1 files changed, 10142 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/38161-8.txt b/38161-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b31138f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/38161-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10142 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Master of Deception, by Richard Marsh
+
+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: A Master of Deception
+
+Author: Richard Marsh
+
+Illustrator: Dudley Tennant
+
+Release Date: November 28, 2011 [EBook #38161]
+[Last updated: September 16, 2014]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MASTER OF DECEPTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://books.google.com/books?id=gD4PAAAAQAAJ
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        A MASTER OF DECEPTION
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "'You see, uncle--this one; as it were, death reduced
+to its lowest possible denomination'" (_see page_ 99).]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               A MASTER
+
+                             OF DECEPTION
+
+
+
+
+                                  By
+
+                            Richard Marsh
+
+          Author of "Twin Sisters," "The Lovely Mrs. Blake,"
+                  "The Interrupted Kiss," etc., etc.
+
+
+
+
+                        With a Frontispiece by
+                            DUDLEY TENNANT
+
+
+
+
+                       CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
+               London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+                                 1913
+
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS
+
+
+     CHAPTER
+
+      1. The Inclining of a Twig.
+
+      2. His Uncle And His Cousin.
+
+      3. Rodney Elmore the First.
+
+      4. The Three Girls and the Three Telegrams.
+
+      5. Stella.
+
+      6. Gladys.
+
+      7. Mary.
+
+      8. By The 9.10: The First Part of the Journey.
+
+      9. The Second.
+
+     10. In the Carriage--Alone.
+
+     11. The Stranger.
+
+     12. Marking Time.
+
+     13. Spreading His Wings.
+
+     14. Business First, Pleasure Afterwards.
+
+     15. Mabel Joyce.
+
+     16. Thomas Austin, Senior.
+
+     17. The Acting Head of the Firm.
+
+     18. The Perfect Lover.
+
+     19. The Few Words at the End of the Evening.
+
+     20. The First Line of an Old Song.
+
+     21. The Dead Man's Letter.
+
+     22. Philip Walter Augustus Parker.
+
+     23. Necessary Credentials.
+
+     24. Lovers Parting.
+
+     25. Stella's Betrothal Feast.
+
+     26. Good Night.
+
+     27. The Gentleman's Departure and the Lady's Explanation.
+
+     28. A Conspiracy of Silence.
+
+
+
+
+                        A MASTER OF DECEPTION
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I
+
+                       THE INCLINING OF A TWIG
+
+
+When Rodney Elmore was eleven years old, placards appeared on the
+walls announcing that a circus was coming to Uffham. Rodney asked his
+mother if he might go to it. Mrs. Elmore, for what appeared to her to
+be sufficient reasons, said "No." Three days before the circus was to
+come he went with his mother to Mrs. Bray's house, a little way out of
+Uffham, to tea. The two ladies having feminine mysteries to discuss,
+he was told to go into the garden to play. As he went he passed a
+little room, the door of which was open. Peeping in, as curious
+children will, something on a corner of the mantelpiece caught his
+eye. Going closer to see what it was, he discovered that there were
+two half-crowns, one on the top of the other. The desire to go to the
+circus, which had never left him, gathered sudden force. Here were the
+means of going. Whipping the two coins into the pocket of his
+knickerbockers, he ran from the room and into the garden.
+
+During the remainder of the afternoon the half-crowns were a burden to
+him. Not because he was weighed down by a sense of guilt; but because
+he feared that their absence would be discovered; that they would be
+taken from him; that he would be left poor indeed. He kept down at the
+far end of the garden, considering if it would not be wiser to conceal
+them in some spot from which he would be able to retrieve them at the
+proper time. But Mrs. Bray's was at, what to him was, a great distance
+from his own home; he might not be able to get there again before the
+eventful day. When the maid came to fetch him in the coins were still
+in his pocket; they were still there when he left the house with his
+mother.
+
+On the eventful day his mother had to go to London. Before she went
+she told Rodney that she had given the servant money to take him to
+the circus. This was rather a blow to the boy, since he found himself
+possessed of money which, for its intended purpose, was useless. He
+had hidden the half-crowns up the chimney in his bedroom. Aware that
+it might not be easy to explain how he came to be the owner of so much
+cash, there they remained for quite a time. So far as he knew, nothing
+was said by Mrs. Bray about the money which had gone; certainly no
+suspicion attached to him.
+
+Later he went to a public school. During the third term he went with
+the school bicycle club for a spin. The master in charge had a spill.
+As he fell some coins dropped out of his pocket. Rodney, who was the
+only one behind him, saw a yellow coin roll into a rut at the side of
+the road. Alighting, he pressed his foot on it, so that it was covered
+with earth. Then, calling to the others, who, unconscious of what had
+happened, were pedalling away in front, he gave first aid to the
+injured. The master had fallen heavily on his side. He had sprained
+something which made it difficult for him to move. A vehicle was
+fetched, which bore him back to school, recovery having first been
+made of the coins which had been dropped. It was only later he
+discovered that a sovereign was missing. The following day a
+search-party went out to look for it, of which Rodney Elmore was a
+member. They found nothing. As they were starting back Rodney
+perceived that his saddle had worked loose. He stayed behind to
+tighten it. When he spurted after the others the sovereign was in his
+pocket. Mr. Griffiths was reputed to be poor. It was Elmore who
+suggested that a subscription should be started to reimburse him for
+his loss. When Mr. Griffiths heard of the suggestion--while he
+laughingly declined to avail himself of the boy's generosity--he took
+Elmore's hand in a friendly grip. Then he asked the lad if he would
+oblige him by going on an errand to the village. While he was on the
+errand Rodney changed the sovereign, which he would have found it
+difficult to do in the school.
+
+At the end of the summer term in his last year Elmore was invited by a
+schoolboy friend named Austin to spend part of the holidays with him
+in a wherry on the Broads. Mrs. Elmore told him that she would pay his
+fare and give him, besides, a small specified sum which she said would
+be sufficient for necessary expenses. Her ideas on that latter point
+were not those of her son. Rodney's notions on such subjects were
+always liberal. Good at books and games, he was one of the most
+popular boys in the school. Among other things, he was captain of
+cricket. At the last match of the season he played even unusually
+well, carrying his bat through the innings with nearly two hundred
+runs to his credit, having given one of the finest displays of hard
+hitting and good placing the school had ever seen. He was the hero of
+the day; owing to his efforts his side had won. Flushed with victory,
+with the plaudits of his admirers still ringing in his ears, he
+strolled along a corridor, cricket-bag in hand. He passed a room, the
+door of which was open. A room with an open door was apt to have a
+fatal fascination for Rodney Elmore; if opportunity offered, he could
+seldom refrain from peeping in. He peeped in then. On a table was a
+canvas bag, tied with a string. He recognised it as the bag which
+contained the tuck-shop takings. Since the tuck-shop had had a busy
+day, the probability was that the bag held quite a considerable sum.
+He had been wondering where the money was coming from to enable him to
+cut a becoming figure during his visit to Austin. Stepping quickly
+into the room, he emptied the canvas bag into his cricket-bag; then,
+going out again as quickly as he had entered, he continued his
+progress.
+
+He was on his way to one of the masters, named Rumsey, who edited the
+school magazine, his object being to hand him a corrected proof of
+certain matter which was to appear in the forthcoming issue. He took
+the proof out of his cricket-bag, which he opened in the master's
+presence. Having stayed to have a chat, he returned with Mr. Rumsey
+along the corridor. As they went they saw one of the school pages come
+hurriedly out of the room in which, as Rodney was aware, there was an
+empty canvas bag. Mr. Rumsey commented on the speed at which the youth
+was travelling.
+
+"Isn't that young Wheeler? He seems in a hurry. I wish he would always
+move as fast."
+
+"Perhaps he's tearing off on an errand for Mr. Taylor."
+
+As he said this Rodney carelessly swung his cricket-bag, being well
+aware that the coins within were so mixed up with his sweater, pads,
+gloves, and other accessories that they were not likely to make their
+presence audible. At the end of the corridor they encountered Mr.
+Taylor himself. Mark Taylor was fourth form master and manager of the
+tuck-shop. Nodding, he went quickly on. Mr. Rumsey was going one way,
+Rodney the other. They lingered at the corner to exchange a few
+parting words. Suddenly Mr. Taylor's voice came towards them down the
+corridor.
+
+"Rumsey! Elmore! Who's been in my room?"
+
+"Been in your room?" echoed Mr. Rumsey. "How should I know?" Then
+added, as if it were the result of a second thought: "We just saw
+Wheeler come out."
+
+"Wheeler?" In his turn, Mr. Taylor played the part of echo. "He just
+came rushing past me; I wondered what his haste meant. You saw him
+come out of my room? Then---- But he can't have done a thing like
+that!"
+
+"Like what? Anything wrong?"
+
+"There seems to be something very much wrong. Do you mind coming
+here?"
+
+Retracing their steps, Mr. Rumsey and Elmore joined the agitated Mr.
+Taylor in his room. He made clear to them the cause of his agitation.
+
+"You see this bag? It contained to-day's tuck-shop takings--more than
+ten pounds. I left it, with the money tied up in it, on the table here
+while I went to Perrin to fetch a memorandum I'd forgotten. Now that
+I've returned, I find the bag lying on my table empty and the money
+apparently gone. That's what's wrong, and the question is, who has
+been in my room since I left it?"
+
+"As I told you, Elmore and I just saw Wheeler making his exit rather
+as if he were pressed for time."
+
+"And I myself just met him scurrying along, and wondered what the
+haste was about; he's not, as a general rule, the fastest of the
+pages. The boy has a bad record; there was that story about Burge
+minor and his journey money, and there have been other tales. If he
+was in my room----"
+
+"Perhaps he was sent on an errand to you."
+
+"I doubt it, from the way he was running when I met him. And, so far
+from stopping when he saw me, if anything, he went faster than ever.
+It looks very much as if----"
+
+He stopped, leaving the sentence ominously unfinished.
+
+"Master Wheeler may be a young rip, but surely he wouldn't do a thing
+like that."
+
+This was Rodney, who notoriously never spoke ill of anyone. Mr. Taylor
+touched on his well-known propensity.
+
+"That's all very well, Elmore; but you'd try to find an excuse for a
+man who snatched the coat off your back. This is a very serious
+matter; ten pounds are ten pounds. The best thing is for you to bring
+Wheeler here, and we'll have it out with him at once."
+
+Rodney started off to fetch the page. It was some little time before
+he returned. When he did he was without his cricket-bag, and gripped
+the obviously unwilling page tightly by the shoulder. That the lad's
+mind was very far from being at ease Mr. Taylor's questions quickly
+made plain.
+
+"Wheeler, Mr. Rumsey and Mr. Elmore just saw you coming out of my
+room. What were you doing here?"
+
+Wheeler, looking everywhere but at his questioner, hesitated; then
+stammered out a lame reply.
+
+"I--I was looking for you, sir."
+
+"For me? What did you want with me? Why did you not say you wanted me
+when you met me just now?"
+
+Wheeler could not explain; he was tongue-tied. Mr. Taylor went on:
+
+"When I went I left this bag on the table full of money. As you were
+the only person who entered the room during my absence, I want you to
+tell me how the bag came to be empty when I returned?"
+
+"The bag was empty when I came in here," blurted out Wheeler. "I
+particularly noticed."
+
+To that tale he stuck--that the bag was empty when he entered the
+room. His was a lame story. It seemed clear that he had gone into
+the room with intentions which were not all that they might have
+been--possibly meaning to pilfer from the bag, which he knew was
+there. The discovery that the bag was empty had come upon him with a
+shock; he had fled. As was not altogether unnatural, his story was not
+believed. The two masters accused him point-blank of having emptied
+the bag himself. A formal charge of theft would have been made against
+him had it not been for his tender years, also partly because of the
+resultant scandal, perhaps still more because not a farthing of the
+money was ever traced to his possession, or, indeed, to anyone else's.
+What had become of it was never made clear. Wheeler, however, was
+dismissed from his employment with a stain upon his character which he
+would find it hard to erase.
+
+Rodney Elmore had an excellent time upon the Broads, towards which the
+tuck-shop takings, in a measure, contributed. The Austins, who were
+well-to-do people, had a first-rate wherry; on it was a lively party.
+There were two girls--Stella Austin, Tom Austin's sister, and a friend
+of hers, Mary Carmichael. Elmore, who was nearly nineteen, had already
+had more than one passage with persons of the opposite sex. He had a
+curious facility in gaining the good graces of feminine creatures of
+all kinds and all ages. When he went he left Stella Austin under the
+impression that he cared for her very much indeed; while, although
+conscious that Tom Austin, believing himself to be in love with Mary
+Carmichael, regarded her as his own property, he was aware that the
+young lady liked him--Rodney Elmore--in a sense of which his friend
+had not the vaguest notion. Altogether his visit to the Austins was an
+entire success; he had won for himself a niche in everyone's esteem
+before they parted.
+
+When he was twenty Rodney Elmore entered an uncle's office in St.
+Paul's Churchyard. Soon after he was twenty-one his mother died. On
+her deathbed she showed an anxiety for his future which, under other
+circumstances, he would have found almost amusing.
+
+"Rodney," she implored him, "my son, my dear, dear boy, promise me
+that you will keep honest; that, under no pressure of circumstances,
+you will stray one hair's breadth from the path of honesty."
+
+This, in substance, though in varying forms, was the petition which
+she made to him again and again, in tones which, as the days, and even
+the hours, went by, grew fainter and fainter. He did his best to give
+her the assurance she required, smilingly at first, more seriously
+when he perceived how much she was in earnest.
+
+"Mother, darling," he told her, "I promise that I'll keep as straight
+as a man can keep. I'll never do anything for which you could be
+ashamed of me. Have you ever been ashamed of me?"
+
+"No, dear, never. You've always been the best, cleverest, truest, most
+affectionate son a woman could have. Never once have you given me a
+moment's anxiety. God keep you as you have always been--above all, God
+keep you honest."
+
+"Mother," he said in earnest tones, which had nearly sunk to a
+whisper, "God helping me, and He will help me, I swear to you that I
+will never do a dishonest thing, never! Nor a thing that is in the
+region of dishonesty. Don't you believe me, darling?"
+
+"Of course, dear, I believe you--I do! I do!"
+
+It was with some such words on her lips that she died; yet, even as
+she uttered them, he had a feeling that there was a look in her eyes
+which suggested both fear and doubt. In the midst of his heart-broken
+grief the fact that there should have been such a look struck him as
+good.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                       HIS UNCLE AND HIS COUSIN
+
+
+Mrs. Elmore's income died with her. She had sunk her money in an
+annuity because, as she had explained to Rodney, that enabled her to
+give him a much better education than she could have done had they
+been constrained to live on the interest produced by her slender
+capital. But her son was not left penniless. She had bought him an
+annuity, to commence when he was twenty-one, of thirty shillings a
+week, to be paid weekly, and had tied it up in such a way that he
+could neither forestall it nor use it as a security on which to borrow
+money. As clerk to his uncle he received one hundred pounds a year.
+Feeling that he could no longer reside in Uffham, he sold the house,
+which was his mother's freehold, and its contents, the sale producing
+quite a comfortable sum. So, on the whole, he was not so badly off as
+some young men.
+
+On the contra side he had expensive tastes, practically in every
+direction. Among other things, he had a partiality for feminine
+society, mostly of the reputable sort; but a young man is apt to find
+the society of even a nice girl an expensive luxury. For instance,
+Mary Carmichael had a voice. Her fond parents, who lived in the
+country, suffered her to live in town while she was taking singing
+lessons. Tom Austin, although still an undergraduate at Oxford, made
+no secret of his feelings for the maiden, a fact which did not prevent
+Mary going out now and then with Rodney Elmore to dinner at a
+restaurant, and, afterwards, to a theatre, as, nowadays, young men and
+maidens do. On these occasions Rodney paid, and where the evening's
+entertainment of a modern maiden is concerned a five-pound note does
+not go far. Then, although Miss Carmichael might not have been aware
+of it, there were others. Among them Stella Austin, who had reasons of
+her own for believing that Mr. Elmore would give the world to make her
+his wife, being only kept from avowing his feelings by the fact that
+he was, to all intents and purposes, a pauper. Since she was the
+possessor of three or four hundred a year of her own, with the
+prospect of much more, she tried more than once to hint that, since
+she would not mind setting up housekeeping on quite a small income,
+there was no reason why they should wait an indefinite period, till
+Rodney was a millionaire. But Rodney's delicacy was superfine. While
+he commended her attitude with an ardour which made the blood grow hot
+in her veins, he explained that he was one of those men who would not
+ask a girl to marry him unless he was in a position to keep her in the
+style a husband should, adding that that time was not so distant as
+some people might think. In another twelve months he hoped--well, he
+hoped! As at such moments she was apt to be very close to him, Stella
+hoped too.
+
+The young gentleman was living at the rate of at least five or six
+hundred a year on an income of a hundred and eighty. He did not bother
+himself by keeping books, but he quite realised that his expenditure
+bore no relation to his actual income. Of course, he owed money; but
+he did not like owing money. It was against his principles. He never
+borrowed if he could help it, and he objected to being at the mercy of
+a tradesman. He preferred to get the money somehow, and pay; and,
+somehow, he got it. Very curious methods that "somehow" sometimes
+covered. He was fond of cards; liked to play for all sorts of stakes;
+and, on the whole, he won. His skill in one so young was singular;
+sometimes, when opportunity offered, it was shown in directions at
+which one prefers only to hint. His favourite games were bridge,
+piquet, poker, and baccarat, four games at which a skilful player can
+do strange things, especially when playing with unsuspicious young men
+who have looked upon the wine when it was red.
+
+Rodney's dexterity with his fingers was almost uncanny. He could do
+wonderful card tricks, though he never did them in public, but only
+for his own private amusement. When reading "Oliver Twist," he had
+been tickled by the scene in which Fagin teaches his youthful pupils
+how to pick a pocket. He had made experiments of his own in the same
+direction upon parties who were not in the least aware of the
+experiments he was making. His success amused him hugely, while the
+subjects of his experiments never had the dimmest notion as to how or
+where their valuables had gone.
+
+In very many ways Rodney Elmore obtained sufficient money to enable
+him to keep his credit at a surprisingly high standard. Everyone spoke
+well of him; he was a general favourite. Nor was it strange; he looked
+a likeable fellow--indeed, ninety-nine people out of a hundred liked
+him at first sight. Over six feet in height, slightly built, he did
+not look so strong as he was in reality. Straight as an arrow, head
+held well up, there was something almost feminine in the lightness
+with which he seemed to move. Many girls and women had told him to his
+face that he was the best dancer they had ever had for partner.
+Indeed, in a sense, he flattered his partners, having a knack of
+making a girl who danced badly think she danced well. He had light
+brown hair, which seemed as if it had been dusted with golden sand;
+grey eyes, which, with the pleasantest expression, looked you right in
+the face; an Englishman's clear skin; mobile lips, which parted on the
+slightest pretext in a sunny smile; just enough moustache to shade his
+upper lip. Altogether as agreeable looking a young gentleman as one
+might hope to meet. And his manners bore out the promise of his
+appearance. Always cool, easy, self-possessed, ready to perform little
+services for women, the aged, the infirm, in a fashion which, so far
+as our present-day young men are concerned, is a little out of date.
+With the pleasantest voice and trick of speech, no chatterer, it
+seemed impossible for him to say a disagreeable or an unkind thing
+either to or of anyone. It was a standing joke among his intimates
+that, when scandal-mongering was in the air, Elmore would spoil the
+fun by pointing out the good qualities of those attacked and refusing
+to see anything else but them. He had ever an excuse to offer for the
+most notorious sinner. It was not wonderful that everybody liked him.
+On his part, he seemed incapable of disliking anyone. He might rob his
+friend of all that he had, but he would not regard him as less his
+friend on that account.
+
+To this rule, so far as he knew, there was only one exception, and as
+time went on this exception surprised him more and more. There was
+only one person who he felt sure disliked him, and why he disliked him
+was beyond his comprehension. This person was the uncle in whose
+office he was a clerk--Graham Patterson. Mr. Patterson was Mrs.
+Elmore's brother. Rodney quite understood that his uncle had not
+offered him the position he held, but had only received him at his
+mother's particular request. There had been that in his uncle's manner
+which had struck him as peculiar from the first, as if he were
+prejudiced against him before they met, regarding him with suspicion
+and dislike. As, for some reason which he would have liked to have had
+explained, he had never seen his uncle till he entered his office, his
+relative's attitude struck him as distinctly odd; but, in his
+light-hearted way, he told himself that he would gain his uncle's
+esteem before they had been acquainted long. However, they had been
+acquainted now nearly three years, and he was conscious that his uncle
+esteemed him as little as ever. He wondered why.
+
+Mr. Patterson's appearance was against him; he was big and bloated. A
+City merchant of the old school, he was addicted to the pleasures of
+the table and fond--for one of his habit of body unduly fond--of what
+he called a "glass of wine." He liked half a pint of port with his
+luncheon and a pint for his dinner, he being just the kind of person
+who never ought to have touched port at all. Nor, when his health
+permitted, was his daily allowance of stimulants by any means confined
+to his pint and a half of port. The result was that he suffered both
+in mind and body. The "governor's temper" was a byword in the office.
+When, to use his own phrase, he was "a little below par" he would fly
+into such fits of passion about the merest trivialities that those
+about him used to regard his "paddies" as part of the daily routine;
+so soon as he was out of his "paddy" he had forgotten all about it.
+
+Although his methods were a little old-fashioned, he was still an
+excellent man of business. The staple of his trade was silk, but
+latterly he had added other lines. In these days of shoddy the quality
+of his goods was above suspicion; he did a remunerative trade in
+everything he touched. In the trade no man's commercial integrity
+stood higher than Graham Patterson's; whoever dealt with him could be
+sure that everything would be all right. His books showed every year a
+comfortable turnover at fair rates of profit. There were those in his
+employ who were of opinion that if only a younger and more pushing man
+could have a voice in the management of affairs, the business might
+rapidly become one of the finest in the city of London.
+
+Rodney Elmore had not been long in his uncle's office before this
+opinion became emphatically his. He was conscious of commercial
+abilities of the most unusual kind, and was convinced that if he could
+only get a chance he would double both the turnover and the profits in
+so short a space of time that his uncle could not fail to be
+gratified. Since he was the nephew of his uncle, and, indeed, his only
+male relative, he did not see why he should not have a chance. When he
+first went to St. Paul's Churchyard he had hopes, but these hopes had
+grown dimmer. His perceptions on such matters were keen; few persons,
+no matter what their age, could see farther into a brick wall than he.
+He felt certain that his uncle only kept him at all because Mrs.
+Elmore had wrung from him a promise that he should have a place, of
+sorts, in his office. So far from having an eye to his nephew's
+advancement, it seemed to Rodney that his uncle even went out of his
+way to let him have as little as possible to do with the conduct of
+his business. It was true that he had a room for his separate use,
+and, though it was but a tiny one, on this foundation, at the
+beginning, he built much. But before long he understood that what he
+had reared were castles in the air. It seemed to Rodney before long
+that it must have been Mr. Patterson's intention to keep him apart
+from the others in order that he might know nothing of what was going
+on. His own work was of the simplest clerical kind; occasionally he
+was sent on an errand of no importance. He seemed free to come when he
+liked, and leave when he chose; nobody appeared to care what he did,
+or left undone. For these onerous labours he had been paid the first
+year eighty pounds, the second a hundred, then a hundred and twenty;
+now, after three years, he wondered what was going to happen next.
+Obviously an office boy could do what he had to do for five shillings
+a week.
+
+Under the circumstances, the fact that he had acquired such an insight
+into the ins and outs, the pros and cons, of his uncle's business
+transactions spoke volumes for his keenness and acumen. He often
+smiled to himself as he pictured the expression which would come on
+his uncle's rubicund countenance if he guessed what an intimate
+knowledge his office boy had of his affairs. Rodney was perfectly
+aware that the expression would not be one of pleasure; that his
+knowledge would not be regarded as the fruit of promising zeal, but as
+something which could only be adequately described by a flood of
+uncomplimentary adjectives. What was at the back of Graham Patterson's
+mind the young man, with all his shrewdness, had still no notion. He
+was one of the few men he had met who puzzled him. But of this much he
+was clear--that, while for his sister's sake Mr. Patterson was willing
+that his nephew should have a seat in his office, the less active
+interest the young man took in the duties he was, presumably, paid to
+perform the better pleased his employer would be. Elmore was of a
+hopeful disposition, willing to persevere if he saw even a remote
+chance of ultimate gain. But so convinced was he that his uncle, if he
+could help it, would never, on his own initiative, advance him to a
+position of trust that, before this, he would have cast about for a
+chance of improving his prospects--had it not been for a young lady.
+
+He had already been more than two years in his uncle's employment, and
+was meditating leaving it at a very early date, when one afternoon,
+Mr. Patterson being out, he heard an unknown feminine voice speaking
+in the outer office, and unexpectedly the door of his own den was
+opened, and someone entered--a girl. Slipping the papers he was
+assiduously studying into his desk with lightning-like rapidity, he
+rose to greet her.
+
+"Are you Rodney Elmore?" He smilingly owned that he was. "Then you're
+my cousin. How are you?"
+
+His cousin? He did not know that he had such a relative in the world.
+She held out her hand. Almost before he knew it he had it in his;
+whether willingly or not, she left it in his quite an appreciable
+space of time. He admitted his ignorance.
+
+"I didn't know I had such a delightful thing as a cousin."
+
+"Isn't that queer? I didn't till the other day. I'm Gladys Patterson;
+your uncle's my father."
+
+For once in his life Rodney was taken by surprise. His researches into
+his uncle's affairs had been confined to their commercial side. He
+knew practically nothing of his private life. He had never heard
+it spoken of, and had asked no questions. He had a vague idea
+that his uncle was a bachelor. He knew that he lived in rooms,
+and--accidentally--had learnt that he had relations with certain
+ladies of a kind which one does not associate with a family man. That
+he had ever had a wife and, still less, a daughter he had never
+guessed. Even in the midst of his surprise he reproached himself for
+his stupidity that such an important point should have escaped him! As
+he regarded the girl in front of him he perceived that she was her
+father's child.
+
+She was about his height, he being short and fat. One day, if
+appearances were not misleading, she also would be plump. Already she
+had something of her father's rubicund countenance; her cheeks were
+red, even a trifle blotchy. She had dark hair and eyes, both her mouth
+and nose were a little too big. Yet he did not find her disagreeable
+to look at. On the contrary, there was something about her which
+appealed to him, just as he was conscious that there was something
+about him which appealed to her. Where a girl was concerned it was
+strange how some subtle instinct told him these things. He was moved
+to audacity.
+
+"If you're my cousin, oughtn't I to kiss you?"
+
+Her eyes lit up. Her lips parted, showing her beautiful teeth; if they
+were a little large, they were very white and even.
+
+"As I've had no experience of cousins, how can I say?"
+
+"I shouldn't like you to feel that I'm beginning by evading what, for
+aught either of us can tell, might be my duty."
+
+Stooping, he kissed her on the mouth. Though it was little more than a
+butterfly's kiss, her lips seemed to meet his with a gentle pressure
+which he found agreeable.
+
+"You are a cousin!" she exclaimed.
+
+"I'm glad you are," he replied.
+
+"Didn't you really know you had a cousin?" He shook his head. "Nor I;
+isn't it queer? I only found it out the other day by the merest
+accident; in some respects dad is the most secretive person. I've been
+abroad for the last five years. How old do you think I am?"
+
+There was a frankness, a friendliness about this cousin which amused
+him. In that sense she could not have been more unlike her sire.
+
+"Twenty-two."
+
+"I'm twenty-five--isn't it awful? How old are you?"
+
+"I regret to say that I am only twenty-three. I'm afraid you'll regard
+me as only a kid."
+
+"Shall I? I don't think I shall. You don't look as if you were 'only a
+kid.' I've been what papa calls 'finishing my education.' Fancy! at my
+time of life! If my mother had been living I shouldn't have stood it;
+but, as you know, she died when I was only a tiny tot; and I knew
+dad--so I lay, comparatively, low. I've been living here and there and
+everywhere with the queerest duennas, though they really have been
+dears; and now and then I have had a good time, though I've had some
+frightfully dull ones. But at last I have struck. You know we've got a
+house in Russell Square?" Again he shook his head. "What do you know?"
+
+"So far as you are concerned--nothing. I know that I'm clerk to my
+uncle, and that's all."
+
+"Well, we have got a house in Russell Square. It's been shut up all
+these years--papa's been living in rooms. But I've made him refurbish
+it, and he's made it really nice--when he does undertake to do a thing
+he does it well--and I'm installed in it as mistress. Of course, I
+know Russell Square's out of the way, but they are good houses, and,
+if I can only manage dad, I'm going to have a real good time."
+
+"Did he tell you about me?"
+
+"Not he. Don't I tell you that I only discovered your existence by the
+merest accident? Do you remember a boy named Henderson who was at
+school with you?"
+
+"Alfred Henderson--very well; we moved together from form to form."
+
+"I know his sister Cissie; we were at school together, years ago,
+and she knows you. She told me the other day that you were in your
+uncle's office in St. Paul's Churchyard, and that his name was Graham
+Patterson, and was he any relation of mine. I nearly had a fit. When
+dad came home I bombarded him with questions---- What have you done to
+offend him?"
+
+"Nothing of which I'm conscious. Ever since I've been in the office
+I've been aware that he dislikes me, though I assure you that I've
+done my best to please him and give him no cause of complaint."
+
+"Well, he does not like you, and that's a fact. He as good as forbade
+me to make your acquaintance; but, as he wouldn't give any reasons, I
+decided to find out for myself what sort of person you were, and--then
+be guided by circumstances. The truth is, I've had enough of obeying
+dad, and that's another fact. If I'm not careful I shall end my days
+in a convent, and the conventual life has not the slightest attraction
+for me. I've got a will of my own, and when a girl is twenty-five it's
+about time that she should let such a very unreasonable parent as mine
+seems to be know it. I'm sure Cissie Henderson is a girl who knows
+what she is talking about, and as she said all sorts of nice things
+about you, and nothing else but nice things, I made up my mind that,
+since I had a cousin, I'd find out for myself what kind of cousin my
+cousin was. There is dad. Now you see how I manage him."
+
+A heavy step and a loud voice were heard without; then the door was
+thrown back upon its hinges.
+
+"Gladys! What does this mean?"
+
+"I've come to see my cousin, dad, as I told you I should do."
+
+"Come into my room."
+
+"Directly, dad. I want Rodney to come and dine with us to-night."
+
+Her father perceptibly winced at his daughter's use of the Christian
+name.
+
+"To-night? Impossible! I'm engaged."
+
+"Are you? Then in that case he can come and keep me company while you
+are out. We ought to have heaps of things to say to each other. Do you
+mind?"
+
+The question was put to Elmore. Mr. Patterson glared.
+
+"Gladys, I want you to come with me to the theatre to-night."
+
+"My dear dad, this is the first time I've heard of it--and, if you
+don't mind, I'd much rather not. One can go to the theatre any night,
+but one can't discover that one has a cousin, and meet him for the
+first time, every day. I'd much rather Rodney would come to dine.
+Won't you?"
+
+Again the question was put to Elmore.
+
+"I'd be very glad to come--with Mr. Patterson's permission."
+
+"You hear, dad? He'll come, with your permission. Nothing would please
+you more than that he should come, would it?"
+
+The father looked into the daughter's eyes, seeming to see something
+in them which kept him from uttering words which were at the tip of
+his tongue. He spoke gruffly.
+
+"Perhaps he has an engagement."
+
+"Have you?"
+
+"Not any."
+
+"And if you had, you'd throw it over to dine with us, wouldn't you?"
+
+"I certainly would."
+
+"You see, papa, what a compliment he pays you. Come, since it seems
+that he doesn't regard my invitation as sufficient, will you please
+ask him to dine with us to-night?"
+
+Again the father eyed his daughter. The observant youth, as he glanced
+from one to the other, was struck by the unmistakable evidence that
+this young woman was her father's child. He did not doubt that she had
+more than a touch of the paternal temper. He saw that Mr. Patterson,
+fearful of an exhibition of it then and there, as the lesser of two
+evils, yielded, not gracefully.
+
+"He can come if he likes."
+
+"Thank you, papa. You haven't a very pretty way--has he?--but as my
+invitation couldn't possibly be warmer, I'm sure you'll regard dad's
+endorsement as more than sufficient. So you will come?"
+
+"I shall be only too delighted."
+
+"Now, then, Gladys, come to my room. I want to speak to you."
+
+"Coming, dad. Remember, Rodney, our address is 90, Russell Square, and
+we dine at eight; but if you come any time after half-past seven
+you'll find me ready. You can't think how dad and I will look forward
+to your coming."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III
+
+                       RODNEY ELMORE THE FIRST
+
+
+That was a curious dinner party. Elmore quite expected that when he
+had rid himself of his daughter his uncle would come and tell him that
+he was not to regard the invitation as having been seriously intended,
+and that he was not to present himself in Russell Square. But nothing
+of the sort occurred. He saw and heard no more of Mr. Patterson until
+he quitted the office, and just before a quarter to eight he entered
+the drawing-room at No. 90. Miss Patterson, who was its sole occupant,
+rose as he entered.
+
+"It's very good of you," she said, while she continued to allow her
+hand to remain in his, "to take the hint, and come early. Dad never
+shows till dinner's served, so that I shall have a chance of finding
+out before he comes what is the meaning of the extraordinary attitude
+he is taking up towards you. He simply poses as the father who has got
+to be obeyed, and as that sort of thing appears to be ridiculous, as I
+ventured to tell him, I expect you to tell me all about it."
+
+He told her all he had to tell, which was very little, in such fashion
+that inside fifteen minutes they were on terms almost of intimacy. He
+was one of those men who have a natural attraction for contrasting
+types of women; emphatically for that type of which Gladys Patterson
+was an example. The master of the house did not enter till dinner was
+served, and by the time they were seated at table Elmore was already
+aware that his cousin offered a pleasant and promising field for such
+experiments as he might choose to devise.
+
+Conversation was almost entirely confined to the two younger members
+of the party, the initiative being taken by Gladys, Elmore acting as a
+sort of chorus. The meal was of the solid, plentiful, well-cooked
+order, which one felt would appeal to the host. Beyond replying
+shortly to an occasional inquiry addressed to him by his daughter, Mr.
+Patterson's whole attention was given to his food, and wine. When
+dessert was on the table his daughter asked him:
+
+"Going out to-night, dad--as usual?"
+
+"No," he responded briefly, "I'm not."
+
+The young woman looked at her cousin with a twinkle in her eyes.
+
+"Dad follows the good old-fashioned custom of sitting over his wine.
+He thinks that a glass of port gives a proper finish to a meal. If you
+don't think so you can come into the drawing-room with me."
+
+"He'll stay here," observed the sire succinctly.
+
+But the damsel was equal to the occasion.
+
+"Very well, dad; then I'll stay too. And since this table really is
+too big for three, I think, Rodney, it would be more comfy if I were
+to bring my chair closer to yours. Are you fond of the theatre?"
+
+Having brought her chair to within a foot of Elmore's she entered with
+him into an animated discussion on the subject of favourite plays and
+players, while the host, practically speechless, sat at the head of
+his board drinking more port than was good for him. Elmore, who could
+be abstemious enough when he liked, had followed his cousin's lead,
+and drank nothing but mineral water. At last the young lady used his
+self-denial as a pivot to gain her own ends.
+
+"Really, dad, as Rodney won't join you in drinking, it's absurd our
+stopping here, especially as I want some music, so please, sir, will
+you come with me at once into the drawing-room?"
+
+Before the slow-witted host, whose brains had not been rendered more
+active by his libations, had awoke to the meaning of his daughter's
+proposition, she had borne the guest with her from the room. They were
+alone together in the drawing-room for more than half an hour. If the
+music of which Gladys had spoken was not much in evidence, their
+acquaintance moved at a rate which was only possible in the case of a
+young man who was willing--nay, eager--to take advantage of the
+peculiarities of a young woman's temperament. So that when his uncle
+did appear, with eyes a little dulled and feet a little unsteady,
+Rodney was quite ready to make his adieux and his cousin to excuse
+him.
+
+The acquaintance, thus commenced, not only continued, but advanced by
+leaps and bounds. Mr. Patterson's habits being those of a bachelor of
+a not too strait-laced kind rather than those of a family man, he did
+not find his daughter's society so congenial and satisfying as he
+might have done. Being desirous of doing as he liked, he left her with
+more freedom than he himself was perhaps aware of. She would even have
+not been without justification had she chosen to regard herself as
+neglected. But for what seemed to her to be sufficient reasons, she
+was content that her parent should amuse himself as he liked, though
+his doing so resulted in his practically overlooking her altogether.
+
+Rodney Elmore never went again to the house in Russell Square as his
+uncle's guest, but he went there more than once as his daughter's, and
+that sometimes at hours and under circumstances which were, to say the
+least, unconventional. More frequently their meetings were not in
+the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury. Mr. Patterson had a fondness for
+week-ending, without informing his daughter with whom he spent his
+time or where. It was not strange if, during such absences, his
+daughter did her best to avoid being too much alone. More than one
+such Sunday she and Rodney spent together from quite an early hour to
+quite a late one. Before long they were on terms which certainly could
+not have been more intimate had they been an engaged couple. But they
+were not, on that point they supposed that they understood each other
+thoroughly. Gladys had less than two hundred a year of her own, left
+her by her mother; and Rodney was pretty sure that if she married him
+her means would not be materially increased for many a day to come--if
+ever. He was by no means sure that he cared for her enough to marry
+her if all he got with her in marriage was her person; no one could be
+clearer than he was that she would not make the sort of wife who would
+be likely to be in any way whatever of assistance to a struggling
+husband. Her attitude was almost equally practical. That she liked him
+much more than he liked her was sure; there was hardly anything he
+could ask of her which she would not be willing to give. She believed
+in him much more than he believed in her; in her eyes he was nearly a
+hero. But, not being quite blind, she realised that, as things were,
+marriage for them was out of the question. She knew her father, and
+was aware that while up to a certain point she could do with him as
+she liked, if on a matter of capital importance he bade her not to do
+such and such a thing, and she did it, he would cut her as completely
+out of his life as if she had not been in it, and never miss her. She
+was conscious that she was as unfitted for love in a cottage as Elmore
+was; was, perhaps, even dimly alive to the fact that in such a
+position her plight would be worse than his was. So that their
+association was based on that quite up-to-date article of faith which
+sets forth that though a young man and a young woman can never be
+husband and wife, they may still be "pals."
+
+Elmore's position in the office was not improved by the incident of
+his having been a guest in Russell Square. Though his uncle never
+spoke to him upon the subject--nor, indeed, if he could help it, on
+any other--his nephew's acute perception realised that he had not
+grown to like him any more. As time went on a doubt began to grow up
+within him as to whether his uncle had not some inkling of the
+relations which existed between him and his daughter. That his doubt
+was well founded he was ultimately to learn. One morning, soon after
+his uncle's arrival, a request came to him to go to him at once in his
+room. When he went in he was struck, not by any means for the first
+time, by certain points about his uncle's appearance. He felt
+convinced that his relative's was not, from the insurance point of
+view, a good life. Rodney Elmore knew little of medicine, yet he
+hazarded a private opinion that Graham Patterson was a promising
+subject for an apoplectic stroke--the kind of man who, at any moment
+of undue stress, might have cerebral trouble from which he might not
+find it easy to recover. He caught himself wondering whether if, by
+any mischance, his uncle became the victim of such a catastrophe, it
+might not be worth his while to marry his cousin, if, indeed, that
+would not be the lady's own point of view. Were Graham Patterson to
+have such a stroke, it was at least within the range of possibility
+that he might never again be in a condition to manage his own affairs;
+in which case who would be so likely to be appointed administrator as
+the husband of his only child?
+
+While such gruesome imaginings occupied his mind, the subject of them
+continued to regard him with a stolid silence which at last struck him
+as singular.
+
+"I was told, sir, that you wished to speak to me."
+
+He said this with the little air of pleasant deference of which he was
+such a master and which became him so well. His uncle still said
+nothing, but continued to glare at him with his bloodshot eyes as if
+he were some strange object in an exhibition. He really looked so odd
+that Rodney began to wonder if that stroke was already in the air. He
+tried again to move him to speech.
+
+"I trust, sir, that nothing disagreeable has happened."
+
+Yet some seconds passed before his uncle did speak. When he did it was
+with a hard sort of ferocity which his listener felt accorded well
+with the singularity of his appearance.
+
+"You took my daughter to the Palace Theatre last night."
+
+Rodney wondered from whom he had learned the fact, being convinced
+that it was not from his daughter. However, since he could scarcely
+ask, he tried another line, one which he was conscious went close to
+the verge of insolence.
+
+"I hope, sir, that the Palace is not a theatre to which you object.
+Just now it has one of the best entertainments in London."
+
+Only in a very narrow sense could his uncle's response be regarded as
+a reply to his words.
+
+"You're an infernal young scoundrel!"
+
+Rodney did not attempt to feign resentment he did not feel. His
+quickly-moving wits told him that he was at last brought face to face
+with a position which he had for some time foreseen, and that for him
+the best attitude would probably be one of modest humility--at least,
+to begin with.
+
+"I don't think, sir, you are entitled to use such language to me on
+such slight grounds."
+
+"Don't you? You--you--beauty!"
+
+Obviously Mr. Patterson had substituted a different word for the one
+he had intended to use. Taking a slip of paper out of the drawer of
+the writing-table at which he was seated, he held it out towards
+Rodney.
+
+"You see that?"
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"You know what it is?"
+
+"It appears to be a cheque."
+
+"You know what cheque it is."
+
+"If you will allow me to examine it more closely I shall perhaps be
+able to say."
+
+"You can examine it as closely as you please so long as it is in my
+hands. I wouldn't trust it in your hands for a good deal."
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"You impudent young blackguard!"
+
+"And that, sir?"
+
+"I say it, you brazen young hypocrite, because that cheque happens to
+be a forgery, and you are the man who forged it."
+
+"Sir! I know that you are used to allow yourself a large license in
+the way of language, but this time, although you are my uncle, you go
+too far."
+
+"I intend to go much farther before I've done--and don't you throw the
+fact that I'm your uncle in my face, the most decent men have
+blackguards for relatives. This cheque was originally made out for
+eight pounds. I told you to ask young Metcalf to get cash for it.
+Between this room and Metcalf's desk you altered it to eighty pounds.
+It was easily done--especially by an expert like you. He brought you
+eighty pounds; you gave me eight, and kept seventy-two. You were aware
+that Metcalf was leaving the office that day to join his brother in
+Canada; you calculated that probably before the thing was discovered
+he would be on the high seas, and that, therefore, since everyone
+knew how much he was in want of cash, I should lay the guilt at his
+door--you dirty cur! But I didn't, never for one instant; the instant
+I saw the cheque I recognised your hand."
+
+"You recognised my hand? What do you mean by that, sir?"
+
+Mr. Patterson took something else out of his writing-table drawer,
+which, this time, he handed to his nephew.
+
+"Look at that."
+
+It was a portrait--the photograph of a man in the early prime of life.
+
+"Don't you think it might be yours?"
+
+Rodney felt that, allowing for the changes made by a few superimposed
+years, the resemblance to himself was striking, so striking that it
+was startling. The eyes looked at him out of the portrait with an
+expression which he recognised as so like his own that it bewildered
+him.
+
+"That's the portrait of your father. You don't remember him?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"I knew him all his life. You are so like what he was at your age that
+more than once when I have looked at you I have had an uncomfortable
+feeling that he had come back again to haunt me. Never was son more
+like his father, in all things."
+
+Rodney winced, scarcely knowing why. His uncle went on.
+
+"Your mother never spoke to you of him?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"She had what she supposed to be sufficient reasons for her reticence;
+she wished to hide from you, if possible, the knowledge of what manner
+of man your father was, thinking that the knowledge of the heritage of
+shame which he had left behind might drive you to walk in his
+footsteps. I was of a different opinion. I held that if you had in you
+any of the makings of a decent man, the knowledge of the sort of man
+your father was would serve you as a warning to keep off the path he'd
+followed. However, you were your mother's child, not mine, thank God;
+she had her way, though I warned her that the time would probably come
+when I should have to tell you the story she would rather have bitten
+off her tongue than tell."
+
+Mr. Patterson paused, keeping his eyes fixed on the young man in front
+of him. There was a quality in his gaze which made Rodney conscious of
+a sense of discomfort to which he had been hitherto a stranger.
+
+"You are so like your father that you even have his Christian name.
+Rodney Elmore the first was one of those creatures who sometimes come
+into the world, who could not run straight if they tried--and they
+never try. He was one of Nature's thieves; a born scamp; a lifelong
+blackguard. Your mother was my only sister; the only relative I had. I
+did not understand him so well before she married him as I did
+afterwards, but I understood him well enough to have kept her from
+marrying him if I could. But he was one of those hounds who, if they
+cannot get what they want by fair means, will not hesitate to get it
+by foul; he even won his wife by foul means, taking advantage of her
+girlish innocence so that she had to become his wife to save her good
+name. She lived for six years with him in hell. Then he was detected
+in a series of frauds which would probably have resulted in his being
+sent to penal servitude for life. Rather than face the music, he
+committed suicide."
+
+Again Mr. Patterson paused, and his nephew, on his side, kept still.
+It seemed to him that his uncle's voice was the voice of doom; he was
+aware of a sensation of actual physical pain as he listened, as if
+sentence had not only been pronounced, but punishment also begun. He
+had wondered vaguely more than once what manner of man his father was,
+and, since she had volunteered no information, had put questions on
+the subject to his mother. But she had staved them off in a fashion
+which suggested--since even in the days of his boyhood his mental
+processes were sufficiently acute--that there was not much to be told
+about him which redounded to his credit. So, as years brought wisdom,
+his curiosity became less and less; a feeling grew up in his bosom
+that perhaps the less he knew about his father the better it might be.
+Never, however, had his most pessimistic imaginings come near the
+reality as portrayed by his uncle. He, the son of a lifelong rogue,
+who had only escaped the penalty of his misdeeds by self-destruction!
+He began to apprehend the meaning of the attitude his uncle had taken
+up towards him. His uncle did his best to assist him to a clearer
+comprehension.
+
+"I never would have anything to do with you. I had suffered too much
+from your father to be willing by any overt act to acknowledge your
+existence, especially as a relative of mine. I resented your
+existence. I am not more superstitious than the average man, but I had
+a strong conviction that with you it would be a case of like father
+like son. The paternal qualities were too strong, too ingrained, too
+much the very essence of his being not to be transmitted. When your
+mother came and begged me to take you into my office I asked her
+point-blank if you were not your father's son. She denied it. I
+believed then that she lied; now I know it. I have no doubt that she
+had detected you over and over again in acts which recalled your
+father."
+
+Rodney wondered if that really was the case. She had never hinted
+anything of the sort to him. He understood now why, with her dying
+breath, she had entreated him to be honest. Did she realise at the
+very portals of death what a broken reed his promise was? He shivered
+at the thought.
+
+"So soon as you came into this office I knew that I had been right,
+and that you were every inch your father's son. You are clever; don't
+suppose that I don't appreciate the fact. I am not so clever, which
+fact you have taken rather too much for granted. You have overlooked
+one quality I have, and that is--a nose for a thief. I owe to it a
+good deal of such success as I have had--in a sense, I can smell a
+thief so soon as he comes near me. Of course, in your case I had your
+father's record to help me; but I think that, without it, I should
+have scented you, your odour was so pungent. You had not been in the
+place a month before you began to play your little tricks. I do not
+flatter myself that I found you out in all of them, but I did in a
+good many. I said nothing, but I made a note of each, and have the
+complete record in a certain volume which will possibly be produced
+one day in a court of assize. Then there came the incident of the
+cheque--the eight pounds which you turned into eighty. When I saw that
+cheque I realised that immunity had given you courage, and that you
+were beginning to fly at higher game. I am, as I believe you and other
+gentlemen in the office are aware, a regular old fogey, a dray-horse
+sort of man. I never, if I can help it, arrive at a hasty decision. I
+put that cheque aside and waited; you see, although you live to the
+age of Methuselah, a thing like this is always up against you--you can
+never get away from it. I was in no hurry."
+
+Again Mr. Patterson paused. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled.
+Rodney told himself that he resembled an ogre who was enjoying, in
+anticipation, the meal he proposed to make of him.
+
+"After all, my lad, although you are so clever, you're a fool--indeed,
+your cleverness is folly. If you had to be dishonest, hadn't you sense
+enough to gratify your instincts on less dangerous lines? You have
+made a serious mistake in underrating me; perhaps that's because your
+experience of men is small. I've been watching you; you've been living
+in a fool's paradise--your conscience has never pinched you because
+you have never feared discovery. Yet, if you had troubled yourself to
+think, you must have known that, sooner or later, discovery was bound
+to come, and that, when it did, I had you. You were a fool, my lad, a
+fool."
+
+The speaker's smile grew more pronounced. To his nephew's thinking it
+became more and more like an ogre's grin. But when he went on it not
+only vanished, but its place was taken by something which was
+unpleasantly like a snarl.
+
+"Then my daughter came on the scene. There, again, you were at fault,
+because it so happens that I understand my daughter almost as well as
+you do. She may think herself romantic, but she isn't--there's no more
+romance about her than there is about me. She's a healthy, vigorous
+female animal, with her father's blood in her veins, and her father's
+fondness for the good things of this life of all sorts and kinds.
+She's seen little of men, especially young men, and I quite appreciate
+the fact that you're just the sort of young man at whose head she
+would fling herself--with a little delicate encouragement from you.
+But she won't, don't you make any mistake, my lad. I haven't forgotten
+how your father won your mother; and I promise you you shan't win my
+daughter in the same way. On the day on which I suspected you of any
+such intention you'd be branded as a gaol bird, and for the whole
+remainder of your life you'd be passing in and out of prison gates.
+I'm asking for no promise, being aware that you're one of Nature's
+liars, I know that not the least reliance is to be placed on any word
+you utter, but I'm giving you a promise. You can make any excuse to
+her you like--I'm sure you're a whale at excuses; if you ever speak to
+her again, even to tell her that you're not to speak; if you ever
+write to her; if you ever hold any communication with her whatever,
+you'll pass into the hands of the police, and I'll tell her your story
+and your father's. My girl has another thing in common with her
+father--she's honest, she hates a rogue. And if she knew that you were
+a common kennel thief, as your father was before you, she'd have no
+more truck with you if you were twenty times her husband, and I don't
+believe she'd move a finger to save you from penal servitude. I'm not
+going to turn you away; you're going to continue to occupy your
+present position in my office, so that I can keep my eye on you, so
+don't you try to turn tail and run. Now we understand each other. I
+have my morning letters to attend to, but I thought I'd better have
+this little explanation with you first. Now you can go; take my
+advice--if you can--steal no more. If you keep along the same path
+you'll find at the end what your father found, he was no more anxious
+to find it than you are--suicide."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                    THE THREE GIRLS AND THE THREE
+                              TELEGRAMS
+
+
+His uncle's words were in Rodney's ears for days afterwards. Was it
+conceivable that he, to whom life was so sweet a thing, could under
+any circumstances seek refuge in a suicide's grave? It was horrid that
+his father should have been that sort of man; it was hard on him. His
+mother ought to have told him; at least he would have been on his
+guard. No wonder his uncle had been prejudiced against him; had his
+mother not been so unkindly silent, he might--well, he might have
+framed his conduct, so far as his uncle was concerned, on different
+lines. How could he have guessed that his uncle was observing him with
+almost unnatural keenness; while, all the time, he supposed him to be
+purblind? It was a most unfortunate position for a young fellow to be
+placed in; a word from his mother would have been of such assistance.
+He was always reluctant to blame anyone; yet he could not but
+feel that his parents had not used him well; with that moral
+colour-blindness, which was one of his most striking characteristics,
+he was already beginning to lump them together, though he knew
+perfectly well, of his own knowledge, that, in all things, his mother
+had been the soul of honour.
+
+He was most awkwardly placed as regards his cousin; he had engagements
+with her which he was aware she would resent his breaking; and her
+father had even forbidden him to explain. Not that he could think of
+any explanation which would meet the case from her point of view; she
+was apt to be quick-tempered where he was concerned, and he was most
+anxious to keep in with her; one never knew what might happen. He had
+been cramming up the subject of apoplexy, both from books, and from
+the lips of medical acquaintances; and he felt sure, from certain
+little things he had noticed, that it was quite possible that his
+uncle might have a stroke at any second; and, of course, if he did,
+the situation would be entirely altered. But, at the same time, that
+could not be counted on; and, in the meanwhile, there was Gladys both
+to consider and conciliate. Still, he managed; his dexterity in such
+matters was remarkable. He contrived that a communication should reach
+his cousin to the effect that her father had forbidden him to meet
+her, on pain of instant dismissal, and that, to save her from the
+paternal anger, he had promised that he would not even write to her.
+He counselled her, however, to be patient, expressing his conviction
+that this state of things was not likely to continue, and that before
+long they would be more than compensated for the brief period during
+which they would be separated one from the other.
+
+Then he went to his uncle in his room at the office, and telling him,
+what was quite true, that Gladys had written asking for an explanation
+of his sudden cessation of their intimacy, requested him, for
+everybody's sake, since he had ordered him not to write to her, to
+inform her himself of the prohibition he had laid upon his nephew.
+This, grimly enough, Mr. Patterson undertook to do, and doubtless did.
+And for more than a fortnight Rodney Elmore had quite a dull time.
+Then a sequence of events came crowding on him so rapidly that within
+a period of some eight-and-forty hours the whole course of his life
+was changed.
+
+The sequence began on a certain Saturday morning. Before he was yet
+out of his bedroom he was informed that Mr. Austin had called; and,
+indeed, the words were hardly spoken before Tom showed himself in.
+Rodney was unfeignedly glad to see him. He had always liked Tom,
+who was the antipodes of himself; a red-headed, freckle-faced,
+simple-minded youth, who was not likely to set the Thames on fire, and
+who, in fact, had no desires in that direction. He had "cut" college
+for a few days, but had to hurry back by an early train; which
+explained the matutinal hour he had chosen for a call. He brought news
+that Stella was in town, staying with some people over Kensington way;
+and suggested, as he rather thought that Stella found it dullish, that
+he should look her up, if possible that very afternoon, and take her
+somewhere. Rodney declared that he would be only too glad to have the
+chance; he would get away early from the office, and go straight to
+her, and would let her have a wire at once to let her know that he was
+coming.
+
+Then, when they adjourned to breakfast, a meal at which the visitor
+expressed his readiness to assist, Tom volunteered the information
+that he had been down to see Mary Carmichael, who was staying with an
+aunt at Hove. She was quite well, was Mary, and, if anything, prettier
+than ever; and he rather thought that, at last, he had fixed things up
+with her. As he said this he flushed a red which was not at all the
+same shade as his hair.
+
+"You know," he observed, "how she's always refused to take me
+seriously, and what a job I've had to get her to do it, and how she's
+always ragged me, pretending that I was too young to know my own mind,
+and all that sort of rot. Well, this time I rather fancy that I've
+convinced her that I do know my own mind; and, what's more, I fancy
+that I've found out what's in hers too. You know, she's always stuck
+out that she'd have nothing to say to me about--you know what, till
+I'd taken my degree. Of course, I ought to have taken the beastly
+thing ages ago; there's no need for anyone to tell me that; but this
+time I am going to do the trick--you see. Everyone will tell you that
+I've been working like blazes, and even my tutor has hopes. Mary as
+good as told me last night that if I once got the thing the banns
+could go up inside three months--honestly, she did. Of course, she was
+only laughing; you know how she does laugh at a fellow; but I believe
+she meant it, all the same. I say, this ham of yours is top hole; I'll
+have another whack."
+
+While Tom helped himself to the other "whack," his friend said with a
+sigh:
+
+"You're a lucky beggar to be able to think of marriage at your time of
+life."
+
+"Don't I know it? For that I've got the pater to thank; he's been
+making more piles. All he really wants is that I should settle down;
+nothing would please him better than to see me married; he'd be almost
+as glad as I should to have Mary as a member of the family. Isn't it
+queer that while I've liked Mary all her life I've liked her more and
+more as time went on, until--well, if I do get her I shall have got
+all I want."
+
+"Then, with all my heart, I hope you get her."
+
+"I've decided hopes, old man--decided. I say, you know, Stella's not a
+bad sort, although I am her brother."
+
+"Do you think that I don't know it?"
+
+"You're the best pal I have in the world, and--I don't think she
+objects to you."
+
+"Tom, dear old chap, don't say another word--please. I'm never going
+to ask a girl to marry me until I'm in a position to keep her as my
+wife should be kept."
+
+"That's sound enough in a general way; but as regards this particular
+case it's all tuppence. Stella has money, and the pater, if properly
+worked, would supply more; I happen to know that he's quite willing
+she should marry anyone she likes, so long as it's a decent chap--and
+he knows you're that. Why, if it comes to that, he could slip you, as
+easy as winking, into a much better berth than the one you have at
+your uncle's."
+
+"Tom, I know you're the best chum a man ever had, and one day I'm
+going to prove it. I haven't your happy knack of baring my heart, even
+to myself; I'm a more secretive kind of brute; but, like you, I have
+my dreams, and before very long I hope to have good news for you. But
+now, please, don't say anything more about it."
+
+And Tom said nothing; he changed the subject to Oxford gossip,
+chattering away light-heartedly while Rodney glanced at the letters
+which the morning post had brought. Among them was one in a bold,
+slashing hand, which he knew well.
+
+
+                                   "90, Russell Square.
+
+                                                    "Friday.
+
+"DEAR OLD BOY,--The dad's gone off weekending without notice, and I
+never found out what he was going to do till it was too late to get at
+you, or I would have got; so here am I in this great mausoleum of a
+house all on my lonesome. To-morrow, early, I've an engagement with
+Cissie Henderson, but in the evening--and no nonsense, sir!--you'll
+have to dine me in some quiet place, where there are no prying eyes;
+and afterwards you can amuse me as you like. No excuse will be
+accepted; I want to spend to-morrow evening in your society, and I'm
+going to--and the dad can go hang! So mind you send me a wire directly
+you get this to let me know where I'm to meet you--at seven, sir!--and
+don't let there be any mistake about it. Until we do meet,
+
+                                                 "Yours, G."
+
+
+As he read this characteristic note of an up-to-date young woman a
+chord was touched somewhere in Rodney's being which made him conscious
+of a pleasant little thrill. Even while Austin chattered he was
+telling himself that he also would let the lady's "dad go hang," and
+that she should spend the evening in his society, be the consequences
+what they might.
+
+When the visitor departed it was understood that Rodney would send a
+wire on his way to the office to let Stella know at what time she
+might expect him. Scarcely had Austin left the house than there came a
+telegram for Elmore. He opened it, supposing it to be from the
+impatient lady in Russell Square; but he was wrong. The message ran:
+
+
+"Do come down to-morrow and cheer me up. Aunt is going out. I shall be
+alone. I have had Tom as companion for three whole days, so am in need
+of a tonic. Wire train. Be sure and come.
+
+                                             "MARY."
+
+
+Mary? For a moment he wondered who Mary was. Then he saw that the
+message had been handed in at a Brighton post-office, and he
+understood. Mary? Mary was Mary Carmichael. At the thought of her his
+eyes sparkled and his spirits rose. After a fashion Mary Carmichael
+was the feminine creature in all the world that he liked best. Not
+only was she pretty, and dainty, and bright, and smart and clever, but
+just as Gladys Patterson appealed to him in one direction so Mary
+Carmichael did in another. Her telegram suggested what that direction
+was; in a way they were birds of a feather. Tom Austin had been her
+life-long admirer, slave, her avowed wooer; quite probably one day she
+would become his wife; yet she was not averse to being "cheered up" by
+his bosom friend, after confessing, by telegram, that she had been
+bored by three days of his society. Rodney chuckled at the thought of
+it; the thing seemed to him to be so amusing. Just now Tom had been
+telling him, with boyish candour, in single-hearted confidence in his
+integrity, that he had come away from Brighton under the impression
+that he was shortly to be made the happiest of men; and here was the
+girl who was to make him happy so anxious for an antidote to his
+society, begging him to do what Tom clearly had not done--cheer her
+up--and adding, as a peculiar inducement, that she would be alone.
+Poor old Tom! what a fool he was--and what a little minx was pretty
+Miss Mary!
+
+On his way to the office Rodney sent three telegrams. One to Stella
+Austin, at Kensington, to say that he would be with her as near to two
+o'clock as possible, and that he hoped she would come out with him;
+one to Gladys Patterson, in Russell Square, asking her to meet him at
+a restaurant in Jermyn Street at seven sharp; one to Mary Carmichael,
+at Hove, informing her that he would arrive in Brighton to-morrow
+morning by the train due at noon. It was a female clerk to whom he
+handed these three messages; when she had scanned them she glanced up
+at him, as he felt, with a species of curiosity; he had a suspicion
+that she smiled.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V
+
+                                STELLA
+
+
+On the whole, Rodney Elmore spent a pleasant afternoon with Stella
+Austin. He took her to the Zoological Gardens, which was a place she
+liked. Beyond doubt she enjoyed herself immensely. She was very fond
+of animals, even of the most savage kind. In the wild-beast house,
+confronting the lions and the tigers, with Rodney at her side, she
+wondered, with a little shudder, what would happen if the creatures
+all got out. Drawing her arm in his, he pressed it closely; she liked
+that, too.
+
+From his point of view, the pleasure with which she greeted him on his
+arrival at the house in Kensington was almost pathetic. He reproached
+her gently for not having told him she was coming to town. She replied
+that it had only been decided at the last moment, and that she was
+just going to write to him when Tom, appearing on the scene, offered
+to take the news in person. The way in which she took it for granted
+that he was as glad to see her as she was to see him appealed to his
+sympathy so strongly that he was nearly moved to take her in his arms
+and kiss her there and then. But he refrained. He never had kissed
+Stella, even in the old days. He had always had a feeling that a kiss
+would mean so much more to her than it did to him; indeed, that was
+one of her faults in his eyes, that everything meant so much more to
+her than it did to him. Often he would have liked to kiss her; having
+brought matters to a point at which a kiss was the next thing which
+might have been expected, he felt sure that she had expected it. But
+he kept himself sufficiently in hand to stop on the very edge, having
+it in his mind that it might be as well for him to be able, some day,
+if need be, to assert with truth that he had never gone beyond it.
+
+Ordinarily he would have had no scruples on such a point. Oddly
+enough, in a sense, he was afraid of Stella, recognising in her an
+essential purity with which he himself had nothing in common. Her
+standard of life was so infinitely above his own that he was always
+conscious of a sense of strain after being some time in her company;
+it came from his attempting to sustain himself in the rarefied
+atmosphere in which she moved with ease. He would have been willing to
+hold her in his arms; he would have loved to; but he would not have
+liked to know that she was his superior in all essentials; and he
+would have to know. Sooner or later she might discover what kind of
+creature he was; but, though he believed that in such a plight she
+would keep her own counsel, none the less he would resent the
+discovery she had made.
+
+Then, again, his taste in women was fastidious; he was not sure that
+she filled all his requirements. She was pleasant enough to look at;
+had pretty eyes, a fresh complexion, a tender smile--sometimes when
+she smiled he loved her so that it was all he could do to keep from
+committing himself utterly. But she was short and broad for her
+height; to his thinking her figure lacked dignity. He had the modern
+young man's notion that if you look at the mother you will see what
+the daughter is going to be. Mrs. Austin was plump and matronly; he
+feared that before long Stella would be the same. He did not care for
+matronly women; he liked them tall and slim. Then he was particular
+about the way in which a woman dressed; he liked those whom he
+favoured with his society, as he put it, to do him credit. He had
+felt, only too often, that Stella was almost dowdy; she was never
+really smart. Her clothes were good of their kind, but they suggested
+the provinces; or she had not the knack of showing them off to
+advantage. He liked a girl's foot to be cased in what he called a
+pretty stocking, and a smart shoe with a Louis heel; Stella wore
+serviceable shoes with low heels, and the plainest of stockings. With
+these things in his mind he had ventured, once, to hint that he would
+like to have the dressing of her. She had been silent for some
+seconds, and had then replied, scarcely above a whisper, and with
+downcast eyes:
+
+"Perhaps one day you will."
+
+He was perfectly conscious that that "one day" was the day of which
+she was always dreaming. He was not sure that he was so willing it
+should come as she was.
+
+But that afternoon he was not disposed to be critical. He was really
+glad to see her. It was some time since they had met; he was nearly
+surprised to find what a jolly girl she was; her smile was unusually
+tender. As they quitted the monkey-house she spoke of Tom and Mary.
+
+"Did Tom tell you that he has nearly brought that hard-hearted Mary of
+his to the promising point?"
+
+"He did seem to be sanguine."
+
+"Poor old Tom! I believe if she'd promise quite he'd pass straight
+off; it's anxiety which causes him to be ploughed. I've written to
+Mary telling her just what I think, and informing her that she's to
+keep him no longer suspended between heaven and earth, but that she's
+to marry him at once. Mamma wants it, papa wants it, I want it, Tom
+wants it--everybody wants it. She's the dearest girl in the world; but
+she's a goose."
+
+"Because she hesitates?"
+
+"Why should she? Tom will make her the best husband in the world--you
+know he will."
+
+"Perhaps every girl doesn't want 'the best husband in the world.'"
+
+"Are you trying to say something clever? If she has a husband, of
+course she does. Do look at those two in front; I've been watching
+them. She keeps putting out her hand to feel for his, or he puts out
+his to feel for hers. Do you think they're newly married?"
+
+"Is that how you mean to behave when you're newly married?"
+
+"It depends."
+
+"On what?"
+
+"Oh, it depends."
+
+"You said that before. On what does it depend?"
+
+Suddenly a glimpse he caught of the smile which lighted up her face
+started him off at a tangent--without waiting for her answer.
+
+"It seems ages since I saw you last; it's awfully nice to see you
+again--especially as you're looking prettier than ever."
+
+"Do you like this frock that I've got on? You ought to, I had it made
+specially for you--you are so critical about my clothes."
+
+"Oughtn't a man to be critical about the girl he--he cares for?"
+
+"Do you care for me?"
+
+"You know I do."
+
+"How much?"
+
+"More than I--dare tell you."
+
+"Rodney."
+
+"Stella."
+
+"I hope one day, before very long, you'll find courage enough."
+
+The challenge was a direct one. In such matters he was such a creature
+of impulse that it set his pulses galloping. They had reached a spot
+where they had for sole society some queer-looking birds who peered at
+them through the wires which confined them to their runs.
+
+"Stella, you mustn't tempt me. If you only knew what I'd give to be
+able to take you in my arms."
+
+"Rodney, it isn't fair of you to talk like that. You say that sort of
+thing, and make me feel as if the world were whirling round and round,
+and then you go no farther."
+
+"You know why I go no farther."
+
+"I don't! I don't!"
+
+As she turned and looked at him he saw how her cheeks were flushed;
+that tears were in her pretty eyes; how her lips were twisted as by
+physical pain. He really was so fond of her that the sight of her
+suffering moved him almost beyond endurance. Careless of spectators
+who might come at any moment to look at the birds, he took both her
+hands in his.
+
+"Stella!"
+
+He paused; he was conscious how pregnant with meaning the pause was to
+her, how she waited for his words. He let them come.
+
+"Stella, will you be my wife?"
+
+"You know I will! How long have you known it, sir? How long have you
+been aware that you had only to ask to have? I go all over shame when
+I think of it. I don't--I really don't--think you've used me quite
+fairly, sir. Because, you know, you oughtn't to keep on telling a girl
+that you care for her, and--then say nothing more. I've even sometimes
+wondered if you were playing with me--I have! Were you?"
+
+"Never. How could you think it?"
+
+"I had to think something, hadn't I? And--what could I think? Then you
+do really and truly care for me?"
+
+"With the whole force of my being."
+
+She drew a long breath, as if it were a sigh of pleasure.
+
+"And you really and truly want me to be your wife?"
+
+"As Tom said of Mary--if I get you I get all that I want in the
+world."
+
+"Then, why didn't you try to get me before?"
+
+"Stella, every man has his own standard. You have money; perhaps one
+day you'll have more; I have no money; perhaps I never may have. Under
+those circumstances, though I worshipped the ground you stood on, I
+had, and have, no right to ask you to be my wife. I have held out
+against the temptation to do so over and over again, but--I could hold
+out no longer. You must forgive me."
+
+"For what? For having what you call 'held out'? I am not sure that I
+do. You can't have wanted me so very, very much, or you wouldn't have
+held out so long. That's what I feel."
+
+"Stella, if you only knew!"
+
+"And if you only knew!"
+
+"The days I've thought of you, and the nights I've dreamed!"
+
+"And do you suppose that I can't think--and dream?"
+
+"Sometimes, after I've left you with the words unuttered, and thought
+of what I should feel if I had you in my arms, it was pretty hard to
+bear."
+
+"Rodney!--I wonder if anyone is coming? After all your holding out,
+you have--chosen a funny place."
+
+Heedless of anyone coming, he put his arm about her waist and drew her
+quickly to the comparative shelter of a fairly grown tree.
+
+When Rodney Elmore had started out with Stella Austin nothing had been
+farther from his mind than any intention of asking her to be his wife.
+He was amazed to find, now that the thing was done, how pleasant it
+had been. The whole episode had been delightful--so delightful that he
+was loth to bring it to a close. The rubicon being passed, another
+Stella was revealed. The simple question he had put to her might have
+been some magic formula, so great a change had it wrought in the
+maiden. He had never credited her with the capacity to be so
+delicious; for she was delicious in a dozen unsuspected ways. He had
+been fond of her before he asked her to be his wife; in less than half
+an hour! afterwards he was in love with her. The new Stella had
+bewitched him; to such a degree that he would have been willing to
+stay with her in the Zoological Gardens for an indefinite period of
+time, had he not had a previous engagement. It was with a feeling of
+distinct disgust that he realised that he would have to tear himself
+away. Nor was the parting rendered easier by the lady's attitude. She
+could not be brought to see that any engagement was of such importance
+that, on that day of all days, he was forced to leave her so
+summarily. Nor would he have left her, could he have helped it. He
+assured her, with perfect truth, that he would have only been too
+happy to spend the evening with her at the house of her friends in
+Kensington, had he dared, but he did not dare. She asked him why,
+being now entitled to ask such questions. He did not tell her that it
+was because he was conscious that it might be almost more dangerous to
+disappoint his cousin than to rob her father. He fabricated instead an
+ingenious lie, which convinced her against her will.
+
+Then there arose the question of the morrow. Being Sunday, of course
+he would be able to spend the whole of it with her. There, again, a
+previous engagement blocked the way. He explained that, never having
+anticipated the delightful footing on which he stood with her, he had
+made the engagement long ago. Would she have him break his word? It
+depended, she said, to whom his word was pledged; she did think that
+he might spend that first Sunday with her. Then he spun a yarn about
+an old friend of his mother who had begged him again and again to
+visit her, to whom he had promised to go at last. He knew that she had
+made all sorts of preparations for his reception; now, if he were to
+throw her over she would feel, with justice, that he had treated her
+very badly. He could not bear that she should feel that. She was his
+mother's dearest friend. Her name was Staples. She lived in a little
+village the other side of Dorking. Stella supposed that, anyhow, he
+would not have to stay there late. As to that, he could not say. The
+Sunday trains to Dorking were very awkward. But this he promised, at
+the earliest moment at which with decency he could get away, he would;
+and if the hour of his return to town were not frightfully late he
+would rush over to Kensington, if it were only for half a dozen words.
+But of this she might be quite certain; he would spend the whole of
+Monday evening with her if she would let him; he would come straight
+to her from the office.
+
+So, finally, on that understanding, they parted; that he would come to
+her on Sunday, if only for a minute or two, and that, anyhow, he would
+revel in her dear society for so much of Monday as was left after his
+office work was done. But, for him, between that and Monday, the world
+was to be turned upside down.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                                GLADYS
+
+
+Hurry as he might, it was nearly half-past seven before Rodney Elmore
+reached that restaurant in Jermyn Street at which he was due at seven.
+The fault was Stella's. Had she not spun out the parting to such an
+unconscionable length, he would have been able to be there in time.
+But he could not explain this to Gladys Patterson, who had never heard
+of the girl. She rose, as he came in, from a seat in the vestibule,
+with a face which mirrored the anxiety she had felt.
+
+"Whatever is the matter? I thought that something had happened, and
+you weren't coming."
+
+"My dearest child, I've been the victim of a series of accidents; I
+was beginning to wonder myself if I should ever get here."
+
+Then he told another lie--invented on the spur of the moment. He had
+not troubled to prepare one on the way; he was not sure of the mood in
+which he might find her; one story might suit one mood another
+another. With him, to lie was as easy as to breathe; he himself was
+often hardly conscious he was lying, he lied so like truth.
+
+"So you see, I've been half off my head, and in a deuce of a stew.
+Perhaps you'll tell me what you'd have done in my position. But, thank
+goodness, I'm here at last. The worst of it is, I haven't ordered
+dinner, or reserved a table; we shall have to take pot-luck; let's
+hope that the _table d'hôte_ is worth eating."
+
+It so chanced that there was a table, and that the _menu_ of the set
+dinner read quite well. Presently they were fronting each other at a
+little table in a corner of the room, each in the best possible frame
+of mind. She had forgotten the strain of waiting in her delight that
+he had come, while he was charmed to find her in so good a temper.
+Indeed, he seemed to be in the very highest spirits, and when he was
+that no one could be better company. Then the food was good; that was
+a point on which they both were excellent judges. On the occasion of
+that first dinner in Russell Square each had played on the other a
+pleasant comedy; to make a good impression on the strange cousin, who
+might have views on such matters, Gladys had drunk nothing but water,
+and, for some similar reason, Rodney had done the same. It was only
+when, later, they were on more intimate terms, that they learned that
+neither was a teetotaller. It was rather funny. As a matter of fact,
+so far as the pleasures of the table were concerned, Gladys was in
+very truth her father's child; not only could she appreciate good food
+well cooked, but she was by way of being a connoisseur of certain
+wines; and in such respects Rodney was an excellent second.
+
+Before the dinner was half way through she was looking at him with
+something in her eyes which spoke to a similar something which was in
+his. He had forgotten the episode of the afternoon as if it had never
+been. This was the sort of girl he loved to have in front of him on
+the other side of a table--one who would eat what he ate, drink what
+he drank, do as he did; to whom he could say whatever he pleased. They
+joked on the subject of the absent Mr. Patterson.
+
+"I wonder," she said, "what would happen if he walked in here at this
+very moment."
+
+Rodney also wondered, for a second, in silence.
+
+"For one thing, he'd spoil our evening, because he'd start you
+straight away off home."
+
+"Would he? I should take some starting. I never am particularly afraid
+of him, and I'm not in the least when I've had two glasses of
+Montebello--rattling good bottle, this is. Thank you; that's the
+third. What beats me is why you're afraid of him. You don't strike me
+as being a person who's afraid of much. What would it matter if he did
+give you the key of the street, so far as his office is concerned?
+You'd easily find a better one. There's a mystery somewhere. Don't
+imagine, my dear old man, that I don't know so much. Why has he such
+an objection to you? And why are you so much in awe of him? Now's your
+time--out with it. Make a clean breast of it--between this glass and
+the next."
+
+"I can't tell you why he objects to me, but I can assure you that I
+don't stand in awe of him."
+
+"Rubbish! If you don't, why have you kept away from me in the way you
+have done?--you exasperating boy! I console myself with the reflection
+that if I'm losing your society you're losing mine; because I'll bet a
+trifle that you're just as fond of seeing me every other day or so as
+I am of seeing you."
+
+"You're right there. If I saw you all day and every day I shouldn't
+mind."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that; there's a limit. It might be all right for a
+time; but, my hat! wouldn't you get bored after a month of nothing
+else but my society!"
+
+"What price you--after a month of nothing else but me?"
+
+She seemed to reflect before she answered.
+
+"You see, it's like this; if you and I were alone together for a
+month, or longer----"
+
+"I'd be willing to make it longer."
+
+"Would you?"
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+
+"Rodney, you're a dear. If we were to be alone together for so long as
+that, we should have to alter the pace. I fancy that where a man and a
+woman are concerned it's the pace that kills."
+
+"What do you mean by that, oh, wise one?"
+
+"If you had one pound of chocs to eat you might gobble them down as
+fast as you please, and no harm would be done."
+
+"You've tried it?"
+
+"Perhaps! But if you had a ton you would have to go, oh so carefully,
+or you would be so sick. But we meet so seldom that when we do we want
+to gobble; I know that, so far as I am concerned, I want to get as
+much of you as I possibly can during the short time we are together."
+
+"Same here--only more so."
+
+They smiled at each other across the little table. Then, glancing
+down, she transferred her attention to what was on her plate.
+
+"But, of course, if we weren't to part for a month--or more--it would
+be different."
+
+"True, oh, queen! And suppose we were to marry!"
+
+"I don't think I'd mind."
+
+"I'm pretty nearly sure I shouldn't."
+
+"That's very sweet of you to say so. Only--there's dad!"
+
+"There's very much dad!"
+
+"He can forbid my seeing you, and that kind of thing, if he pleases;
+and if he finds out that I've been disobedient he'll make himself
+extremely disagreeable. Still, I fancy I could manage him. But if I
+were to marry you against his wishes, I don't believe I'd ever get
+another penny from him, living or dead; and as you have no immediate
+promise of becoming a millionaire, that would be awkward for both of
+us."
+
+"It would. All the same, don't you think it would be comfy if we were
+secretly engaged--in the event of anything happening to him?"
+
+"What's going to happen?"
+
+"Anything--living the sort of life he does."
+
+"Are you hinting that there's anything the matter with his health?"
+
+"My dear girl, you've only to use your eyes to be aware that a doctor
+would tell him that he's the kind of man who ought to swear off
+everything. And does he?"
+
+"You make me feel all shivery. You talk as if you expected him to die
+right off."
+
+"We've all had sentence of capital punishment pronounced against us,
+and, though we don't know when it will be put into execution, in such
+a case as his it's possible to guess that it mayn't be very long
+postponed."
+
+"Rodney! I don't like to hear you talk like that. He's fond of asking
+me questions about you; I hate telling lies; if we were engaged, and
+he were in one of his cross-examining moods, I might find myself in a
+fix."
+
+He played with his knife while a waiter was bringing another course.
+
+"Consider something else. Let me put a hypothetical case. Suppose a
+girl were to make a dead set at me, I might like to be able to tell
+her that I'm engaged already."
+
+"Who's the girl?"
+
+"The girl, like the case, is hypothetical; but I can conceive of
+circumstances in which I should like to feel that we were engaged."
+
+"You've changed your mind. A short time ago you were all the other
+way."
+
+"I've been considering matters. Say, for example, that your father
+puts his foot down, and that we don't see each other again for an
+indefinite period. Do you not think that then I should not like to
+feel that we were engaged?"
+
+"You can feel that we're engaged all you want to, without our setting
+it down in black and white. Aren't you as sure of me as if I were your
+wife already? Don't you know that if circumstances permitted I would
+become your wife? Do you wish me to understand that I'm not as sure of
+you?"
+
+"Gladys, you're a goose. So far as I'm concerned, I'm inclined to the
+opinion that I'd like you to be my wife to-night."
+
+"It's you who are the goose. As if we didn't understand each other far
+too well to render it necessary to have things placed on a ceremonious
+footing. We can do without formulas."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII
+
+                                 MARY
+
+
+On the Sunday Rodney Elmore kept his engagement with the third young
+woman, with the punctiliousness on which, in such matters, he prided
+himself. He went down to Brighton on the Pullman, Limited, and was met
+at the station by Mary Carmichael. He exclaimed, at sight of her:
+
+"You angel!--to come and meet me!"
+
+"I'm not quite sure that I did come to meet you, in the strict sense.
+I'd nothing to do; I've always a feeling that the queerest lot of
+people come by this train, the oddest sort of week-enders--didn't you
+notice how the platform reeked of perfume?--so that its arrival's
+generally worth seeing. Besides, between ourselves, I'd a kind of
+notion that Tom might come by it. If he had I should have ignored you
+utterly, and should have explained that something within told me he
+was coming, and that was why I was here. Wouldn't he have been
+enraptured?"
+
+As he listened--and, in his observant way, took in the details of her
+appearance--Rodney was conscious, not for the first time, of how
+beneficent Providence had been in making girls in such variety.
+Stella, emblematic of the domestic virtues; Gladys, for physical
+pleasure; Mary, suggestive of the arch in the sky, which, though a man
+may walk for many days, he shall never find the end of. To his
+thinking she was as many-tinted as a rainbow; as beautiful, as
+elusive. He doubted if the average man were her husband whether he
+would have any but the dimmest comprehension of her at the finish; she
+had a knack of surprising even him. He had known her a good long time,
+yet he admitted to himself that in many respects she was still wholly
+beyond his comprehension, and he prided himself, not without reason,
+on his gift for understanding persons of the opposite sex.
+
+They went down towards the Hove lawns in a fly, and were still in
+Queen's Road when she said:
+
+"So you've done it at last."
+
+He turned towards her as if a trifle startled.
+
+"Done what?"
+
+"Asked Stella to be your wife."
+
+"How on earth do you know that?"
+
+"My simple-minded babe, aren't I the very dearest friend Stella has in
+the world? And didn't she, directly you left her yesterday afternoon,
+send me a telegram conveying the news? Do you think she would keep it
+a moment longer than she could help from me, especially as she is
+perfectly well aware that I've been on tip-toe for it for goodness
+alone knows how long? And aren't I expecting a letter of at least half
+a dozen pages to-morrow morning to tell me all about it? I wired my
+congratulations to her at once, and I almost wired them to you; then I
+thought I'd keep them till you came this morning. My congratulations,
+Rodney, dear."
+
+He was more taken aback than he would have cared to own. What an idiot
+he had been! Had he had his senses about him he would have given
+Stella to understand that the new relationship between them must be
+kept private till it suited him to make it public. That she should
+have telegraphed to Mary the moment he had left her! Could anything be
+more awkward? If to Mary, why not to others? To her mother, her
+father, her brother, her cousins, and her aunts; and she had crowds of
+dearest friends. Possibly by now the news was known to fifty people;
+they would spread it over the face of the land. Had he foreseen such a
+state of things he would have torn his tongue out rather than have
+said what he did in Regent's Park. Imbecile that he was; he had
+forgotten altogether that that was just the tale a girl of a sort
+loves to tell. Had he had his wits about him he might have known that
+she would be all eagerness to proclaim her happiness to her friends.
+To have had a private understanding with Stella might have been fun.
+He might have lied to her; played the traitor; done as he pleased--it
+would not have mattered if her heart was broken so long as she
+suffered in silence. But the affair assumed quite a different
+complexion if her confounded relations were to have their parts in it.
+He would have to endure all kinds of talkee-talkee from her mother.
+That oaf Tom might want to thrust his blundering foot into what was no
+concern of his. Worst of all, there was her father. Rodney was quite
+certain that he would want to regularise the position at once; that he
+himself would be helpless in his hands. Mr. Austin would require a
+clear statement of his intentions; having got it, he would see that it
+was adhered to. Being opposed to long engagements, he would want to
+fix the wedding day--and he would fix it. Rodney was uncomfortably
+conscious that he had made such a conspicuous ass of himself that,
+being delivered into her father's strong hands, almost before he knew
+it he might find himself the husband of Stella Austin.
+
+He shuddered at the thought--a fact which was observed by the young
+lady at his side.
+
+"Whatever is the matter? You shook the fly! You haven't thanked me for
+my congratulations, nor do you seem so elated as I expected. You know
+I'm not sure that it was quite nice of you to propose to another girl
+on the very day before the one on which you knew you were coming down
+to me. For all you could tell, I was expecting you to propose to me."
+
+"If I'd only thought there was the slightest chance, wouldn't I have
+loved to."
+
+"I suppose for the sake of practice."
+
+"Well--there are girls with whom one would like to practice
+love-making."
+
+"That's a nice thing to say, and you an engaged man of less than
+four-and-twenty hours' standing. There's a taximeter--stop him! Pay
+the driver of this silly old cab and let's get into the taxi."
+
+The transfer was effected, the driver of the "silly old cab"
+expressing himself on the subject with some frankness. When they were
+in the taxi the lady set forth the idea which had been in her mind.
+
+"I don't want to go on to the horrid lawns and see the stupid people
+in their ugly dresses; I can't take you to aunt's house, because, as
+you know, she's away, and I don't want the servants to talk; I don't
+want to lunch at either of the hotels, because I hate them all; I do
+want to go where we can be all by ourselves, so I suggest the Devil's
+Dyke. This taxi will romp up; it's the most vulgar place I know, so we
+go where we please and do as we choose--everybody does up there."
+
+So it was the Devil's Dyke. The taxi did "romp up." They had lunch at
+the hotel, and afterwards went out on to the downs, Rodney carrying a
+rug which he had borrowed from the hotel over his arm. They had not to
+go far over the slopes before they had left the few people who were up
+there behind, and were as much alone as if they had the world to
+themselves. Rodney spread the rug on the grass at the bottom of one of
+those little hollows shaped like cups which are to be found
+thereabouts by those who seek. On it they reclined; the gentleman lit
+a cigar, the lady a cigarette. They were as much at home with each
+other as either could desire. Their conversation was frankness itself.
+
+"When I feel like liking it," observed the lady, "this is just the
+sort of thing I do like. You're engaged, and I'm engaged, so we ought
+to be nice to each other. Do you mind my kissing you?"
+
+"Not a bit."
+
+She leaned over and kissed him on the lips, he removing his cigar to
+enable her to do it. Then she blew her cigarette smoke in his face and
+laughed. He said nothing; he was thinking that there was a good deal
+to be said for being on such terms with three nice girls. After all,
+there might be something in the Mohammedan's idea of paradise. She was
+silent for a moment; then inquired:
+
+"Why did you ask Stella after all? Because you knew she'd like you
+to?"
+
+He considered his reply.
+
+"No; not altogether. Of course, at the beginning I never meant to,
+then all of a sudden I felt as if I had to. I had a sort of feeling
+that it would be such fun."
+
+"And was it fun?"
+
+"Distinctly; I wouldn't mind going through it all over again."
+
+"Wouldn't you? Now you'll have to marry her."
+
+"Shall I?"
+
+"Don't you want to marry her?"
+
+"I do not."
+
+"That's unfortunate, because you certainly will have to."
+
+"We'll see."
+
+"Stella'll see--or, rather, her family will. If it were any other but
+the Austin family I should have said that a person of your eel-like
+slipperiness----"
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"Might have wriggled away; but if you wriggle away it will be out of
+the frying-pan into the fire. For ever so long the family has been
+expecting you to ask Stella to marry you; you've fostered the
+expectation, and now that you have asked her, if you try to sneak out
+of your engagement, Mr. Austin will make things so uncomfortable that
+you'll find it easier to make Stella Mrs. E."
+
+"And do you want to marry Tom?"
+
+"I do not. All the same, I expect I shall."
+
+"Why? If you don't want to?"
+
+Miss Carmichael sent a cloud of smoke up into the air.
+
+"A girl's position is so different from a man's. I must marry someone,
+and, so far as I can see, it may as well be Tom."
+
+"Why must you marry someone?"
+
+"Don't be absurd! Can you conceive me as a spinster? Rather than be an
+old maid I'd--marry you; I can't say anything stronger."
+
+"You've a friendly way of paying compliments."
+
+"My dear young fellow; as a--chum, when I'm in the mood, you're
+ripping, simply ripping; but as a husband--good Lord, deliver us! If
+Stella understood you only a quarter as well as I do she'd be only too
+glad to let you go the very first moment you showed the faintest
+inclination to bolt."
+
+"And, pray, what sort of wife do you think you'll make?"
+
+Again a pause, while more cigarette smoke went into the air.
+
+"Depends on the man."
+
+"I presume to what extent you can fool him."
+
+"I can imagine a man to whom I would be all that a wife could be, the
+whole happiness of his whole life."
+
+"I can't."
+
+"That's because you don't understand me as well as I do you."
+
+"What sort of wife do you think that you'll make Tom?"
+
+"Oh, he'll be content."
+
+"Poor devil!"
+
+"I'm not so sure; it's a good thing to be content. Each time I put my
+arms about his neck he'll forgive me everything."
+
+"So far as I gather, the difference between me as a husband and you as
+a wife consists in this: that while I'm going to be found out, you're
+not. I don't see why you should be so sure of the immunity you refuse
+to me."
+
+"I admit that in this world one never can be sure of anything. I quite
+credit you with as much capacity to throw dust in a woman's eyes as I
+have to throw dust in a man's. Still, there is a difference between us
+of which I'm conscious, though just now I'm too lazy to attempt an
+exact definition. I really can't see why you object to Stella; she'll
+make you a good wife."
+
+"Hang your good wives!"
+
+"My child! Do you want a bad one? You should have no difficulty in
+being suited."
+
+"Is a sinner likely to be happy if mated to a saint?"
+
+"Would he be happier if mated to another sinner? In that case you
+might do well to marry me--which I doubt."
+
+"I don't. I'm disposed to think that ours would be an ideal union."
+
+"I wonder."
+
+"Neither would expect the other to be perfect; each would allow the
+other a wider range of liberty for purely selfish reasons."
+
+"I say, wouldn't it be rather a joke if you were to throw over Stella
+and I were to throw over Tom and we were to marry each other?"
+
+"I'd do it like a shot if it weren't for one drawback--that we both of
+us are penniless."
+
+"That is a nuisance, since we are both of us so fond of what money
+stands for. If you had five thousand a year perhaps I might marry you
+after all."
+
+"I'm sure you would."
+
+"Pray why are you sure? You've a conceit!"
+
+"I am sure."
+
+"If--I say if--I were to marry you, would you give me a good time?"
+
+"The very best--a time after your own heart."
+
+"Would you? Lots of frocks?"
+
+"All the frocks your soul desired."
+
+"Everything I wanted?"
+
+"That's a tall order. I'm only human."
+
+"That certainly is true. I shouldn't be surprised if you were more
+generous even than Tom."
+
+"I don't call that sort of thing generosity. A man gives things to a
+woman he cares for because he has a lively sense of favours to come."
+
+"That's candid. You've given me one or two trifles already. Has that
+been with a lively sense of favours to come?"
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"You wretch! Would you care for me a little?"
+
+"I care for you more than a little now, as you are perfectly well
+aware."
+
+She turned and whispered something in his ear. He smiled, but kept
+silent. Presently she said aloud:
+
+"It would be rather a joke if we were to marry. Now that the idea's
+got into my head I can't get it out again. It makes little thrills go
+all over me--dear little thrills. I hope that if ever you do marry me
+it will be before I have had to resort to any of women's aids to
+beauty. I should like you to have me just as I am, while I am really
+at my best and while I can still bear the most searching
+investigation. My complexion's my own; I use no powder, rouge, or
+pencil. I haven't a false tooth in my head or even a stopped one. I've
+only a weeny pad on the top of my head, which is rendered absolutely
+necessary by the present style of hairdressing--everything about me's
+true."
+
+"Outside."
+
+"Sir! I dare say we shouldn't make such a very bad pair. Would
+you--like to marry me?"
+
+"Given an assured position, I would marry you."
+
+"Well, then, I'll tell you what we might do. You might marry Stella,
+and--dispose of her with some nice painless thing like chloral; and I
+might marry Tom, and--delicately dispose of him. Then we should both
+of us have an assured position, and--we could marry."
+
+"There's more in the idea than meets the eye."
+
+She threw the fag-end of her cigarette away from her and laughed.
+
+"You're simply ripping!" she exclaimed.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+              BY THE 9.10; THE FIRST PART OF THE JOURNEY
+
+
+Rodney Elmore returned by the 9.10 to town. He had meant to travel by
+the Pullman, but as he entered the station the train was drawing clear
+of the platform. Being informed that another express was starting in
+ten minutes, he had to be content with that. Beyond doubt the Pullman
+had been crowded; as he found himself the sole occupant of a
+first-class carriage, he was inclined to think that he had not lost
+by the exchange. He was in a mood for privacy. Events had followed
+each other so quickly; he had so many things to consider that he was
+glad of an opportunity for a little solitary self-communion. He was
+not pleased, therefore, when, just as the signal had been given to
+start, someone came rushing along the platform, the door was thrown
+open by an officious guard, and a passenger was hoisted into his
+compartment while the train was already in motion; nor was his
+pleasure enhanced by the discovery that the intruder was his uncle,
+Graham Patterson. In such disorder had Mr. Patterson been thrown that
+it was some seconds before he even realised that he had a companion.
+Uncovering, he wiped first his brow, then the lining of his hat. He
+panted so for breath that his critical nephew said to himself that
+if he had run a little further, or even a little faster, he might
+have panted in vain; he had never seen a man in such difficulty with
+his breathing apparatus. His face was purple, his eyes seemed to be
+bulging out of their sockets.
+
+The train had passed Preston Park station before Mr. Patterson had
+sufficiently recovered himself to become alive to the fact that he was
+not alone. But that he still did not recognise his companion his words
+showed.
+
+"I'm not exactly--of the build--to--run after trains."
+
+The moment he spoke Rodney became aware that Mr. Patterson had been
+drinking. Not enough, perhaps, to affect his speech--the hyphenated
+form of the remark he had just made was owing to the trouble he still
+had to breathe--but sufficient to place him at the point which divides
+the drunk from the sober. Elmore was still; possibly because he was
+unwilling to spoil what he felt was the grim humour of the situation.
+His silence apparently struck the other as odd. Presently Mr.
+Patterson glanced round as if to learn what manner of person this was
+who offered no comment on his observation. Then he perceived who his
+companion was.
+
+The discovery seemed to fill him with amazement which approached to
+stupefaction. His jaw dropped, his eyes bulged still farther out of
+his head, his face assumed a darker shade of purple; he looked like a
+man who was on the verge of a fit. His nephew felt that he had never
+seen him present so unprepossessing a spectacle. His surprise was so
+great that an appreciable space of time passed before he could find
+words to give it expression. Then they were of a lurid kind.
+
+"By gad!--it's you! Well, I'm damned!"
+
+"I'm sorry, sir, to hear it."
+
+The retort was so obvious that it had slipped from Rodney's lips
+almost before he was aware. Its effect on Mr. Patterson was so great
+that for some moments his nephew was convinced that that apoplectic
+fit which he had so often seen threatening was hideously close. Mr.
+Patterson himself seemed conscious of the risk he ran. He made a
+perceptible effort to regain self-control--a painful one it evidently
+was. He put his finger to his collar as if to loosen it; one could see
+that his hand shook, his lips trembled, beads of sweat stood on his
+brow. Probably more than a minute had passed before he felt himself in
+a condition to speak again. Still his voice was a little hoarse, his
+utterance not quite clear.
+
+"My lad, if I could have got at you this morning I should have killed
+you."
+
+"Should you, indeed, sir. Pray why?"
+
+The young man had been observing his senior's plight with a sense, not
+only of amusement, but of positive relish. He was conscious that a
+spirit of malice had entered into him. He was prepared to return
+insolence with insolence. This bloated relative of his should this
+time not find him disposed to cringe.
+
+Still with his finger to his neck, as if he would have liked to loosen
+his collar, Mr. Patterson went on, yet a little huskily:
+
+"Luckily I didn't get at you, because I'll do worse than kill you,
+now."
+
+"I thank you for your kind intentions, sir. You have not yet told me
+what I have done to deserve them."
+
+"You've been getting at that girl of mine again."
+
+"You use unpleasant phrases, sir. I'm afraid you have been drinking."
+
+"You young swine! In spite of what I told you, last night you took her
+out with you again to dinner."
+
+"Premising that I don't see why you should so resent my showing little
+courtesies to members of your family, may I ask on what grounds your
+statement is based?"
+
+"You young word-twister! You've your father's tongue. Do you deny it?"
+
+"That I've my father's tongue?"
+
+"That you took my girl to dinner?"
+
+"It's for you to prove; not for me to disprove."
+
+"A man came to me on the front this morning and said that he saw my
+daughter dining last night in Jermyn Street with a young man. He
+described the fellow; from his description I knew that it was you. If
+I could have got at you then and there I'd have broken my stick across
+your back! I'd have--I'd have---- Are you going to tell a lie, and say
+it wasn't you?"
+
+"It was."
+
+"It was?"
+
+"It was. Why not? We had a most agreeable evening, much more
+agreeable, perhaps, than you have any notion of. Possibly, if you ask
+Gladys, she herself will tell you so."
+
+"You--you----!"
+
+"Steady--go slow! If you don't take care you'll have a fit--you know
+you have been drinking."
+
+Possibly because he had given way to such a sudden access of rage, Mr.
+Patterson again went through all his former disagreeable physical
+experiences, while his nephew smiled. He sat inarticulate and gasping,
+incapable alike of speech or movement. When, after a prolonged
+interval, the faculty of speech returned, his voice had grown huskier
+than ever; he spoke slowly, with a pause between each word.
+
+"All right, my lad--laugh, but you won't laugh last. You're not going
+to put me in the cart, as your swindler of a father did; I'm going to
+put you there. I warned you what would be the result of your
+attempting to have any more traffic with my girl, so you've yourself
+to thank for whatever happens."
+
+He stopped, as if he found a difficulty in saying much at once. When
+he continued, while his tones were a little clearer, they were more
+bitter.
+
+"Directly I get home I'm going to tell my girl what kind of man you
+are, and what kind of man your delectable father was. When she knows,
+I'll wager you a trifle that she never willingly speaks to you again;
+she'll despise herself for ever having spoken to you at all; she'll
+treat you in the future as if you had never been. She has her faults,
+but she resembles her father on one point--she has no use for a thief,
+and especially for a thief who is the son of a thief."
+
+Another pause; this time, apparently, not so much for the sake of
+gaining breath as to enable his words to have their full effect on the
+smiling young man at the other end of the carriage. If he looked for
+some sign of their having touched him on a sensitive spot, he found
+none; the young man continued to smile. Possibly because he suspected
+that it might be the other's intention to irritate, he kept himself
+the more in hand. Leaning back in his seat, laying his parti-coloured
+silk handkerchief across his knee, for the first time he wore an
+appearance of ease, and he also began to smile.
+
+"However, since I'm a cautious man, and you never can be certain what
+trick a blackguard will play upon a girl, I'll make assurance doubly
+sure; I'll take steps which will render it impossible for you to play
+a trick on my girl. The first thing to-morrow morning I'll take out a
+warrant for your arrest as a forger and a thief, and I'll give
+instructions to have it executed at once; so, you see, I'm better than
+my word, as I generally am. I warned you that if you dared to force
+yourself upon my girl again I'd have you gaoled, and I will. But I
+didn't undertake to give you a chance to show the police a clean pair
+of heels; yet I'm giving you one. If, between this and to-morrow
+morning--say, at ten--you can make yourself scarce, you can. But
+you'll have to be spry, because I give you my word that if the police
+do let the scent go cold it won't be for want of my urging them after
+you. You may run to earth if you like, but they'll dig you out. Don't
+you flatter yourself on your dodging powers; they'll get the handcuffs
+on your wrists."
+
+Picking up his handkerchief with his finger-tips, Mr. Patterson let it
+fall again across his knee, smiling broadly as if in the enjoyment of
+a joke.
+
+"And don't you flatter yourself that you'll come under the First
+Offenders Act--you won't, I'll take care of that. I've a list locked
+up in a drawer at the office the details of which, when they are
+produced in court, will surprise you. No jury will recommend you to
+mercy after hearing that, and no judge will listen to them if they do.
+You'll be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment as sure as you are
+sitting there. You'll be branded as a felon for the rest of your life.
+I'll teach you, you thief, to try to associate as an equal with that
+girl of mine."
+
+Again he picked up his handkerchief; on this occasion to wipe his
+lips. But this time he did not return it to his knee; he continued to
+hold it in his hand--indeed, he waved it affably towards Elmore.
+
+"I owed your father one--such a one! But he never gave me a chance of
+paying him. Now I owe you one--also such a one--and I'll pay you both
+together--by gad, I will! Oh, you may keep on smiling, you brassbound
+blackguard; I hope you'll find the reality as amusing as you seem to
+find the prospect. When you feel a policeman's hand upon your shoulder
+and handcuffs on your wrists, then you'll stop smiling. Make no
+mistake; for you there's only one way of escape, and that's your
+father's--suicide."
+
+Stopping, Mr. Patterson thrust his handkerchief into the outer
+breast-pocket of his coat in such a fashion that the hem protruded.
+There was silence, broken only by the rushing noise made by the train.
+All at once Rodney Elmore, rising, moved along the carriage and placed
+himself on the seat immediately in front of his uncle.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                              THE SECOND
+
+
+Mr. Patterson glared at his nephew as if he had been guilty of a gross
+liberty in placing himself where he had done--indeed, he said as much.
+
+"Go back to your own end of the carriage at once, you young scoundrel.
+How dare you come so close to me? Isn't it sufficient contamination to
+have to breathe the air of the same compartment, without being
+polluted by your immediate neighbourhood?"
+
+Rodney was not at all abashed, nor did he show any sign of an
+intention to return whence he came. On the contrary, leaning a little
+forward, he smiled at his uncle blandly.
+
+"Softly, sir, softly! If you allow yourself to become excited you may
+do yourself a mischief--excitement is the worst possible thing for
+you."
+
+"None of your insolence, you young hound; don't you think I'll allow
+you to be insolent to me! Are you going back to the other end of the
+carriage?"
+
+"No, sir; I am not."
+
+"Then----"
+
+Mr. Patterson made as if to move, then checked himself. Rodney asked:
+
+"What were you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't go back to the other end of the carriage at once I'll
+pull the communication cord and stop the train."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"I'll give you into custody before the whole trainful of passengers."
+
+"Into whose custody?"
+
+"The guard will take charge of you till we get to a station; he won't
+let you go till he has seen you safe in the hands of a policeman. You
+won't have a chance of running; you'll sleep in gaol tonight. Are you
+going back to your own seat?"
+
+"I propose to remain where I am."
+
+"Then I'll stop the train!"
+
+He made as if to do as he said, but Rodney, rising first, laid his
+hand upon his shoulder to such effect that he found himself unable to
+move. Indignation brought back the purple to Mr. Patterson's face.
+
+"You dare to touch me? You infernal young villain--take away your
+hand!"
+
+"I don't intend to allow you to touch the communication cord."
+
+"You don't intend! We'll see about that."
+
+They did see, on the instant. The black knob of the alarm bell was
+over the centre seat in front of Mr. Patterson. Putting out his
+strength, evading Rodney's grip, he gained his feet. Elmore took him
+by the shoulders with both his hands. There was a scuffle--sharp, but
+brief. For a moment it looked as if the elder man might be a match for
+the younger, but for a moment only. On a sudden Mr. Patterson
+collapsed on to his seat as if the stiffening had gone all out of him
+and left him but a mass of boneless pulp. He could only gasp out
+words.
+
+"You shall smart for this!"
+
+"If you're not very careful, sir, you'll smart first--my dear uncle."
+
+"Don't you call me your dear uncle."
+
+"My dear uncle."
+
+"Damn you, you----"
+
+A flood of vituperation poured from the elder man's lips, which, when
+he had finished, left him an even darker shade of purple. Rodney never
+ceased to smile. So soon as the flood had stopped he repeated the
+endearing form of address.
+
+"My dear uncle"--Mr. Patterson was panting, for the moment he was
+speechless--"turn and turn about's fair play, and fair play's a jewel.
+You've had your say, now I'm going to have mine--you'll find mine as
+interesting as I found yours. To begin with, I'm going to ask you one
+or two questions."
+
+"I'll answer no questions of yours."
+
+"Oh, yes, you will, when you find what they are. In the first place,
+am I to understand that you are really serious--weigh your words, my
+dear uncle!--in saying that you'd tell Gladys--what you said you'd
+tell her?"
+
+"So soon as I get home I'll tell her everything--everything--about
+you, and your rascally father, too."
+
+"Will you?"
+
+"I will--as sure as you are living!"
+
+"So surely as that? And are you prepared to take your oath that you'll
+take out that warrant you were speaking of, or--was that intended for
+a jest?"
+
+"Oath! I'll take no oath to you--you Nature's gaol-bird! But of this I
+assure you, you'll sleep in a prison cell to-night, and many and many
+another night to come."
+
+Mr. Patterson, dragging the silk handkerchief from his breast pocket,
+used it to wipe away the perspiration which again bedewed his brow.
+
+"Shall I?"
+
+"You will."
+
+"Oh, no, I won't; nor will you tell Gladys those unkind things about
+me and my father."
+
+"Who the devil's going to stop me?"
+
+"I'm the devil who's going to stop you."
+
+Rodney was leaning a little forward. His uncle stopped in the process
+of wiping his brow to stare at him, as if there were something in his
+manner which struck him as peculiar. About the young gentleman's lips
+was the same easy, unconcerned smile which had been there all the
+time; there was a smile also in his eyes--it was, apparently, this
+latter which gave him the odd expression which had struck his uncle.
+Mr. Patterson glanced about him as if in search of something he would
+have liked to find. Rodney sat perfectly still. As he put a query to
+him his uncle's pursy lips showed a tendency to twitch.
+
+"How are you going to stop me?"
+
+"Can't you guess how I am going to stop you?"
+
+"I can do nothing of the kind. You can't stop me, or anyone. I am
+going to do my duty to my daughter and to society, and nothing can
+stop me."
+
+"You know better than that. From something which has just come upon
+your face I can see that already you know better."
+
+Mr. Patterson gave what he doubtless meant to be a spring towards the
+alarm bell opposite; but, for reasons which were beyond his control,
+his movements were slower than they should have been--the younger man
+was much too quick for him. Gripping him again by both his shoulders,
+exerting greater strength than on the first occasion, he forced him
+back upon his seat with a degree of violence which seemed to drive the
+sense half out of him. As Rodney, remaining on his feet, stood
+towering above him, one perceived more clearly that his was the build
+of the athlete, and how great were the probabilities, if they came to
+grips, that the big man would be helpless in his hands. He addressed
+his uncle as an elder person might have spoken to a mutinous child.
+
+"My dearest uncle--you really must permit me to lay stress upon your
+avuncular relationship on what will probably be my last chance of
+doing so--you are not going to pull the alarm bell, you are not going
+to stop the train. You have no more chance of doing either than you
+have of flying to the moon, so get that into your drink-sodden brain.
+Nor are you going to libel me to Gladys, nor commit me to the mercy of
+a ruthless police. Presently you will see that as clearly as I do
+now."
+
+Rodney resumed his seat, still keeping his glance fixed on his uncle,
+in whose demeanour a change seemed to have taken place which was both
+mental and physical. Possibly his nephew had used more violence than
+he supposed. The vigour had gone all out of him; inert, he stared at
+Rodney with bloodshot eyes, as if drink had taken sudden effect and
+bemused his brain. The young man's smile became more pronounced, as if
+he found the singularity of the other's appearance amusing. The tone
+of his voice, when he spoke, was genial and pleasant.
+
+"My dear uncle, if you, the only relative I have in the world, had
+treated me, when first I entered your office, as you might have been
+expected to do, I might have become an affectionate and worthy
+nephew."
+
+"Not you. You started robbing me before you'd been in the place a
+week."
+
+"Is that so? So soon as that? Perhaps you have never known what it is
+to be in want of ready cash."
+
+"When I was eighteen I was keeping myself on fifty pounds a year, for
+which I was working anything up to sixteen hours a day."
+
+"Indeed! It might have been better if that period of your life had
+lasted longer. You wouldn't have been in the rotten condition you
+are."
+
+"What's the matter with my condition? I never had a day's illness in
+my life."
+
+"My dear uncle, if you weren't in a rotten condition you'd have rung
+that alarm bell before this, wouldn't you? But, although it's only
+within a foot or two, you'll never ring it--never, because you are
+rotten."
+
+Mr. Patterson glanced towards the black knob. Rodney shook his head.
+
+"It's no good, uncle. You won't be able to get at it--you know that.
+What an illustration you are of the desirability of keeping oneself
+fit! It seems that from the first you kept a sharper eye on me than I
+suspected."
+
+"I'm not the fool you took me for."
+
+"Aren't you? That remains to be seen. Do you think that it was the
+part of wisdom to threaten me as you have been doing when you and I
+were alone together in a compartment of a railway train which doesn't
+stop, at least, till it gets to Croydon?"
+
+"I've not been threatening you; I wouldn't condescend. I've only been
+telling you what you may expect."
+
+"That's all; and by doing so you've made the issue a simple one. If
+you reach town alive, to all intents I shall be dead; whereas, if you
+reach town dead, I--shall be on velvet, because you see, my dear
+uncle, I'm Gladys' lover; and she loves me, if possible, even more
+than I do her. I've proofs of it. Since she is your only child, when
+you are dead everything you have will be hers, which is tantamount to
+saying that it will be mine, which is just what I should like. So you
+will at once perceive how--from every point of view--very much to my
+advantage it would be that you should be dead."
+
+"You young hell-hound! Unfortunately for you, I'm not dead, and I'm
+not likely to die."
+
+"Oh, yes, you are, very likely--unfortunately for you. You told me
+that my father only found one way to escape trouble--suicide. You
+hinted in your most affectionate manner that some time, in my turn, I
+might only find one way. Your kindly hint made such an impression on
+me that I actually made preparations, so that I might never be at a
+loss if ever that time should come. Those preparations are contained
+in this dainty little box."
+
+Rodney took from his waistcoat pocket what might have passed as a
+silver needle-case or receptacle for pins. He held it out in front of
+his uncle, who was as much moved by the sight of it as if it had been
+some object of horror.
+
+"You--you're not going to make away with yourself before my eyes?
+You--you don't suppose I'll let you do it?"
+
+"How would you propose to stop me?"
+
+Again Mr. Patterson mopped his brow with his silk handkerchief of many
+colours. He presented a pitiable spectacle. His lips twitched, his
+hand trembled, and his whole huge frame seemed to shiver like a mass
+of jelly. His voice was broken and husky, he stammered in his speech.
+
+"Elmore, you--you're quite right; I'm--I'm not very well. I--I've had
+a great deal to put up with lately, and it's unhinged me. Give me that
+infernal thing you've got there--I don't know what is in it, or if
+you're playing a trick with me, but--you give it me."
+
+"I'm going to--shortly."
+
+The young man's airy self-possession was in almost painful contrast to
+the elder's agitation. He glanced at his watch, holding the slender,
+round case between the finger and thumb of his other hand.
+
+"Nearly half-past nine. What was that station we passed? Was it
+Hayward's Heath? I fancy we do stop at Croydon, so that there's not
+much time to spare. I'm going to act on your suggestion, uncle--with a
+difference. I am not going to commit suicide, but you are!"
+
+"I am?--you young fool!--what do you mean?"
+
+"In fact, you practically have committed suicide already."
+
+"The man's mad."
+
+"Possibly--but not on this particular point. When you told me in such
+very coarse language what I might expect, you practically committed
+suicide, as--I'm about to prove. You remember the case of the eminent
+financier who, within five minutes of being sentenced to a long term
+of penal servitude, was in a room which was immediately outside the
+court in which he had received his sentence, from which he was
+instantly to be haled to gaol, under the very noses of his warders
+slipped something between his lips and--escaped. You will probably
+remember the case better than I do, since at the time I was only a
+boy; yet I have studied it to such purpose that within this pretty
+little box are--shall we call them tabloids?--which are in all
+essentials identical with the one he swallowed. They kill as by a
+flash of lightning. Whoever has one of these within his reach no man
+shall stay him from--escaping. You are going to swallow one of these
+tabloids, uncle--this one."
+
+Unscrewing the top of his silver box, Rodney removed the cap, and took
+from it what looked like a small peppermint lozenge, holding it up
+between his finger and thumb.
+
+"You see, uncle--this one; as it were, death reduced to its lowest
+possible denomination."
+
+At that moment Rodney seemed to be exercising over his uncle some of
+the fabulous qualities attributed to the serpent. Beyond doubt Mr.
+Patterson recognised with sufficient vividness that this young man in
+front of him was much more dangerous than he had supposed; that he had
+underrated his capacity for evil; that he might as well have shut
+himself in with a tiger as with his sister's son. But the recognition
+came too late. The very force of it had the effect of destroying his
+few remaining powers of volition. In face of the deadly purpose with
+which he perceived that his nephew was filled, he was as one
+paralysed. He could only grow purpler and purpler, and splutter.
+
+"Don't--don't you play any of your infernal tricks on me, you--you
+villain! Curse it, why can't I get at that bell!" He made as if to
+rise, but, seemingly, was as incapable of movement as if he had been
+glued to his seat. As if conscious that his peril was imminent, he
+raised his voice to a raucous scream.
+
+"Don't--don't you dare to lay your hands on me! Don't--don't you dare
+to touch me! Help!"
+
+As the uncle opened his mouth to cry for aid the nephew caught him by
+the throat and slipped between his lips the tiny white lozenge which
+he had taken from the silver box. Then he struck up his jaw with a
+click and held it shut, so that he could not put it out again. Forcing
+back his head, he gripped him tight. His uncle was seized with a
+convulsion which seemed to Rodney as if it must have shaken the
+carriage. Almost at the same instant it was as if all vitality had
+gone clean out of him. The nephew was gripping a limp corpse.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X
+
+                        IN THE CARRIAGE--ALONE
+
+
+Graham Patterson, in the agony of that last convulsion, had nearly
+slipped off the seat, so that, with a very little, he would be on the
+floor. His nephew, who hitherto had not for a moment lost his presence
+of mind, and who kept it then, was at a loss. Would such an attitude
+be recognised as proper for a suicide? Would, that is, a doctor--any
+doctor--be prepared to assert that a man who had killed himself with
+potassium cyanide might, under the circumstances, quite conceivably
+die in such an attitude, or assume it after death? To Rodney's
+supernaturally keen vision there were trifles about his uncle's
+appearance which scarcely marked this as inevitably a case of suicide.
+The collar was a little crumpled; the tie a little disarranged; he
+even fancied that there were prints of his fingers on the skin of
+the throat. He was conscious that he had gripped him with great
+force--perhaps a little clumsily; he certainly ought to have avoided
+contact with the collar and the tie, but no doubt the prints would
+wear off. Indeed, as he bent closer he was not sure that they did not
+exist only in his imagination; the light was not good; he could not
+be certain. With dexterous fingers he smoothed the collar, he
+rearranged the tie--so deftly that he felt convinced that no one
+would notice that anything had been wrong with him. He raised the
+body a little, so that it was in what seemed to him to be a more
+natural position, on the edge of the seat; he felt that it would
+look better. He was surprised to find how heavy his uncle was--it
+required quite an effort on his part to lift him.
+
+He turned the contents of the silver box on to his hand. There were
+seven tiny lozenges. He returned three to the box, and laid it on the
+seat; the other four he placed beside it. Taking an envelope out of an
+inner pocket of his jacket, he tore off a corner. In it he placed the
+four tabloids, carefully folded it, and put it in his waistcoat
+pocket. Then he balanced the cap of the box on the arm of the seat
+beside his uncle; the box itself he placed between the fingers of his
+uncle's left hand, with--in it--the other three tabloids. So tightly
+were the fingers clenched that Rodney had to use force to open them
+sufficiently to enable him to insert the box. Then, seating himself
+opposite, he looked his uncle carefully over with an artist's eye for
+detail. In his present attitude, with that open box with its tell-tale
+contents held tightly between his stiffened fingers, it seemed to
+Rodney that a coroner would be bound to instruct his jury that suicide
+was the only possible explanation of Graham Patterson's death. Having
+satisfied himself on which point, he withdrew to the opposite end of
+the carriage, being, in spite of himself, conscious of a feeling that
+the dead man's too immediate neighbourhood was not a thing to be
+desired.
+
+Seated in his original place, he took out his white cambric
+handkerchief, and with it delicately wiped his fingers, having an
+uncomfortable notion that something disagreeable had adhered to them
+which it would be better to remove. Then he set himself to consider
+the position. A great smoker of cigarettes, absent-mindedly and as a
+matter of course he took out his case, and was about to light one when
+it occurred to him that it might be a dangerous thing to do. It was
+not a smoking carriage; if, when the discovery was made, it smelt
+strongly of smoke--and nothing lingers like a cigarette--it might be
+shown that his uncle had not been smoking, and the question might
+arise--who had? He returned the case to his pocket. As he did so the
+train rushed past a signal-box. He remembered reading of the strange
+things which signalmen see in trains as they rushed past them. When
+his uncle was found, exhaustive inquiries would be set on foot. Quite
+conceivably some signalman had seen them struggling, or something
+which had piqued his curiosity as it had caught his eye. His uncle
+would be found alone. The signalman's story might suggest that at one
+period of the journey someone had been in the carriage with him. What
+had become of that someone? The mere question might start a hue and
+cry. Rodney recalled, with quite a little sense of shock, that his
+uncle had been partly pushed into the carriage by an official on the
+Brighton platform. Graham Patterson was a noticeable-looking person;
+he must have presented a striking spectacle as he had come hurrying
+along the platform. When discovery came about, the official would
+recollect the incident and recognise him beyond a doubt.
+
+Had he noticed that somebody was already in the carriage when he was
+thrusting the fat man in? Rodney was compelled to admit that the
+probabilities were that he had. So far as he himself was concerned,
+Rodney recalled the whole sequence of events. How he had rushed up to
+the ticket inspector just as the Pullman was moving; how the man,
+slamming the gate in his face, had informed him that another train was
+due to start in ten minutes. The young gentleman had a suspicion that
+the fellow had looked him up and down as he was explaining. There were
+others about who might also have looked him up and down. Rodney had an
+uneasy feeling that, in his way, he was perhaps as noticeable a figure
+as his uncle--so tall, so upright, so well groomed, so handsome, with
+something about his appearance which almost amounted to an air of
+distinction. He had walked a few paces to another platform, as
+directed; the man at the gate, in his turn, had looked him up and down
+as he clipped his ticket; he had strolled leisurely along the
+platform, which he had had almost entirely to himself; when he reached
+a carriage which he thought would suit him, he stood for a second or
+two at the open door--as he remembered, right in front of the official
+who, later, had helped his uncle in.
+
+He sat up very straight as that little fact came back to him. He
+remembered very well eyeing the man, whom, certainly, he would know
+again anywhere. No doubt the man had eyed him, and had his likeness in
+his mind's eye. The fellow had seen him enter the compartment and shut
+the door; a few minutes later he had opened the door again to admit
+his uncle, well knowing that he was already within. The accident might
+prove very awkward for the nephew later on; no one could have
+appreciated the possibilities of the position more clearly than he
+did.
+
+As he pondered the matter he was inclined to think that he had made a
+mistake in doing what he had done. Such a fuss is made about a thing
+of that sort that, in any event, one runs a risk. Had he had more time
+to appreciate exactly what would be the nature of the risk in his own
+case he might have--hesitated. If he had he would have been deposed
+from his cousin's good graces, and--to adopt her sire's rather
+melodramatic language--have been "branded as a felon," so that he
+would not have been much better off. Looking at it philosophically the
+result of what he had done was this: that whereas, if he had let his
+uncle have his own way, ruin was certain, as things were he had at
+least a fighting chance of postponing the evil day--perhaps to an
+indefinite period. More; in the meanwhile he could have a rattling
+good time. And he would have it. He smiled as he made himself that
+promise.
+
+All the same, though he smiled, he realised that if he proposed to
+have a good time he must not continue to take his ease where he
+was--with his uncle on the seat at the other end. If he seriously
+wished the world to take it for granted that Graham Patterson had
+committed suicide, he must not be found in the same compartment. That
+was sure. He had been told by someone, or had read somewhere, that
+every express train, though assumed to be "non-stopping," stopped at
+least once, because a signal was against it, or at least slowed down
+sufficiently to enable an agile passenger, with safety, to alight. So
+far that train had neither stopped nor slowed. His watch told him
+that it was about twenty to ten--ten minutes ago his uncle had been
+alive. It seemed longer ago than that. He had a fair knowledge of
+the line by daylight; it was different at night. Objects--even
+stations--were difficult to distinguish. He peered through the open
+window without thrusting out his head. They seemed to be running
+through open country, possibly on the top of the ballast. He could
+make out lights, though they were few and far between; they seemed to
+be passing a number of trees, with a big building beyond. They
+crashed through a station--it was Earlswood; they had just passed
+Earlswood Asylum. Immediately they would be on the new part of the
+line, which avoids the South-Eastern station at Redhill. There was no
+station between this and Purley. He might leave the train anywhere
+with comparative safety if it would only slow a little. To attempt to
+alight while it was moving at that rate through the darkness would be
+equivalent to committing suicide. At the best he could not hope to
+avoid serious injury. He must wait--till it slowed.
+
+The whistle on the engine sounded; the train began to slow. Instantly
+he was leaning forward, his fingers on the handle, which was inside
+the door. The train slowed still more; it entered a tunnel, slowing
+all the while; in the heart of the tunnel it stopped--dead. The gods
+were on his side. Yet not for an instant did he lose his presence of
+mind. The signal was against them--that was why they had stopped. Was
+it on the left or the right? On the signal side the guard would
+possibly have his head out of the carriage with an eye for it;
+possibly some of the passengers might be observing it also. It would
+be fatal to get out on that side; his door would be seen opening; he
+might be seen to alight; he would be jumping out of the frying-pan
+into the fire; all sorts of consequences might accrue. He looked out
+of his own window; there was no signal in front or behind. Then it was
+on the other side, on the left, against the wall of the tunnel. He
+looked on to the six-foot way. He could see the whole length of the
+train; not a sign of a head at any of the windows. He had already
+turned the handle, opening the door just wide enough he stepped on to
+the footboard, closed the door, and dropped on to the permanent way.
+He had left his uncle to continue his journey alone. Lest his
+upstanding figure might be visible to someone, he crouched as close as
+he could to the ground. The train began to move very slowly. The door
+of the compartment next to that which he had just left was opened, a
+figure came on to the footboard, closed the door, sprang on to the
+ballast while the train was already in motion. For a moment Rodney was
+the victim of a gruesome delusion; to him it was as if the door of his
+own compartment had been opened; as if Graham Patterson had alighted
+at his side. He pressed the tips of his fingers into his palms to keep
+himself from exclaiming.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI
+
+                             THE STRANGER
+
+
+The train went slowly rumbling by; who looked out of the windows
+Rodney neither knew nor cared. He was conscious of the guard's van
+passing, then the train had gone. He could see the tail lights moving
+quicker and quicker through the darkness. He himself continued
+motionless. He had realised by now that it was not his uncle who had
+alighted; that it was the door of the next compartment which had been
+opened. He could not believe that his own movements had been observed.
+He doubted if they could have been seen by a person who had not
+actually got his head out at the moment--even by his next door
+neighbour. He was certain that no head had been out. The thing had
+been a coincidence--a strange one, but nothing more. Someone also had
+reasons for wishing to quit the train in an unusual manner; someone
+who was unaware that he was out already. The chances were that he had
+not been noticed; that, if he kept quite still, he would not be
+noticed. The stranger would blunder along without ever becoming
+cognisant of his near neighbourhood; whichever way the stranger went,
+he would go the other.
+
+Now that the train had left, it was very still in the tunnel; the air
+was close, full of smoke, which was bad both for the throat and the
+eyes. Something had dropped once or twice on Rodney's shoulder. He had
+heard that it was sometimes damp in tunnels; possibly it was moisture
+dropping from the brickwork overhead. He would have liked to move so
+as to avoid it, but was reluctant to make a sound--till the stranger
+had moved. He wondered what the stranger was doing; silence continued
+for what seemed to him to be a preternatural length of time. Possibly,
+less fortunate than himself, the stranger had been hurt in alighting,
+which explained the stillness. If that were so, his own position might
+be difficult. If he moved first the stranger might claim his help,
+might make a fuss if he refused it--such a fuss that the fact that he
+had left the train would be discovered.
+
+Still not a sound. Momentarily the situation was becoming more
+delicate. He could not remain crouched down like that for ever, with
+big drops of something falling on to his shoulder. What should he do?
+The question was answered for him.
+
+"Caught you!"
+
+The words were whispered close to his ear. He stood straight up
+suddenly, startled half out of his wits. His impulse was to
+fly--anywhere, anyhow. Then that wonderful presence of mind of his,
+which never left him long, came back; he realised that haste on his
+part might involve disaster. He stood bolt upright, quite still, with
+fists clenched, prepared for anything.
+
+Something came; fingers were laid upon his coat-sleeve. He showed no
+sign of resenting their coming, their touch was so soft that it hardly
+suggested danger. A voice came to him through the darkness, the one
+which had so startled him by whispering in his ear.
+
+"That was a capital idea of yours--capital."
+
+To Rodney's acute sense of hearing there seemed to be a curious
+quality in the voice; he was not sure if it belonged to a man or a
+woman. It came again.
+
+"Have you ever been in a tunnel before? I haven't."
+
+The last two words were spoken with a snigger which was certainly a
+man's, though he still felt that the voice itself might be either
+masculine or feminine. He had a fastidious taste in voices; apart from
+the circumstances under which he heard it, that one affected him
+unpleasantly. It continued, and his distaste grew.
+
+"Do you know that our getting out here in the tunnel has proved
+something which I have always held as an article of faith; that I have
+cat's eyes--positively? Isn't it droll? I can see you--not plainly,
+but sufficiently well. Now I dare say you can't see me at all!"
+
+Rodney could not; he did not believe that the stranger could see him.
+Darkness was about them like a wall.
+
+"Come!"
+
+He felt the fingers which had rested on his sleeve slipped under his
+arm.
+
+"I will guide you; let me turn you round. We will go this way, towards
+the signal. You see?--it is set at danger. Some people would say that
+we are in rather a dangerous position."
+
+Again that unpleasantly sounding snigger.
+
+"I hope you're not feeling nervous; you needn't. That signal is not
+far off, and when we reach it we are out in the open. I know exactly
+where we are; this is Redhill tunnel. Not only can I see in the dark,
+dimly, but still see, but I also have, in a curious degree, the bump
+of locality. With me it amounts almost to an additional sense. I
+always know where I am, even when I am in a strange place; in a place
+in which I have been before I have an incredible perception of my
+surroundings. For three years I lived quite close to this--in
+Earlswood Asylum, as a patient."
+
+Earlswood Asylum! Then the creature was a lunatic. That explained the
+singularity of his voice, of his manner, his proceedings. An idea came
+into Rodney's head. The creature was small; he felt, as he moved
+beside him with his hand under his arm, that he probably did not reach
+to his shoulder. It would be easy to leave him in the tunnel. Who
+cares what happens to a lunatic?
+
+"I shouldn't if I were you; it wouldn't pay."
+
+The words were so apposite that, despite himself, Rodney started. He
+had not spoken. Could the creature read what was passing through his
+brain?
+
+"There are times when I can read people's thoughts just as plainly
+as if they had spoken them out loud, even when I can't see their
+faces--really! Isn't it odd? Oh, I am quite gifted. My argument always
+has been that, in a general way, a lunatic is merely abnormal, nothing
+more. At intervals a cloud settles on my brain; I can see, I can
+feel it coming; then, for an indefinite period, I am on the lap
+of the gods. When it passes my senses are more acute than other
+people's--abnormally acute, I know it as a fact. Now you see, as I
+told you, we are out in the open--look! the stars are shining. Look
+back at the tunnel; isn't it a horror of blackness? Like the horror I
+know. If we scramble up that bank we shall probably find a gap in the
+hedge at the top; platelayers often do leave a gap in a hedge close
+to the wall of a tunnel that they may descend to the line. As I told
+you, here's our gap; now, over the fence, and the rest is easy
+sailing."
+
+It seemed to Rodney that since he had quitted the train something must
+have happened to him mentally; it was as if, all at once, he were
+playing a part in a dream. In silence, without offering the least
+remonstrance, he had suffered the stranger to pilot him out of the
+tunnel, up the steep bank beyond--to dominate him wholly. Now, except
+that they seemed to be standing in an open space of considerable size,
+he had not the dimmest notion of their whereabouts; but to the
+stranger it all seemed plain.
+
+"That big building on our right's an orphanage--St. Anne's; I believe
+we're on their ground. If we keep straight on to our left we shall
+come to the high road, from which it is only a few minutes to Redhill
+station, whence we shall continue our journey to town. Quite an
+interesting episode this has been, has it not? I am indebted to you
+for much entertainment. I have seldom had so much enjoyment in a
+train, Mr. Elmore."
+
+The creature knew his name! How? Who was he? What did it mean? Again
+he was conscious of an impulse to take him by the throat and--resolve
+the question in his own fashion. How came the creature to know his
+name? Although he had uttered no articulate sound, he had his answer.
+
+"The explanation is simple, explanations often are. I heard your uncle
+address you by your name in a most audible tone of voice just towards
+the close. Most people have no idea how thin the partition really is
+which divides one compartment from another. Do you know I have heard
+that in some instances it is made of papier-mâché--fancy! You can
+always hear if a conversation is taking place in an adjoining
+compartment--it is surprising how much you can hear if you try,
+especially if your hearing is as good as mine is--that's another of my
+gifts. I had my ear glued to the partition most of the time. Of
+course, I could not hear everything--and I should very much have liked
+to see, but I gathered enough to enable me to form a general idea,
+particularly when you began to use violence towards your uncle and to
+hurl him back into his seat--it amounted to hurling. You see, I was
+his side. And, of course, when you both raised your voices I could
+hear a very great deal. I was not in the least surprised at the
+silence which followed. I understood--oh, I understood! At least, I
+think I understood. It was perfectly plain that only one person was
+left in the compartment who counted, and, of course, I knew that was
+you. I said to myself: 'Now, I wonder how long he'll stay there all
+alone? He's sure to take advantage of the first opportunity of getting
+out if the train stops or slows, and if he gets out I'll get out too.'
+Wasn't it lucky that it stopped in a tunnel, and that, therefore, we
+were both of us able to get out without being observed? Quite a stroke
+of fortune! Here we are, right on the high road, with the station a
+little more than a stone's throw in front of us."
+
+Rodney listened to what the stranger had to say as, side by side, they
+tramped across the uneven ground with feelings which he would not have
+found it easy to clothe with words. Beyond all doubt this was a
+lunatic; but of what an uncomfortable kind! He had been wiser to have
+acted on his first impulse and to have left him in the tunnel. Now it
+was too late; it would not be the same thing to--leave him there. Yet,
+if he continued in his company, how should he muzzle him? With what
+would he make him dumb? By what means could he keep him from blurting
+out the whole story to the first person they might meet? Once more,
+though he had uttered not a syllable, there came an answer.
+
+"You run no risk of my blabbing, I am not that kind of person--at
+least, while the cloud is yet afar off. Afterwards, believe me, no one
+pays any heed to what I say. I play the part of audience only. I am
+not, like you, one of Nature's criminals; but I am indifferent, which
+is about the same. What A does to B is A's business and B's, not mine;
+that I always shall maintain. Here we are at the station. It's been
+altered since my time; they've given it a new front. When is the next
+train to town?"
+
+He put the question quite naturally to a porter who was standing
+about.
+
+"Ten-forty; nearly half an hour to wait--that is if she is punctual,
+which she's not always of a Sunday night."
+
+The stranger addressed himself to Elmore.
+
+"That, perhaps, is fortunate, since that will enable me to offer you a
+little refreshment, of which I dare say both of us stand in need."
+
+Rodney, always speechless, walked beside the stranger to the
+refreshment bar. Now he could see him plainly. A notion which had been
+fluttering at the back of his head took flight; there was no
+suggestion of a detective police official about him. He was shorter
+even than he had imagined, probably scarcely over five feet high; a
+mean-looking, ill-shapen fellow, with one shoulder higher than the
+other, which gave him an appearance of being one-sided. Badly dressed
+in an ill-fitting suit of rusty dark-grey tweed, clumsily shod, tie
+disarranged, doubtful collar, old tweed hat shaped like a billycock,
+about him the air of one who was not over fond of soap and water.
+Probably between fifty and sixty, a round, hairless, wizened face, all
+wrinkles, flat, snub nose, curiously small mouth--Rodney wondered if
+the peculiarity of his voice was owing to its coming through so
+small an aperture; queer, big, oval, ugly eyes--small pupils floating
+in a sea of yellow. The young gentleman was conscious of what an
+ill-assorted couple they must appear. He would have liked very much to
+put a termination to the association then and there, but--he could
+not, it was too late.
+
+The stranger on his part seemed sublimely unaware of there being
+anything odd in their companionship. He gave his order to the young
+lady on the other side of the counter.
+
+"One brandy, two Scotch whiskies, and a small soda divided."
+
+The young lady looked as if she was not quite sure that she had caught
+what he said.
+
+"I beg your pardon."
+
+"I said one brandy, two Scotch whiskies, and a small soda divided.
+You've quite right, there are only two of us; I take brandy and whisky
+together--I'm a lunatic."
+
+Two young men at the other end, with whom the young lady had been
+talking, looked at each other and smiled. The young lady also smiled,
+under the apparent impression that, somewhere, there was a joke.
+
+"It is rather unusual, isn't it?"
+
+"Not at all--with lunatics."
+
+It was not easy for standers-by to decide whether or not he was in
+earnest. Rodney was in doubt; indeed, the man's words and manner
+started him wondering to what extent, in all he had been saying, the
+fellow had been "pulling his leg."
+
+The young lady passed three glasses to their side of the counter. The
+stranger, taking two, emptied one into the other. He held it up
+towards Rodney.
+
+"Your very good health, and the next time we meet may you afford me as
+much entertainment."
+
+Swallowing the contents of the glass at a single gulp, he replaced it
+on the counter.
+
+"The same again, miss; one brandy, one Scotch whisky; lunatics don't
+take long over a drop like that."
+
+She looked at him doubtfully for a moment; then gave him what he
+ordered, saying, as she passed him the glasses:
+
+"Two shillings, please."
+
+As again he emptied one into the other he nodded to Rodney.
+
+"Pay her; I've no money--lunatics never have."
+
+Rodney drank what was in his glass, placed a florin on the counter,
+and left the place without a word. Hardly had he reached the door when
+he found the little man again at his side. He commenced pacing up and
+down the dimly lit platform; the little man paced also, two of his
+short steps being the equivalent of one of Rodney's strides. He asked
+himself if he could do nothing to shake the fellow off; with his usual
+singular intuition the other replied to his unspoken thought.
+
+"Not nice, being in the company of one who knows as much as I do?
+Perhaps not; yet I don't see why. I'm incapable of giving evidence; if
+I weren't I wouldn't say a word to spoil the fun; I am as good as a
+dead man. You'll have a dead man for constant companion--why not me?"
+
+Again he gave vent to the snigger which so jarred on the young man's
+nerves. When the train entered the station they were still pacing to
+and fro; Rodney not having yet uttered a single word. The little man
+followed him into the empty first-class compartment which he had
+selected, saying as he drew the door to behind him:
+
+"Isn't it confiding of me to trust myself alone in a carriage with
+you--after what has happened? But I am not in the least afraid. I am
+sure you won't care to repeat your experiment to-night. And I shall
+find it so amusing to sit and watch you, and see what is passing
+through your mind; because, do you know, it will all be just as plain
+to me as if you said everything aloud."
+
+While crediting the stranger with unusual perceptive powers, Rodney
+doubted if in his assertion he did not go too far. If he had the
+dimmest insight into the tangled network of thought with which the
+young man's brain was filled, then he was a marvel indeed. Elmore,
+leaning back in his seat, remained perfectly still, with his face
+towards the window, to all outward seeming as oblivious of the other's
+presence and occasional remarks as if he were not there. When they
+reached Croydon a person approached the carriage window whom the
+stranger plainly recognised; a pleasant-faced, brown-skinned and
+brown-haired young man with a slight moustache, with something in his
+bearing and expression which suggested reserve. Coming into the
+carriage, he said to the stranger, as he sat beside him, half
+smilingly, half chidingly:
+
+"So it is you, is it? I hope you've enjoyed your little trip."
+
+The stranger seemed to regard his coming with an air of not altogether
+pleased surprise.
+
+"You're a most extraordinary man."
+
+The other replied:
+
+"One has to be a little that way if one is responsible for you."
+
+The new-comer's good-humoured curtness seemed to disturb the
+stranger's equilibrium.
+
+"Responsible for me, indeed! Upon my word, you are the most
+extraordinary man."
+
+In his own fashion the stranger introduced the new-comer to Rodney.
+
+"This is Dr. Emmett, my medical attendant. I left him behind me in
+Brighton because I am sick and tired of his society; yet here he is at
+Croydon before I am. How he does these things I do not understand.
+He's a most extraordinary man."
+
+Then, also after his own fashion, he made Rodney known to the
+new-comer.
+
+"Emmett, this is a valued friend of mine, whom I have met for the
+first time to-night. I know all about him, except his voice; and, do
+you know, he's never spoken once."
+
+Rodney, observing the new-comer, perceived, from something which was
+in the glance he gave him in exchange for his, that the position had
+altered. Rising, he moved out of the carriage, still without a word.
+The stranger made as if to follow him, but the doctor put out a
+detaining hand. The train started just as Rodney, having gained the
+platform, was closing the door. The last he saw of the interior of the
+compartment was that the stranger seemed to be warmly expostulating
+with his medical attendant. At Redhill Rodney had got into the front
+part of the train--which was for London Bridge--because he felt that
+between the City and Notting Hill he might have an opportunity of
+shaking the stranger off. Now, as the London Bridge coaches glided out
+of the station, he passed to the Victoria half of the train, which
+awaited an engine, lower down the platform. The doctor's fortuitous
+arrival on the scene had saved him, at least temporarily, from what
+might have been a serious predicament.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII
+
+                             MARKING TIME
+
+
+Rodney Elmore's rooms were within a short distance of Paddington
+Station. As his cab drew up at the house he saw that another hansom
+was already at the door. Since it was past midnight, its presence was
+suggestive; it betokened a visitor. The house being a small one, there
+was only one other lodger besides himself, and he occupied a modest
+"bed-sitting-room" on the upper floor. His instinct told him that the
+visitor was for himself. At that hour on Sunday night the fact was
+portentous. Opening the door with his latch-key, as he stepped inside
+a girl came hastening towards him from a room at the back,
+noiselessly, as if she did not wish to be overheard, rather a pretty
+girl, with fluffy, fair hair. She spoke in a whisper:
+
+"There's someone to see you--a lady. She would wait, although I told
+her I didn't know when you would be in."
+
+"What's her name?"
+
+"She said Miss Patterson."
+
+He understood--he had been making certain mental calculations as he
+came along. No doubt his uncle would have his name and address upon
+him; his identity would be discovered so soon as they searched the
+body. There had been time to carry the news to Russell Square; this
+was the result. Nodding to the fluffy-haired girl, he passed quickly
+into his sitting-room, which was on the left, in the front of the
+house. Gladys was standing by the table. As she came towards him he
+knew by the look which was on her face that his guess had been
+right--that already she knew at least part of the story.
+
+"Where have you been?" she exclaimed. "I thought you were never
+coming."
+
+Taking both her hands in his, he drew her to him.
+
+"My dear child! how could I guess that you were here? What does it
+mean?"
+
+She looked at him with a curious sombre something in her big dark
+eyes, which reminded him of a child who is about to cry. Her lips
+trembled.
+
+"Rodney, dad's dead."
+
+His tone was eager, gentle, sympathetic; instinct with surprise.
+
+"Dead! You--you don't mean it!"
+
+"In the train."
+
+"In the train! What train?"
+
+She told her tale, he listening with interest, anxiety, tenderness,
+which were sufficiently real.
+
+"I was just going to bed."
+
+"Dear, you're shivering. You'd better sit down."
+
+"I'd rather stand--close to you."
+
+He put his arms about her and held her tight. He kissed her.
+"Sweetheart," he whispered. He could feel her trembling; tears were
+beginning to shine in her eyes.
+
+"I was in my bedroom, and--and--I was thinking about you"--about the
+corners of her lips was the queerest little smile--"when there was a
+ringing at the front door. I thought it was dad, who had forgotten his
+key; but they came and told me that there was a gentleman downstairs
+who wished to see me very particularly about my father, and that it
+was most important. So I slipped on a dressing-jacket and went down to
+him. It was someone from the railway company. They had found dad in
+the carriage of a train which had come from Brighton. He was dead--now
+he was at Victoria Station--he had committed suicide."
+
+"Suicide!"
+
+Rodney started; it could not have been better done if his surprise had
+been genuine.
+
+"It's--it's incredible!"
+
+"I can only tell you what the man told me. He said of course there
+would have to be an inquiry, but all the indications pointed at that.
+He had poisoned himself; in his hand they had found a box in which
+were some more of the things with which he had done it."
+
+"I can only say that to me it seems--it does seem impossible. I should
+have said he was the last person to do anything like that."
+
+"You never can tell what sort of person will do a thing like that.
+I once knew a girl who went straight up after dinner to her bedroom
+and--did it; no one ever knew why. I went with the man to Victoria,
+and--saw dad; I've come right on from there. I felt that I couldn't
+go home till I had seen you. I believe I should have stayed here all
+night if you hadn't come."
+
+"You poor little thing!--sweetheart mine!--you only woman in the
+world!"
+
+"You--you will be good to me, Rodney?"
+
+"Never was man better to a woman than I will try to be to you."
+
+"Suppose--suppose dad did it because he was ruined?"
+
+"My dear girl, as you are aware, I was not in your father's
+confidence--still, I am pretty nearly certain that, commercially, it
+will be found that he was all right. Yet, should it turn out that he
+was even worse than penniless, it will not make a mite of difference
+in my love for you."
+
+"You are sure?"
+
+"Absolutely. Aren't you?"
+
+"I do believe you care for me a little, or--I shouldn't be here."
+
+"A little! You--you bad girl; you dearest, sweetest of darlings!
+Between ourselves, if it does turn out that you're no richer than I
+am, I shan't be sorry. He never did want you to have anything to do
+with me. I might have won him over if he had lived; you know, I
+believe he was commencing to like me a little better. I'm not sure
+that I wouldn't sooner have you without his money; I should feel as if
+I were playing the game."
+
+"It will be horrid if he has left nothing; it will perhaps mean a
+scandal, and things are bad enough as they are."
+
+"I see what you have in your mind, but I assure you you need not have
+the slightest fear. I'll stake my own integrity that in all matters of
+business your father had the highest sense of honour. I'll be willing
+to write myself down a rogue if it can be shown that he ever deviated
+in any particular from the highest standard of commercial rectitude."
+
+"I hope you're right."
+
+"I am right, on that point you may rest assured."
+
+"You know, Rodney, you're all I have in the world--now."
+
+The use of the adverb, in that connection, tickled him. The idea that,
+so far as she was concerned, her father ever had been much of a
+personal asset was distinctly funny. However, he allowed no hint of
+how her words struck him to peep out; never a more ardent lover, a
+more present help in the time of a girl's trouble. He escorted her to
+what bade henceforward to be her lonely home in the cab which still
+waited at the door. When he returned to Paddington it was very late.
+As he moved to his bedroom up the darkened staircase a door opened on
+the landing. The fluffy-haired girl looked out. She was in a state of
+considerable _déshabillé_.
+
+"You are late," she whispered. "I thought you never were coming back."
+
+"You goose."
+
+He put his arms about her and kissed her with the calmest proprietary
+air.
+
+"To think that you should be still awake."
+
+"You knew I should sit up; you knew mother wasn't coming back
+to-night, and you said you'd be in early."
+
+She spoke with an air of grievance. He smiled.
+
+"It's been a case of man proposes. I have had many things to contend
+with--all sorts of worries. Now, as I want breakfast early, I'm going
+to bed, and, I hope, to sleep, if you aren't."
+
+"You don't care for me a bit."
+
+He kissed her again.
+
+She waited on him at breakfast, which, as he had forewarned her, he
+had unusually early. She was his landlady's daughter; her name was
+Mabel Joyce. Among his letters was one from Stella Austin. He opened
+it as she placed before him his bacon and eggs; as he glanced at
+Stella's opening lines Miss Joyce talked.
+
+"So you went to Brighton yesterday--by the Pullman, too."
+
+He looked up at her as if surprised.
+
+"Did I? Who told you that?"
+
+"Didn't you?"
+
+"You say I did. Pray, from what quarter did you get your information?"
+
+"Oh, there are plenty of quarters from which I can get
+information--when I like. And your uncle was in Brighton. It doesn't
+look as if he had a very pleasant day there, as he committed suicide
+in the train on the way back to town. I dare say you had a pleasanter
+day than he did."
+
+"I presume you got that information either from this morning's paper
+or else from listening last night outside the door."
+
+"As it happens, I haven't seen a paper, and, as for listening, if you
+don't know I wouldn't do a thing like that it's no use my saying so."
+
+"Then who was your informant?"
+
+"That's my business. There is a little bird which sometimes whispers
+in my ear. Did you come back in the Pullman?"
+
+He replied to her question with another.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Mabel?"
+
+"What should be? Nothing's the matter; I was only thinking that if you
+did, your uncle must have been in the train just behind you. If you'd
+have known what he was doing you'd have felt funny. Still, if you did
+come by the Pullman, considering that it's due at Victoria at ten, and
+yesterday was quite punctual, since you had promised to be in early,
+and knew that I was all alone in the house, I think you might have
+been back before midnight."
+
+He eyed the girl. She was pretty, in a pink-and-white sort of way;
+fonder of him than was good for her. He had never seen her in this
+shrewish mood before.
+
+"My dear Mabel, if I could have got back earlier I would have done so;
+but I couldn't. I was the sufferer, not you."
+
+"I dare say! I suppose that Miss Patterson was your cousin. Are you
+going to marry her?"
+
+"Really! you jump about! How do you suppose a fellow in my position
+can tell whom he's going to marry--on twopence a year?"
+
+"I dare say she's got money, especially now. Since directly she heard
+of her father's death she came tearing round to you, at that time of
+night, it looks as if you ought to marry her if you don't!"
+
+Miss Joyce flounced out of the room. For some moments he sat
+considering her words. Who told her that he went to Brighton, on the
+Pullman? Was it a lucky guess? Hardly; probably someone had seen him.
+People's eyes were everywhere. He would have to be careful what tale
+he told. It was odd how gingerly one had to walk when one was in a
+delicate position; there were so many unseen strings over which one
+might stumble.
+
+As he ate his breakfast he read Stella's letter. It was a girl's first
+letter to her lover; which is apt to be a wonderful production, as in
+this case. He had not supposed that a letter from Stella could have
+stirred him as that one did. It suggested the perfect love which
+casteth out fear. She bared her simple heart to him in perfect trust
+and confidence, showing in every line that, to her, he was both hero
+and king, that man of men,--her husband that was to be. Tears actually
+stood in his eyes as he realised the pathos of it all; how sweet to
+hold such innocence in his arms. He was not sure that he had not been
+over-hasty in concluding that here was no wife for him. The picture
+which, as he read on, quite unwittingly she presented to his mind's
+eye, of the two wandering hand in hand down the vale of years, to the
+goal of venerable old age at the end, moved him to the depths. It was
+sweet to be so trusted; he would have loved to have her with him at
+the breakfast-table then. It was so dear a letter that he kissed it as
+he folded it, and slipped it into the inside pocket of his coat.
+
+Then he set himself to thinking. Part of the point of Stella's letter
+lay in the fact that she expected him to go to her that night, and
+wished him to know all the things she set down in black and white, so
+that they might be able to talk about them when he came. The
+misfortune was that he was not going. He would have liked to
+go--truly. He felt that after what had happened lately an evening
+spent with Stella would be delicious. So strongly did he feel this
+that he cast about in his mind for some means of ensuring himself
+even a few fleeting minutes in her society; but could hit on none.
+Accident might befriend him, but he doubted if Gladys would give
+accident much chance. He had promised that he would go from the
+office straight to her; it might go ill with him if he did not. Once
+with her, she was not likely to let him go again till it was too
+late to think of Stella.
+
+How appease the maiden for her disappointment? He could think of
+nothing but laying stress on the dreadful thing which had happened to
+his uncle, and putting all the blame on that. He had never mentioned
+his cousin to Stella, or to Mary, or to anyone, being of those who, if
+they can help it, do not like their first finger to know what their
+thumb is doing. Stella did not know he had a feminine relative; it
+might be inconvenient to acquaint her with the fact just now; quite
+possibly her soft heart might move her to go and offer the orphaned
+Gladys consolation. He smiled as the droll side of such a possibility
+tickled his sense of humour. Possibly the time might come when the two
+young women would have to know of each other's existence, but--perhaps
+it might be as well to put it off for awhile.
+
+He scribbled a hasty note to Stella, speaking of the rapture her
+letter had given him, and dwelling, in lurid hues, on the tragedy of
+his uncle's end; then suddenly remembered that, from her point of
+view, he ought not to have heard of it. What a number of trifles one
+did have to think of. He had not seen a paper; he did not propose to
+tell her of his trip to Brighton; she had heard nothing of Gladys; she
+might ask some awkward questions as to how he came to know about it so
+early in the day. He tore the note up and made a bonfire of the
+pieces. Then he scribbled another, in which he only spoke of his
+rapture and of the ecstatic longing with which he looked forward to
+seeing her after his office work was done, and of how the intervening
+seconds would go by like leaden hours--he felt that a poetic touch of
+that sort was the least that was required. Then, when he reached the
+office, he might wire her the dreadful tidings in an agitated
+telegram, and, later, in a still more agitated telegram, inform her
+that one awful consequence of the upheaval which had followed the
+hideous tragedy was that he would be unable to come to her to-night.
+The tale would be much more effective told like that. Whatever her
+feelings were, he did not see how a loophole would be left to her to
+lay blame on him.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII
+
+                         SPREADING HIS WINGS
+
+
+A disagreeable surprise awaited him when he reached St. Paul's
+Churchyard. Taking it for granted that everything would now belong to
+Gladys, he was prepared to act as her representative and sole
+relative, and, if needs be, carry things off with a high hand--above
+and beyond all else, he was desirous of gaining access to certain
+documents whose existence constituted a peril to him. To that end he
+arrived before his usual time, being conscious that this was an
+occasion on which it might be an advantage to be first on the field.
+To his disgust he found that at least two persons were in front of
+him, and that they were both in what had been his uncle's private
+room. One was Mr. Andrews, the managing man, the other was a
+square-jawed individual, whose blue cheeks pointed to a life-long
+struggle with a refractory beard. He was seated, as one in authority,
+in his uncle's own chair behind his uncle's own table. They were
+busily conversing as Rodney came unannounced into the room, but
+paused to stare at him.
+
+"This," explained Mr. Andrews to the man in the chair, "is Mr. Rodney
+Elmore--the nephew I was telling you about."
+
+There was a lack of deference in the speaker's tone which the young
+gentleman resented, and had resented in silence more than once in the
+days which were past; but the time for silence was gone. He had been
+making up his mind on that point on his way to the City. Recognising,
+from the bearing of the two men in front of him, that a new and,
+as yet, unknown factor bade fair to figure on the scene, with
+characteristic readiness he arrived at an instant resolution. Ignoring
+Andrews, he addressed himself to the man in the chair.
+
+"May I ask, sir, who you are?"
+
+The stranger's penetrating eyes were set deep in his head; he fixed
+them on the young gentleman's face with a steady stare of evident
+surprise. Rodney returned him stare for stare.
+
+"You may ask, young gentleman, and, though I seriously doubt if
+you are entitled to ask, I don't mind telling you. My name is
+Wilkes--Stephen Wilkes; I am your late uncle's legal adviser, and
+am here to safeguard the interests he has left behind."
+
+"Then, Mr. Wilkes, be so good as to get out of that chair."
+
+Mr. Andrews looked at the speaker in shocked amazement.
+
+"Mr. Elmore! You forget yourself! How dare you speak like that to a
+gentleman in Mr. Wilkes's position."
+
+For answer, Rodney turned to the managing man, addressing him as
+curtly and peremptorily as if he had been some menial servant.
+
+"Andrews, leave the room!"
+
+The other's eyes opened still wider; probably he had never been so
+spoken to before, even by his late master in his most irascible moods.
+He drew up his spare and rather bowed figure with what he perhaps
+meant to be a touch of dignity.
+
+"Mr. Elmore, the consequences will be very serious if you talk to me
+like that."
+
+"The consequences will be very serious if you don't obey my orders."
+
+"Your orders?"
+
+"My orders. Are you going to leave the room, or am I to put you out?"
+
+"Steady, young gentleman, steady. I have been your uncle's legal
+adviser for perhaps more years than you have been in the world, and
+am, therefore, intimately acquainted with his wishes. I am here to see
+those wishes carried out. I understand that you occupied a very humble
+position in this office, and, though accident made you his relative,
+you were not in possession of your uncle's confidence. Your position
+is in no way altered by his death, and you have no right to issue what
+you call orders here--emphatically not to Mr. Andrews. If there is any
+question as to who is to leave the room, it is certainly not Mr.
+Andrews who must go, but you."
+
+"Mr. Wilkes, I do not propose to bandy words, and when I have once
+pointed out that you entirely misapprehend the situation on that
+subject I have done. All that Mr. Patterson had is now his daughter's,
+including this business and all that it implies. I am here as Miss
+Patterson's representative."
+
+"Indeed! By whom appointed?"
+
+"By Miss Patterson. I may inform you that Miss Patterson will shortly
+be my wife."
+
+"Is that so? This is news. Since when has that arrangement been made?"
+
+"Your words imply a sneer and an impertinence. That being so, I
+decline to enter into any further details with you beyond a bare
+statement of the fact."
+
+"Are you not taking too much for granted in asserting that everything
+is left to Miss Patterson?"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it; with the exception, possibly, of some small
+legacies. He left a will?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Is it in your possession?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Then I must ask you to produce it at once."
+
+"Produce it? To whom?"
+
+"To me. Miss Patterson has instructed me to request you to hand it
+over at once to my keeping."
+
+"Then, if that is so, I am afraid that, for the moment, I have no
+choice but to ignore the young lady's request. I will see Miss
+Patterson."
+
+"Miss Patterson will decline to see you."
+
+"She will decline to see me? On what grounds?"
+
+"It is not necessary that she should state any grounds. Any
+communication you wish to have with Miss Patterson must be through me
+or her solicitor. Do I understand that you finally refuse to do as she
+requests, and hand me her father's will?"
+
+"If you were not a very young man, Mr. Elmore, I should say that you
+were a foolish one; but possibly youth is your extenuation. The will
+will be produced at the proper time, in the proper place, to the
+proper person; it will certainly not be handed to you."
+
+"Then Miss Patterson's solicitor will at once take steps which will
+compel its instant production."
+
+"Miss Patterson's solicitor? You really are a remarkable young man! I
+am Miss Patterson's solicitor. It was her father's wish that I should
+continue to act for her, as I acted for him."
+
+"You will do nothing of the kind. If Mr. Patterson has left any legal
+powers to that effect, his daughter will resort to every process of
+law to effect your removal; your refusal to withdraw will not redound
+to your credit. You say you have been his legal adviser for more years
+than I am old. Mr. Patterson was a bad husband and a bad father. He
+utterly neglected his daughter; he did nothing to show that he had any
+of a parent's natural feelings; although she respected his every wish
+and he had no complaint to make of her, he was wholly indifferent to
+both her welfare and her happiness; he saw as little of her and did as
+little for her as he could. In many respects he was to her both a
+reproach and a shame, the sole object of his existence being his own
+gross physical enjoyment. Without being, perhaps, what is called an
+habitual drunkard, he habitually drank too much, and was frequently
+intoxicated in her presence. He was an evil-liver--with his relations
+with notorious women you are probably better acquainted than I am;
+she, unfortunately, has good reason to know that they were of a
+discreditable kind. To crown an ill-spent career he has taken his own
+life, under circumstances which can hardly fail to be the cause of
+scandal, which may leave a brand on her for the remainder of her life,
+though she is still only a girl. You apparently pride yourself on
+having been confidential adviser to such a man through a great number
+of years. Is it strange, therefore, that she would rather that
+somebody else should advise her? Think it over; you will yourself
+perceive that it is not strange; I am sure that will be the feeling of
+a court of law. Now, Mr. Wilkes, I must again ask you to get out of
+that chair."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+Rodney moved to the other side of the table, took Mr. Wilkes--who was
+not a big man--by either elbow, lifted him as if he were a child, and
+deposited himself on the chair in his place. The solicitor, who had
+made not the slightest show of resistance, stood ruefully rubbing his
+arms.
+
+"I believe you have put both my elbows out of joint, you young
+ruffian."
+
+Rodney was placidity itself.
+
+"Have you never heard of Jiu-jitsu, Mr. Wilkes? You know even better
+than I do that you are a trespasser on these premises, and that a
+trespasser is a person towards whom one is entitled to use all
+necessary force."
+
+Taking a bunch of keys out of his jacket pocket, he inserted one in
+the lock of the drawer which was in front of him. Mr. Wilkes surveyed
+the proceeding with obvious surprise.
+
+"What keys are those?"
+
+"These are my uncle's keys. They were handed to me by Miss Patterson,
+with instructions to go through her father's private papers and
+documents, and so ensure their not being tampered with by persons who
+certainly have not her interest at heart."
+
+"If you take my earnest advice, young gentleman, you will not touch
+anything which is in those drawers. If you are not careful you will go
+too far."
+
+"I will not take your advice, Mr. Wilkes--whether earnest or
+otherwise. I observe, Andrews, that you are still there. There are one
+or two remarks which I wish to make to Mr. Wilkes in private. Once
+more, are you going to leave this room?"
+
+The managing man looked at the lawyer as if for advice and help in the
+moment of his hesitation.
+
+"Perhaps," said Mr. Wilkes, replying to his unspoken question, "you
+had better go. You will commit yourself to nothing by going."
+
+"Whereas," observed Elmore, with his smiling glance fixed on the
+managing man, "you will commit yourself to a good deal by not going,
+because I shall not only put you out of this door, but into the
+street. So far as this office is concerned, that will be the end of
+you. I will take steps which will ensure your never entering it
+again."
+
+After another brief moment of hesitation, with a glance of what was
+very like reproach towards the lawyer, Andrews quitted the room, with
+the air of one who was both bewildered and hurt. So soon as he had
+gone Mr. Wilkes observed:
+
+"Mr. Elmore, you are taking a very great deal upon yourself; you
+certainly have the courage of youth, but be warned by me, don't take
+too much. If it is shown that your uncle's depositions are not what
+you are taking it for granted they are, your position will be rendered
+more difficult by the attitude you are now taking up."
+
+"I care nothing for any warning which comes from you, Mr. Wilkes. Why
+did my uncle commit suicide?"
+
+"What do you mean by asking me such a question? Do you imagine that if
+I knew I should tell you?"
+
+"Does that mean that you know?"
+
+"It means nothing of the sort; but it does mean that if I had any such
+secret knowledge, the only person to whom I should breathe a word of
+it would be his daughter."
+
+"That you certainly would not do. Miss Patterson's heartfelt prayer is
+that she may never know. That he had some shameful reason is plain; if
+it can be kept from her it shall be; if it reaches her through you,
+you will deserve to be whipped."
+
+"Mr. Elmore, I knew your father."
+
+"That's more, Mr. Wilkes, than I ever did."
+
+"His end was like your uncle's."
+
+"So I learned from my uncle before--he ended. And it is because the
+shame of what he did seems to rest on me, in the mouths of such as
+you, that I am resolved to shield my cousin--if I can. I imagine that,
+in a strictly scientific sense, you are, in part, responsible for my
+uncle's fate."
+
+"How do you arrive at that--somewhat startling conclusion?"
+
+"You aided and abetted him in what he did."
+
+"Indeed! As how?"
+
+"I happen to know that you were more than once his companion when he
+was in the society of certain notorious women, with whose character
+you were undoubtedly as well acquainted as he was."
+
+"And if I was--what then?"
+
+"If, on more than one occasion, A is in the company of B when B is in
+the act of committing a crime, what is the inference we draw as
+regards A?"
+
+"You really are a remarkable young man!"
+
+"More. On more than one occasion you have borrowed money from Mr.
+Patterson."
+
+"We have had business relations for many years."
+
+"Did he ever borrow money from you?"
+
+"No; because he did not do the class of business I did."
+
+"Exactly. At this moment you are his debtor in a considerable sum."
+
+"I don't know from whom you get your information, but if it is from
+your uncle you must be perfectly well aware that the whole matter is
+on a proper footing, and that there can be no reasonable doubt as to
+my fulfilling my engagements both in the letter and the spirit."
+
+"Still, you have been in the habit of borrowing money from your
+client, sometimes, I believe, to save yourself from a difficult
+position. Possibly his will contains a clause relieving you of your
+indebtedness; possibly, also, a court of law will see its way to
+relieve Miss Patterson from any obligation to accept your services. I
+will not detain you any longer, Mr. Wilkes. Good morning. Please don't
+gossip with the employés as you go out."
+
+Mr. Wilkes looked as if he would have said a good deal; but Mr. Elmore
+had already begun to write a letter--there was an air of complete
+indifference about him which apparently brought him to the conclusion
+that it might perhaps be as well to say nothing. He took his hat off
+the table and went out in silence. Presently Rodney, ringing the bell,
+said to the lad who answered:
+
+"Take that letter to the address which is on the envelope at once, and
+bring me an answer; also tell Mr. Andrews that I wish to speak to
+him."
+
+Shortly the managing man appeared in the doorway. One felt that he had
+hesitated whether or not to come, and that he was oppressed by
+something like a sense of shame at the thought of having yielded. The
+young gentleman, leaning back, regarded him with the pleasant little
+smile which, so far, had not left him--it was odd of what a number of
+subtle inflections his manner was capable without once disturbing the
+smile.
+
+"Sit down, Andrews; take this chair."
+
+The other did as he was told, sitting on the extreme edge, leaning
+slightly forward, his long legs crooked in front of him, his hands
+resting on his knees.
+
+"How old are you, Andrews?"
+
+Instead of replying to the question, the managing man started off on a
+line of his own.
+
+"Mr. Elmore, you must excuse my remarking that, so far as I am
+concerned, I don't understand the position at all."
+
+"You will, Andrews, shortly. I always have felt that your mental
+processes were perhaps a trifle slow."
+
+"I have been in this office, boy and man, practically my whole life
+long; I'm older than your uncle was, and I was here before he came. He
+was with Harding and Fletcher before he took this business over, and,
+so to speak, he took me with it. It was a solid business then, and
+it's a solid business still--indeed, it's even better than it was. I'm
+almost--if not quite--as well known in the City as he was; he would
+have been the first to tell you that with the continued success I have
+had something to do. He was, in some ways, a difficult man to deal
+with; but no man had a better head for business--if he gave his
+confidence, you might be sure it was deserved, and he had entire
+confidence in me."
+
+"Hear, hear! Go on; I like to hear you."
+
+"When he said a thing he meant it. It's always been a joke among those
+who knew him that Graham Patterson's word was as good as a bank-note.
+He has told me more than once that when he was gone----"
+
+"He anticipated going?"
+
+"Not more than other men; only, he was methodical and liked to have
+everything in order, and, if he could help it, leave nothing to
+chance. He has told me, as I have said, more than once, that when he
+was gone--since he only had a daughter--he had arranged that the whole
+management of the business should be in my hands, and that he had left
+me a small share in it. He said, frankly, some time ago that he would
+give me a share in it then and there; if it weren't that he was the
+kind of man who never would get on with a partner; and that was the
+case--often he was difficult. I am sure, from what he told me, that it
+will be found that he has left the management of the business in my
+hands, as well as a share. What I don't understand, therefore, is on
+what grounds you are taking up the position you appear to be doing. I
+am far from wishing to have any unpleasantness with you, Mr. Elmore,
+but I do not understand."
+
+"I represent Miss Patterson."
+
+"But I represent the business--which was her father's, not hers."
+
+"But it's hers now, you yourself admit that you only expect to be left
+a small share."
+
+"But I'm left the management."
+
+"That's--I am far from wishing to have any unpleasantness with you,
+Mr. Andrews, but--you must know that that's all tuppence."
+
+"Pray, Mr. Elmore, what do you mean by that? A will's a will; its
+terms are not to be lightly set aside."
+
+"You have not told me how old you are, Mr. Andrews, but you have told
+me that you are my uncle's senior."
+
+"So far as head for business goes, I am as young as ever I was."
+
+"I will not contradict you. I am inclined to think that you are as you
+were--thirty, forty years ago--that is, in a commercial sense, a
+thousand years behind the times."
+
+"You have no right to say that. What do you know about business--a
+young man like you?"
+
+"I am a man of business, Mr. Andrews."
+
+"I was not aware of it until this moment."
+
+"You will be more clearly aware of it before long. I was prepared to
+marry my cousin had she been penniless, as only the other day--if she
+married me--she bade fair to be. In that event I would have made her
+fortune, and my own, as sure as you are sitting there. As events have
+turned out, so far from being penniless, she is, shall we say, the
+three-fourths proprietor of a flourishing business, with, probably,
+all the capital at her command which is needed for its development.
+Under such circumstances, why should I not devote my energies to the
+aggrandisement of her business? If I do, do you suppose for one
+instant--will or no will--that the management of affairs will be in
+your hands? That you will lead, and I shall follow? Absurd, Andrews;
+the business has reached a stage at which it can branch out
+advantageously in a dozen different directions."
+
+"I believe there's something in what you say--if it's in the hands of
+the right man."
+
+"I am the right man! In the case of equipment of the modern man of
+business, if he has a head upon his shoulders, youth is his strongest
+card--it assures his being abreast of the procession. I know what can
+be done with this business, and it shall be done; I'll do it. In ten
+years it shall rank among the greatest of its kind in the City of
+London--in the world; if you live till then you'll own it."
+
+"I'm a bachelor. I've saved enough to keep me in comfort. The business
+has been to me both wife and child, I could not love it better if it
+were my own. If I were sure that it would grow and flourish, always on
+a solid basis, I shouldn't care so much about myself; but it would
+break my heart, if, for any cause whatever, it were to go to pieces."
+
+"It won't; you'll see. We'll talk about it again when the exact
+conditions of my uncle's will are known. Whatever they turn out to be,
+I shouldn't be surprised if you and I get on better together than at
+this moment you may suppose--you'll find that I like to get on with
+everyone. By the way, there is one disagreeable matter which, if we
+are to arrive at a perfect understanding, I ought to speak to you
+about. Are you aware that during the last few years various small acts
+of dishonesty have taken place in this office?"
+
+"Mr. Elmore! I never heard of it."
+
+"My uncle knew; he was speaking to me on the subject only a day or two
+ago. I fancy he even knew who the culprit was. He told me that there
+were proofs of what he more than hinted at locked up in one of his
+drawers. It was because of what he said that I was so anxious to go
+through his papers before anyone else could get at them."
+
+"I hope, Mr. Elmore, you are not imputing dishonesty to me?"
+
+"To you, my good Andrews! Do you think I don't know an honest man when
+I see one? In that respect I am like my uncle. I am as sure as I am
+sure of anything that you are as honest a man as I am--rest quite easy
+on that score. I only wished to point out that while you supposed
+yourself to be keeping a sharp eye on everything, and that nothing
+which took place in the office escaped your notice, these
+irregularities were taking place beneath your very nose. However, on
+that subject also I may have to speak to you again later. Still
+another point. The inquest on my uncle is to be held to-day at
+Victoria Station. As you will readily understand, Miss Patterson is
+not in a condition to appear at such an inquiry, if her presence can
+be dispensed with; we are advised it can. She wishes me to ask you if
+you will appear at the inquiry, and give such formal evidence as may
+be required. I don't know what questions will be asked you. Frankly,
+can you throw any light on any cause which may have induced his rash
+act? I take it he had no financial reason?"
+
+"Absolutely none, of that I'm convinced. He had all the money he
+wanted, and there was nothing wrong with the business. It's a mystery
+to me."
+
+"I fancy it will remain a mystery. Why some men and women make away
+with themselves is a mystery which only they themselves could have
+solved."
+
+"I don't understand why you and he didn't get on better together."
+
+"Nor I; to me it was a great disappointment. As you have said, he was
+difficult. He may have felt that my ideas on business matters were
+different from his, and didn't like it."
+
+"Perhaps if he had lived it would have been different."
+
+"We shall never know what, in that case, might have happened. May I
+take it that, in the matter of the inquest, you will do as Miss
+Patterson asks?"
+
+"I will--certainly."
+
+"Thank you. You increase the debt which she is conscious she owes you
+as her father's right-hand man, and which, whatever the terms of his
+will may be, she will never forget."
+
+The lad entered to whom he had entrusted the letter.
+
+"Mr. Parmiter has come back with me, sir; he's outside."
+
+"Good; show him in. I think, Mr. Andrews, that, as the inquest is
+timed for noon, you had better be starting."
+
+The old man went out, and a young one came into the room--a young man,
+with a student's face and fair hair. Although his cheeks were pale,
+his appearance was not unprepossessing. Elmore greeted him with
+outstretched hands.
+
+"Clarence, old man, it's very good of you to come right away like
+this. I hope it's not seriously inconvenienced you."
+
+"Not a bit. Between ourselves, I was sitting in the office twiddling
+my thumbs and wondering what I should do now I'd finished reading the
+paper."
+
+"I'll give you something to do. Sit down. You've heard what's happened
+to my uncle?"
+
+"I remember your telling me you were with an uncle, but I don't know
+how many uncles you have nor to which of them you're referring."
+
+"I have, or, rather, had, only one uncle, and last night he committed
+suicide in the Brighton train."
+
+"Great Scott! Whatever for?"
+
+"That's it. I'll tell you in as few words as possible what the
+position is. He's left a daughter, an only child, who is now an
+orphan, to whom I'm engaged to be married. To her he was not--well,
+all that a father might have been; he drank, and he womanised."
+
+"Did he? Nice man!"
+
+"That's precisely what he was not--a nice man. She knew very little
+about his private affairs, though quite as much as she wanted. He may
+have killed himself because he was financially wrong, though,
+personally, I doubt it, or for any one of a score of reasons. You'll
+guess the state of mind she's in."
+
+"Naturally; in a case like that it's those who are left who suffer
+most."
+
+"Of course. She's anxious, before all else, to know where she
+stands--that is, to know the worst. His affairs were in the hands of
+a solicitor named Wilkes."
+
+"I know him--Stephen Wilkes; he's an able man."
+
+"Maybe. But she doesn't want him for her solicitor all the same for
+that, for reasons on which, later, I may enlarge. She's asked me if I
+knew anyone who would act for her. I suggested you."
+
+"Thank you, Rodney. You always were a fellow who'd do a chap a good
+turn if you would."
+
+"Nonsense! Do you think that I don't know you--even in the old
+schooldays? You're as clever a man as you'd be likely to meet in a
+long day's journey, and as dependable. You mayn't have the largest
+practice in London to-day, but you will have. What's more, I'd trust
+you with my bottom dollar, which is more than you can say of the
+general run of solicitors nowadays. I told her so."
+
+"I'll try my best to prove worthy of your commendation."
+
+"I've no fear of that, not the least. You may consider Miss Patterson
+your client, and me; and we may both of us turn out to be quite good
+clients before we've done. I've asked you to come here in order to
+give you your first instructions."
+
+"I'm all ears."
+
+"Mr. Wilkes is in possession of my uncle's will; he himself says so.
+Miss Patterson wanted him to hand it over to me to pass on to her, but
+he declined. Can't you persuade him, acting on Miss Patterson's
+behalf, to produce the will at the earliest possible moment--say this
+afternoon at four, in her house in Russell Square--and make known its
+contents then and there? She'll not sleep till she knows the worst."
+
+"I can try what my persuasive powers will do. Presumably he knows its
+contents?"
+
+"Presumably, since it is even probable that he drew it up."
+
+"By it he may be appointed to some office of trust."
+
+"Exactly. That's one of the things she wants to know; because, if he
+is, she'll leave no stone unturned to get him out of it. His relations
+with her father were such that she'll not be induced to have relations
+of any kind with him."
+
+"I see; that's how it is. Persons may be interested whose presence he
+may think desirable at the reading and who are not accessible at such
+short notice."
+
+"There's nothing in that, Clarence. Candidly, some woman may be
+interested; it's only surmise on my part, but it's possible, and her
+presence would neither be essential nor advisable. There's the feeling
+that whatever her father may have done, Wilkes will not be considering
+her interests only--that's why she wants you. Get him to attend this
+afternoon in Russell Square with the will; that'll prove to her that I
+knew what I was about in suggesting you."
+
+"I'll do my utmost, but you clearly understand that I can't force the
+man. There's an etiquette in such matters; he'll be perfectly in order
+if he stands on it."
+
+"Do your best, Clarence--that's all I ask, and, if possible, let me
+know how it's going to be inside an hour. I want to keep Miss
+Patterson posted in what is taking place. If you only knew what a
+state of mind she's in!"
+
+When Mr. Parmiter had gone, Rodney, having given instructions that, if
+it could be avoided, he was not to be disturbed, subjected the
+contents of the drawers in his uncle's writing-table to a thorough
+examination. He came across some interesting items. There was a small
+leather-bound memorandum-book, which was locked. He opened it with a
+key which was on his uncle's private bunch. In a flap attached to the
+cover were some cheques which had been duly presented and paid and
+some other papers. A glance at the contents of the book showed that
+they principally related to him, after a fashion which occasioned him
+surprise, blended with amusement. He had no idea that in his uncle the
+detective instinct had been so strongly developed. He tore the cheques
+and other papers into tiny bits, made a bonfire of them on an iron
+shovel, and ground the ashes into powder. The book itself he slipped
+into his jacket pocket. In one of the drawers was a canvas bag,
+containing quite a number of gold coins, while in a letter-case were
+several bank-notes. He put the bag into another of his pockets, just
+as it was, and transferred the notes to a letter-case of his own. He
+chanced just then to be hard pressed for ready cash, as, indeed, was
+his every-day condition. Should certain eventualities arise, the
+possession of that money might prove to be of the very first
+importance. In still another drawer he found an envelope which was
+endorsed, in his uncle's handwriting, "Draft of my Will." He studied
+the sheet of ruled foolscap which he took out of it with every
+appearance of absorbed interest. It was not a very lengthy document.
+When he had read it he laid it on the table, drew a long breath, and
+smiled.
+
+"That's all right! It mayn't be all that Gladys would have liked it to
+be, but it might have been so much worse; it will serve. A good deal
+may depend on the exact wording; but, anyhow, between us we ought to
+be able to shape a will like that so that it shall mean, in the not
+very far-off future, that I shall be a millionaire--unless I'm a
+greater fool than I suppose. I'd like to wager a trifle that in me
+there's the stuff that goes to the making of a modern millionaire, and
+if the will as it stands is on those lines, it ought to give me at
+least an outside chance of proving it. Here's to you, Uncle P., and,
+if people can see from the other side, how happy the knowledge that
+your daughter and your business are in such capable hands should make
+you."
+
+A lad came in with an envelope.
+
+"A messenger boy has just brought this, sir."
+
+The note within ran:
+
+
+"DEAR RODNEY,--I have carried out your first instructions to the
+letter, so I have begun well. Mr. Wilkes will be in Russell Square
+this afternoon at four with the will. Unless I hear from you to the
+contrary, I shall be there at half-past three--to be introduced to
+Miss Patterson, to receive any further instructions, and to be at hand
+in case I am wanted generally. You might let me have a message by
+bearer.--Yours sincerely,
+
+                                   "CLARENCE PARMITER."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIV
+
+                 BUSINESS FIRST, PLEASURE AFTERWARDS
+
+
+That afternoon there were five persons in the drawing-room of the
+house in Russell Square. Miss Patterson, who was already attired in
+garments of orthodox hue, in which Rodney felt that she did not look
+her best. It is your fair, slender women who appear to advantage in
+black--she was too big and dark. There was Rodney, who was also in
+mourning, which did become him; but, then, anything became him. He was
+one of your tall, graceful, well-set-up, debonair, handsome young
+fellows whom any tailor might find it worth his while to dress at
+reduced prices for the sake of the advertisement. The other three men
+also were in black: Mr. Wilkes's dark blue cheeks almost matching his
+attire; Mr. Parmiter's light hair and pale face standing out in marked
+relief; Mr. Andrews's general air of colourlessness causing his sombre
+attire to make him seem older than it need have done. The proceedings
+were short--unexpectedly short--and to the point. Mr. Wilkes had met
+Miss Patterson before, and while her almost sullen manner suggested no
+fondness for him, his brusqueness hinted at no particular attachment
+for her. The keen-eyed Rodney, observing their demeanour, told himself
+that the lawyer had been too much the father's friend to care overmuch
+for the child, which was, perhaps, as well, since it might make things
+easier.
+
+The inquest was already over. Mr. Wilkes had been present, and had
+taken with him a physician whom he was aware that Graham Patterson had
+consulted. He testified that Mr. Patterson was suffering from a malady
+which would certainly have grown more painful as time went on, and was
+probably incurable. This statement, since it supplied the motive,
+caused the inquiry to assume briefer limits than it might have done;
+the obvious inference was that the knowledge of his parlous state had
+prompted Graham Patterson to take his fate into his own hands. Nothing
+could have been clearer to such men of the world as the coroner and
+his jury. All else that was said and done was mere formality. The
+doctor who had conducted the autopsy, Mr. Andrews, a police officer
+connected with the railway company, the guard of the train--all these
+gave formal evidence. The latter said that he had seen the deceased
+man come running down the platform at Brighton station just as the
+train was about to start; that he had noticed him getting into a
+carriage; that he recognised him when, at East Croydon, his attention
+had been called to him by the ticket collector, who, going to collect
+his ticket, found him sitting up in the corner of the carriage, dead.
+In view of the physician's evidence, the whole affair was so
+transparently simple that no one thought of asking if anyone was in
+the compartment when he entered it at Brighton station. One of the
+jury did inquire if the train stopped between Brighton and East
+Croydon. When he was informed that it did not, it was generally felt
+that there was nothing more to be said. The hackneyed verdict was
+recorded as a matter of course--suicide while temporarily insane.
+
+The whole affair struck Rodney, when he learnt all the particulars
+from Andrews, as distinctly droll. He realised that he owed Mr. Wilkes
+a debt of gratitude of which that gentleman had no notion. The
+physician had been an unknown quantity; Rodney, who, through devious
+channels, had heard of a good many things, had never heard of him. Had
+not the lawyer brought him on to the scene the situation might easily
+have become very much more difficult--for him. He would not be so hard
+on Stephen Wilkes as he had meant to be, but in his treatment of him
+would recognise that, as Parmiter had put it, he was an able man.
+
+The will was the usual wordy, legal document. Stripped of its verbiage
+it was plain enough. It began with the legacies. A sufficient sum was
+to be set apart to buy an annuity of one hundred pounds a year for
+Agnes Sybil Armstrong, of an address at Hove. She was also to have
+five hundred pounds in cash and the furniture of the house in which
+she was residing.
+
+Gladys, who had been warned by Rodney that she might expect something
+of the kind, pursed her lips together and looked at her cousin.
+Sitting with expectant eyes fixed on her, he had been waiting for her
+look, and greeted it with a reassuring smile.
+
+Various legacies were left to servants in Russell Square, to clerks in
+St. Paul's Churchyard, and to certain trade charities. Five thousand
+pounds was left to Stephen Wilkes, in recognition of a life-long
+friendship and of valued services--the lawyer's voice was a trifle
+hesitant as he read this clause. One thousand pounds in cash and a
+tenth share in the business were left to Robert Fraser Andrews; and,
+since the testator's only child was a daughter, he directed that the
+said Andrews should be appointed manager of his business, under the
+conditions which followed.
+
+The whole residue of his estate, real and personal, he left to his
+daughter, Gladys, unreservedly. At this point the cousins again
+exchanged glances. Andrews was to manage the business for five years;
+at the end of that period, or in the event of his death, Gladys might
+appoint his successor, or dispose of the business, whichever she
+chose. No radical change in the conduct of the business was to be made
+without consulting her, and she was to have the right of veto. She was
+to have access to the accounts at all times, with right of comment.
+
+The testator went on to say that Stephen Wilkes had acted as his legal
+adviser for many years, and to express a strong wish that he would
+continue in that capacity for his daughter. He hoped that she would
+consult him freely, both in the conduct of the business and in her
+affairs generally, and act on his advice. He appointed Robert Fraser
+Andrews and Stephen Wilkes his executors.
+
+So soon as he had finished the reading of the will Mr. Wilkes
+observed:
+
+"In order to avoid misunderstanding, I wish to state that, since I
+have reason to believe that my services would not be welcome--and,
+indeed, learn that another solicitor has already been retained, whom I
+see present--I wish to withdraw at the earliest possible moment from
+all connection with Mr. Patterson's estate and affairs, and also that
+I renounce administration. I will not act as executor."
+
+When the lawyer stopped, Mr. Andrews had his say:
+
+"I'm very much in the same position as Mr. Wilkes. If Miss Patterson
+would rather I did not act as manager, I have not the slightest wish
+to press my claim. I'm given to understand, Miss Patterson, that Mr.
+Elmore here is likely to become your husband. From a conversation I
+had with him this morning, I--I'm inclined to think that I am older
+than I supposed, and that it would be to your advantage and to the
+advantage of the business that the management of affairs should be in
+his hands. Also, if you wish it, so as not to be a clog on you in any
+way, I will not act as executor."
+
+Rodney answered for his cousin:
+
+"You must act as executor, Mr. Andrews; Miss Patterson will very
+unwillingly release you from that duty. The other point she will
+discuss with you later; you will find that she is as anxious to
+consider your wishes as you are to consider hers. I may remark to you,
+Mr. Wilkes, as well as to Mr. Andrews, that Miss Patterson is grateful
+for the delicate thought which prompts your proposed action, and she
+will endeavour in all she does to show that she appreciates at its
+full value all that you have done for her father, and, by consequence,
+for her. I think, gentlemen, that, at present, that is all."
+
+The meeting was dissolved. The three gentlemen dismissed. The cousins
+were left together. Kneeling before the armchair on which Miss
+Patterson was seated, Rodney drew her towards him and kissed her with
+a sort of mock solemnity.
+
+"My congratulations, lady! if I may venture to kiss one who is now a
+person of property and importance. I hope you won't mind, but I almost
+wish, for my sake, that you hadn't quite so much money."
+
+She put out her hand and softly stroked his hair.
+
+"That's nonsense. How much money have I got?"
+
+"Roughly, I suppose that the business brings in four or five thousand
+a year, and you've forty or fifty thousand pounds in what represents
+cash. You're a rich woman."
+
+"Then, if you do marry me, you'll be a rich man."
+
+"There's one thing--put the business at its highwater mark, say that
+in its best year it brings in five thousand pounds--in ten years it
+shall bring in fifty thousand."
+
+"Rodney, don't be too speculative. We've enough to get along with;
+let's be sure of having a good time with what there is."
+
+"My dear lady, I'm no speculator--not such a fool; but I don't want to
+see a gold-mine producing only copper. You've twice the head your
+father had, and keener, because younger, eyes. Shortly I shall hope to
+lay my ideas before you; when you have assimilated them, you will be
+able to judge for yourself whether or not they're speculative. You'll
+see, what even old Andrews already sees, that you're the possessor of
+a gold-mine--a veritable gold-mine--which hitherto has been worked as
+if it were merely a copper-mine. When you begin to work it as a
+gold-mine, in less than ten years it will be bringing you in fifty
+thousand pounds a year; I shouldn't be surprised if it brings you
+twice as much--honestly."
+
+"A hundred thousand pounds a year, Rodney!"
+
+"Wait--you'll see! This is the age of miracles, which, when you look
+into them, have the simplest natural causes. Seriously, Gladys,
+there's no reason why, properly handled, the business of which
+you are now the sole proprietress--because you can easily get rid of
+Andrews--should not make you rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Wilkes
+has been quick in taking the hint, hasn't he?"
+
+"I don't like him--I never did. I think I shall like Mr. Parmiter much
+better."
+
+"I'm sure you will. He's an awfully good sort and as clever as they
+make them--and straight! He'll make your interests his own."
+
+There was a momentary pause. The gentleman was still kneeling in front
+of the armchair, and the lady was still stroking his hair. There was a
+look on her face which was half comical and half something else as she
+changed the topic.
+
+"Rodney, who's Agnes Sybil Armstrong?"
+
+"I don't know, and don't you ask. Let her have her hundred a year, and
+go hang!"
+
+"Does every man have an Agnes Sybil Armstrong?"
+
+"Emphatically no; only--I was going to say only men like your father,
+but perhaps you wouldn't like it."
+
+"I wonder--will you ever have one?"
+
+"Gladys! Lady, if a man loves one woman, that's all the feminine kind
+he'll ever want, especially--if she's a woman like you. Doesn't your
+instinct tell you that when you're my wife, I'll--be satisfied, in
+every sense?"
+
+"I hope so. If you weren't, I--I shouldn't like it."
+
+"I should say not. May I hope that there is some possibility of your
+being my wife?"
+
+"I have some ideas in that direction now, though on Saturday I thought
+I never should. How prophetic you were? You almost foretold what has
+happened--almost as if you saw it coming. Did you know that he was
+ill?"
+
+"I had a shrewd suspicion; but you don't suppose I foresaw what
+actually did happen?"
+
+"I dare say that yours was not the prophetic vision quite to that
+extent. I wonder why he didn't like you?"
+
+"I'm nearly sure that with him it was a case of Dr. Fell--the reason
+why he couldn't tell. When you came on the scene he hated me because
+you didn't."
+
+"Didn't you do anything to ruffle him--to rub him the wrong way?"
+
+"Never--consciously. I've a notion--it's only a notion, but my notions
+are apt to be pretty near the mark--that he had some idea of marrying
+you to Mr. Stephen Wilkes."
+
+"Rodney! Good gracious! What a notion!"
+
+"As I remarked, it's only a notion; but I can put two and two
+together, and something in the gentleman's manner this morning put the
+crown on my suspicions."
+
+"I'd rather have died."
+
+"Or married me? Well--do! How soon could you make it convenient?"
+
+"How soon would you like it to be?"
+
+"This is Monday. Say Thursday--next?"
+
+"Rodney! How can you?"
+
+"Then make it Friday--if you've no prejudice against the day."
+
+"I'll never be married on a Friday."
+
+"Then postpone it to that far-off date, Saturday, or even Monday. I
+don't know if you want a smart wedding; if you do, what indefinite
+postponement may the conventions require?"
+
+"I don't want a smart wedding."
+
+"That sounds hopeful. You're all I want; I don't know if I'm all you
+want."
+
+"Well; you are one thing."
+
+"Am I? Thanks--you have a nice way. I tell you what, I'll get a
+special licence--hang the expense--and we'll be married on Monday."
+
+"I won't be married in black, and I will have one bridesmaid; I'll
+have Cissie Henderson. She's my particular friend; she likes you;
+she's been on our side all through; and she'll strain a point--when
+I've put it to her as I shall, she'll have to. As a matter of fact, I
+believe she'll love to."
+
+"And Clarence Parmiter shall be my best man, and old Andrews shall
+give you away."
+
+"I don't know about old Andrews."
+
+"Then old Andrews shan't! So long as I get you I don't care who gives
+you away; if it comes to that, we'll make it worth the verger's while.
+Then we'll go off for a whole month, and have a rare old spree."
+
+"That sounds inviting."
+
+"And while we're away Andrews and Parmiter between them shall get
+things ship-shape; and when we come back, under her majesty's
+directions I shall put my shoulder to the wheel and start making her
+the richest woman in the world--and the happiest."
+
+"The conceit of him! Mind you do make me happy. Will you?"
+
+"Don't you think I shall?"
+
+"If I hadn't hopes in that direction you--wouldn't be where you are."
+
+"Where shall we go to?"
+
+"Wherever you like."
+
+"Then----"
+
+He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. She put her arms about his
+neck and drew him to her.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV
+
+                             MABEL JOYCE
+
+
+When Rodney Elmore got back to his rooms it was somewhat late. Some
+letters were on the table in his sitting-room, and a telegram from
+Stella Austin. One of those voluminous telegrams which women send when
+they are in no mood to consider that each unnecessary word means
+another halfpenny. It was, indeed, a little letter, in which she
+expressed both sympathy and disappointment. She was so sorry to hear
+the bad news about his uncle, and assured him--with apparent disregard
+of the fact that the message might possibly pass through several
+persons' hands--that he had much better come to her if he was able,
+since she would console him as nobody else could.
+
+"I shall be terribly disappointed if you do not come," it went on, "so
+please do come. There are heaps of things I wish to say to you--simply
+heaps. So mind, Rodney, dear, you are to come some time this evening,
+and you are to let nothing keep you away from your own Stella."
+
+It was a love-letter which this young lady had flashed across the
+wires at a halfpenny a word, evidently caring nothing if strangers
+learned what was in her heart so long as he did. He was still
+considering it when Miss Joyce came into the room with a decanter and
+a glass upon a tray.
+
+"Miss Austin's been to see you," she observed. "I suppose that
+telegram's from her."
+
+"Did she tell you it was from her?"
+
+"She came in and looked about her at pretty nearly everything, and saw
+it lying on the table, and said she'd sent you a telegram, and
+supposed that was it. I thought she was going to walk off with it, but
+she didn't. I expected she'd want to stop till you came in, as Miss
+Patterson did last night, but I told her I knew you'd an important
+engagement in the City, and knew you wouldn't be in till very late; so
+she went."
+
+"Thank you; I'm glad she didn't stay."
+
+"I thought you would be. She asked me if I was the servant. I don't
+think she liked the look of me."
+
+There was something in his attitude which suggested that he was
+expecting her to leave the room, and would have liked her to. When she
+showed no sign of going he commented on her last remark.
+
+"That was rather bad taste on her part."
+
+"Wasn't it?"
+
+Having done with the telegram, he began to examine the letters. She
+watched him with an expression in her pale blue eyes which, if he had
+been conscious of it, might have startled him. It was plain from his
+manner that he intended to offer her no encouragement either to
+continue the conversation or to remain in the room. After a
+perceptible interval, she said, with an abruptness which was a little
+significant:
+
+"I was at the inquest."
+
+He glanced up.
+
+"You were where? At the inquest? Oh! What was the attraction? And how
+did you get in?"
+
+"I believe the public are admitted to inquests. They're supposed to be
+public inquiries, aren't they? Also, I had a friend at court; and,
+anyhow, I wasn't the only person there. I suppose Miss Patterson is a
+rich woman now."
+
+"She'll have money."
+
+"Are you going to marry her?"
+
+"Why do you ask?"
+
+"Or are you going to marry Miss Austin?"
+
+"Pray why do you ask that?"
+
+"When Miss Patterson was here last night I thought there was an air
+about her as if she considered you her property; when Miss Austin was
+here this evening I thought the same thing of her. Odd, wasn't it?"
+
+"The only thing odd about it, my dear Mabel, is that you should have
+such a vivid imagination. Both these ladies are old friends of mine."
+
+"Old friends, are they? In what sense? In the sense that I'm an old
+friend?"
+
+"No one could be nicer than you have been."
+
+"I see. Have they been nice to you like that?"
+
+"My dear Mabel, in what quarter sits the wind? Where's Mrs. Joyce?"
+
+"Mother's out; she's going to stay at aunt's till to-morrow. You and I
+are alone together."
+
+"Good business! Come and give me a kiss."
+
+"No, don't touch me; I won't have it."
+
+"There is something queer about the wind! What's wrong? Is there
+anything wrong?"
+
+"I'm trying to tell you. It's not easy, but I'm going to tell you if
+you'll give me a chance."
+
+"You've some bee in your bonnet. Let me get it out."
+
+"You give me a chance, I say! I tried to tell you last night, but I
+couldn't. But I'm going to tell you now; I've got to!"
+
+"Have you? Couldn't you tell me a little closer, instead of standing
+all that distance off?"
+
+"I wouldn't come nearer for--for anything."
+
+"Mabel! After all these years!"
+
+"Yes, after all these years! How long have you been here?"
+
+"I never had a memory for dates."
+
+"More than four years you have been here."
+
+"So long as that? And it hasn't seemed a day too long."
+
+"I was a kid in short skirts when you first came."
+
+"And a very pretty kid you were. Almost as pretty even then as you are
+now."
+
+"Rodney, have you ever cared for me a little bit?"
+
+"Have I ever cared? Haven't I shown it?"
+
+"Shown it? You call that showing it? My word!"
+
+"What is the matter with the girl? I've never seen you like this
+before."
+
+"Suppose--something was going to happen?"
+
+"Well, isn't something always going to happen? What especially awful
+thing are you afraid is going to happen?"
+
+"Suppose--something was going to happen--to me--because of you?
+Suppose--I was going----"
+
+Her voice died away, her eyes fell.
+
+"You don't mean that----"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Good God! It's--it's impossible!"
+
+"Why is it impossible? It's true."
+
+"But, my--my dear girl, it can't be."
+
+"Why can't it be? It is."
+
+"But--you're not sure. How can you be sure? You know, my dear Mabel,
+how you do fancy things. I'll bet ten to one that you're mistaken."
+
+"Do you suppose that I haven't tried to make myself think that I'm
+mistaken? I wouldn't believe it. But it's no use pretending any
+longer; it's sure. What are you going to do?"
+
+"What am I going to do? That's--that's a nice brick to aim at a fellow
+without the slightest warning."
+
+"I'm sorry; I can't help it; I must know. What are you going to do?"
+
+"My dear girl, you know that you've no more actual knowledge on such a
+subject than I have. I hope--and I think it's very possible--that you
+are wrong. Let's, first of all, make sure."
+
+"Very well--we'll make sure. And when we've made sure what are you
+going to do--if it is sure?"
+
+"We'll discuss that when we've made sure. Give me a chance to think;
+you've had one. It seems that you've guessed, goodness knows how long.
+Give me a chance to get my thoughts into order."
+
+"I can't wait; I must know now. What are you going to do--if it is
+sure?"
+
+"I'll do everything that a man can do--you know that perfectly well.
+You've knocked the sense all out of me! Do give me a chance to think!
+Don't look at me with that stand-and-deliver air! Come here, old lady,
+and let me kiss those pretty eyes of yours; I can't bear to have them
+look like that."
+
+"Don't touch me--don't dare! You say you'll do everything a man can
+do. Does that mean you'll marry me?"
+
+"Marry you! Mabel!"
+
+"Don't you mean that you will marry me?"
+
+"My dear girl, it's--it's impossible!"
+
+"Why is it impossible? Are you married already?"
+
+"Good Lord, no!"
+
+"Then why can't you marry me?"
+
+"As if you didn't know!"
+
+"What do I know?"
+
+"As if there weren't a thousand reasons! As if you weren't almost as
+well posted in my financial position as I am myself! As if you didn't
+know how hard I've found it to pay my way--that, in fact, I haven't
+paid it! If I were to marry you, financially there'd be an end of me;
+and in every other way! Not only should I be worse than penniless, but
+there'd be absolutely no prospect of my ever being anything else."
+
+"I shouldn't be worse off as your wife than I am now."
+
+"Oh, wouldn't you? You would; don't you make any error! I've never
+said a word to you about marriage."
+
+"That's true, nor should I have said it to you if it hadn't been for
+this."
+
+"There you are--that's frank. There's been no deception on either
+side. After all that there's been between us don't let's have any
+unpleasantness, for both our sakes. I'm as sorry for the position to
+which we've managed to bring things as you can be; you must know I am.
+At present I'm stony, but shortly I hope to have the command of plenty
+of money."
+
+"Are you going to get it from Miss Patterson or Miss Austin?"
+
+"What does it matter where it comes from?"
+
+"So far as I'm concerned it matters a good deal."
+
+"It'll be my own money."
+
+"If you'll have so much money of your own why can't you marry me?"
+
+"If I do marry you I'll have no money?"
+
+"Are you going to get it with your wife? Which wife?"
+
+"I can understand how you're feeling, so I'll try not to mind your
+being bitter, though it isn't like you one scrap. I can only implore
+you to trust me, to leave it all to me; I'll arrange everything. If
+you're right in what you fear you'll find a place ready for you when
+the time comes, in which you'll be comfortable, in which you'll have
+everything you want, and when it's over, if you like you can come home
+again, and no one will be one whit the wiser, and you won't be an atom
+the worse. It's done every day."
+
+"Is it? And the child--what about the child?"
+
+"The child? If it is my child----"
+
+"If? if? if? What do you mean by 'if'? You'd better be careful,
+Rodney, what you are saying. What do you mean by 'if'?"
+
+"My dear girl, it was only a way of speaking."
+
+"Then don't you speak that way. 'If' it is your child! When you knew me
+I was innocent, and I'm innocent now except for you. Don't you dare to
+say if! You know it is your child!"
+
+"My dear girl, of course I know it's my child. You won't let a fellow
+finish what he is going to say. I was only going to say that the child
+shall want for nothing; it shall have everything a child can have. So
+shall you; you'll be much better off than if you were my wife."
+
+"If the child is born, and I am not your wife, I'll kill myself--and
+it. Or, rather, if I'm not going to be your wife, I'll kill myself
+before it's born, as sure as you are alive."
+
+"Mabel, don't talk like that--don't! I can't bear it. If you only knew
+how it hurts!"
+
+"Hurts! As if anything hurts you! Nothing could hurt you, nothing;
+you're not built that way. Do you suppose that I don't know what kind
+of man you are--that you're an all-round bad lot?"
+
+"To say a thing like that, after pretending to care for me!"
+
+"Pretending! There wasn't much pretence about my caring; I proved it.
+You wouldn't let me rest until I did. Not only did I care for you, but
+I do care for you; and I shall continue to care for you as long as I
+live. No other man can ever be to me what you have been."
+
+"That's more like the Mabel I know."
+
+"But don't imagine that I'm under any delusion about you; you'll know
+better by the time I've done. You're the kind of man who's not to be
+trusted with a girl. You make love to every woman you meet--what you
+call love! You're entangled with no end of women. I know! I don't know
+how many think you're going to marry them, but I shouldn't be
+surprised if Miss Patterson and Miss Austin both think you are. If I
+were to go and tell them, do you think they'd marry you? Not they;
+they're not that sort."
+
+"But you won't tell them. You're not that sort either. I, perhaps,
+know you better than you know yourself."
+
+"It's this way. Even you mayn't know who you're going to marry, but I
+do. You're going to marry me."
+
+"I wish I were. I'll admit so much. But--we can't always do what we
+wish, my dear."
+
+"You can, and do; that's what makes you dangerous--at first to others,
+in the end to yourself. Rodney, I don't want to say something which
+will change the whole face of the world for both of us, but I'll have
+to if you make me. Don't you make me! Say you'll marry me."
+
+"My dear child----"
+
+"Don't talk like that to me; don't you do it! You're duller than I
+thought, or long before this you'd have seen what I was driving at.
+Now, you listen to me; I'll tell you. To-day I was at the inquest."
+
+"That fact, I assure you, in spite of my dullness, I have appreciated
+already. What I still fail to understand is what the attraction was."
+
+"Attraction! You call it an attraction! You wait. I've always
+thought that an inquest was to find out the truth, not to hide it up.
+The idea of that one seemed to be to conceal, not to reveal. The
+coroner was an old idiot, as blind as a bat. He'd got a notion into
+his head, and as there wasn't room for more than one at a time--why,
+there it was! I went there knowing nothing, guessing nothing,
+suspecting nothing. The inquest hadn't hardly begun before I saw
+everything, knew everything, understood everything. But the coroner,
+the jury, and the witnesses--they knew less at the end than the
+beginning."
+
+"Your words suggest that nature erred in making you a pretty girl, and
+therefore incompetent to be a coroner."
+
+"According to the guard of the train, your uncle was found sitting up
+in a corner of the carriage, with a box in his hand, in which were
+some of the things with which he is supposed to have poisoned himself.
+The box was handed round for the coroner and jury to look at. Directly
+I saw it I knew it."
+
+If Elmore changed countenance it was only very slightly, and the
+change went as quickly as it came; yet one felt that for an instant it
+had been there.
+
+"Is that so? What sort of box was it? It must have been something
+rather out of the common run of boxes for you to have recognised it at
+what, I take it, was some little distance."
+
+"I was close enough, close enough to take it in my hand if I had
+wanted; and it was all that I could do to keep my hand from off it.
+And it was very much what you call out of the common run of boxes. It
+was a silver box, Chinese, with Chinese engraving on it, about an inch
+and a half long, round, and a little thicker than a fountain pen."
+
+"You seem to have observed it pretty closely."
+
+"It was not the first time I'd seen it. The first time I saw it it was
+on your dressing-table."
+
+Again, if Elmore's expression altered, it was only as if a flickering
+something had come and gone in his eyes.
+
+"You may have seen a box like it on my dressing-table. You certainly
+never saw the one you saw this morning."
+
+"The box was on your dressing-table. I picked it up and asked you what
+it was. You said you believed it was a Chinese sweetmeat box. I said
+that if it was it did not hold many sweets. You laughed and said it
+was very old, and that you believed it came from Pekin, and that some
+of the carvings on it were Chinese characters, but you didn't know
+what they meant. I opened it. Inside it were some of the white things
+which were in it when they handed it round this morning. I asked you
+if they were sweets. You said that those who wanted a long, long sleep
+would find them sweet enough; and you took the box from me as you said
+it. I thought there was something queer about you and the box, and
+when you put it down for a moment I picked it up again, and, with
+some scissors which were on the table, scratched some marks on the
+bottom--I myself hardly know why. But when I saw that box this morning
+it was all I could do to keep from asking the coroner if they were on
+the bottom. I could describe them perfectly; I should know them again.
+I can see them now."
+
+"What a vivid imagination you have, and what powers of observation!
+Even granting that, by some odd coincidence, that box was my box,
+what's the inference you draw from it, when the simple explanation is
+that it was a present to my uncle from his affectionate nephew?"
+
+"I daresay it was a present, but not in the sense you mean. You went
+to Brighton yesterday by the Pullman, but you didn't come back by it."
+
+"Pray, who is your informant, and what's the relevancy to your
+previous remarks?"
+
+"George Dale, who has the bed-sitting-room upstairs, and who cares for
+me in a different way to what you do, because he wants me to be his
+wife."
+
+"Then why the--something don't you oblige him? Isn't he respectable?"
+
+"Oh, he's respectable."
+
+"Then could there be a sounder proposition? A man who loves you, who
+would be all that a husband ought to be! I tell you what, on the day
+you marry him an unknown benefactor will settle on you a thousand
+pounds--something like a fortune."
+
+"You can talk to me like that, knowing what you know! After what
+you've done to me you want to pass me on to someone else. That
+finishes it! Now you listen. George Dale's a booking clerk at Victoria
+Station. He recognised you, though you didn't him."
+
+"Quite possibly, if he was on the other side of the peep-hole, and
+seeing that I've only seen him two or three times in my life."
+
+"He gave you your ticket for the Pullman. All the seats are numbered;
+he made a note of your number. Your ticket wasn't among those which
+were given up by the passengers who came back by the Pullman, but it
+was among those which were collected from the train which reached
+Victoria at 11.30. The guard saw you get into the train at Redhill
+Station. You got into a first-class compartment with a little man. You
+two were the only first-class passengers who got in at Redhill, so he
+took particular notice. You were in the London Bridge part of the
+train. At East Croydon someone else got into your compartment. You got
+out and went back to the Victoria part. The guard, shutting your
+carriage door, took particular notice of you again."
+
+"Your friend the guard appears to be as quick to observe as he is to
+impart the fruits of his observation."
+
+"He wasn't my friend, only Mr. Dale introduced me to him, and he was
+kind enough to answer a question or two. Mr. Dale also introduced me
+to the guard of the train in which your uncle was. I asked him if it
+stopped anywhere. He thought a bit, and then said that it did once,
+for about a minute, in Redhill tunnel, because the signal was against
+it. I haven't made inquiries yet, but I shouldn't be surprised if
+someone saw you get into your uncle's train at Brighton. As that train
+stopped in Redhill tunnel, it's not hard to understand how, or why,
+you got into another train a little later at Redhill Station."
+
+"You surprise me, Mabel. I hadn't a ghost of an idea that you had such
+a genius for ferreting."
+
+"It's easy enough. If that coroner hadn't had a notion in his head
+when he started, he might have got at the facts as easily as I have."
+
+"And, from what you call the facts, what is the inference you draw?
+What dreadful charge against me have you been formulating in your
+mind?"
+
+"Rodney, a wife can't give evidence against her husband in a charge of
+murder."
+
+"I believe I have heard as much. And then?"
+
+"I'm the only creature in the world who has any suspicion. If you
+marry me you're safe."
+
+"You, pretending to love me, can marry the sort of man you believe I
+am?"
+
+"It is because I do love you that I am willing to marry you, knowing
+you to be the kind of man you are.
+
+"Your standard of morality is not a high one."
+
+"It's what you've made it."
+
+"Mabel, while you have got parts of your story right, the inferences
+you draw from it are all wrong; but I'm not going to attempt any
+denials."
+
+"I shouldn't; lies won't help you--not with me."
+
+"So you also think that I'm a liar?"
+
+"I'm sure of it; you're a born liar. Sometimes I don't believe you
+know yourself if you are speaking the truth."
+
+"One thing I've learnt this evening--that you're a born actress. I am
+speaking the absolute truth when I assure you that I never for one
+second dreamt that you had the opinion of me you seem to have."
+
+"I never really began to understand you myself till last night. Just
+before you came in Mr. Dale had gone to bed. He told me, as he went
+upstairs, that your uncle had been found dead in the Brighton train,
+and that you had gone to Brighton in the Pullman; and he wondered,
+laughing, if it was you who had killed him. Then Miss Patterson came
+with her air of owning you, and you came and went out with her again
+as with one whom you were going to make your wife, and something
+happened inside my head and I began to understand. All night I
+scarcely slept for thinking, and in the morning, somehow, I knew; and
+all day I have been learning much more, until now I know you--for the
+man you are."
+
+"My dear Mabel, one thing I do see plainly, that you're not very well,
+that your nerves are out of order, and play you tricks. Let's both
+turn in. I, for one, am tired, and I'm sure that a good night's rest
+will do you good; and to-morrow we'll continue our talk where it left
+off."
+
+"Rodney, you'll give me at once a written promise of marriage, or I'll
+communicate with Inspector Harlow, and in the morning you'll be
+charged with murder."
+
+"Do you wish me to suppose that you are speaking seriously?"
+
+"We'll be married at a registrar's--it doesn't matter where, so long
+as we are married, and at a registrar's it's quickest. You can get a
+licence for £2 3s. 6d.; I'll get it, I've enough money for that, and
+then the day after you can be married. If I get the licence to-morrow
+we can be married on Thursday--and we will."
+
+"We can be married on Thursday, can we, you and I? This sounds like
+comic opera, and, as the song says, 'When we are married, what shall
+we do?'"
+
+"You can do as you please. I shall have my marriage lines, and that's
+all I care about."
+
+"So you propose to haul me to the registrar, and chain me to you, and
+souse me in the gutter, and ruin my career, and render life not worth
+living, not because you've any special ambition for yourself, nor even
+because you crave for the sweets of my society, but in order that you
+may have somewhere locked up in a drawer what you call your marriage
+lines. This seems to me like using a steam hammer to crack a nut."
+
+"I've got a sheet of paper; you sit down and write what I tell you."
+
+She laid on the table a sheet of paper which she had taken out of her
+blouse. As he looked at it he laughed.
+
+"Stamped--a sixpenny stamp, as I'm a sinner! Do you know, my dear,
+that this is a bill form which you've got here, good for any amount up
+to fifty pounds. Wherever did you get the thing? And what use do you
+suppose it is to you? What a practical-minded child it is! And I never
+guessed it till now! Tis a wonderful world that we live in!"
+
+"You get a pen and write."
+
+He took a fountain pen and a blotting pad from a table at the side,
+and spread out on the latter the crumpled bill stamp.
+
+"Here we are. Now for the writing. 'Three months after date I promise
+to pay.' Is that the sort of thing I'm to write?"
+
+"You write what I tell you."
+
+"Tell on; I'm waiting."
+
+"Write: 'I, Rodney Elmore, promise to marry on Thursday next Mabel
+Joyce, who is about to bear a child of which I am the father.' Have
+you got that? Why aren't you writing?"
+
+"Before I start I want to see the finish; that is, I want to know all
+that I am to write."
+
+"Except your signature and the date, that is all."
+
+"Rather a considerable all, eh? What use do you suppose this will be
+to you when you've got it?"
+
+"That's my business."
+
+"What do you propose to do with it?"
+
+"Nothing. If you marry me I'll give it you before we leave the
+registrar's."
+
+"And if I don't?"
+
+"You'll be in gaol."
+
+"I see; that's it. If I don't write I'm in the cart, and if I do write
+and don't marry I'm also in the cart."
+
+"I'm fighting for my life."
+
+"And I lose mine either way."
+
+"How do you make that out? Who's there to be afraid of except me?"
+
+"If I do marry you I might as well be dead, and if I don't you'll do
+your best to bring my death about."
+
+She was silent. They eyed each other, she standing at one side of the
+table, he sitting at the other. In the white-faced woman, with the
+rigid features and close-set lips, who looked at him with such
+unfaltering gaze, he scarcely recognised the pretty, dainty, blue-eyed
+girl whom it seemed only yesterday he had wooed and won. He was
+sufficiently a physiognomist and student of character to be aware that
+this woman meant every word she said. As this knowledge was borne more
+clearly in on him a curious something came into his own eyes--the
+something which had been there last night in the train. He spoke very
+softly.
+
+"Mabel?"
+
+Her voice fell as his had done.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"We are alone together in the house, you and I."
+
+"We are; as you were alone with your uncle in the railway carriage."
+
+"Why shouldn't I serve you as you persist in hinting that I served
+him? What reason is there?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then--why shouldn't I?"
+
+"You can."
+
+"I can--what?"
+
+"Kill me."
+
+"Knowing me, as you pretended to know me, you're not afraid?"
+
+"I shall never be afraid of you."
+
+"You seem to flatter me all at once."
+
+"I don't care what you do to me. I'd rather you killed me than not
+marry me--much."
+
+"You wouldn't be so easy to explain. You'd want a lot of explaining if
+they found you dead."
+
+When he stopped she was still looking at him with eyes which never
+flinched. He went on:
+
+"You wouldn't be difficult to manage."
+
+"I shouldn't resist. If you broke my head to pieces with the poker I
+wouldn't make a sound."
+
+"The poker? Not such a fool! He would be sanguine who hoped to explain
+a poker."
+
+He had been sitting back in his chair; now, leaning forward, he rested
+his arms on the table.
+
+"Suppose I had another of those things which were in the silver box.
+If I gave it to you would you take it?"
+
+"No."
+
+Her face had become all at once so pale that her very lips seemed
+white.
+
+"I should have to go through the form of making you."
+
+"You would have to do to me what you did to your uncle."
+
+"And if I did, what then?--what then?"
+
+If he expected an answer it did not come. She stood confronting him,
+so immobile that she scarcely seemed to breathe. The smile was on his
+face which had seemed the night before to give it such unpleasant
+significance, as if unholy thoughts were chasing each other through
+his mind.
+
+"I'll be frank with you."
+
+If he expected her to speak he was again disappointed.
+
+"If I could explain you--I'd do it, but I don't see how I could. How
+can I? Suggest an explanation."
+
+"You won't kill me; you dare not. You only killed your uncle because
+you thought you wouldn't be found out."
+
+"You think that was the only reason? You don't think that I had a
+choice of evils, and that I merely chose what seemed to be the
+lesser?"
+
+"I wonder why you killed him?"
+
+"In your case you wouldn't wonder?"
+
+"Was it because of Miss Patterson?"
+
+"As how?"
+
+"Because you've treated her as you've treated me, and her father found
+out. If I thought--if I thought---- Take that paper and write on it
+what I told you--now! now! now!"
+
+"And if I don't?"
+
+"If you don't kill me--and you won't, you're afraid--I'll have you
+hanged!"
+
+"So with you also it is a choice of evils."
+
+"Write what I told you--write it----"
+
+She had raised her voice nearly to a scream. All at once she was
+still, leaving her sentence unfinished. There were sounds without of a
+key being put in a lock, of a door being opened, of steps in the
+passage. She spoke in a whisper, hurriedly, eagerly, and the fashion
+of her countenance was changed:
+
+"That's Mr. Dale come back from the station. If you don't write what I
+told you now, I'll call him in--I will!"
+
+He also spoke in a whisper, and in some subtle fashion his countenance
+was also changed:
+
+"Mabel, don't--don't be hard on me."
+
+"Then write, write what I told you; write it now. If I do call him in
+it'll be too late. Write!"
+
+He drew the bill stamp towards him and picked up the fountain pen. His
+air was more than a trifle sullen.
+
+"What am I to write?"
+
+"You know perfectly well. Write: 'I, Rodney Elmore, promise to marry
+on Thursday next Mabel Joyce, who is about to bear a child of which I
+am the father.' Write that. Now sign it, put your name at the bottom,
+and the date. I'll blot it."
+
+Drawing the pad to her she blotted what Elmore had written; then,
+after a glance at what was on it, began to return it to her blouse,
+while the young gentleman sat and watched.
+
+"I'm going to put this into an envelope with a note I'm going to
+write, and give it to Mr. Dale, and tell him to keep it for me till I
+ask for it; and if I don't ask for it he'll know why."
+
+"So, in writing that, I have not only put myself in your power, but
+also in Mr. Dale's."
+
+"I tell you that if you do marry me on Thursday I'll give it you again
+before we leave the registrar's; but if for any cause you don't, even
+if you put me out of the way, Mr. Dale will see that you are made to
+smart."
+
+A voice was heard calling to her without:
+
+"Miss Joyce."
+
+She replied to it.
+
+"All right, Mr. Dale. You'll find your supper all ready for you in the
+parlour; I'm coming now."
+
+She went, the bill form inside her blouse. Mr. Elmore was left to his
+own reflections. He remained just as she had left him, leaning
+forward, his arms upon the table, looking with unblinking eyes
+straight in front of him, as if he hoped to find in space an answer to
+a problem which was difficult to solve.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI
+
+                        THOMAS AUSTIN, SENIOR
+
+
+Miss Joyce came into Mr. Elmore's bedroom the next morning before he
+was out of it. As a matter of fact, he was arranging his tie before
+the looking-glass with that nice care which is becoming to a young
+gentleman of looks.
+
+"There's a gentleman come to see you--a Mr. Austin. I should say from
+the look of him that he's the father of the Miss Austin who was here
+last evening."
+
+"The thing is possible."
+
+"I don't know what he's come about."
+
+"It's conceivable that you soon will know if you keep your ear close
+enough to my sitting-room door. Mr. Austin has rather a hearty way of
+speaking."
+
+"Don't you talk to me like that! You know I've never played the spy on
+you yet, and you know I never will. But don't you make any mistake
+about last night. Mr. Dale's got that paper you wrote and my letter in
+a sealed envelope, and if you don't turn up on Thursday you'll be
+sorry."
+
+"Thank you so much for the information. Now, let me clearly
+understand. If, as you put it, I do turn up on Thursday, what is going
+to happen--after the ceremony?"
+
+"All I want is my marriage lines. I'm coming straight back home; you
+can do as you like."
+
+"If I like can I go through a similar ceremony with Miss Jones or Miss
+Brown?"
+
+"If I thought you were going to be up to any game of that sort
+I'd--I'd----"
+
+"Yes--you'd what?"
+
+"I'd go and talk to your Mr. Austin to begin with. Don't you get any
+ideas of that kind in your head; don't you try it on."
+
+"I've no intention of, as you again put it, 'trying it on,' not I. I
+only wondered. Then, at least, you won't insist on the position being
+made instantly public?"
+
+"I don't care if it's made public or not. All I want is my marriage
+lines--when the time comes."
+
+"And you quite understand that, whatever the relations may be, from
+the legal point of view, in which we stand to each other, you'll get
+no money out of me, for the sufficient reason that I shall have none
+to give you."
+
+"I don't want your money. I don't want anything from you except that
+one thing; and--and--mind you do turn up!"
+
+"I've been thinking things over in the silent watches of the night,
+and I've quite decided that I will turn up."
+
+"Mind you do!"
+
+"I will, I will; be assured I will. Now I believe I'm ready. I was
+thinking of troubling you to tell Mr. Austin that I'll be with him in
+a second, but I'll save you that trouble."
+
+"Mind----"
+
+Standing by the door she was beginning a sentence. He cut her short.
+
+"All right, my dear; I'll mind. Would you mind getting out of the
+way?"
+
+She moved aside to let him pass. He went down the stairs to his
+sitting-room below, quickly, lightly, humming a tune as he went, as if
+he had not a care in the world; and with a face which was all sunshine
+he entered his visitor's presence.
+
+"My dear Rodney, this is an unconventional hour at which to pay a
+call, but I didn't think that in my case you'd mind about conventions,
+and I thought that, as I didn't get a chance of speaking to you last
+night, I'd have a few words with you before you started for the City.
+I suspect that I needn't tell you that I was glad to hear the news
+from Stella."
+
+The speaker was a short, sturdily-built, fresh-coloured man, probably
+somewhere in the fifties, whose neatly trimmed beard was a shade
+whiter than his hair. A pair of bright eyes looked out from behind
+gold-rimmed spectacles; about his whole appearance there was a
+suggestion of health, vigour, and clean living. He took both the young
+man's hands in his, looking up at him as at one whom he both esteemed
+and liked.
+
+"You're on the tall side. Stella always did like six-footers. I
+shouldn't wonder if that's the main reason why she's contracted a
+fondness for you."
+
+Rodney laughed.
+
+"It's very good of you, sir, to look me up in this unceremonious way.
+You must join me at breakfast."
+
+"On this occasion I've been an earlier bird than you--I've
+breakfasted--but I will join you in a cup of coffee."
+
+Rodney rang the bell. Miss Joyce entered with the breakfast on a tray.
+As she was placing the various articles on the table the two men
+scarcely spoke. The young man was examining the outsides of three or
+four letters which the morning post had brought; the elder, who had
+taken up his position before the fireplace, was for the most part
+observing Miss Joyce. When she had gone he said:
+
+"That's not a bad-looking young woman. Who is she?"
+
+"She's the landlady's daughter."
+
+"Don't they keep a servant?"
+
+"I fancy they do at intervals, someone who does the rougher work; but
+I'm out all day, and I never see her. So far as I'm concerned, either
+the mother or the daughter does the waiting."
+
+"Are you the only lodger?"
+
+"Oh, no; there's another man upstairs, who's by way of being a booking
+clerk or something. I rather fancy he has an eye in her direction."
+
+"Is that so? Then perhaps that's what worries her. I never saw a young
+girl with a whiter face, or one with such an odd look in her eyes. It
+quite troubled me."
+
+"How are you, sir? Though I don't think I need ask."
+
+"No, you needn't. As always, I'm in the enjoyment of vulgar health;
+nothing ever seems to ail me, though in saying so perhaps I ought to
+touch wood. When I heard from Stella yesterday morning I made up my
+mind that I would come up to town at once and say what I had to say by
+word of mouth, instead of putting it on paper. I arrived in the
+afternoon, hoping to see you in the evening; but I didn't. I can tell
+you that Stella was very badly disappointed. I think she was
+unreasonable; but girls are! You'll have to make your peace to-day. I
+daresay you won't find it very difficult. This is very bad news about
+your uncle. I see the inquest is in the morning's paper."
+
+"Is it, sir? As yet I haven't seen a paper."
+
+"From what I can gather he was suffering from some form of malignant
+disease, and, it seems, in a fit of despair, took his own life. Poor
+fellow! It's easy to judge such cases, but I often feel that God, who
+is love, understands and pardons. I hope I'm saying nothing that I
+ought not to say. Mrs. Austin will have it that I oughtn't to talk
+like that, but that's how I do feel. Will his death make any
+difference to you?"
+
+"Do you mean has he left me anything? No, sir; not a penny."
+
+"What becomes of the business?"
+
+"According to the will it's to be carried on by the managing man for
+the benefit of those mentioned in the will."
+
+"Of whom you're not one?"
+
+"No, sir, I am not."
+
+"Then that makes what I have to say all the easier. I am glad to hear
+that you're going to be Stella's husband; Mrs. Austin is glad to hear
+it; I'm sure Tom will be glad to hear it--in fact, we're all of us
+glad to hear it."
+
+"It's very kind of you to say so, sir, considering what an ineligible
+son-in-law I am. Here is a letter from Tom this morning. Shall I open
+it and see what he says?"
+
+"You needn't. I've no doubt it conveys his congratulations in his own
+vernacular. I know Tom and his letters. There are some things about
+the governance of this world which I don't understand, which shows I
+am not omniscient. Experience teaches me that when a man has a son and
+a good business the son will have none of it, and can with difficulty
+be brought to believe that the business offers a good opening for him;
+whereas if a man has a son and no business, the son is apt to look
+upon it almost as a grievance that his father has no business in which
+to give him an opening. Instances of the kind are so common that I've
+nearly come to look upon them as illustrations of a general rule. Now,
+here am I, and there is Tom, and there's the business, producing, even
+in these competitive days, quite a comfortable number of thousands a
+year. Tom's a born optimist. The only time Eve seen him at all
+pessimistic is when I've suggested that those thousands might as well
+find their way into his pockets; then he's pessimism gone mad. He'd
+sooner raise sheep in Australia, or ranch in Manitoba, or do some
+other ridiculous thing. In fact, he once told me--in such matters he's
+frankness itself--that he'd rather sweep a crossing than be what he
+called imprisoned for life in the warehouse at Leicester. I'll do him
+this justice--that I believe his instincts are right, because I've
+never seen anything about him to lead me to suppose that in him are
+the makings of a business man. That's a pretty quandary for a man to
+be in who has a good business and an only son. Now, Rodney, I've
+always liked you. It's true that I've sometimes felt that a
+decent-looking young fellow occasionally finds it difficult to steer
+clear of quicksands which are represented by nice-looking persons of
+the opposite sex; but I've never had any tangible or serious charge
+to bring against you, and I've no doubt that when you're married
+there'll be only one woman in the world to you, and she will be your
+wife."
+
+As the speaker paused, apparently with the intention of giving the
+other an opening, Rodney said with a smile:
+
+"I'm at least glad, sir, that you've no tangible or serious charge to
+bring against me."
+
+"Well, no, I haven't. At the same time--however, we'll let bygones be
+bygones. I daresay I'd an eye for more than one pretty girl before I'd
+a Mrs. Austin. I do know you're clever, with great charm of manner. I
+sometimes wonder if your manners are not almost too charming; but
+then, I come of a stocky school--no one's ever accused an Austin of
+having a charming manner, and I quite realise that, as things are, in
+business personal charm's a valuable asset; and I've been frequently
+struck by the fact that you're the possessor of a singularly quick
+perception. I think you have what is in reality an instinct, but what
+is called on the Stock Exchange a 'nose.' Again, a thing which in a
+business man is well worth having."
+
+"You seem to have been observing me with unexpectedly flattering
+attention, sir."
+
+"Oh, I've had an eye on you for quite a while. I want you, when you
+are Stella's husband, to come into my business. If you turn out as I
+hope and expect, I'll make you a partner. I've been imprisoned in the
+warehouse all my life, so, as I would like to see more of the world,
+soon as you're ready to take my place I should like you to take it.
+How would that meet your views?"
+
+"Nothing could please me better, sir. I don't know where I shall find
+words with which to thank you even for the suggestion."
+
+"I want no thanks; I want deeds. I'm hopeful that the arrangement will
+turn out to our mutual advantage. Now, Rodney, tell me candidly do you
+love my girl?"
+
+"Let me put question for question. Do you think I'm the kind of man
+who would ask her to be my wife if I didn't?"
+
+"Then why didn't you ask her before?"
+
+"Mr. Austin, you're not quite fair to me."
+
+"How am I unfair?"
+
+"I've loved Stella ever--ever since we were boy and girl together.
+I've tried to break myself of loving her, but I haven't succeeded.
+I've never been able to dream of anyone but her as wife. You were a
+rich man; I was not only penniless, but without prospects. Over and
+over again I've been on the point of telling her what I felt, but I've
+checked myself. It hasn't been easy, but I've done it. I meant to wait
+till I'd some shadow of a right to ask her to be my wife, but last
+Saturday, when I saw her dear face, I--I couldn't hold myself in any
+longer, and that's the truth."
+
+"I'm glad you couldn't. While I'm quite aware that your sentiments do
+you honour, all the same I rather wish that you'd shown a little more
+of the perception with which I've credited you. Rodney, is there any
+reason why the marriage should be postponed?"
+
+"Mr. Austin, I haven't at the moment five pounds in the world to call
+my own. That's the only reason, so far as I'm concerned; but some
+fathers would think it a quite sufficient one."
+
+Mr. Austin's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he settled his
+spectacles on his nose.
+
+"I suppose they would, if you look at it in that way. You don't paint
+your position too attractively."
+
+"It couldn't be worse than it is."
+
+"You're not in debt?"
+
+"Oh, I'm not in debt; I don't know who'd give me credit if I wanted
+it. I've just enough to live on, as it were, from hand to mouth; but,
+with all the goodwill in the world and all the management, I don't see
+how it's going to be enough for two."
+
+"I see. You put the position with some clearness. As you say, some
+fathers would think it a sufficient reason for postponement, but I'm
+not one of them. As you perhaps know, Stella has some means of her
+own."
+
+"Isn't that one of the reasons why I--I kept quiet for so long?"
+
+"And on her marriage I shall settle a further sum on her, besides
+making other arrangements. For instance, I shall, as I have said, be
+glad to receive you in my business, giving you at the commencement a
+salary which will enable you to contribute towards some of the
+expenses of a wife, with the prospect of a partnership in the early
+future. Now, do you see any reason why there should be any
+postponement so far as you're concerned?"
+
+"I shall be only too delighted to marry Stella next week."
+
+"Next week is a little early perhaps; but what do you say to next
+month?"
+
+"If I'm Stella's husband next month I shall be the happiest man in the
+world."
+
+He looked and sounded as if he meant it.
+
+"You understand that in matters of this sort it is the lady who has
+the final word, but you have my authority to tell Stella that if she
+can see her way to stand with you at the altar in a month or earlier,
+she will make her mother and father happy, to say nothing of you. Now
+suppose you come and spend the day with us?"
+
+"My dear sir! I must go to the City."
+
+"Meaning to your late uncle's office? Why? Can't you scribble a note
+as soon as you've finished breakfast, and make an end of that?"
+
+"It's impossible; I must go to-day."
+
+"Very well. Go to-day, and say you're not coming to-morrow, or ever
+again. Say good-bye."
+
+"I'm afraid that that wouldn't be playing the game. I ought to go, at
+any rate, till the end of the week."
+
+"Very well. Perhaps you're right in not wishing to leave them in the
+lurch, if the departure of such a junior clerk as I understand you are
+would be leaving them in the lurch. Then on Saturday you'll come down
+with me to Leicester, and on Monday I'll introduce you to the
+warehouse. It will be just as well that you should have a look round
+before you're actually installed."
+
+Here was Mr. Austin mapping out everything for him, as he had foreseen
+long ago would be the case if he ever committed himself to Stella;
+treating him as a puppet who would be content to dance when he pulled
+the strings. He had no doubt that Mrs. Austin would be ready to play
+the same motherly part in the management of his domestic affairs. He
+smiled as he thought of it. His would-be father-in-law went on:
+
+"I'm going to write to Mrs. Austin and wire to Tom; I want to arrange
+a little dinner for to-morrow in honour of a certain auspicious event.
+Stella tells me she wants you all to herself to-night, and I'm not to
+interfere. I don't know what she wants you for, I'm sure, but I've
+promised not to interfere. She'll pull a face when she sees you've not
+returned with me, so you come early; after disappointing her twice--on
+Sunday and last night--she'll think that you can't come too early."
+
+"I'll leave the office as early as I can--trust me for that!--rush
+back here, dress, and come right on."
+
+"Dress! You needn't dress! They're homely folk at Kensington, and
+Stella will excuse you; she won't want you to waste, in dressing,
+valuable time which might be spent with her. You come straight on from
+the office in your toil-stained garments. She'll want to know what
+time. Shall I say five? I dare say, at a pinch, you can manage to be
+in Kensington by five."
+
+Rodney considered. If he did go straight on from the office he would
+at least escape the risk of another heated discussion with Miss
+Joyce--that would be something.
+
+"Very well, sir; if Stella will forgive me coming as I am, as you say,
+all toil-stained, I'll try my best to be with her as near as possible
+to five."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII
+
+                     THE ACTING HEAD OF THE FIRM
+
+
+Mr. Austin and Rodney left the house together, and so disappointed
+Miss Joyce, who was waiting to have one or two last words with Mr.
+Elmore. Having parted from Mr. Austin, Rodney paid a few calls on his
+way to St. Paul's Churchyard.
+
+To begin with, he went into a jeweller's shop, and bought a ring set
+with pearls and diamonds--a simple, inexpensive trifle, which cost six
+pounds. It was designed for Stella's finger, and was to be her
+engagement ring.
+
+"It won't do," he said to himself, "for it to cost too much, for one
+of her inquiring family will want to know where I got the money from.
+She'll value it none the less because 'I can no more, though poor the
+offering be.'"
+
+Then he looked in at the offices of the White Star Steamship Company,
+and paid a deposit on a berth which he booked on a steamer which was
+to sail from Liverpool to New York on the following Thursday, booking
+it in the name of John Griffiths; then into the offices of the Royal
+Mail Steam Packet Company, where he booked a berth for the following
+Friday, from Southampton to Buenos Ayres, in the name of Charles
+Dickinson; then to the Cunard offices, where he booked for Saturday to
+New York, in the name of Adolphus Ridgway. Afterwards he visited the
+Bishop's Registry, in Doctors' Commons, and there, having made certain
+affidavits, received, in exchange for two sovereigns, a strip of paper
+which authorised him to marry Gladys Patterson, spinster, at any
+church in the London diocese. Thus prepared, as one might suppose, for
+more than one emergency, he paid still another call before proceeding
+to St. Paul's Churchyard--on Clarence Parmiter, solicitor. From him he
+wanted to know what forms it would be necessary to go through to
+enable Miss Patterson to draw on her late father's banking account.
+Mr. Parmiter explained that to do this it would be necessary, first of
+all, to prove Mr. Patterson's will--and it was not usual to do that,
+at any rate, till after the testator was buried. When, Mr. Parmiter
+asked, was the funeral to take place. In spite of himself, his visitor
+smiled; so fast had events come crowding on him that the fact that the
+dead man would have to be put into his grave had entirely escaped his
+notice--so far as he was aware, no arrangements for the funeral had
+been made of any sort or kind. Mr. Parmiter looked as if he felt that
+the smile with which this announcement was made was a little out of
+place. He said that probably Rodney would find that the matter had
+been arranged by one of the executors, or by Miss Patterson herself.
+If cash was wanted in the interim; if Miss Patterson and Mr. Andrews,
+as executor, would attend with him at a bank with which Mr. Patterson
+had an account, he did not doubt that arrangements might be made which
+would provide the lady with such advances as she required; and, of
+course, if she chose, she might instruct the bank to honour any
+cheques which he--Rodney Elmore--might draw, acting on her behalf.
+
+Mr. Elmore left his friend's chambers with a feeling strong upon him
+that the business of getting his uncle's money out of the bank was not
+going to be as simple as he had hoped it would be. Clarence Parmiter
+even told him that the bank would not now honour any cheque which
+Graham Patterson might have drawn while still alive. This he did feel
+was unreasonable; it rendered even forgery futile. If he could wait he
+did not doubt that matters would be perfectly all right; but--could he
+wait? If only certain difficulties could be smoothed away, and he was
+given time, he did not doubt that he would be able to load himself
+with money; but could they be smoothed away, even for a week? Danger
+threatened from so many quarters; he really had been such an utter
+fool. If he had only realised what a fool, he would have taken
+precious good care to walk more warily; he would have been a wiser and
+a better man. But wisdom after the event was easy; what he needed was
+to be ready at a moment's notice for whatever came. He had planned
+escape in three different directions on three following days--if
+he could only get away with enough money to count! There was that
+nest-egg which he had found in his uncle's drawer, but what was that
+to a man in his plight? What he wanted was ten, or even, say, five
+thousand pounds. With five thousand pounds he might do very well on
+the other side of the world.
+
+As, strolling leisurely along, he considered the matter in all its
+bearings calmly, it appeared to him that nothing worth calling money
+could be got at least until the morrow. In the morning he would meet
+his cousin at the bank, with Parmiter and Andrews; the arrangements
+would be made of which Parmiter had spoken; then, immediately after,
+he would be free to lay hands on as much ready cash as the
+arrangements permitted. He had no doubt that everything would be all
+right until to-morrow--he would so manage that it should be; all the
+same, he would have liked to have had a good supply of coin at his
+command, in case. However, it was no use grizzling at what might not
+be. He smiled as he arrived at this conclusion; he was still smiling
+when he reached the office. He marched, as a matter of course, to the
+room which had been his uncle's own particular sanctum, and this time
+no one even as much as hinted nay. Indeed, he was presently followed
+by Andrews, who informed him, with a countenance of decent solemnity,
+that he had made arrangements, which he hoped would meet with his and
+Miss Patterson's approval, for the interment of Mr. Patterson's
+remains in the family vault at Kensal Green, the interment to take
+place upon the morrow--Wednesday. Tickled by certain thoughts of his
+own, Rodney smiled as he listened; but this time, as his face was bent
+over the table, it is possible that the smile went unnoticed. He
+expressed himself as greatly obliged by what Andrews had done, and was
+certain that his feelings would be shared by Miss Patterson. Indeed,
+he was convinced that Miss Patterson would be willing to leave
+everything in his charge, since she would feel assured that everything
+he did would be right and proper and for the best. Mr. Andrews put his
+hand up to his mouth and coughed--the cough of one who was sensible
+that he deserved the compliment which was paid him.
+
+He wanted to know if Mr. Elmore did not think it would be well to
+close the office for the whole of to-morrow, so as to give the staff
+an opportunity of at least attending at the graveside. They had all
+been remembered in the will, and would like to show the last tokens of
+respect for their dead master. Rodney, to whom the notion of marking
+such an occasion as a sort of holiday was novel, informed Andrews that
+the idea was excellent, and that he was at liberty to act in the
+matter as he thought was right. Andrews then wanted to know if Miss
+Patterson would be present, or if he--Rodney Elmore--would represent
+her as chief mourner. The suggestion moved Rodney in a way he would
+not have cared to admit. He had had no intention of attending his
+uncle's funeral at all--and as chief mourner! He to represent his
+cousin in such a capacity! That would be indeed to mock the dead. He
+was conscious of a feeling which surprised himself; he had not
+supposed he was so sensitive.
+
+"I think," he told Andrews, "we must leave these points till later. I
+will consult with Miss Patterson and--observe her wishes. There is
+another matter," he went on. "Access to Mr. Patterson's banking
+account is not so easy as I imagined. My acquaintance with the
+procedure in these cases is nil; I don't know what yours amounts to."
+
+"I know no more than you; this is the first time I find myself in such
+a position. Two payments of some importance are to be made this week;
+I was wondering how they would be met. Of course, if representations
+are made, time will be given."
+
+"But, all the same, you would rather the payments were made? Exactly
+my feelings, Andrews; I want everything to be done in due order. I am
+going to arrange for Miss Patterson to meet you and Mr. Parmiter at
+the bank to-morrow morning, when I am advised that it will be possible
+to make arrangements which will enable us to meet all liabilities as
+they fall due. By the way, I believe that the trading account
+pass-book is in your charge; you might let me look at it."
+
+Rodney examined the book when it was brought to him with great
+attention. He was already posted in certain figures which had to deal
+with his uncle's private account. Customers were brought in to him;
+some who had called in the ordinary course of business, others who had
+come to offer condolences, and so on. Their being brought straight to
+him showed a frank acceptance on Andrews' part of the fact that he was
+to be acting head of the firm; none the less, therefore, he was
+careful that Andrews was present at each of the interviews, referring
+certain matters to him with a little air of deference which won, as it
+was intended to win, the managing man's heart. The customers were
+favourably impressed, agreeing, as they went out, that Graham
+Patterson's mantle had descended on to capable shoulders.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," declared Mr. Brailson North as he shook hands
+with Mr. Andrews at the outer door, "if he turns out to be every bit
+as good a man as his uncle."
+
+This, coming from a member of one of the largest firms in the City,
+was praise indeed. The managing man's eyes glistened. Anything which
+suggested a compliment to the business, so wrapped up in it was his
+whole existence, was a compliment to him. Since yesterday his ideas on
+the subject of Mr. Elmore had changed.
+
+"Mr. North," he addressed the visitor in a confidential whisper, "Mr.
+Patterson was a good man, an excellent man of business in his way,
+sound and discreet; but between you, me, and this doorpost, I
+shouldn't wonder if the young one was better, with all his uncle's
+soundness and discretion, together with something that his uncle
+hadn't got. He's surprised me! You mark my words, I shouldn't be
+surprised if the house of Graham Patterson--there's going to be no
+alteration in the title--takes its place among the greatest City
+houses--mind you, in the front rank."
+
+Mr. North laughed.
+
+"There's no reason why your prophecy shouldn't come true. This is the
+day of the young man. Your young man has evidently got a head on his
+shoulders; he's a good foundation to build on. If he has grit,
+steadiness, caution, and knows just what sort of structure he would
+raise on it, there's no reason that I know of why he shouldn't build
+anything he likes. I agree with you in thinking that it is possible
+that the house of Graham Patterson is destined to be, in all respects,
+one of the finest in the City of London."
+
+While these things were being said in his praise Rodney Elmore was
+writing to Miss Patterson. He enclosed for her inspection the marriage
+licence he had bought, asked in what church she would like the
+ceremony to take place on Monday, and added that he hoped to be able
+to make all final detailed arrangements with her to-morrow after the
+funeral. He told her of the difficulty which had arisen about getting
+money, asked her to meet him at the bank in the morning at 11.30;
+hoped that afterwards they might lunch together, pointing out that he
+never had lunched with her yet. Since after to-morrow he looked
+forward to being able to spend most of his time with her till Monday,
+and then for ever and a day--and that wouldn't seem a day too
+long!--he said that he felt that it would be better to devote the
+evening to doing certain little things of his own, which, sooner or
+later, would have to be done. By doing them he would clear the decks
+for action, so that, when the time for action came, he would be able
+to devote the whole of his time and, indeed, the whole of his life
+to her. All of which meant that he would not be able to tell her,
+except on paper, that he loved her till they met at the bank
+to-morrow morning.
+
+Before actually slipping it into the envelope, together with this
+edifying epistle, he read the marriage licence carefully through. The
+perusal started him on what, for him, was an unwonted train of
+thought. Already, while still in the first flush of youth, he had
+spoilt his life, brought it to final wreck and ruin. What an extremely
+silly thing to have done! It was characteristic of this young
+gentleman that he never could bring himself to look at anything
+through serious eyes--even death. Whatever his first impulse might be,
+his second was to smile. Life, with all that appertained thereto, was
+such a funny thing. Here was he, with a career on either hand, each of
+which would lead at least to fortune; yet he might have neither. That
+did seem droll. Each was represented by a woman; personally he would
+have preferred that which was represented by Gladys, if only because
+he had no doubt that ere long he would be master not only of the
+business but of her. He was not so sure of Stella. In her he suspected
+an obstinate streak which he feared might be congenital. He had always
+felt that the Austins were, as the head of the house had put it,
+"stocky." He would find them more inclined to manage than to be
+managed. One thing he did know of himself: that he never could be
+managed. He might not put up an open fight--open fighting was not
+precisely in his line--but, if a sustained attempt were made to manage
+him, he would slip away--somehow, that was sure. Therefore, if only
+for the sake of peace and quietude, it would be better to avoid the
+risk. All the same, there was something about Stella which did appeal
+to him. With a sudden smile, slipping the licence and the letter into
+the envelope, he closed the flap.
+
+Then, with pen in hand, as he was about to write the address, he
+started again to think. It was women--girls--who had brought him to
+his present pass, that was how he put it to himself. What Mabel Joyce
+said was perfectly true: he could not be alone with a girl without
+making love to her. It was a physical impossibility; he did not know
+why, but it was. The mischief was that his instinct had not warned him
+they were dangerous, hence his horrid situation. Indeed, it was hard
+that they should be dangerous; they were so pleasant to make love to.
+There were men who cared nothing for women, who went through life
+without making love--real love!--to a single one. How they managed he
+could not think. To him life under such conditions would not be worth
+living. He was a Sybarite. Life meant to him its good things; were
+there better things than women? He doubted it. He thought little of
+men; he had a very high opinion of women; he doubted if he had ever
+met one in whom there was not something to be desired.
+
+Take Mabel Joyce. She was showing him a side of her character whose
+existence he had not suspected. Yet he understood her, quite believed
+her when she said that she was fighting for her life. No one could
+have been sweeter to him than she had been; then she was such a pretty
+little thing, from the tips of her little pink toes to the top of her
+fluffy little head. It could hardly be set down to her as a fault if
+she was sweet no longer. Let him be just! Then there was Gladys, a
+girl of quite a different type; but that was the charm about women,
+there were so many types. He was persuaded that they would have the
+best possible time together, if the fates could only manage to be
+kind. He would make her a model husband, he really would; he rather
+wondered what it would feel like to be a husband, but he did not doubt
+that it would be all right. A little cramped, perhaps; but he would
+study her, and her interests, in every possible way. She should never
+regret the father she had lost, who was precious little loss after
+all. He would be better to her than a father; he should rather think
+so! Then there was Mary Carmichael; but at the thought of Mary
+Carmichael his pulses began to dance--that any man should be ass
+enough to care nothing for women when there was Mary Carmichael! Also,
+let him not forget little Stella--why, what an idiot he was; she was
+waiting for him now! He glanced at his watch. Great Scott! how the
+time had flown! And that poor child was longingly waiting for him to
+put his arms about her and stifle her with kisses. That he should be
+brute enough to let her wait!
+
+He addressed the envelope, rang the bell, bade the lad who answered
+take it at once to Russell Square, took his hat off its peg, and,
+after a few hurried words to Andrews as he went out, started off for
+Kensington.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII
+
+                          THE PERFECT LOVER
+
+
+Stella, opening the door for him herself, was at him like a small wild
+thing.
+
+"I thought you were never coming!"
+
+"Why, it's not yet half-past five."
+
+"Half-past five! when I expected papa to bring you with him, and he
+said you'd be here by five! Come in here; I'll talk to you!"
+
+She took from him his hat and stick and gloves, and placed them on a
+table in the hall; then she led him by the sleeve of his coat into a
+room on the left, and shut the door, and drew a long breath.
+
+"Oh--h--h! So you've come at last, my lord! Let me look at you, to
+make sure that it is you. Oh, Rodney, why have you been so long in
+coming?"
+
+She put her arms about his neck and drew him down to her and kissed
+him. He said, softly:
+
+"I do believe you have grown shorter."
+
+"You wretch! To let a thing like that be your first word to me!"
+
+"It's such a long way down, though it's well worth stooping for."
+
+He kissed her again, tenderly, on her pretty lips--he was an expert in
+the art of kissing. Because he did it so well, she, not knowing that
+such skill came of practice, had him kiss her again and again and
+again, till the breath had half gone out of her body and she was all
+rapturous palpitation.
+
+"If you only knew what ages it seems since I saw you!"
+
+"Stella, what do you think it has seemed to me? If you only knew what
+I have gone through!"
+
+"Poor boy! I suppose you have had to bear a good deal."
+
+"You have no notion what I've had to bear."
+
+That was true enough, or she would not have been as close to him as
+she was.
+
+"It was bad enough when you didn't come on Sunday. I suppose you
+didn't get back from that Mrs. What's-her-name, your mother's friend,
+in time?"
+
+"My dear, I had a chapter of accidents, and nearly missed the last
+train; I'll tell you all about it some day, and you'll laugh. I didn't
+feel like laughing then, I can tell you that."
+
+"And I didn't feel like laughing, and I can tell you that. In fact,
+I--I cried."
+
+"Stella!"
+
+"I did; it seemed so awful. That was the longest Sunday I ever knew;
+and then when the evening came I kept expecting you every moment; I
+kept rushing out of the front door to look for you. Every footstep in
+the street I thought was yours, and every vehicle the hansom which was
+bringing you; when it kept getting later and later, and still you
+didn't come, I--I fancied all sorts of things, and I simply had to
+cry."
+
+"My darling, I would infinitely rather have been with you than where I
+was."
+
+That again was true enough; part of the time he had been in the
+tunnel--a gruesome time.
+
+"What time was it when you did get back?"
+
+"Frightfully late; but--Stella, you won't tell anyone if I tell you
+something? Promise!"
+
+"Of course I promise. What--what is it?"
+
+"You can laugh if you like; I don't mind your laughing a little bit;
+but I don't want them to laugh."
+
+"Why should they laugh?"
+
+"I did come to see you--after I came back."
+
+"Rodney!"
+
+"At least, I came as far as the outside of the house. I dismissed the
+cab at the corner; then I walked--or rather sneaked--along the
+pavement; if a bobby had seen me he'd have been all suspicion--till I
+reached the house. It was all in darkness; there wasn't a glimmer of
+light anywhere."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"About one, perhaps later."
+
+"Rodney, I'd been in my room hours and hours; but I wasn't asleep; I
+was crying in bed."
+
+"Stella! You were crying! Great Scott! if--if I'd only known it,
+I'd--I'd have done something."
+
+"What would you have done?"
+
+"I'd--I'd have done something if--if I'd had to break a window!"
+
+"But what good would your breaking a window have done me?"
+
+"Anyhow, it would have been a beginning; but, you see, I didn't even
+know which your room was--whether you were at the front or the back."
+
+"I'm on the second floor in the front; my window's over the hall
+door."
+
+"I kept staring at it all the time; I had a sort of feeling--I swear I
+had a sort of feeling! If I'd only been sure I'd have whistled."
+
+"Whistled! At one in the morning! What would have been the good of
+that?"
+
+"Suppose, say, I'd whistled 'The Devout Lover'--or what I should have
+meant for 'The Devout Lover'--you'd have heard."
+
+"I probably should have heard; Miss Claughton would probably have
+heard also."
+
+"Oh, hang Miss Claughton!"
+
+"Rodney! Miss Claughton's a dear--and your hostess!"
+
+"Miss Claughton may be an absolute angel for all I know--you know what
+I mean--so long as you heard I shouldn't have cared who heard. Then
+you'd have wondered who was kicking up that awful row."
+
+"Do you think I should?"
+
+"Certain! I can't whistle for nuts. Then you'd have got out of bed,
+crossed the room with your dear little bare feet----"
+
+"Rodney!"
+
+"And lifted the corner of the blind."
+
+"I might."
+
+"When you'd seen me hanging on to the railings for all I was worth,
+trying to get my breath and whistle at the same time; you'd have
+stopped crying, whatever else you did."
+
+"Rodney, how absurd you are! Fancy your hanging on to the railings for
+all you were worth! What did you really do?"
+
+"Oh, I hung about and hung about, and then I slunk off home. Wasn't it
+silly to come and see you at that time of night? I knew you'd laugh!"
+
+"If I'd known you were there I shouldn't have cried. The idea, you
+darling! But, Rodney, why didn't you manage to get a peep at me the
+whole of yesterday?"
+
+"Do you think I didn't try?--but I couldn't; it was a day of horrors!
+Just as I was wondering if I couldn't manage to get at least a kiss by
+making out that Kensington was on the way to the City, the news came
+of what my uncle had done. That was a facer, for a man to get news
+like that just as he was finishing his breakfast."
+
+"But I thought you didn't get the news till you reached the City? You
+sent your first telegram from there."
+
+"I got the news before, but I didn't understand; I didn't want to
+understand, I didn't dare to understand. Then I had to go to the
+inquest."
+
+"Did you? It doesn't say anything in the paper about you being there."
+
+"Of course not; my evidence wasn't wanted after all, but we all of us
+had to be there. It was awful!"
+
+"You poor, poor boy! Afterwards why didn't you come straight to me?"
+
+"I couldn't; I had to rush off to the City."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Everything was in the most frightful confusion; no one knew why he
+had done it."
+
+"But there was the verdict!"
+
+"The verdict? My uncle was not a man to kill himself for a shadow;
+there might be a better reason. Say nothing to your father; I wish to
+impute nothing against my uncle's credit; but at one time it seemed
+just possible that he had done it, because he knew he was ruined, to
+save himself from shame, dishonour. We had to find out, to be certain,
+to make sure; we went all through the books; we went through
+everything; we were at it till the small hours of the morning."
+
+"My dear! Did they tell you I had called?"
+
+"Did they not! When I heard it I wished that I could have flown to you
+on a flying machine; but it was impossible."
+
+"But papa tells me that you talk about going to the office every day
+this week."
+
+"Stella, let me put a case. Suppose Mr. Austin were my uncle, and he
+had done what my uncle did, and everything were at sixes and sevens,
+and all the help was wanted that could be got, what would you think of
+me if I were to cut and run--it would amount to that!--even for the
+sake of the best and sweetest and prettiest and dearest girl in the
+world--meaning you?"
+
+"That's all very well, Rodney; but I asked papa if he thought you
+really had to go--if you ought to go; and he said that so far as he
+could make out there wasn't the least necessity why you should ever
+set foot in the office again."
+
+"Your father said that?"
+
+"And I believe he's been making inquiries."
+
+"Has he? When I see your father I shall have to tell him that this is
+a matter in which I am afraid I shall have to use my own judgment."
+
+"At least you can get one day off to take me out--say to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow! It's my uncle's funeral."
+
+"Well? There's no reason why you should go to it, if it is. Who
+expects you to go?"
+
+For a moment it seemed as if the question had left the ready-tongued
+young gentleman nonplussed; but it was only for a moment.
+
+"My dear Stella, isn't it sufficient answer to say that my uncle was
+the only relative I have in the world?"
+
+"My dear Rodney, I don't wish to comment on your sudden sensitiveness
+where your uncle is concerned. I never dreamt that you felt for him
+what you seem to feel; but I suppose your connection with him will
+cease when he is buried?"
+
+"In a sense, certainly."
+
+"In all senses?"
+
+"My dear Stella, I have already told you."
+
+"To whom has he left his business?"
+
+"Until the contents of the will are known who can say--positively?"
+
+"Has he left it to you?"
+
+"That I am quite sure he hasn't."
+
+"Has he left you anything?"
+
+"There again, till the will is read, who can be sure?"
+
+"When is the will to be read?"
+
+"To-morrow, after the funeral."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"At his house in Russell Square."
+
+"Are you invited to be present?"
+
+"'Invited' is scarcely the correct word; instructions have been issued
+that the whole staff is to attend. That rather looks as if he may have
+left something, possibly some trifle, to everyone who was actually in
+his employ at the time of his death."
+
+"I see. That explains why you want to be present at the funeral. And
+afterwards, when the will has been read, will you--dine with us? Papa
+wants me to dine, I think, at the Savoy, to what he calls 'celebrate'
+our engagement."
+
+"You may be sure I'll come if I can."
+
+"'If'! It's again 'if.' Is it to be all 'ifs '?"
+
+"My dearest Stella, what do you mean?"
+
+"It doesn't matter. Shall we go to the drawing-room? I think we shall
+find that the Miss Claughtons and papa are waiting for us there."
+
+The young lady turned as if to leave the room. He caught her by the
+arm.
+
+"Stella, is it possible, is it conceivable, that you can imagine that
+what has happened is in the least degree, in any sense my fault? Can
+you suppose that I would not ten thousand times rather spend every
+hour of every day with you than do what I have done, what I may still
+have to do?--that my heart, my thoughts, are not with you every
+instant I have to spend in that confounded City?"
+
+"Rodney, I am very anxious to believe that there are sufficient
+reasons which compel you to spend all the time you seem to spend in
+the City; but you don't manage to make it very clear what they are."
+
+"Stella! Stella! How can you talk like that? What shall I say? What
+can I do?"
+
+"You can promise to dine with us to-morrow night."
+
+"I gladly promise it--gladly."
+
+"There's no 'if' about the promise?"
+
+"No 'if'! If you only knew how I shall look forward to coming, what
+pleasure I shall give myself in coming! My dear, if you only knew how
+I am looking forward to dining with you all the days of all the year!"
+
+"And, Rodney, papa understand that you are coming into his business;
+is that what you understand?"
+
+"Rather! You bet it is, if he'll have me. Do you think I'd throw away
+a chance like that?"
+
+"Nothing that may be in your uncle's will will make any difference?"
+
+"You goose! What do you suppose will be there? The probability is that
+there will be nothing of the slightest interest to me--at the most
+some trivial legacy--a hundred, fifty, five-and-twenty pounds! But let
+me tell you this, that in the present state of my exchequer even the
+latter sum will be a godsend. You don't know what it is to be in a
+chronic state of impecuniosity--a little millionaire like you!"
+
+"I, a millionaire!"
+
+"You don't appreciate the situation; you really don't. Entirely
+between us, I wonder that I ever had the courage--the cheek!--to
+tell you how much I love you; how dear to me is the ground under
+your small feet; how I long to have you in my arms--you, with the
+Bank of England at your back; and I! But--Cæsar's ghost!--what am I
+dreaming about? The sight of you, the touch of you, the sound of you,
+has so--so got into the very bones of me that I'd clean forgotten.
+Why--Stella!--what's this?"
+
+He took a small, round, leather-covered box out of his waistcoat
+pocket.
+
+"My dear Rodney--how should I know what it is?"
+
+As she looked at the outside of the box her eyes began to sparkle--as
+if she did not know!
+
+"There! Why, it's a ring!"
+
+"What a pet."
+
+"Give me your hand!"
+
+"That's not the proper hand."
+
+"Isn't it? Which is the proper hand?"
+
+"Rodney! How ignorant you are!"
+
+"My dear, have I had your experience?"
+
+"My experience!--silly! I thought everybody knew on which hand the
+engagement finger was--there!--that is the finger!"
+
+She held out to him a finger which, if it was small, was slim and
+daintily fashioned. He bent and kissed it.
+
+"Dear digit!--salutation! Now, you unclothed midget, I'll clothe you
+with this ring."
+
+"Oh, Rodney, what--what a darling!"
+
+She pressed it to her lips.
+
+"Does it fit?"
+
+"As if it were made for me."
+
+"Isn't that wonderful, when I only guessed?"
+
+"Thank you--thank you, Rodney."
+
+"It's only a poor little ring--a love token, to mark you as my
+own--that's all. But one day I'll give you the finest ring that money
+can buy, and you can put it in the place of this."
+
+"As if I ever would--or could! Rodney, this is the most beautiful ring
+I have ever seen--ever, ever, ever! And it always will be the most
+beautiful ring in the world--to me. No other will ever take its
+place."
+
+Her voice fell as she moved a little closer to him.
+
+"I shall hope to be still wearing it when I am lying in my grave."
+
+"Dear love!"
+
+He took her in his arms and kissed her again, as it were, solemnly. He
+was practised in all varieties of the art. And they were silent.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX
+
+               THE FEW WORDS AT THE END OF THE EVENING
+
+
+There were five of them at dinner--the lovers, the lady's father, her
+two hostesses--the Misses Claughton. These were cousins of her mother.
+Miss Claughton was tall and straight and prim; Miss Nancy Claughton,
+the younger sister, was stout and tender. Both ladies were disposed to
+make a fuss of Rodney, to invest him with a sort of halo, as if, in
+asking Stella to be his wife, he had done something which marked him
+out as an unusual young man. Mr. Austin's inclination was towards
+jocosity. Rodney had long since decided that a sense of humour was not
+that gentleman's strongest point. Dry he could be, he had rather an
+effective trick of it; but funny--no. His persistent efforts to be
+funny did not improve the flavour of what, from the young gentleman's
+point of view, was a sufficiently homely repast. The soup was
+doubtful, one could not be sure if it was meant to be clear or thick;
+the cod was boiled to rags--and, anyhow, he hated cod; the mutton was
+overdone; the sweets were suited to the nursery. Under the
+circumstances it was perhaps as well that, between Mr. Austin's jokes,
+the question chiefly discussed was where they should dine on the
+morrow. It was some consolation, Rodney felt, that there was a
+prospect of a decent meal after the passage of another four-and-twenty
+hours. The gentlemen did not remain at table when the feast was done;
+Mr. Austin was a teetotaller, and Rodney, when he had tasted Miss
+Claughton's claret, wished he was; so there was no temptation to
+linger over the wine. In the drawing-room they had "music." Stella
+played and sang. Rodney, whose taste in music was as fastidious as in
+other things, would have been content had she done neither. She had
+not got a bad little voice; from the point of view of those who liked
+little voices of the kind; but he had always been of opinion that it
+was worth more to the professors of singing than to anybody else.
+Still, she sang straight at him, and for him only; so it was not so
+bad. Presently Mr. Austin vanished, and the Misses Claughton followed.
+So he put his arm about Stella's waist, and that was better. She was
+even more disposed to be made love to after dinner than before, and
+somehow she seemed prettier and sweeter and more desirable to him.
+Under such conditions he was the kind of young man who was bound to
+shine.
+
+After a while--quite an agreeable while--he led the conversation on to
+the subject which Mr. Austin had broached in the morning. The lady
+lent a complacent ear.
+
+"Stella, I have a very serious question which I wish to put to you."
+
+"What is it? If you can be serious."
+
+"You will find I can when you have heard my question; I pray you
+incline your little pink ears unto my question. Will you marry me?"
+
+"Perhaps, some day--silly!"
+
+"When is 'some day'?"
+
+"When would you like it to be?"
+
+"This day; to-night."
+
+"Rodney, you--you really mustn't talk like that."
+
+"Why mustn't I?"
+
+"You only proposed last Saturday."
+
+"Well. Allow a week for that fact to get fixed firmly in your mind,
+another for preparation, why shouldn't 'some day' be Saturday week?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous."
+
+"It's you who are ridiculous. If you keep me waiting long I shall kiss
+you all away."
+
+"Am I the only girl you've ever kissed?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That's a fib; I saw you kiss Mary."
+
+"Gracious! When?"
+
+"Have you been so much in the habit of kissing Mary that you need ask
+when?"
+
+"If by Mary you mean Miss Carmichael, I don't remember to have ever
+kissed her once."
+
+"Well, I remember. And let me tell you something, sir: there have been
+times when--I've been jealous of Mary."
+
+"Good gracious me! what an extraordinary child! Miss Carmichael's sole
+recommendation to me has been that she's your friend; besides, hasn't
+Tom an eye on her?"
+
+"Oh, Tom! Tom never would see anything--like that; but I see.
+Honestly, don't you think Mary's very pretty?"
+
+"She's not bad, in a way; but she's not to be compared with you."
+
+"That she certainly isn't; you don't imagine that you can make me
+believe that I'm--a tenth part as pretty as Mary? Do you take me for a
+perfect goose?"
+
+"Stella, do you remember what you said before dinner about the ring.
+You said--I don't know if you meant it."
+
+"I meant every word I said, Rodney."
+
+"Well, sweetheart, you said it was the most beautiful ring you had
+ever seen. Just as you said that, and meant it, I say and mean that
+you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen; and, to me, you will
+be the most beautiful girl, as long as I live."
+
+"Do you really mean that? Really?"
+
+"By the time we're--Darby and Joan, you'll know I mean it. Now, young
+woman, I'm as one who speaks with authority. I'm authorised to inform
+you that if you will stand with me at the altar inside a month you
+will make your mother happy and your father happy, to say nothing of
+me. So which day next month is it to be? Shall I put it at the first?"
+
+"Who told you to say that?"
+
+"Your own father, this morning as ever was."
+
+"Was--was the idea yours or his?"
+
+"My very dearest--small one----"
+
+"I'm not so small as all that! You're not to call me small!"
+
+"Well, all-that-my-heart-desireth, which you are, I will tell you with
+such precision as is in me. I said to him: 'I want her! I do want her!
+Oh, I want her badly! But, if I have to earn her, I'll have to wait
+for her, I dare not think how long.' Then he said to me--exactly what
+I've told you; and my heart sang. Do you doubt? Ask him! To me the
+point is: shall we say the first?"
+
+"Rodney, do try to be sensible! You're a man, and you can't
+understand."
+
+"Is that so? So long as you do."
+
+"To a girl her wedding day is the day of her life."
+
+"Some girls manage to have several wedding days, so I suppose they
+have two or three days in their lives."
+
+"There will be only one wedding day in my life. Whatever happens I
+want that to be, in every sense, a wonderful day; I want mine to be a
+pretty wedding."
+
+"With you as bride that's assured."
+
+"A really pretty wedding can't be arranged at a moment's notice; it
+takes time."
+
+"Half an hour--or three-quarters?"
+
+"Don't be so silly! Mamma's coming up to town to-morrow. I'll consult
+her; then I shall have some idea how long a time it will take."
+
+"You mean how short a time! Do mean how short a time!"
+
+"Well, how short a time. Rodney, how many bridesmaids would you like
+me to have?"
+
+"Bridesmaids? My dear! What are bridesmaids to me, so long as I've the
+bride? All--all--all I'm going to be married to is the bride!"
+
+"You are--a perfect----"
+
+"Yes? A perfect--what?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know! Rodney?"
+
+She hid her face upon his shoulder.
+
+"I always wondered what there was in a kiss to make a fuss about.
+Now--I know."
+
+When he left it had been practically settled that the wedding should
+take place on the earliest possible day of the ensuing month.
+
+He walked home, by way of Kensington High Street and the Park. And as
+he walked he mused, and more than once his musings moved him to
+something very much like laughter, out there in the solitude and the
+dark. Was ever man before in such a complication--promised at three
+weddings as bridegroom? As he tried to puzzle out how it all had come
+about it struck him as quite inconceivably comical. If he told the
+story to the ladies themselves they could scarcely fail to see how
+funny it was--at least, he hoped they would. The position would be
+simple enough if, as is still the custom in some of the more civilised
+countries of the world, a man could have wives galore. But if it came
+to choosing, why, there would be the rub. Mabel had her points; who
+knew it better than he? While as for Stella, he had never dreamed she
+was so charming. With her kisses still on his lips, her soft voice
+still in his ears, her pretty eyes still looking into his, how could
+he help but love her! Dear little Stella! A week all alone with her,
+even a fortnight--he would like to have the chance of it. Perhaps,
+after a fortnight, a little relaxation might be desirable, a sort of
+change of air. But why look so far ahead? Then there was Mary--but he
+dare not think of Mary Carmichael, even then. If he had ten thousand a
+year, and freedom, he would choose Mary Carmichael before all the
+girls he had ever met. But that was out of the question; he had better
+put her out of his mind. Things were already sufficiently complicated
+without adding her. On the whole, the circumstances being what they
+were, considering the position with the judicial calmness which was
+becoming, he plumped for Gladys; and--the business in St. Paul's
+Churchyard. Gladys Patterson should be his wife; yes, she should be
+his wife, on all accounts; on all!--if--if it was not necessary to
+take a voyage to foreign parts.
+
+In that room on the second floor of the house in Kensington, Stella
+Austin, in her nightdress, her pretty hair hanging in two long plaits
+down her back, was on her knees beside her bed, seeming such a child.
+She was thanking God for all His goodness to her--she always began her
+prayers by thanking God. She thanked Him for many things, but chiefly,
+and beyond all else, for having given her so thoughtful, so tender, so
+true a lover. God knew how happy He had made her, and how full her
+heart was of gratitude to Him. And she prayed that God would make her
+worthy of the lover He had given. She knew how, in so many ways, he
+was above her, above anything she might ever hope to be; she prayed
+God that He would give her strength and grace, so that she might be at
+least a little more deserving. She had been unkind to-night, and--and
+wickedly jealous; she knew she had. Please God make her kinder and
+less selfish! And, when the time came, please God, make her a good
+wife, a good wife!
+
+At this point articulate utterance ceased, her face fell forward on
+the coverlet because her eyes were streaming with tears. It was to her
+such a solemn and beautiful thought that she would before very long be
+Rodney Elmore's wife that she trembled with the very rapture of it, so
+that she could no longer even go on with her prayers.
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+When Mr. Elmore reached his lodgings, with the exception of the light
+in his sitting-room, the house was in darkness. But if that signified
+that the household had retired to rest, it did not follow that
+everyone was asleep, as he was presently to learn. He had only been in
+his room a couple of minutes when the door opened noiselessly--to
+admit Miss Joyce. Coming right in, she stood with her back to the
+door, which she closed behind her. She was in a state of undress which
+did not become her ill. As he eyed her Rodney compared her, mentally,
+with Stella; not to her disadvantage. She really was a good-looking
+girl; only--he did not like the look which was on her white face and
+in her eyes. He felt sure someone would notice it, and questions would
+be asked.
+
+She spoke in so faint a whisper that what she said was only just
+audible; his voice was lowered in sympathy with hers.
+
+"Mother's come back."
+
+"Has she? That's good hearing. I hope she had a good time at your
+aunt's."
+
+"I've got the licence."
+
+"The----? Oh, have you? That also is good hearing."
+
+"It cost me two pounds four and six."
+
+"Did it? I hope you consider it to be worth the money."
+
+"I've fixed it for Thursday at noon."
+
+"Noon? Isn't that--rather an unfashionable hour?"
+
+"Mind you're there! You've promised! I've got your promise."
+
+"Am I likely to forget--the circumstances under which you got my
+promise?"
+
+"If you're not there you'll be sorry."
+
+"Honestly, Mabel, I think we shall both of us be sorry."
+
+"You will! There's--there's another thing; I--I want to warn you."
+
+"Warn me? Haven't you done that once or twice already?"
+
+"I--I want to warn you against Mr. Dale."
+
+"Against Mr. Dale? Why?"
+
+"I believe he suspects."
+
+"Suspects? What? About you and me?"
+
+"About--your uncle."
+
+"What does he suspect about my uncle?"
+
+"He's been finding out things. Ssh! there's someone moving. Perhaps
+it's mother; she mustn't find me here, like this."
+
+She flitted from the room as noiselessly as she had entered, shutting
+the door without its making a sound. He stood and listened. Perhaps it
+was her conscience which had made her fancy noises--all seemed still.
+If she had ascended to her room on the landing, a ghost could not have
+moved more silently.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XX
+
+                    THE FIRST LINE OF AN OLD SONG
+
+
+Rodney Elmore had the unusual attribute of seeming at his best in the
+morning, as if calm, unruffled sleep, having removed the cobwebs from
+his brain, returned him rested and buoyant to a world in which there
+were no shadows. When, on the Wednesday morning, he came downstairs
+with light steps and dancing eyes, he found among the letters on the
+breakfast table one which was addressed in a familiar hand. He gave it
+pride of place.
+
+
+"MY DEAR R.,--I don't know what possesses me, but I feel that I simply
+must write and tell you that I wish you were within kissing distance.
+Isn't that a ridiculous feeling to have, especially where you're
+concerned? Do you think that I don't know? I have been conscious of
+the most extraordinary sensations since Sunday. I made a mistake
+in asking you to come and console me. You did it so effectually
+that--well, I would like you to continue the treatment. There's a
+dreadful thing to say! Aren't I a wretch? Poor dear Tom! I know he has
+all the good qualities I haven't, and that he'll make me the best
+husband in the world, but as for his consoling me--oh, dear! oh, dear!
+oh, dear! I don't like the idea at all! I'm nearly sure that, after
+all, the best husband in the world is not the one I'm looking for.
+What makes me feel so all over pins and needles when I'm with Tom,
+and so comfy when I'm with you? Isn't it odd? Have you any feeling of
+the kind where I'm concerned? I know you'll say so, but have you?
+You'd say anything to anyone, but, all the same, I've a feeling
+somewhere that, if I chose, I could have you on a little bit of
+string. I daren't ask you to come here again, I simply daren't; but,
+if you do come, mind you give me proper warning. What would you say
+if I ran up to town? Should I see Stella at the corner of every
+street? Sweet Stella! Aren't I a cat? I suppose you couldn't rob a
+bank or something? If you and I were starting off to-morrow together,
+ever so far, for ever so long--I dare not think of it, and that's
+the honest truth. Aren't I insane? No one but you would ever guess
+it.--M.
+
+"Mind you tear this up the very moment you have read it, and you're to
+forget that you ever did read it!
+
+"By the way, by which train did you go up on Sunday? You weren't sure
+that you could catch the Pullman, and, if you did miss it, did you go
+by the 9.10? In that case you must have been in the same train as your
+uncle. When I saw about it in the paper it gave me quite a shock.
+Fancy if he was in the next carriage to yours? I suppose the dear man
+hasn't left you a millionaire? If he only had! You would--wouldn't
+you?
+
+"Tear it up!"
+
+
+He had just finished reading this somewhat interjectional epistle when
+Miss Joyce came in, the bearer of his morning meal. He greeted her as
+if he were really pleased to see her.
+
+"The top of the morning to you, Baby! How moves the world your way? Do
+you feel like dancing on your pink toes?"
+
+When he called her Baby, the pet name he had for her, she glanced up
+at him, almost as if she were startled.
+
+"Did you understand what I said to you last night?"
+
+"Perfectly; I've been thinking it all over, and I've come to a
+decision. I think you're quite right in what you wish me to do. As
+this isn't Leap Year, let me regularise the position. Mabel, I would
+like you to be my wife. Will you take me for your husband?"
+
+"You say that because you know you can't help yourself."
+
+"You are mistaken. If I didn't want to be your husband, nothing you or
+anyone could say or do could make me, rest assured of that. I won't
+pretend that, if things had turned out differently, I--should have
+suggested it; but, as they are, please, Mabel, let me do the
+proposing--say you will be my wife."
+
+"I'm going to be your wife; to-morrow, Thursday, at noon, and don't
+you make any mistake. There's the address of the registrar's office at
+which you're going to be married, and mind you're there to time."
+
+"Baby--you are only a baby, after all--don't talk like that; don't
+let's enter the matrimonial state as if we wished to cut each other's
+throats; let's start afresh on the old terms. I hope that when we're
+being married you won't have those white cheeks and unhappy eyes, or
+the registrar will think that I'm frightening you into being my bride,
+and you know that will be wrong."
+
+"Rodney, do you care for me a little bit?"
+
+"My dear Mabel, I care for you in an altogether different fashion from
+that which you suppose, as I hope to be able to prove to you before
+very long. Come, let's be friends."
+
+"Don't touch me--don't! Mother's waiting for me. She wants me for
+something; she told me not to be long. I--I want to speak to you
+before I go. I--I want to warn you against Mr. Dale."
+
+"You said something to that effect last night. Is Mr. Dale so
+dangerous?"
+
+"He's jealous of you."
+
+"Well, does that constitute him dangerous?"
+
+"He always has been throwing out nasty hints about you."
+
+"To whom? Surely not to you? You wouldn't listen to what you yourself
+call nasty hints about me coming from a man like Dale?"
+
+"It wasn't so much that I listened as that he was always at it
+whenever he came near me. I couldn't stop him. I suppose that my
+asking him about your going to Brighton on Sunday, and my going to the
+inquest, and such-like, made him--made him----"
+
+"Yes? Made him what?"
+
+"Started him thinking. Anyhow, he's--he's been finding out things,
+and--I don't know that he hasn't found out. You take care of him!"
+
+"My dear Mabel, in what sense am I to take care of him? I'm inclined
+to think that I should rather like to have a talk with your friend Mr.
+Dale."
+
+"You'll do no good by that."
+
+"Shan't I? We'll see. Where is he to be found--in the booking office
+at Victoria Station?"
+
+"One week he goes early and comes back about six; the next he has his
+dinner first and doesn't come back till after one--this is his late
+week. He hasn't had his breakfast yet; he's still up in his room."
+
+"Is that so? I'm afraid I can't stop to talk to him just now, but I
+certainly will take the first chance which offers."
+
+"Don't you say anything to him to make him nasty!"
+
+A feminine voice was heard calling the young lady's name.
+
+"There's mother calling. She'll give me a talking to! Mind, to-morrow
+at noon; and there's the address upon that piece of paper."
+
+"My dear Mabel, I'm making arrangements which will permit of my
+placing the whole of to-morrow at your service. I promise that you
+shall have something like a wedding day."
+
+When the lady had gone the gentleman poured himself out a cup of
+coffee with the air of one who was in the enjoyment of an excellent
+joke. He propped Miss Carmichael's letter up against the coffee-pot
+and read it through again. The second reading seemed to add to his
+sense of enjoyment.
+
+"Rob a bank? Quite as heinous crimes have been committed for the sake
+of a woman. I've always had a kind of fancy that you're the type of
+girl for whom it would be worth one's while to do such things. If I
+were to ask you to start upon that little trip at which you hint, I
+wonder what you'd say--if you knew. Hullo! what's this?"
+
+He was staring at a sheet of paper which he had taken out of one of
+the three or four envelopes which were lying on the table. On it were
+a couple of typewritten lines:
+
+
+"If you take a friend's advice you will get clean away while you have
+still a chance."
+
+
+He regarded the words as if in doubt as to whether they were intended
+to convey to him an esoteric meaning.
+
+"No signature, no address, no date; the first anonymous communication
+I ever have been favoured with. Postmark on the envelope, Kew,
+dispatched from there last night at eight o'clock, which doesn't
+convey much intelligence to me. So far as I'm aware I have no
+acquaintance who resides at Kew; and I suppose an anonymous
+correspondent, if he had his head screwed on, is scarcely likely to
+reside in the district from which he sends his letter. It's very good
+of a friend to make a friendly suggestion, but quite what he means I
+do not know; nor have I the very dimmest notion who the friend may be.
+Come in!"
+
+Someone had tapped at the door. In response to his invitation a young
+man entered of about his own age; not tall, but sturdily built, with
+close-cut black hair, small dark eyes, and a somewhat voluminous
+moustache. There was that in his manner which hinted that he was in a
+state of some excitement; that, indeed, he was an excitable young man.
+He came right up to the table, with a billycock hat in one hand and a
+bamboo cane in the other. He looked at Elmore with what were scarcely
+friendly eyes. When he spoke it was in what evidently were lowered
+tones and with a curious, staccato utterance, as if he wished to throw
+his words into the other's face.
+
+"You'll have to excuse my coming in like this, but I'm going out, and
+I want to speak to you before I do go."
+
+"That's very good of you. I believe you are Mr. Dale."
+
+"My name is Dale--George Dale, as you very well know."
+
+"Pray sit down, Mr. Dale. I don't remember to have had the pleasure of
+being introduced to you before."
+
+"Thanking you all the same, I won't sit down, and as to being
+introduced to you, I never have been. It's only for your sake I'm
+speaking to you now. I want to ask you a question to begin with."
+
+"Ask it, Mr. Dale."
+
+"What are your intentions as regards Miss Joyce?"
+
+"Really, Mr. Dale, I don't know if you are joking in putting such a
+question. If you aren't I certainly don't know what you mean."
+
+Rodney smiled at his visitor pleasantly; but the smile, instead of
+affording Mr. Dale gratification, not only caused his scowl to deepen,
+but induced him to use language of unexpected vigour.
+
+"You're a liar! That's what you are--a liar! You're a liar, because
+you know quite well what I mean. I'm not afraid of you. You're a
+bigger man than I am, but I can use the gloves. You wouldn't knock me
+out so easy as you think. I'd mark you first! But I haven't come here
+to fight you."
+
+"That, at least, is gratifying intelligence, Mr. Dale."
+
+"Oh, you can sneer--you're one of the sneering sort; but sneers won't
+do you any good. You take my tip and get as far away from this as
+you can--out of England, if you can!--between now and this time
+to-morrow!"
+
+Rodney regarded his visitor with an air of placid amusement, which
+certainly did not seem to have a soothing effect.
+
+"Mr. Dale, am I indebted to you for this?"
+
+He held out the sheet of paper on which were the two typewritten
+lines. Mr. Dale eyed it askance.
+
+"What's that? Where did you get it from?"
+
+"It came by this morning's post--from you?"
+
+"That I'll swear it never did; what's more, I don't know who it does
+come from. That looks as if there were more than one in it. I'll
+commit myself to nothing. I've got myself to think of as well as you;
+but, although this didn't come from me, and I don't know anything at
+all about it, you do what it says here--get clean away while you have
+still a chance."
+
+Without another word, or giving Rodney a chance to utter one, Mr. Dale
+bolted from, rather than left, the room; within ten seconds of his
+going the slamming of the front door announced that he had left the
+house. For some seconds Elmore sat still; then, getting up from his
+chair, began to fill a pipe with tobacco. Miss Joyce put her head into
+the room, noiselessly, unexpectedly, as she seemed to have a trick of
+doing.
+
+"Was that Mr. Dale? I thought it might be you. Has he been in here?"
+
+"He has. You come in and take away the breakfast things; I've had all
+I want to eat."
+
+Coming in, she began to do as he had said, talking, as she put the
+things together, in a half whisper which recalled Mr. Dale's staccato
+undertones. It seemed to be a house of whispers.
+
+"What did he say to you?"
+
+"He came to offer me a tip."
+
+"A tip?"
+
+"He said that if I took his tip I shouldn't stand upon the order of
+my going, but go at once, and go as far as possible between now and
+to-morrow."
+
+She put both hands to her left side, as if unconscious that she had a
+plate in one and a teaspoon in the other.
+
+"Rodney! Then--then--what are you going to do?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"But if he tells?"
+
+"Tells what?"
+
+"He said to me last night that if anyone knows that--that someone has
+killed a person, and doesn't at once inform the police, that's being
+an accessory after the fact."
+
+"Well? He was merely acquainting you with what I take is a legal
+truism."
+
+"Then he said that, whatever I might choose to do, he did not mean to
+be an accessory, either before the fact or after. Then he looked at me
+in such a way--I knew what he meant--and he went right off to bed
+without saying another word."
+
+"What had you been talking about?"
+
+"About--your uncle."
+
+"Had he introduced the subject or had you?"
+
+"He had; he would keep talking about it. Rodney, he knows, and--he's
+going to tell."
+
+"Then, in that case, it looks as if you will gain little by becoming
+my wife, and that I shall gain nothing."
+
+"Rodney, I want you to get out of your head what I said the other
+night. I don't want to force you to marry me, and I never did."
+
+"Then you've rather an unfortunate way of expressing yourself, don't
+you think so, my dear Mabel?"
+
+"I--I didn't know how else to do what I wanted to do. It's quite true
+that if I'm not going to be your wife I'll kill myself; but that
+doesn't matter--I'd just as soon die as live. But I do want to save
+you, and the only way I can do it is for you to marry me."
+
+"That may keep you from playing the tell-tale, but how is it going to
+affect Mr. Dale?"
+
+"He won't tell if I'm your wife."
+
+"Won't he? Why? I should have thought, if your story's correct, that
+he'd have told all the more, that disappointment would have inflamed
+him to madness."
+
+Rodney, as he said this, struck a match to light his pipe, and
+laughed. Nothing could have seemed less like laughter than the girl's
+white face and haunted eyes.
+
+"He'd tell to keep me from being your wife, but if I were your wife
+he'd never tell. I know him; he'd suffer anything rather than do
+anything which would give me pain or bring me to shame; if I were your
+wife he'd never tell. You're a gentleman, Rodney, and I'm not a lady,
+and I don't suppose I ever shall be; I'm just a girl who has let you
+do what you like with her, and you're cleverer than I am--much, much
+cleverer; but, in this, do be advised by me--do, dear, do! There is
+something here, something which makes me sure that the only way out of
+it, for you, is for you to make me your wife. I know you don't want to
+do it, that you never meant to do it, and I can quite understand why;
+but you'd better have me for your wife than--than that; don't you see,
+dear, that you had? I shan't be able to tell, and George Dale won't,
+and no one else knows, and instead of trying to find out more he'll
+keep others from finding out anything; he'll be on your side instead
+of against you, for my sake. Rodney, I implore you--for your own sake,
+dear, your own sake!--to do as you promised, and marry me."
+
+She pleaded to be allowed to save his life as if she were pleading for
+her own life. He turned to shake the ash from his pipe into the
+fender, and so remained, for some moments, with his back to her; while
+her eyes looked as if they were crying out to him. When he turned to
+her again he was pressing the tobacco down into his pipe before
+restoring it to his lips, smiling as he looked at her.
+
+"My dear Mabel, I'm not certain that I follow your reasoning, but do
+make your mind easy; I've promised to marry you to-morrow, and I
+will--on the stroke of noon--to the tick, for my sake as well as for
+yours. And, though the fates don't seem over propitious at the moment,
+I dare say we shall be quite as happy as the average married folk--at
+least, I'll marry you."
+
+"You mean it?"
+
+"I do--unreservedly; please understand that once more, and once for
+all. You shall have something like a wedding day."
+
+"I wish--I wish it were to-day; I'm afraid--of what may happen--before
+to-morrow."
+
+"Of whatever you may be afraid, I'm afraid that it couldn't be to-day.
+It's my uncle's funeral to-day."
+
+"Rodney! You--you're not going!"
+
+"I am; as chief mourner."
+
+"Rodney, you--you can't do a thing like that! You--you mustn't!"
+
+As she spoke an elderly woman came into the room, of a somewhat portly
+presence--the lady's mother. Seemingly she was in a mood to be
+garrulous.
+
+"What mustn't he do? Excuse me, Mr. Elmore, for coming in like this,
+but really, Mabel, I don't know what you are thinking about. I'm sure
+Mr. Elmore wants to go to his business, and here's all the work at a
+standstill----"
+
+"All right, mother; Mr. Elmore doesn't want to hear you grumbling at
+me, I know."
+
+Without waiting for her mother to continue her observations, Miss
+Joyce bustled out of the room with the breakfast tray in her hands.
+Left alone with him, the landlady addressed her lodger.
+
+"What's the matter with the girl I can't think; I never saw anything
+like the change that's come over her the last few days; she looks more
+fit for a hospital than anything else--and her temper! She never says
+anything to me; I suppose you don't know what's wrong?"
+
+"Mrs. Joyce, I'm not your daughter's confidant; she certainly says
+nothing to me in the sense you mean. Why do you take it for granted
+that anything's wrong?"
+
+"Because I've got two eyes in my head, that's why. She's not the same
+girl she was; that something's wrong I'm certain sure; but she snaps
+my nose off directly I open my mouth. I know she thinks a lot of you.
+I wondered if she'd said anything to you."
+
+"Absolutely nothing."
+
+"Then I can't understand the girl, and that's flat!"
+
+With that somewhat cryptic utterance Mrs. Joyce went out of the room
+as impetuously as she had entered. Rodney stood looking at the door
+for a moment or two, as if in doubt whether she would return. He tore
+the sheet of paper on which were the two typewritten lines into tiny
+scraps and dropped them into the fireplace. Re-reading Miss
+Carmichael's epistle, he obeyed her injunctions, a little tardily,
+perhaps, and sent the fragments after the others, repeating to himself
+as he did so a line from an old song:
+
+
+                "Of all the girls that are so sweet!"
+
+
+Then he took an oblong piece of paper out of a letter-case and studied
+it.
+
+"'Steamship _Cedric_.--John Griffiths, passenger to New York, cabin
+forty-five, berth A.' I wonder if it will be occupied, or if the
+money's wasted. That's for to-morrow, or is it to be Buenos Ayres on
+Friday, or New York on Saturday?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Who knows if it is to be either?"
+
+He had left the house and was descending the steps when a telegraph
+boy approached, with a yellow envelope in his hand.
+
+"Who's it for?" he asked.
+
+"Rodney Elmore, sir."
+
+"I am Rodney Elmore. Wait and see if there's an answer."
+
+The telegram which the envelope contained was a lengthy one; it
+covered the whole of the pink slip of paper. He read it through once,
+then again. As he read it the second time he whistled, very softly, as
+if unconsciously, the opening bars of "Sally in Our Alley."
+
+"There is an answer. Give me a form."
+
+He spread the form the boy gave him out upon his letter-case, then he
+seemed to consider what to say; then read the telegram he had received
+a third time, as if in search of light and leading. Arriving at a
+sudden decision, he wrote on the form the name and address of the
+person to whom the message was to be sent, and then one word, "Right."
+He added nothing which would show who the sender was; evidently he
+took it for granted that it would be recognised that the message came
+from him. As he watched the lad mount his bicycle and pedal away, he
+said to himself, always with that characteristic air of his, as of one
+who appreciates a capital jest:
+
+"That settles it! Now the plot does begin to thicken."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI
+
+                        THE DEAD MAN'S LETTER
+
+
+The final understanding had been that those who were to go to the
+bank, in order that arrangements might be made which would give them
+immediate access to the funds of the late Graham Patterson, were to
+meet at the office in St. Paul's Churchyard. On the way to the City
+Rodney paid two or three calls. When he entered the office the outer
+rooms were empty; there was a notice on the outer door to the effect
+that business was suspended on account of Mr. Patterson's funeral. Mr.
+Andrews came out of what had been the late proprietor's own sanctum to
+greet him.
+
+"Mr. Wilkes is here, Mr. Elmore, and particularly wishes to see you."
+
+Rodney said nothing, but his look suggested that he resented something
+which he noticed in the other's manner, as well as the fact that he
+had come out of that particular room. Passing on in silence to the
+private office, he found Mr. Wilkes seated, not in his uncle's own
+chair, as he had been on Monday, but in one close to it. He did not
+rise as the young man entered, but contented himself with nodding
+slightly. Rodney, scenting something antagonistic in the other's
+presence there as well as in his attitude, did not even nod. He
+marched straight to the chair behind the writing-table, which he chose
+now to regard as his own, and which was within a yard of that on which
+the other was seated, and, remaining standing himself, looked down on
+the lawyer.
+
+"To what am I indebted, Mr. Wilkes, for your presence to-day? Did you
+not notice the intimation on the door, informing all and sundry that
+these offices are closed? If it is a business matter on which you have
+called, I must ask you to postpone it, at any rate until to-morrow."
+
+Instead of showing any disposition to take himself off, as the other
+so plainly suggested, the dark-visaged lawyer, leaning back in his
+chair, looked up at the young man with something in his glance which
+was not exactly complimentary.
+
+"I have come, Mr. Elmore, a good deal against my own wish, in
+consequence of a communication which I have received from Mr.
+Patterson."
+
+"From--what do you mean, from Mr. Patterson?"
+
+"A letter came to my office yesterday evening, after I had left, which
+was placed in my hands this morning. Before proceeding to take other
+steps, I thought it might perhaps save unpleasantness, and be fairer
+to you, if, in the first instance, I acquainted you with its
+substance."
+
+"From whom is the letter?"
+
+"From your late uncle, Graham Patterson."
+
+"You say it reached you last night? I don't understand."
+
+"Nor I, as yet, quite; I can only form a hypothesis. It seems that the
+letter was written at Brighton some time on Sunday. Clearly, from the
+postmark, it was posted at Brighton on Sunday. It ought to have
+reached me, of course, on Monday, but the presumption is that, owing
+to some vagary of the Post Office, it went astray, so that it has been
+more than two days on the road, instead of only a few hours. Under the
+circumstances that seems rather a curious accident. Here is the
+letter. I warn you that you will not find it a pleasant one."
+
+"Is it absolutely necessary, then, that I should know its contents? My
+relations with Mr. Patterson were not of a kind to lead me to expect
+any pleasantness from him, either on paper or off it."
+
+"The position is this. It is my duty to place this letter
+before--someone else, when very serious consequences may ensue; but,
+by taking a certain course, you may relieve me of the duty."
+
+"In that case, let me know what is in the letter."
+
+"I had better read it to you, so that you may understand that the
+language is the writer's, not mine."
+
+Mr. Wilkes withdrew a letter from an envelope which he took from his
+pocket; the envelope he held out to Rodney.
+
+"You see? The address is in your uncle's hand; it was post-marked at
+Brighton on Sunday evening, so there can be no doubt about the date on
+which it was dispatched."
+
+The lawyer proceeded to read the letter out loud, with a dryness which
+seemed to give it peculiar point.
+
+
+"'DEAR STEPHEN' [my Christian name, I may remind you, is Stephen],--'I
+want you to draw up a codicil to my will, and to have it ready for my
+signature to-morrow--Monday afternoon.
+
+"'It is to be to the effect that if my daughter marries my nephew,
+Rodney Elmore, then all that portion of my will which refers to her is
+to be null and void--she is not to have a penny. All that would have
+been hers is to be divided equally among the following charities.'
+[Then follows a list of them; there are eight. Then the letter goes
+on]: 'I hope that's clear enough. Between ourselves, Master Elmore is
+an all-round scoundrel; I swear to you that I'm convinced that no
+rascality would be too steep for him. He is a liar of the very first
+water, a thief, and a forger; so much I can prove. I would sooner have
+my girl dead than his wife; the damned young blackguard is after her
+for all he knows. But I am going to clear him out in charge of a
+constable when I get back to the office; I doubt if he has got tight
+enough hold of my girl to induce her to marry a convict--it will be a
+clear case of penal servitude for him.
+
+"'I know you will think I am writing strongly, but that is because I
+feel strongly. When I tell you the whole story you will admit that I
+am justified.
+
+"'Mind you have that codicil ready, on the lines I have given; I will
+call in on my way back from the office and sign. I know you do not
+touch criminal business as a rule, but you will have to make an
+exception in my case. I want you to instruct counsel in the matter of
+Master Elmore, for reasons which I will make clear to you when we
+meet. Sincerely yours,
+
+                                 "'GRAHAM PATTERSON.'"
+
+
+When the lawyer had done reading he lowered the letter and glanced up
+at the young man, who still stood towering above him. If he expected
+to find on his face any signs of confusion, still less of guilt or
+shame, his expectation was not realised. There was a look rather on
+Rodney's countenance of scorn, of confidence in himself, of contempt
+for whoever might speak ill of him, which became him very well. His
+remarks, when they came, possibly scarcely breathed the spirit the
+solicitor had looked for.
+
+"Have you read that letter to Mr. Andrews?"
+
+"I have not."
+
+"Have you made him acquainted with its contents?"
+
+"I have dropped no hint to him of its existence."
+
+"I have no pretensions to knowledge of the law of libel, but it is
+pretty clear that no action can be brought against the man who wrote
+that letter. With you the case is different. It was written, I
+presume, in confidence to you. If you bring it to the notice of
+anybody else you make yourself responsible for the statements it
+contains--you publish them. If you call my honour in question by
+publishing such a farrago of lies about me I will first of all thrash
+you, as they have it, to within an inch of your life, and then, if
+needs be, I will spend my last penny in calling you to account in a
+court of law. You shall not shelter yourself behind a dead man."
+
+"You use strong language, Mr. Elmore."
+
+"Could I use stronger language than that letter?"
+
+"I understand that you deny the statements it contains?"
+
+"Do I understand that you associate yourself with your correspondent
+so far as to require a denial?"
+
+"You misapprehend the situation; whether wilfully or not I don't know.
+I have no personal concern in this matter at all; eliminate that idea
+from your mind. Graham Patterson was my client living; in a sense he
+is still my client dead. I have no option but to continue to do my
+duty to him without fear or favour."
+
+"I presume in return for a certain fee, Mr. Wilkes?"
+
+"You forget yourself, sir."
+
+"In this room, Mr. Wilkes, eliminate from your mind all legal
+fictions. Don't, for your own sake, drive the fact that you are acting
+as my uncle's bravo too far home. In the face of that letter I begin
+to understand why he committed suicide. He was either drunk or mad
+when he wrote it. When sobriety or sanity returned, realising the
+situation in which he had placed himself, rather than face the
+consequences of what he had done, he took his own life. Don't you show
+yourself to be in possession of the dastard's courage which he
+lacked."
+
+"You take up an extraordinary position, Mr. Elmore."
+
+"What is the position you take up?"
+
+"Here is a letter from a man to his lawyer, in which he gives him
+instructions to make certain alterations in his will, stating reasons
+why he wishes those alterations to be made. It is signed, dated; its
+authenticity can be readily established. I am not sure that it has not
+a certain testamentary value."
+
+"Are you suggesting that that letter in any way affects my uncle's
+will?"
+
+"I am not prepared to give a definite opinion; but this I will say,
+that if its existence were to come to the knowledge of the societies
+herein mentioned, they would be justified in taking counsel's opinion,
+and quite possibly he would advise their taking further action."
+
+"You are, of course, at liberty to take any steps with regard to that
+tissue of libels you please, especially as I have made it, I think,
+perfectly clear to you that you will do so at your own proper peril."
+
+"Evidently your uncle was averse to your marrying his daughter. Am I
+to take it that you admit so much?"
+
+"Oh, I admit so much; he always was averse to that."
+
+"Then, in that case, you will at once resolve the difficulty by
+withdrawing all pretensions to Miss Patterson's hand."
+
+"Damn your impudence, sir."
+
+"Is that your answer?"
+
+"It is; with this addition--that I hope, and intend, to marry Miss
+Patterson at the earliest possible moment."
+
+"Then, in that case, you leave me no option but to place this letter
+before Miss Patterson."
+
+"Is that meant for a threat?"
+
+Andrews appeared in the doorway to announce that Mr. Parmiter was in
+the outer office.
+
+"Show Mr. Parmiter in at once for a few minutes, Andrews, if you
+please."
+
+As the young solicitor came in Rodney advanced to greet him.
+
+"Hallo, Parmiter! you come in the very nick of time--you see Mr.
+Wilkes has favoured me with his company again. Mr. Wilkes, read to Mr.
+Parmiter the letter you just now read to me."
+
+"I shall certainly do nothing of the kind. With all possible respect
+to Mr. Parmiter, this is a matter in which he has no _locus standi_,
+and in which I cannot recognise him at all."
+
+"Why not? He is my solicitor; he advises me. When you have made known
+to him the contents of that letter, don't you think it possible that
+he may give me the advice which, apparently, you would like him to
+give?"
+
+While he was still speaking the door opened to admit Miss Patterson.
+He moved to her with both hands held out.
+
+"Now, here is someone whom, I presume, you will recognise--the very
+person. Gladys, here is Mr. Wilkes. He has something which he very
+much wishes to say to you."
+
+Returning the letter to its envelope, Mr. Wilkes rose from his chair.
+
+"My hands are not going to be forced by you, Mr. Elmore, don't you
+suppose it. In making any communication to Miss Patterson which I may
+have to make, I shall prefer to choose my own time and place."
+
+"That's it, is it? I quite appreciate the reasons which actuate you,
+Mr. Wilkes, in wishing to make what you call your communication to
+Miss Patterson behind my back; and I think that Miss Patterson will
+appreciate them equally well. Mr. Wilkes has in his hand what he
+claims to be a letter from your father. If you take my advice you will
+insist on his showing it to you at once."
+
+Miss Patterson was quick to act on the hint which her lover gave her.
+She moved close up to the lawyer.
+
+"Mr. Wilkes, be so good as to let me see the letter to which my cousin
+refers."
+
+"With pleasure, Miss Patterson, at--if you will allow me to say
+so--some more convenient season; the sooner the better. For instance,
+may I have a few minutes' private conversation with you this
+afternoon? The matter on which I wish to speak to you is for your ear
+only."
+
+"You have spoken of it to my cousin?"
+
+"Oh, yes; he has spoken of it to me."
+
+"Then, why can you not speak of it to me in his presence?"
+
+"I will write to you on the subject, Miss Patterson, and will
+endeavour to make my reasons clear."
+
+He made as if to move towards the door. She placed herself in front of
+him.
+
+"One moment, Mr. Wilkes. Any letter from you will be handed to Mr.
+Elmore, unopened. I will have no private communication with you, nor,
+if I can help it, will I have any communication with you of any sort
+or kind."
+
+"I regret to hear you say so, Miss Patterson, and can only deplore the
+attitude of mind which prompts you to arrive at what I cannot but feel
+is a most unfortunate decision."
+
+"You are impertinent, Mr. Wilkes."
+
+The lawyer, with his dark eyes fixed on the lady's face, raised the
+hand in which was the envelope which contained the letter with the
+intention of slipping it into an inner pocket of his coat. Her quick
+glance recognised the handwriting of the address.
+
+"It's from dad!" she cried. "It's a letter from dad!"
+
+She had snatched the letter from between the lawyer's fingers before
+he had the faintest inkling of what she was about to do.
+
+"Miss Patterson," he exclaimed, "give me back that letter."
+
+She retreated, as he showed a disposition to advance. Mr. Elmore
+interposed himself between the lawyer and the lady.
+
+"Steady, Mr. Wilkes, steady. You told me that it would be your duty to
+place that letter in Miss Patterson's hands. It is in her hands. What
+objection have you to offer?"
+
+Whatever protest the lawyer might have been inclined to make he
+apparently came to the conclusion that, at the moment, it would be
+futile to make any. He withdrew himself from Elmore's immediate
+neighbourhood, and observed the lady, as she read the letter. She read
+it without comment to the end. Then she asked:
+
+"When did you get this letter?"
+
+"It reached my office last night, and me this morning; but, as you
+see, it was written on Sunday, and would appear to have been delayed
+in the post."
+
+She turned to Rodney.
+
+"Have you read this letter?"
+
+"It has been read aloud to me, which comes to the same thing."
+
+"You know--what he says at the end?"
+
+"I do; Mr. Wilkes took special care of that."
+
+"Is it true?"
+
+"It is absolutely false. There is not one word of truth in it. It
+comes to me as a complete surprise. Never by so much as a word did
+your father lead me to suppose that he had such thoughts of me. I
+cannot conceive what can have been the condition of his mind when he
+wrote in such a strain. But that letter enables me to begin to
+understand that something must have happened to him mentally, and that
+when he committed suicide he actually was insane."
+
+Miss Patterson tore the letter in half from top to bottom. The lawyer
+broke into exclamation.
+
+"Miss Patterson! What are you doing? You must not do that! Not only is
+it not your letter, but it is a document of the gravest legal
+importance."
+
+Paying him no heed whatever, the girl continued in silence the
+destruction of the letter, going about the business in the most
+thorough-going manner, reducing it to the tiniest atoms. When she had
+finished with the letter itself, she proceeded to dispose of the
+envelope, Mr. Wilkes expostulating hotly all the time, but kept from
+active interference by the insistent fashion with which Mr. Elmore
+prevented him from getting near the lady. Compelled at last to own
+that it was useless to attempt to stay her, he called upon his
+colleague to take notice of the outrage to which the letter was
+subjected, to say nothing of himself.
+
+"Mr. Parmiter, you are witness of what is being done. This young lady,
+with the connivance and, indeed, assistance of this young man, is
+destroying a document of the first importance, which is not only in no
+sense her own property, but which was obtained from me by what is
+tantamount to an act of robbery, accompanied, in a legal sense, by
+violence. Of these facts you will be called upon, in due course, to
+give evidence."
+
+Mr. Parmiter was still, but the lady spoke.
+
+"Are you not forgetting that Mr. Parmiter is my solicitor, and that a
+solicitor cannot give evidence against his own client? I am sorry to
+have to seem to teach you law, Mr. Wilkes. Rodney, have you a match?
+If so, will you please burn these?"
+
+She held out the fragments of the letter. Mr. Wilkes made a final
+attempt at salvage.
+
+"Miss Patterson, I implore you to give me those scraps of paper. It
+may still not be too late to piece them together, and so save you from
+consequences of whose gravity you have no notion."
+
+Once more the young gentleman interposed.
+
+"Steady, Mr. Wilkes, steady!"
+
+"Remove your hand from my shoulder, sir! You are only making your
+position every moment more and more serious!"
+
+Again the lady spoke.
+
+"To use a phrase of which you seem to be rather fond, Mr. Wilkes, in a
+legal sense, I believe this is my room. I must ask you to leave it at
+once."
+
+"Not before you have given me those scraps of paper, Miss Patterson!"
+
+"If you won't go, I shall reluctantly have to ask Mr. Elmore to put
+you out, and, in doing so, to use no more violence than is necessary."
+
+"I entreat you, Miss Patterson, to accept sound advice, and to do
+something which may permit of my repairing the mischief you have
+caused. Give me those scraps of paper."
+
+"Rodney, will you please put Mr. Wilkes out? But please don't hurt
+him!"
+
+The young man put the lawyer out, doing him no actual bodily hurt. He
+conducted him through the outer office to the landing, then addressed
+the astonished Andrews.
+
+"Andrews, this is Mr. Stephen Wilkes; I believe you know him. Give
+instructions that, under no pretext, is he to be admitted to these
+offices again. I shall look to you to see that those instructions are
+carried out. Good-day, sir."
+
+Shutting the door in the lawyer's face, he audibly turned the key on
+the inner side.
+
+"Now, Andrews, would you mind coming into the other room?"
+
+Miss Patterson greeted her cousin with the request she had already
+made. She still had the fragments of the letter between her fingers.
+
+"How about that match, Rodney? Please burn these."
+
+He made a little bonfire of them on the hearth, while she went on:
+
+"I don't suppose you will be very eager now to attend my father's
+funeral in the capacity of mourner."
+
+"I am not. I would much rather not go at all, if you will pardon the
+abstention."
+
+"I would much rather you did not go either--so, Andrews, that is
+settled. Also, be so good as to understand that I should prefer that
+the funeral should not start from Russell Square."
+
+Mr. Patterson's body had been removed from the station to the
+undertaker's, where it at present reposed in a handsome example of the
+undertaker's art. The idea had been to bring it in a hearse to Russell
+Square, whence the funeral cortège was to start. It was this
+arrangement which Miss Patterson wished to have altered. The managing
+man silently acquiesced; there was still time to give instructions
+that all that was left of his late employer was to be taken straight
+from the undertaker's to the cemetery.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII
+
+                    PHILIP WALTER AUGUSTUS PARKER
+
+
+The four of them went together to the bank, which was within a
+minute's walk. There, the necessary forms being quickly gone through,
+a sum of two thousand pounds was credited to Miss Patterson, power
+being given to Rodney Elmore to draw on her account for such sums as
+were needed for the proper conduct of the business, it being tacitly
+understood that he would draw only such sums as were needed for the
+business. That matter being settled, they separated; Mr. Andrews and
+Mr. Parmiter going their own ways, Miss Patterson and Mr. Elmore
+departing together in a cab to lunch. The cab had not gone very far
+before the young gentleman made a discovery.
+
+"I've left my letter-case on the table in the bank?"
+
+"Your letter-case? Did you? What a nuisance; I never noticed it. Are
+you sure it was on the table?"
+
+"Quite; I remember distinctly; it was under a blotting-pad. What an
+idiot I am! I'm frightfully sorry, but I'm afraid I shall have to go
+back and get it."
+
+"Of course, we will go back."
+
+The cab returned to the bank. The lady remained inside; the gentleman
+passed through the great swing doors--through first one pair, then a
+second--it was impossible to see from the street what was taking place
+beyond. Once in the bank, the young gentleman said nothing about his
+letter-case--it had apparently passed from his memory altogether; but
+he presented at the counter a cheque for a thousand pounds, with his
+own signature attached. He took it in tens and fives, and a hundred
+pounds in gold. If the paying clerk thought it was rather an odd way
+of taking so large a sum, he made no comment. He came back through the
+swing doors with a letter-case held in his hand.
+
+"I've got it," he explained.
+
+He emphatically had, though she understood one thing and he meant
+another. When they had gone some little distance in the direction of
+lunch she observed:
+
+"I wish I were not in mourning. I've half a mind to go back and
+change."
+
+He observed her critically--he was holding one of her hands under
+cover of the apron.
+
+"My dear Gladys, I can't admit that you do look your best in
+mourning."
+
+"Do you think that I don't know that?"
+
+"But you look charming, all the same."
+
+"No, I don't; I look a perfect fright."
+
+"I doubt if you could look a fright even if you tried; I'm certain you
+don't look one now. In fact, the more I look at you the harder I find
+it to keep from kissing you."
+
+"I dare say! You'd better not."
+
+"That's a truth of which I'm unpleasantly aware. Still, if you did
+look like anything distantly resembling a fright, I shouldn't have
+that feeling so strong upon me, should I?"
+
+"You're not to talk like that in a hansom!"
+
+"I'm merely explaining. I suggest that if you do feel like changing,
+you should lunch first, and change afterwards."
+
+"You're coming back with me to Russell Square?"
+
+"Rather!"
+
+"I won't wear mourning--people may say and think what they choose--I
+declare I won't. Did you ever see anything like that letter?"
+
+"It was by way of being a curiosity."
+
+"But, Rodney, he said you were--he said you were all sorts of things!
+What did he mean?"
+
+"Your father was one of those not uncommon men who always use much
+stronger language than the occasion requires--it was a habit of his.
+For instance, when, in spite of his very positive commands, I showed
+an inclination to continue your acquaintance, he as good as told me I
+was a murderer--he said that it was his positive conviction that for
+the sake of a five-pound note I'd murder you."
+
+"Did he really?"
+
+"He did. And I dare say that when you showed no desire to cut me dead,
+he said one or two nice things to you."
+
+"Oh, he did--several. He made out that I was everything that was bad."
+
+"There you are--that's the kind of man he was."
+
+"But didn't he say something about a policeman--and giving you in
+charge?"
+
+"I am sure that he would have given me in charge to twenty policemen
+if he could, and that nothing would have pleased him better than to
+have had me sent to penal servitude for life."
+
+"What I can't make out is--why did he dislike you so?"
+
+"My dear, I'm afraid the explanation is simple--too simple. I don't
+want to hurt your feelings, but I've a notion--a very strong one--that
+he didn't like you. He regarded you as a nuisance; you know how he
+kept you in the background as long as he could; you interfered with
+the sort of life he liked to live; you were in his way."
+
+"He certainly never at any period of his life or mine, showed himself
+over-anxious for my company."
+
+"When you did become installed in town, he had formed his own plans
+for your future. What precisely was the arrangement between them I
+don't pretend to know; but I dare say I shall find out before long--it
+won't need much to induce Wilkes to give himself away; but I am
+persuaded that it was his intention that you should become Mrs.
+Stephen Wilkes."
+
+"But what makes you think so? It seems to me so monstrous. Fancy me as
+Mrs. Stephen Wilkes!"
+
+"Thank you, I'd rather not. It's only a case of intuition, I admit,
+but I'm convinced I'm right, and one day I may be able to give you
+chapter and verse. He was not over-fond of me to begin with, but when
+you appeared on the scene, and he saw that his best laid plans bade
+fair to gang agley, he suddenly began to develop a feeling towards me
+which ended as it has done. It's not a pretty one, but there's my
+explanation. But, sweetheart, that page is ended; let's turn it over
+and never look back at it; and all the rest of the volume--let's try
+our best to make it happy reading."
+
+They ate a fair lunch, considering, and enjoyed it, and afterwards
+returned together in a taximeter cab to Russell Square, feeling more
+tenderly disposed to each other, and at peace with all the world. When
+Miss Patterson had ate and drunk well she was apt to discover a turn
+for languorous sentiment which appealed to Mr. Elmore very forcibly
+indeed. Since, therefore, it was probably their intention to spend an
+amorous afternoon, the shock was all the greater when, on their
+arrival at No. 90, they were greeted in the hall by a tall upstanding,
+broad-shouldered, soldierly-looking man in whom Gladys recognised the
+officer of police who had brought her the news of her father's tragic
+fate.
+
+"Inspector Harlow," she exclaimed. "What--what are you doing here?"
+
+It was perhaps only natural that, drawing away from the policeman
+towards her lover, she should slip her hands through his arm as if she
+looked to him for protection from some suddenly threatening danger.
+Rodney pressed his arm closer to his side, as if to assure her she
+would find shelter there; though, as she uttered the visitor's name,
+he glanced towards him with a look which, as it were, with difficulty
+became an odd little smile. The visitor's manner, when he spoke,
+suggested mystery.
+
+"Can I say half a dozen words with you, Miss Patterson, in private?"
+
+She led the way to the first room to which they came, which chanced to
+be the dining-room, she entering first, then Rodney, the inspector
+last. When he was in he shut the door and stood up against it.
+
+"I said, Miss Patterson, in private."
+
+The inspector had an eye on Rodney.
+
+"We are in private; you can say anything you wish to say before this
+gentleman. This is Mr. Elmore, to whom I am shortly to be married."
+
+"Mr. Elmore?"
+
+As the officer echoed the name the two men's glances met. In the
+inspector's eyes there was an expression of eager curiosity, as if he
+were taken by surprise; Rodney's quick perceptions told him that while
+his name, and probably more than his name, was known to the other, for
+some cause he was the last person he had expected to see; the man was
+studying him with an interest which he did not attempt to conceal. The
+young man, on his side, was regarding the inspector as if he found him
+amusing.
+
+"Well, inspector, when you have quite finished staring at Mr. Elmore,
+perhaps you will tell me what it is you have to say."
+
+The girl's candid allusion to the peculiarity which it seemed she had
+noticed in his manner had the effect of bringing the officer back to a
+consciousness of what he was doing.
+
+"Was I staring? I beg Mr. Elmore's pardon--and yours, Miss Patterson.
+I was only thinking that, under the circumstances, it is a fortunate
+accident that Mr. Elmore should be present."
+
+"You have omitted to state what are the circumstances to which you
+allude."
+
+"I will proceed to supply that omission at once, Miss Patterson. You
+will probably think that they are strange ones; and, indeed, they are;
+but you will, of course, understand that I am only here in pursuance
+of my duty. I have come in consequence of a letter which I received
+this morning. I will read it to you."
+
+He took an envelope from a fat pocket-book.
+
+"It bears no address, and is not dated; but the envelope shows that it
+was posted last night at Beckenham.
+
+
+"'To Inspector Harlow.
+
+"'Sir,--Mr. Graham Patterson did not commit suicide; he was murdered.
+
+"'If you can make it convenient to be at Mr. Graham Patterson's late
+residence, No. 90, Russell Square, to-morrow, Wednesday, afternoon at
+3.30, I will be there also, and will point out to you the murderer.
+
+                          "'Your obedient servant,
+
+                          "'Philip Walter Augustus Parker.'"
+
+
+Silence followed when the inspector ceased to read. The officer was
+engaged in folding the letter and returning it to its envelope; Gladys
+looked as if she were too startled to give ready utterance to her
+feelings in words. Rodney was possibly trying to associate someone of
+whom he had heard with the name of Parker--and failing. His memory did
+not often play him tricks; he was pretty sure that no one of that name
+was known to him. The inspector was the first to speak.
+
+"You will, of course, perceive, Miss Patterson, that the probabilities
+are that this letter is a hoax; the signature, Philip Walter Augustus
+Parker, in itself suggests a hoax. Then there is the absence of an
+address. And, of course, we have the verdict of the coroner's jury,
+and the evidence on which it was found. I am quite prepared to learn
+that I have come to Russell Square, and troubled you with my presence,
+for nothing. But at the same time, in my position, I did not feel
+justified in not coming, on the very off-chance of making the
+acquaintance of Philip Walter Augustus Parker. It is now on the stroke
+of half-past three; we will give him a few minutes' grace, after
+which--if, as I expect will be the case, there are still no signs of
+him--I'll take myself off, with apologies, Miss Patterson. But should
+he by any strange chance put in an appearance, I would ask you to have
+him at once shown in here."
+
+Hardly had the inspector done speaking than there was the sound of an
+electric bell and a rat-tat-tat at the front door. The trio in the
+dining-room could scarcely have seemed more startled had they been
+suddenly confronted by a ghost. The inspector's voice sank to a
+whisper.
+
+"If the name's Parker, would you mind asking the servant--in here?"
+
+A gesture supplied the words he had omitted in his sentence. He held
+the door open so that Gladys could speak to the maid who was coming
+along the hall. She did so, also in lowered tones.
+
+"If that's a person of the name of Parker show him at once in here."
+
+She withdrew; the inspector shut the door; there was a pause; no one
+spoke; each of the three stood and listened. They could hear the front
+door opened and steps coming along the hall. Then the dining-room door
+was opened by a maid, who announced:
+
+"Mr. Parker."
+
+There entered the little man who had followed the example set by
+Rodney of getting out of the train in Redhill Tunnel.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIII
+
+                        NECESSARY CREDENTIALS
+
+
+The moment he appeared Rodney knew that he had been expecting him;
+that somewhere at the back of his mind there had been a feeling that
+it was he who was coming. His impulse was to take him by the throat
+and crush the life out of him before he had a chance of saying a word;
+which was the impulse of a badly frightened man. But he seldom lost
+his presence of mind for long; and, on that occasion, he had it again
+almost as soon as it had gone; indeed, within the same second he was
+smiling at himself for having allowed himself to be disposed towards
+such crass folly.
+
+So far as Rodney was able to judge the little man was clad just as he
+had been on Sunday evening--in the same shabby tweed suit, the old
+unbrushed boots, with the same suggestion about him that he might
+easily have been improved by a more intimate acquaintance with soap
+and water. He had his hat in one hand, and with the other he rubbed
+his scrubby chin. No one could have seemed more at his ease. Without
+offering any sort of greeting he immediately proceeded to address the
+inspector, while the maid was still closing the door, in that thin,
+unmusical, penetrating voice which Rodney had so much disliked.
+
+"So you are there, Harlow, are you? I wondered if you'd have sense
+enough to come."
+
+He rounded off his sentence with the snigger which had so jarred on
+the young man's sensitive nerves, and which affected Gladys so
+unpleasantly that, with what seemed to be a start of repulsion, she
+moved closer to her lover's side. The stranger noted the movement, and
+commented on it--again with the uncomfortable snigger.
+
+"That's right; get as close as you can; he'll keep you safe; anyone
+will be safe who gets close enough to him. You're Miss Patterson; I
+could tell you anywhere by your likeness to your father. You're not
+the kind of girl I care about, any more than he was the kind of man.
+Who's the youngster? Now, there is someone worth looking at; why, he's
+as handsome as paint, and of quite unusual force of character for so
+young a man. Miss Patterson, the girl who gets him for a lover will
+have a lover of a kind of which she has no notion. He's a most
+remarkable young man."
+
+With a view, perhaps, of checking the stranger's volubility, the
+inspector administered what was possibly meant for a rebuke.
+
+"If you would confine yourself to the business which has brought you
+here, sir, it would be as well. Are you Mr. Parker?"
+
+"I am; Philip Walter Augustus Parker--a lot of name for a man of my
+size."
+
+"You sent me a letter last night from Beckenham?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Stating that Mr. Graham Patterson did not commit suicide."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"But was murdered?"
+
+"He was."
+
+"You went on to say that if I were here this afternoon you would point
+out to me the murderer."
+
+"I will."
+
+"Point him out."
+
+"I am."
+
+"I thought so."
+
+"I knew you did. I saw on your intelligent visage that you knew what
+was coming. You have some experience of cranks who accuse themselves
+of crimes of which they are innocent; you take it for granted that I
+am one of them, which shows what a dunce you are. I am a lunatic.
+That's right, Harlow, smile again. I knew that would tickle you. A
+policeman's sense of humour is his own."
+
+"It is necessary, Mr. Parker, that I should warn you that anything you
+say will be taken down and used against you."
+
+"Quite right, Harlow; take it down; but as for using it against me,
+that's absurd. The law does not punish lunatics; whatever they may do
+it holds them guiltless. I'm an example of the inadequacy of the law
+to protect the public from what I may describe as the lunatic at
+large. It is not sufficiently recognised that there is an order of
+dementia which may at any time develop into homicidal mania, and that,
+therefore, a lunatic, unless he is kept in safe keeping, may kill,
+with impunity, whom he pleases--as I have done. I have killed Graham
+Patterson; yet no one may venture to kill me. My life is more sacred
+than that of a sane man in the eyes of the law."
+
+The inspector looked at the girl significantly.
+
+"I think, Miss Patterson, that I had better deal with Mr. Parker
+alone."
+
+"And, Miss Patterson, I think not. What I am about to say will be
+found of interest not only by you, but also by--that extraordinary
+young man. Harlow, your duty is to take down what I am about to say in
+writing; don't exceed it. Shut the door. Miss Patterson will stay
+where she is."
+
+The inspector looked at the lady, as if for instructions. As she gave
+no sign, beyond drawing a little closer to her lover, he shut the
+door, which he had opened a few inches. Mr. Parker beamed at him with
+a grotesque little air of triumph.
+
+"There, Harlow--you see! Now attend to me. Suppose, before I go any
+further, we all sit down; my tale may take some minutes; I don't want
+anyone to get tired of standing. You won't? Very good--then stand.
+There are plenty of chairs, and very comfortable some of them seem;
+but, of course, I don't propose to force you to occupy them if you
+would rather not. Now--attention! To begin at the beginning."
+
+Again he indulged in the uncomfortable sort of laughter which, more
+than anything else, revealed the disorder of the creature's mind.
+
+"On Sunday evening I bolted from my keeper, one Metcalf, in whose
+charge I have been for six or seven months, and of whom I was tired to
+extinction--an unclubable fellow who never talks unless he has
+something to say. I left Brighton station on the 9.10 train. Until the
+train started I was the sole occupant of a first-class carriage, at
+which I was not displeased. I had some idea of committing suicide
+myself. Life, I assure you, has little to offer me. I am just sane
+enough to know that I never shall be saner. There's a wall--a wall
+which I shall never climb, and which shuts me out--from I don't know
+what. If I were left alone--I so seldom am; they won't leave me
+alone!--here would be an excellent opportunity to consider the best
+way out of it. You may fancy, then, what my feelings were when, just
+as the train was starting, another passenger entered--bundled in by an
+extremely officious porter. He would never have caught the train if it
+hadn't been for the porter--in which case he would have been still
+alive--so that one may say, logically, the porter killed him. The
+fellow certainly ought to be punished."
+
+He waved his hat with a gesture which was possibly intended to
+represent the execution of the porter in question.
+
+"The man who had entered my compartment, Miss Patterson, was your
+father--in every respect a most objectionable person, combining in
+himself nearly everything that I most object to--bloated, overfed,
+nearly drunk, horrible to contemplate. He sat there perspiring,
+puffing, panting, gasping for breath; I half expected he would have a
+fit. But, instead of having a fit, before the train had gone very far
+he was asleep, fast asleep. Could any conduct have been more
+disgusting?--drunken sleep! With a man of my stamp at the other end
+of the carriage, could anything have been more insulting? And he
+snored--such snores! I declare to you he made more noise than the
+train did; if that extraordinary young man had been in the next
+compartment he'd have heard him. And his jaw dropped open--it was
+that gave me the idea. Who is it says that trifles light as air lead
+to I don't know what? It was that trifle which led to my killing your
+father, Miss Patterson."
+
+Again the cackling giggle, which made the girl try to draw still
+nearer to her lover, as if the thing were possible.
+
+"Some time before I had come into possession of quite a quantity of
+potassium cyanide; I won't say how--I had. The artfulness of lunatics
+is proverbial, and I'm as artful as any of them; on that point I refer
+you to Metcalf, as well as to others who have had me in their charge,
+both in asylums and out of them--they'll tell you! It was in the form
+of tabloids, looking just like sweeties, in a nice little silver box;
+enough to kill a street. I had meant to use it to kill myself, but at
+the sight of that dreadful man, with his bulging mouth, I thought--why
+not use it to kill him? Pop one into his mouth, and the trick was
+done! I moved inch by inch and foot by foot along the seat towards his
+end of the carriage; he still snored on, paying no attention of any
+sort to me; he was a horrid, vulgar man. At last I was right in front
+of him; I might have been ten miles away for all he knew. How he
+snored, and how his jaws did gape! I had the silver box in one hand
+and a tabloid between the finger and thumb of the other, and I leaned
+forward and popped it into his open mouth."
+
+Mr. Parker illustrated his words by his gestures, with the air of one
+who was telling an amusing tale.
+
+"Oh, what a change came over him! You should have seen it! He snored
+the tabloid right down his throat, and he gave a great gasp and was
+dead. He had not even waked; I am sure that he never knew I was on the
+seat in front of him, or that I was in the carriage at all. There was
+his huge carcase bolt upright in front of me, and I knew that he would
+never snore any more. It made me feel quite odd; it was all so sudden
+and so funny. I daresay it would have made that extraordinary young
+man feel odd, eh?"
+
+He looked up at Rodney with a leer which made his mean, wrinkled face
+all at once seem bestial. But he never faltered in his story, which he
+told with a sniggering relish which lent it a quality of horror which
+no display of dramatic, conscience-stricken intensity could possibly
+have done.
+
+"My idea had been to tell the porters all about it the first time the
+train stopped; it would have been funny to see the fuss they'd have
+made; I shouldn't have cared. But it so happened that the signal was
+against us, and the train stopped in the middle of Redhill tunnel."
+
+The inspector allowed no hint to escape him of what he knew or did not
+know. He kept his eyes fastened on the little man, as if his wish were
+not so much to follow his actual words, but to see something which
+might be behind them.
+
+"When it stopped I had another idea, quite as brilliant as the first.
+Why should I go through the nuisance of a trial for murder? With a
+little management, if this objectionable person were found in a
+carriage by himself, it might be taken for granted that he had
+committed suicide, which would be too funny. So I put the silver box
+open in his fingers, slipped out of the carriage into the tunnel--in
+the darkness no one saw me--waited for the train to go, then walked
+after it, out of the tunnel, up the banks, across the fields to
+Redhill Station; had a drink or two, which I was in want of; went on
+by the 10.40, until at Croydon I was joined by Metcalf, who had got
+there first. For the rest of the tale refer to him."
+
+Continuing, Mr. Parker seemed to address his remarks particularly to
+Rodney:
+
+"You never would have thought that it could be so easy to kill a man,
+and have it brought in as suicide, would you? When I read the report
+of the inquest in the papers, I was amazed to find how easy it
+really was. Then it occurred to me that as, of course, he had been
+murdered--I knew that--why shouldn't I communicate with the police,
+after all? No harm would come to me; lunatics are protected by the
+law. It would be different if he had been murdered by--you; you would
+quite certainly be hung. I shall go to Broadmoor. I have rather a
+fancy for Broadmoor. I am told that they are all of them lunatics
+there; I should like to see. At any rate, they have all of them done
+something; no lunatic I've met ever did anything worth doing. They
+must be interesting people. But certain credentials are necessary for
+Broadmoor, and now I think I've earned them. If the part I've played
+in this little affair of Graham Patterson doesn't qualify me for
+Broadmoor, then I should very much like to know what would. Eh, young
+man, eh?"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIV
+
+                            LOVERS PARTING
+
+
+Inspector Harlow having gone, with Mr. Parker as close companion, the
+lovers being again alone together, it was pretty plain that they were
+conscious that, since entering the house, the situation had materially
+changed. Rodney, try how he might, could not erase from his mind, so
+quickly as he wished, the impression that he had been assisting at
+some hideous nightmare. He had supposed, at the sight of the little
+man, that his accuser had come into the room. His nerves were strained
+in the expectation that every moment the charge would be made. Even as
+the instants passed, and he began to see the drift of the tale which
+the man was telling, inventing it as he went on, he had a feeling that
+he was only playing with him as a cat does with a mouse, and that,
+just when it seemed least likely, he would right-about-face and,
+perhaps with that diabolical snigger of his, place the onus of the
+guilt on him. Now that the fellow had actually gone, a self-accused
+prisoner in the inspector's charge, the feeling that he was still
+taking part in some fantastic drama seemed stronger than ever.
+
+Gladys, on her side, when at last she broke the curious silence, which
+prevailed longer than either of them supposed after they had been left
+together, quickly showed that she was obsessed by a mood in which he
+did not know her, in which, as it were, she had slipped out of his
+reach.
+
+"Rodney, do you think that what that man said is true?"
+
+"He seemed to give chapter and verse for most of it."
+
+"But if it's true--dad didn't take his own life!"
+
+"If it's true."
+
+"But don't you see what a difference that makes?"
+
+"Of course it makes a difference; but in what sense do you mean?"
+
+"In every sense--every sense! Do you think--that while he's being
+buried--I should be here--if I had known that he was murdered? He was
+my father."
+
+"In any case he was that."
+
+"Not in any case, not in any case! I may have got him all wrong! I may
+have misjudged! I may--I don't know what I mayn't have done. There's
+the letter!"
+
+"What letter?"
+
+"To Mr. Wilkes. You said, when he wrote it, he was mad, and that
+taking his own life proved it. I thought so. But, if he didn't take
+his own life, what then?" Rodney made an effort to regain his
+self-possession, and partially succeeded.
+
+"My dear Gladys, the whole business is a bad one, whichever way you
+look at it. We are to be married on Monday."
+
+"Monday? Married--to you?"
+
+The knowledge of women on which he was apt to pride himself ought to
+have warned him that this was not the same girl as the one with whom
+he had come back from lunch in the cab. But at the moment he was not
+yet quite himself; his perception was at fault. He made a mistake.
+
+"My dear Gladys, you are perfectly well aware that the arrangement, as
+it stands at present, is that we are to be married on Monday. I was
+merely about to suggest that, as it would seem that this whole
+unfortunate affair is likely to prove too much, we should be married
+to-morrow instead, and then we shall be able to get out of this
+unpleasant atmosphere at the earliest possible moment."
+
+"Stop! stop!"
+
+She shouted at rather than spoke to him.
+
+"Perhaps I shall not be married to you at all."
+
+He stared at her in genuine amazement.
+
+"Gladys! What are you talking about? What do you mean?"
+
+"I don't know what I mean; I almost hope I never may know."
+
+"My dear child; that wretched man."
+
+"Have you ever seen him before?"
+
+"Seen whom?"
+
+"You know quite well. That--wretched man."
+
+"So far as I'm aware, never in my life. What makes you ask such a
+question?"
+
+"Are you sure? Do you swear it?"
+
+"How can a man swear to a thing like that? But I do swear that, to the
+best of my knowledge and belief, I have never seen him before."
+
+"Then how came it that he knew you so well?"
+
+"Knew me so well? Gladys! What are you dreaming about? Why, he never
+even addressed me by name."
+
+"No, I noticed that; but he addressed you all the same. Most of what
+he said was especially addressed to you, as if he knew that you would
+understand."
+
+"What are you driving at?"
+
+"What's more, he saw that I was afraid of you."
+
+"Afraid? You? Why, you could hardly have snuggled closer."
+
+"That was because I was afraid to let you know how afraid of you I
+was."
+
+"Gladys! Has that creature turned your brain?"
+
+"I--I don't know. Oh, if I could only say a few words to dad--if I
+only could!"
+
+"What would they be?"
+
+"I would--ask him--how--he died."
+
+"You have two stories offered for your choice. Are you content with
+neither?"
+
+"Rodney, if my father were standing here now, and his spirit may be,
+would you tell me, in his presence, that you don't know why he
+disliked you?"
+
+"Are you going into that all over again? To what end?"
+
+"What does that man know of you? What does he know?"
+
+"How can I tell what a half-witted man knows of me, or thinks he
+knows? Certainly he knows nothing to my discredit."
+
+"Rodney--don't."
+
+"Don't what?"
+
+"You know! You do know! I can see in your eyes you know! Please go!"
+
+"Sweetheart!"
+
+"Don't--speak to me--like that--now. Go!"
+
+"You surely are not in earnest. You cannot wish me to leave you before
+this extraordinary misunderstanding which has so inexplicably sprung
+up is cleared away. Tell me what is in your mind--frankly, all! I
+quite understand how this wretched man, Parker, may have turned your
+thoughts into unexpected currents and filled you with miserable
+doubts. I assure you he has upset me more than I care to tell you."
+
+"I know that he upset you! I felt you were upset when I was so close
+to you. I can see it now."
+
+If for the moment he was disconcerted--and the lady's manner was
+disconcerting--he slurred it over with creditable skill.
+
+"Come, Gladys; let's try to get back to where we were--to perfect
+understanding. Tell me your doubts, no matter how insoluble they may
+seem to you. I promise you I'll solve them."
+
+"I'm sure you will; I feel you could solve anything, but I am afraid
+of your solution."
+
+Before he had an inkling of her intention she had passed rapidly
+across the floor and from the room.
+
+"Gladys!" he exclaimed.
+
+But it was too late; she had gone. He stood staring at the door
+through which she had vanished, irresolute. Should he follow her,
+possibly to her bedroom, and entreat her for a hearing? For once in
+his life he had been taken wholly unawares; he had not suspected that
+this Gladys was in the Gladys he had known. Often a man lives to a
+ripe old age, ignorant how many women are contained in the one woman
+he knows best. Then, as if unwittingly, his fingers strayed to the
+pocket in which were the proceeds of the cheque he had cashed while
+Gladys, without in the cab, had supposed him to have gone into the
+bank for his letter-case. Apparently the touch decided him; often a
+little thing brought him to an instant decision. Without making any
+further effort to gain the lady's ear, he buttoned his coat across his
+chest, took his hat and stick from off the table, and quietly left the
+house.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXV
+
+                       STELLA'S BETROTHAL FEAST
+
+
+That evening Rodney Elmore was at a dinner given at a famous
+restaurant in honour of his engagement to Stella Austin, quite a
+different sort of meal from that at which he had assisted at the
+Misses Claughton's house in Kensington. If in his manner there was an
+unusual touch of nervousness, it was not unbecoming; the bride that
+was to be was not entirely herself. He met her as, with her father and
+mother, she entered the hall. She said to him, as he fell in by her
+side:
+
+"I did hope, Rodney, that you would have come to fetch me."
+
+"My dear, it's only by the skin of my teeth that I've got here myself!
+Do you think that I wouldn't have come if I could?"
+
+She said nothing in reply, but as she passed towards the ladies'
+cloak-room there was a look on her face which almost suggested tears.
+Her mother's manner, as she greeted him, was not too genial:
+
+"So you are here? Well, I suppose that's something!"
+
+Mr. Austin, as he deposited his hat and coat with the attendant,
+seemed very much in the same key.
+
+"We should have been here some minutes ago, only Stella would have it
+you were coming to fetch her; we should have been waiting for you
+still if she had had her way. How was it you didn't come? She's quite
+disappointed; rather a pity that the evening should have begun with a
+misunderstanding of that sort."
+
+Rodney drew the gentleman aside.
+
+"I take it, Mr. Austin, that you haven't heard the news?"
+
+"To what news do you refer?"
+
+"It is now stated that my uncle did not commit suicide, but was
+murdered."
+
+"But I thought the coroner's jury had returned a verdict of suicide."
+
+"That is so; but this afternoon a man named Parker gave himself up to
+the police, on his own confession, as having murdered my uncle. You
+will understand that I--I have had rather a trying day."
+
+"On his confession? Is the man a lunatic?"
+
+"That's just it; he is, yet it seems only too likely that--he did what
+he says he did."
+
+"But how came he to make his confession in your presence? Do you know
+the man?"
+
+"Not I; he's an entire stranger to me; but I'll tell you all about it
+later. I don't want you to say anything to the ladies or anyone; I
+only mention it to you because I want you to understand how it is that
+I am not in such--such good fettle as I might be for an occasion of
+this kind; and also because I want you, if needs be, to help me with
+Stella."
+
+"My dear boy, of course I will. It is only natural that, at a time
+like this, a girl should think that there's nothing of much
+consequence except her own affairs; but I'll stand by you, never fear.
+I rather wish that the whole thing had been postponed, but Stella
+wouldn't hear of it. There's Tom not at all himself; he wanted Mary
+Carmichael to come, and Stella wanted her to come, in fact, we all
+wanted her to come, but she hasn't. I've been told nothing, but I can
+see there's some trouble there. Altogether the evening doesn't look as
+if it were going to be quite such a merry one as I had hoped it would
+have been; however, we must make the best of it. Cheer up, lad; put
+your troubles behind you for this night only."
+
+That was a prescription which at any rate the prescriber's son did not
+seem at all disposed to follow, as Rodney quickly learnt when Tom
+appeared a little tardily. Tom's naturally good-humoured face wore an
+expression of unwonted gloom, and there was that in his air and
+general bearing which accorded ill with a time of feasting and making
+merry.
+
+"You know, old chap, I oughtn't to be here, I really didn't. I shall
+queer the whole show. Unless I drink too much, and put my spirits up
+that way, I shall give everyone the hump; and when I start on that lay
+I'm apt to get my spirits up a bit too much, so I don't know that that
+will have a good effect either."
+
+Rodney laughed as he put his hand on the speaker's shoulder.
+
+"Why, Tom, what's wrong?"
+
+"I don't know what's wrong, but something's wrong. I do know that.
+When the governor told me about this kick-up to-night, I wrote to Mary
+and told her all about it, and asked her to come up, and so on, and
+said I'd run down to Brighton this morning to bring her up, and told
+her the train I'd come by, and asked her to meet me at the station.
+She didn't meet me at the station--that was shock number one; and then
+when I got to the house, if you please, the servant didn't want to let
+me in--she wanted to make me believe that Mary was out. I wasn't
+taking that; I would go in, and I saw her old aunt--she's an old dear,
+she is. After a while, and she'd told no end of them, she owned up
+that Mary was in all the time she'd been telling them. She was up in
+her bedroom, and had given word that if I called she wouldn't see me.
+You might have bowled me over with an old cork."
+
+"The lady wasn't well."
+
+"Her health was all right; the old girl owned as much. She said Mary
+was perfectly well, but beyond that she wouldn't say anything; and she
+made out that she couldn't; and she wouldn't send a message up, or a
+note, or anything. She said that she knew her niece well enough to be
+sure that that would be no use. But when she saw that I was set, she
+said that if I chose I might go up and try my luck. So, if you please,
+up I went, and rapped at her bedroom door."
+
+"Summoned her to surrender, quite in the good old style; and she did?"
+
+"Not much she didn't. I spoke to her through the bedroom door, I
+called out to her, I as nearly as possible howled; I daresay I rapped
+as many as twenty times--I know I made my knuckles sore But she took
+not the slightest notice, not a sound came from the other side; she
+might have been stone deaf or dead. In fact, I wanted to tell her that
+I felt sure that something dreadful had happened, and that if she
+wouldn't speak I should have to break down the door to see what was
+wrong. But the old girl wouldn't have it. She said that she had had
+enough of that folly, and when I talked about camping out on the
+door-mat she marched me off downstairs, feeling all mops and brooms,
+and all over the place. Then it came out that when I was at the front
+door she had told the old girl that she wouldn't see me, and nothing
+would make her see me, and had rushed up to her bedroom and locked
+herself in. So I came back from Brighton all alone, and the wonder is
+I didn't start to drink and keep on at it; only I had a sort of
+feeling that if I began by being squiffy when I got here things
+wouldn't be so very much brighter; besides, there's always time to
+start that sort of thing if you are set on it."
+
+"My dear old chap, you've done something to upset the lady's
+apple-cart; you'll have a letter telling you all about it in the
+morning."
+
+"I hope so, but I doubt it; I might have known I was feeling too much
+bucked up. You know she never said exactly yes; she sort of let me
+take it for granted, and perhaps I took it a little too much for
+granted; I feel that perhaps that's how it is. But if she's off with
+me, I'm done--clean. She could make a man of me, even the kind of
+article the governor thinks a man; but no one else could. If she won't
+have me, I shall emigrate, that's what I shall do; I shall go to one
+of those cheery spots where you get knocked out by blackwater fever,
+or sleeping sickness, or something nice of that sort, three months
+after you've landed."
+
+Notice being given that dinner was ready, Rodney led Stella into the
+private room in which it was to be served cheerfully enough, bestowing
+on her admiring glances and whispering what he meant to be sweet
+things into her pretty ear as they went.
+
+"My hat! that's a duck of a frock you're arrayed in; you do look
+scrumptious."
+
+"I'm glad you think so."
+
+The maid's manner was a trifle prim; she plainly wished him to
+understand that she was still a little out with him. He smiled at her.
+
+"I don't know what you're laughing at."
+
+"Would you rather I cried?"
+
+"I'm afraid poor Tom feels like crying. Isn't it strange Mary not
+coming, and sending no message, or anything--nothing to explain? Have
+you heard how she treated Tom?"
+
+They had reached the dinner-table, and were settling themselves in
+their places.
+
+"Stella, be so good as to understand, once for all, that there's only
+one subject to-night, and that's you. All other subjects are tabooed.
+Are you quite comfortable? Don't put your chair too far off; so that,
+if you feel like it, you can put your baby foot out towards mine and
+with your wee slipper crush my favourite corn."
+
+"Rodney, I'm glad you are going to talk to me at last, though I don't
+suppose you have thought of me once all day."
+
+"Shall I tell you what I've been looking for ever since I came?"
+
+"I expect for somewhere to smoke."
+
+"I've been looking for--say, a curtained nook, where I can have you
+alone for about five minutes, and have a few of those kisses of which
+I have been dreaming this livelong day."
+
+"If you had come and fetched me you might have had one kiss--in the
+cab."
+
+"I'll have one kiss when I take you back--one!"
+
+"Oh, you are going to take me back?"
+
+"I am; and I'm going to eat you on the way; then you'll understand
+what you escaped by my not fetching you."
+
+"You're not to talk like that; people will hear you."
+
+"Let 'em. Fancy if you'd arrived here with that lovely frock all
+crumpled--two in a cab! People would have wondered what you had been
+doing."
+
+"Rodney, if you will talk like that I shall crush your favourite
+corn."
+
+"Crush it!"
+
+"Please pass me the salt."
+
+Whether, while he passed her the salt, she did crush it, there was
+nothing to show.
+
+The feast passed off better than, at one time, it had promised to do.
+There were about twenty people present. Mr. Austin had whipped up, at
+a moment's notice, various relations, and also certain persons who
+were intimately connected with the firm of which he was head; he
+desired to introduce to them not only his future son-in-law, but also
+the probable partner in his business. Most of these people were very
+willing to be entertained, simple souls, easily pleased, and the
+dinner was a good one. Even Tom, who found himself next to a girl with
+mischievous eyes and a saucy tongue, was inclined to shed some of his
+melancholy before the menu was half-way through.
+
+"I never did meet a girl who says such things as you do," he told her,
+with a frankness which was perhaps meant for laudation. "You are quite
+too altogether."
+
+"You see," she said, with her eyes fixed demurely on her plate, "it
+doesn't matter what one does say to some people, does it?"
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Of course some people don't count, do they?"
+
+"By that I suppose you mean that I'm a----"
+
+She did not wait for him to finish.
+
+"Oh, not at all."
+
+She looked at him with innocence in her glance, which was too perfect
+to be real.
+
+"How many times have you been ploughed?"
+
+"Who's been telling you tales about me?"
+
+"I was only thinking that it doesn't matter if one hasn't brains so
+long as one has looks, and you have got those, haven't you?"
+
+Tom's face, as the minx said this, in a voice which was just loud
+enough to reach his ears, would have made a good photographic study.
+Beyond a doubt he was in a fair way to lose some of his sadness, at
+least for the time.
+
+When the cloth had been removed the giver of the feast, getting on to
+his feet, made the usual half jovial, half sentimental references to
+the occasion which had brought them together; and, in wishing the
+young couple well, made special allusion to the fact that he was not
+only welcoming a son, but also a colleague. The toast he ended by
+proposing could not have been better received. Then, while the young
+maiden sat blushing, the young man stood up, and, in a brief yet deft
+little speech, told how happy they all had made him, how the hopes
+which he had cherished for years had at last been realised, how dear
+those hopes had been to him, how unworthy he was of all the good gifts
+which had descended on him. But of this they might be sure, that if he
+had health and strength--and at present he was very well and pretty
+strong, thanking them very much--he would do his very best in the
+years to come to prove that he could at least appreciate those things
+which Providence had bestowed on him. The young man sat down on quite
+a pathetic note, and the girl by his side pressed his hand and looked
+as if this were indeed one of those moments of which she had dreamed.
+
+Then there were other speeches and all sorts of kind things were said,
+which, at such times, one takes it for granted should be said. The
+young man was made much of, and the maiden, if possible, even more.
+And when the feast was really ended, and all the good wishes had been
+wished again and again, and there came the time of parting, even Mr.
+Austin was obliged to confess to himself that everything could
+scarcely have gone off better. His wife was radiant, some of the
+shadows had gone from Tom's face; apparently the young lady with the
+mischievous eyes had in some subtle way, the secret of which she only
+possessed, acted the part of the sun in dispelling the clouds; Stella
+could not by any possibility have looked happier or Rodney prouder.
+Tom, it is believed, saw the young lady with the mischievous eyes home
+in one cab, and it is certain that Rodney was with Stella in another.
+What took place during that journey in the cab between the restaurant
+and Kensington it is not perhaps easy to determine precisely, but
+beyond a doubt Rodney had that one kiss which had been spoken of, and
+probably others; for when the house in Kensington was reached, and the
+young lady ran up the steps to the front door, she was in a state of
+the most delightful agitation. And in the house there was the final
+parting, which occupied a considerable time, for they had to say to
+each other the things which they had already said more than once, and
+which Rodney at least could say so well and to which the girl so loved
+to listen.
+
+"I think that, after all, to-night has made up for to-day. Do you
+know, Rodney," and she looked up into his face with something shining
+in her pretty eyes, "that to-day I have had the most curious fancies?
+I was actually frightened; I don't know at what, but I do know that
+somehow it was because of you. Wasn't it silly?"
+
+"I am not sure that it's ever silly for you to be frightened because
+of me; I'm in the most delicious terror all day, and sometimes all
+night, because of you; but you are a goose."
+
+Then he held her perhaps a little closer, and whispered:
+
+"It has been something of a night, hasn't it? For the first time in my
+life I feel as if I were a person of some importance. You couldn't
+have your betrothal feast again to-morrow, could you?"
+
+She smiled.
+
+"I doubt it; but we might have a silver betrothal feast as well as a
+silver wedding. Hasn't that sort of thing ever been done?"
+
+He laughed at the conceit, and when the parting really did come she
+was looking forward as through a dim mist, towards that silver time at
+which he had hinted; and when she went upstairs she prayed that after
+five-and-twenty years of married life she might be as happy as she was
+then. And all night she slept sweetly, dreaming the happiest dreams of
+all that took place during the passage of the years, through which she
+walked with the husband whom she loved so dearly, ever heart in heart
+and hand in hand. That night was to her a halcyon time.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVI
+
+                              GOOD NIGHT
+
+
+When Rodney Elmore went home, as his cab drew up in front of his
+lodgings a man came quickly across the road and stood so that he was
+between him and the entrance to the house.
+
+"Mr. Rodney Elmore?"
+
+Rodney looked him up and down. It was not a very good light just
+there, but it was clear enough for him to recognise the man who had
+greeted him. For the first time in his life a feeling that was
+something very like dizziness went all over him, so that he all but
+reeled; but that self-control which so seldom quitted him except for
+the briefest instant was back before it had actually gone. He did not
+reel, but stood quite still, and, with a smile upon his face, looked
+the man fairly and squarely in the eyes.
+
+"That is my name--I am Rodney Elmore; but you, sir--pray, who are
+you?"
+
+"My name is Edward Giles. But I don't think that that can mean much to
+you, Mr. Elmore."
+
+"I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Giles, but, as you say, your name
+does convey absolutely nothing to me. What is it that I can have the
+pleasure of doing for you at this latish hour?"
+
+The man was silent for a moment. Then a curious smile flitted across
+his face as he came a half-step nearer.
+
+"Think, Mr. Elmore. I shouldn't be surprised if you had rather a good
+memory. Don't you remember me?"
+
+"Not the least in the world, Mr. Giles."
+
+"It isn't so very long ago since you saw me."
+
+"Indeed! I presume it was on rather a special occasion, Mr. Giles,
+since you appear to be rather anxious to recall it to my
+recollection."
+
+"It was rather a special occasion for you, Mr. Elmore; and a still
+more special occasion--for Mr. Patterson."
+
+"My uncle?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Elmore, your uncle. Don't you remember last Sunday evening
+at Brighton station?"
+
+Rodney hesitated.
+
+"Why do you ask?"
+
+"You do remember, Mr. Elmore, and so do I. I can see you still, coming
+sauntering down the platform smoking a cigarette and looking into the
+first-class carriages to see which of them would suit you best. You
+chose one, and then stood for a moment or two at the door, looking up
+and down the platform, to see, as it were, if there was anything which
+caught your eye. Then you got into the carriage, and took the seat at
+the farther end, facing the engine. You thought you were going to
+journey up all alone, but just as the train was starting a stout,
+elderly gentleman came bustling along. Yours was the only carriage
+door that was open, and I helped him in. I shut the door, and you went
+out of the station together. Don't you remember that? Look at me
+carefully. Don't you remember that I was the party who helped your
+uncle into your carriage? Just look at me and think."
+
+Again Rodney hesitated, and seemed to think. Then he said, in a tone
+the indifference of which was perhaps a trifle studied:
+
+"Really, Mr. Giles, I don't quite know what it is you expect me to
+say."
+
+The man gave a little laugh.
+
+"Anyhow, Mr. Elmore, you've said it."
+
+Without an attempt at a farewell greeting, he walked quickly back
+across the street, to where, as Rodney had been aware, another person
+had been waiting.
+
+The pair walked briskly off together side by side, and Rodney went up
+the steps into the house. He knew that, as he had expected, the
+presence of that platform inspector was going to prove awkward for
+him; more awkward than he cared to think. But he did think, as he
+turned into his sitting-room; and still stood thinking as the door was
+gently opened and Mabel Joyce came in. Her agitation was almost
+unpleasantly evident. One could see that her hands were trembling,
+that her lips were twitching, and that, indeed, it was all she could
+do to keep her whole body from shaking. She came quickly towards the
+table, and leaned upon the edge; plainly it was a very real assistance
+in aiding her to stand. And her voice was as tremulous as her person.
+
+"Did--did you see him?"
+
+"My dear Mabel, did I see whom?"
+
+She seemed to clutch the table still more tightly.
+
+"Rodney, don't! It's no good. Do you think I don't know? What's the
+good of pretending with me, when you know--I know? What cock-and-bull
+story is this about some man, some fool, some lunatic, who says--he
+did it? Do you think that I don't know, that Mr. Dale doesn't
+know, that they all don't know? Rodney," and her voice trembled so
+that it was with pain she spoke at all, "there'll--there'll--be a
+warrant--out--in the morning. Oh, my God! my God!"
+
+And the girl threw herself forward on the table, crying and trembling
+as if on the verge of a convulsion.
+
+"What on earth, Mabel, is the use of spoiling your pretty face like
+this? I am a little worried to-night, and that's the truth. If there's
+anything you want to say to me, old girl, say it, and have done with
+it."
+
+He sighed. She raised herself from the table, and looked across at
+him.
+
+"Rodney, it won't be any use our marrying." There was a big sob. "That
+won't save you--now. God knows what will."
+
+"It's really very good of you to worry about the sort of man that I
+have been to you; take my tip, my dear, don't worry. I'll win
+through."
+
+"But how? How? You don't understand! This--this fool, whoever he is,
+who pretends he did it, has only made them all the keener. They--they
+mean to have you now."
+
+"They? And who are _they?_"
+
+"There's Dale, and Giles, and Harlow, and--and don't ask me who
+besides. They're all wild because--because you tricked them; because
+they made such idiots of themselves at the inquest."
+
+Rodney raised his arms above his head, and stretched himself, and
+yawned, as if he were a little weary.
+
+"They were a trifle premature; coroner, and jury, an eminent
+specialist, and Harlow, and all--the whole jolly lot of them. I don't
+wonder they feel a trifle wild. But why with me?"
+
+"You know, Rodney--you know! You know! Oh, don't--don't pretend!"
+
+"On my word of honour--if it's any use employing that pretty figure of
+speech with you--I am not pretending. I've still another trick in the
+bag; that's all. And that's what you don't give me credit for, my
+dear."
+
+"What--what trick's that? You've too many tricks--you're all tricks!
+It's--Rodney, it's--it's too late for tricks!"
+
+"But not for this pretty trick of mine. Mabel, it's such a pretty one!
+But now you listen to me for a moment. Pull yourself together. Stand
+up; let me see your face."
+
+She did as he bade her, and stood, leaning on the table with both her
+hands, looking at him with eyes from which the tears were streaming.
+
+"Mabel, you asked me to marry you. I said I would, and I will."
+
+"But--what's the use of it now? You don't understand."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do; I don't know if I can get you to believe me, but I do
+understand much better than you suppose; and, indeed, I rather fancy
+even better than you do. Anyhow, the supposition is that we're to be
+bride and bridegroom, dear, to-morrow; let's for goodness' sake be
+friends to-night. Let's try to say, at any rate, one or two pleasant
+things, as, not so very long ago, we used to do. What's going to come
+of it all you seem doubtful, and I can hardly pretend that I'm quite
+sure. I don't suppose, Mabel, that you ever read Dante, or, perhaps,
+even heard of him. But, in a tolerably well-known poem by Dante, there
+is this story. He goes down, with a party named Virgil, into one of
+the lowest depths of hell, and there he meets a poor devil who seems
+to be having an uncommonly bad time. They ask him what he has done
+that he should suffer so, and he answers something to this effect. He
+has it that his creed was a very simple one. He believed, and he acted
+on his belief, that one moment of perfect bliss was worth an eternity
+of hell, He had that perfect moment, the lucky bargee! And now for
+ever he's in hell. Yet, do you know, he isn't sorry; he thinks that
+moment was worth the price he paid. That's a moral story, and I don't
+pretend that I've got it quite right; but that's what it comes to;
+and, upon my word, I'm sometimes half disposed to think that that
+man's creed is mine. I guess it would be rather too much to ask you to
+make it yours; but--this you'll grant--we have had our moments of
+bliss, which was nearly perfect. Now, haven't we?"
+
+"I--I don't know why you're talking to me like this. I--I know we
+have. Oh, Rodney, how--how I wish we hadn't!"
+
+"Well, I don't--and I rather fancy I'm in a worse fix than you. But,
+as I live, when I think of the fun we've had, I don't care--that." And
+he snapped his fingers. "They can do as they please, but they can't
+take from me my memories; and if I'm face to face with hell--I'll
+carry them there."
+
+He held out his hands to her with a little gesture of appeal. "Lady,
+talking will do no good, so let's say pretty things. Sweetheart, I'll
+be shot if I won't call you sweetheart, look you never so sourly at
+me!"
+
+"Oh, Rodney, I--I don't want to look sourly at you! Sourly! Oh, my
+dear, if you only knew!"
+
+"I do know, and that's just it. I want you to know. Sweetheart, good
+night!"
+
+He still held out his hands to her. As she looked at him, with
+straining eyes, she seemed to waver.
+
+"Rodney!"
+
+"Good night. Come here and say it--or shall we meet half-way?"
+
+He moved towards her round the table, and she, as if she could not
+help it, moved towards him. And they said good night.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVII
+
+        THE GENTLEMAN'S DEPARTURE AND THE LADY'S EXPLANATIONS
+
+
+In the morning early Mabel Joyce knocked at the door of Mr. Elmore's
+bedroom with a jug of shaving water in her hand; knocked softly, as if
+she did not wish to rouse the sleeper too abruptly from his rest. When
+no answer came she clung to the handle of the door, as a tremor seemed
+to pass all over her; then, presently, knocked again. Still no reply.
+She bent her head towards the panel, listening intently. Then,
+suddenly, decisively, rapped three times and waited. Still no reply.
+With a quick movement she turned the handle and passed into the room;
+and, when in, closed the door rapidly behind her, standing with her
+back against it, in an attitude of one who was afraid. She looked
+towards the bed. It was empty; the sleeper had awaked himself from
+slumber, had risen, and had gone. Putting the jug beside her on the
+floor, she passed quickly towards the bed; leaning over it, she stared
+at something which caught her eye upon the pillow. On the white slip
+was a dark red stain. She put out her hand, clutched it with her
+finger, withdrew her finger, and looked at it. Part of the redness
+had passed from the pillow to the tip of her finger. All at once
+she dropped on to her knees beside the empty bed, and, bowing her
+head upon the coverlet, stayed motionless. Then rose again to
+her feet, looking round her. Her glance caught something on the
+dressing-table--an envelope. Moving towards it, she snatched it up.
+It was addressed, simply, "Mrs. Joyce." Although it seemed scarcely
+likely that such an address was intended for her, she ripped open
+the flap, and took out the sheet of paper it contained.
+
+
+"DEAR MRS. JOYCE,--I'm off, to another world--the world beyond the
+grave. I'm more of a coward than I thought; and yet I don't know that
+it's quite that. I have tried to cut my throat in bed--your bed; but
+my hand bungled. I have made rather a mess--and then I stopped. It
+seemed rather a pity to spoil your bedclothes, and I did not like to
+feel the razor. I am going to do it another way--outside your house,
+in a place I know of, where I hope no one will ever find me. I want no
+coroner to sit upon my body, and I want no jury to make me the subject
+of their silly verdicts.
+
+"I have heaps of reasons--I dare say you'll hear enough about them
+before long. I'd rather you heard of them than other people heard of
+them, when I am not here. It is because I am so anxious that the
+hearing should take place behind my back that I am going. I don't
+quite know what I owe you, but I believe I'm a little in arrears.
+You'll find ten pounds on the table; it should more than pay you, and
+even make up for the week's notice which I have not given. All my
+possessions that I leave behind--and there are quite a number of
+decent suits of clothes--are yours. Do as you like with them. If you
+sell them, and get the price you ought to get, you should not do
+badly.
+
+"Tell everybody what I have told you, and, if you like, show them this
+letter. You have not been a bad landlady; I don't suppose I shall be
+better suited where I am going; nor have I been a bad lodger; if you
+get a better you'll be in luck.
+
+"Say good-bye to Mabel. There is a portrait of a kind in the locket
+which you will find near this envelope. I think I should like her to
+have it, as one to whom I am indebted for many favours.--Your one-time
+lodger,
+
+                                      "RODNEY ELMORE.
+
+"Do you think I shall find it lonely where I am going? I wonder!"
+
+
+The girl, having read this letter to the end, caught up an
+old-fashioned locket; doubtless the one referred to. Opening it, there
+looked out at her the young man's face--a miniature, not ill-done. She
+pressed it to her lips, not once, nor twice, but again and again and
+again. Then, shutting it, slipped it inside her blouse. She gave
+another rapid glance about the room, moved hither and thither as if to
+make sure that there was nothing left which might tell more than need
+be told; then, passing hastily from the room, went not downstairs to
+her mother but upstairs to the lodger overhead. At his door she also
+knocked. Response was instant.
+
+"Who's there? Come in!"
+
+She went in. Mr. Dale was sitting up in bed She stayed close to the
+door.
+
+"He's gone!" she said.
+
+Mr. Dale, although he seemed but recently roused from sleep, seemed to
+grasp her meaning in a moment.
+
+"Gone where?"
+
+"He's left this."
+
+She tossed the letter she had been reading so dexterously that it fell
+just before him on the bed. He caught it up and read.
+
+"What's it mean?" he asked. She seemed to consider for a moment.
+
+"You know as well as I do."
+
+"I suppose I do--when you come to think of it. He's a beauty--a
+shining star!" He stared at the letter. "What does he mean?"
+
+"At any rate, he means one thing--he's gone." Mr. Dale leaned back,
+looking at the girl as if he were endeavouring to find something on
+her face which should give him a hint what to say next. When he spoke
+again it was slowly, as if he measured his words; yet bitterly, as if
+behind them was a meaning which scarcely jumped to the eye.
+
+"Look here, Mabel, this isn't going to be an easy thing to do. I'm
+going to have all my work cut out if it's to be managed. You know what
+I mean by managed. And, as I'm alive, I don't want to do it for
+nothing--and I don't mean to."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"If the tale's not to be told--you know what tale--it must be on
+terms. I won't ask what this chap's been to you, because I believe I
+know. He's been--a blackguard; that's what he's been to you; and, on
+my word I believe you women like a man who's a blackguard. But I don't
+want to talk about that now."
+
+"I shouldn't, especially as I expect mother will be calling me before
+you've done."
+
+The shade of sarcasm in the girl's tone made the man regard her with
+knitted brows.
+
+"Never you mind about your mother; I know all about her. For once in
+your life you'll just listen to me. Mr. Rodney Elmore has gone,
+vanished from the scene--he's dead; here's this letter to prove it
+to anyone who doubts it." The speaker grinned. "I'm not dead; I'm
+alive--very much alive; and I want you to take a particular note of
+that."
+
+"Do you think I don't know that you're alive?"
+
+Mr. Dale's tone grew suddenly fierce.
+
+"I haven't got Mr. Rodney Elmore's pretty tone, nor his pretty
+manners, nor his pretty words; but I do care for you." He laughed.
+"Care for you! Why, I'd eat the dirt you walk on; and you've made me
+do it more than once. Mabel, if I keep my mouth shut, and get others
+to keep theirs shut, will you stop treating me as if I were dirt, and
+treat me as if I were a man?"
+
+"I'll treat you as you like; I'll do whatever you like; I'll be your
+slave, if--if you do that."
+
+She stood close up against the door, with both hands pressed against
+her breast, and her words seemed to come from her in gasps. As he saw
+that in very truth she suffered, his whole bearing underwent a sudden
+change. He all at once grew tender.
+
+"Mabel, I'll make no bargain; I'll do it--for your sake; and--I'll
+trust to you for my reward."
+
+With odd suddenness she turned right round, so that her back was
+towards him, and her face pressed against the panel of the door. Her
+pain seemed to hurt him.
+
+"For God's sake don't--don't do that! I'd rather--do what he's only
+pretended to do than give you pain. Cheer up--just try hard to cheer
+up, if it's only just enough to help you to know what ought to be done
+next."
+
+The suggestion affected her in a fashion which perhaps took him a
+little aback. She turned again as suddenly as she had done before,
+this time towards him. Her eyes blazed; the words came swiftly from
+her lips.
+
+"Do you think that I don't know what I'm going to do next? Do you
+think it hasn't been in my mind all night? Why, I've got it all cut,
+and planned, and dried. Leave that to me; all I want is for you to
+see"--her voice fell--"the tale's not told."
+
+"It sha'n't be if I can help it; and I think I can."
+
+The words still came swiftly from her.
+
+"Say nothing to mother, say nothing to anyone; leave me to do all the
+telling--you know nothing; that's all you've got to know. You
+understand?"
+
+His voice as he replied was grim.
+
+"Oh, yes, I understand."
+
+"Then, for the present, it's good-bye."
+
+She opened the door. He checked her.
+
+"I shall see you to-night when I come in."
+
+"You shall; if--if nothing's been told."
+
+She went from the room to her own on the landing below, put on her
+hat, her coat, and her gloves, and went quickly down the stairs.
+Seldom was a pretty girl ready more quickly for the street. She
+already had the front door open when her mother called to her.
+
+"Mabel, what to goodness is the matter with you? Where are you going?"
+
+The girl seemed for a moment to be in doubt whether or not to let her
+mother's question go unheeded; then decided to vouchsafe her at least
+some scraps of information.
+
+"Mother, I believe Mr. Elmore's gone."
+
+"Gone? Mr. Elmore? What's the girl talking about?"
+
+"His bedroom's empty, and there's ten pounds on the dressing-table,
+and I'm going straight off to the City to see."
+
+"To the City!"
+
+The astonishment of the lady's voice was justified; she came quickly
+along the passage as if to learn what might be the significance of the
+mystery which she felt was in the air. But her daughter did not wait
+for her approach; she was through the door, had shut it with a bang,
+before her mother had realised what it was she meant to do.
+
+Miss Joyce did not go to the City; she went instead to No. 90, Russell
+Square. There she inquired for Miss Patterson. She was told the lady
+was at breakfast.
+
+"Tell her--tell her that I'm Miss Joyce, and that I must see her--at
+once."
+
+She was in the hall, and looked so strange as she leaned against the
+wall, with her white face and frightened eyes, that the maid looked at
+her as if she could not make her out at all.
+
+"Miss Joyce, did you say the name was?"
+
+"Yes--Joyce--Mabel Joyce; tell Miss Patterson that Miss Joyce must see
+her at once."
+
+The maid went into a room upon the right--the dining-room--presently
+reappeared, with Miss Patterson behind her. Gladys came out into the
+hall.
+
+"Miss Joyce! You wish to see me? On what business?"
+
+"Somewhere--somewhere where we'll be private."
+
+Gladys observed her with curious eyes; then she held open the
+dining-room door.
+
+"I'm at breakfast; but, if you don't mind, you'd better come in here."
+
+Mabel went in, Gladys followed. The stranger, now that they were
+alone, presented such a woebegone picture that, in spite of herself,
+Gladys was moved.
+
+"You don't seem well--are you ill? Hadn't you better sit down?--here's
+a chair."
+
+She pushed the chair towards her visitor, but Mabel would none of it.
+
+"No, it doesn't matter, I'd--I'd rather stand. My mother was Mr.
+Elmore's--landlady."
+
+"Joyce? Oh, yes, of course, I thought I knew the name; I remember."
+Perhaps unconsciously to herself, Gladys's tone hardened; she drew
+herself a little straighter, she even moved a little away. In spite of
+her obvious trouble, Mabel noticed.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of me--I shan't bite."
+
+"I was not afraid that you would bite. What is it you wish with me,
+Miss Joyce?"
+
+"That."
+
+She stretched out towards the other a letter. Gladys eyed it askance,
+almost, one might have thought from her demeanour, that she feared
+that it might bite.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"If you take it--you'll see. You're right this time in being afraid;
+you've cause to be more afraid of that than of me. But it's written by
+somebody you know well, and--you'd better read it."
+
+Still doubtfully, as if she really were in awe of what the sheet of
+paper might portend, she took it gingerly from the other's fingers.
+Then she read it. And as she read, a curious change came over, not
+only her countenance, but her whole bearing. When she had reached the
+end her hands dropped to her side, she stared at the girl in front of
+her as she might have done at a visitant from another sphere.
+
+"What--does this letter mean?"
+
+For answer, Mabel took another piece of paper from that woman's
+universal pocket--her blouse. She held it out to Gladys, and, even
+more cautiously than before, Gladys took it with unwilling fingers.
+This time, as she read it, it was with an obvious lack of
+comprehension.
+
+"What on earth is this?"
+
+"Can't you see? Isn't it plain enough? It's a marriage licence--now
+can you see?"
+
+Gladys seemed to make an effort to achieve steadiness, not with entire
+success. As if to hide her partial failure, she went down the room to
+the seat which she had been occupying at the other end of the table.
+Resting her hand on the top of the chair, raising the paper again, she
+re-read it. Her back was towards Mabel, her face could not have been
+more eloquent, one saw a spasm pass right across it. She was still;
+there was a perceptible interval; she turned towards her visitor. Her
+face seemed to have aged; one saw that as she grew older she would not
+grow better-looking.
+
+"I see that this purports to be a licence of marriage--I don't know
+much about these things, but I take it that the marriage was to be
+before a registrar--between Rodney Elmore, who, I presume, is my
+cousin----"
+
+"He's your cousin right enough."
+
+"And--Mabel Joyce. Are you the Mabel Joyce referred to?"
+
+"I am; we were to have been married to-day--at noon sharp; the
+registrar--he'll be waiting for us, but he'll have to wait. Mr. Rodney
+Elmore, that's your cousin and my husband that was to be, he's
+bolted."
+
+"Bolted? I see. Is that what this letter means?"
+
+"That's just exactly what it means."
+
+"It doesn't mean that--he's--he's killed himself?"
+
+"Not much it doesn't; I know the gentleman. It simply means that, for
+reasons of his own--I'm one of them and I daresay you're another--he's
+cut and run."
+
+Gladys's tone could scarcely have been more frigid or her bearing more
+outwardly calm; unfortunately both the frigidity and the calmness were
+a little overdone.
+
+"I see. I'm much obliged to you for bringing me--this very interesting
+piece of news. I believe this is yours. I scarcely think I need detain
+you longer."
+
+She returned to Mabel both the licence and the letter. Enclosing them
+one in the other, the girl passed from the room out of the house.
+Gladys stood staring at the door through which she had left, exactly,
+if she could only have known it, as Rodney had stared when she had
+vanished the afternoon before. Then she clenched her fists and shook
+them in the air.
+
+"To think that I should ever have been such a fool! That I should ever
+have let him--soil me with his touch! Dad was right; what a fool he
+must have thought me! If I'd only listened, what might not--have been
+saved!"
+
+Shortly afterwards she entered the office at St. Paul's Churchyard.
+Andrews advanced to greet her.
+
+"Mr. Elmore has not yet arrived."
+
+"I know he hasn't; I wish to speak to you."
+
+She led the way towards her father's private room; as he followed
+Andrews seemed to recognise something in her carriage which recalled
+his master. There could be no doubt that this was his daughter. When
+they were in the room and the door was closed, Miss Patterson seated
+herself in her father's chair. She looked the managing man in the
+face, with something in her glance which again recalled her sire.
+
+"Andrews, I suppose you can observe a confidence?"
+
+Andrews smiled; he rubbed his hands together; one felt that he could
+not make out the lady's mood, still less achieve a satisfactory guess
+at what was in the air.
+
+"I hope so, Miss Patterson, I'm sure. Your father reposed many and
+many a confidence in me, and I never betrayed one of them--I'm not
+likely now to betray yours."
+
+"Right, Andrews, I believe you. I believe my father knew the kind of
+man who may be trusted; he trusted you, and I will. Shake hands." She
+offered him her hand. As if doubtful whether or not he was taking a
+liberty, he took it in his. They gravely shook hands.
+
+"It's very good of you, Miss Patterson, I'm sure, to say so; but what
+you do say is true--your father trusted me, and so can you."
+
+She eyed him for some seconds as if debating in her mind what to say
+to him and just how to say it. Then it came from her, as it were, all
+of a sudden.
+
+"Andrews, I told you that my cousin, Rodney Elmore, and I were engaged
+to be married. I was mistaken--we are not. Stop! I don't want you to
+ask any questions; that's the confidence I'm reposing in you, I want
+you to ask none, I simply tell you we're not. Another thing. You told
+me when I came in just now that Mr. Elmore had not come yet. Andrews,
+he never will come again--to this office."
+
+"Indeed, miss! Is that so, miss?"
+
+The girl smiled--gravely.
+
+"There, again, Andrews--my confidence! You are to ask no questions.
+Neither you nor I will see Mr. Elmore again--ever. Still one other
+thing. You remember what my father said in his will about leaving the
+conduct of his business in your hands? I echo my father's words; I
+want you to manage it for me on my father's lines."
+
+The old man was evidently confused. He stood staring at the girl and
+rubbing his hands, as if he found himself in a quandary from which he
+sought a way out.
+
+"I'm sure, Miss Patterson, that I'm very gratified by the confidence
+you place in me, and I want to do my best to ask no questions,
+but--but there's one remark I ought to make." He bent over the table
+as if he wished the remark in question to reach her ear alone. "I
+don't know, Miss Patterson, if you are aware that yesterday morning
+Mr. Elmore drew a thousand pounds from the bank."
+
+"Yesterday morning? When did he do that? Not when we were there?"
+
+"It appears that he returned directly after we had left, and cashed a
+cheque for a thousand pounds across the counter, took it in tens and
+fives and gold--rather a funny way of taking a cheque like that."
+
+The girl said nothing; just possible she thought the more--it is still
+more possible that hers was disagreeable thinking. It came back to
+her; she understood; the letter-case which had been left behind; her
+sitting in the cab while he had gone into the bank to fetch it.
+Letter-case? So the letter-case was a cheque for a thousand pounds;
+and while she'd been sitting in the cab he had been putting her money
+into his pocket. What a pretty fellow this cousin was, this lover
+of--how many ages ago? Could she ever have cared, to say nothing of
+loved, a thing like this? This girl had a sense of humour which was
+her own; at the thought of it she smiled--indeed, suddenly she leaned
+back in her chair and laughed outright.
+
+"Cashed a cheque for a thousand pounds, did he? Well, Andrews, dad
+left him nothing in his will--I wonder why. How funny! Then there's
+still another thing to tell you, Andrews. Let them understand at the
+bank, as quickly as you can, that they're not to cash any more of Mr.
+Elmore's cheques which are drawn on my account. Now, Andrews, will you
+be so very good as to send someone to Mr. Wilkes, and give him my most
+respectful compliments, and say, if he can possibly spare a moment, I
+should like very much indeed to see him here at once."
+
+When Miss Joyce got home she found, waiting in the sitting-room which
+had so recently been Rodney's, Mr. Austin. The gentleman regarded her
+as she came in with an air of grave disapprobation.
+
+"You are, I believe, the landlady's daughter."
+
+Mabel nodded.
+
+"I have just had a few words with your mother, who appears to be an
+extraordinary woman, and who has told me an extraordinary tale."
+
+"My mother's not in the habit of telling extraordinary tales to
+anyone."
+
+"Then, what does she mean by--by talking stuff and nonsense about Mr.
+Elmore's having gone, and--and I don't know what besides?"
+
+Miss Joyce drew a long breath, and seemed to nerve herself for an
+effort. She had had a good deal to bear that morning, and to retain
+even a vestige of self-command needed all her efforts.
+
+"Mr. Austin, Mr. Elmore has gone, and he's left a letter behind him in
+which he pretends that he has committed suicide; but he hasn't, I know
+better. But here's the letter; you might like to look at it."
+
+He read the letter with which we are already familiar; and it had a
+very similar effect on him to that which it had had on others, only in
+his case he read it over and over again, as if to make sure that its
+meaning had not escaped him, yet that its meaning had escaped him his
+words made plain.
+
+"You--you may understand this letter, young woman, but I certainly do
+not. What--what does this most extraordinary, and, as it seems to me,
+inconsequent, letter mean?"
+
+"I'll tell you just as shortly as I can exactly what it means. And,
+perhaps, when I have told you you won't ask any more questions than
+you can conveniently help, because--I've had just about as much to
+bear as I can manage. Rodney Elmore--I'm not going to call him Mr.
+Elmore, I've as much right to call him Rodney as anybody in this
+world; he's got himself into a mess, and I'm one of them. Why, he
+promised to marry me to-day at twelve o'clock."
+
+"He--promised! Young woman!"
+
+"Here's the licence to prove it; but--I suppose he daren't face it; so
+he's gone, and he's done me, and I'm not the only one he's done. Has
+he done your daughter?"
+
+"Your question, put in such a form, I entirely decline to answer."
+
+"You needn't; I know. And, mind you, I don't believe he's gone alone
+either, wherever it is he has gone to. What's the name of that girl
+down at Brighton that he was so thick with, and your son's
+sweetheart?"
+
+Mr. Austin started as if something had stung him. He stared at the
+girl with growing apprehension.
+
+"You can't mean----?"
+
+"Yes, I can. Wasn't her first name Mary? I have heard the other--it's
+a queer one--and I forget it. But you ask your son, if he cares for
+the girl, to make inquiries, and if she's missing, and he wants her
+new address, to find out Rodney Elmore's, and--he'll find hers."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+                       A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
+
+
+There are few worse half-hours in life than that in which a man finds
+that the one person whom he has liked, and respected, and trusted, and
+believed in before all others, is a scamp, a liar, and a cur. As Mr.
+Austin sat cowering in the corner of his cab it was to him almost as
+if he had been these things, instead of Rodney Elmore. He ascended the
+steps of the Kensington house a little stiffly, a little bowed, a
+little shorn of his full height; he bore himself, indeed, as if he
+were ashamed; it was with a sense of shame that he spoke to his son,
+who was apparently just about to go out as he went in.
+
+"Tom, I want to speak to you."
+
+The lad looked at his father with a look of surprise.
+
+"Why, pater; what's wrong?"
+
+The father closed the door of the room into which he had preceded his
+son. There was something shifty in his bearing; he seemed unwilling to
+meet the youngster's glances.
+
+"Tom, what was that you were saying about--about Mary Carmichael?"
+
+The lad smiled, ruefully enough; there was an awkwardness about his
+manner. He turned away, as if on his side he had no wish to meet his
+father's eyes.
+
+"All I can make out is that she has gone. It seems that while that old
+aunt of hers was out yesterday afternoon--she vanished. She just left
+a note behind her to say that she was going, and that they weren't to
+bother, because she wasn't coming back; but they'd hear from her some
+day--she couldn't say just when."
+
+"Tom, she's gone with Rodney Elmore."
+
+The lad swung round as on a pivot.
+
+"Pater! What do you mean?"
+
+The father told the story as he knew it, the lad listening--first as
+one in a dream, and then as one in a rage. Then, with a gasp as of
+astonishment, he blurted out:
+
+"But what about Stella?"
+
+"Yes; what about Stella? Stella's here, and--why, where's Rodney? I
+thought, father, he'd come with you."
+
+Miss Austin had come running into the room eagerly, happily,
+laughingly, taking it for granted that her lover was within. As she
+looked from her father to her brother, and noted the oddity of their
+manner, her eyes grew wider open.
+
+"Father, where--where is Rodney?"
+
+Then the father told the tale to her; it was the hardest task he had
+ever had to perform. The girl first scorned him, then laughed, then
+doubted, and then, in a fit of what was very like fury, announced her
+intention of going in search of Rodney, whom she declared she believed
+to be cruelly aspersed, and learning the truth from his own lips. It
+was with difficulty she was stayed. When she, at last, was brought to
+understand, she was already another Stella to the one her father had
+known. She was not to be comforted. And when her mother came, and
+heard the story, too, she put her arm about her daughter's waist and
+led her to her room, and there remained alone with her an hour or
+more. When she came out she also was another woman; and her daughter
+was in her room, alone.
+
+And that, to all intents and purposes, so far as it is known, is the
+end of the story, though the real end is not yet. Such stories take a
+long time ending. Sometimes they are continued in the generation which
+comes after, and never end. Mr. Philip Walter Augustus Parker was
+tried for the murder of Graham Patterson, and, apparently to his
+complete satisfaction, was found guilty. The law plays such pranks
+oftener than is commonly supposed. The story he told was so well put
+together, all the joints fitted so well. As the judge instructed the
+jury they really had no option; on the evidence there was only one
+possible verdict; and that was returned. Mr. Parker earned his
+credentials; he was sent, as he desired, on a lengthy visit to
+Broadmoor. The whole story might have fallen to pieces and his visit
+to Broadmoor indefinitely postponed had the platform inspector at
+Brighton station--Edward Giles--given his evidence in another way. A
+few questions would have changed the whole face of affairs, but they
+were not asked. He told that it was he who had helped Graham Patterson
+into the carriage, and also that there already was someone in it when
+the dead man entered. At that point the questions which were put to
+him went awry. He was asked if the prisoner was that other person; he
+replied that he did not recognise him, but as, when the witness had
+entered the box, Mr. Parker had greeted him with that unpleasant
+little chuckle of his, and had proclaimed that he recognised him, even
+before he opened his mouth, as the porter, as he put it, who had been
+of assistance to Mr. Patterson, for the judge, as for the jury, that
+was sufficient. Giles himself was evidently taken aback, and while he
+declared that he did not recognise the prisoner, he admitted that if
+Parker had not been the man in the carriage, he could not understand
+how he recognised him. So Mr. Parker had his wish.
+
+Mr. Andrews is still the managing man, as well as a partner, of the
+firm of Graham Patterson, which continues to thrive on the same sound
+old lines. And Gladys Patterson is the wife of Stephen Wilkes--that
+strikes even her, when she thinks of it, as queer. How it came about,
+she has told her husband more than once, she does not understand; she
+wonders sometimes, so she tells him, if her father could ever have had
+it in his mind that that was the match he would have chosen. She is
+thinking of Rodney's words. Her husband laughs, and assures her that
+to the best of his knowledge and belief her father never dreamt of
+anything of the kind. Whereat she thinks all the more of Rodney's
+words, having a dim suspicion hidden in her somewhere that it was
+because of what he said that this strange thing had happened, and, in
+what she feels is in quite an uncanny way, that it was he who brought
+it all about.
+
+Mabel Joyce is Mrs. George Dale, fairly happy, as the average wife's
+standard of happiness goes, and Dale is happy too; but there is about
+him a suggestion of solicitous anxiety, as if he would be glad to be
+as certain of her satisfaction with the way that things have turned
+out, as of his own.
+
+Stella is still unmarried, and likely to remain so. She is not quite
+the ordinary type of girl. When she gave her heart to Rodney Elmore,
+it was given for ever; although she would probably be the last person
+in the world to admit it, he has it still. As, she declares, she will
+never marry save where her heart is, her prospects of remaining Stella
+Austin are stronger than either her father or her mother care to own.
+Tom is married; was married within six months of his heart being
+finally broken--to the girl with the mischievous eyes. And he is happy
+as a man may be; and he is a man, even up to his father's standard of
+manhood. He is practically the head of his father's firm, and a
+sufficiently effective and energetic head he makes. He declares that
+it is his wife who has done it, and that she has been and still is and
+ever will be the only woman in the world to him. He forgets; men--and
+women--sometimes do.
+
+Nothing definite has ever been heard of Rodney Elmore; but among those
+who knew him in his youth there is a profound conviction that he still
+lives. One day, a month or so after his marriage, there came a
+postcard to Tom Austin from one of the northern States of America,
+with just these words on the back:
+
+
+"Congratulations--good wishes--am delighted!
+
+                                              "M."
+
+
+He was the only person who ever saw the card. He tore it up and burnt
+it. About him for nearly a week afterwards there was, at odd moments,
+an unusually reflective air. His wife asked him what he was thinking
+about.
+
+"Why," he told her, "what should I think about but you."
+
+He was thinking, wondering, how close to "M." was Rodney Elmore--his
+boyhood's friend!--as one result of what was very like a conspiracy of
+silence.
+
+
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+Printed By Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Master of Deception, by Richard Marsh
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MASTER OF DECEPTION ***
+
+***** This file should be named 38161-8.txt or 38161-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/6/38161/
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.