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diff --git a/old/22272-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/22272-h.htm.2021-01-25 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0092d37 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/22272-h.htm.2021-01-25 @@ -0,0 +1,3873 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Young Mr. Barter's Repentance, by David Christie Murray + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Young Mr. Barter's Repentance, by David Christie Murray + +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: Young Mr. Barter's Repentance + From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray + +Author: David Christie Murray + +Release Date: August 8, 2007 [EBook #22272] +Last Updated: September 16, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG MR. BARTER'S REPENTANCE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + YOUNG MR. BARTER’S REPENTANCE + </h1> + <h2> + By David Christie Murray + </h2> + <h4> + Author Of ‘Aunt Rachel,’ ‘The Weaker Vessel,’ Etc. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + Mr Bommaney was a British merchant of the highest rectitude and the most + spotless reputation. He traded still under the name of Bommaney, Waite, + and Co., though Waite had been long since dead, and the Company had gone + out of existence in his father’s time. The old offices, cramped and + inconvenient, in which the firm had begun life eighty years before, were + still good enough for Mr. Bommaney, and they had an air of solid + respectability which newer and flashier places lacked. The building of + which they formed a part stood in Coalporter’s Alley, opposite the Church + of St. Mildred, and the hum of the City’s traffic scarcely sounded in that + retired and quiet locality. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Bommaney himself was a man of sixty, hale and hearty, with a rosy face + and white whiskers. He was a broad-shouldered man, inclining to be portly, + and he was currently accepted as a man of an indomitable will. There was + no particular reason for the popular belief in his determination apart + from the fact that it was a favourite boast of his that nothing ever got + him down. On all occasions and in all companies he was wont to declare + that no conceivable misfortune could really break a man of spirit. He + confessed to a pitying sympathy for mealy-willed people (and everybody + knew that Bommaney, in spite of his own strength of mind, was one of the + kindliest creatures in the world); but, whenever he met a man in trouble, + he would clip him by the shoulder, and would say, in his own hearty + fashion, ‘You must look the thing in the face, my boy. Look it in the + face. I’d never let anything break <i>me</i> down.’ + </p> + <p> + Since his reputation for fortitude was as solid and as old-fashioned + amongst the people who knew him as his business character itself, it would + have come as something of a shock upon any of his friends if he could but + have been seen by them, or any credible man amongst them, on a certain + afternoon in the April of 1880. He had locked himself in his own room, + and, sitting there in a big chair before a businesslike desk, with a great + number of docketed papers in pigeon-holes, and a disordered mass of papers + strewn before him, the determined Mr. Bommaney, the decided Mr. Bommaney, + the Mr. Bommaney whom no misfortune could subdue, was crying, very feebly + and quietly, and was mopping his rosy cheeks, and blowing his nose in an + utter and unrestraining abandonment to trouble. + </p> + <p> + There was another fact which would have come upon his friends with an + equal shock of surprise if they could but have had it brought home to + them. The man who sat unaffectedly crying in the big chair in helpless + contemplation of the scattered papers was a hopeless bankrupt, and had + seen himself sliding towards bankruptcy for years. When men who knew him + wanted business advice, they went to him by preference, and nobody came + away empty. He knew the City and its intricacies like a book. He knew who + was safe and who was shaky, as if by a kind of instinct, and he knew where + and when to invest, and where and when not to invest, as few men did. ‘You + can’t get at me,’ he would say; for, old-fashioned as he was, he used a + little of the new-fashioned slang to give spice and vigour to his + conversation. ‘There isn’t a move on the board that I don’t know.’ He + advised his friends excellently, and there were perhaps half a score of + fairly well-to-do speculative people who had to thank him, and him alone, + for the comfort they lived in and the consideration they enjoyed. He had + been wise for others all his life, and in his own interests he had always + acted like a greenhorn. He talked loudly, he spent freely, he paid his + way, he expressed the soundest business maxims, and was as shrewd in + detail as he was wise in generalities, and these things made a natural + reputation for him: whilst he traded for years at the expense of his + capital, and went steadily and surely towards the bottomless gulf of + insolvency. Now he was on the very verge of it, and to-morrow he would be + in it. It lent a feeble sting to his sufferings to know how surprised + people would be, and how completely men would find him out. + </p> + <p> + He had not very profoundly involved other people in his own ruin, but he + had gone a little farther than a man altogether brave, and honourable, and + clearsighted would have ventured, and he knew that some would suffer with + him. He might have made arrangements to go a little farther still if he + had been courageous, clear-sighted, and dishonest, and might have held his + head up for another matter too, perhaps. But he had lacked the nerve for + that, and had never consciously been a rogue. He felt even now a pride of + honesty. He had been unfortunate, and his creditors would have everything—everything. + </p> + <p> + He thanked God that Phil’s mother had tied her money on her only son, and + that the boy at least had enough to begin the world with. How should he + face Phil when he came home again? How should he send the news to him? The + lad was away enjoying himself, travelling all round the world with a + wandering Baronet, who owned a yacht and had an unappeasable taste for the + destruction of big game. He would have to surrender his fashionable and + titled acquaintance now, poor fellow, and begin the world with a disgraced + and broken frame to be a drag and hindrance to him. The more Mr. Bommaney + thought of these things, the more unrestrainedly he cried; and the more he + cried, the less he felt able or inclined to control his tears. + </p> + <p> + He wept almost silently, only an occasional sniff betraying his emotion to + his ear. He had always held his head so high, and had been so believed in. + It was very bitter. + </p> + <p> + Whilst he was in the midst of this childish abandonment to his grief a set + of knuckles softly and hesitatingly tapped the door from without, and + directly afterwards a hand made a tentative respectful sort of attempt + upon the handle. + </p> + <p> + ‘Who’s there?’ cried Mr. Bommaney, steadying his voice as best he could. + </p> + <p> + ‘A gentleman to see you, sir,’ answered a smooth voice outside. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Bommaney pushed back his chair, rose to his feet, and retiring to a + smaller room consulted a little square looking-glass which hung upon the + wall above his washing-stand. His blue eyes were very tearful and a little + swollen, his cheeks and nose looked as if they had been scalded. + </p> + <p> + ‘Wait a moment,’ he said aloud, and his voice betrayed him by a break. He + blushed and trembled, thinking that Mr. Hornett, his confidential clerk, + would know how he was breaking down, and would speak of his want of + courage and self-command hereafter. The reflection nerved him somewhat, + and he sluiced his face with water, making a little unnecessary noise of + splashing to tell the listener how he was engaged. He polished his face + with the towel, and, consulting the mirror again, thought he looked a + little better. + </p> + <p> + Then he re-entered his business room, and turning the key in the lock + opened the door slightly, a mere inch or two. + </p> + <p> + ‘Who is it?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘A Mr. Brown, sir,’ said the smooth voice outside. The clerk insinuated a + card through the space between the door and door-jamb, and Mr. Bommaney + took it from his fingers without revealing himself. He had some difficulty + in making out its inscription, for his eyes were newly tearful, and, + whilst he peered at it, a reflex of his late emotions brought a sniffling + sob again. He was freshly ashamed at this, and said hastily, + </p> + <p> + ‘Five minutes’ time. I will ring when I am ready. Ask the gentleman to + wait.’ + </p> + <p> + Mr. James Hornett softly closed the door, and stood on the landing with + long lean fingers scraping at his lantern jaws. He was a little man, short + of stature, and sparely built. His skin was vealy in complexion, and he + had wiry hair of a russet-red. Even when he was clean shaven his fingers + rasped upon his hollow cheeks with a faint sound. His nose and chin were + long and pointed, and his manner was meek and self-effacing even when he + was alone. There was a tinge of wonder in his face, at war with an + habitual smile, in which his eyes had no part. + </p> + <p> + ‘Something wrong?’ he said, under his breath. He went creeping softly down + the stairs. ‘Something wrong? Mr. Bommaney in tears? Mr. Bommaney!’ + </p> + <p> + Could anything have happened to Mr. Phil? That was the only thing Mr. + Hornett could think of as being likely to affect his employer in that way. + </p> + <p> + Now Mr. Hornett had been in his present employ for thirty years, man and + boy, and he was human. Therefore, when at the expiration of a little more + than five minutes’ time Mr. Bommaney’s bell rang, he himself ushered the + visitor upstairs, and in place of retiring to his own pew below stairs, + lingered in a desert little apartment rarely used, and then stole out upon + the landing and listened. He was the more prompted to this because the + visitor, who had a bucolic hearty aspect, and was very talkative, had told + him downstairs that Mr. Bommaney and himself were old friends and + schoolfellows, and had been in each other’s confidence for years. + </p> + <p> + ‘I am afraid, sir,’ Mr. Hornett had said, when the visitor first presented + himself, ‘that Mr. Bommaney may not be able to see you at present. He gave + orders not to be disturbed.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Not see me?’ said the visitor with a laugh. ‘I’ll engage he will.’ And + then followed the statement about his old acquaintanceship with Mr. + Hornett’s employer. + </p> + <p> + If there were anything to be told at all, it seemed not unlikely that this + visitor might be the recipient of the intelligence, and Mr. Hornett + lingered to find if haply he might overhear. He heard nothing that + enlightened him as to the reasons for his employer’s disturbance, but + heard most that passed between the two. + </p> + <p> + Bommaney had succeeded in composing himself and in washing away the traces + of his tears. Then he had taken a stiffish dose of brandy and water, and + was something like his own man again. He received his visitor cordially, + and in his anxiety not to seem low-spirited was a little more boisterous + than common. + </p> + <p> + ‘I’m busy, you see,’ he said, waving a hand at the papers scattered on the + desk, and keeping up the farce of prosperous merchandise to the last, ‘but + I can spare <i>you</i> a minute or two, old man. What brings you up to + town?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ve come here to settle,’ said the visitor. He was a florid man with + crisp black hair with a hint of gray in it, and he was a countryman from + head to heel. He seemed a little disposed to flaunt his bucolics upon the + town, his hat, his necktie, his boots and gaiters, were of so countrified + a fashion, and yet he looked somehow more of a gentleman than Bommaney. + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I’ve come to settle.’ He rubbed his hands and laughed + here, not because there was anything humorous and amusing in his thoughts, + but out of sheer health and jollity of nature. Bommaney, still distrustful + of his own aspect, and afraid of being observed, sat opposite to him with + bent head and fidgeted with his papers, blindly pretending to arrange + them. + </p> + <p> + ‘To settle,’ he said absently. Then, rousing himself with an effort, ‘I + thought you hated London?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Ah, my boy,’ said his visitor, ‘when you’re in the shafts with a whip + behind you, you’ve got to go where you are driven.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes,’ said Bommaney mechanically, ‘that is so. That <i>is</i> so.’ + </p> + <p> + The visitor was laughing and rubbing his hands again in perfect happiness + and self-contentment, and had no eye for Bommaney’s abstraction. + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it’s Patty’s doing. I’ve sold up every stick and stone, + and I’ve taken a house in Gower Street. Do you know, Bommaney,’ he added, + with an air and voice suddenly serious and confidential, ‘the country’s + going to the devil. Land’s sinking in value every year. I’ve been farming + at a growing loss these six years, and rents don’t come in as they used to + do. I got my chance and I took it. Lord Bellamy wanted to join the Mount + Royal and the three estates. My little bit o’ land lay between ‘em, and I + sold it to him. Sold it, too, begad, as well as I could have done half a + dozen years ago.’ + </p> + <p> + Then he laughed once more with great heartiness, and unbuttoning his + overcoat, groped in an inner pocket. After a struggle, in the course of + which he grew very red in the face, he drew forth a pocket-book of unusual + dimensions, and slapped it on the desk so vigorously that his companion + started. + </p> + <p> + ‘I got a tip the other day,’ he went on; ‘that old bank at Mount Royal, + Fellowes and Fellowes, is going to crack up, my boy. There’s something + very queer in the commercial atmosphere just now, Bommaney. There are lots + of old-fashioned solid people breaking up.’ + </p> + <p> + To Bommaney’s uneasy fancy there was in his visitor’s voice an accent + which sounded personal. + </p> + <p> + ‘I—I hope not,’ he answered, somewhat feebly, ‘so much depends——’ + (he tried hard to rally himself), ‘so much depends upon a spirit of + commercial confidence.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Exactly,’ cried the visitor, laying hands’ upon the pocket-book and + opening it. ‘I went to the bank and saw young Fellowes myself. “Look here, + Fellowes,” I told him, “I want my daughter’s money.” He stuck to it, sir; + like a dog holding on to a bone. He growled about it, and he whined about + it, said it wasn’t fair to withdraw the money on short notice. Said I + couldn’t do better with it anywhere, and at last I told him, “Look here, + Fellowes, I shall begin to think by and by there’s something wrong.” He + went as red as a turkey-cock, begad, and drew a note on their London agent + like a lord, and here I am with the money. Eight thousand pounds.’ + </p> + <p> + By this time he had drawn a bundle of bank-notes from the pocket-book, and + now sat flicking the edges of the notes with the tips of his great broad + fingers. Bommaney heard the crisp music, and looked up with a momentary + glance of hunger in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + ‘That’s Patty’s little private handful,’ the visitor continued, opening + the packet of notes, and smoothing it upon his knee. ‘Eighty notes of a + hundred. Pretty little handful, isn’t it? They don’t look,’ he added, with + his head reflectively on one side and his eyebrows raised a little, ‘they + don’t look as they’d buy as much as they will.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney tried to find a commonplace word by answer, and an inaudible + something died drily in his throat. When his companion began to speak + again, the bankrupt merchant wondered that he made no comment on his + ghastly face—he knew his face was ghastly—or his shaking + hands. There was an intuition in his mind so strong and clear that he + trembled at its prophecy. + </p> + <p> + ‘Patty,’ said the visitor, ‘will have everything in time, and a pretty + good handful, too. But she’s bent on being independent, and she wants to + have her own money in her own hands. She pretends it’s all because she + wants to pay her milliner’s bills, and that kind of thing, herself; but I + know better. The fact is’—he lowered his voice and chuckled—‘the + fact is, she doesn’t want me to know how much she spends in charity. You + look here, Bommaney’—the merchant’s heart seemed to stand still, and + then to beat so wild an alarum that he wondered the other did not hear it + The intuition multiplied in strength. He heard beforehand the spoken + words, the very tones which marked them. ‘You’re a safe man, you’re a + smart man. I suppose there isn’t anybody in London who can lay out money + to more advantage than you can. I know it’s a great favour to ask, but I + think you’ll do it for Patty’s sake and mine, if I do ask you. Take this, + and invest it for her. Will you, now?’ + </p> + <p> + He stood up with the bundle of notes outstretched in his hand. The + merchant rose and accepted it, and looked him, with a sudden curious calm + and steadiness, straight in the face. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + Mr. Bommaney was alone again, and if it had not been for the actual + presence of the bundle of bank-notes upon the table, he could well have + thought that the whole episode had been no more than a dreadful and + disturbing dream. It was very hard, he thought complainingly, that a man + should come and put so horrible a temptation in his way. He would not + yield to it—of course he would not yield to it. He had been an + honest and honourable man all his life long, and had never so much as felt + a monetary temptation until now. It was humiliating to feel it now—it + was horrible to have his fingers itching for another man’s money, and his + heart coveting it, and his brain, in spite of himself, devising countless + means of use for it. It was quite unbearable to know that the money <i>might</i> + tide him over his troubles and land him in prosperity again, if he could + only dare to use it, and risk engulfing it with the lost wreckage of his + own fortunes. + </p> + <p> + But no, no, no. He had never meant to use it. His only reason for + accepting it had been that he had not found the courage to declare his + true position to his old friend and school companion. Perhaps, he told + himself (trying to silence and cajole that inward monitor and accuser who + would not be silenced or cajoled), perhaps if Brown had been less + confident and truthful—if he had had less faith in his old + companion’s powers as a man of business—it would have come easier to + tell the truth. And how futile a thing it was to stave off discovery for a + single day! How doubly ashamed he would have to feel after that poor + pretence of responsible solidity! If he had only been disposed to be + tempted at all—here surely was an added reason for yielding to + temptation. + </p> + <p> + Obviously the first, and, indeed, the only thing to be done, was to bank + this money in Brown’s name, and so have done with it; and yet any feeling + of haste in that respect would seem to imply a fear of temptation, which + he was, of course, quite resolute not to feel. He was not going any more + to run away from his own suspicion of himself than he would have run from + another man’s. So, in and out, and up and down, contradicting himself at + every turning, with an underlying surety in his mind so fast rooted and so + dreadful that he did not dare to look at it. + </p> + <p> + When the adieux were being said between the old friends, Mr. James Hornett + had slid noiselessly downstairs, his mind inflated by pride. He was not + proud of having played the eavesdropper, for even in Mr. Hornett’s economy + of things, that was an act to be proud of; but he was very proud, indeed, + to be associated with a gentleman so magnificently respected as Mr. + Bommaney. There were not so very many people, he told himself, even in the + City of London, which was full of wealth and probity, into whose hands so + large a sum would be placed with so little a sense of the necessity of + precaution. He felt as if he himself had been treated in this majestic + manner, and the feeling warmed his heart. He bowed Mr. Brown from the + office door with an <i>empressement</i> which he feared a moment later + might almost have betrayed him, and he went about his duties for the rest + of the day in a mood of unusual contentment. The earlier memory of his + employer’s disturbance crossed him sometimes, and always excited his + curiosity; but the later feeling dominated him. He was delighted by his + association with a concern so eminently respectable as that of Bommaney, + Waite, and Co. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Mr. Hornett’s employer, with that dreadful rooted secret in his + mind, which he did not dare to look at, sat alone, looking with staring + eyes before him, and drumming in a regular tune upon the topmost note of + the terrible little pile. He had locked the notes away before Brown’s + departure, but they had seemed to draw him to the safe with almost a + physical compulsion, and he had brought them out again to look at them, to + handle them, to count them, to resolve in his own mind that he did not + hanker after them, and was honourable to the core. It was so new a thing + to be tempted, that at times his own self-deception was made easy to him. + It did not occur to him to reflect that the need and the means had never + so presented themselves together until now, or that his life-long honour + had depended upon their absence. + </p> + <p> + When he had sat in silence for a while he awoke to the fact that the + interview had been nothing but a succession of shocks to him, and that he + was bodily exhausted. He rose, and, walking feebly to the inner room, + applied himself anew to the brandy bottle he kept there. He had gone much + too often to that deceptive solace lately, and he knew it; but each + successive visit carried its own excuses with it, and it had never in any + individual instance been worth while to resist a habit which it was always + easy to condemn in the main. + </p> + <p> + The brandy enlightened him and opened new sluices of emotion. Perhaps for + the moment he was a better man because of it. He seemed to wake to a more + determined sense of the enormity of the temptation which lay before him. + He thought of his own son, and a shadow took him from head to foot as, in + a brandified nervous vision, he beheld some shadowy supposititious + creature in the act of telling the tale to Phil. The vice of drink has had + the creation of many other vices laid to its charge, but for once in the + world’s history the obfuscated vision was clearer than the natural, and + Philip drunk a better man, and a more righteous and honourable, than + Philip sober. + </p> + <p> + At bottom, Philip Bommaney knew himself too well to be at all sure that + this phase of feeling would endure with him; and in a half-conscious dread + of the return of that baser self, whose first appearance in his history + had so affrighted him, he hurriedly attired himself for out-of-doors, + crammed the bundle of notes into an inner pocket of his overcoat, and, + after a final appeal to the decanter, left his room with a somewhat + hysteric sense of courage and self-approval. He had been tempted—he + was ready to recognise that the temptation was over, that he had well-nigh + succumbed to it—but he had triumphed! He was a man again. He had + been weighed in the balances and not found wanting. There were some tears + in his eyes compounded of brandy and nerves and affections and remorses as + he hurried into the street. Phil should never be ashamed of his father. + Old Brown, who had trusted him like a brother, should never learn to shun + and hate him. He had to go under—the thing was inevitable, + unescapable, but he would at least go under like a man. His heart beat to + the tune of the ‘Conquering Hero,’ where it might have beat to the + ‘Rogue’s March,’ but for that friendly nip of brandy and the all-covering + mercies of Heaven. + </p> + <p> + Quickly as his resolution had been taken, he had fully arranged for the + details of the task which lay before him. With the notes he had thrust + into his pocket a little handful of business papers involving a knotty and + delicate point of business, and he intended that the discussion of the + point they raised should act as the prelude to the disclosure and the + restitution he desired to make. He could not, even in his newfound + heroism, and with whatever hysteric hardihood he was prepared to meet the + stroke of fate, he could not as yet encounter Brown, and lay bare before + him the plot of the melancholy farce he had played an hour ago. But there + was an old friend of his, and an old friend of Brown’s into the bargain, a + solicitor, keen as a needle and kindly as sunshine, one Barter, whose + business chambers were in Gable Inn, and who was of all men the man he + could confide in with least shame and best hope of help. He hailed a cab, + and bade the driver drive his fastest. Gable Inn lay tranquil, the + afternoon shadows already settling deeper on the little quadrangle than on + the broad and roaring thoroughfare without. There was no light in the + windows of the rooms in which Messrs. Fellowship, Freemantle, and Barter + had done business and received their clients fifty years ago, and in which + the sole surviving member of the firm still maintained its old-established + reputation for honour and astuteness. + </p> + <p> + Bommaney was chilled by the silence and darkness of the rooms, and he + shivered to see the temptation he had conquered looming again before him. + He knocked loudly with a trembling hand, and the noise of iron on iron + went rolling and echoing up the staircase and came back in a hollow, + lonely, sounding murmur from the rooms within. His heart sank, and a + horrible fear of himself got hold of him. He had actually conquered, and + here was the fight to be fought over again with almost a certainty of + defeat at the end of it. Indeed, the defeat in that bare moment of time + had grown so certain, that he was conscious of a distinct state of + disappointment when a sudden footstep within the rooms answered his noisy + summons. + </p> + <p> + The door opened, and a young man stood before him, peering at him with + half-closed uncertain eyes through the dark. He was a young man of the + fleshly school, something too stout for his years, very pallid, and more + than commonly personable, with a fine broad forehead, fine frank eyes, and + features modelled with an engaging regularity. When he recognised his + visitor his pale and handsome face glittered with a sudden smile of + welcome, teeth and eyes gleaming quite brightly, and the whole face + lighting up in the pleasantest and friendliest fashion conceivable. + </p> + <p> + This agreeable expression faded into one of almost mechanical dolor, and + the personable young man shook hands with Mr. Bommaney sadly, and sighed + as if he suddenly recalled an idea that sighing was a duty. + </p> + <p> + ‘Come in, Mr. Bommaney,’ he said. ‘Come in, sir. I have sent home all the + clerks, and was just about to lock up for the night. To what do I owe the + pleasure of this visit? Let me light the gas.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney, the door being closed behind him, stumbled along the darkened + passage after the more assured and accustomed steps of young Mr. Barter, + and the inner office being gained, and the gas being lighted, allowed + himself to be motioned to a chair. What with having been too much agitated + by the contemplation of his troubles to be able to eat at all that day, + and what with the fight he had had with his temptations, and the too + frequent applications he had made to the brandy, it happened that for the + moment he was by no means certain of his purpose. He sat for a little + while wondering rather hazily what had brought him there. As often happens + with absent-minded people, his hands remembered what had been required of + them before his brain began to act again, and by and by the fact that he + had unbuttoned his overcoat, and had taken a bundle of papers from his + pocket, recalled him to his purpose. + </p> + <p> + ‘I wanted,’ he said, emerging from his haze, and holding the bundle of + papers nervously in both hands, ‘I wanted to see your father upon very + special and urgent business.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘My father?’ the young man answered, with a look and accent of pained + surprise. ‘Do you mean to say, sir, that you haven’t heard the news?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘The news?’ cried Bommaney, feeling blindly as if some new misfortune + threatened him. ‘What news?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘My father, sir,’ said young Mr. Barter, with a certain blending of + professional airs, something of a legal impress mingled with something of + the manner of a medical man conveying mournful intelligence to the + relatives of a patient, ‘my father, sir, was struck down by an omnibus in + the street this morning. He is terribly injured, and not expected to + recover.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘God bless my soul!’ Bommaney cried out. His chin fell upon his breast, + and his eyes stared at the floor, seeing nothing. He felt like a man upon + a raft, who sees the bindings of the frail thing break apart. Shipwrecked + already, and now the last hope gone! He hardly knew, if he could have + asked himself the question clearly, why he so particularly desired to see + Barter. He hardly knew what Barter could have done for him, except to + listen to his troubles and take charge of the eight thousand pounds which + tempted him, and yet the disappointment seemed as heavy and as hard to + bear as anything he had hitherto endured. He sat staring forlornly before + him, with tears in his eyes, and young Mr. Barter, in much astonishment at + his susceptibility and tenderness, sat watching him. Something slid from + Bommaney’s hands with a rustle, and dropped upon the floor. Young Mr. + Barter made a mere hint or beginning of a movement, as if he would have + picked it up for him. Bommaney made no movement at all, but stared before + him with his blue-gray eyes filling more and more with tears, until two or + three brimmed over and trickled down his cheeks. He said, ‘God bless my + soul!’ once more, mechanically, and restored what remained of his bundle + of papers to his pocket. Young Mr. Barter looked with one swift and vivid + glance from the fallen bundle to his guest’s face, then back again. + Bommaney rose from his seat, buttoned his overcoat with awkward and + lingering fingers, and put on his hat. He was evidently unconscious of his + own tears, and made no attempt to disguise them, or to wipe them away. He + said, ‘God bless my soul!’ a third time, and then, shaking young Mr. + Barter by the hand, murmured that he was sorry, very sorry, and so went + stupidly away. Young Mr. Barter accompanied him to the door, casting a + strange backward glance at the papers as he left the room, and was + curiously voluble in his dismissal of his visitor. Anything he could do—Mr. + Bommaney might rest perfectly assured—the clerks would be back + to-morrow in any case—he would advise Mr. Bommaney of his father’s + condition by that night’s post—he himself was naturally most + profoundly anxious. In this wise he talked Bommaney from the chambers, and + when once he had closed the door behind him, went back along the dark + little corridor with an unnecessarily catlike tread. He could hardly have + been other than certain that he was alone, yet when he reached the inner + room he looked about him with a keen quick darting suspicion, and for half + a minute ignored the fallen papers on the floor. + </p> + <p> + ‘Dear me!’ he said, when at length he suffered his eyes to rest upon them. + ‘What can that be? How did that come here?’ + </p> + <p> + He stooped, picked up the papers, laid them upon his desk, and smoothed + them out, making a fold lengthways to counteract the creases into which + they had already fallen. He saw a crisp clean Bank of England note for a + hundred pounds, and, lifting it, found another. Then he lifted half the + bundle, and, finding a note of the same value, gave an inward gasp, and + expelled his breath slowly after it. Then he looked at the last note of + all, and sat down with the whole bundle in his hands. His pale and fleshy + features had taken an unusual colour, and his breathing was a good deal + disturbed. A watcher might have guessed that he was profoundly agitated + from the swift unintermittent rustle the paper made in his hands. He + seemed to sit as steady as a rock, and yet the crisp paper rustled + noisily. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Brown’s bank-notes had been a fruitful source of emotion that day + already, and, in Bommaney’s mind at least, had raised very dreadful doubts + and perplexities. There were doubts and perplexities in the mind of young + Mr. Barter, but they were altogether of another order. Young Mr. Barter + was perfectly aware that he was being tempted, and felt that, in its way, + the temptation wets a kind of godsend. He even said as much in a low + murmur to himself. His perplexities related to other things than the fear + of any fall from honour. Bommaney had evidently been very queer. Bommaney + had been horribly cut up about something, even before he heard the news + the young solicitor had to give him. But was he so disturbed as to be + likely to forget where he had last secured so considerable a sum of money? + This mental inquiry naturally set young Mr. Barter to work to discover how + considerable the sum of money actually was. He laid the notes upon the + table, and tried to wet his thumb upon his lips. There was no moisture + there, and his mouth was as dry as touchwood. He drank a little water, and + then began to count the notes. He made them eighty-one at first; and then, + recounting, made them seventy-nine. Counting them a third time, he made + them eighty. + </p> + <p> + ‘Damn it all!’ said young Mr. Barter, ‘can’t I count? I suppose the old + buffer will come back for them.’ He tried a fourth time, and confirmed his + third counting. ‘They’ll get stopped at the Bank,’ he said. ‘They’ll be no + use to anybody.’ He sat for a while thinking, with his eyes half-closed, + drumming out a tune upon the table with the tips of his fat white fingers, + then he folded the notes with great precision and delicacy, put them into + his pocket, found his hat, overcoat, and walking-stick, and made ready for + the streets. In the quiet of these legal chambers many chance noises from + without had from time to time been clearly audible. He heard now a + hurrying step upon the pavement of the quadrangle, and, with a palpitation + at the heart, he moved swiftly to put out the light, and listened. The + step stumbled at the entrance to the staircase, at the foot of which the + outer door stood closed. Young Mr. Barter’s heart beat, if possible, + faster than before; and the veins in his head so throbbed, that only the + confining rim of his hat seemed to keep his head itself from bursting. + There came an eager summons at the door, an imperative rapping with the + head of a stout walking-stick. He set his teeth, and, drawing back his + lips with a horrible smile in the dark, breathed noiselessly. The rapping + grew more and more imperative and urgent, and then came a preternatural + silence, with an undercurrent of distant sound in it, and the sudden blare + of a cornet in the street, which sounded to his nerves like the trumpet of + the herald of the day of judgment He heard the hurrying feet plunge down + the steps again, and cross the quadrangle, and listened until their sound + merged into the dull noises of the London night. He stood in the dark + after this for what seemed a long time, learning that his features + twitched, and teaching himself to control them. Then he left his chambers + with great secrecy, and broke into a cold sweat to think, as he stood half + through the doorway, how narrowly he had escaped from slamming the door + behind him. This was an act which might have been suicidal in its + stupidity; for to give any sign of his presence there after that + thundering summons at the door would have been to betray himself beyond + redemption. He inserted his latch-key noiselessly, and, crouching to + escape imagined observers, drew the door gently after him, and turned the + key slowly in the lock. As he did this he heard a footstep and a cough + together close at hand, and, turning with a start, beheld a pale and + slender man of brief stature, who scraped his lantern jaws with apologetic + thumb and finger, and looking at him with a startled meekness, as if he + would fain propitiate anger for a possible intrusion, sidled to the foot + of the stairs, mounted the stairway with a backward glance and a second + cough of apology, and so disappeared. + </p> + <p> + Young Mr. Barter, with his nerves already shaken by this small episode, + walked into the main thoroughfare and merged with the crowd, bearing Mr. + Bommaney’s eight thousand pounds with him. When he had walked for a while + he hailed a cab, and was driven home. He had, or prided himself on having, + an exceptional eye for horseflesh, but it was not his faculty in this + direction which had led him to choose a cab horsed by a brute of unusual + symmetry and swiftness. This was an accident, but, like other accidents in + this perplexed world, it served its purpose. It landed him at the paternal + door in Harley Street almost at the instant at which Bommaney arrived + there in pursuit of him. + </p> + <p> + Now, although young Mr. Barter had not calculated on meeting Bommaney so + soon, and although the meeting was naturally something of a shock to him, + he had already schooled himself for interview and inquiry. He went a + little paler than common as he grasped his father’s old friend by the hand + for the third time that evening, and trembled ever so little as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + ‘I half expected to find you here,’ he said. ‘I could see how moved you + were by the news of my father’s illness.’ The door stood open, and the + old-fashioned man-servant within had been in the act of closing it upon + Bommaney’s retreating figure when cab number two had driven up, and the + young master of the house had alighted from it. ‘Is the news worse or + better?’ He laid both hands upon Bommaney’s arms as he put this question. + </p> + <p> + The elderly servitor, who had never had reason given to him to believe + that young Mr. Barter was above the reasonable attached to his father, was + a little surprised to see the young man so moved. He drew the door gently + after him, and came out upon the steps. + </p> + <p> + ‘I’m afraid, Mr. John,’ he murmured sympathetically, ‘that it’s + practically all over, sir. The poor gentleman’s quite unconscious, and the + doctor don’t expect him to last till morning.’ + </p> + <p> + Young Mr. Barter’s mind was active, and accustomed to rapid movement. He + knew at once that the old servant read the signs of disturbance in his + face and manner, and how far he misread them. So, to insure the + misreading, he took out his handkerchief, and groaned at this melancholy + intelligence. + </p> + <p> + ‘I——,’ began Bommaney, stammering and speaking a little + thickly, ‘I didn’t come to ask about your father.’ Young Barter’s heart at + this, though he was perfectly prepared for it, began to beat like a + sledgehammer. ‘I’ve had a dreadful loss. I have called nowhere but at your + office since I left my own, and I have lost eight thousand pounds. I am + convinced that I must have left it there.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I can’t think so, Mr. Bommaney,’ said Barter, with a face of innocence.’ + We can go back together, if you like, and look for it.’ Bommaney’s driver + lingered for him; the other cabman was already jingling leisurely down the + street. + </p> + <p> + ‘Johnson,’ said young Barter, addressing the domestic, ‘you hear what Mr. + Bommaney says. This is a matter of the most urgent importance, and must be + looked into at once. Tell my mother that I have been home, and that I have + been called suddenly back on urgent business.’ Bommaney stood in a kind of + stupid trance, and the young man, taking him by the arm, had some ado to + secure his attention. ‘Come! Come, sir,’ he said; ‘we will look into this + at once. You must not remain in suspense about such a matter.’ + </p> + <p> + They rustled together through the straw which had been laid down upon the + roadway, and had been scattered by the feet of passers-by upon the + pavement, and, mounting the cab, drove in a ghastly silence for a score of + yards, and then, with a clatter which made conversation difficult, + Bommaney, rousing himself at intervals, shouted his certainty that the + notes would prove to have been left at Barter’s chambers. Barter, growing + curiously inured to the circumstances of the case, shouted back that he + dared to say they would be; that it was very likely; that he really did + not see where else Mr. Bommaney could possibly have left them, furtively + pressing the notes against his breast meanwhile, and once, at a quiet + interval, when Bommaney had sunk into his former stupor, venturing to + steal a hand to the pocket in which the stolen money lay, caressing the + edges of the notes with the tips of his fingers. + </p> + <p> + ‘I’m sure,’ said Bommaney, as the cab pulled up at the gate of the + quadrangle, ‘that we shall find them here.’ He spoke with a tremulous + uncertainty, and so obviously appealed for a confirmation of his hope, + that Barter felt constrained to answer, + </p> + <p> + ‘Oh, we are bound to find them.’ + </p> + <p> + The striking of a wax vesta at the door of the chambers, the shaky hunt + for the key, the well-known obstinacy of the lock, the opening of the + door, the fevered working of Bommaney’s fingers, and the flushed eagerness + of his face, were all memorable to young Barter for many and many a day. + They entered together the room in which their interview had taken place; + and Barter, nursing the remnant of the flaming vesta, lit the gas with it, + and then, dropping it on the floor, set his foot upon it, and looked at + his companion. + </p> + <p> + ‘Where do you think you left the notes, sir?’ he asked. ‘Have you any + idea? I think you took out some papers here. You wanted to consult my + father about them, I fancy, and, if I remember, you returned them to your + pocket.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney stood looking about him on the floor, trailing the point of his + walking-cane purposelessly hither and thither; and it was at this moment, + seeing how confused and broken his victim seemed, that young Mr. Barter + tasted the first flavour of safety. + </p> + <p> + ‘I don’t see anything,’ he said. + </p> + <p> + ‘Did you,’ Bommaney asked him, with both trembling hands grasping the knob + of his walking-cane, and shaking in appeal before the unsuspected thief—’ + did you lock any papers away before you left?’ + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, young Barter had not had any papers to lock away that + evening after Bommaney’s departure; but he thought the trick worth + playing, and, producing his keys again, opened the heavy iron safe which + stood against the wall. + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes,’ he said, with an air of hopeful alacrity. ‘By Jove, I did!’ He + stood aside, with an outstretched hand, and motioned Bommaney to examine + the contents of the safe. There was a parchment there, there were half a + dozen bundles of documents tied in pink tape and docketed; but there were + no bank-notes. + </p> + <p> + ‘You know,’ said Bommaney, with a fretful wail, ‘I must have left them + here; I couldn’t have left them anywhere else. I put it to you—could + I?’ + </p> + <p> + Barter looked at him mournfully, with raised eyebrows. There was just a + hint of expostulation in his raised eyebrows, and in the expression of his + voice. + </p> + <p> + ‘You see, sir,’ he said, waving his white hands—’ you see for + yourself, there’s nothing here.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney walked to a chair, and, sitting down there, lifted up his voice + and wept. ‘I’ve been an honest man, by God! all my life long; and now I’m + not merely ruined, but I shall be taken for a thief.’ He cried bitterly + after this outburst, with his head between his hands. His hat fell off, + and his walking-stick tumbled noisily to the floor. Mr. Barter picked them + up, and, having set them on the table, looked at the shaking shoulders, + and listened to the ruined man’s sobs and wailings. It was a pity—of + course it was a pity—but young Mr. Barter really did not see how it + was in his power to help it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + On a chill spring evening the sunset over London gave a brief radiance of + colour to the dull gray roof and smoke-stained chimneys of many + thoroughfares. Shadows thickened in the eastern skies as if fold after + fold of finest crape were drawn over the field of watery and opalescent + light the fallen sun had left behind it. In one great thoroughfare running + east and west the sky-line of the houses stood distinct, and bathed in + light of many colours; whilst down below there was a wall of shadow. Two + parallel walls of shadow rose from a shadowy level, and the dusk had a + thousand indistinguishable voices. + </p> + <p> + The shadowy lines became accented by twin rows of flickering fire, the + rear jets seen with a blurred halo of mist round each of them, the halo + crawling feebly within itself, tormented by a feeble wind. The long vista + of pavement became chequered like a chessboard, with patches of light from + shop windows. Gable Inn, staring at the growing darkness with a single + fiery eye, looked like a Rip Van Winkle. It had been old when Chaucer and + the knights and ladies of whom he sang were young; and its hoary stunted + angles and squat chimney cowls had the grave and impassive aspect proper + to great age. It has stood there now for over seven hundred years hoarding + a growing store of secrets. It is roughly picturesque in every detail, and + its every chamber is a triumph of narrowness, obscurity, and + inconvenience. + </p> + <p> + In the quadrangle the shadows climbed the sturdy walls as if they were an + exhalation from the paving-stones. The dim staircase sent down all manner + of muffled and echoing voices. Footsteps sounded, and the clang of doors, + and the shriek of unwilling keys in rusty locks, and the hurrying traffic + of the street without, softened by the moist atmosphere, was like the + fading echo of following feet upon the stairs. + </p> + <p> + Lights sprang up in the basement windows, telling of protractive legal + labours. Lights twinkled in the garrets, telling of lonely study or noisy + conviviality in the coming hours of darkness. At length one side of the + quadrangle viewed by a solitary watcher from a third-floor window of the + opposing side, winked with a hundred windows through the wet air and + deepening shadow like a blear-eyed Argus. + </p> + <p> + This watcher, lounging at his own window, was Mr. Philip Bommaney, + recently self-entitled the ‘Solitary of Gable Inn.’ He was + eight-and-twenty years of age or thereabouts, a broad-shouldered, + deep-chested, manly-looking fellow, with curling brown hair, and a face + expressive of pugnacity, good-humour, and many capacities. He was a little + weary now, after a long day of satisfactory work. He watched the mounting + shadows, and listened to the weird gamut of the wind among the telegraph + lines, until the outer voices made his own dull room seem homely. One + ruddy tongue of flame from the expiring fire in the grate played on the + narrow walls and low ceiling, and woke twinkling reflections in the spare + and battered furniture. A man’s dwelling-place is always an index to his + character when its arrangement depends upon himself; and signs of Philip + Bommaney’s nature and pursuits were visible in plenty here. There were + symmetrical rows of books on the shelves flanking the fire-place. An + orderly stack of newspapers occupied one corner of the room, and a set of + boxing-gloves lay on top of the pile, and a pair of dumb-bells beside it. + A shaded reading-lamp stood upon the table in the midst of a great litter + of papers. The barrels of a huge elephant gun flashed dimly from the wall + as the firelight played upon them, and two or three lighter weapons were + ranged together lower down. + </p> + <p> + He turned from the window and lit the lamp, and, wheeling round, held up + the light to a photograph, and studied it with a pleased face. It was the + portrait of a pretty girl, very sweetly grave, and looking as if it could + be very sweetly vivacious. When he had looked at it for a longish time he + nodded and smiled, as if the pictured lips had actually spoken to him. + There was a tumbler standing beside the photograph with a bunch of + hothouse flowers in it, the one bright spot of colour in the dingy + chamber. He took this in his disengaged hand, and nodding and smiling anew + at the pretty girl’s portrait, he turned about again, and walked into a + bedroom beyond a narrow and inconvenient little window. The strident voice + of the clock over the entrance of the old Hall, answered or anticipated + from multitudinous spires in the City far and near, sounded as Philip + entered his bedroom. He stood and listened, counting six jarring strokes. + The bedroom was a microscopic apartment, with as many corners in it as any + room of its size in London, and the bed itself was a perfect triumph of + littleness, so tucked under the sloping roof, and so surrounded by + projecting corners, as to make the entry to it or the exit from it a + gymnastic performance of considerable merit. The room was not over-light + at the best of times, the fourth part of the space of one small window in + the sloping wall was filled by its own heavy framework, and for half its + height it was shielded by a parapet, which had at least its uses in hiding + the occupant of the room from the too-curious observation of those who + dwelt in the upper stories of the houses opposite. These houses opposite, + compared with Gable Inn, are of a mushroom modernness, and yet are old + enough (having begun with a debauched and sickly constitution) to have + fallen into an almost complete decrepitude. Their stately neighbour seems + to be less grimy with the London smoke than they are, has always been less + susceptible to outside evil influences, even of that unescapable sort, and + drives them to an added shabbiness of senility by contrast with its own + hale old age. The bedroom window was already open for the admission of + such fresh air as, disguised in London blacks, the exhalations of moist + spring pavements, and the reeking odours of the cuisine of Fleeter’s + Rents, might choose to wander thither. Philip, with the lamp in one hand + and the tumbler of flowers in the other, put out his head and looked into + the squalid depths below him, and having gazed there a while absently and + with no object, drew back with a vague touch of pity upon him for the + people who dwelt in so much squalor so near to healthy effort and + reasonable competence. He could hardly have told as much, perhaps, but one + pallid countenance, shining very dimly at an open window, was very much + answerable for that vague touch of pity. The face in the darkness started + away from the window as he looked at it, as if his own robust health and + the light that dwelt about him startled its pinched shabbiness into + solitude. He set the tumbler of flowers upon the window-ledge, and closing + the window, made his toilet and returned to the sitting-room. Then, having + banked up the fire, and set the matches in such a position that he could + easily find them, he blew out the lamp, left his chambers, and ran down + the tortuous stairs. As he turned the last corner a door clanged noisily, + and the next thing of which he was conscious was that he was struggling in + the embrace of a stranger whom he had doubled up in an angle of the wall. + </p> + <p> + ‘I beg your pardon,’ he said gaspingly; ‘I stumbled.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘You did,’ responded the stranger, gasping also. ‘Rather heavily. It was + lucky you had something soft to fall on.’ + </p> + <p> + Philip began to make apologies. The stranger, breathless still, but + jovially polite, begged him not to mention it. He was a tallish young man, + broad set, and a little too fleshy for his years. He had a cleanshaven + face, healthily pallid, the whitest of teeth, and a most frank, engaging, + and contagious smile. + </p> + <p> + ‘Pray don’t say anything more about it,’ he said in answer to Philip’s + reiterated apologies. ‘You are not hurt, I hope?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No, thanks; but I’m afraid you are.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Not at all. It was sharp for a minute; but I am all right now. The stairs + are very inconvenient, especially to strangers.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I haven’t even that excuse for my clumsiness, said Philip; ‘for I am + living here.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Indeed; then we are neighbours, and should know each other. Rather an + informal kind of introduction, eh?’ The stranger said this with a mellow + laugh and a flash of his white teeth. He opened his overcoat as he spoke, + and produced a card-case, Philip catching the gleam of a gold-studded + shirt-front as he did so. ‘That’s my name, John Barter; and these are my + offices.’ The outer oak, cracked and blistered to the likeness of an + ancient tar-barrel, bore an inscription, dim with long years—‘Fellowship, + Freemantle, and Barter’—and the names were repeated on the doorpost + at the entrance. + </p> + <p> + ‘I have no card,’ said Philip, accepting the stranger’s. ‘My name is + Bommaney—Philip Bom-maney;’ Mr. Barter’s smiling face was unchanged, + though he gave a slight but perceptible start at the name, and repeated + it. + </p> + <p> + ‘Do you know it?’ asked Philip. To the ears of his companion there was + something of a challenge in the tone. ‘It is not a common name.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No. Not a common name. I think I have heard it somewhere.’ + </p> + <p> + They were under the archway by this time, in the brief shelter of which + the sanguine-faced, red-waist-coated lodge-keeper was taking his nightly + constitutional. They answered the touch of the hat with which he saluted + them. + </p> + <p> + ‘Which is your way?’ asked Mr. Barter. + </p> + <p> + ‘Westward,’ said Phil. + </p> + <p> + ‘Mine is east,’ said Barter, ‘so we part here. We are bound to meet again + before long. Good-night.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Good-night, and many thanks for taking my clumsiness in such good part.’ + </p> + <p> + Barter’s ready smile beamed out again. They shook hands before parting + like old acquaintances, and Philip walked on, through the incessant noise + of Holborn into quieter Bloomsbury Street, along the eastern side of + Bedford Square, where the bare trees were shivering in a bath of fog, and + into Gower Street. Half way down that hideous thoroughfare he came upon a + house, one of the few which still retain the old lamp-iron and + extinguisher before their doors, and knocking, was admitted by a trim + maid, with the smiling alacrity due to a frequent and favoured visitor, + and by her conducted to the drawing-room, where sat a young lady engaged + in a transparent pretence of being absorbed in a novel. The pretence + vanished as the door closed behind the handmaiden, and the young lady + jumped up and ran forward to meet him, with such a glad welcome in her + face as answered the appeal in his own. It does not need that we should + look at her with Philip’s eyes to pronounce her charmingly pretty, or to + admire the face, at once shy and frank, with which she nestled beside him. + </p> + <p> + ‘I thought you were never coming,’ she said. + </p> + <p> + ‘Am I so late, then?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘It seemed so, and now you are come, tell me what you have been doing.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Working, and thinking of you.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘You work too much, Phil.’ She did her best to ignore the second item of + his day’s occupation, but the deepened flush and her avoidance of her + lover’s eyes answered it more effectively than words could have done. ‘You + are getting quite pale and thin. No wonder, sitting all alone all day long + in those musty old chambers.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, you see, Patty, the more I work, the sooner I shall cease to be all + alone.’ The flush deepened again, and the hand trembled in his like a + caught bird. ‘And as for working too much, I don’t believe that’s + possible. Work never killed anybody yet, and idleness has killed a good + many. It’s better to work than sit still and wait for briefs which never + corns. There’s no sensation more delightful than that of looking at a good + day’s work, and thinking that every line and word has brought me nearer to + you.’ + </p> + <p> + His tenderness conquered her shyness, and she nestled closer still, + looking up at him with a wholehearted admiration and affection. He felt a + little sad and unworthy under it, as almost any honest fellow would have + been sure to do, and yet it was wonderfully sweet to him, and more than + reward enough for any effort. + </p> + <p> + ‘I wish I could help you, Phil. I wish I could do something for you, when + you have given up so much for me.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Hush!’ he said, laying his hand lightly upon her lips. ‘We made up our + minds long ago that no more was to be said about that.’ He was tender + still—he could be nothing else with her—but there was a touch + of sternness in his manner, too—as if the theme pained him. + </p> + <p> + ‘But I can’t help thinking of it. It was so noble of you, Phil.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘It was the only thing to be done—the only thing possible. It was——’ + he paused for a second, and then went on resolutely—‘it was my + father’s act by which you suffered. I should have been a scoundrel if I + had done otherwise.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘And are you to do all? and am I to do nothing? It is selfish to keep all + the generosity to yourself.’ + </p> + <p> + He laughed as if he found this female paradox a pleasant fancy, but she + was not to be put off so. + </p> + <p> + ‘If the subject pains you, as I know it does, dear, please understand why + I speak of it I don’t want you to think I take your sacrifice as you + pretend to take it. It isn’t a matter of course, as you pretend it is; and + you may say what you like, Phil, but it isn’t a thing that everybody would + have done. Don’t grudge me my gratitude; you did it for the love of me.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I didn’t do it for the love of you,’ said Phil, laughing tenderly; ‘how + often am I to tell you that, you little mountain of obstinacy? I did it + because it was the right thing. I don’t say, mind you, that it wasn’t + easier to do it for you than it might have been for somebody I didn’t know + or care for; but that—as you will see quite clearly if you’ll bring + your naturally logical mind to bear upon it—makes the thing so much + the less creditable, provided there was any credit due to it at all.’ + </p> + <p> + The loving feminine scorn of this masculine process of reasoning was + expressed in a single glance, and was delightful to see. + </p> + <p> + ‘It only means waiting a little longer before I claim you.’ + </p> + <p> + The girl would fain have asked, ‘Why should you wait when I have enough + for both by your gift? What does it matter which of us it is who has the + money—you or I?’ But this question went unspoken, for obvious + reasons. A woman is tongue-tied by the countless conventionalities of + education. She must often let her thoughts lie silent in her heart, though + she burns to express them, and find what answer she can to questions she + dare not offer. Philip had repaired her loss by beggaring himself. That + was noble. But now he persisted in deferring their marriage, and had + buried himself in that lofty sarcophagus in Gable Inn, resolved only to + claim her, though she was all his own already, when he had reinstated his + fortunes by his labour. That was noble also, perhaps, but in her own heart + she thought it a trifle foolish—say Quixotic, not to be too severe. + She would rather have seen his ardour find a more commonplace expression. + She had a general sort of belief that whatever Philip did was bound to be + right, and yet this actual experience rather jarred with that assumption. + </p> + <p> + They found other themes in a while, and talked of the future and the + happiness it would bring. That Philip was going to be rich and famous was + a prime article in Patty’s creed, and he himself, though he had soberer + hopes, was not likely to miss any chance of success which labour might + bring him. He was more than modest enough in his conception of his own + powers, and was often doubtful as to the fulfilment of the higher + ambitions which are the necessary fuel of all artistic fires. Without + those fires the chill of modesty will fall to the frost of cowardice, and + in Art cowardice means indolence. In his moments of exultation—and + these came generally at their strongest when he was in his sweetheart’s + society—success looked easy enough. The memory of her undoubted + belief in him came upon him often with a glow reflected from those + magnificently hopeful moments. But then at times of depression it grew to + look no more than a foolish unattainable dream. All young artists have + times when they are going to be great—when the glory proper to white + hairs makes a halo round un-wrinkled fronts and curls, brown or golden. + They have times when the smartest turn of verse, the most delightful + inventions of narrative, the most exquisite contrast of colour or mould of + form their genius can compass are stricken through and through with the + horror of commonplace. But when a man of the artistic <i>genus</i> has + once so far learned his own nature he has made a great advance towards the + fulfilment of his ambitions. He has to learn that just as the hot fit is + followed by the cold the cold fit is succeeded by the hot. He knows how + intermittent he is. He learns to mistrust his own mistrust of himself. The + periods of depression grow less frequent, and the depression grows less + lasting. And then, just as the cold fit becomes less chilling to the one, + the fit of exultation grows less intoxicating. The halo beams less bright—loss + near. + </p> + <p> + Yet Philip, with the girl’s eyes worshipping him, and her sweet voice + cooing hope and praise, and her hands knitted on his shoulder, and her + warm breath fanning his cheek, gave himself up to the vision, and felt his + heart warm with a world’s welcome as yet far away from him. + </p> + <p> + The prose of life will assert itself, even to visionary eight-and-twenty + and sweet eighteen in love with one another. On this occasion it came as a + summons to supper. The summoner was a stout and jovial elderly gentleman, + about whose somewhat commonplace British exterior there was, to Philip’s + mind, a reflection of the nimbus which glorified Patty to his mind, for he + was Patty’s father. He had been called Old Brown at school when he was + young—he had been called Old Brown in the country, and the prefix + had found him out in town without the need for anybody to breathe a + whisper of it. He was Old Brown to his new acquaintances in London before + a month had gone by. The name suggests a beverage which is not unlike Old + Brown himself—being mild and nutty to the taste as he to the mental + palate—ripe and genial. He had a moist twinkle of the eye,—the + look which bespeaks the kindly humorist,—and his slightly protruding + under lip seemed covertly to taste the flavour of unspoken jokes. Old + Brown’s jokes were mainly left unspoken, but he spent a good part of his + life in laughing without any very apparent reason for laughter, and may + have been internally the way he looked to be. + </p> + <p> + He shook hands with Philip, and chucked Patty under the chin with a + waggish aspect, which called an appealing blush into the girl’s face. + Perhaps the blush stayed the intended quip, but any way the old gentleman + contented himself with a beaming laugh, and led the way to the supper + table, rubbing his hands and chuckling. + </p> + <p> + The meal was quietly jovial, and if, after it, Old Brown was not quite so + fast asleep as he pretended to be, at least his patience gave the lovers + the shelter they needed. He snored in mellow murmurs from behind his + bandanna, and they sat and talked together in low tones lest they might + awaken him, until the time came for parting. + </p> + <p> + Outside the mist had given place to a dull persistent rain, and a peevish + wind was complaining in area and chimney cowl. Philip turned to the street + with a pleasantly haunting vision of Patty’s vivacious face outlined + against the warmth and brightness of the hall. The touch of her good-night + kiss lingered on his lips like live velvet, and he carried warmth and + brightness enough within him to defy all the rain that ever rained, and + all the wind that ever blew on smoky London. + </p> + <p> + The rain had cleared the streets, and the occasional gleam of a + policeman’s cape or a furtive figure seeking the shelter of a doorway + against the drifting showers was all he saw as he bored his way against + the rising wind to the corner of Holborn. He was so absorbed by that fancy + of music to which his own quick tread kept time that a shuffling step + behind him rapidly drawing nearer failed to reach his sense. But as he + came to the corner, a hand clutched his arm. + </p> + <p> + He turned, with the quick defensive gesture natural to a man so accosted + at such a time, and faced the unexpected figure. An old man, clad in + filthy fluttering rags, stood staring at him, with both hands stretched + out. The rags shook as much with the horrible cough that tore him as with + the cruel wind. He was a dreadful creature, with watery eyes, and a head + and moustache of dirty gray. His long and unvenerable hairs strayed loose + beneath the dunghill relic which crowned them. The rain was in his hair + and beard, and had so soaked his tattered dress that it clung to him like + the feathers of a drenched fowl. He shook and wheezed and panted, and + gripped the air with tremulous fingers, and through the rents in his + clothing his white flesh gleamed in the gaslight. + </p> + <p> + The look of surprise and pity which Philip bent upon this unclean + apparition was startled into one of sudden fear and horror. In the very + instant when these emotions struck him, they were reflected in the other’s + face. The man made a motion to run, but Philip clutched his arm, and he + stood cowering and unresisting. + </p> + <p> + ‘You! Here in London?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil,’ said the spectre imploringly, ‘for God’s sake help me. I didn’t + know it was you, when I followed you. I thought——’ his voice + trailed into silence. + </p> + <p> + ‘You have come to this?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes, Phil; this is what I’ve come to.’ The cough took him here again, and + tore him so that he was fain to lean against the shutters of a shop near + at hand. + </p> + <p> + ‘Why do you come back here? Are you mad?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I am—almost. What could I do? I’m as safe here as I am anywhere. + Who would know me? or, if they did, who would hurt a wretch like me? I + haven’t slept in a bed for weeks, Phil. I haven’t eaten a morsel for three + days. For God’s sake! give me some money. I’ll—I’ll go away; I’ll + never trouble you again.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ll give you all I can. But you must go away from London.’ + </p> + <p> + Philip thrust his hand into his pocket and brought up all the pocket’s + contents. He took his keys and an unvalued trifle or two from the handful, + and held the rest out towards his father. The old man shrunk from him with + a terrible appeal and shamefaced gratitude which cut the son’s heart like + a knife. + </p> + <p> + ‘Where can I go to?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Anywhere out of London. You are not—safe here. Go away. Write to me + here.’ He thrust an envelope on which his name and address were written + into the old man’s dirty trembling hand. ‘You must never come to see me. + Promise me that.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I promise,’ he said; and, thrusting the money and the envelope somewhere + among his rags, stood silent for a while. ‘I’m afraid,’ he said, ‘I acted + very foolishly and very——’ + </p> + <p> + Then his voice trailed away again. + </p> + <p> + ‘God help you!’ said Philip with a choking voice. + </p> + <p> + ‘You’ll shake hands, won’t you, Phil? ‘said the old man. Phil took the + proffered hand. ‘It’s something,’ said Bommaney the elder, clinging to + him, ‘to feel an honest man’s hand again, God bless you, Phil!—God + bless you!’ + </p> + <p> + Philip stood silent, and the old man, with another shame-stricken glance + upon him, moved away. His son watched him for a second or two, as he + slunk, coughing and shivering, along the gleaming pavement, and then + turned and went his own way heavily. + </p> + <p> + Bommaney senior, discerning the welcome beacon of a public-house, shuffled + eagerly towards it, hugging beneath his rags the money his son had given + him. + </p> + <p> + ‘I beg your pardon, Mr. Bommaney; if you please, sir.’ He started at the + sound of a voice which had been familiar to him for years. ‘I should like + a word with you, sir; if you please.’ + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + James Hornett was less changed than his old employer, but it was evident + that he too had fallen upon evil times. For a mere second the familiar + tones of his voice were no more than familiar to Bommaney, whose mind was + confused by long misery and hunger and sleeplessness, and the shock of his + late encounter. But when he turned and saw Hornett’s long thumb and finger + scraping at his stubbly jaws, the gesture and the attitude of apology + brought him back to mind at once. Hornett’s coat sleeve was torn, and + showed his arm half way down to the elbow, but revealed no hint of linen, + The collar of his frock-coat was buttoned tightly about his neck, and + there was a sparkling metallic rime upon his cheeks and chin and upper + lip. Bommaney was ashamed before him, and afraid of him, and only some + faint reminder of self-respect and the pride of earlier days held him back + from the impulse to run away. + </p> + <p> + ‘You’re not afraid of me, sir?’ said James Hornett. He had always smiled, + and was smiling even now. The smile was no more than a contortion of the + muscles of the face, which made a long mirthless crease on either cheek, + and left the eyes untouched by the least light of sympathy. It gave him a + propitiatory dog-like look, and there was a hint of fawning in his + attitude which matched it perfectly and carried out the likeness. ‘You + remember me, sir?’ he went on, for Bommaney stared at him so wildly that + there seemed room for reasonable doubt on that point. ‘Hornett, sir. James + Hornett Your faithful servant for thirty years, sir.’ Bommaney looked at + him with haggard watering eyes, and said nothing as yet ‘It’s a bit of a + surprise, sir, at first, isn’t it?’ Hornett went on, with his unchanging + smile. There was a good deal of hunger and even triumph in his small soul, + but they found no other outward expression, and his attitude and voice + were as apologetic and retiring as of old. ‘It was rather a surprise to + me, sir, when I recognised you. Isn’t it a little dangerous for you to be + here, Mr. Bommaney?’ + </p> + <p> + They both started, and each looked about him at this mention of the + fugitive’s name. + </p> + <p> + ‘Hush!’ said Bommaney. ‘Don’t call me by that name. Come away from here.’ + </p> + <p> + A policeman strolled along the street, with an echoing tread, and as the + two slunk past him he turned a casual glance upon them. The glance touched + them like a galvanic shock, and they would have run if they had had + courage for such an indiscretion. + </p> + <p> + ‘What do you want with me?’ asked Bommaney, when the policeman was out of + sight and hearing; Hornett walking beside him, with his lean, propitiatory + fingers at his chin, looked up with hesitating meekness. + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, you see, sir,’ he responded, ‘your fall was mine, sir; I was + supposed’—he coughed behind his hand here to indicate apology for + the introduction of a theme so necessarily disagreeable to the other’s + feelings—’ I was supposed, sir, to have been in your confidence. I + made many applications for employment, and nobody would employ me. Young + Mr. Weatherall, sir, promised, personally, that if I called again, he’d + kick me down the steps.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney groaned. + </p> + <p> + ‘What do you want with me?’ he asked again. + </p> + <p> + They were standing by this time outside the doors of a public-house, and + the wind-driven rain was pelting down heavily. + </p> + <p> + ‘I thought, sir——’ said Hornett; ‘I’m very hard pressed, sir.’ + The dog-like, propitiatory smile never varied. ‘I was following Mr. Phil + myself, sir, in the hope that his kindness might run to a trifle.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Come in,’ said Bommaney; and Hornett eagerly accepting the invitation, + they entered the house together. There was an odour of frying in the room, + and a hissing noise proceeded from a soft of metal caldron which stood + over a row of gas-jets on the pewter counter. A printed legend, ‘Sausage + and Mashed, 3d.’ was pasted on the wooden partition at the side of the box + they entered, and on the mirror which faced them, and displayed their own + squalid misery to themselves. A year ago the fare would have seemed + uninviting to either at his hungriest moment, but now Bommaney called for + it with a dreadful suppressed eagerness, and, the barman serving them with + a tantalising leisure, they watched every movement with the eyes of + famine. + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ve got a little place, sir, of my own,’ whispered Hornett, when the + pangs of hunger were appeased. ‘It’s very humble, but you could put up for + the night there.’ Bommaney made no answer, but the two set out again + together through the rain, and, pausing once only for the purchase of a + flat pint bottle of whisky, made straight for Fleeter’s Rents. + </p> + <p> + All that nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand of the many thousands + who pass it every day could tell you of Fleeter’s Rents is that it makes a + narrow black gash in the walls of the great thoroughfare, and that it + neighbours Gable Inn. It is slimy in its very atmosphere all winter + through, and its air in summer time is made of dust and grit and shadow. + The old Inn elbows it disdainfully on one side, and on the other a great + modern stuccoed pile overtops it with a parvenu insolence. It is the home + naturally of the very poor; for no hermit or hater of the world, however + disposed to shun his fellows, would hide in its dingy solitudes whilst he + had but a mere shilling a day for lodging and bodily sustenance elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + Hornett led the way up a set of narrow and broken stairs, and having + reached the uppermost story of the house, pushed open a broken door, + which, depending from a single hinge, scratched, noisily upon the uneven + flooring of the room. His guest stood shivering in the doorway until a + match sputtered and fizzed in Hornett’s fingers. Then, guided by that + precarious light, he advanced. Hornett lit a candle which adhered by its + own grease to the filthy wall and had already made a great cone of smoke + with a tremulous outline there. There was a small grate, with a mere + double-handful of shavings, chips, and coal behind its rusty bars. Hornett + applied the match to the shavings, and, as the fire leapt up, the two men + knelt together, coughing and choking in the smoke, and bathing their + chilled hands in the flame. Bommaney drew the flat bottle from a pocket + hidden somewhere in his multitudinous rags, and drank. Hornett watched him + greedily, with hands involuntarily and unconsciously extended. Then when + he had drunk in turn, they each shivered over the fire again, stealing + furtive glances at each other, each mightily disconcerted when he met the + other’s eye. Bommaney had aged dreadfully during his year of hiding, and + Hornett, who had drunk his employer’s health upon his birthdays often + enough to know his age to a day, could yet scarce believe that the + dreadful spectre who knelt beside him numbered less than fourscore years. + </p> + <p> + One question perplexed Hornett’s mind. How came it, he asked himself over + and over again, that in the space of a mere twelvemonths a man who started + with at least eight thousand pounds could have fallen into such a depth of + poverty? Eight thousand pounds, if absolutely nothing were done with it + for its own increase, meant royal living for a score of years for an + unencumbered man. Hornett longed to satisfy his own curiosity upon this + point, and felt as if he dared not ask the question for his life. He + framed a score of ways by which he might approach it, with a road of + retreat behind him, and at last, as if in spite of himself, he said, with + apologetic impudence, + </p> + <p> + ‘You don’t seem to have made the money last long, sir.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘The money,’ cried Bommaney, turning furiously upon him. ‘What money?’ + </p> + <p> + Hornett edged away upon his knees, and his thumb and fingers traced the + creases of his smile up and down his stubbly cheeks. + </p> + <p> + ‘Do you think,’ the old man demanded passionately, ‘that I took away a + penny?’ + </p> + <p> + Hornett was afraid to rise. There was such a despair and so much fury in + the other’s looks that he could do nothing but crouch at his feet with his + mean meek face turned fearfully towards Bommaney, and his body cowering. + </p> + <p> + ‘You think I took that eight thousand pounds?’ Bommaney quavered, with a + voice of bitter disdain. + </p> + <p> + He had never in his life regretted anything so profoundly as he had + regretted his resistance of that temptation. To have had all the blame and + shame, and to endure all the miseries a convicted thief might earn for + himself, to have been an outcast and a pauper, only because he had been + resolute against temptation! It is easy enough for a man whom + circumstances keep honest to think himself honourable beyond the chance of + temptation. But misery has the virtue of Ithuriel’s spear, with a + difference. As the one touched the beast and transformed him to the + seeming of a high intelligence, so will the other touch a seemingly + impregnable armour of bright honour, and turn it into tinder, leaving the + poor beast revealed and unprotected from his own base natural longings. + The poor Bommaney was maddened to think he had not done what the other’s + thoughts charged him with, even though he passionately rebelled against + the accusation. + </p> + <p> + ‘When did you ever know me to be a rogue, James Hornett?’ he asked, with + an air and voice to which his passion lent something like dignity. ‘When + did you ever know me defraud a man of a farthing?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Never, sir, I’m sure,’ Hornett responded, not doubting in his own mind + that Bommaney was guilty. ‘But——’ + </p> + <p> + ‘But what?’ cried Bommaney. ‘My own son, my own flesh and blood, would + hardly shake hands with me. My clerk—I took him out of the gutter, + <i>you</i> know that, Hornett! I took you out of the gutter and made a man + of you, and lavished kindness on you. Nobody has a minute’s trust in me—nobody + thinks of misfortune or disaster. I was right to run away and hide myself, + for nobody would have believed me if I had stayed and told the truth.’ + </p> + <p> + Hornett looked more frightened than before after this outburst, but + Bommaney read incredulity in his face, and answered it with an added + passion. + </p> + <p> + ‘What good would it do me to tell lies to you? Suppose I made you believe + me, am I such a fool as to, think your pity could set me on my legs + again?’ + </p> + <p> + He turned away, moved by his own wrath and anguish, and Hornett, rising, + made himself as small as he could in the corner beside the grate. + Bommaney, in his pitiful broken boots, went shuffling up and down the + room. + </p> + <p> + ‘What became of the money, sir?’ the clerk asked with a shaky voice. + </p> + <p> + He was ready to run for his life, and he was more than half afraid that + the old man was mad—his eyes blazed so, and his voice and gestures + were so tempestuous. + </p> + <p> + ‘It was lost,’ said Bommaney. ‘I lost it, Heaven knows how. I’ve thought a + thousand times,’ he said, through his clenched teeth, ‘that that young + Barter must have had it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Young Barter, sir?’ said Hornett. + </p> + <p> + Then Bommaney told all he knew of the story of his own loss, and at a + certain point in the narrative Hornett started and made a step forward. He + remembered the night well enough—he had reason to remember it. An + appointment for the theatre that evening had led him to call upon a + brother clerk in Gable Inn, and he had seen young Mr. Barter leaving his + chambers in what had struck him at the time as being an odd and stealthy + fashion. He had remarked it for the moment, and had forgotten it + afterwards, as men forget a thousand things of the sort which have no + interest personal to themselves. But now he saw young Mr. Barter’s figure + with a singular distinctness, and the face turned round in the gaslight + was again as visible as it had been at the moment. He thought he read a + meaning in it now. But for this slight confirmation of his employer’s + story he would probably have disbelieved it, but the accidental character + of the clue weighed with him, an apparent touch of romance in it gave it a + value beyond its merits. + </p> + <p> + ‘Could you tell me, sir,’ he asked, ‘exactly what time it was when you + left Mr. Barter’s office?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No,’ said Bommaney, suddenly weary after his outburst of + self-exculpation, ‘I don’t know. It was after banking hours. It was dark; + he had to light the gas. What if I could? What would that have to do with + it?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, you see, sir,’ Hornett answered, ‘I’m not likely to forget that + evening. Of all the evenings of my life, sir, I made a call at Gable Inn + myself, sir, at Number One. If young Mr. Barter had found the notes he + wouldn’t care to face you again, and he mightn’t have answered your knock + at the door, though he might have heard it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Any fool could tell me that,’ said Bommaney roughly. ‘What do you mean?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ve noticed, sir,’ said Hornett, with marked humility, as if he + apologised for having said anything, ‘that young Mr. Barter is a gentleman + who goes about in rather a large way, and noisy way, sir. He’s a biggish + man, as it is, and to look at him at first you’d fancy that he was bigger + than he is. He talks very loud and cheery, sir, and he bangs things about + a good deal.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well?’ said Bommaney, irritated by these slow preliminaries, ‘what about + it all?’ + </p> + <p> + He could see that his late clerk was leading to a point of some sort, and + listened with a growing impatience. + </p> + <p> + ‘He was leaving his rooms that night, sir,’ said Hornett, ‘as sly as a + cat. I was just on the ground-floor of Number One as he was locking the + door behind him. Locking it, don’t you see, sir,’ said Hornett, beginning + to be fired by his imagination, and speaking eagerly, ‘so as not to make a + noise in pulling it to behind him. I suppose I made some sort of a noise + in going behind him, but any way, he looked up at me—I can see him + now!’ he cried, with a swift conviction, ‘as if he was here at this very + minute, white and cowardly. That’s what he was, sir. White and cowardly, I + can see him now.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney grasped him by the wrist. + </p> + <p> + ‘Do you remember the time?’ he asked, passing one hand confusedly through + the tumbled and disgraceful old locks of his hair. ‘Do you remember when I + left the office? Do you remember when you left it?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Almost directly, sir, after you. But you drove, sir, and I walked. I + stopped, and had a little conversation with a friend, and just a social + glass that might have kept me back five minutes, sir. I was going to dine + with Mr. Marshall (White and Fielding’s Mr. Marshall, sir) before the + theatre.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney released his wrist, and dropping on his knees before the fire + again, warmed his hands absently and stared into the blaze. + </p> + <p> + ‘The notes were all hundreds, James,’ he said, after a pause. ‘They were + stopped at the Bank, I know, because I saw the advertisement. It wouldn’t + be easy to get rid of them.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘There are ways and means, sir,’ said Hornett. ‘They’d have to be disposed + of at a loss, of course—a heavy loss—and kept quiet for a + considerable time.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Have you heard of any of them coming into circulation?’ asked Bommaney. + </p> + <p> + ‘I haven’t been in the way to hear of anything, sir,’ the clerk answered + mournfully, ‘but,’ with a sidelong look at his old employer, ‘if I could + only get to look a bit respectable, I could make inquiries in an hour. I + have no doubt I could find out, sir.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘My boy believes I’m guilty, like the rest,’ said the old man, moaning and + shivering and coughing again. The passion of his protest and the warmth of + heart which Hornett’s returning confidence had taught him had all died + away, and he was his bankrupt, disgraced, and broken self again, old and + maudlin, and strickenly conscious of his miseries. + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil might help me,’ he said shakily. ‘He ‘could, but he won’t. He’s got + plenty of money. If I’d been a rogue, James Hornett,’ and there he flashed + up again, ever so little, ‘I could have robbed my own flesh and blood with + safety. A rogue would have done it. I was his sole trustee, and I could + have had nine thousand by a stroke of the pen at any minute.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Mr. Phil, sir,’ said Hornett ‘Mr. Phil hasn’t got much money left’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Why not?’ the old man asked, staring round at him with his watery eyes. + </p> + <p> + ‘He paid Mr. Brown the eight thousand in full, sir, and divided the rest, + as far as it would go, amongst the poorest of the creditors.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney turned back towards the fire, and drooped there. He seemed very + impassive under this intelligence, but he was deeply moved by it all the + same. The sense of his son’s high feeling of honour gave him a keen throb + of pride, and then he thought bitterly that his own ill-luck pursued his + offspring. + </p> + <p> + The loss was double. It had disgraced and ruined him, and had robbed his + son of his inheritance. + </p> + <p> + ‘Hornett,’ he said, ‘James Hornett.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes, sir.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I was brought up,’ the old man said, in a muffled voice, advancing and + retiring his hands before the fire, and chafing them automatically, ‘I was + brought up by Christian parents. I never did a dishonourable act in all my + days. I have been a God-fearing man and a—a steady church-goer. I + give it all up. I renounce it. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in + religion. I don’t believe in being honest. It’s a—it’s a vile wicked + world, Hornett, and it’s my belief the devil rules it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Oh, sir,’ cried Hornett,’ you mustn’t talk like this, sir. You must + excuse me speaking free, sir, but I can’t stand by and hear you talk like + that. I can’t listen to it, sir—I can’t really. I’ve never said a + disrespectful word to you, Mr. Bommaney, but I really must speak out now, + sir. It isn’t respectable, sir, to talk like that.’ + </p> + <p> + After this there was a long silence, and Bommaney, who had repouched the + bottle after his last application to it, consulted it again, and handed it + wordlessly to Hornett, without looking at him. + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil might,’ he murmured in a while—’ he might be brought to + believe me. He’s an honest man himself, James—a very honest + high-minded man indeed. I must look where he lives,’ he murmured, seeking + for the envelope his son had given him. ‘He gave me his address.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘His address, sir,’ said Hornett. ‘You could almost lay your hand on him. + He lives there. That’s his window with the light in it.’ Bommaney moved to + the window, and followed with his glance the direction of Hornett’s + outstretched finger. There was a window a few feet higher than the one at + which he stood, and half-hidden from observation by a stone parapet. A + shadow obscured the light, and moved about the ceiling, visible from + below. + </p> + <p> + ‘I saw him there to-night, sir,’ said Hornett ‘I saw his face at the + window. He put a glass of flowers outside. That’s his shadow moving about + there now.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil!’ groaned the wretched father, straining his dirty wasted hands + together. ‘Phil!’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I’m not the figure, sir,’ said Hornett, ‘to call upon a gentleman like + Mr. Phil; nor yet are you, sir, if you’ll excuse my saying so. But if + you’d let me go, sir, and put the case to him, he might come and see you + here, sir, and you might set yourself straight with him, sir, which would + at least,’ the seedy man added, somewhat moved by the old man’s tears and + tremblings, ‘be an advantage to a father’s heart.’ + </p> + <p> + Bommaney stood in silence, looking upward. The moving shadow settled + itself upon the ceiling in a huge silhouette, distinctly traceable. There + was no doubting it was Phil’s dear head that threw the shadow, himself + invisible, so near, so far. The foolish outcast’s heart ached bitterly, + and he stretched both hands towards the shadow, not knowing that he moved. + </p> + <p> + ‘Shall I venture, sir?’ asked Mr. Hornett, more moved than ever, and + coughing to clear a little huskiness in the throat. ‘Shall I venture, sir, + to look in on Mr. Phil in the morning?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes, go, James,’ said Bommaney, sobbing outright by this time. ‘Perhaps—perhaps + he may believe me.’ + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V + </h2> + <p> + When young Mr. Barter took time to think about things, he began, for more + reasons than one, to be sorry. It is necessary for the due development of + this history to go back a little, and to take up Mr. Barter on the day + following the commission of his crime. The young man felt that he was + unable to afford candour, and discreetly avoided the naming of his own + action. Eight thousand pounds is a sum which most people would find + tempting. Young Mr. Barter would never have found it tempting in the + criminal way (though, if he had given his mind to the consideration, he + could at any time have seen how enviable its unencumbered possessor might + be) if he had not at the moment felt himself under considerable pressure. + Mr. Barter’s fleshy and well-formed fingers were somewhat too familiar + with the feel of cards. These fingers of his were peculiarly dexterous to + look at, and had even an unnecessary braggadocio air of dexterity when he + was engaged in his favourite occupation. Experienced people watched his + shuffling and dealing with great care. In Mr. Barter’s frank and engaging + countenance, and in that ready smile in which the faultless teeth shone so + conspicuously, there was no hint of danger to the most unwary. Even the + wariest, listening to his genial mellow laughter, and seeing the jolly + shoulders shake with mirth, were inclined to think him a loyal + honest-hearted fellow. His loud swagger, his frank rollicking gait, his + hail-good-fellow-well-met shake of the hand, the other hand clapped upon + the shoulder, the noisy greeting, and that unfailing smile, not merely + disarmed suspicion, but made the mere fancy of it impossibly absurd. But + young Mr. Barter had accustomed himself to associate with people whose + experiences had forced them to be observant, and to these the dexterous + caressing fingers with which he manipulated all instruments employed in + games of chance seemed to justify a fairly constant watchfulness. The + fingers handled the cards as if they loved them, as if they had been + accustomed to them from the cradle. The tips turned back a good deal, and + the nails hooked a little forward. There were little bulbs of tact at + every tip, the hands were made for a gambler, and could by no possibility + have belonged to anybody else. + </p> + <p> + The chief ground for the young man’s sorrow may be very easily and briefly + stated. The packet which the unfortunate cruelly-tempted Bommaney had let + fall in his half-drunken abstraction on the floor of young Mr. Barter’s + private room was made up exclusively, as we know already, of notes for one + hundred pounds. + </p> + <p> + Now Bank of England notes for one hundred pounds, though valuable, and + easily enough employed in all civilised countries when honestly come by, + are only to be got rid of when dishonestly acquired at great risk and + loss. A note for a mere five pounds may pass through scores of hands + before being stopped at the bank. Tens, so the experienced in such matters + will tell you, are a little difficult. Twenties are inquired into rather + carefully. Fifties are positively dangerous to handle in this way. + Hundreds are, except after great lapse of time, almost impossible; and as + for a thousand, a man might almost as well steal a white elephant as a + bank-note of that value, except that it will cost him nothing for keep, + unless you count the tremor of soul and nerve, which is surely worth + something, in which a man criminally possessed of another’s property is + almost certain to live. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Barter, then, had eight thousand pounds in ready money, was liable, if + discovered, to penal servitude, and was unable to touch a farthing of his + ill-got gains. There are many men in the world, the world’s experience + proves it hourly, who set so small a price upon their self-respect, that + they will sell it for a shilling, for a drink, for a word. But there is + hardly any man so lost to the natural human desire for self-approval that + he will actually give away his self-respect for nothing. Now this absurd + transaction young Mr. Barter, when he took time to think about things, + appeared to himself to have made. + </p> + <p> + He was not, and never had been, a great reader; he gave up his mind to + pursuits which he found more attractive than the tranquil fields and lanes + of literature. Yet he remembered, in a dim sort of way, either that he had + read somewhere in his schoolboy days, or that a fanciful old nurse had + told him, a story of a person somewhere, who, being possessed of a great + chest of money, went one day to look at it, and found that his hard cash + had changed to withered leaves. Precisely such a transformation had + overtaken that eight thousand pounds, at the moment when it had fallen + from the hands of a man who might have made an honest use of it. The fable + was, and was not, true, so far as he remembered, and his fancy dwelt + curiously about the history. There was no possibility of turning back the + withered leaves to gold, and making them jingle and glitter again as only + one’s own ready money can jingle and glitter. But, useless as these crisp + and rustling leaves of paper were to him, they held still all their old + potentialities, and in the hands of honest men or courageous rascals each + leaf might still transmute itself into a hundred golden emblems of + sovereignty and power. He was neither that honest man nor that courageous + rascal, and the money grew to be a sort of devilish tantalising fetish to + him. Before he had owned it a fortnight, he had felt a hundred times he + could have burned it out of the exasperation of mere spite against it. + </p> + <p> + He heard, of course, of Bommaney’s flight, and of the failure of the + old-established business house. People talked about these things a good + deal for a time, and he himself listened to and took part in many + speculations as to Bommaney’s whereabouts, and the means he would take to + get rid of the notes and make them available for his own purposes. He + found it at first a little trying to the nerves. There was nothing, since + Bommaney had accepted his own disgrace and run away, to connect young Mr. + Barter with the lost eight thousand pounds, yet it took much courage, and + a considerable amount of inward spurring, to bring himself to talk about + the business. When a man carries a secret of a quite harmless nature, it + happens often, as almost everybody knows, that casual words and quite + innocent glances startle him with hints of understanding and + participation. What is it when the detection of the secret involves open + shame and penal servitude? Can a man of genuine courage be a thief? Is not + courage after all at the very bottom of all manly honour, of all sound + honesty, all true self-respect? How shall a thief be other than a lurking + cur, whose whole soul, such as it is, is bent to a mean suspicion that he + is suspected, a continuous terror-stricken watchfulness, a sleeping and + waking dread of an awful hand-clap on the shoulder? There are + constitutional differences in thieves, no doubt, as there are in other + people, but the key-note of the dishonest man’s whole thought is fear. + When, after a day or two, young Mr. Barter had accustomed himself to speak + of Bommaney and the lost eight thousand, and had often spoken of them, he + began to look out for suggestions that might be useful to himselt He even + led the way at times, and speaking to solicitors and barristers of + extensive criminal experience, he asked often, for example, how could a + scoundrel get rid of such a clumsy handful? Why didn’t the fool cash the + notes, he would ask contemptuously, before he left town, and before he was + suspected? Everybody knew of course that the notes had not been presented, + and their numbers were advertised in all the daily papers. Now what could + a fellow do who had them, by Jingo? What <i>could</i> he do? There was no + way open, so far as young Mr. Barter could see, and he was wonderfully + engaging and innocent of the world’s wickeder ways as he talked thus with + the ablest of his fellow professionals. + </p> + <p> + The fellow professionals cited cases. There was Rosenthal, a noted + receiver in his day, to whom a dishonest clerk had sold five thousand + pounds for five hundred. Rosenthal had held the notes for six years, and + had then put them cautiously on the Continental market. He was an old + hand, was Rosenthal, and very clever and leary, but they had bowled him + out. The clerk was wanted on another charge, and turned Queen’s evidence + against the receiver. Almost all the stories had this kind of termination, + because the legal gentlemen whom young Mr. Barter consulted remembered + mainly cases in which they or their friends had been engaged, or cases + which had resulted in criminal proceedings. Others there certainly were, + but they were vague and necessarily without those guiding particulars + which he desired. + </p> + <p> + It has been already hinted that the young man was a gambler, and it is + likely that most of the reasons which made the money seem so welcome to + him had their sources at the gaming table. He belonged to one of those + clubs which deserve to be numbered among the blessings of modern society—where + men do not meet for social intercourse and good-fellowship, or for dining + purposes, or for any of the common and amiable reasons which draw men into + club-life, but simply and purely to the end that they may win one + another’s money. It was a joint-stock swindling company to which young Mr. + Barter belonged, and within its limits every man proposed to himself to + get the better of every other man by such means as lay in his power. A + pigeon got in amongst them every now and then, of course—came in + well-feathered and went out plucked, but for the main part the rooks + pecked hungrily at one another, and made but little of their time and + pains. The one solitary advantage of these corporations is that they + gather the depredatory birds together, and lead them to prey upon + themselves instead of wandering abroad for the defeathering of the + innocent and artless who abound even in these days. The well-constituted + mind can hardly fail to take pleasure in the contemplation of these + resorts, where Greek meets Greek (in the modern French sense as well as + the old heroic)—where scoundrel encounters scoundrel, and learns + that the pleasure of being cheated is by no means so great as that of + cheating. + </p> + <p> + There were people of widely ranging social position in this curious + contingent. One or two men of title, and one or two of the highest social + or commercial respectability, lent their names for some inconceivable + reason to grace the front page of the neatly-bound little volume of rules + which govern, or sometimes fail to govern, the conduct of the corporation. + Mr. Barter rubbed shoulders with young men—very young men they were—who + would one day have handles to their names, and enjoy the control of + considerable estates. He sat at the same table with men whose birth and + antecedents, like those of the immortal Jeames, were shrouded in a + mystery. He met men of his own position, who like himself were desperately + glad of being numbered in the same club society with men eminent on the + turf, or familiar in the gilded saloons of the great. He liked to think of + those gilded saloons; it might be interesting to know what he thought they + resembled—most probably a somewhat old-fashioned earthly paradise of + ormolu. He bragged indefatigably of his club and the people whom he met + there. He dated all his private correspondence from it, and spent hundreds + of daylight hours above the ivories and the pasteboard. + </p> + <p> + At the time of that foolish and weak-willed Bommaney’s disaster there were + two or three I.O.U.‘s for sums much more considerable than he could afford + to part with in the hands of his fellow-members. Law is a necessity to + human society. Even a band of brigands can’t hang together without it. + Debt, outside the club, was by no means a thing to be harshly spoken of, + but debt to a fellow-member was a literal millstone round a man’s neck, + and would sink him out of sight in no time. + </p> + <p> + The elder Barter had gone over to the majority, despatched by that street + accident, and if the old man had known nothing of the young man’s courses, + he had had it in his power to make him well-to-do. But he had paid his + debts once at least, and had more than once had occasion to grieve over + the boy’s handling of the firm’s money, and so had made his will entirely + in his wife’s favour, leaving his son dependent upon her good graces. The + mother was disposed to be a little sterner than the father had been. + Perhaps if young Barter had dreaded her less poor Bommaney’s fallen notes + might have been returned to him. + </p> + <p> + But, to get on with the story, the young man’s chief creditor at the club + was one Steinberg, a gentleman whose time appeared to be absolutely at his + own disposal, though he was known by some of his fellow-members to have an + address in Hatton Garden, and to be more or less of a diamond merchant + there. He often carried about with him, in a pocket-book, or in neat + little packages of grocer’s gay paper, borne in the waistcoat-pocket, a + collection of gems of considerable value, and would show them to his + intimates with the <i>insouciance</i> of a man who was accustomed to + handling things of price. He never was without money, made little journeys + at times, which rarely took him away from town for more than a day or two, + and was, almost always, wholly unoccupied except for the cards. + </p> + <p> + Now young Barter had a prodigious idea of this gentleman’s astuteness. He + had no particular belief in his honesty, and he believed him, not + altogether unreasonably as the sequel proved, to be initiated into most of + the mysteries of modern rascality. This was merely a general notion, based + upon statements made by Steinberg himself, and supported by the opinion of + his intimates. Nobody spoke ill of Steinberg; it was only understood that + there was no move upon the board with which he was not familiar. Young + Barter, meeting him one evening at the club, whilst Bommaney’s + disappearance was still a fresh topic of town conversation, spoke to him + about it, with an assurance clearly begotten of practice. + </p> + <p> + ‘Now, look here, Steinberg,’ he said, in his open and engaging way. + ‘Suppose you’d nobbled those notes, what should you do with ‘em?’ + </p> + <p> + Perhaps Mr. Steinberg resented the form of this inquiry. But be that as it + may, he responded with some tartness, + </p> + <p> + ‘Suppose you’d nobbled them?’ + </p> + <p> + At this chance thrust young Barter turned curiously red and white, and had + some ado to recover that open smile of his. + </p> + <p> + ‘Hang it,’ he said, ‘you can’t suppose I meant it that way. But,’ with a + half-hysteric courage, ‘suppose you had—suppose I had—suppose + anybody had—what would he do? You, I, anybody?’ + </p> + <p> + Mr. Steinberg sipped at his lemon squash—he drank that inspiring + liquid all the year round, and nothing else until cards for the day were + over—and puffed at his cigar, and looking young Barter full in the + face, nodded and smiled with an odd mingling of meaning and humour. + </p> + <p> + ‘Put him on to me,’ he said, with perfect affability. ‘I’ll put him up to + it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Rather dangerous, wouldn’t it be?’ said Barter, showing his white teeth + in a somewhat forced and ghastly manner. + </p> + <p> + ‘Everything’s dangerous for an ass,’ said Steinberg. + </p> + <p> + ‘I shouldn’t have thought,’ laughed Barter, ‘that that was your line.’ + </p> + <p> + He spoke as jestingly as he could, but he knew that his laugh was forced, + and that the voice in which he spoke was unlike his voice of every day, + and he wished, with the whole of his quaking heart, that he had left the + theme alone. + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, no,’ said Steinberg, ‘I suppose you wouldn’t.’ He sipped his liquor + through a straw, and blew half a dozen rings of smoke from his lips with + practised dexterity, and kept a glittering German-Jewish eye on Barter. + Perhaps he meant something by the glance, perhaps he meant nothing. He was + a rather Machiavelian and sinister-looking personage, was Mr. Steinberg, + and there was something even in the calm expression of those + perfectly-formed rings of smoke and in the very way in which, he sipped + his liquor, and most of all in the observant glitter of his eye, which + spoke of a penetration and shrewdness very far out of the common. More and + more young Barter wished that he had not broached this theme with + Steinberg. + </p> + <p> + He could not help it for his soul. He could feel that his colour was + coming and going with a dreadful fluttering alternation. He quailed before + the Israelitish eye so shrewdly cocked at him, and when in a very spasm of + despair he tried to meet it, he was so abjectly quelled by it that he felt + his face a proclamation of his secret. + </p> + <p> + Steinberg went on sipping and smoking, and said nothing; but when the + young scoundrel, his companion, had somewhat recovered himself and dared + again to look at him, there was the same shrewd and wary glint in his + eyes. + </p> + <p> + Young Barter had been unhappy enough before this, but after it the money + became a burden hateful and horrible. He met Steinberg often, and forced + himself to be noisy in his company. In his dread of seeming low-spirited, + or ill at ease, he said things about his dead father which he would have + left unsaid, had he consulted the little good that was left in him; and + Steinberg seemed to watch him very closely. + </p> + <p> + Young Barter put off his creditor with promises. He would have lots of + money by and by. That seemed credible enough in the position of affairs, + and Steinberg waited. In a while, however, he became exigent, and declined + any longer to be satisfied with promises. One night the unhappy rascal, + playing all the more because of his troubles, all the more wildly, and + certainly all the worse, fell back upon his LO.U.‘s. Steinberg followed + him from the club. It was late, and the streets were very quiet. + </p> + <p> + ‘This won’t do, you know, Barter,’ said Steinberg, tapping him on the + shoulder as they walked side by side. + </p> + <p> + ‘Begad it won’t,’ said young Barter, doing his best to make light of it. + ‘They’ve been cutting into me pretty freely this past week or two.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well,’ said Steinberg, puffing at his eternal cigar, and looking askant + at Barter under the light of a street-lamp which they happened to be + nearing at the moment, ‘what you’ve got to do, you know, is to find the + man who knows Mr. Bommaney.’ + </p> + <p> + The commotion which assailed Barter at this speech was like an inward + earthquake. + </p> + <p> + ‘What—what do you mean?’ he panted. + </p> + <p> + ‘That’s what you’ve got to do,’ said Steinberg tranquilly. + </p> + <p> + ‘Do you mean to insinuate——’ Barter began to bluster; but the + older, cooler, and more accomplished scoundrel stopped him contemptuously. + </p> + <p> + ‘You know where they are,’ he said ‘Why don’t you get at ‘em?’ + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI + </h2> + <p> + About noon on the following day Mr. Steinberg, seated in a small inner + chamber in Hatton Garden, leisurely answering his sole business + correspondent of that morning, was in no way surprised when the boy he + employed to open the door and receive visitors brought in a card bearing + the name of ‘Mr. John Barter, jun.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Show him in,’ said Mr. Steinberg; and young Mr. Barter, hearing this in + the outer room, came in with a pale-faced and excited alacrity. The + diamond merchant dismissed the boy with a word. + </p> + <p> + ‘Well,’ he said, turning the tip of his cigar upwards by a protrusion of + the under lip, ‘what is it?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘About that little matter,’ said young Barter nervously, ‘we were talking + of last night.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘The little matter we were talking of last night?’ asked Steinberg idly, + looking at him with half-shut eyes. ‘That hundred you owe me?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, perhaps that afterwards,’ said Barter with a frightened breathless + laugh in his voice. ‘But about the other matter first.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘The other matter?’ Steinberg asked, in a lazier manner than before. ‘What + other matter?’ He took up his pen, dipped it in the inkstand before him, + and tracing a line or two of his correspondent’s communication with it, + turned to his own unfinished letter. + </p> + <p> + Young Barter was already sufficiently agitated, and this curious reception + made him more embarrassed than ever. + </p> + <p> + ‘About that affair of Bommaney’s,’ he said, feeling as if a rapid wheel + had been somehow started in his brain. + </p> + <p> + ‘Ah!’ said Steinberg, writing rapidly, and speaking in a voice which + seemed to indicate that he neither understood nor cared to understand, + ‘that affair of Bommaney’s, eh?’ + </p> + <p> + This reception was nothing less than dreadful to the young criminal. He + had reckoned on having his way made easy for him. Steinberg had actually + offered to become his accomplice in crime, and had lured him to + disclosure. He could have wished that the floor would open and let him + through. He saw that he had already exposed his hand, and began to imagine + all manner of consequences resulting from the exposure. Not one of the + consequences he foresaw promised to be of a nature agreeable to himself, + and for the moment the hatred with which Steinberg inspired him was of so + mad a nature that there was nothing he would not have done to him if he + had had the courage and the power. + </p> + <p> + Steinberg wrote on, shaking his fist in what seemed to be an unusual + alert, and even threatening, manner. There was a great deal of unnecessary + motion in Steinberg’s hand, and Barter, looking at its swift and resolute + movements, got a blind sort of impression of strength out of it, and + nullified the feeling with which it inspired him. The letter written, + enveloped, addressed, and stamped, Steinberg tossed it on one side, and + leaning back in his arm-chair, turned an uninterested look once more upon + his visitor. + </p> + <p> + ‘That affair of Bommaney’s,’ he said. ‘What was that?’ + </p> + <p> + Mr. Barter thought this inquiry altogether too barefaced, and responded, + with a hectic flush of courage, + </p> + <p> + ‘Come, Steinberg, don’t play the fool with a fellow. You know jolly well + what it was last night.’ + </p> + <p> + Mr. Steinberg’s keen and impassive face underwent no change. + </p> + <p> + ‘What did I know last night?’ he asked. + </p> + <p> + ‘You know,’ Barter began angrily; and then the hectic flush of courage + died, and a dreadful chill of fear succeeded it. What had he known? He had + only guessed—till now. But now, young Mr. Barter felt, to employ the + expressive ideas of his set, that he had given himself away. Steinberg + capped the question in his mind. What did I know last night? + </p> + <p> + ‘You haven’t come to waste your time or mine, I suppose? You’ve come to + say something. Why not say it?’ + </p> + <p> + His guest, sitting in a terrible confusion, and feeling himself altogether + betrayed and lost, Steinberg marched to the door, and addressing the boy + in the outer room, bade him carry the letter to the post and return no + more that day. Then, having locked the outer door, he returned and resumed + his seat. + </p> + <p> + ‘Now, what is it?’ he asked. + </p> + <p> + Barter, recognising the fact that his own purpose was already exposed, + made a desperate dash. + </p> + <p> + ‘About those notes old Bommaney was supposed to have run away with. I + think—I think, mind you, that if there was any way of using them, I + could lay my hands upon them.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I remember,’ said Steinberg, ‘you said something of the kind last night. + I shouldn’t advise you to touch ‘em. It’s a dangerous game. They’re very + worthless, and the game isn’t worth the candle.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Worthless?’ echoed Barter. ‘They’re worth eight thousand pounds.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘They’re worth eight thousand pounds,’ responded Steinberg, ‘to the man + they belong to. They’re not worth eight hundred to anybody else.’ + </p> + <p> + Young Mr. Barter’s whole soul seemed to rise in protest against this + abominable fallacy. When he had screwed up his courage so far as to induce + himself to accept this older and more experienced scoundrel’s partnership, + he had conceived the possibility of the partner crying out for halves. But + that he should want so enormous a share of the spoil was quite + intolerable. + </p> + <p> + ‘Not worth eight hundred?’ He could only gasp the questioning protest. + </p> + <p> + ‘If I had ‘em to sell,’ Steinberg answered calmly, flicking the waste from + his cigar by a movement of his little finger, ‘I should think eight + hundred an uncommon good price for ‘em. Later on and sold at second hand + they might fetch a thousand. Later on and sold at third hand they might + fetch fifteen hundred. One can hardly tell. Of course the value will go on + mounting with distance from the original source of danger and with the + lapse of time.’ + </p> + <p> + He said all this very calmly and reflectively, and young Barter, + collecting his whirling wits as well as he could, tried a stroke of + diplomacy, which, as he fondly hoped, would answer a double purpose. + </p> + <p> + ‘She’ll never let them go for that, or for anything like it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘She won’t, won’t she?’ asked Steinberg, smiling brightly, as if the + statement amused him. ‘Then she’ll never let ‘em go at all, my friend. How + did you come to find she had ‘em?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I made a little bit of a discovery,’ Barter answered. + </p> + <p> + ‘Ah! That was it, was it,’ said the elder rascal, falling back into his + utter want of interest. ‘You’ll let me have that hundred.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I will in a day or two,’ answered Barter, <i>arréanti</i>. + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, as for a day or two,’ returned Steinberg, rubbing his forehead with + the tips of his fingers, and looking very careless and composed, ‘I’m + really very much afraid I can’t let you have it. It’s been outstanding a + goodish time, and to tell you the truth, old man, I want it very badly. If + you’ll let me have it to-night I shall be obliged to you. I’ve been hit + rather hard this last day or two. Shall we make that a bargain? To-night?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I—I’m afraid,’ Barter stammered, ‘it’s no use talking about + to-night.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well,’ said Steinberg, with a pitiless uninterested suavity, ‘you know + the rules.’ + </p> + <p> + He drew a little book from his pocket, and tossed it over the table to his + guest. + </p> + <p> + ‘You’ll find it on page five. Rule fourteen. It’s ticked in red ink, if + you’ll take the trouble to look at it.’ + </p> + <p> + Barter opened the book and consulted its pages blindly for a while, and + then the mist which seemed to obstruct brain and eyesight clearing away, + he read the pages indicated. It set forth the principle that all moneys + lost at games of skill or chance, or upon bets made within the limits of + the club, were payable within four-and-twenty hours. It set forth further + that debts not paid within that time might be brought under the notice of + the Committee, who were empowered to act under Rule nine. Rule nine + ordained the public posting of the defaulter’s name, his suspension in + default of payment, and, in case of continued obduracy or poverty, his + expulsion. + </p> + <p> + ‘First and last, Steinberg,’ said the wretched criminal, who began to find + the way of the transgressor unreasonably hard and thorny, ‘first and last, + you’ve had a pretty tidy handful of money out of me.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, yes,’ said Steinberg tangibly. ‘Pretty fair.’ + </p> + <p> + His very admission of this fact made Barter’s case seem hopeless to + himself. If he had brow-beaten, or blustered, if he had shown anger or + impatience, or had been querulous, there might have seemed to exist some + slenderest chance for him. But Steinberg was so unmoved that he seemed + immovable. + </p> + <p> + ‘You’d better persuade her,’ he said, with a scarcely perceptible grin. + Looking at Barter, and observing that he sat with his eyes still bent upon + the book of rules, and head dejected, he allowed the grin to broaden. + Barter, suddenly looking up at him, saw him smiling like a gargoyle, with + a look of infinitely relishing cruelty and cunning. + </p> + <p> + ‘You won’t find her hard to persuade, I’m sure,’ said Steinberg. ‘Come, + now, I’ll talk business to you. I’ll take ten of ‘em for it, and cry + quits, and I wouldn’t do that for anybody but a friend.’ + </p> + <p> + The frank admission of the value of his own friendship was plainly legible + in that gargoyle smile, and the unhappy Barter read it clearly. + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ll—I’ll see what I can do with her,’ he said, with a face and + voice of pure misery. + </p> + <p> + ‘Do, my boy,’ said Steinberg, rising, and swinging the key of his chambers + upon his forefinger, ‘see what you can do with her. I shan’t send any + notification to the Committee before nine o’clock, old chap. You can trust + me for that. You go off at once, old fellow, and see what you can do for + her.’ + </p> + <p> + The fraudulent possessor of the notes felt their burthen more than ever + insupportable. He rose, and went his way with remorse and rage and the + bitterness of baffled stratagem in his heart. His wounded mind soared to + so lofty a height of egotism in its struggles that he positively found the + impudence to curse Bom-maney for having dropped the notes in his office. + Then he cursed himself for having taken them, and cursed Steinberg for + robbing him, and so moved off in a condition quite pitiable to one who + could find the understanding and the heart to pity him. + </p> + <p> + Steinberg stopped behind, and smoked smilingly. He was the successful + scoundrel, and found the transaction as sweet as the young Barter found it + bitter. + </p> + <p> + ‘I don’t think hell have much trouble with her,’ he said to himself; and + he enjoyed that little jest so much that he caught himself smiling at it a + hundred times in the course of the afternoon and evening. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII + </h2> + <p> + Old Brown, who was one of the sunniest-natured of men, went gloomy when + the news of his old friend’s dreadful fall came to his ears. It does him + no more than justice to say that he mourned Bommaney senior infinitely + more than the money. He liked to trust people, and had all his life long + been eager to find excuses for defaulters. He could find no excuse here. + The theft was barefaced, insolent, dastardly. He puzzled over it, and grew + more cynical and bitter in his thoughts of the world at large than he + could have imagined himself. But then, when Bommaney junior came home, and + insisted on the restoration of the missing eight thousand from his own + small fortune, old Brown brightened up again. There was such a thing as + honesty in the world, after all. The restoration warmed his heart anew. At + first he fought against it, and would have none of it—the mere + candid and honest offer of it was enough for him; but Philip was more + resolute than himself, and the stronger man won. Phil should never have + cause to repent his goodness, the old fellow declared to himself a + thousand times. He should reap the proper reward of his own honour. Brown + admired and loved Phil out of bounds for this little bit of natural + honesty and justice. He thought there had never been a finer fellow in the + world, and his heart warmed to him as if he had been a son of his own. As + for that rascal of a father—and when he got so far in his thoughts + he fumed so with wrath that he dared go no farther, and was compelled, for + the sake of his own peace, to banish the friend of his schooldays from his + mind a thousand times a week. + </p> + <p> + It was about a year later than the disgrace of the house of Bommaney that + old Brown, to his daughter’s perplexity and grief, began to show signs of + trouble almost as marked as those he had displayed after his old friend’s + defection. The old boy’s newspaper no longer interested him of a morning. + He began to be lax about that morning ride which he had once regarded as + being absolutely necessary to the preservation of health in London. He had + been impassioned with the theatre, and had become a diligent attendant at + first-night performances. Even these ceased to have any joy for him, and + he neglected, in fine, all his old sources of amusement He went about + sorrowful and grumpy, expressing the dolefullest opinions about + everything. There was going to be war, stocks were going down, trade was + crumbling, there was no virtue in man. + </p> + <p> + Patty tried her best to coax him from these pessimistic moods, but the old + boy was not to be persuaded. On fine evenings, when there was nothing + better to be done, he had loved greatly, between the quiet old-fashioned + tea and the quiet old-fashioned supper, to dress for out of doors, and + with Patty on his arm to wander into Regent’s Park, and there inhale the + best imitation of country atmosphere that London could afford. He dropped + this amiable and affectionate habit, and took to rambling out alone, + coming home late, and haggard, and not infrequently, at such times, + staring at his daughter with an aspect so sorrowing and wretched that she + knew not what to make of him. + </p> + <p> + The girl, watching him with a constantly increasing solicitude, could at + last endure this condition of affairs no longer. He came home one night, + leaving neither his stick nor hat in the outer hall, and sat down in the + dining-room, muffled and great-coated, the picture of dejection. Patty, + kneeling before him, removed his hat, smoothed his hair, and began to + unbutton his overcoat. + </p> + <p> + ‘Papa!’ she cried suddenly, ‘what <i>is</i> the matter with you? Why are + you so changed?’ + </p> + <p> + He breathed a great sigh, and laid his hand upon her head. Then he turned + his face away from her—to hide his eyes, she fancied. + </p> + <p> + ‘You are in trouble,’ she went on. ‘It is not kind to keep it from me. Is + it anything that I have done, or anything I could do.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No, no, my darling,’ he said softly, laying his hand upon her head again. + </p> + <p> + ‘Is it money, dear?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No, no. It isn’t money. Don’t talk about it, my dear. Don’t talk about + it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Now, papa, you make me think it very grave indeed.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘There,’ he said, rising, ‘you shan’t see any more of it, and we’ll say no + more about it Well be gay and bright again, and well hope that things will + turn out for the best.’ + </p> + <p> + The attempt to be gay and bright again resulted in most mournful failure, + and the girl grew frightened. She had nursed her fears for many days, and + had hidden them. + </p> + <p> + ‘Papa!’ she said, trembling ever so little, ‘you must let me know what it + is. Let us bear it together, dear. Whatever it may be it can’t matter very + much if it leaves us two together—and——’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Ah! ‘said old Brown, looking at her with a pitying smile. + </p> + <p> + ‘Is it anything——?’ She stopped short, and really found no + courage to complete the question. + </p> + <p> + ‘My darling,’ he answered, folding her in his arms, and staring sadly over + her shoulder. She felt the hands that embraced her quiver, and she knew he + had understood her half-expressed query. This frightened her so much that + it gave her boldness. + </p> + <p> + ‘There is something the matter with Phil,’ she said, pushing the old man + away, and holding him at arm’s length. ‘Tell me what it is.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘My dear,’ he answered, ‘you shouldn’t leap at conclusions in that way.’ + But the disclaimer was altogether too feeble to deceive her. Philip was + the mysterious cause of her father’s trouble. Her wandering, pained eyes, + her parted lips, the terror and inquiry in her face, frightened the old + man. ‘No, no,’ he cried, ‘you must not think it too bad. I’m not sure of + anything. I don’t suppose it’s at all a matter of consequence. I daresay + he’s an old fool. I hope I am.’ + </p> + <p> + These hints and innuendoes were about the last thing in the world to + satisfy a girl who had been made anxious about her lover. + </p> + <p> + ‘Tell me,’ she commanded. ‘I have a right to know. What has happened?’ She + was no more inclined to be jealous than girls who are in love commonly + are. She had, indeed, a native fund of confidence, and her trust in Phil’s + loyalty had been of the unquestioning sort, quite profound and settled. + Yet for a moment there rose before her mental vision the dim picture of + some possible rival, and at the mere hint of this she grew ashamed, and + flamed into indignation against herself. + </p> + <p> + ‘Tell me,’ she said; ‘I insist on knowing.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Well, my dear,’ said the old man miserably and reluctantly, I’ve been + told that his father hastened his own ruin with dice and cards.’ It was + the first time he had mentioned Bommaney senior in his daughter’s hearing + for a year. She looked at him with eyes still intent, but somehow milder + and less alarmed. ‘Phil,’ the old boy continued, ‘I’m afraid that Phil is + travelling in his father’s steps.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil a gambler!’ she said, with an honest scorn of conviction. ‘I know + better. What makes you think it?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘There are a lot of beastly clubs at the West End,’ said the old man, + beginning to struggle with his overcoat, partly because he wished to avoid + the girl’s look, and partly because the motion was a relief to him. + ‘Gambling-places. Places where men meet for no other earthly purpose than + to cheat one another. I’m as fond of a rubber at whist as anybody; but no + honest man would put his head into one of those holes of infamy if he knew + its character.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Are you speaking of Phil, papa?’ she asked. Her voice was low and + tremulous, and there was almost a note of threatening in it. The gentlest + creature will fight for her own—a fact for which some of us have + reason to be grateful. + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes, my dear,’ her father answered with a kind of sullen sadness; ‘I’m + talking about Phil. He’s a member of the vilest crowd of the whole lot, + and he’s there night after night.’ He dashed his overcoat into an + arm-chair with despairing anger, and went marching up and down the room. + ‘I saw him one night by accident as he was going in. I knew the place. You + might have knocked me down with a feather. I’ve watched him there night + after night. Don’t tell me I hadn’t the right to watch him. I had the + right My little girl shan’t marry a gambler. I won’t have my fortune + wasted by a gambler, and my child’s heart broken. I took a room,’ he + pursued wrathfully, ‘opposite the place. I’ve sat there in the dark with + the window open, and caught the d—— worst cold I ever had in + my life watching for him. I’ve seen him go in again and again. He’s a lost + man, I tell you,’ he cried in answer to his daughter’s look and gesture; + ‘the man who has that vice in his blood is lost!’ + </p> + <p> + He was storming loudly, for he was one of those in whom emotion must have + expression in noise, but a sudden loud peal at the bell cut short his + harangue, and he and Patty stood in silence to know who it might be who + called so late. As it happened, it was no other than the lost man himself. + He was shown in according to wont and usage without previous announcement, + and entered gay and smiling, elate and tender. + </p> + <p> + As he looked from one to the other the expression of his face changed. He + moved quickly towards Patty, and took her hands in his. + </p> + <p> + ‘There’s something the matter,’ he said gently. ‘You’re in trouble!’ + </p> + <p> + The old boy, glaring at him, growled, ‘We are,’ and snatching up his + overcoat, threw it over his arm, and slipped his hat upon his head with a + gesture which Philip took for one of defiance. As a matter of fact it + expressed no more than wrathful grief, but then gesture and expression are + hard to read unless you have the key to them. + </p> + <p> + ‘We’d better have it out, Phil,’ said the old man, ‘here and now. You’ve + turned gambler, and I’ve found you out.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘No,’ Phil answered, with an odd smile; ‘I haven’t turned gambler, I + assure you. You’ve heard that I’ve joined the Pigeon Trap? That’s what + they call it in the City. I prefer to call it the Hawks’ Roost. There are + too few pigeons go there to be plucked to justify the other title, and I + give you my word of honour, Mr. Brown, that I’m not one of them.’ + </p> + <p> + The young man’s air was candid and amused. There was an underlying gravity + beneath the smile, and for people who had believed in him as devoutly as + his two listeners it was hard to disbelieve him now. + </p> + <p> + ‘You’ve gone into the infernal hole,’ said old Brown, more than half + abandoning suspicion, and yet inclined to leave it growlingly, as a dog + might surrender a bone he conceived himself to have a right to. ‘What do + you want there?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I want to do a very important stroke of business there, sir,’ Philip + answered. The smile quite disappeared from his eyes at this moment, and he + looked very grimly resolute. ‘I will tell you this much,’ he added, + ‘because you have a right to know it. I am in pursuit of a brace of + scoundrels there. I think I’ve salted the tail of one of ‘em already. I + believe with all my heart, sir, that I’m going to clear my father’s + character, and I would go into worse places than the Pigeon Trap if I saw + my way to doing that.’ + </p> + <p> + Patty of course was clinging to him without disguise by this time, anxious + only to atone for having given an ear to any word against him, even for a + moment. Phil put his arm about her waist and kissed her. He had never to + his knowledge performed this act in the presence of a third person until + now, but he got through it without embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + ‘You think you can clear your father’s character?’ asked his sweetheart’s + father. There was a tinge of scepticism in his voice, though he tried to + hide it. + </p> + <p> + ‘Yes, sir,’ said Phil, his head thrown back a little, and his eyes + gleaming. Nobody had ever looked so handsome to Patty’s fancy as he did at + that moment ‘I know already that there was no real stain upon his honour, + and I’m surprised myself for thinking that there ever could have been, bad + as things looked. My father never took wrongful possession of your money. + He was robbed of it, and I think I can lay my hand upon the thief.’ + </p> + <p> + There was a prodigious excitement at this declaration, and the young man + was overwhelmed with questions. He could name no names, of course, and + give no clue, but he sketched the story. He contented himself by + describing young Barter as Thief Number One, and he was satisfied to + describe Steinberg as Probable Thief Number Two. He had learned, it + appeared, that Thief Number One had succeeded on his father’s death to a + carefully limited partnership in a business affair in the city. The + guiding spirit in the concerns of Thief Number One had been his father’s + managing clerk. The income of Thief Number One was strictly limited, and + his actual control over the affairs of the firm was non-existent. + Notwithstanding these facts, the young man was guilty of countless + extravagances, and was a reckless gambler. Within the last twelve months + he could hardly have paid away at the club less than a thousand pounds. He + had been extremely hard up before the loss of the money, and it was in his + offices that the roll of banknotes had been lost. As for Probable Thief + Number Two, he played rook to Number One’s pigeon. He had a visible hold + upon him; Number One trembled before him, and did what he was bidden to + do. Number Two had plenty of money, and as shady a reputation as any man + in London who was not among the known criminal classes. Phil’s belief was + that Number Two was disposing of the notes for Number One, and that this + simple fact accounted for his power over him. + </p> + <p> + ‘And I’m going to follow their track,’ said Phil, tapping the clenched + knuckles of his right hand upon the open palm of his left with a quiet + vehemence, ‘until I find out everything, if I follow it until I am gray.’ + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII + </h2> + <p> + It would appear that a spider may be among the most daring, skilful, and + predatory of his species, that he may be gifted with the most constant + watchfulness and appetite, and yet, whether by the intrusion of an + accidental walking-stick or broom (which would assuredly seem providential + to the fly), or by stress of weather, or the desperate activity of a + victim, may have his best laid schemes brought to nought, and his most + mathematically laid web rent to tatters. In the entomological world a + solitary interview between fly and spider is usually fatal to the one, and + satisfactory to the other. But we of the higher developments, who model + ourselves, or are modelled, upon the lines of myriads of remote ancestors, + and far-away relatives, have refined upon their primitive proceedings, and + have made their simple activities complex by development. + </p> + <p> + In an absolutely primitive condition the Steinberg spider would have + drained the Barter fly at a single orgie, and would have left him to + wither on the lines. As things were, he came back to him with a constant + gusto of appetite, tasting him on Monday, despatching him to buzz among + his fellows until Saturday, and then tasting him again, the Barter fly + seeming for a while—for quite a considerable time in fact—lusty + and active and able-bodied, and looking as though this kind of thing might + go on for ever without much damage to him, and the spider himself giving + no sign of overtaxed digestive powers. + </p> + <p> + Not to run this striking and original simile out of breath, the Barter fly + endured for a round twelve months, without showing signs of anaemia so + pronounced as to look dangerous to his constitution. At the end of that + time, however, all the surplus blood had been drawn from his body, and the + spider had grown so keen by the habit of constant recurrence to him that + any prolonged connection between them began to look desperate. In plain + English, the eight thousand pounds which had once so lightly passed from + the hands of Mr. Brown to the hands of Mr. Bommaney had now passed, with + just as little profit to the man who parted with them, from the hands of + young Barter to the hands of Steinberg. + </p> + <p> + It was just about the time when this lingering but inevitable transaction + was completed that chance led young Barter to his encounter with the son + of the man whose belongings he had appropriated. Everybody knows how apt + newly-made acquaintances sometimes are to renew themselves again and + again. You meet a man whom you have never seen before, see him just long + enough to take a passing interest in him, and to know generally who and + what he is, and you run against him on the morrow, and again on the + morrow, and so on, until in a week he has grown as familiar to your + thoughts as any other mere acquaintance of whose identity you may have + been aware for years. This happened in the case of Philip Bommaney and + younger Mr. Barter. They entered the Inn together, or left it together, or + Philip ran upstairs or downstairs as Barter was in the very act of leaving + or entering his chambers. Putting together a certain family resemblance + which he thought he noticed, the identity of a rather uncommon name, and + the curious frequency of these chance encounters, Barter found it hard to + avoid the belief that his new-made acquaintance had a rather careful eye + upon him. His nerve was a good deal shaken, and he was by no means the man + he had been. To the unobservant stranger the frank gaiety of his laugh was + as spontaneous as ever, but then that had never had much to do with + Barter’s inward sensations. Perhaps he got the laugh in some remote + fashion from an ancestor who really ought to have had it, and who may have + been as dull and as little laughter-loving to look at as his successor was + within. Philip rather took to the fellow at first sight, and was slow to + suspect him, even when James Hornett had told his story. But the young + Barter was not satisfied, as he should have been, with playing the part of + one insect at a time. It was unwholesome enough, one might have thought, + for him to play fly to Steinberg’s spider, and yet he must needs take to + playing moth to Philip Bommaney’s candle, a light of danger to him, as he + recognised almost from the first He was always polite to Phil, and always + stopped him for a moment’s conversation at their chance encounters. Phil, + having been inspired at least with a suspicion that this engaging young + man was responsible for the actual disgrace which had fallen upon Bommaney + senior, always bent a grave scrutiny upon him. Barter sometimes wondered + whether his new-found acquaintance’s way of looking at him were habitual + or particular, but he could never solve that problem. To Barter’s nerves + the glance of dispassionate analysis always seemed to ask—Did you + steal those notes? and whether his mind and nerves were at accord or no + made but little difference to him. His mind rejected the idea of + suspicion, but his nerves accepted it with trembling. He knew perfectly + well that he could not endure the certainty of Phil Bommaney’s knowledge, + but none the less he found the uncertainty tantalising and painful. This + is perhaps one of the hardest things an undetected criminal has to endure, + that he lives in a world of suspicion of his own making, where every + imagination is real and as dreadful as the fact. In his own mind young + Barter credited himself with courage when he made overtures for Philip’s + companionship. In reality he made the overtures because he was a coward, + and a braver scoundrel would have disdained them. + </p> + <p> + Philip felt himself impelled to watch this young man, and was not + altogether displeased that he found the opportunity thrust upon him. + Almost facing the gateway of the old Inn there is an old-fashioned + restaurant, deserted from its hour of opening until noon, and from then + crowded inconveniently till two o’clock, deserted again till five, and + once more inconveniently crowded till seven. Philip, having the power to + choose his own time for meals, and frequenting this old house, sometimes + met Barter in the act of coming away from it with the dregs of the stream + of the late lunchers or diners. He fell into the habit of going a little + earlier, and Barter would signal him to the table at which he sat, if by + rare chance there happened to be a vacant seat at it. The young rascal’s + tendency lay towards monologue, and since it was his cue to be + open-hearted, and very unsuspicious of being suspected, he talked with + much freedom of himself, his pursuits, and his affairs. The question which + Barter’s nerves were always finding in Philip’s eyes was, as a matter of + fact, not often absent from his mind. ‘Now, how did you steal those + notes?’ was the one active query of his intelligence as he listened to + Barter’s candid prattle. + </p> + <p> + It was in the course of these confidences that Philip learned of the + existence of that Pigeon Trap of which Mr. Barter was so proud to be an + inhabitant. It was at Barter’s solicitation that he visited the place, and + it was Barter who proposed him as a member. + </p> + <p> + Being a member it was not long before he discovered the fact of + Steinberg’s influence over the young solicitor. He noticed a terrified + deference in Barter’s manner towards the other, a frightened alacrity of + obedience to his suggestions. He noticed also that Steinberg and Barter + played a good deal by themselves, and that Barter always lost. + </p> + <p> + The men of Hawks’ Boost talked pretty freely about each other in the + absence of such of their fellow clubmen as were under discussion. Barter + was spoken of as Steinberg’s Mug, Berg’s Juggins, Stein’s Spoofmarker. It + was generally admitted that Stein made a good thing out of him, and the + wonder was where Barter got his money. There was a pretty general + apprehension that the young man, at no very far future date, would come to + grief. The contemplation of this probability affected the Boosters but + little in an emotional way, but it made them keen to see that Mr. Barter + paid up punctually, and though they were very shy of paper acceptances + from their comrades as a general thing, they were shyer of his than of + most men’s. + </p> + <p> + These things Philip Bommaney junior attentively noted. At first the + clubmen rather wondered at him. He was in their precincts often, and would + smoke his pipe and watch whatever game might be going with tranquil + interest, but he never played, and could not be induced to bet. <i>Que + diable faisant-il dans cette gaière?</i> the clubmen wanted to know. He + never told them, and in a while they grew accustomed to him and his ways. + He continued his quiet watch upon Mr. Barter, and included Steinberg in + his field of observation. One evening, dining at the old restaurant, he + marked Barter, melancholy and alone. He was sitting in an attitude of + apparent dejection, tapping upon the table with a fork, and deep sunk in + what seemed to be an uncomfortable contemplation. But when the moth saw + his candle he brightened, and fluttered over to it. + </p> + <p> + ‘You might come over,’ said Barter, when they had sat together until the + latest of the dining guests had gone away. ‘You might come over to my + chambers and smoke a cigar if you’ve nothing else to do. I don’t care + about going down to the club tonight.’ + </p> + <p> + The Steinberg spider was supposed to be waiting there, coldly patient and + insatiable, and Barter dreaded him. Philip had never entered the rooms, + but they had an attraction for him. He accepted his companion’s + invitation, and they entered the chambers together. A fire lingered in the + grate, and Barter replenished it, and, having produced a box of cigars and + a bottle of cognac, proffered refreshment to his guest. The honest man + began somewhat to recoil from himself and from his companion. What was he + there for? The answer was pretty evident. There was nothing between this + loud-babbling youth and himself which could have drawn them into even a + momentary comradeship, if it had not been for the suspicion his father’s + story had inspired in him. Frankly, he was there because he suspected the + man, because he desired to watch him, because, if he found the chance, he + was willing to set him in the dock. To smoke his tobacco and drink his + liquor in those circumstances had undoubtedly an air of treachery. In a + while he hardened himself, and closed his ears to all casuist pleadings, + whether for or against the course he had adopted. He would clear his + father if he could, and if there were any mere hope of doing it, he would + watch this fellow as a cat watches a mouse, and would go on doing it until + both of them were gray. + </p> + <p> + ‘By the way,’ said Barter innocently, ‘do you never take a hand at——’ + </p> + <p> + His supple fingers supplied the hiatus, dealing out an imaginary pack of + cards with the flourishing dexterity native to them. + </p> + <p> + ‘That’s what I’m here for, is it?’ thought Philip in his own mind. ‘We + shall see.’ He said aloud, ‘Sometimes,’ in an indifferent tone. + </p> + <p> + ‘There’s nothing worth seeing anywhere to-night,’ said young Barter. + ‘Suppose we try a hand. What do you say to a game at Napoleon?’ + </p> + <p> + Philip consented, and his host produced two packs of cards from the + business safe. + </p> + <p> + They fixed upon the points and they began to play. The points were not + those for which Mr. Barter really cared to play; for he was one of those + people who find no joy in cards unless they risk more than they can afford + to lose. But little fish are sweet, and he thought he had secured a + greenhorn. As it happened, the greenhorn, though he was but + eight-and-twenty, had travelled the world all over, and had found himself + compelled to survey mankind from China to Peru. He was, moreover, one of + those men who like to know things, and those quietly-observant eyes of his + had taken note of the proceedings of a hundred scoundrels in whose hands + the redoubtable Steinberg himself would have had but poor chances. The + Greek had been Philip’s standing joy, the dish best spiced to suit his + intellectual palate. He had delighted over him aboard ship, on the + monstrous dreary railway journey between Atlantic and Pacific, in the + little towns which form the centre of scores of Texan ranches, in hells at + the Cape and in California, in the free ports of China, and on the borders + of the Bosphorus. In point of fact he was by experience as little fitted + to be played upon by a gentleman of young Mr. Barter’s limited + accomplishments as almost any man alive. + </p> + <p> + Phil’s interest in the game had grown grimly observant in the first ten + minutes. Young Mr. Barter had a knack, when he shuffled the cards, of + slily inclining the painted sides upwards. He had another knack of leaving + an honour at the bottom. He made a false cut with fair dexterity for an + amateur. He could, when occasion seemed to make it profitable, discard + with a fair air of unconsciousness. An ace dropped out of sight a hand or + two earlier, was followed by a valueless card dropped openly. The ace was + taken to supply its place with a perfect smiling effrontery. But Mr. + Barter’s favourite trick came out when he had a weak hand. Then he smiled + across at his opponent, breathed softly the words ‘six cards,’ and dropped + the worthless hand on the top of the pack, calling for a new deal All this + Philip Bommaney watched with a complete seeming innocence and good temper. + He lost his sixpences handsomely, made no protest, and looked unruffled. + </p> + <p> + ‘You play false for sixpences, do you?’ he said inwardly. ‘I suppose a + scoundrel is a scoundrel all through, and that if you’ll sell your soul + for so little, you could hardly object to driving a bargain for a larger + sum.’ + </p> + <p> + He was often tempted in the course of a quarter of an hour to try Mr. + Barter with a sudden challenge, and see what would come of it. Surveying + his companion with that placid inquiry which Barter felt to be so + excessively uncomfortable, he came to have but a poor opinion of his + courage. He was one of those men who, even without knowing it, take + profound observations of their fellow-creatures. The true observer of + human nature is by no means a personage who is always on the strain after + insight into character. He is, on the contrary, pretty generally an + inward-looking man, who seems to notice little, and takes in his + surroundings as the immortal Joey Ladle did his wine. Philip judged Barter + to be a nervous man, and supposed him, even when strung to his bent, to + have no great tenacity or continuance of courage. He had learned more and + more to believe his father’s story, though he had perhaps too carefully + guarded himself from his own eager desire to accept it Barter’s every + action with the cards offered confirmation of the belief that he had taken + possession of the lost notes. He was certainly a petty rascal, and there + was obviously nothing but opportunity needed to make him bloom into a + rascal on a larger scale. So the temptation to drop the cards upon the + table, to look his companion in the face, and to ask simply, ‘How about + that eight thousand pounds?’ grew more and more upon him, and had to be + more and more strenuously resisted. It seemed worth while to resist it To + begin with, if young Barter should be innocent, the querist could + evidently expect nothing else than to be taken for a madman. To continue, + if his name and the likeness to his father had already set the thief upon + his guard, and had prepared him for accusation, the question would only + reveal his own suspicion, and thereby weaken the chances of discovery. + </p> + <p> + Philip combated his inward desire, but could not quell it. There seemed a + kind of intuition in it, a lurking certainty lay hidden behind all the + doubts he saw, and pushed him forward. + </p> + <p> + By and by young Mr. Barter tripped on the false cut, which he had hitherto + executed with a fair amateur dexterity. + </p> + <p> + ‘Excuse me,’ said Phil, as he gathered the spilt cards together. ‘You + should make the three separate motions look like one. Do the trick so.’ + </p> + <p> + He performed the trick slowly, looking Barter in the face, and then went + through it swiftly. + </p> + <p> + ‘That is how the thing ought to be done, Mr. Barter,’ he said, with a + placidity which his companion found singularly disquieting. + </p> + <p> + And now, that same unhappy want of self-command which had given Steinberg + so clear an insight into his young friend’s mind, fell once more upon + Barter. He tried to look wondering, he tried to laugh. The result of that + frightened contortion of the features was nothing less than ghastly. + Unhappily for himself he knew it, and so he grew ghastlier yet, and for + the life of him could not tell where to set his eyes. + </p> + <p> + ‘So you’re a sharper in a small way, are you, Mr. Barter?’ Philip inquired + suavely. + </p> + <p> + ‘How dare you talk to me like that?’ the detected rascal stammered. ‘You + come into a gentleman’s rooms, and lose an odd half-crown or two——’ + </p> + <p> + When he had got as far as this he ventured to look his companion in the + face, and seeing there a very marked and readable prophecy of unpleasant + things, he backed, and in the act of doing so, tripped, and fell into a + chair. The intention in Phil’s mind became simply unconquerable. He cast + rapidly about him for an instant, saw all the consequences of failure + which might follow if he denounced the trembling wretch at once, and set + him on his guard. And yet he could not help doing what he did, and could + not restrain the words which rose to his lips. He took Barter by the + collar, and lifted him to his feet with an unsuspected strength, and put + the question to him quietly. + </p> + <p> + ‘How many of those stolen notes has Steinberg changed for you?’ + </p> + <p> + It was a bold thing to do, it was perhaps a foolish thing to do, and yet + it was the game. Barter stared at him speechlessly. His lips moved, but he + said nothing. Then his jaw fell as a dead man’s jaw falls, and being + released at that instant, he dropped into the chair like a sack. + </p> + <p> + ‘Now the best thing for you to do,’ said Phil, sternly regarding him, + ‘will be to make a clean breast of it. I have been tracking you since the + second day of our acquaintance.’ + </p> + <p> + Barter groaned, with a tremulous and hollow sound, but made no other + answer. + </p> + <p> + ‘How many of those notes are in Steinberg’s hands?’ Phil asked. + </p> + <p> + The rascal’s wits had begun to work again, if only a little, and he could + by this time have answered if he would. But he knew that his own + cowardice, if nothing else, had given away the game. After such a + confession as his own terror had made, what was the use of bluster or + pretence? He could not guess how much was known. He was completely + cornered, and must fight or yield. His native instinct at any moment was + ready to teach him how much discretion was the better part of valour, and + now to fight seemed mere madness. In the very terror of the night which + thus suddenly enveloped him he saw one gleam of hope. There was one stroke + to be made which might save him, in part at least, from the consequences + of his own misdeed. + </p> + <p> + Philip gave these reflections but little time to grow distinct to Barter’s + mind. + </p> + <p> + ‘How many of those notes?’ he asked slowly, emphasising almost every word + by a tap of his knuckles upon the table, ‘have passed into Steinberg’s + hands?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘All,’ gasped Barter; ‘every one of them!’ + </p> + <p> + ‘That will do for the present,’ said Philip, and at that instant there + came a loud summons at the door, whereat the miserable Barter started, and + clasped his hands in renewed terror. He fancied an officer of justice + there, his arrival accurately timed. + </p> + <p> + Philip, throwing a glance about the room, and assuring himself that there + was no means of unobserved exit, answered the summons in person. He had + until that moment kept perfect possession of himself except for his + obedience to that overmastering intuition, but beholding Mr. Steinberg at + the doorway he felt a great leap at his heart, and a sudden dryness in his + throat. He examined these phenomena afterwards, and decided in his own + mind that they were assignable to fear. He came to the belief which he + cherishes until now, that he had to screw up his courage pretty tightly + before he could face the idea of confronting the partners in rascality + together. But here it may be observed in passing that this kind of + self-depreciation is a favourite trick with men of unusual nerve, and is + rarely resorted to by any but the most courageous. + </p> + <p> + Steinberg recognised him by the light of the gas-lamp. + </p> + <p> + ‘Good-evening,’ he said, nodding. ‘Barter’s here, I suppose.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Sir,’ said Phil, with recovered coolness, a certain light of humour + dawning in his mind, ‘Mr. Barter is within, and I have no doubt will be + very happy to see you.’ + </p> + <p> + Steinberg cast a sidelong glance at him, and entered. Phil closed the + door, and followed close upon his heels. Barter, with his pale complexion + fallen to the tint of dead ashes, sat huddled in the arm-chair, staring + white-eyed like a frightened madman. Steinberg stared back at him in sheer + amazement at his looks, and Phil, closing the door, turned the key in the + lock and pocketed it. + </p> + <p> + ‘Hillo!’ cried Steinberg, turning swiftly round at the click, ‘what’s this + mean?’ He measured Philip with his eye—a very evil and wicked eye it + was—and dropped back a step or two. + </p> + <p> + ‘What’s this mean?’ Steinberg asked again, his quick glance darting from + one to the other. + </p> + <p> + ‘It means, sir,’ said Phil, with a glad tranquillity, ‘that your + fellow-scoundrel, the courageous gentleman in the arm-chair there, is in + the act of making his confession.’ + </p> + <p> + Steinberg sent one savage glance at Barter, and then dashed at him, and + planting both hands within the collar of his shirt, so banged him to and + fro that he would inevitably have done him a mischief of a serious sort + but for Phil’s intervention. The method of intervention was less tranquil + than Philip’s motion up to this time had been. He tore Steinberg from his + grip of the betrayer with a force he had no time to measure, and hurled + him across the room. He staggered at the door, and his head coming noisily + in contact with it, he slipped down into a sitting posture with an + expression suddenly changed from ferocity to a complete vacuity and + indifference. + </p> + <p> + Now Mr. Barter, scared as he had been, and shaken to his centre, had begun + to think again, and when he saw that Steinberg’s chance in the enemy’s + hands was less than nothing, that fact formed as it were the last + necessary plank for the raft of safety he desired to construct. He got up + from his place, animated by this great idea, and staggering to the + helpless Steinberg, fell down beside him and gripped his hands. + </p> + <p> + ‘Tie him, Mr. Bommaney, tie him!’ gurgled Barter. ‘He’s been the ruin of + me, curse him. I should have been an honest man if it hadn’t been for him. + It’s him that led me into it, and he’s had every sixpence of the money. + I’ve been his tool, his miserable tool. Tie him, Mr. Bommaney, before he + comes round again. I’ll hold him for you.’ + </p> + <p> + One may get good advice from the most unexpected quarter, and whencesoever + good advice may come it is worth while to follow it. Phil took a dandy + scarf from Steinberg’s own neck, and tied him tightly, wrist to wrist Then + he helped him to his feet, and set him in a chair. + </p> + <p> + ‘He came here to-night,’ Barter gurgled on, with tears of sincerest + penitence, ‘to bleed me again. He’s got my I.O.U. for £82 he cheated me of + last week. He’s had every penny of the money. I haven’t had so much as a + single farthing of it myself. I’ll swear I haven’t.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘That’s your lay, is it?’ said Steinberg, whose scattered wits were coming + back to him. ‘You shall answer for this violence in the proper quarter, + Bommaney.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I will answer for it in the proper quarter,’ Phil replied. ‘I will + trouble you, Mr. Steinberg, to come to the proper quarter now.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘You won’t forget,’ said Barter, ‘that I helped to capture him. You’ll + speak a word for me, Mr. Bommaney? + </p> + <p> + ‘I’ve been that villain’s victim all along. I should never have gone wrong + if it hadn’t been for him, and I’ve wanted to send the money back over and + over again, but he got it into his own hands and wouldn’t listen to it, + and after all I never took the money, Mr. Bommaney—I only found it. + It was Steinberg kept it. He said I should be a fool to let it go.’ + </p> + <p> + What sentiments of contempt and rage inspired Mr. Steinberg’s bosom at + this juncture must be imagined. He looked them all, but verbally expressed + none of them. + </p> + <p> + ‘Get up,’ said Phil, addressing him. Steinberg obeyed. ‘Take a seat in + that corner.’ Steinberg obeyed again. ‘Now you—’ to Barter, ‘take a + place in that corner, behind the desk.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘With pleasure, Mr. Bommaney,’ said Barter, ‘with the very greatest + willingness. I desire to make no resistance to the law. I helped to + capture the criminal Please remember that, Mr. Bommaney. Pray remember + that.’ + </p> + <p> + He took hold of a heavy ruler which happened to be lying on the desk, and + deeming that he and the other rascal were about to be left alone together, + he showed it shakily to Steinberg, as a hint that he was not without means + of protection against a man unarmed and bound. + </p> + <p> + Phil unlocked the door, inserted the key on the other side, disappeared, + and turned the lock anew. The two criminals heard his footstep sounding + elate, triumphant, and threatening to their ears as he went along the + boarded floor. They listened as the footstep crossed the square boulders + of the courtyard, and listened still until their sound melted into the + blended noises of the outer street. A minute later the step was heard + returning, accompanied by another, solid and terrible. They knew it, and + their hearts, low as they were already, sank at it. The door opened and + Phil reappeared, followed by a policeman. + </p> + <p> + ‘I give these two in charge,’ the young man said, ‘the one as the thief, + the other as the receiver of a bundle of bank-notes of the value of eight + thousand pounds, the property of my father, Mr. Philip Bommaney of + Coalporter’s Alley.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I’m quite willing to go without resistance,’ said Mr. Barter from behind + the table. ‘I assisted in the capture, and I am ready to say anything.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘That’s the first true word you’ve spoken,’ Steinberg snarled. ‘You can + take this thing off,’ holding out his hands. ‘I’ll go quietly. I can get + bail in an hour.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘Don’t have it taken off, Mr. Bommaney, not if we’re to travel in the same + vehicle. He threatened me while you were away. He said if they gave him + fifty years he’d kill me when he came out again. He’ll do it, because I + made a clean breast of it, didn’t I, Mr. Bommaney? I made a clean breast + of it, officer. I’m ready to—tell everything. He’s ruined me, and + now he says he’ll kill me because I’m ready to make a clean breast of it.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I choose to be taken separately, if you please. I myself will pay the + fare. I won’t travel with that cackling idiot.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I will go with Mr. Bommaney with pleasure,’ said the penitent. ‘I’ll go + with you with pleasure anywhere. I’d rather go with you a great deal.’ + </p> + <p> + It was hardly to be expected that Philip should feel very warmly towards + either of his two companions, but of the two he misliked Steinberg the + less. And, since it seemed humane and reasonable to choose, he chose + Steinberg as his travelling companion. The officer set Steinberg’s hat + upon his head, and the quartet set out. The sight of a man with his hands + tightly bound with a scarlet muffler gathered a momentary little crowd at + the Inn gate; but, a pair of hansoms being summoned, captives and captors + were speedily relieved from vulgar observation. The station reached, it + turned out that the communicative Mr. Barter, in the exuberance of his + heart, had exposed to the officer <i>en route</i> the whereabouts of the + lost notes. He declared that to his knowledge they rested in a safe, the + position of which he indicated, in Steinberg’s Hatton Garden office. The + Inspector before whom the charge was made deemed this intelligence worthy + of being acted on at once. The two prisoners were searched, and Mr. Barter + was so good as to point out, among Steinberg’s keys, those which were + necessary for the purposes of investigation. He even went so far as to + offer his assistance as guide; but this was declined with a chilliness + singularly at variance with the solicitous warmth of the proposal. + </p> + <p> + ‘I think, sir,’ said the Inspector, with an arctic disrespect which was so + frozen as to be almost respectful, ‘that we can manage this without your + assistance.’ + </p> + <p> + The Divisional Superintendent, being communicated with by telephone, + arrived upon the scene. The matter in hand having been laid before him + with curt official brevity, he asked for the keys, called to himself a + constable, and was preparing to set out, when Philip begged permission to + accompany him. + </p> + <p> + ‘The notes, sir,’ he said, ‘were left in my father’s trust by a dear old + friend of his. My father himself was supposed to have made use of them—a + thing of which he was incapable. If I can take to him the news that they + are found, I can lift a load of undeserved disgrace from the mind of an + honourable man.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘I shall be pleased to have your company, Mr. Bommaney,’ the + Superintendent answered, touched a little by the young man’s earnestness. + So the three got into a four-wheeler, and bowled away to Hatton Garden, + and there made entry into the chambers lately occupied by Mr. Steinberg. + There was no gas here, but the constable’s dark lantern showed the way. It + revealed the safe in the position the communicative criminal had assigned + to it. It revealed the notes, snugly spread out in one crisp little heap, + and arranged with business-like precision in the order of their numbers. + </p> + <p> + This golden spectacle once seen, Phil dashed into the street, hailed a + hansom, and drove pell-mell, exciting the cabman who conducted him by the + promise of a double fare, to the residence of old Brown and old Brown’s + daughter. There he told the glorious news, a little broken and halting in + his speech. Patty threw her arms about him, and cried without concealment + or restraint. Old Brown blew his nose with a suspicious frequency, and + shook his adopted son-in-law by the hand at frequent intervals. + </p> + <p> + ‘Phil,’ he cried at last, ‘where’s your father? By God, sir, he never had + any need to run away from me, because he happened to lose a handful of + paltry money. What had he got to do but come and say, “Brown, it’s gone!” + He hadn’t trust enough in me to think I’d believe him. Let’s get at him. + Where is he?’ + </p> + <p> + The old boy tugged furiously at the bell-pull. + </p> + <p> + ‘Send Brenner round to the stable,’ he said to the servant. ‘Tell him to + get the horses to, and bring the carriage round at once. Where’s your + father, Phil?’ + </p> + <p> + ‘He’s down Poplar way,’ said Phil. ‘Hornett, his old clerk, is living in + the same house with him.’ + </p> + <p> + ‘We’ll go down, and rouse him up,’ the old boy said, with a moist eye and + trembling hand. ‘Phil, my lad,’ he went on, grasping the young fellow’s + hand in his own, ‘I’m getting to be an old ‘un. You wouldn’t think it to + look at me, because, thank God, I’ve always known how to take my trouble + lightly, but I’ve seen a lot of it in my time, and you can take my word + for this—there isn’t any trouble in the world that’s hardly so + bitter as for an honest man to have to take another for a rogue.’ + </p> + <p> + So it came to pass that Bommaney senior, who after all, perhaps, hardly + deserved to be made a hero of, was plenteously bedewed with the tears of + three most honourable and high-minded people, and was, set up in their + minds as a sort of live statue of undeserved martyrdom. They who learned + the tale afterwards mourned his weakness, and supposed him to be the + victim of a too sensitive organisation. He lives now with a genuine halo + of sanctity about him, and seems in the minds of some to have suffered for + the sake of a great principle, quite noble, but not quite definitely + defined. + </p> + <p> + Odd things happen every day in the world, and pass by unregarded. The + worship of Bommaney senior’s sensibilities seems a trifle dull when all + things are considered, though one has to be glad that an honest son can + think of him with pity mixed with admiration. But perhaps the oddest thing + of all in connection with this story may be looked for in the shorthand + reporter’s notes of the Recorder’s speech at the Old Bailey, when the + accusation against Messrs. Barter and Steinberg came to be heard. + </p> + <p> + ‘You, Barter,’ said the learned Recorder, ‘appear to have been drawn into + this by the influence of an intelligence stronger and abler than your own. + You appear, in a moment of weakness, to have been led away by that + stronger intelligence from the paths of rectitude. But you have displayed + so clear a sense of the enormity of your conduct, and have, by your + complete disclosures of the crime committed by you and your companion, + and, by your evidence in Court to-day, shown so complete a repentance for + it, that I do not think that it would be politic or just to lay a severe + term of imprisonment upon you. Nevertheless, the law of the land must be + justified, and I feel a pleasure in believing that in justifying the law I + am affording you an opportunity for reflection, for the formation of good + resolutions for the future, and for a confirmation of those better desires + which I believe—in spite of your association with this criminal + enterprise—to animate your mind.’ + </p> + <p> + Now, to my fancy, this has a distinct element of comedy in it; but the + learned Recorder resembled some of his unlearned brethren, in respect to + the fact that he could not be expected to know everything. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Barter thrives again, but he is even now awaiting, with the uneasiest + sensations, the liberation of the man who betrayed him into crime. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Mr. Barter’s Repentance, by +David Christie Murray + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG MR. 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