again, 'Good-bye, John, God bless you; and mind you write!' Who has +not seen his dearest friends standing round the window of a railway +carriage, while the train would not start, and has not longed to say to +them, 'Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once!' And +of all such farewells, the ship's farewell is the longest and the most +dreary. One sits on a damp bench, snuffing up the odour of oil and +ropes, cudgelling one's brains to think what further word of increased +tenderness can be spoken. No tenderer word can be spoken. One returns +again and again to the weather, to coats and cloaks, perhaps even to +sandwiches and the sherry flask. All effect is thus destroyed, and a +trespass is made even on the domain of feeling. + +I remember a line of poetry, learnt in my earliest youth, and which I +believe to have emanated from a sentimental Frenchman, a man of genius, +with whom my parents were acquainted. It is as follows:-- + + Are you go?--Is you gone?--And I left?--Vera vell! + +Now the whole business of a farewell is contained in that line. When the +moment comes, let that be said; let that be said and felt, and then let +the dear ones depart. + +Mrs. Woodward and Gertrude--God bless them!--had never studied the +subject. They knew no better than to sit in the nasty cabin, surrounded +by boxes, stewards, porters, children, and abominations of every kind, +holding each other's hands, and pressing damp handkerchiefs to their +eyes. The delay, the lingering, upset even Gertrude, and brought her for +a moment down to the usual level of leave-taking womanhood. Alaric, the +meanwhile, stood leaning over the taffrail with Charley, as mute as the +fishes beneath him. + +'Write to us the moment you get there,' said Charley. How often had the +injunction been given! 'And now we had better get off--you'll be better +when we are gone, Alaric,'--Charley had some sense of the truth about +him--'and, Alaric, take my word for it, I'll come and set the Melbourne +Weights and Measures to rights before long--I'll come and weigh your +gold for you.' + +'We had better be going now,' said Charley, looking down into the cabin; +'they may let loose and be off any moment now.' + +'Oh, Charley, not yet, not yet,' said Linda, clinging to her sister. + +'You'll have to go down to the Nore, if you stay; that's all,' said +Charley. + +And then again began the kissing and the crying. Yes, ye dear ones--it +is hard to part--it is hard for the mother to see the child of her bosom +torn from her for ever; it is cruel that sisters should be severed: it +is a harsh sentence for the world to give, that of such a separation as +this. These, O ye loving hearts, are the penalties of love! Those that +are content to love must always be content to pay them. + +'Go, mamma, go,' said Gertrude; 'dearest, best, sweetest mother--my +own, own mother; go, Linda, darling Linda. Give my kindest love to +Harry--Charley, you and Harry will be good to mamma, I know you will. +And mamma'--and then she whispered to her mother one last prayer in +Charley's favour--'she may love him now, indeed she may.' + +Alaric came to them at the last moment--'Mrs. Woodward,' said he, 'say +that you forgive me.' + +'I do,' said she, embracing him--'God knows that I do;--but, Alaric, +remember what a treasure you possess.' + +And so they parted. May God speed the wanderers! + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +THE FATE OF THE NAVVIES + + +And now, having dispatched Alaric and his wife and bairns on their +long journey, we must go back for a while and tell how Charley had been +transformed from an impudent, idle young Navvy into a well-conducted, +zealous young Weights. + +When Alaric was convicted, Charley had, as we all know, belonged to the +Internal Navigation; when the six months' sentence had expired, Charley +was in full blow at the decorous office in Whitehall; and during the +same period Norman had resigned and taken on himself the new duties of a +country squire. The change which had been made had affected others +than Charley. It had been produced by one of those far-stretching, +world-moving commotions which now and then occur, sometimes twice or +thrice in a generation, and, perhaps, not again for half a century, +causing timid men to whisper in corners, and the brave and high-spirited +to struggle with the struggling waves, so that when the storm subsides +they may be found floating on the surface. A moral earthquake had been +endured by a portion of the Civil Service of the country. + +The Internal Navigation had--No, my prognostic reader, it had not been +reformed; no new blood had been infused into it; no attempt had been +made to produce a better discipline by the appointment of a younger +secretary; there had been no carting away of decayed wood in the shape +of Mr. Snape, or gathering of rank weeds in the form of Mr. Corkscrew; +nothing of the kind had been attempted. No--the disease had gone too far +either for phlebotomy, purging, or cautery. The Internal Navigation had +ceased to exist! Its demise had been in this wise.--It may be remembered +that some time since Mr. Oldeschole had mentioned in the hearing of Mr. +Snape that things were going wrong. Sir Gregory Hardlines had expressed +an adverse opinion as to the Internal Navigation, and worse, ten times +worse than that, there had been an article in the _Times_. Now, we all +know that if anything is ever done in any way towards improvement in +these days, the public press does it. And we all know, also, of what the +public press consists. Mr. Oldeschole knew this well, and even Mr. +Snape had a glimmering idea of the truth. When he read that article, +Mr. Oldeschole felt that his days were numbered, and Mr. Snape, when he +heard of it, began to calculate for the hundredth time to what +highest amount of pension he might be adjudged to be entitled by a +liberal-minded Treasury minute. + +Mr. Oldeschole began to set his house in order, hopelessly; for any such +effort the time was gone by. It was too late for the office to be so +done by, and too late for Mr. Oldeschole to do it. He had no aptitude +for new styles and modern improvements; he could not understand Sir +Gregory's code of rules, and was dumbfounded by the Civil Service +requisitions that were made upon him from time to time. Then came +frequent calls for him to attend at Sir Gregory's office. There a new +broom had been brought in, in the place of our poor friend Alaric, a +broom which seemed determined to sweep all before it with an unmitigable +energy. Mr. Oldeschole found that he could not stand at all before this +young Hercules, seeing that his special stall was considered to be the +foulest in the whole range of the Augean stables. He soon saw that +the river was to be turned in on him, and that he was to be officially +obliterated in the flood. + +The civility of those wonder-doing demigods--those Magi of the Civil +Service office--was most oppressive to him. When he got to the board, he +was always treated with a deference which he knew was but a prelude to +barbaric tortures. They would ask him to sit down in a beautiful new +leathern arm-chair, as though he were really some great man, and then +examine him as they would a candidate for the Custom House, smiling +always, but looking at him as though they were determined to see through +him. + +They asked him all manner of questions; but there was one question which +they put to him, day after day, for four days, that nearly drove him +mad. It was always put by that horrid young lynx-eyed new commissioner, +who sat there with his hair brushed high from off his forehead, +peering out of his capacious, excellently-washed shirt-collars, a +personification of conscious official zeal. + +'And now, Mr. Oldeschole, if you have had leisure to consider +the question more fully, perhaps you can define to us what is +the--hum--hm--the use--hm--hm--the exact use of the Internal Navigation +Office?' + +And then Sir Warwick would go on looking through his millstone as though +now he really had a hope of seeing something, and Sir Gregory would lean +back in his chair, and rubbing his hands slowly over each other, like a +great Akinetos as he was, wait leisurely for Mr. Oldeschole's answer, or +rather for his no answer. + +What a question was this to ask of a man who had spent all his life in +the Internal Navigation Office! O reader! should it chance that thou art +a clergyman, imagine what it would be to thee, wert thou asked what is +the exact use of the Church of England; and that, too, by some stubborn +catechist whom thou wert bound to answer; or, if a lady, happy in a +husband and family, say, what would be thy feelings if demanded to +define the exact use of matrimony? Use! Is it not all in all to thee? + +Mr. Oldeschole felt a hearty inward conviction that his office had +been of very great use. In the first place, had he not drawn from it +a thousand a year for the last five-and-twenty years? had it not given +maintenance and employment to many worthy men who might perhaps have +found it difficult to obtain maintenance elsewhere? had it not always +been an office, a public office of note and reputation, with proper work +assigned to it? The use of it--the exact use of it? Mr. Oldeschole at +last declared, with some indignation in his tone, that he had been there +for forty years and knew well that the office was very useful; but that +he would not undertake to define its exact use. 'Thank you, thank you, +Mr. Oldeschole--that will do, I think,' said the very spruce-looking new +gentleman out of his shirt-collars. + +In these days there was a kind of prescience at the Internal Navigation +that something special was going to be done with them. Mr. Oldeschole +said nothing openly; but it may be presumed that he did whisper somewhat +to those of the seniors around him in whom he most confided. And +then, his frequent visits to Whitehall were spoken of even by the most +thoughtless of the navvies, and the threatenings of the coming storm +revealed themselves with more or less distinctness to every mind. + +At last the thundercloud broke and the bolt fell. Mr. Oldeschole was +informed that the Lords of the Treasury had resolved on breaking up the +establishment and providing for the duties in another way. As the word +duties passed Sir Gregory's lips a slight smile was seen to hover +round the mouth of the new commissioner. Mr. Oldeschole would, he +was informed, receive an official notification to this effect on the +following morning; and on the following morning accordingly a dispatch +arrived, of great length, containing the resolution of my Lords, and +putting an absolute extinguisher on the life of every navvy. + +How Mr. Oldeschole, with tears streaming down his cheeks, communicated +the tidings to the elder brethren; and how the elder brethren, with +palpitating hearts and quivering voices, repeated the tale to the +listening juniors, I cannot now describe. The boldest spirits were then +cowed, the loudest miscreants were then silenced, there were but few +gibes, but little jeering at the Internal Navigation on that day; though +Charley, who had already other hopes, contrived to keep up his spirits. +The men stood about talking in clusters, and old animosities were at an +end. The lamb sat down with the wolf, and Mr. Snape and Dick Scatterall +became quite confidential. + +'I knew it was going to happen,' said Mr. Snape to him. 'Indeed, Mr. +Oldeschole has been consulting us about it for some time; but I must own +I did not think it would be so sudden; I must own that.' + +'If you knew it was coming,' said Corkscrew, 'why didn't you tell a +chap?' + +'I was not at liberty,' said Mr. Snape, looking very wise. + +'We shall all have liberty enough now,' said Scatterall; 'I wonder what +they'll do with us; eh, Charley?' + +'I believe they will send the worst of us to Spike Island or Dartmoor +prison,' said Charley; 'but Mr. Snape, no doubt, has heard and can tell +us.' + +'Oh, come, Charley! It don't do to chaff now,' said a young navvy, who +was especially down in the mouth. 'I wonder will they do anything for a +fellow?' + +'I heard my uncle, in Parliament Street, say, that when a chap has +got any _infested_ interest in a thing, they can't turn him out,' said +Corkscrew; 'and my uncle is a parliamentary agent.' + +'Can't they though!' said Scatterall. 'It seems to me that they mean +to, at any rate; there wasn't a word about pensions or anything of that +sort, was there, Mr. Snape?' + +'Not a word,' said Snape. 'But those who are entitled to pensions can't +be affected injuriously. As far as I can see they must give me my whole +salary. I don't think they can do less.' + +'You're all serene then, Mr. Snape,' said Charley; 'you're in the right +box. Looking at matters in that light, Mr. Snape, I think you ought to +stand something handsome in the shape of lunch. Come, what do you say to +chops and stout all round? Dick will go over and order it in a minute.' + +'I wish you wouldn't, Charley,' said the navvy who seemed to be most +affected, and who, in his present humour, could not endure a joke, +As Mr. Snape did not seem to accede to Charley's views, the liberal +proposition fell to the ground. + +'Care killed a cat,' said Scatterall. 'I shan't break my heart about it. +I never liked the shop--did you, Charley?' + +'Well, I must say I think we have been very comfortable here, under +Mr. Snape,' said Charley. But if Mr. Snape is to go, why the office +certainly would be deuced dull without him.' + +'Charley!' said the broken-hearted young navvy, in a tone of reproach. + +Sorrow, however, did not take away their appetite, and as Mr. Snape did +not see fitting occasion for providing a banquet, they clubbed together, +and among them managed to get a spread of beefsteaks and porter. +Scatterall, as requested, went across the Strand to order it at the +cookshop, while Corkscrew and Charley prepared the tables. 'And now +mind it's the thing,' said Dick, who, with intimate familiarity, had +penetrated into the eating-house kitchen; 'not dry, you know, or too +much done; and lots of fat.' + +And then, as the generous viands renewed their strength, and as the +potent stout warmed their blood, happier ideas came to them, and they +began to hope that the world was not all over. 'Well, I shall try for +the Customs,' said the unhappy one, after a deep pull at the pewter. 'I +shall try for the Customs; one does get such stunning feeds for tenpence +at that place in Thames Street.' Poor youth! his ideas of earning his +bread did not in their wildest flight spread beyond the public offices +of the Civil Service. + +For a few days longer they hung about the old office, doing nothing--how +could men so circumstanced do anything?--and waiting for their fate. +At last their fate was announced. Mr. Oldeschole retired with his full +salary. Secretaries and such-like always retire with full pay, as it +is necessary that dignity should be supported. Mr. Snape and the +other seniors were pensioned, with a careful respect to their years of +service; with which arrangement they all of them expressed themselves +highly indignant, and loudly threatened to bring the cruelty of their +treatment before Parliament, by the aid of sundry members, who were +supposed to be on the look out for such work; but as nothing further was +ever heard of them, it may be presumed that the members in question +did not regard the case as one on which the Government of the day +was sufficiently vulnerable to make it worth their while to trouble +themselves. Of the younger clerks, two or three, including the unhappy +one, were drafted into other offices; some others received one or more +years' pay, and then tore themselves away from the fascinations of +London life; among those was Mr. R. Scatterall, who, in after years, +will doubtless become a lawgiver in Hong-Kong; for to that colony has he +betaken himself. Some few others, more unfortunate than the rest, among +whom poor Screwy was the most conspicuous, were treated with a more +absolute rigour, and were sent upon the world portionless. Screwy +had been constant in his devotion to pork chops, and had persisted in +spelling blue without the final 'e.' He was therefore, declared unworthy +of any further public confidence whatever. He is now in his uncle's +office in Parliament Street; and it is to be hoped that his peculiar +talents may there be found useful. + +And so the Internal Navigation Office came to an end, and the dull, +dingy rooms were vacant. Ruthless men shovelled off as waste paper +all the lock entries of which Charley had once been so proud; and the +ponderous ledgers, which Mr. Snape had delighted to haul about, were +sent away into Cimmerian darkness, and probably to utter destruction. +And then the Internal Navigation was no more. + +Among those who were drafted into other offices was Charley, whom +propitious fate took to the Weights and Measures. But it must not be +imagined that chance took him there. The Weights and Measures was an +Elysium, the door of which was never casually open. + +Charley at this time was a much-altered man; not that he had become a +good clerk at his old office--such a change one may say was impossible; +there were no good clerks at the Internal Navigation, and Charley had +so long been among navvies the most knavish or navviest, that any such +transformation would have met with no credence--but out of his office he +had become a much-altered man. As Katie had said, it was as though +some one had come to him from the dead. He could not go back to his old +haunts, he could not return like a dog to his vomit, as long as he had +that purse so near his heart, as long as that voice sounded in his ear, +while the memory of that kiss lingered in his heart. + +He now told everything to Gertrude, all his debts, all his love, and +all his despair. There is no relief for sorrow like the sympathy of a +friend, if one can only find it. But then the sympathy must be real; +mock sympathy always tells the truth against itself, always fails to +deceive. He told everything to Gertrude, and by her counsel he told much +to Norman. He could not speak to him, true friend as he was, of Katie +and her love. There was that about the subject which made it too sacred +for man's ears, too full of tenderness to be spoken of without feminine +tears. It was only in the little parlour at Paradise Row, when the +evening had grown dark, and Gertrude was sitting with her baby in her +arms, that the boisterous young navvy could bring himself to speak of +his love. + +During these months Katie's health had greatly improved, and as she +herself had gained in strength, she had gradually begun to think that +it was yet possible for her to live. Little was now said by her about +Charley, and not much was said of him in her hearing; but still she did +learn how he had changed his office, and with his office his mode of +life; she did hear of his literary efforts, and of his kindness to +Gertrude, and it would seem as though it were ordained that his moral +life and her physical life were to gain strength together. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +MR. NOGO'S LAST QUESTION + + +But at this time Charley was not idle. The fate of 'Crinoline and +Macassar' has not yet been told; nor has that of the two rival +chieftains, the 'Baron of Ballyporeen and Sir Anthony Allan-a-dale.' +These heartrending tales appeared in due course, bit by bit, in the +pages of the _Daily Delight_. On every morning of the week, Sundays +excepted, a page and a half of Charley's narrative was given to the +expectant public; and though I am not prepared to say that the public +received the offering with any violent acclamations of applause, that +his name became suddenly that of a great unknown, that literary cliques +talked about him to the exclusion of other topics, or that he rose +famous one morning as Byron did after the publication of the 'Corsair,' +nevertheless something was said in his praise. The _Daily Delight_, on +the whole, was rather belittled by its grander brethren of the press; +but a word or two was said here and there to exempt Charley's +fictions from the general pooh-poohing with which the remainder of the +publication was treated. + +Success, such as this even, is dear to the mind of a young author, +and Charley began to feel that he had done something. The editor was +proportionably civil to him, and he was encouraged to commence a third +historiette. + +'We have polished off poison and petticoats pretty well,' said the +editor; 'what do you say to something political?' + +Charley had no objection in life. + +'This Divorce Bill, now--we could have half a dozen married couples +all separating, getting rid of their ribs and buckling again, +helter-skelter, every man to somebody else's wife; and the parish parson +refusing to do the work; just to show the immorality of the thing.' + +Charley said he'd think about it. + +'Or the Danubian Principalities and the French Alliance--could you +manage now to lay your scene in Constantinople?' + +Charley doubted whether he could. + +'Or perhaps India is the thing? The Cawnpore massacre would work up into +any lengths you pleased. You could get a file of the _Times_, you know, +for your facts.' + +But while the editor was giving these various valuable hints as to +the author's future subjects, the author himself, with base mind, was +thinking how much he should be paid for his past labours. At last he +ventured, in the mildest manner, to allude to the subject. + +'Payment!' said the editor. + +Charley said that he had understood that there was to be some fixed +scale of pay; so much per sheet, or something of that sort. + +'Undoubtedly there will,' said the editor; 'and those who will have the +courage and perseverance to work through with us, till the publication +has obtained that wide popularity which it is sure to achieve, will +doubtless be paid,--be paid as no writers for any periodical in this +metropolis have ever yet been paid. But at present, Mr. Tudor, you +really must be aware that it is quite out of the question.' + +Charley had not the courage and perseverance to work through with +the _Daily Delight_ till it had achieved its promised popularity, and +consequently left its ranks like a dastard. He consulted both Gertrude +and Norman on the subject, and on their advice set himself to work on +his own bottom. 'You may perhaps manage to fly alone,' said Gertrude; +'but you will find it very difficult to fly if you tie the whole weight +of the _Daily Delight_ under your wings.' So Charley prepared himself +for solitary soaring. + +While he was thus working, the time arrived at which Norman was to leave +his office, and it occurred to him that it might be possible that he +should bequeath his vacancy to Charley. He went himself to Sir Gregory, +and explained, not only his own circumstances, and his former friendship +with Alaric Tudor, but also the relationship between Alaric and Charley. +He then learnt, in the strictest confidence of course, that the doom +of the Internal Navigation had just been settled, and that it would be +necessary to place in other offices those young men who could in any way +be regarded as worth their salt, and, after considerable manoeuvring, +had it so arranged that the ne'er-do-well young navvy should recommence +his official life under better auspices. + +Nor did Charley come in at the bottom of his office, but was allowed, +by some inscrutable order of the great men who arranged those things, +to take a position in the Weights and Measures equal in seniority and +standing to that which he had held at the Navigation, and much higher, +of course, in pay. There is an old saying, which the unenlightened +credit, and which declares that that which is sauce for the goose is +sauce also for the gander. Nothing put into a proverb since the days of +Solomon was ever more untrue. That which is sauce for the goose is not +sauce for the gander, and especially is not so in official life. Poor +Screwy was the goose, and certainly got the sauce best suited to him +when he was turned adrift out of the Civil Service. Charley was the +gander, and fond as I am of him for his many excellent qualities, I am +fain to own that justice might fairly have demanded that he should be +cooked after the same receipt. But it suited certain potent personages +to make a swan of him; and therefore, though it had long been an assured +fact through the whole service that no man was ever known to enter +the Weights and Measures without the strictest examination, though the +character of aspirants for that high office was always subjected to a +rigid scrutiny, though knowledge, accomplishments, industry, morality, +outward decency, inward zeal, and all the cardinal virtues were +absolutely requisite, still Charley was admitted, without any +examination or scrutiny whatever, during the commotion consequent upon +the earthquake above described. + +Charley went to the Weights some time during the recess. In the process +of the next session Mr. Nogo gave notice that he meant to ask the +Government a question as to a gross act of injustice which had been +perpetrated--so at least the matter had been represented to him--on the +suppression of the Internal Navigation Office. + +Mr. Nogo did not at first find it very easy to get a fitting opportunity +for asking his question. He had to give notice, and inquiries had to +be made, and the responsible people were away, and various customary +accidents happened, so that it was late in June before the question was +put. Mr. Nogo, however, persevered ruthlessly, and after six months' +labour, did deliver himself of an indignant, and, as his friends +declared to him, a very telling speech. + +It was reported at the time by the opposition newspapers, and need not +therefore be given here. But the upshot was this: two men bearing +equal character--Mr. Nogo would not say whether the characters of the +gentlemen were good or bad; he would only say equal characters--sat in +the same room at this now defunct office; one was Mr. Corkscrew and the +other Mr. Tudor. One had no friends in the Civil Service, but the other +was more fortunate. Mr. Corkscrew had been sent upon the world a ruined, +blighted man, without any compensation, without any regard for his +interests, without any consideration for his past services or future +prospects. They would be told that the Government had no further need of +his labours, and that they could not dare to saddle the country with a +pension for so young a man. But what had been done in the case of the +other gentleman? Why, he had been put into a valuable situation, in the +best Government office in London, had been placed over the heads of a +dozen others, who had been there before him, &c., &c., &c. And then Mr. +Nogo ended with so vehement an attack on Sir Gregory, and the Government +as connected with him, that the dogs began to whet their teeth and +prepare for a tug at the great badger. + +But circumstances were mischancy with Mr. Nogo, and all he said +redounded only to the credit of our friend Charley. His black +undoubtedly was black; the merits of Charley and Mr. Corkscrew, as +public servants, had been about equal; but Mr. Whip Vigil turned the +black into white in three minutes. + +As he got upon his legs, smiling after the manner of his great exemplar, +he held in his hand a small note and a newspaper. 'A comparison,' he +said, 'had been instituted between the merits of two gentlemen formerly +in the employment of the Crown, one of them had been selected for +further employment, and the other rejected. The honourable member for +Mile End had, he regretted to say, instituted this comparison. They all +knew what was the proverbial character of a comparison. It was, however, +ready made to his hands, and there was nothing left for him, Mr. Whip +Vigil, but to go on with it. This, however, he would do in as light a +manner as possible. It had been thought that the one gentleman would not +suit the public service, and that the other would do so. It was for him +merely to defend this opinion. He now held in his hand a letter written +by the protege of the honourable member for Limehouse; he would not +read it--' (cries of 'Read, read!') 'no, he would not read it, but the +honourable member might if he would--and could. He himself was prepared +to say that a gentleman who chose to express himself in such a style +in his private notes--this note, however, was not private in the usual +sense--could hardly be expected to command a proper supply of wholesome +English, such as the service of the Crown demanded!' Then Mr. Vigil +handed across to Mr. Nogo poor Screwy's unfortunate letter about the +pork chops. 'As to the other gentleman, whose name was now respectably +known in the lighter walks of literature, he would, if permitted, +read the opinion expressed as to his style of language by a literary +publication of the day; and then the House would see whether or no +the produce of the Civil Service field had not been properly winnowed; +whether the wheat had not been garnered, and the chaff neglected.' And +then the right honourable gentleman read some half-dozen lines, highly +eulogistic of Charley's first solitary flight. + +Poor Mr. Nogo remained in silence, feeling that his black had become +white to all intents and purposes; and the big badger sat by and +grinned, not deigning to notice the dogs around him. Thus it may be seen +that that which is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. + +Early in the spring Norman was married; and then, as had been before +arranged, Charley once more went to Surbiton Cottage. The marriage was +a very quiet affair. The feeling of disgrace which had fallen upon them +all since the days of Alaric's trial had by no means worn itself away. +There were none of them yet--no, not one of the Cottage circle, from +Uncle Bat down to the parlour-maid--who felt that they had a right to +hold up their faces before the light of day as they had formerly done. +There was a cloud over their house, visible perhaps with more or less +distinctness to all eyes, but which to themselves appeared black as +night. That evil which Alaric had done to them was not to be undone in a +few moons. We are all of us responsible for our friends, fathers-in-law +for their sons-in-law, brothers for their sisters, husbands for their +wives, parents for their children, and children even for their parents. +We cannot wipe off from us, as with a wet cloth, the stains left by the +fault of those who are near to us. The ink-spot will cling. Oh! Alaric, +Alaric, that thou, thou who knewest all this, that thou shouldest have +done this thing! They had forgiven his offence against them, but they +could not forget their own involuntary participation in his disgrace. It +was not for them now to shine forth to the world with fine gala doings, +and gay gaudy colours, as they had done when Gertrude had been married. + +But still there was happiness--quiet, staid happiness--at the Cottage. +Mrs. Woodward could not but be happy to see Linda married to Harry +Norman, her own favourite, him whom she had selected in her heart +for her son-in-law from out of all the world. And now, too, she was +beginning to be conscious that Harry and Linda were better suited for +each other than he and Gertrude would have been. What would have been +Linda's fate, how unendurable, had she been Alaric's wife, when Alaric +fell? How would she have borne such a fall? What could she have done, +poor lamb, towards mending the broken thread or binding the bruised +limbs? What balm could she have poured into such wounds as those which +fate had inflicted on Gertrude and her household? But at Normansgrove, +with a steady old housekeeper at her back, and her husband always by +to give her courage, Linda would find the very place for which she was +suited. + +And then Mrs. Woodward had another source of joy, of liveliest joy, in +Katie's mending looks. She was at the wedding, though hardly with her +mother's approval. + +As she got better her old spirit returned to her, and it became +difficult to refuse her anything. It was in vain that her mother talked +of the cold church, and easterly winds, and the necessary lightness of +a bridesmaid's attire. Katie argued that the church was only two hundred +yards off, that she never suffered from the cold, and that though +dressed in light colours, as became a bridesmaid, she would, if allowed +to go, wear over her white frock any amount of cloaks which her mother +chose to impose on her. Of course she went, and we will not say how +beautiful she looked, when she clung to Linda in the vestry-room, and +all her mother's wrappings fell in disorder from her shoulders. + +So Linda was married and carried off to Normansgrove, and Katie remained +with her mother and Uncle Bat. + +'Mamma, we will never part--will we, mamma?' said she, as they comforted +each other that evening after the Normans were gone, and when Charley +also had returned to London. + +'When you go, Katie, I think you must take me with you,' said her +mother, smiling through her tears. 'But what will poor Uncle Bat do? I +fear you can't take him also.' + +'I will never go from you, mamma.' + +Her mother knew what she meant. Charley had been there, Charley to whom +she had declared her love when lying, as she thought, on her bed of +death--Charley had been there again, and had stood close to her, and +touched her hand, and looked--oh, how much handsomer he was than Harry, +how much brighter than Alaric!--he had touched her hand, and spoken +to her one word of joy at her recovered health. But that had been all. +There was a sort of compact, Katie knew, that there should be no other +Tudor marriage. Charley was not now the scamp he had been, but still--it +was understood that her love was not to win its object. + +'I will never go from you, mamma.' + +But Mrs. Woodward's heart was not hard as the nether millstone. She drew +her daughter to her, and as she pressed her to her bosom, she whispered +into her ears that she now hoped they might all be happy. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +CONCLUSION + + +Our tale and toils have now drawn nigh to an end; our loves and our +sorrows are over; and we are soon to part company with the three clerks +and their three wives. Their three wives? Why, yes. It need hardly be +told in so many words to an habitual novel-reader that Charley did get +his bride at last. + +Nevertheless, Katie kept her promise to Mrs. Woodward. What promise did +she ever make and not keep? She kept her promise, and did not go from +her mother. She married Mr. Charles Tudor, of the Weights and Measures, +that distinguished master of modern fiction, as the _Literary Censor_ +very civilly called him the other day; and Mr. Charles Tudor became +master of Surbiton Cottage. + +Reader! take one last leap with me, and presume that two years have +flown from us since the end of the last chapter; or rather somewhat more +than two years, for we would have it high midsummer when we take our +last farewell of Surbiton Cottage. + +But sundry changes had taken place at the Cottage, and of such a nature, +that were it not for the old name's sake, we should now find ourselves +bound to call the place Surbiton Villa, or Surbiton Hall, or Surbiton +House. It certainly had no longer any right to the title of a cottage; +for Charley, in anticipation of what Lucina might do for him, had added +on sundry rooms, a children's room on the ground floor, and a nursery +above, and a couple of additional bedrooms on the other side, so that +the house was now a comfortable abode for an increasing family. + +At the time of which we are now speaking Lucina had not as yet done +much; for, in truth, Charley had been married but little over twelve +months; but there appeared every reason to believe that the goddess +would be propitious. There was already one little rocking shrine, up in +that cosy temple opening out of Katie's bedroom--we beg her pardon, we +should have said Mrs. Charles Tudor's bedroom--one precious tabernacle +in which was laid a little man-deity, a young Charley, to whom was daily +paid a multitude of very sincere devotions. + +How precious are all the belongings of a first baby; how dear are the +cradle, the lace-caps, the first coral, all the little duds which are +made with such punctilious care and anxious efforts of nicest needlework +to encircle that small lump of pink humanity! What care is taken that +all shall be in order! See that basket lined with crimson silk, prepared +to hold his various garments, while the mother, jealous of her nurse, +insists on tying every string with her own fingers. And then how soon +the change comes; how different it is when there are ten of them, and +the tenth is allowed to inherit the well-worn wealth which the ninth, a +year ago, had received from the eighth. There is no crimson silk basket +then, I trow. + +'Jane, Jane, where are my boots?' 'Mary, I've lost my trousers!' Such +sounds are heard, shouted through the house from powerful lungs. + +'Why, Charley,' says the mother, as her eldest hope rushes in to +breakfast with dishevelled hair and dirty hands, 'you've got no +handkerchief on your neck--what have you done with your handkerchief?' + +'No, mamma; it came off in the hay-loft, and I can't find it.' + +'Papa,' says the lady wife, turning to her lord, who is reading his +newspaper over his coffee--'papa, you really must speak to Charley; he +will not mind me. He was dressed quite nicely an hour ago, and do see +what a figure he has made himself.' + +'Charley,' says papa, not quite relishing this disturbance in the midst +of a very interesting badger-baiting--'Charley, my boy, if you don't +mind your P's and Q's, you and I shall fall out; mind that;' and he +again goes on with his sport; and mamma goes on with her teapot, looking +not exactly like Patience on a monument. + +Such are the joys which await you, Mr. Charles Tudor; but not to such +have you as yet arrived. As yet there is but the one little pink deity +in the rocking shrine above; but one, at least, of your own. At the +moment of which we are now speaking there were visitors at Surbiton +Cottage, and the new nursery was brought into full use. Mr. and Mrs. +Norman of Normansgrove were there with their two children and two maids, +and grandmamma Woodward had her hands quite full in the family nursery +line. + +It was a beautiful summer evening, and the two young mothers were +sitting with Mrs. Woodward and Uncle Bat in the drawing-room, waiting +for their lords' return from London. As usual, when they stayed late, +the two men were to dine at their club and come down to tea. The +nursemaids were walking on the lawn before the window with their +charges, and the three ladies were busily employed with some +fairly-written manuscript pages, which they were cutting carefully into +shape, and arranging in particular form. + +'Now, mamma,' said Katie, 'if you laugh once while you are reading it, +you'll spoil it all.' + +'I'll do the best I can, my dear, but I'm sure I shall break down; you +have made it so very abusive,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Mamma, I think I'll take out that about official priggism--hadn't I +better, Linda?' + +'Indeed, I think you had; I'm sure mamma would break down there,' said +Linda. 'Mamma, I'm sure you would never get over the official priggism.' + +'I don't think I should, my dear,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'What is it you are all concocting?' said Captain Cuttwater; 'some +infernal mischief, I know, craving your pardons.' + +'If you tell, Uncle Bat, I'll never forgive you,' said Katie. + +'Oh, you may trust me; I never spoil sport, if I can't make any; but the +fun ought to be very good, for you've been a mortal long time about it.' + +And then the two younger ladies again went on clipping and arranging +their papers, while Mrs. Woodward renewed her protest that she would do +her best as to reading their production. While they were thus employed +the postman's knock was heard, and a letter was brought in from the +far-away Australian exiles. The period at which these monthly missives +arrived were moments of intense anxiety, and the letter was seized upon +with eager avidity. It was from Gertrude to her mother, as all these +letters were; but in such a production they had a joint property, and it +was hardly possible to say who first mastered its contents. + +It will only be necessary here to give some extracts from the letter, +which was by no means a short one. So much must be done in order that +our readers may know something of the fate of those who perhaps may be +called the hero and heroine of the tale. The author does not so call +them; he professes to do his work without any such appendages to his +story--heroism there may be, and he hopes there is--more or less of it +there should be in a true picture of most characters; but heroes and +heroines, as so called, are not commonly met with in our daily walks of +life. + +Before Gertrude's letter had been disposed of, Norman and Charley came +in, and it was therefore discussed in full conclave. Alaric's path in +the land of his banishment had not been over roses. The upward struggle +of men, who have fallen from a high place once gained, that second +mounting of the ladder of life, seldom is an easy path. He, and with him +Gertrude and his children, had been called on to pay the full price of +his backsliding. His history had gone with him to the Antipodes; and, +though the knowledge of what he had done was not there so absolute a +clog upon his efforts, so overpowering a burden, as it would have been +in London, still it was a burden and a heavy one. + +It had been well for Gertrude that she had prepared herself to give up +all her luxuries by her six months' residence in that Millbank Paradise +of luxuries: for some time she had little enough in the 'good and happy +land,' to which she had taught herself and her children to look forward. +That land of promise had not flowed with milk and honey when first she +put her foot upon its soil; its produce for her had been gall and bitter +herbs for many a weary month after she first landed. But her heart had +never sunk within her. She had never forgotten that he, if he were to +work well, should have at least one cheerful companion by his side. She +had been true to him, then as ever. And yet it is so hard to be true to +high principles in little things. The heroism of the Roman, who, for his +country's sake, leapt his horse into a bottomless gulf, was as nothing +to that of a woman who can keep her temper through poverty, and be +cheerful in adversity. + +Through poverty, scorn, and bad repute, under the privations of a hard +life, separated from so many that she had loved, and from everything +that she had liked, Gertrude had still been true to her ideas of her +marriage vow; true, also, to her pure and single love. She had entwined +herself with him in sunny weather; and when the storm came she did her +best to shelter the battered stem to which she had trusted herself. + +By degrees things mended with them; and in this letter, which is now +passing from eager hand to hand in Katie's drawing-room, Gertrude spoke +with better hope of their future prospects. + +'Thank God, we are once more all well,' she said; 'and Alaric's spirits +are higher than they were. He has, indeed, had much to try them. They +think, I believe, in England, that any kind of work here is sure to +command a high price; of this I am quite sure, that in no employment in +England are people so tasked as they are here. Alaric was four months in +these men's counting-house, and I am sure another four months would have +seen him in his grave. Though I knew not then what other provision might +be made for us, I implored him, almost on my knees, to give up that. +He was expected to be there for ten, sometimes twelve, hours a day; and +they thought he should always be kept going like a steam-engine. You +know Alaric never was afraid of work; but that would have killed him. +And what was it for? What did they give him for that--for all his +talent, all his experience, all his skill? And he did give them all. His +salary was two pounds ten a week! And then, when he told them of all he +was doing for them, they had the baseness to remind him of----. Dearest +mother, is not the world hard? It was that that made me insist that he +should leave them.' + +Alaric's present path was by no means over roses. This certainly was a +change from those days on which he had sat, one of a mighty trio, at the +Civil Service Examination Board, striking terror into candidates by +a scratch of his pen, and making happy the desponding heart by his +approving nod. His ambition now was not to sit among the magnates of +Great Britain, and make his voice thunder through the columns of the +_Times_; it ranged somewhat lower at this period, and was confined for +the present to a strong desire to see his wife and bairns sufficiently +fed, and not left absolutely without clothing. He inquired little as to +the feeling of the electors of Strathbogy. + +And had he utterly forgotten the stirring motto of his early days? Did +he ever mutter 'Excelsior' to himself, as, with weary steps, he dragged +himself home from that hated counting-house? Ah! he had fatally mistaken +the meaning of the word which he had so often used. There had been the +error of his life. 'Excelsior!' When he took such a watchword for his +use, he should surely have taught himself the meaning of it. + +He had now learnt that lesson in a school somewhat of the sternest; but, +as time wore kindly over him, he did teach himself to accept the lesson +with humility. His spirit had been wellnigh broken as he was carried +from that court-house in the Old Bailey to his prison on the river-side; +and a broken spirit, like a broken goblet, can never again become whole. +But Nature was a kind mother to him, and did not permit him to be wholly +crushed. She still left within the plant the germ of life, which enabled +it again to spring up and vivify, though sorely bruised by the heels +of those who had ridden over it. He still repeated to himself the old +watchword, though now in humbler tone and more bated breath; and it may +be presumed that he had now a clearer meaning of its import. + +'But his present place,' continued Gertrude, 'is much--very much more +suited to him. He is corresponding clerk in the first bank here, and +though his pay is nearly double what it was at the other place, his +hours of work are not so oppressive. He goes at nine and gets away at +five--that is, except on the arrival or dispatch of the English mails.' +Here was a place of bliss for a man who had been a commissioner, +attending at the office at such hours as best suited himself, and having +clerks at his beck to do all that he listed. And yet, as Gertrude said, +this was a place of bliss to him. It was a heaven as compared with that +other hell. + +'Alley is such a noble boy,' said Gertrude, becoming almost joyous as +she spoke of her own immediate cares. 'He is most like Katie, I think, +of us all; and yet he is very like his papa. He goes to a day-school +now, with his books slung over his back in a bag. You never saw such +a proud little fellow as he is, and so manly. Charley is just like +you--oh! so like. It makes me so happy that he is. He did not talk so +early as Alley, but, nevertheless, he is more forward than the other +children I see here. The little monkeys! they are neither of them the +least like me. But one can always see oneself, and it don't matter if +one does not.' + +'If ever there was a brick, Gertrude is one,' said Norman. + +'A brick!' said Charley--'why you might cut her to pieces, and build +another Kensington palace out of the slices. I believe she is a brick.' + +'I wonder whether I shall ever see her again?' said Mrs. Woodward, not +with dry eyes. + +'Oh yes, mamma,' said Katie. 'She shall come home to us some day, and we +will endeavour to reward her for it all.' + +Dear Katie, who will not love you for such endeavour? But, indeed, the +reward for heroism cometh not here. + +There was much more in the letter, but enough has been given for our +purpose. It will be seen that hope yet remained both for Alaric and his +wife; and hope not without a reasonable base. Bad as he had been, it had +not been with him as with Undy Scott. The devil had not contrived to put +his whole claw upon him. He had not divested himself of human affections +and celestial hopes. He had not reduced himself to the present level +of a beast, with the disadvantages of a soul and of an eternity, as +the other man had done. He had not put himself beyond the pale of true +brotherhood with his fellow-men. We would have hanged Undy had the law +permitted us; but now we will say farewell to the other, hoping that he +may yet achieve exaltation of another kind. + +And to thee, Gertrude--how shall we say farewell to thee, excluded as +thou art from that dear home, where those who love thee so well are now +so happy? Their only care remaining is now thy absence. Adversity has +tried thee in its crucible, and thou art found to be of virgin gold, +unalloyed; hadst thou still been lapped in prosperity, the true ring of +thy sterling metal would never have been heard. Farewell to thee, and +may those young budding flowerets of thine break forth into golden fruit +to gladden thy heart in coming days! + +The reading of Gertrude's letter, and the consequent discussion, +somewhat put off the execution of the little scheme which had been +devised for that evening's amusement; but, nevertheless, it was still +broad daylight when Mrs. Woodward consigned the precious document to +her desk; the drawing-room windows were still open, and the bairns were +still being fondled in the room. It was the first week in July, when +the night almost loses her dominion, and when those hours which she +generally claims as her own, become the pleasantest of the day. + +'Oh, Charley,' said Katie, at last, 'we have great news for you, too. +Here is another review on "The World's Last Wonder."' + +Now 'The World's Last Wonder' was Charley's third novel; but he was +still sensitive enough on the subject of reviews to look with much +anxiety for what was said of him. These notices were habitually sent +down to him at Hampton, and his custom was to make his wife or her +mother read them, while he sat by in lordly ease in his arm-chair, +receiving homage when homage came to him, and criticizing the critics +when they were uncivil. + +'Have you?' said Charley. 'What is it? Why did you not show it me +before?' + +'Why, we were talking of dear Gertrude,' said Katie; 'and it is not so +pleasant but that it will keep. What paper do you think it is?' + +'What paper? how on earth can I tell?--show it me.' + +'No; but do guess, Charley; and then mamma will read it--pray guess +now.' + +'Oh, bother, I can't guess. _The Literary Censor_, I suppose--I know +they have turned against me.' + +'No, it's not that,' said Linda; 'guess again.' + +'_The Guardian Angel_,' said Charley. + +'No--that angel has not taken you under his wings as yet,' said Katie. + +'I know it's not the _Times_,' said Charley, 'for I have seen that.' + +'O no,' said Katie, seriously; 'if it was anything of that sort, we +would not keep you in suspense.' + +'Well, I'll be shot if I guess any more--there are such thousands of +them.' + +'But there is only one _Daily Delight_,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Nonsense!' said Charley. 'You don't mean to tell me that my dear old +friend and foster-father has fallen foul of me--my old teacher and +master, if not spiritual pastor; well--well--well! The ingratitude of +the age! I gave him my two beautiful stories, the first-fruits of my +vine, all for love; to think that he should now lay his treacherous axe +to the root of the young tree--well, give it here.' + +'No--mamma will read it--we want Harry to hear it.' + +'O yes--let Mrs. Woodward read it,' said Harry. 'I trust it is severe. +I know no man who wants a dragging over the coals more peremptorily than +you do.' + +'Thankee, sir. Well, grandmamma, go on; but if there be anything very +bad, give me a little notice, for I am nervous.' + +And then Mrs. Woodward began to read, Linda sitting with Katie's baby in +her arms, and Katie performing a similar office for her sister. + +"'The World's Last Wonder,' by Charles Tudor, Esq." + +'He begins with a lie,' said Charley, 'for I never called myself +Esquire.' + +'Oh, that was a mistake,' said Katie, forgetting herself. + +'Men of that kind shouldn't make such mistakes,' said Charley. 'When one +fellow attempts to cut up another fellow, he ought to take special care +that he does it fairly.' + +"By the author of 'Bathos.'" + +'I didn't put that in,' said Charley, 'that was the publisher. I only +put Charles Tudor.' + +'Don't be so touchy, Charley, and let me go on,' said Mrs. Woodward. + +'Well, fire away--it's good fun to you, I dare say, as the fly said to +the spider.' + +'Well, Charley, at any rate we are not the spiders,' said Linda. Katie +said nothing, but she could not help feeling that she must look rather +spiderish. + +'Mr. Tudor has acquired some little reputation as a humorist, but as is +so often the case with those who make us laugh, his very success will +prove his ruin.' + +'Then upon my word the _Daily Delight_ is safe,' said Charley. 'It will +never be ruined in that way.' + +'There is an elaborate jocosity about him, a determined eternity of most +industrious fun, which gives us the idea of a boy who is being rewarded +for having duly learnt by rote his daily lesson out of Joe Miller.' + +'Now, I'll bet ten to one he has never read the book at all--well, never +mind--go on.' + +"'The World's Last Wonder' is the description of a woman who kept a +secret under certain temptations to reveal it, which, as Mr. Tudor +supposes, might have moved any daughter of Eve to break her faith." + +'I haven't supposed anything of the kind,' said Charley. + +'This secret, which we shall not disclose, as we would not wish to be +thought less trustworthy than Mr. Tudor's wonderful woman--' + +'We shall find that he does disclose it, of course; that is the way with +all of them.' + +--'Is presumed to permeate the whole three volumes.' + +'It is told at full length in the middle of the second,' said Charley. + +'And the effect upon the reader of course is, that he has ceased to +interest himself about it, long before it is disclosed to him! + +'The lady in question is engaged to be married to a gentleman, a +circumstance which in the pages of a novel is not calculated to attract +much special attention. She is engaged to be married, but the gentleman +who has the honour of being her intended sposo----' + +'Intended sposo!' said Charley, expressing by his upturned lip a +withering amount of scorn--'how well I know the fellow's low attempts at +wit! That's the editor himself--that's my literary papa. I know him as +well as though I had seen him at it.' + +Katie and Mrs. Woodward exchanged furtive glances, but neither of them +moved a muscle of her face. + +'But the gentleman who has the honour of being her intended sposo,' +continued Mrs. Woodward. + +'What the devil's a sposo?' said Uncle Bat, who was sitting in an +arm-chair with a handkerchief over his head. + +'Why, you're not a sposo, Uncle Bat,' said Linda; 'but Harry is, and so +is Charley.' + +'Oh, I see,' said the captain; 'it's a bird with his wings clipped.' + +'But the gentleman who has the honour of being her intended sposo----' +again read Mrs. Woodward. + +'Now I'm sure I'm speaking by the card,' said Charley, 'when I say that +there is not another man in London who could have written that line, and +who would have used so detestable a word. I think I remember his using +it in one of his lectures to me; indeed I'm sure I do. Sposo! I should +like to tweak his nose oh!' + +'Are you going to let me go on?' said Mrs. Woodward--'her intended +sposo'--Charley gave a kick with his foot and satisfied himself with +that--'is determined to have nothing to say to her in the matrimonial +line till she has revealed to him this secret which he thinks concerns +his own honour.' + +'There, I knew he'd tell it.' + +'He has not told it yet,' said Norman. + +'The lady, however, is obdurate, wonderfully so, of course, seeing that +she is the world's last wonder, and so the match is broken off. But +the secret is of such a nature that the lady's invincible objection to +revealing it is bound up with the fact of her being a promised bride.' + +'I wonder he didn't say sposa,' said Charley. + +'I never thought of that,' said Katie. + +Mrs. Woodward and Linda looked at her, but Charley did not, and her +blunder passed by unnoticed. + +'Now that she is free from her matrimonial bonds, she is free also to +tell the secret; and indeed the welfare both of the gentleman and of the +lady imperiously demands that it should be told. Should he marry her, he +is destined to learn it after his marriage; should he not marry her, he +may hear it at any time. She sends for him and tells him, not the first +of these facts, by doing which all difficulty would have at once been +put an end to--' + +'It is quite clear he has never read the story, quite clear,' said +Charley. + +'She tells him only the last, viz., that as they are now strangers he +may know the secret; but that when once known it will raise a barrier +between them that no years, no penance, no sorrow on his part, no +tenderness on hers, can ever break down. She then asks him--will he hear +the secret?' + +'She does not ask any such thing,' said Charley; 'the letter that +contains it has been already sent to him. She merely gives him an +opportunity of returning it unopened.' + +'The gentleman, who is not without a grain of obstinacy in his own +composition and many grains of curiosity, declares it to be impossible +that he can go to the altar in ignorance of facts which he is bound +to know, and the lady, who seems to be of an affectionate disposition, +falls in tenderness at his feet. She is indeed in a very winning mood, +and quite inclined to use every means allowable to a lady for retaining +her lover; every means that is short of that specially feminine one of +telling her secret. + +'We will give an extract from this love scene, partly for the sake of +its grotesque absurdity--' + +Charley kicked out another foot, as though he thought that the editor of +the _Daily Delight_ might perhaps be within reach. + +'--And partly because it gives a fair example of the manner in which +Mr. Tudor endeavours to be droll even in the midst of his most tender +passages. + +'Leonora was at this time seated--' + +'Oh, skip the extract,' said Charley; 'I suppose there are three or four +pages of it?' + +'It goes down to where Leonora says that his fate and her own are in his +hands.' + +'Yes, about three columns,' said Charley; 'that's an easy way of making +an article--eh, Harry?' + +'_Aliter non fit, amice, liber_,' said the classical Norman. + +'Well, skip the extract, grandmamma.' + +'Now, did anyone ever before read such a mixture of the bombastic and +the burlesque? We are called upon to cry over every joke, and, for the +life of us, we cannot hold our sides when the catastrophes occur. It is +a salad in which the pungency of the vinegar has been wholly subdued +by the oil, and the fatness of the oil destroyed by the tartness of the +vinegar.' + +'His old simile,' said Charley; 'he was always talking about literary +salads.' + +'The gentleman, of course, gives way at the last minute,' continued Mrs. +Woodward. 'The scene in which he sits with the unopened letter lying on +his table before him has some merit; but this probably arises from the +fact that the letter is dumb, and the gentleman equally so.' + +'D----nation!' said Charley, whose patience could not stand such +impudence at this. + +'The gentleman, who, as we should have before said, is the eldest son of +a man of large reputed fortune----' + +'There--I knew he'd tell it.' + +'Oh, but he hasn't told it,' said Norman. + +'Doesn't the word 'reputed' tell it?' + +'--The eldest son of a man of large reputed fortune, does at last marry +the heroine; and then he discovers--But what he discovers, those who +feel any interest in the matter may learn from the book itself; we must +profess that we felt none. + +'We will not say there is nothing in the work indicative of talent. +The hero's valet, Jacob Brush, and the heroine's lady's-maid, Jacintha +Pintail, are both humorous and good in their way. Why it should be so, +we do not pretend to say; but it certainly does appear to us that Mr. +Tudor is more at home in the servants' hall than in the lady's boudoir.' + +'Abominable scoundrel!' said Charley. + +'But what we must chiefly notice,' continued the article, 'in the +furtherance of those views by which we profess that we are governed--' + +'Now, I know, we are to have something very grandiloquent and very +false,' said Charley. + +'--Is this: that no moral purpose can be served by the volumes before +us. The hero acts wrongly throughout, but nevertheless he is rewarded at +last. There is no Nemesis--' + +'No what?' said Charley, jumping up from his chair and looking over the +table. + +'No Nemesis,' said Mrs. Woodward, speaking with only half-sustained +voice, and covering with her arms the document which she had been +reading. + +Charley looked sharply at his wife, then at Linda, then at Mrs. +Woodward. Not one of them could keep her face. He made a snatch at the +patched-up manuscript, and as he did so, Katie almost threw out of her +arms the baby she was holding. + +'Take him, Harry, take him,' said she, handing over the child to his +father. And then gliding quick as thought through the furniture of the +drawing-room, she darted out upon the lawn, to save herself from the +coming storm. + +Charley was quickly after her; but as he made his exit, one chair fell +to the right of him, and another to the left. Mrs. Woodward followed +them, and so did Harry and Linda, each with a baby. + +And then Captain Cuttwater, waking from his placid nap, rubbed his eyes +in wondering amazement. + +'What the devil is all the row about?' said he. But there was nobody to +answer him. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE CLERKS*** + + +******* This file should be named 7481.txt or 7481.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/7/4/8/7481 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. Project Gutenberg is a +registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, +unless you receive specific permission. 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