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diff --git a/41552-8.txt b/41552-0.txt index 094888d..67f97b3 100644 --- a/41552-8.txt +++ b/41552-0.txt @@ -1,39 +1,4 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3), by Richard Dowling - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41552] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41552 *** THE WEIRD SISTERS. @@ -1147,7 +1112,7 @@ glittering rows on a table beside the cask, and painted on the butt-end of the cask the words, "Help yourself." When he lived in town his establishment had consisted of three servants. -For the fête a dozen additional servants were engaged and a French cook. +For the fête a dozen additional servants were engaged and a French cook. There were a lodge and gate to the Manor Park, but there was no lodge-man or woman; and during the festivities the gate always stood open until midnight, and all passersby were free to come in and join the @@ -4178,361 +4143,4 @@ CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41552] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41552 ***</div> <div class="figcenter"> <img src="images/tp1.jpg" alt=""/> @@ -1321,7 +1282,7 @@ glittering rows on a table beside the cask, and painted on the butt-end of the cask the words, "Help yourself."</p> <p>When he lived in town his establishment had consisted of three servants. -For the fête a dozen additional servants were engaged and a French cook. +For the fête a dozen additional servants were engaged and a French cook. There were a lodge and gate to the Manor Park, but there was no lodge-man or woman; and during the festivities the gate always stood open until midnight, and all passersby were free to come in and join the @@ -4345,383 +4306,6 @@ against the wall, and struck his forehead against the wall.</p> <p class="center">CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C.</p> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3), by -Richard Dowling - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - -***** This file should be named 41552-h.htm or 41552-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/5/41552/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -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. 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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: - - 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. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41552 ***</div> </body> </html> diff --git a/41552.txt b/41552.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f300535..0000000 --- a/41552.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4538 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3), by Richard Dowling - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3) - A Romance - -Author: Richard Dowling - -Release Date: December 4, 2012 [EBook #41552] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - THE WEIRD SISTERS. - - A Romance. - - BY RICHARD DOWLING, - - AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD." - - - In Three Volumes. - VOL. I. - - - LONDON: - TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. - 1880. - - [_All rights reserved._] - - CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, - GREAT NEW STREET, LONDON. - - - - - TO - EDMOND POWER, ESQ., - OF SPRINGFIELD, - Whose kindness to Mine and to Me - I SHALL NEVER FORGET - WHILE I AM. - - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - Part I.--A Plain Gold Guard. - - - I.--A CONSCIENTIOUS BURGLAR 1 - - II.--A GENEROUS BANKER 24 - - III.--THE MANOR HOUSE 47 - - IV.--AN UNSELFISH MOTHER 69 - - V.--AN UNSELFISH FATHER 99 - - VI.--"TO THE ISLAND OR TO ----" 123 - - VII.--TRUSTEE TO CANCELLED PAGES 148 - - VIII.--WAT GREY'S ROMANCE DIES OUT 174 - - IX.--A FLASK OF COGNAC 194 - - X.--ON THE THRESHOLD OF DEATH 216 - - XI.--BY THE STATE BED 235 - - - - -THE WEIRD SISTERS. - -PART I. A PLAIN GOLD GUARD. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -A CONSCIENTIOUS BURGLAR. - - -Mr. Henry Walter Grey sat in his dining-room sipping claret on the -evening of Monday, the 27th August, 1866. His house was in the suburbs -of the city of Daneford. - -Mr. Grey was a man of about forty-five years of age, looking no more -than thirty-eight. He was tall, broad, without the least tendency to -corpulency, and yet pleasantly rounded and full. There was no -angularity or harshness in his face or figure. The figure was active -looking and powerful, the face open, joyous, and benignant. The hair had -begun to thin at his forehead; this gave his face a soothing expression -of contented calm. - -His forehead was broad and white; his eyes were constant, candid, and -kindly; his nose was large, with quickly-mobile sensitive nostrils; and -his mouth well formed and full, having a sly uptwist at one corner, -indicating strong sympathy with humour. He wore neither beard nor -moustache. - -His complexion was bright without being florid, fair without being -white. His skin was smooth as a young girl's cheek. He stood six feet -without his boots. He was this evening in the deepest mourning for his -wife, whom he had lost on Friday, the 17th of that month, August. - -Although he occupied one of the most important positions in Daneford, no -person who knew him, or had heard of him from a Danefordian, ever -called him either Henry or Walter. He was universally known as Wat Grey. -Daneford believed him to be enormously rich. He was the owner of the -Daneford Bank, an institution which did a large business and held its -head high. - -Indeed, in Daneford it was almost unnecessary to add the banker's -surname to his Christian name; and if anyone said, "Wat did so-and-so," -and you asked, "Wat who?" the purveyor of the news would know you for an -alien or a nobody in the city. - -The young men worshipped him as one of themselves, who, despite his -gaiety and lightheartedness, had prospered in the world, and kept his -youth and made his money, and was one of themselves still, and would -continue to be one of them as long as he lived. - -Elder men liked him for the solid prudence which guided all his -business transactions, and which, while it enabled him to be with the -young, allowed him to exercise over his juniors in years the influence -of an equal combined with the authority of experience. Lads of twenty -never thought of him as a fogey, and men of thirty looked upon him as a -younger man, who had learned the folly of vicious vanities very much -sooner than others; and consequently they confided in him, and submitted -themselves to him with docility. Young men assembled at his house, but -there were no orgies; elder men came, and went away cheered and -diverted, and no whit the less rich or wise because discussions of -important matters had been enlivened with interludes of gayer discourse. - -Wat Grey was one of the most active men in Daneford. He was Chairman of -the Chamber of Commerce, of the Commercial Club, and of the Harbour -Board. - -He was Vice-chairman of the Daneford Boat Club, and Treasurer of the -Poor's Christmas Coal Fund. - -If he was rich, he was liberal. He subscribed splendidly to all the -local charities, but never as a public man or as owner of the Daneford -Bank. What he thought it wise to give he always sent from "Wat," as -though he prized more highly the distinction of familiarity his town had -conferred upon him than any conventional array of Christian and -surnames, or any title of cold courtesy or routine right. It was not -often he dropped from his cheerful level of high-spirited and rich -animal enjoyment into sentimentalism, but on one occasion he said to -young Feltoe: "I'd rather be 'Wat' to my friends than Sir Thingumbob -Giggamarigs to all the rest of the world." - -There was nothing Daneford could have refused him. He had been mayor, -and could be Liberal member of Parliament for the ancient and small -constituency any time he chose when the Liberal seat was vacant. -Daneford was one of those constituencies which give one hand to one side -and the other hand to the other, and have no hand free for action. -Walter Grey had always declined the seat; he would say: - -"I'm too young yet, far too young. As I grow older, I shall grow wiser -and more corrupt. Then you can put me in, and I shall have great -pleasure in ratting for a baronetcy. Ha, ha, ha!" - -Of late, however, it had been rumoured the chance of getting the rich -banker to consent to take the seat (this was the way everyone put it) -had increased, and that he might be induced to stand at the next -vacancy. Then all who knew of his personal qualities, his immense -knowledge of finance, and his large fortune, said that if he chose he -might be Chancellor of the Exchequer in time; and after his retirement -from business, and purchase of an estate, the refusal of a peerage was -certain to come his way. - -As he sat sipping his claret that Monday evening of the 27th of August, -1866, his face was as placid as a secret well. Whether he was thinking -of his dead wife and sorrowing for her, or revolving the ordinary -matters of his banking business, or devising some scheme for the -reduction of taxation in the city, or dallying mentally with the sirens -who sought to ensnare him in parliamentary honours, could no more be -gathered from his face than from the dull heavy clouds that hung low -over the sultry land abroad. - -It was not often he had to smoke his after-dinner cigar and sip his -after-dinner claret alone; men were always glad to dine with him, and -he was always glad to have them; but the newness of his black clothes -and of the bands on his hats in the hall accounted for the absence of -guests. He was not dressed for dinner. One of the things which had made -his table so free and jovial was that a man might sit down to it in a -coat of any cut or colour, and in top-boots and breeches if he liked. -Before his bereavement he would say: - -"Mrs. Grey--although she may not sit with us--has an antiquated -objection to a man dining in his shirt-sleeves. I have often -expostulated with her unreasonable prejudice, but I can't get her to -concede no coat at all. You may wear your hat and your gloves if you -like, but for Heaven's sake come in a coat of some kind. If you can't -manage a coat, a jacket will do splendidly." - -Mrs. Grey never dined out. In fact, she saw little company; tea was -always sent into the dining-room. - -Mr. Grey had not got more than half-way through his cigar on that -evening of the 27th of August when a servant knocked and entered. - -The master, whose face was towards the window, turned round his head -slowly, and said in a kindly voice: - -"Well, James, what is it?" - -"A man, sir, wants to see you." - -James was thick-set, low-sized, near-sighted, and dull. He had been a -private soldier in a foot regiment, and had been obliged to leave -because of his increasing near-sightedness. But he had been long enough -in uniform to acquire the accomplishment of strict and literal attention -to orders, and the complete suspension of his own faculties of judgment -and discretion. Although his master was several inches taller than -James, the latter looked in the presence of the banker like a clumsy -elephant beside an elegant panther. - -"A man wants to see me!" cried Mr. Grey, in astonishment, not unmixed -with a sense of the ridiculous. "What kind of a man? and what is his -business." - -He glanced good-humouredly at James, but owing to the shortness of the -servant's sight the expression of the master's face was wasted in air. - -James, who had but a small stock of observation and no fancy, replied -respectfully: - -"He seems a common man, sir; like a man you'd see in the street." - -"Ah," said Mr. Grey, with a smile; "that sort of man, is it? Ah! Which, -James, do you mean: the sort of man you'd see walking in the streets, or -standing at a public-house corner?" - -Again Mr. Grey smiled at the droll dulness and droller simplicity of -his servant. - -A gleam of light came into James's dim eyes upon finding the description -narrowed down to the selection of one of two characteristics, and he -said, in a voice of solemn sagacity: - -"The back of his coat is dirty, sir, as if he'd been leaning against a -public-house wall." - -"Or as if he had been carrying a sack of corn on his back?" demanded the -master, laughing softly, and brushing imaginary cigar-ashes off the -polished oak-table with his white curved little finger. - -For a moment James stood on his heels in stupefied doubt and dismay at -this close questioning. He was a man of action, not of thought. Had his -master shouted, "Right wheel--quick march!" he would have gone out of -the window, through the glass, without a murmur and without a thought -of reproach; but to be thus interrogated on subtleties of appearance -made him feel like a blindfold man, who is certain he is about to be -attacked, but does not know where, by whom, or with what weapon. He -resolved to risk all and escape. - -"I think, sir, it was a public-house, for I smelt liquor." - -"That is conclusive," said the master, laughing out at last. "That is -all right, James. I am too lazy to go down to see him. Show him up here. -Stop a moment, James. Let him come up in five minutes." - -The servant left the room, and as he did so the master laughed still -more loudly, and then chuckled softly to himself, muttering: - -"He thought the man had been leaning against a public-house because he -smelt of liquor! Ha, ha, ha! My quaint James, you will be the death of -your master. You will, indeed." - -When he had finished his laugh he dismissed the idea of James finally -with a roguish shrug of his shoulders and wag of his head. - -Then he drew down the gasalier, pushed an enormous easy-chair in front -of the empty fire-place, pulled a small table between the dining-table -and the easy-chair, and placed an ordinary oak and green dining-room -chair at the corner of the dining-table near the window; then he sat -down on the ordinary chair. - -When this was done he ascertained that the drawer of the small table -opened easily, closed in the drawer softly, threw himself back in his -own chair and began smoking slowly, blowing the smoke towards the -ceiling without taking the cigar from his lips, and keeping his legs -thrust out before him, and his hands deep in his trousers-pockets. - -Presently the door opened; James said, "The man, sir!" the door closed -again, and all was still. - -"Come over and sit down, my man," said the banker, in a good-natured -tone of voice, without, however, removing his eyes from the ceiling. - -To this there was no reply by either sound or gesture. - -Mr. Grey must have been pursuing some humorous thought over the ceiling; -for when he at last dropped his eyes and looked towards the door, he -said, with a quiet sigh, as though the ridiculous in the world was -killing him slowly: "It's too droll, too droll." Then to the man, who -still stood just inside the door: "Come over here and sit down, my man. -I have been expecting a call from you. Come over and sit down. Or would -you prefer I should send the brougham for you?" - -As he turned his eyes round, they fell on the figure of a man of forty, -who, with head depressed and shoulders thrust up high, and a battered, -worn sealskin-cap held in both hands close together, thumbs uppermost, -was standing on one leg, a model of abject, obsequious servility. - -The man made no reply; but as Mr. Grey's eyes fell upon him he -substituted the leg drawn up for the one on which he had been standing, -thrust up his shoulders, and pressed down his head in token of -unspeakable humility under the honour of Mr. Grey's glance, and of -profound gratitude for the honour of Mr. Grey's speech. - -"Come, my man; do come over and sit down. The conversation is becoming -monotonous already. Do come over, and sit down here. I can't keep on -saying 'come' all the evening. I assure you I have expected this call -from you. Do come and sit down." - -Mr. Grey motioned the man to the large easy-chair in front of him. - -At last the man moved, stealthily, furtively, across the carpet, -skirting the furniture cautiously, as though it consisted of -infernal-machines which might go off at any moment. His dress was ragged -and torn; his face, a long narrow one, of mahogany colour; his eyes were -bright full blue, the one good feature in his shy unhandsome -countenance. - -"Sit in that chair," said Mr. Grey blandly, at the same time waving his -hand towards the capacious and luxurious easy-chair. - -"Please, sir, I'd rather stand," said the man, in a low sneaking tone. - -The contrast between the two was remarkably striking: the one, large -and liberal of aspect, gracious and humorous of manner, broad-faced, -generous-looking, perfectly dressed, scrupulously neat; the other, drawn -together, mean in form, narrow of features, with avaricious mouth and -unsteady eye, with ragged and soiled clothes. - -"Sit down, my good man; sit down. I assure you the conversation will -continue to be very monotonous until you take my advice, and sit down in -that chair. You need not be afraid of spoiling it. Sit down, and then -you may at your leisure tell me what I can do for you." - -Mr. Grey may have smiled at the whim of Nature in forging such a -counterfeit of human nature as the man before him, or he may have smiled -at the obvious dislike with which his visitor surveyed the chair. The -smile, however, was a pleasant, cordial, happy one. He drew in his legs, -sat upright, and, leaning his left elbow on the small table before him, -pointed to the chair with his right hand, and kept his right hand fixed -in the attitude of pointing until the man, with a scowl at the chair and -a violent upheaval of his shoulders and depression of his head, sank -among the soft cushions. - -"Now we shall get on much more comfortably," said Mr. Grey, placing what -remained unsmoked of his cigar on the ash-tray beside him, clasping his -hands over his waistcoat, and bending slightly forward to indicate that -his best attention was at the disposal of his visitor. "What is your -name?" - -"Joe Farleg." - -"Joe Farleg, Joe Farleg," mused, half aloud, Mr. Grey. "An odd name. Why -am I fated always to meet people with odd ways or odd names? Well, never -mind answering that question, Joe," he said, more loudly, in an -indulgent tone, as though he felt he would be violating kindliness by -insisting on a reply which had little or nothing to do with Farleg. He -continued, "I don't think I have ever seen you or heard your name -before; and although I did not think it improbable you, or someone like -you, would call, I could not know exactly whom I was to see. Before we -go any farther, I ask you: Haven't I been good to you without even -knowing who you were?" - -"Good to me, sir!" cried the man, in surprise. - -"Yes; I have been very good to you in not setting the police after you." - -The man tried to struggle up out of the chair, but, unused to a seat of -the kind, struggled for a moment in vain. At last he gained his feet, -and with an oath demanded: "How did you know I did it? Are you going to -set them after me now?" His blue eyes swiftly explored the room to find -if the officers had sprung out of concealment, and to ascertain the -chances of his escape. - -With a kindly wave of his hand, Mr. Grey indicated the chair. "I have -not even spoken to the police about the matter, and I do not intend -speaking to them. Sit down in your chair, Joe, and let us talk the -matter over quietly." - -"I'm d----d if I sit in that chair again. It smothers me." - -He regarded the banker with uneasiness and the chair with terror. - -Mr. Grey laughed outright. The laughter seemed to soothe Farleg a -little. He cast his large blue eyes once more hastily round the room, -then regarded the banker for an instant, and dropped his glance upon the -chair. - -Nothing could have been more reassuring than the brilliantly-lighted -dining-room, the good-natured, good-humoured face of its master, and -the harmlessly seductive appearance of the chair. Farleg was ashamed of -his fears; upon another invitation, and an assurance that nothing -farther would be said by his host until he had returned to his former -position, he threw himself once more into the comfortable seat. - -"And now, Joe, that we are in a position to go on smoothly, what can I -do for you?" - -"You remember, sir, the night of the robbery, sir?" - -"Yes; you broke into my house, into one of the tower-rooms, on the -evening of the 17th of this month, and you carried off a few things of -no great value." - -"And you're not going to send the police after me?" - -"No." - -Farleg leaned forward in his chair until his elbows rested on his -knees. - -"You missed the things. You said a while ago you expected me, or whoever -did the robbery; was that a true word? Did you expect whoever did the -robbery to come and see you?" - -"I did. I could not be sure you would come, but when I missed the things -I thought you might call. There was, of course, the chance you might -not." - -"That's it. Well, I have come, you see. I found some rings, and I kept -three; but I thought you might like to have this one, and I brought it -to you, as I am about to leave the country. Look at it. It's a plain -gold guard." - -As Farleg said these words his eyes, no longer wandering, fixed -themselves on the face of Mr. Grey. - -For an instant the face of the banker puckered and wrinkled up like a -blighted leaf. Almost instantly it smoothed out again; and, with a bland -smile, he said: - -"Thank you very much. It was my poor wife's guard ring. You were very -kind to think of bringing it back to me." - -As he spoke he began softly opening the drawer of the little table that -stood between him and the burglar. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -A GENEROUS BANKER. - - -The ring lay on the little table. Mr. Grey did not take it up, but left -it where Farleg had placed it. - -When the banker had pulled out the drawer half-a-dozen inches, he looked -up from the ring, and, with a glance of kindly interest, said: - -"So you intend leaving the country. Why? And where do you purpose -going?" - -Farleg looked down at his boots, and thrust up his shoulders as he -answered: - -"Well, sir, things are getting hot, and the place is getting hot. It -isn't every one has so much consideration as you for a man who has to -live as best he can----" - -"Poor fellow!" - -"And if I and the old woman don't clear out of this soon, why, they'll -be sending me away, 'Carriage paid: with care.'" - -He paused, raised his head, and turned those prominent blue eyes on the -face of the banker. The latter was drawing small circles on the table in -front of him with the white forefinger of his left hand, his eyes -intently followed his finger, his white right hand rested on the edge of -the partly open drawer. - -Mr. Grey said, softly and emphatically: "I understand, I understand. Go -on, and don't be afraid to speak plainly, Joe. May I ask you what you -were before you devoted yourself to your present--profession? Your -conversation and way of putting things are far above the average of men -of your calling;" with a smile of sly interest. - -"I was a clerk, sir," answered the man meekly. - -"In a bank?" demanded the banker, looking up brightly. - -"No, sir; in a corn-store." - -"Ah, I thought it couldn't have been in a bank. We are not so fortunate -as to have men of your talents and enterprise in banks. But I -interrupted you. Pray, proceed. You were about to say----" The -invitation was accompanied by a gracious and encouraging wave of the -left hand. - -"I was thinking, sir, that it would be best if I went away of my own -accord; and I thought I'd just mention this matter to you when I called -with the guard ring of your good lady that's dead and gone." - -"Quite right, quite right. And naturally you thought that I might be -willing to lend you a hand on your way, partly out of feeling for you -in your difficult position, and partly out of gratitude to you for your -kind thoughtfulness in bringing me back the guard ring of poor Mrs. -Grey." - -The white forefinger of the white left hand went on quietly describing -the circles, but the circles were one after the other increasing in -circumference. The white right hand still rested on the edge of the -partly-open drawer. - -"That's it," said Farleg, with a sigh of relief. It was such a comfort -to deal with a sensible man, a man who did most of the talking and -thinking for you. "You know, sir, I found the rings----" - -"Quite so, quite so." - -Mr. Grey gave up describing circles, and for a while devoted himself to -parallelograms. When he had finished each figure he regarded the -invisible design for a while as though comparing the result of his -labour with an ideal parallelogram. Then, becoming dissatisfied with -his work, he began afresh. - -"Quite so," he repeated, after a silence of a few moments. "You need not -trouble yourself to go into detail. In fact, I prefer you should not, as -my feelings are still much occupied with my great loss. Will you answer -a few questions that may help to allay and soothe my feelings?" - -He ceased drawing the parallelograms, and looked up at the other with a -glance of friendly enquiry. - -Farleg threw himself back in his chair, and replied gravely: "I'll -answer you, sir, any question it may please you to put." - -"At what hour on the evening of the 17th did you break into this house?" - -"Eight o'clock." - -"By Jove, Joe, you were an adventurous fellow to break into a house in -daylight! I do think, in the face of such an enterprising spirit, you -ought to seek a new country, where you would be properly appreciated. -You have no chance here. Go to some place where the telegraph has not -yet struck root. And yet for a man of your peculiar calling a dense -population and civilisation are requisite. Your case, Joe, interests me -a good deal, and, rely upon it, I shall always be glad to hear of your -welfare and prosperity. I feel for you in your little difficulty, and I -applaud your boldness. Fancy, breaking into a man's house at eight -o'clock of an August evening! And how did you get in, Joe? I suppose by -a ladder the workman had left against the wall?" - -"Yes, sir. It was seeing a ladder against the wall that put the idea -into my head." - -The banker looked at Farleg with an expression of unlimited admiration. - -"What a general you would make, Joe!" cried Mr. Grey, in pleasant -enthusiasm. "You would use every bulrush as cover for your men! And so, -when you saw the ladder against the wall, you thought to yourself you -might as well slip up that ladder and have a look round? What a pushing -man of business too! And you were alone?" - -"Yes." - -"You entered the tower first-floor, and gathered up a few things, this -ring of my poor wife among the rest. But I don't think you went into any -other room?" - -"No, sir." - -"And I don't think you could have been very long in the room; now, about -how long?" - -"Short of an hour. I heard you coming back, and I cleared out then." - -"Ah! You heard me coming back, and you cleared out then. Quite so. No -doubt it was inconsiderate of me to come back and disturb you. But, you -know, I was in a great state of anxiety and alarm--anxiety and alarm -which were unfortunately only too well founded, as you, no doubt, have -heard; we need not dwell on that painful event now. May I ask you if you -have spoken of this affair to anyone?" - -"No." - -"Not to a soul?" - -"Not to a soul." - -"What a discreet general you would make! Upon my word I think you ought -to go to California. San Francisco is the place for one so daring and so -cautious. What a dashing cavalry leader you would make! And yet it would -be a pity to throw you away on cavalry. Your natural place would be in -the engineers." - -Mr. Grey half closed his eyes, and gazed dreamily for a few seconds at -the reclining figure of the man before him. Then hitching his chair a -few inches nearer to the small table standing between him and Farleg, he -said, in a drawling tone, as he softly slipped his hand into the drawer: - -"I admire you for your ingenuity in availing yourself of that ladder, -and for your boldness in entering the house in daylight. But I am -completely carried away with enthusiasm when I think of your coming here -to me, telling me this tale, and preserving the admirable calmness which -you display. Indeed, Joe, I am amazed." - -"Thank you, sir." - -"Now, how much money did you think I'd be likely to give to help you out -of this scrape, and out of this country?" - -"Mr. Grey, you're a rich man." - -The banker bowed and smiled. - -"And that ring ought to be worth a heap of money to you." - -"A guinea, or perhaps thirty shillings. At the very most I should say -two pounds." - -"But, sir, considering that it was your wife's, and that she wore it on -the very day----" - -"Quite so. On the very day of her wedding----" - -"That is not what I meant----" - -"But that is the aspect of the affair which endears the ring to me. Pray -let us keep to the business in hand. You bring me a ring which I own I -should not like you to have kept from me. You make me a present of this -ring, and you ask me to help you out of the country. Now, how much would -be sufficient to help you out of the country, and settle you and your -wife comfortably in a new home?" - -"A thousand pounds." - -"A thousand pounds! My dear Joe, if you were about to represent the -majesty of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland at a foreign court, -you could ask little more for travelling-expenses and commencing -existence. A thousand pounds! What a lucrative business yours must have -been to make you hope you could get a thousand pounds for the goodwill -of it!" - -"But it is not every day a thing like this turns up. You have a lot of -waiting before you get your chance. In fact, my chance did not belong to -the ordinary business at all." - -"Quite so. It was a kind of perquisite. Well, now, Joe, don't you think -if I gave you twenty-five pounds as a present it would fully provide for -your outward voyage?" Mr. Grey made the proposal with a winning and an -enticing gesture of his left hand. - -Farleg looked down at his boots again, and said very slowly, and with an -accent that left no doubt of his earnestness and determination: - -"It isn't often a chance of this kind turns up, and I can't afford to -let it pass; no honest man could afford to let it pass, and I have a -wife looking to me. You have no one looking to you, not even a wife--not -even a wife." - -"Quite so." - -"Well, I want the money. I want to try and get an honest start in life, -and I think I shall buy land----" - -"Out of the thousand pounds?" queried Mr. Grey, with a look of amused -enjoyment. - -"Out of the thousand pounds you are going to give me. Can't you see," -added Farleg, sitting up in his chair, leaning both his elbows on the -small table between them, "can't you see it's to your advantage as well -as mine to give me a large sum?" - -"Candidly I cannot," answered Mr. Grey, tapping Farleg encouragingly on -the shoulder with his white left hand. "Tell me how it is. I am quite -willing to be convinced." - -"Well, if I take your five-and-twenty, I spend it here, or I spend it -getting there, and then I'm stranded, don't you see, sir?" - -"Go on." With two soft appreciative pats from the left white hand. - -"Of course, as soon as I find myself hard up I come to you, or I write -to you for more, and that would only be wasting your time." - -"But," said Mr. Grey, with a sly look and a sly wag of his head, "if you -got the thousand you might spend it here or there, and then you might -again be applying to me. Ah, no! Joe, I don't think it would do to give -you that thousand. You can have the twenty-five now, if you like." - -"Well, sir, I've looked into the matter deeper than that. When you give -me the thousand, I and my wife will leave this country, go to America, -out West, and buy land. There we shall settle down as respectable -people, and it would be no advantage to me to rake up the past, once I -was settled down and prosperous. So, sir, if you please, I'll have the -thousand." - -There was respectful resolution in Farleg's voice as he spoke. The faces -of the two men were not more than a foot apart now. They were looking as -straight into one another's eyes as two experienced fencers when the -play begins. Mr. Grey's face ceased to move, and took a settled -expression of gracious badinage. - -"I think, Joe," said he, "that I can manage the matter more economically -than your way." - -"What is that way, sir?" - -"As I told you before, I look on you as a very enterprising man. First, -you break into a man's house in daylight, and then you come and beard -the lion in his den. You come to the man whose house you honoured by a -visit through a window, and you say to him--I admit that nothing could -have been in better taste than your manner of saying it----" - -"Thank you, sir, but you took me so kindly and so gentleman-like." - -"Thank _you_, Joe; but I mustn't compliment you again, or we shall get -no farther than compliments to-night. As I was saying, you ask him for -no less than a thousand pounds to help you out of the country and into -a respectable line of life. Indeed, all my sympathy is with you in your -good intention, but then I have to think of myself----" - -"But you're a rich man, sir, and to you a thousand pounds isn't much, -and it's everything to me. It will make me safe, and help me out of a -way of life I never took to until driven to it," pleaded Farleg. - -"Well put, very well put. Now, this is my position. This is my plan; let -me hear what you think of it: On the night or evening of the 17th you -break into my house; on the night or evening of the 27th you visit me -for some purpose or other----" - -"To give you back your dead wife's ring." - -"Quite so. You may be sure I am overlooking no point in the case. Let me -proceed with my view. You and I don't get on well together, and you -attack me. You are clearly the burglar, and I am attacked by you, and I -defend myself with force. You kill me; that is no good to you. You won't -make a penny by my death. But suppose it should unhappily occur that the -revolver, on the trigger of which, Joe, I now have my finger, and the -muzzle of which is about a foot from your heart, suppose it should go -off, what then? You can see the accident would be all in my favour." - -Farleg uttered a loud whistle. - -For a second no word was spoken. No movement was made in that room. - -All at once, apparently from the feet of the two men, a wild alarmed -scream of a woman shot up through the silence, and shook the silence -into echoes of chattering fear. - -As though a blast had struck the banker's face, it shrivelled up like a -withered leaf. Something heavy fell from his hand in the drawer, and he -rose slowly, painfully, to his feet. - -Farleg rose also, keeping his face in the same relation, and on the same -level as the banker's, until the pinched face of the banker stole slowly -above the burglar's. - -The hands of Grey rested on the table. His eyes were fixed on vacancy. -He seemed to be listening intently, spellbound by some awful vision, -some distracting anticipation intimately concerned with appalling -voices. - -Slowly from his lips trickled the whispered words: "What was that?" - -"_My_ wife's voice," whispered Farleg. "You thought it was _yours_. When -I told you no one knew, I meant I had no pal. But my wife knows _all_, -and if anything came amiss to me she'd tell all." - -"I understand," the banker answered, still in a whisper. The dread was -slowly descending from his face, and he made a hideous attempt at a -smile. - -"I, too," pursued Farleg, "was afraid we might quarrel, and left her -there. For one whistle she was to scream out to show she was on the -watch. For two whistles she was to run away and call help. Do you see, -sir?" - -"Very clever. Very neat. You have won the odd trick." - -"And honours are divided." - -"Yes. How is that money to reach you?" - -"I'd like it in gold, sir, if you please. You can send it in a large -parcel, a hamper, sir, or a large box, so that no one need be the wiser. -I'm for your own good as well as my own in this matter." - -"You shall have the money the day after to-morrow at four o'clock. It -will reach you from London. Now go." - -"Well, after what has been done, and our coming to a bargain, shake -hands, Wat," said the man, in a tone of insolent triumph. - -"Go, sir. Go at once!" - -"Honours are not divided; I hold three to your one. Give me your hand, -old man. Joe Farleg will never split on a pal." - -With a shudder of loathing the banker held out his hand. - -As soon as he was alone, the moment the door was shut, he took up the -claret-jug, poured the contents over his right hand to cleanse it from -the contamination of that touch, and then walked hastily up and down the -room, waving his hand through the air until it dried. - -"A thousand isn't much to secure him. But will it secure him? That is -the question. Yes, I think it will. I think the coast is now clear. With -prudence and patience I can do all now," he whispered to himself, with -his left hand on his forehead. "Wat Grey, you've had a close shave. -Nothing could have been closer. Had you pulled that trigger all would -have been lost. Now you have a clear stage, and must let things take -their course. The old man can't live for ever; and until he dies you -must keep quiet and repress all indication of the direction in which -your hopes lie. Maud does not dream of this." - -A knock at the door. - -"Come in." - -James, the servant, entered, holding a slip of paper in his hand. - -"What is it, James?" asked the master. - -"That man that's gone out, sir, said he forgot to give his address, and -as you might want it he asked me to take it up to you." - -Mr. Grey was standing by the low gasalier as the servant handed him the -piece of paper. - -Mr. Grey took the address in his right hand; as he did so the purblind -footman sprang back a pace. - -"What's the matter?" demanded Mr. Grey with an amused smile. - -"Ex--excuse--me--sir," the man faltered, "but your hand----" - -"Well, what about it?" - -"It's all over blood!" - -"What! What do you say?" shouted the master, in a tone of dismay. "Do -_you_ want a thousand too?" - -"Indeed, no, sir; and I beg pardon; but do look at your hand." - -Mr. Grey held up his hand, examined it, and then burst out into a loud -shout of laughter. When he could speak he cried: - -"You charming idiot! You will kill me with your droll ways. That dirty -wretch who went out touched my hand. I had no water near me, so I poured -some claret over my hand and forgot to wipe it." - -He approached James and held out his hand, saying, "Look." Then added, -in a tone of solemn amusement: "James, there was once a man who died of -laughing at seeing an ass eat. I do think I shall die of laughing at -hearing a donkey talk. Bring me the coffee. Go." - -And as the servant was leaving the room, Mr. Grey broke out into a laugh -of quiet self-congratulation on the fact of his possessing such a -wonderful source of amusement in his servant, James. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE MANOR HOUSE. - - -The house occupied by Mr. Grey was very old. It had been the Manor -House, and was still called the Manor House, or the Manor, although it -had long ago ceased to be the property of the original owner's -descendants. For years before Mr. Grey bought it the house had been -uninhabited. - -It bore a bad name--why, no one could tell. The fortunes of the lords of -the manor had gradually mouldered away, and the old house had been -allowed to fall into decay and dilapidation. - -During the time it was shut up people spoke of it as a kind of phantom -house; some regarded it as a myth, and others treated it with a -superstitious respect as a thing which might exercise an evil influence -over those who fell under the shadow of its displeasure. - -Sunken deeply from the road, surrounded by a wild tangle of rugged oaks, -its grounds girt with walls ten feet high, there were few points open to -the public from which a glimpse of it could be caught, and no spot from -which a full view could be obtained. - -Boys had scaled the walls and penetrated into the tangled mazes of the -neglected undergrowth. But the briars and brambles and bushes were too -rough even for boys, and they came away soon. - -No boy of Daneford--and there were high-hearted, brave, adventurous boys -there--could say he had penetrated as far as the house. Although those -who had once been boys of Daneford had faced the enemies of their -country in every clime, by day and by night, on land and sea, and -although the boys of that city, at the time spoken of, were made of as -stout stuff and inspired by as gallant hearts as the boys who had fought -and fallen in Spain, India, America, Belgium, Egypt, where you will, not -one of all of them would dare, alone and by night, to break through that -jungle, and penetrate to that house. - -The soil of the Manor Park was low and full of rich juices, and fertile -with long rest, so the vegetation beneath the gnarled boughs of the -interlacing oaks could hold the moisture well when the sun was hot, and -from that ground to the sun they never saw clearly rose huge green and -red and yellow slimy weeds among the brambles and the shrubs. - -From the nests of many generations of birds which had built in those -distorted trees seeds of all things that grow on this land had fallen, -and taken root and prospered in the rich ground of the sultry glens and -caverns formed by the scraggy arms and foliage of the oaks; year after -year this disorderly growth had burst up out of the fat, greasy soil in -unwholesome profusion, unclean luxury, and had rotted down again into -the over-lush earth. So that the spring-root and ground-fruit, and all -manner of green things, jostled and crushed one another, and the weaker -were strangled and eaten up by the stronger. - -Thousands of birds yearly built in the trees of the Manor Park; for here -came no guns to kill or scare, no boys to pilfer the eggs or young ones; -and this republic of birds overhead was a source of great profit to the -soil below. - -Often birds fell from the trees dead of cold in the winter nights, and -when the sun shone out the industrious mole came and buried them -decently, and their bones were of service to the soil. - -The mole, too, was useful in another way, for he turned up the clay now -and then, here and there, and opened avenues into the earth for water -burdened with fructifying juices. - -And here, too, was that ever-active sexton of the vegetable world, the -fungus. In the vast winds of the winters, when the oaks gored one -another, and tore off the fangs of their antlers, great boughs fell with -shrieks to the earth. Later the sexton fungus crept over to the -shattered limbs and lodged on them, and ate them up silently and slowly, -and then the fungus itself melted into the earth. - -Here were worms of enormous growth, and frogs and toads, and snails and -lizards, and all other kinds of slimy insects and reptiles, and the boys -said snakes, but snakes were put forward in excuse of fear on the part -of the boys. There were no hares, no rabbits, no deer, no cows, no -sheep, no goats, nor any of the gentle creatures that put grass and -green things to uses profitable to man. - -Here in those vaults of sickly twilight vegetable nature held high -saturnalia, undisturbed save by the seasons and worms and snails and -caterpillars and slugs. This was not a prosperous field, a prudent -grove, a stately wood, a discreet garden; it was a robber's cave of the -green world, in which the plunder of all the fields lay heaped without -design, for no good or useful end. - -At night the darkness was thick and hot in these blind alleys and -inexplorable aisles. When the foot was put down something slipped -beneath it, a greasy branch, a viscous fruit, a reptile, or the fat -stalk of some large-leafed ground-plant. - -The trunks of the trees and the branches of the shrubs were damp with -gelatinous dews. If there was a moon, something might always be seen -sliding silently through the grass or leaves and pulpy roots. - -Strange and depressing odours of decay came stealthily upon the sense -now and then, and filled the mind with hints of unutterable fears. If in -the branches above a sleeping bird chirped or fluttered, it seemed as -though the last bird left was stealing away from the fearful place. The -fat reptiles that glided and slipped in the ghostly moonlight were -fleeing, and leaving you alone to behold some spectacle, encounter some -fate, too repulsive for the contemplation of reason. - -Within this belt of rank vegetation and oaks the Manor House stood. The -house had a plain stone front with small narrow windows, three on each -side of the main door. At the rear was a large paved courtyard, with a -pump and horse-trough in the middle. - -The chief building consisted of a ground-floor, on which were the -reception-rooms; a first floor of bedrooms; and a second floor, the -windows of which were dormar, intended for the servants of the -establishment. - -The walls of the house were of great thickness and strength. On the -ground and first floors most of the doorways into the passages had -double doors. Owing to the great thickness of the walls, and the double -doors, and the massive floorings and partition walls, sounds, even the -loudest, travelled with great difficulty through that house. - -In front of the house stretched a broad gravelled drive, which narrowed -into a gravelled road as it set off to the main road, a considerable -distance farther on. This carriage-road wound in and out through the -oaks of the Park. Between the gravelled open in front of the house and -the trees stretched a narrow band of shaven grass. This narrow band of -grass followed the carriage-road up to the lodge-gate. - -Around the paved yard in the rear stood the coach-house, stables, -kitchen, laundry, scullery, larder, and other offices, and still farther -to the rear of the house, behind the yard, were the flower and kitchen -gardens. To the rear of all, surrounding all, and binding all in like -suffocating bondage, was the Park of gnarled oaks and rank lush -undergrowth and slimy soil. - -In looking at the house you were not conscious of anything uncanny or -repulsive. At the left-hand end--that is, the end of the house nearest -to Daneford--there rose a tower, mounting only one storey above the -dormar floor. - -Upon the top of this tower was a huge iron tank, corroded into a -skeleton of its former self. Looking at that weather-battered and rusted -tank, with the undergrowth in the Park behind you, the former resembled -the decay of the indomitable natives of America, who perished slowly in -opposing themselves to fate; the overripe prosperity of the latter -looked like the destruction of the Romans, who ate and drank and slept -their simplicity and their manhood away. - -One peculiarity of this house was that no green plant or creeper could -get a living out of its dry walls. Neither on the house nor on the tower -had ever been seen one leaf native to the place. Here was another thing -in strong contrast to the teeming vegetation environing this house. - -It was not while looking at the Manor you felt its unpleasant influence. -In sunshine nothing disturbed your peace while you contemplated its dry, -cold front. But when you had gone away; when you were sitting in your -own bright room; when you were walking along a lonely road; when you -awoke in the middle of the night, and heard the torrents of the storm -roar as they whirled round your window; then, if the thought of that -house came up before your mind, you shrank back from its image as from -an apparition of evil mission. In your mental vision the house itself -seemed scared and afeared. - -The intense green life that dwelt beneath those oaks stood out in -startling contrast with the absolute nudity of those unapparelled -stones. The house seemed to shrink instinctively from any contact with -verdure, as though it felt assured of evil from moss or leaf or blade. -It appeared to dread that the oaks would creep up on it and overwhelm it -in their portentous shadows, beat it down with their giant arms. - -That tower stood out in the imagination like an arm uplifted in appeal; -that shattered tank became a tattered flag of distress. The windows -looked like scared eyes, the broad doorway a mouth gaping with terror. -The whole building quivered with human horror, was silent with frozen -awe. - -In the year 1856 Henry Walter Grey's father died, and the son became -sole proprietor of the Daneford Bank. Up to that time the son had lived, -with his wife, to whom he had then been married six years, in the -Bank-house as manager under his father. There were only a few years' -lease of his father's suburban residence, to run, and a likelihood arose -that the landlord would not renew, so young Grey had to look out for a -home, as he intended appointing a manager and living away from the -office. - -At that time the Manor House was in the market, and Mr. Grey bought it -for, as he said, "a song, and a very poor song, too," considering the -extent of the Park, the value of the timber, and the spacious old house. -As a matter of fact, no one valued the dwelling at a penny beyond what -the sale of its stones would bring; for the impression of the seller was -that, owing to its uncanny aspect and bad name, no one would think of -buying it to live in. - -All Daneford was taken by surprise when it heard that young Grey, Wat -Grey, Wat had bought the fearful Manor House in which no family had -lived for generations, and from which even the furniture and servants -had been long since withdrawn. Did he mean to take it down, build a new -house, and effect a wholesome clearance of those odious groves? - -No, he had answered, with a light laugh, he harboured no intention of -knocking down the old house to please the neighbours; of course he was -going to repair the house, and when it was fully restored he would ask -his friends to come and try if beef and mutton tasted worse, or wine was -less cheering, under that roof because nervous people had been pleased -to frighten themselves into fits over the Park and the Manor House. - -In a year the house had been put into thorough order, and even the tower -had not been wholly neglected, for one room of it, that on a level with -Mr. Grey's own bedroom, had been completely renovated into a kind of -extra dressing-room to Mr. Grey's bedroom, from which a short passage -led to it. - -Nothing was done to the ground-floor of the tower; nothing was done to -the floor on a level with the dormar; nothing was done with the floor -above the dormar. - -Nothing was done to the unsightly tank on the top of the tower. - -With respect to the rooms of the tower, Mr. Grey said he had no need of -more than the one. - -With respect to the tank, he said he would in no way try to diminish the -unprepossessing aspect of the exterior of the house; he would rely upon -the interior, the good cheer and the welcome beneath the roof, to -countervail the ill-omened outer walls. - -There was another reason, too, Mr. Grey said, why he had made up his -mind to alter nothing in the surrounding grounds or outward aspect of -the house--he wanted to see whether that house was going to beat him, or -he was going to beat that house. - -So when all was in order, he set about house-warming on a prodigious -scale--a scale that was a revelation to the people of Daneford. - -He filled all the bedrooms with guests, and had a couple of dozen men to -dine with him every day for a fortnight. - -He told his servants, as long as they did their work punctually and -satisfactorily, they might have friends to see them, and might make -their friends welcome to the best things in the servants' hall every day -for a fortnight. - -There were bonfires in the courtyard, and fiddlers and dancing. A barrel -of beer was placed on the horse-trough, and mugs and cans appeared in -glittering rows on a table beside the cask, and painted on the butt-end -of the cask the words, "Help yourself." - -When he lived in town his establishment had consisted of three servants. -For the fete a dozen additional servants were engaged and a French cook. -There were a lodge and gate to the Manor Park, but there was no -lodge-man or woman; and during the festivities the gate always stood -open until midnight, and all passersby were free to come in and join the -dancers and partake of the ale. - -One day he had all the clerks of his own bank to dine with him; and -while they were over their wine and cigars he informed them their -salaries were from that hour advanced twenty per cent. - -He was then a simple member of the Chamber of Commerce; he had not yet -been elected chairman. He entertained the whole Chamber another evening, -and then told the members he had that day written to their secretary, -declaring his resolution not to charge interest on the money advanced by -his bank--three thousand pounds--for the completion of the new building -in course of construction by the Chamber. - -A third evening he asked all the members of the Harbour Board, and told -them that he had made up his mind to abandon the old claim for interest -on their overdraughts set up by his father. - -Then he gave a Commercial Club evening, to which were bidden all his -friends and acquaintances, who were also members of the club. After -roast beef came two large silver dishes, on one of which was, plainly -enough, plum-pudding; on the other, something that was plainly not -plum-pudding. The host nodded to the servants, and both dishes burst -into flame; the dish that contained the plum-pudding standing opposite -the treasurer of the club, at the foot of the table; the thing that was -not plum-pudding standing opposite the banker. Whatever had been before -him was, when the brandy ceased to burn, all consumed, except a little -black matter that floated about on the surface of the fluid in the dish. - -"Everyone must have some of my new sauce. I invented it myself, and I -will take it as a favour if all will taste it with the pudding." - -All partook of it and praised it highly, and many said they had never -tasted its like before, and several began elaborate analyses of it, and -minute comparisons between it and a hundred of well-known sauces. - -After a while he said: "The roast beef and plum-pudding of Old England -for ever!" Then pointing to the dish containing the floating black -matter before him, "And the ashes of my mortgage on the club property -once!" - -The Boat Club were his guests another evening, and a large gold -loving-cup was brought in and carried about with a rich compound of dark -wines and stimulating spices, and out of this all were to drink. When -all had tasted and toasted in the common cup the object of their common -solicitude, the last man after drinking called out that there was -something which rattled and jingled and slid about in the bottom of the -cup. The master of the house seemed more inquisitive than any of the -others, bade the finder spill out the contents of the cup on a salver, -and, behold, one hundred and five new sovereigns fresh from the Mint! -Upon this discovery the host rose and said that love was the rarest of -alchemy, and that the touch of a score of loyal lips, all having the one -interest at heart, had changed the liquor into gold for the good of the -club, and that the gold and the cup must go together to the club. - -When he had the organisers and directors of the Poor's Christmas Coal -Fund to dinner, each member found, folded up in his napkin, twenty -orders, each order for five shillings' worth of coal. - -Such generous and kindly deeds, and such cordial hospitality, could not -but endear him to the people of Daneford; and by reason of his knowing -so many men intimately, and each one of these men being more or less -proud of the acquaintance, they all called him "Wat," to show how very -intimate they were with him, and to show that in the best commercial set -in Daneford there was no one else known by the name of Wat. They called -him Wat in preference to Henry or Harry, because there is not perhaps -among all the Christian names one which admits of such an intimately -familiar contraction as Walter. - -But all the banqueting and largess did not disenchant the ominous -mansion. - -Those who had been at the prodigal house-warming always remembered the -exterior aspect of the house when the revels were at their height as -even worse than the ordinary appearance; for the small red windows in -the thick dark walls looked at night like the eyes of a desperate man -who had drank deeply to keep up his courage in some supreme ordeal. And -by day ever afterwards, to those who had been in the house at the -festival, it seemed as though the house looked more aghast than ever, -like the face of one who, having slept off the artificial courage, had -awaked to reduced resources and increased dangers. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -AN UNSELFISH MOTHER. - - -All the parties given by Mr. Grey at the Manor House were men's parties. -Mrs. Grey rarely or never was to be found in the drawing-room after -dinner; and, indeed, the drawing-room was seldom lighted up. - -Mrs. Grey was a pretty, low-sized, dark-eyed, nervous woman, a few years -the junior of her husband. He had met her first in London, in a house -where she was staying on a visit with friends. She was alone in the -world, had a small fortune, which, while it made her no object of -pursuit in the circle she frequented, kept her independent. - -There was a little mystery and a little doubt about her, and while -neither the mystery nor the doubt was sufficient to disquiet anyone, it -served to keep interest in her alive, and the more prudent and -calculating of suitors from love-making. Individually she was popular; -but while those who knew her spoke well of her in her absence, the good -things said of her always began in superlatives, and, as the -conversation went on, diminished to positives, and the talk usually -ended with a vague "but" and an unfinished sentence. - -Perhaps she was a little odd, they said. Perhaps she had French blood in -her veins. Perhaps the strange blood was Spanish. She had a look not -wholly English--a look denoting no close kinship with any other people. -Her name was Muir, which seemed to indicate that she came of a stock -north of the Tweed. Yet she had never been in Scotland, nor her father -before her, nor anyone of his side, as far as he could trace back. Her -mother had been the daughter of a Truro solicitor, her father a member -of the Equity bar of London. Those who had known her father and mother -declared that she resembled neither in her face nor her manner. She was -dark, low-sized, and odd; they had both been tall, fair, and models of -conventional insipidity. - -When Henry Walter Grey married Miss Muir she was twenty-four years of -age, he twenty-nine. The women judged her to be thirty-four, the men -allowed that she might be twenty-seven; but all agreed that young Grey, -with his prospects, might have done much better as far as money went. - -But among the young and the chivalric of Daneford, young Grey helped -forward his nascent popularity by marrying a poor wife and risking his -father's displeasure for his sweetheart's sake. The young and chivalric -of Daneford were never tired of pointing to the pleasantest and most -prosperous man in the city as one who had made his love paramount above -all other considerations in the selection of a wife. - -From the time he won his wife until he lost her his manner towards her -gained him daily increase of respect among the people of the city. Every -indulgence and luxury which his position could afford were lavished upon -her. Wives who had cause of displeasure or dissatisfaction with their -husbands always cited Mr. Grey as a shining contrast to their own too -economical or exacting lords. It was not alone that she was never denied -anything for which she could reasonably care, but, notwithstanding the -clubs and the institutions and the boards of which Mr. Grey was a -member, no more domestic man lived in Daneford. He always dined at home, -except on occasions of great public interest; and when he had no guests -he sat reading or conversing with her, or they both went for a stroll in -the fine twilight, or visited the theatre, or any other form of public -amusement afforded by the town. - -As the years of their married life glided by, and no child came to make -an endearing interruption to the smooth course of wedded sweethearts, -the attachment between the husband and wife seemed to borrow a greater -depth from the soft melancholy arising out of their childless condition. -It was, the town said, a thousand pities the rich, amiable, amusing, -good-looking Wat Grey had no one to leave his fine business and his vast -fortune to. - -If a friend alluded to the fact of his childlessness he always put the -subject aside with as little humour and as much gentleness as the -character of the speaker allowed of. To his wife, who often made tearful -allusions to the circumstance, he replied with cheerful hopefulness, and -bade her set her grief for him away, as he was quite content and happy -with the blessings Heaven had already sent him, chief among which was a -wife he loved. - -Although Mrs. Grey did not go into society, and had no ladies to dinner, -she had a few visiting friends upon whom she called in turn, and who -learned from her the uniform kindliness of her husband, and the great -gentleness with which he accepted the absence of an heir or heiress. - -In fact, the more people heard of Mr. Grey, the more he grew in popular -esteem, and behind all this amiability on his part there was a factor -which hugely multiplied its value. At first, when he brought his wife -home to Daneford, and the people of his set began to know her a little, -they all declared that she was pretty, very pretty, and a trifle odd. - -Time went on, and although she lost none of her prettiness with her -years--hers being the beauty that depends on bone and outline, and not -on surface and colour--her peculiarities gained upon her; and whether, -the Daneford folk said, it was the foreign blood that darkened her eyes -and her hair and her ways, or a slight strain of madness, they could not -decide, but she was, beyond all doubt, not in manner like the average -English-woman of her class. - -At first her peculiarities defied definition. People said she was very -nice, but a little queer, cracked, crazy. She was very impulsive, and -sometimes incoherent. No action of hers seemed the result of forethought -or preparation. She ordered the servants to bring this, that, or the -other thing, and when they came with it she told them they might take it -away again, as she had changed her mind. She ordered the brougham for -four, went out walking at a quarter to four, and stayed out till six, -without countermanding the brougham. - -About the time that Mr. Grey bought the Manor House, Mrs. Grey had a -difference with her cook, and her cook left her in a violent temper. The -cook had been with her ever since Mrs. Grey had first come to Daneford, -and was the confidential servant of her mistress. Soon after the cook -had left it reached the ears of a few acquaintances of Mr. Grey that a -dreadful spectre had appeared in his household. The fact that Mrs. Grey -had now been married some years and was still childless had preyed very -deeply on her excitable temperament, and, dreadful to say, she not -unfrequently took more wine than was good for her. - -Those who heard this now saw a reason, unguessed by others, why the -banker bought that odious house swathed round with that fearful wood. -There his wife would be secluded, free from prying eyes and guarded -against any close daily contact with neighbours. How had it been kept -secret so long? The cook, now discharged, had obtained for the unhappy -woman what she wanted, and the poor lady was wonderfully discreet and -cautious, and until that servant went no one but the cook and the -afflicted husband ever dreamed of such a thing. It was dreadful. - -But the most intimate friend of Grey never knew from him, by even the -faintest hint, there was a single cloud over his domestic happiness. - -He always spoke of his wife in terms of the most tender consideration -and kindliness. He was by no means weak or uxorious; but there was a -loyal trust, an ever-active sympathy in him towards her, that won -greatly on the young and old men and women of Daneford. - -The evil circumstance under which Mrs. Grey laboured was never an open -scandal in the town. In the first place, owing to her own great prudence -and circumspection, no one had any suspicion of the melancholy fact from -herself. If she was the victim of a debasing weakness, she never -betrayed herself publicly, and those who heard of it through indirect -ways had kept the secret closely, out of respect to the man whose fame -and name and popularity stood so high among his fellow-citizens. Indeed, -some who heard the rumour disbelieved it wholly, and declared their -conviction that it was the malicious invention of a discharged servant, -based on the eccentric habits and unfamiliar ways of the poor lady. - -But the fact remained that, even to the spacious Manor House, no lady -guests were invited to dinner; no lady guests stayed for twenty-four -hours; and, beyond a few afternoon callers, no ladies visited the house -at all. But perhaps in Daneford there were not a dozen families in -possession of the fact that would account for the strict retirement in -which the mistress of the Manor lived, and the young and the chivalric -continued to look on Grey and his wife as not only the most prosperous, -but also the most happy, couple in the whole county. - -Very soon after Henry Grey's marriage with Miss Muir, he found out that -she did not possess the solid good sense and grave discernment essential -in the confidant of a banker. - -She not only lacked the golden faculty of silence, but dealt with facts -communicated to her in a most imaginative and injudicious manner. He -told her that a substantial and solvent merchant of the town had -overdrawn his account five hundred pounds. Shortly after, the merchant's -wife called on Mrs. Grey, and the latter, in a moment of -communicativeness, said to the former that business was in a bad way, -and that she understood the former's husband owed the Bank, over and -above ordinary business, no less a sum than five thousand pounds. The -merchant's wife related this to her husband, and he came in great -indignation to Grey. Mr. Grey said his wife's talk had been only woman's -gossip, and that he had most certainly never told his wife or any one -else the merchant owed the Bank five thousand pounds over-draught. - -The merchant said he was quite sure Mr. Grey had not, but urged that -something of the over-draught must have been communicated to Mrs. Grey, -and that a woman's gossip was quite capable of ruining a solvent man. - -On another occasion the banker told her the Bank had not made as much -money that year as the year before, and she informed some chance callers -that the Bank was losing heavily. This rumour might have shaken the -credit of an institution less solidly established than the Daneford -Bank; but in the city and country surrounding the city the Bank was -looked upon as much more safe than the Bank of England, insomuch as the -Threadneedle Street concern had a paper currency, and the Daneford did -not mortgage any of its capital by such an issue, and stood in no -temptation to diminish its stock of gold or overstep safety. - -These two experiences of Grey's, coupled with a few others of less -importance but similar nature, convinced him that the more general and -abstract his statements of business matters to his wife the better, and -from the moment he arrived at this conclusion he carried it into effect. -She, having no talent for the particular, did not seem to miss his -confidence, and remained perfectly content with commonplace generalities -as to business matters. Indeed, having very little of the highly -feminine virtue of inquisitiveness, she was not much interested in -business statements of any kind. - -Most men will talk more freely to a woman whom they trust than to any -man, no matter how near to them by ties of nature or affection. Henry -Grey was no exception to the rule, and when he found he durst no longer -confide important secrets to his wife, he unburdened himself to another -woman, a widow, now past seventy, but still straight and intelligent, -and sympathetic and hale, a woman who had won and retained a most -powerful hold upon his esteem, affection, and confidence--his mother. - -Whilst all the world of Daneford was calculating the enormous fortune -the Daneford Bank must be making for its owner, and was bemoaning the -fact that Wat Grey had no child to leave his fine business and his vast -savings to, there were two people the nature of whose anxiety about Mr. -Grey's affairs did not take the same course. - -These two people were the only beings possessing knowledge of the -condition of Mr. Grey's private fortune and the bank. - -For years he had kept the true state of affairs from his mother, but at -length, as blow succeeded blow, he could no longer bear the burden of -his secret, and he unfolded it to her. He did not trouble her with -detail, but informed her briefly that he had backed the South in the -American wars--that not only had he lost all his own private fortune, -but of the depositors' money as well. - -At first she was overwhelmed with surprise and horror to think the -splendid business and reputation made for the Bank by her dead husband -and his father before him should be ruined by her son, and that not only -had the Bank been ruined and her son's fortune and position destroyed, -but the moneys of the clients had also been included in the horrible -disaster. - -But, despite her seventy years, she was a brave old lady, full of honour -and spirits and courage. Once the first shock was over, she set all her -faculties at work to try and sustain the drooping energies of her only -son. - -She know he was not free from troubles at home; she knew he gave none -of his business confidences to his wife. Though she deplored these -facts, she felt there was no help for them; and if at first reluctant to -assist him in councils which ought to be held between him and his wife, -in the end she saw it would be the wisest course for her to listen, to -encourage him to speak, and to aid him with any advice she might think -it wise to give. - -Apparently, however, the affairs of the Bank were beyond the aid of -advice. At every interview between mother and son he assured her he saw -no opening in the clouds; that, in fact, they got blacker and blacker as -time wore on. - -Towards the beginning of 1866 things had, the son told the mother, come -to the worst. - -"All is lost," he said; "all is lost. I have been staving off and -staving off until everything has got into a hopeless tangle, out of -which I can find but one thing--ruin!" - -"Then, Henry, I suppose you must shut the door; and as you see nothing -else for it, the sooner you stop up the better." - -"Mother, the day I shut the Bank door I'll open another door." - -"What do you mean?" - -"I'll open the door into the other world with a charge of gunpowder." - -"Don't say such a foolish, dreadful thing! You are not, I hope, such a -coward as to fly from the consequences of your own act. If you have lost -the money in fair trading you need not be ashamed to meet them all; -others beside you lost by that unfortunate South. Your father would have -stood his ground and faced the city," said the old woman, with spirit -and pride. - -"No doubt, mother, no doubt my father would have had the manliness to -stand and face the break; but he was a man of great endurance and nerve; -you know I am not. I would do anything rather than meet such a crash and -live after it. You know I have been much more out in the world than my -father. I am mixed up with such a number of things, am closely connected -with such a number of institutions and men, that nothing, no -consideration, could induce me to outlive bankruptcy. The people would -not believe facts; they would not credit any statement, however plain, -that I was insolvent. They would say that I had appropriated the money -of the depositors, made a fraudulent pretence of bankruptcy, and -concealed the money for my own use. I know the world better than you, -mother; I know the world, and what it would say. I may be popular now; -but if I fell, the street-boys might kick me through the gutter and no -one would take my part, or try to get me fair play." - -He dropped his head into his hands and shuddered. - -The old woman looked at him with a sad sympathy, which was not wholly -destitute of reproach. - -"You know, Henry, thousands of men have had to face such things, and -have come out of their difficulties without a stain or a hard word----" - -"In my case that is impossible. I tell you, mother, they would have no -more mercy on me than on a snake. The Bank is a private one, the -property of one person, and on that one person all the wrath would fall. -It is not like a joint stock, or a limited liability, where many are -concerned as principals or shareholders or directors. It would be a case -between an individual and his creditors. It would look as if I had -borrowed money privately of all the people I knew, and spent it or -gambled in dangerous foreign speculations, until I had dissipated their -last pennies and left the people beggars. No, mother; the day I shut the -Bank door I open the gate of Eternity with a bullet." - -He was walking up and down his mother's drawing-room, with his hands -clasped behind his coat, his eyes bent on the ground, and a look of -concentrated thought upon his usually placid and beaming features. - -"I will not hear you say that again, Henry," cried the mother, stamping -her foot impatiently on the floor. "Listen to me. You know my two -thousand a year is clear of the Bank----" - -"Thank Heaven and my father for that!" cried Grey earnestly. - -"Can't you shut up the Bank, and you and Bee"--Beatrice, his wife--"come -and stay with me for a while? We could leave England and live on a -thousand a year in the south of France, or anywhere you like, and save -up a thousand a year to start you again----" - -"I would die ten thousand deaths, dear mother, rather than touch your -money," he cried fervently, catching her hand and holding it in both -his, and opening his hands now and then to kiss the shrivelled hand -which had once, when soft and full, joined his--then softer and -fuller--in prayer, and now, when he was strong and she was weak, tried -to shield and succour him as in the days when he was a little child. - -"Don't be sentimental at such a crisis," cried his mother petulantly. -"You shall do as I say; or if you like, when the Bank affair is settled, -we can sell the annuity. I know I'm old, and it's not worth many years' -purchase; but we should get a few thousand for it, and that would give -you a fresh start in some other business. Now I tell you this is what -_shall_ happen. Do you hear me? I will not wait for your consent; this -very day I will see about selling the annuity--what do you call it? -capitalising it? Go, Henry, and no more nonsense about gunpowder and -bullets. Such things are only fit for the stage or the Continent, and -are quite beneath the notice of a sensible English man of business." - -He rose to his feet and cried: "You shall not, you must not, mother. I -have been making out things worse than they really are. I am depressed -and ill. Believe me, there is no need for doing what you say. There is -one venture of mine, in no way connected with the late war, the greatest -of all my ventures; and although I do not look on it as a very safe or -sound venture, it may come all right yet. I shall know in a fortnight. -You must promise me to do nothing until then. Promise me, my dear -mother!" - -He spoke eagerly, passionately; and as he uttered the final words he -caught both her hands in his, and looked beseechingly into her eyes. - -"And in a fortnight you will tell me?" she asked, looking searchingly -into his face. - -"In a fortnight I will tell you." - -"And between this and then you will not, in my presence or in your own -secret mind, speak or think about such nonsense as daggers or -poison-bowls, or gunpowder or bullets?" she asked scornfully. - -"I promise I will not." - -"Very well," she said; "I will do nothing till I hear from you at the -end of a fortnight. Let us shake hands, Henry, and part friends." - -"Friends!" he exclaimed, as tears of love and sorrow came into his -eyes. "Mother, you are the only one on earth I love now." - -"Hush, sir! How dare you say such a thing!" - -"I swear it!" he cried vehemently. "I would do anything, dare anything, -for you, mother----" - -"And for your wife," she added, as if reminding him of an omission made -in carelessness. - -He paid no attention to her suggestion. - -"You are the only one in the world who knows me really." - -"And longest," she added, with a bright smile. "There--go now, Henry; -this scene is growing theatrical or Continental, and unbecoming the -drawing-room of an English mother. There--go." - -And she hustled him to the door, opened the door, thrust him out, and -closed the door upon him. - -As soon as she was sure he had left the vicinity of the door she threw -herself down on a couch and burst into tears, exclaiming softly to -herself between the sobs: - -"My Wat! my poor Wat! my darling child, is it come to this with you?" - -Then after a while she dried her eyes and sat up. "Perhaps all may go -well with him after all. Perhaps this venture of his may come right. It -was lucky I got him out of the room so soon. Another moment and I should -have broken down, and been more dramatic and Continental than he, and -that would never do. No son respects or relies on a mother who weeps on -his bosom, and causes him to remember she is not his earliest and -strongest friend." - -In the strong-room of the Daneford Bank all the money and securities -held by the bank were kept. The last duty of Mr. Aldridge, manager of -the Daneford Bank, each day, was to return the cash, bills, books, &c., -to this strong-room. To this strong-room there were three keys in the -possession of the staff of the bank, one held by the manager, one by the -accountant, and one by the teller. - -The door could not be opened save by the aid of the three keys. Thus no -officer of the Bank could commit a larceny in the strong-room without -the countenance of two others. - -Mr. Grey had duplicates of the keys held by the accountant and teller. -But the key held by the manager was unique, and even Mr. Grey himself -could not enter the strong-room without the manager's key. - -In this strong-room were kept not only the valuables of the bank, but -cases and chests containing all kinds of highly portable and extremely -precious substances and papers belonging to customers of the Bank. Here -were iron plate-chests, iron deed-boxes, jewel-caskets in great numbers, -left for safe keeping, not being part of the Bank's property, and -against which there was no charge by the Bank but an almost nominal one -for storage. - -The evening after Mr. Grey had that interview with his mother, he called -at the Bank, found the manager in, and having told Mr. Aldridge that a -secret report had reached him to the disadvantage of a customer whose -name he was not allowed to disclose, he wished to borrow the manager's -key for half an hour, as he wanted to turn over the suspected man's -account. - -He got the key and a candle, and went down to the strong-room. In half -an hour he returned, and handing back the key to Mr. Aldridge, said: "I -am glad to say that the account I spoke of is quite satisfactory, and -that it will not be necessary to make any alteration in our dealings -with the customer I alluded to." - -The next day Mr. Grey went to London, and returned the evening after. A -few days later, among the letters was an advice from Mr. Grey's London -correspondents to the effect that Messrs. Barrington, Ware, & Duncan had -lodged twenty thousand pounds with them to Mr. Grey's credit. - -That day Mr. Grey called upon his mother, and told her some of the -expected good luck had come--not all, but still twenty thousand out of -the fire. - -"I told you, Henry, you had only to wait and face it, and you would win. -If you did any of those romantic and foolish things with daggers and -poison-bowls, they would say you were little better than a thief." - -"Now they could not even say as much," he said softly to himself. - -"What _are_ you dreaming about now!" his mother cried, in exasperation. - -He looked up with one of his best and brightest smiles, and said: -"Dreams, madam! nay, it is. I know not dreams;" and kissing his mother -to punctuate his parody, he smiled again, and added: "I was only joking, -just to enjoy the sight of your anger now that things are looking -better. Good-bye." - -And so he left her. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -AN UNSELFISH FATHER. - - -The city of Daneford, on the river Weeslade, is about eighteen miles -from the small watering-town, Seacliff, which stands in a little bay at -the mouth of the river. Between Daneford and Seacliff the width of the -river varies, but is never less than a mile. - -At a distance of less than four miles from the city the river widens -considerably into a loop, and in the loop is the island of Warfinger. -The island, which rarely is called by its particular name, but is spoken -of as "The Island," measures a mile long by half a mile broad. It rises -gradually from the shores to the centre, and on the highest point of it -stands Island Castle, the seat of the Midharsts for generations. In the -neighbourhood the title of Island Castle is cut down also, and no one at -all familiar with the locality ever calls it anything but "The Castle." - -In the early part of the year 1866 the tenant for life of Island Castle -was old Sir Alexander Midharst, a widower, who lived in the Castle in -great retirement and the meanest economy. His wife had then been dead -twenty years. She had died in giving birth to her only child, Maud, now -rapidly approaching her majority; a girl of such gentle beauty and -simple childlike manners that all who met her spoke of her beauty and -her grace with tender respect and ready enthusiasm. - -Maud Midharst did not need any adventitious aid to make her beauty -apparent and her presence acceptable, but her delicate complexion, her -dark sweet eyes, her pleasant smile, all came out in strong contrast -with her surroundings at the Castle. - -In the building everything, including the structure itself, seemed -hastening to decay. The walls, the floor, the furniture, the servants, -the master, all were old. She formed the one exception to the general -appearance of approaching dissolution. The outer walls of the pile were -seamed and lined, the water had eaten into the stone, the frost had -cracked the mortar, and unsightly yellow stains lay upon the masonry, -like long skeleton fingers pointing to the earth into which the walls -were hastening. - -When castles were places of defence as well as of residence, Island -Castle was well known. It had stood two sieges, and had been a famous -place of meeting among the Jacobites. Its insular position, the wide -prospect it commanded, the fact that it could not be invested on all -sides at once except by a whole army, the facilities it afforded to -approach and flight of friends, and the difficulty, amounting almost to -an impossibility, of reaching it by surprise except under the favour of -night or a fog, all added together made it a place of great importance -once upon a time. - -The Castle had not always been in the Midharst family. It had come to -them early in the eighteenth century, upon the failure in heirs male of -the great Fleurey family, by which failure the historic earldom of -Stancroft was lost to the blood for ever. The Midharsts had some of the -female Fleurey blood in their veins, but it was of distant origin; and -title to the fine castle and property was declared to Sir John Midharst, -the first of his name who laid claim to it, only after long and -expensive litigation and much scandal. - -Up to that time the Midharsts had been poor baronets. The property -accompanying the Island in the year 1866 brought in a rental of more -than twenty-two thousand pounds a year. - -It was a very singular fact that from the first baronet who sat as -master in Warfinger Island Castle down to old Sir Alexander, no son -succeeded a father. It was always a grandson or a nephew, or a -grand-nephew or some remote cousin. Now matters were worse than ever. -Sir Alexander was upwards of seventy years of age, with an only child, a -daughter, and the closest male was a direct descendant of the youngest -son of the baronet, the lucky Sir John who came in for the property that -had supported the extinct earldom of Stancroft. - -No doubt this remote cousin was a Midharst in name and blood, but -somehow it was hard for Sir Alexander to feel very cordial or friendly -towards one so remote from him, one who was going to take the property -and the title away from his immediate family. - -At the time Lady Midharst died Sir Alexander was but a little over fifty -years of age, and many thought he would marry again. But even then he -was ailing, and doctors told him that between asthma and valvular -derangement of the heart his chance of living even a few years was -slight. Of course, they said, he might live fifty years, but he was -heavily handicapped. - -As long as his wife, who had been much younger than he, lived he -continued to hope for an heir; but upon the death of Lady Midharst, -having ascertained the precise nature and import of the diseases from -which he suffered, he made up his mind to give up all thought of an -heir, and devote himself wholly to making a suitable provision for his -daughter Maud, who was healthy and well-grown, and promised to be strong -and long-lived. - -And now began with Sir Alexander Midharst the practices by which he -disgraced his order, and made himself a byword for all who knew his -habits and his name. - -He shut up his London house and advertised it to be let. A rich -distiller took it furnished at two hundred pounds a month during the -season, and a manufacturing jeweller for eighty pounds a month during -the unfashionable periods of the year. - -He sold his horses and carriages, all save one old state coach, which he -could not sell for two reasons; first, because its preservation and -"maintenance" were provided for by his predecessors; and secondly, -because no one would pay haulage for it from the Island to the city. - -He dismissed all his servants but the housekeeper, one maid, and one -man, allowing, however, a nurse and "governess" for the baby, who yet -lacked of three months. He resigned the membership of his two London -clubs, of the three county clubs he belonged to, and intimated to all -institutions or bodies or guilds to which he was patron, chairman, -subscriber, or member, that his connection in any way with them must -cease. - -He discharged his steward, and resolved upon collecting his own rents -and superintending his own property. - -Up to this anyone who chose might go over his fine old Castle. Anyone -still might go over the Castle, but an entrance fee of one shilling was -now demanded from each sightseer. - -As time advanced, and he became more imbued with avarice, more expert in -meanness, he cut and shaved and clipped here and there and everywhere, -until he had reduced his expenditure to about a thousand a year. - -But he did not rest content with cutting down his own expenses; he was -fully as careful to increase his income by every means in his power. - -When leases expired they were renewed only on payment of heavy fines. -His care was not so much to inflate the rent-roll as to get in all the -ready-money he could. He had, he calculated, only a few years, if so -long, to live, and the rent-roll would then be the concern of that -William Midharst whom he had never seen and whom he wished never to see. - -He cut down and sold all the timber as far as his right to do so -extended; and all the trimming and underwood, which had previously been -allowed to go as perquisites to the men or as gleaning among the poor, -he took possession of and sold. - -He let the right of shooting over his land and the right of fishing in -his streams and rivers. He sold off all he might of the more modern -furniture at the Castle. - -He sold all his personal plate and jewels, and all the pictures he had -acquired in his lifetime. When he was young he had made a collection of -coins; this, too, he converted into cash. - -At one time he contemplated letting one wing of the Castle to a rich -tallow-chandler of the city, and was absolutely in treaty with him, when -with a shudder of shame he drew back and broke off the negotiations. - -When he commenced his scheme of economy and exactions, he had said to -himself that if he pursued it for one year, and sold off all the things -he then contemplated, he should be able to leave his baby-girl close on -forty thousand pounds. At the end of twelve months he found he had put -more money together than he had anticipated. There was no new cause of -anxiety with regard to his health, and he made up his mind to continue -upon the track he had adopted. He might live a year, ay, two years yet; -if he lasted two years more the leases of Garfield estate would fall in, -and he should reap a harvest out of renewals. Give him two years more, -that is, three from the beginning, and he should be able to leave his -only child close upon one hundred thousand pounds. - -At the end of the three years he found he had not come within several -thousand pounds of his limit; so he resolved to complete the hundred -thousand before he changed his manner of living or of dealing with the -property. - -When the end of the fourth year was reached he had saved more than the -hundred thousand pounds. By this time he had become accustomed to the -loss of all his old associations, had grown to love the new, and, above -all, had become the slave of avarice, that most inflexible and enduring -of all the passions. Therefore, he threw all idea of change to the -winds, and resolved as long as he lived, whether for a week or twenty -years, to save all the money he could, in order that the descendants of -his side of the family might be able to hold up their heads hereafter. - -At the death of his wife Sir Alexander Midharst closed his London -banking account and transferred all his business to the Daneford Bank, -where he had had an account when he came into the property, and where -his predecessor in the title had also kept his account. - -Now in money matters Sir Alexander may have been a good sergeant, or -even on occasions a trustworthy captain; but he was no general, and he -knew it. He accordingly resolved to consult with Mr. Grey, father of -Wat. He explained the whole scheme to the banker, and the purpose for -which the money was being saved, and said that in the first place he -wanted to invest the money safely, and in the second of course he wanted -some interest for it. - -The banker suggested that for the present the money should be invested -in the Three per Cent. Consols, which could be realised readily should -any more desirable form of investment offer itself, and where it would -be as safe as in land. - -After some consideration Sir Alexander agreed to follow the banker's -advice, on the condition that Mr. Grey would buy the stock, keep the -account of it, with the heirloom jewels and plate of Island Castle, but -that in this case Mr. Grey was to retain the key of the chest containing -the valuables and transact all the business connected with the Consols, -such as receiving dividends, crediting the amount, and buying in more -Consols with the interest of the Consols themselves, and any money Sir -Alexander should lodge to the Midharst (Consols) account. - -"I shall save the money," said the baronet, "and you will take care of -it." - -And so it was arranged. Sir Alexander gave the banker power-of-attorney -with regard to these Consols and all the money lodged to their account -for the future; all communications from the Bank of England, of -solicitors, or anyone else, were to be addressed to Sir Alexander -Midharst, Daneford Bank, Daneford. These letters were to be opened and -attended to by Mr. Grey, who was to make a reasonable charge for the -trouble. - -Things went on thus until the elder Mr. Grey's death, when the son -succeeded to the banking business and a considerable private fortune in -1856. - -Young Mr. Grey, as soon as he came into the business, at once waited -upon Sir Alexander Midharst, and said he would advise that some new plan -should be adopted with regard to the baronet's business and accounts. - -The baronet, who knew young Grey very well, and liked him exceedingly, -told him that his father had managed the business excellently, and that -the son ought to be able to do as well. - -Young Grey said the responsibility was very great, the sum being now -more than two hundred thousand pounds over which Grey had complete -power. - -The baronet took him by the hand and said: - -"You are a younger man than your father, and ought not to be more timid. -Our family have known your bank before now; for my part, I am not able -to take charge of these things. I prefer your guardianship to that of my -lawyer's or of anybody else. If your father charged too little for the -trouble, you may charge more. You know the money is for my little -daughter: the estates go to a stranger after my death; and this money is -the fortune of my child, that no man shall say she, a Midharst--the last -of the direct line, I may say--was left penniless and portionless, -though she may be left homeless, on the world." - -"As you put it now I cannot refuse," answered young Grey. - -"Look around you." They were in the gateway leading to the courtyard, -with their faces turned towards the slope of the hill. "Look around you. -I have shorn the land close for my child. I work night and day for her, -as though her daily bread depended on my arms and my brain. I may die -any time. I have no friend, no relative. I am alone with my child. -Everyone seems against me. That greedy, rapacious young scoundrel who is -to follow me is looking with hungry eyes upon Warfinger Island, and -nightly praying for my death. All my old friends have given me up. I am -not of them now, because I have striven to make provision for my child. -They call me a sordid miser, a stain upon the order I share with them. -Let them rave. I will do what I think right by my child. Let them do as -they choose. I do not ask their help. I only ask them to let me alone. -But you I ask to help me; and you will, for you are not ennobled by the -accident of your birth, but by the generosity of your nature." - -If any power of wavering had remained in young Grey, this appeal would -have overcome it. So the matter was finally settled: the son was to act -for the baronet precisely as the father had acted before. - -During the year 1856 Mr. Grey the younger was a frequent visitor to -Island Castle. He liked boating; and often in the fine evenings pulled -down the river Weeslade to the Island, had a consultation with Sir -Alexander, and then pulled back to Daneford in the sweet fresh twilight. - -Often when it was growing dusk, and he was about to start from the -Island for the city, he pushed off his boat into mid-stream, and rested -on his oars, looking up at the mouldering Castle standing out clear -against the darkening sky. - -There was something desolate and forlorn about that vast pile, -inhabited by that ageing man and that young girl. - -In front, facing the wider water-passage, it stood high above him, its -blind gateway looking down upon him, a lonely round tower at the right -of the archway catching the strange gleams of light reflected from the -Weeslade as the river glided silently towards the sea. - -Winter and summer, when there was sunshine at sunset, the top of that -tower caught the reflection of the last red streak that flickered on the -polished surface of the river. This fact affected long ago the -superstitious feelings of the people. There was a tradition in the -neighbourhood that in times gone by the wicked mother of a Lord -Stancroft used abominable witchcraft against her daughter-in-law, her -son's bride, newly brought home from the kingdom of Spain, a country far -away, and near the sun, and full of gallant men and fine ladies, whose -eyes it were a marvellous fine feast to see, but who were--the -ladies--treacherous and light of love. - -The abominable and damnable exercises practised by the wicked dowager -caused the dark-eyed Lady Stancroft, who had come among strangers out of -the far-away kingdom of Spain, to wither up and grow old and loathsome -in a year. So that the young lord turned away from her, and cared -nothing for her any more. And the poor young lady, gap-toothed and -wrinkled and foul-looking as she had been made by devilish witchcraft, -was still young in her mind and her affections, and doated on the lord, -who would not as much as come nigh the Castle while she was there, but -took to wine and evil ways. - -So at last the poor young wife, who looked eighty, was lost, and could -be found nowhere. It was long after, and in the time of the next lord, -that, in the topmost chamber of the round gate-tower, a chamber never -used save in war-time, they discovered the skeleton of the young wife, -and words written in a strange tongue, the language of Spain, saying how -she had stolen up there to die, as she could not win back the love of -her husband, the young lord. Ever after that the topmost chamber of the -tower was red at sunset. Some thought this red gleam came from the fire -where the wicked dowager Lady Stancroft suffered for her great sin; -others thought this was the reflection from the wreath of glory worn by -the poor young wife. But all agreed it had to do with the deed of the -wicked Lady Stancroft; and so they called the tower the Witch's Tower, a -name it bore until Walter Grey gave it another. - -The year 1856 was one full of remarkable events in the life of Mr. Grey. -In it his father died; he came into a considerable fortune; he -purchased a house; and grew to be a frequent visitor at Island Castle. -It often struck him as a peculiar coincidence that in the same year he -should have become owner of the most remarkable house near Daneford, and -caretaker to the fortune of the owner of the most remarkable house in -the whole district. - -About that time he read an account of a certain tree said to be in -sympathy with a certain tower. The idea was fresh to him, and seemed to -open up a new field of speculation, and he dwelt upon it a good deal. - -One evening, as he was rowing from the Castle to his own home, a thought -flashed into his mind. There was a striking coincidence in the fact of -his being connected so closely with two such houses. Each was unpopular, -each was weird, strange; there were queer stories about each, each had a -tower. The tower of one had an unpleasant history connected with the -skeleton of that poor Spanish lady; the tower on his house had that -rusty framework of a tank that looked like a skeleton. "Might not," he -thought, with a smile at the absurdity, "there be some sympathy between -these two houses?" - -He ceased to row, and looked at the vast pile that brooded over the dark -waters of the Weeslade. He rested upon his oars. - -"It looks, if like anything human, like a witch charming the river. My -house, too, looks like a witch sitting at bay within her magic circle of -grove. It wouldn't be bad to name them both The Weird Sisters. They are -uglier than the crones in 'Macbeth.'" - -He pulled a few strokes and mused again, resting on his oars. - -"They don't use that tower. I don't use my tower. They found the -skeleton of the Spanish Lady Stancroft in the top of that tower. There's -the skeleton of that old tank on the top of mine. Towers and skeletons -suggest Bombay and the Parsees. By Jove, the Towers of Silence would not -be a bad name for those two." - -Next day he told several people the names he had given the two houses -and the two towers. All who heard of the new nomenclature smiled, and -admired the cleverness; and from that time forth in Daneford the two -houses were known as the Weird Sisters, and the two towers as the Towers -of Silence. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -"TO THE ISLAND OR TO----." - - -Early in the year 1866 the Midharst (Consols) account-book with the -Daneford Bank showed that, after deducting all charges and paying all -expenses, the principal and interest reached the enormous sum of five -hundred and fifty thousand pounds, enough to buy such a property as the -old baronet enjoyed. - -By this time Sir Alexander had passed out of middle life into age. He -was now thin and bent to one side, and very weak, but still firm of -purpose. He had defeated the doctors by living so long; he had defeated -"that ungrateful whelp," as he called his heir-presumptive. Of this -distant cousin he had no knowledge whatever; he declined to listen to -anything about him. Why he called him ungrateful no one ever knew; he -called him a whelp because he was young. It was believed that Sir -Alexander had never in all his life set eyes upon him, or even got an -account of the young man from one who knew him. - -At the time of his wife's death, the baronet made outline enquiries -through his solicitor as to the age and descent of the boy. In the year -of Lady Midharst's death, the boy, whose father had been a poor naval -officer, was aged eight, having been born in 1838. The boy's father had -died at sea. There could not be the shadow of a doubt that this William -Midharst was heir-presumptive, and, if he lived, would inherit the -title and the property, should Sir Alexander die without leaving a son. - -Little of the baronet's time was spent with his daughter; often a whole -week went by, and he did not pass more than an hour of the whole time -with her. She had a suite of rooms for herself, where she lived with -Mrs. Grant, an officer's widow, who knew much of the world, and was now -glad to accept the position of lady's companion to the baronet's only -child. - -Owing to the eccentric life led by Sir Alexander, the facts that he saw -no company and had no intercourse with any of the county families, Maud -never went into society, and was wholly dependent on good sympathetic -little Mrs. Grant for any knowledge she might gain of the great outside -world. Mrs. Grant, who was of a gay and pleasure-loving disposition, -had no patience with the whims and meannesses of the old man. - -"You know, my dear," she said to Maud, as they sat over their tea in -Maud's little drawing-room, "it's all very well for Sir Alexander to go -on saving up money for you, so that you may be a great heiress one of -these days; but that isn't all. He treats you as if you were a girl of -twelve yet. Why, my dear, I had been out three years before I was your -age, and had refused three or four offers. I had, indeed. I know you -don't want offers, my dear; but I did; for I was only a poor rector's -daughter, and hadn't even beauty to help me." - -"Indeed I am sure you must have been wonderfully pretty. You don't know -now nice you look now," replied the girl softly. - -"Ah, well, my dear, after a few seasons you get to know all about your -good looks; and then, my dear, after a few seasons more you get to know -what is of a great deal more consequence, all your defects, or at least -a good many. I don't suppose any woman ever found out all the weak -points in her appearance, and that's a mercy. But as I was saying--what -was I saying?" - -"I think," said Maud, with an expression of great innocence, "that you -were blaming papa for never having given me an opportunity of finding -out the weak points in my personal appearance." - -"Yes, that's it. That is, not quite it. Maud, I won't have you twist -things I say in that way. You know I am always for your good; indeed I -am." - -"I am quite sure of it, dear Mrs. Grant," returned the girl gratefully, -and with a trace of moisture in her large soft eyes, as though she -relented having taken advantage of the other's impetuosity. - -The woman took her hand, and stroked it briskly, and said: - -"There, there, Maud, don't be silly. Look at this very case in point. -Why, you turn sentimental over a few words from an uninteresting -middle-aged woman! Now is that a proper thing in an heiress of twenty? -Why, my dear, you'd have no account to give of offers refused if once -_you_ went out. You'd marry the first booby who asked you, rather than -disoblige him or cause him pain." - -"I shall never marry anyone I do not love," said Maud, with an air of -quiet decision. - -"Maud, be silent; you are only a school-girl, with a lot of sound rules -in your head, and not the least idea of how they are applied, or where. -I tell you _I_ know something of the world and girls and love and -marriage. I tell you, you'd marry the first stupid lout who said to -you: Maud, I love you!" - -"Was the first who proposed to you a stupid lout?" asked the girl -simply. - -"No, he wasn't; at least I did think he was then, but I afterwards knew -that he was the best of them all; and I was often sorry I did not take -him." - -"And did he marry?" - -"Yes; he married a fool." - -"Who had just come out--her first season?" asked Maud, with her hands -folded serenely on her lap. - -"Yes. But how did you guess?" - -"Well, you see, you told me I should marry the first stupid lout who -asked me, and I thought it likely a girl only just out did marry the -stupid lout who proposed first to you." - -"But, dear, I told you he wasn't a stupid lout; then I thought he was -stupid, and was often sorry afterwards--of course I mean before I -married--that I did not accept him." - -"This gives me more hope for my own case. You see, the girl who had only -just come out took the man you thought was a stupid lout, and was right -in taking him." - -Maud looked up and smiled. - -For a moment Mrs. Grant tapped her foot impatiently on the carpet; -looked hither and thither, rose a little hastily, and cried: "Well, -Maud, if you don't think I have a very serious interest in what I say, I -will say----" She paused, and looked at the sweet, half-frightened face -of the girl. All at once her manner underwent a change. She drew near -the girl, and putting her arm round her waist, "I will say," she -continued, "that whoever gets you cannot help loving you. Men are often -bad, Maud darling; but I don't think there is one such a villain and a -fool as to be unkind to you." - -As April of 1866 grew into May, the asthmatic affection from which the -old baronet suffered abated; but the valvular defect of heart increased. -He had fainted three or four times in the month of April, and in May his -debility became so great that he was unable to leave his bed. Other -symptoms now showed themselves, and complicated the case, and so -embarrassed the action of the heart that the doctors declared he must -expect a speedy termination. Towards the end of May the doctors declared -he would never rise from his bed. - -The old man, whose spirit was in arms against these doctors, would not -believe them. Twenty years ago they had told him the same thing. - -They said: No, the circumstances were different. They had then said he -_might_ go at any moment; things were worse than that now. There was no -longer any chance of recovery, and the dread was things would grow -worse. - -The doctors found it necessary to be almost brutally candid with him, -for they had learned he had not yet made his will. - -Insecure as was the tenure upon which he had for the past twenty years -held his life, he had gone on from day to day deferring the arrangement -of his affairs on the grounds that he was too busy, and that if he made -his will now he should have to add codicils according as his savings -increased. His lawyer assured him no such thing was necessary, because, -after all bequests had been mentioned, he could leave his daughter -residuary legatee absolutely or with any provisions and restrictions he -liked to impose. - -As the lawyer had failed in the old time the doctors failed now. But -they were resolved to leave no stone unturned in their attempt to get -him to settle his affairs. The dying man's daughter was too young, and -too timid, and too closely interested in the execution of the document -to think of asking her aid; so they resolved to summon Mrs. Grant, and -request her to press the matter home to the mind of the invalid. - -In the great banqueting-room the three physicians in attendance sat when -it was resolved to invoke Mrs. Grant. - -The vast apartment had been allowed to fall almost into ruins. It was -the finest room in the house, and few houses in either county that -claimed the banks of the Weeslade at this point could boast so noble a -chamber. - -But twenty years of neglect had defiled and defaced the room. The -curtains were faded and worn, the hair grinned through the torn covers -of the fine old oak chairs. Damp had attacked the moulding of the -picture frames, and here and there the moulding had fallen off, leaving -the bones of the discoloured frames exposed to view. The ceiling, formed -of oak cross-beams, with flowers and fruit pieces in the panels, had -felt the corroding touch of wilful Time. Here and there the canvas -bulged off the panel, and hung in loose flabby blisters from the roof. -The fine oak floor had grown dull and woolly for want of use and care. -Sir Alexander kept no servants to look after the apartments he did not -make use of, and refused to allow even beeswax for the floors. - -The dog-irons, which had stood watch over the home-fire of generations -of his name and blood, were rusted. The tapestries hanging across the -doors, here and there torn from their hooks, hung in neglected disorder -from the rods. The hospitable greeting "Welcome," in blue enamel in the -wreath of carved vine-leaves round the top of the huge sideboard, had -lost some of its letters. The glasses of the lamps held by the bronze -Nubian slaves at the doors were reduced to half their number. The -leather thongs lacing the suits of armour that held the groups of -candles at either end of the sideboard had rotted and parted, and the -helmets and back and breast plates gaped at the sutures. - -The chamber smelt like a vault just opened, and, although the weather -was bright and fine, all the furniture, the walls, the floor, felt damp -and slimy. - -As soon as the doctors had finished luncheon, Mrs. Grant was sent for. -She arrived in a state of great agitation; she feared that Sir Alexander -was in the last extremity. - -Dr. Hardy, the senior physician, a pale, soft-voiced, self-contained man -of few words, was the spokesman. He said: - -"You will be glad to hear, and you will be kind enough to inform Miss -Midharst, that there is no cause for any alarm on account of the present -condition of Sir Alexander." - -Mrs. Grant looked infinitely relieved. Strange and unsympathetic a -father as the invalid had been, she did not like the thought of having -to tell anything dreadful about him to Maud. - -"I am glad to hear it. Shall I go at once and tell Miss Midharst the -good news?" - -Dr. Hardy held up his hand with a gesture which said quite plainly: "If -you will be so kind as to confine your attention to me, you may rest -assured of knowing explicitly what I wish to have done in this matter." -Having allowed the gesture a little while to sink into the mind of Mrs. -Grant, he went on with his lips: - -"_But_," he said, with strong emphasis on the conjunction, to show Mrs. -Grant that she had interrupted him, and that he regarded the -interruption as frivolous, "the case has now arrived at that state of -progress when almost at any time the patient's head may be attacked. -Should the head be attacked, Sir Alexander will lose the possession of -those mental gifts and powers which he now possesses undiminished and -unimpaired." - -"Poor child!" cried the widow, thinking of the guileless daughter of the -stricken man. - -"_And_," continued Dr. Hardy, with the same resolute emphasis on the -conjunction, "we consider that he should be at once induced to make his -will, and we have resolved to request you will use your influence with -him. We have tried and failed. May we count on you?" - -Mrs. Grant looked up with a half-amused, half-astonished air. As soon as -she had somewhat recovered from her surprise, she said very earnestly: - -"There is nothing in this world I would not try to do for Miss Midharst; -but there is no more chance of Sir Alexander listening to me on any -business matter than of his asking advice of the wind. He believes women -can and ought to know nothing about business. It would only vex him if I -spoke of anything of the kind to him." - -The poor little woman looked quite distressed and helpless. - -The three men glanced from one to the other in despair. In a few seconds -Dr. Hardy spoke again to the little widow. - -"Is there no friend of the patient's whom you could suggest as likely -to have influence on him? Do you think his lawyer would have weight? We -know how he has secluded himself from the world and his own class, and -that we are not to look among those who would naturally be his friends -for the assistance we now want. Do you think his lawyer would be likely -to succeed with him in this?" - -"I am greatly afraid not. I have heard that--although he has a high -opinion of Mr. Shaw, his lawyer--he would never in any way accept advice -in his affairs beyond legal matters. I understand Sir Alexander has no -personal liking for Mr. Shaw. And he won't speak to any clergyman." - -Again the three men looked at one another in doubt and difficulty. Again -Dr. Hardy spoke: - -"This is a matter of the utmost importance to those who come after Sir -Alexander, and we are most anxious it should be settled, and at once. If -we thought it was a disinclination to make a will, or a determination -not to make one, that kept him back, we should feel no responsibility in -the matter. But he refuses to settle his worldly affairs solely upon the -ground that we are deceived as to his condition of health. Now we are -confident we are right. He will never rise from his bed again. Already -dropsy has made its appearance; at any moment that may, directly or -indirectly, affect the head; in his case it is almost sure to do so at -some time." - -Dr. Hardy paused a moment; then proceeded with more decision than -heretofore: - -"Perhaps you, Mrs. Grant, would be kind enough to ask Miss Midharst if -she could give you the name of anyone on whose advice Sir Alexander -would be likely to rely in an important business affair? You need not -distress Miss Midharst with anything more explicit." - -Mrs. Grant rose with prompt willingness, and hurried away in the -sustaining hope that Maud might be able to solve the difficulty. - -When Mrs. Grant had gone, the three men drew near one of the tall narrow -windows that looked west along the Island and commanded the beautiful -valley of the broad river, and the broad, blue, bright Weeslade itself. - -An everlasting Sabbath filled that luxuriant valley with a peace which -seemed too fine for earth. Because of the height on which the Castle -stood, and its distance from the nearest shore beyond the western end of -the Island, all detail was subdued and lost; nothing was left to trouble -the eye or excite enquiry. The eye could see nothing but broad green -pasturages and vast expanses of emerald grainshoots reaching down to the -river's brink, and sloping softly inward towards the quiet hills that -stood up apart, clad in purple and blue wood, and crowned with violet -uplands lying secure against the azure sky. - -The tide was full; the winds were still; from the trees around through -the open window came the fragrant spices of the may. Above, the lark -took up where all human voices end the praises of the spring. The glory -of inextinguishable youth was in his song, the wild rapture of a -regenerated soul. Below, the sad-throated thrush piped of the mellow -melancholy of a ripe old world that had borne a thousand generations of -men, who had moved all their days through the same narrow and -unsatisfying avenues of desire and passion and final failure to the -richly padded grave. The thrush sang to the earth of those who had died; -the lark sang to the skies of those who shall live for ever. - -Around the three men as they stood by the open window was the mouldering -chamber of an ancient house. On one side lay the decayed old man of a -noble race. On the other side the maiden daughter of that man, who had -smothered up his affectionate visitings under piles of gold, scraped -together for her, for the pride of his lineage. - -Beyond there in the city was ruin. A great bank which had a branch in -Daneford had stopped payment to-day. The three men by the window were -talking of that while they awaited the return of the woman. - -"Dreadful! I am told that the poor Mainwarings are completely ruined by -it." - -"Completely. Fancy old John Musgrave put four thousand pounds into it on -deposit this day week. It will kill him. He had sold out Turks, and was -going to buy United States." - -"Poor old fellow! I do pity him." - -"There was a rumour of one of the local banks being in a bad way. Did -either of you hear it?" - -"Not the Daneford?" - -"No; Grey is safe. Bless me, his father left him a couple of hundred -thousand clear of the business, and he's been making money ever since." - -"Is it the Weeslade Valley?" - -"I don't like to say. It is so dangerous to speak. But there _is_ a -rumour of a local bank, and it's _not Grey's_." - -"No. I should think Grey could stand anything. They say it was always -Grey's system to keep the money near home. It's a commercial and -customers' bank, and not a gad-about among foreign speculations and -bubble manufacturers." - -At that moment Mrs. Grant re-entered the room. - -The three men turned round and went to her. - -"I have seen Miss Midharst, and she says she thinks the person most -likely to have influence with Sir Alexander is Mr. Grey the banker." - -"A most excellent man," said Dr. Hardy, turning to the other two. "What -do you think?" - -"Capital!" - -"No one could be better." - -Dr. Hardy spoke to Mrs. Grant for the last time on that occasion. "Send -a note by express to Mr. Grey, requesting him to come immediately. -Explain to him what our views are, and ask him to do his best to induce -Sir Alexander to make his will." - -In less than an hour and a half Mr. Grey received Mrs. Grant's letter. -It merely said that his presence was urgently desired at the Castle at -once, and that by hurrying he would greatly oblige Sarah Grant. - -He was in his private room at the Bank when he read the letter. He -opened his private black bag. Bank proprietors do not always carry -firearms, in fact rarely, almost never. Clerks in charge of money often -do. Grey always carried a revolver--now. - -"He can't have heard of his Consols? In that case he would have written -himself or come. What can this be?--so sudden, so urgent, and from Mrs. -Grant! Perhaps the failure of the St. George's has frightened him. If he -asks me to give up the money now! Ah, I can't face that! No, no! This -first," and he took a revolver out of his bag. - -Again he thought awhile, and ended with a question: "Shall I go to the -Island or to----?" He poised the revolver. - -As he did so there was a knock at the door. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -TRUSTEE TO CANCELLED PAGES. - - -"Come in," said the banker mechanically, and his mother entered. - -With a start Mr. Grey's mother cried out "Henry!" then crossed the room -hastily, and, putting her hand on his arm, looked up into his face with -alarm. - -With an amused smile he glanced down at her, and said simply, "Mother?" -in a tone of badinage, as if paying her off in her own coin by replying -to her with a single word. - -"What was that you held in your hand and dropped into the bag as I came -in?" she asked with reproachful earnestness, looking up fixedly into -his eyes, as though she would pierce to his innermost thoughts. - -He put his hand on her shoulder playfully, and smoothed one of the black -silk strings of her black bonnet with his thumb and finger, returning -her steady gaze with a steady eye and a free smile. "That, mother," he -answered, "is the countersign for thieves." - -"The countersign for thieves! What do you mean, Henry; you ought not to -bandy words with your mother." - -"Indeed, I am not playing with words. I am only describing the weapon -and its use as briefly as possible. I was looking at my revolver, for I -was just about to set out on a journey. You see, if a thief comes up to -a man armed with a revolver, and demands the man's purse, the man -produces that revolver, and the thief says, "Pass on, friend." If a -thief who has stolen money meets the man he stole it from, or a -policeman, and can pull out a revolver, then he can say to the man or -the policeman, "Let me pass, or I will shoot you down;" or suppose the -thief finds the odds are against him, he can put the barrel to his own -temple, and pass the foe in spite of numbers. Now, mother, don't you -think my explanation is very clever and very exhaustive?" - -He placed his two hands on the widow's shoulders, and pushed her back -arm's length, dropped his head roguishly over his shoulder, and laughed -a soft laugh, which seemed to invite her to enjoy his cleverness and be -amused at the humour of the explanation. - -Mrs. Grey did not smile. For a moment her face grew puckered and -perplexed. In her eyes shone the light of a mental conflict between -anger and tears. The conflict ended in a few moments. She threw herself -into a chair and covered her face with her hands. She neither stormed -nor wept. - -He hastened to her with compunctious solicitude. He knelt on one knee by -her side, and put his powerful arm round her emaciated shoulders, and -with the hand of his other arm gently drew down her hands from her face. - -"Mother! mother!" he pleaded, in a tone of passionate tenderness. "I did -not mean to annoy or trouble you. I was only a little wilfully following -out a fancy, a conceit. It was a foolish vanity that made me seem to -play with your questions. You know, my own mother, I would not give you -any pain I could help, for all the world. Forgive me, and let us drop -the nonsense. Forgive me, and let us speak of something else." - -All the earnestness of this man's nature went into these words, and -there was in them and the manner attending them a fervid pathos which -stirred the heart of the woman so deeply it almost killed her to keep -from crying out, and throwing her arms round her son, and weeping on his -breast. But by a superhuman effort, an effort no created being could -make but a mother for the salvation of a child, she held her passionate -love within her own heart; for, according to her theory, so must all -women who wish to rule their children; and she wanted to rule, not for -the love of power, but for the love of love and the preservation of her -son. - -She gave one quick glance at him out of those sharp eyes, and then -throwing down the eyes on the ground, said in a constrained voice: - -"The St. George's Banking Company has failed. There is a run on the -Daneford. You are unable to meet that run, and you were thinking of -getting away from the run and the closing of the doors with----that." -She shuddered, raised her hand, and pointed to the black bag into which -he had dropped the revolver. - -"No! no! no! mother!" he cried imploringly. "I pledge you my word--if -you like I will prove to you--that we are able to meet any run that may -come upon us in consequence of this failure. If you like I will call in -Aldridge to corroborate my words." - -"Corroborate your word, Henry!" she cried scornfully. "Do you think I -could doubt my son's word, and believe the word of any other man alive! -Never while I live, I hope, shall you fall so pitifully low as to need -another man's word to help your word to my belief." She laid hold of the -imputed question of her son's word as a point on which to rally her -disordered feelings and overcome the tendency she felt to break down. - -"Well, mother, rest assured this run threatens us with no danger -whatever. On the contrary, as we are able to meet it without the least -inconvenience, the position of the Bank ought to be very materially -improved when all becomes quiet again." He rose and left her as he -spoke, and locked the two doors of the room, observing: "We don't want -anyone to come in and interrupt us now." - -By the time he returned to his seat she had recovered her composure. -"Then what do you mean by 'setting out on a journey?' Those words helped -me into the fear." - -As a reply to that question, he pushed the note he had just received -from Mrs. Grant across the table to her, and said: "Read that, and you -will understand." - -She adjusted her tortoiseshell spectacles and read the note -deliberately. When she had finished she looked up quickly. - -He was standing at the window looking out. His back was towards her, and -she could not see his face. It was wrinkled and drawn up like a yellow -leaf. - -"Do you know what you are wanted for at the Castle?" she asked briskly. - -"No." - -"What has happened to your voice?" she asked, in a tone of anxiety and -surprise. He had spoken as though his windpipe was almost closed in a -gripe. - -"Nothing; or at least something has gone against my--breath. What am I -wanted for at the Castle?" Still he spoke as if half suffocated. Still -he kept his face to the window. Still his face was wrinkled and yellow -and withered up. - -"I met Dr. Hardy as I came in. He had just driven straight back from the -Castle. There has been a consultation of doctors to-day, and they have -little or no hope of Sir Alexander getting better. He has not yet made -his will, and they all agreed you were the only person likely to have -any influence with him. They could get him to do nothing about it." - -Grey's face cleared as if by magic. He turned round suddenly, threw up -both his hands, and burst into a loud and continuous shout of laughter. - -His mother started to her feet, and looked at him aghast. "Henry!" she -cried, in great alarm; "Henry, what is the matter?" - -"Nothing, mother, nothing," he said between his laughter; "I thought it -was something serious." - -She regarded him in a stupor of amazement for a few seconds. "You -thought it was something serious," she whispered, as if she questioned -her hearing. - -"Yes, something very serious." - -"But it is very serious. He is in danger of death, and has not yet made -his will. Surely that, Henry, is no subject for laughter." - -He was composed now. His face was radiant, and he smiled apologetically -as he said: "You must really forgive me, dear mother. The fact is, for -the past quarter of an hour I have been on such a stretch in the -interview between us that to hear of anything else but my own affairs -relieved me, and I could not help laughing. I did not, indeed, laugh at -the thought of poor Sir Alexander being ill; I pity him with all my -heart. But what you said touched some spring of my mind, and I could no -more have forborne to laugh than to breathe for an hour. Well, I think I -had better start for the Island at once. You now feel all right about -the Bank? You feel quite comfortable about it, mother, don't you?" - -"Yes, but do not be so odd, Henry; you frighten me to death with your -strange ways of late." - -"I have a good deal of anxiety, and perhaps am too abrupt. More of my -abruptness: I can't wait another moment. Good-bye, mother." - -And in a few seconds he had gone. - -When she found herself alone, she sat down to recover and to reflect. -"Every day," she thought, "he becomes less like his old self, and more -of a riddle." - -Her eyes caught something on the table. - -"When I came in he told me he was examining that dreadful thing because -he was going on a journey, and now he's gone off and left it behind him -in the bag on that table. Can it be he is losing his reason?" - -When Mr. Grey found himself outside the Bank-door he hailed the nearest -fly, jumped in, and cried cheerily to the driver: - -"Island Ferry, and I lay you a half-crown to a whip-lash you don't do it -under half an hour. Take the time and drive on." - -With a chuckle of grave satisfaction, the banker threw himself back in -the fly, and as they drove rapidly through the town he waved his hand or -doffed his hat at every twenty yards. There was cordiality in every look -that greeted him, and many who saw him go by turned and gazed with -admiration and envy after the fine rich jovial banker. - -No wonder he looked pleased. An hour ago, less than an hour ago, he had, -upon reading that note, almost come to the conclusion Sir Alexander -Midharst had discovered he, Grey, had "borrowed" every penny of the -immense sum confided to his charge by the baronet. Such a discovery -would have been to him simply and literally fatal. - -Early in this year, when he disclosed the secret of the Bank to his -mother, he and it were bankrupt, and all the depositors' money was gone. -Pressure after pressure had come upon him after that, and all such -demands had been met by "borrowing" the baronet's savings without the -baronet's consent. - -Three months ago he was a bankrupt, now he was a bankrupt and a thief. -He had no more right to sell those Consols than to put his hand into any -customer's pocket and take his purse. He had glided into the thing -gradually, beginning by borrowing twenty thousand pounds, which he -caused to be lodged to his own credit at his London agents in the name -of Barrington, Ware, and Duncan, an imaginary firm of Boston merchants, -who remitted the money through their London agent on account of -supposititious dealings in hides on the western coast of the United -States. - -The twenty thousand had only stopped the gap for a few days. Then -heavier and heavier bills came to maturity, and before there was any -general uneasiness in the commercial world, one hundred thousand pounds -of the baronet's savings had been "borrowed." - -Then came ugly rumours of certain banking establishments; and although -the Daneford Bank was always spoken of with the highest esteem in the -district, the city, and in such quarters of London as it was known, the -accommodation market had got very much straitened, and the Daneford -Bank's London agents not only hinted they did not care to make any -additional advances, but sounded Grey as to the possibility of their -being able to get a little advance from him. Could he let them have -fifty thousand for six weeks on Argentines they did not want to sell? - -Here was a chance of showing the stability of his own concern and -helping a friendly firm which might be of incalculable use to him -another time. Now that he had dipped into the Midharst fund, why not go -deeper? He could make something out of this transaction; and it was for -the good of Sir Alexander as well as himself that he should try to pull -back all the money he could, and keep the name of the Bank at the very -highest level. He lent the money. - -Then came other pressures because of those old speculations, a quarter -of million at least; and last, more uneasy rumours in the financial -world, and the possibility of a run on the Bank. At all risks the Bank -must stand; for on its stability depended not only the life of Henry -Walter Grey, but all chance of winning back any portion of the baronet's -money. - -When the moment of this decision arrived Grey put down his last stake; -sold the last hundred thousand of Sir Alexander's half a million -Consols, and bought the revolver. As he put the matter to himself in his -figurative way, the situation now was a race between gold and lead. -Would the gold, in the form of profits and deposits, come back to him in -such quantities as to prevent the necessity for the outgoing of the -lead? - -It was on Wednesday, the 30th of May, 1866, he got that note from Mrs. -Grant. He had just been calculating his chances of falling in for some -of the business of the St. George's Bank. He had even put down a few -figures to please and flatter his sight. It might be that if he could -hold on and get--say, half the business of the Daneford branch of the -St. George's Bank, the chance of the gold overtaking the lead would be -enormously increased. All this was of course contingent upon Sir -Alexander remaining in ignorance of the "borrowing." If that came to his -ears in any way, nothing could prevent the lead overtaking the gold. - -That note almost precipitated the crisis. In the usual way when he was -wanted at the Castle Sir Alexander wrote a line himself, or called and -asked the banker down for the evening. This note did not come from Sir -Alexander, but from Miss Midharst's companion. At the moment when his -mother entered a straw might have turned his resolution in favour of -giving the lead a walk-over. But with the news brought by his mother all -was changed, and the gold had taken a good lead. - -As he sat back in the fly and reviewed his position he could hardly -restrain his exultation within the bounds of mere facial joy. He would -have liked to get out and run through the streets, and shout. - -A few minutes ago he held all black cards to a red trump. Now the whole -pack seemed to have been put before him face up, with liberty to select -his own hand and turn a trump of his own choosing. - -No run could injure the Daneford Bank; other banks might fail, but his -was secure for the time; and by the aid of its good substantial name the -Daneford would get strong while others were crumbling, and the future -success of the Bank would be assured beyond the reach of his highest -hope of years ago. - -Only two possible chances were against him, and if neither of these -chances turned up within twelve months he might laugh at fate. - -The former was that in the will there should be introduced anything -adverse to him. The latter was that the old man should die in less than -twelve months, and leave it incumbent on the banker to render an account -and deliver up the money before the end of twelve months. - -Grey had fully made up his mind as to the necessity for a will. Without -a will there would in all likelihood be Chancery proceedings; and while -no one in Daneford would dream of suspecting Grey, or ask details of the -account, much less verification of the items, the Chancery folk will go -through the whole affair as a matter of routine, and not as a matter of -precaution, or because of any suspicion. - -Let there be a will, by all means. - -It was fine to drive through the bright sunlight of that glorious May -weather, and feel that the gold was overtaking the lead. It was better -than recovering from a long illness; it was coming back, to life and -green fields and the voices of birds and the pressure of hands we love, -out of the dark, damp, noisome tomb. - -When Mr. Grey arrived at Island Ferry he alighted, told the driver of -the fly to wait for him, and took the boat to the Island. - -As soon as he arrived at the Castle he was shown into the dreary -deserted banquet-room. - -Here he found irrepressible little Mrs. Grant waiting for him. After -some time he gathered from her how matters stood, and sent up his name -to the sick man. - -Sir Alexander would see Mr. Grey. - -When the banker reached the room where the baronet lay, he was greatly -shocked at the change which had taken place in the latter since the last -time they had met, although that was only a few days ago. - -There had always been a bright bloom, the bloom of old age heightened -and deepened by the malady which afflicted him chronically, on the old -man's face. Now the cheeks were puffed and purple, and the eyes, once so -keen and cold, were dull and restless and impatient. - -The long thin sinewy hands lay outside the counterpane, and the voice of -the sufferer when he spoke was tremulous, querulous, making a painful -contrast to the firm, clear, thin, biting speech of other days. - -After the usual greetings and Grey's expression of sorrow for his -indisposition, the old man spoke quickly, and in an unsteady voice. - -"These doctors have been worrying me to-day, Grey, and I am very glad -you have come. I want to talk to you. Pull that curtain a little across -the window; I hate the sunlight. Thank you, Grey. Sit down now, where I -can see you. It's a comfort to look at a man like you after those false -prophets and hoarse ravens. The doctors have been with me, Grey; and -they tell me I should make my will. Now I'm not talking to you as a -medical man, but as a man of business. What do you say?" - -"Have you spoken to Mr. Shaw about the matter?" asked the banker softly. - -"No; I have not spoken to Shaw about it. I hate lawyers," cried the old -man pettishly. - -"If I hated lawyers," returned Grey, with a shy smile, "I should not be -without a will for four-and-twenty hours." - -"Why?" demanded the old man, with a contraction of the brows and a -glance of suspicion directed at an imaginary group of lawyers. - -"You know, Sir Alexander, lawyers have a special prayer, asking for the -management of intestate estates." He raised his eyebrows and smiled -archly at the prostrate man. - -"I don't understand you, Grey. These doctors, with their fears and their -jargon, have confused me. What do you mean?" - -For a moment the banker looked at the baronet uneasily. Could it be that -already his mind was becoming clouded or torpid? After a moment's -observation and thought, Grey decided that the old man was only dazed -and tired. - -"What I mean, Sir Alexander, is, that in cases where there is no will, -the law-costs often consume the whole estate, and _always_ eat up -enormously more money than where there is a sound will." - -The old man reflected awhile. - -"Have you made your own will?" he asked. - -"Certainly. I could not rest if I thought what little fortune I may have -should, instead of going to my wife, be scattered about in this and that -court, in this and that litigation. As I go home the ferry-boat may -overturn and I may be drowned, the horse may run away and I may be -killed. Making a will has with me no connection with good or bad health. -It is a business thing which ought, on the principle of economy, to be -done in time. In nothing more than in making a will is it true that a -stitch in time saves nine?" - -There was a long pause. - -"Grey!" - -"Yes, Sir Alexander." - -"You helped me to put this fortune together for my daughter." - -A bow of deprecation. - -"You have been ten years now taking care of it for her." - -"Yes, Sir Alexander." What was coming now? Could all this be a _ruse_? -Was this serene interview to end in a storm of intolerable ruin? Had -this old man been leading up with deceiving equanimity to some -prodigious burst, some unendurable tempest of reproach? - -"Will you go still farther?" - -"In what way?" - -"Will you act as one of the executors, the chief--no, as the sole, as -sole trustee and guardian?" - -"What! Sir Alexander, Sir Alexander, are you--are you trifling with me? -If you are, give it up. I cannot, I will not, be trifled with." His -face shrivelled up, and he covered it in his hands. For that brief space -he thought all had been discovered. - -"What I say I mean. Why should I trifle with you? If I am to die or be -killed, let me die with the knowledge that the fortune of my child will -be as safe when I am dead as it is now. Will you do this, Grey, for me?" - -"I will." - -"Then you may tell Shaw to come. Go to him at once. I wish to make my -will." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -WAT GREY'S ROMANCE DIES OUT. - - -Mr. Grey's drive to Castle Ferry had been an excursion to meet victory; -his return to Daneford was a triumphant progress. - -Now it seemed to him nothing short of a conspiracy between fate and -accident could wreck him. The two chances which had threatened him with -ruin had melted into thin air. Nothing adverse to him would be in the -will, and not only that, but from the day of Sir Alexander's death until -the coming of age of Miss Midharst he would have absolute control of -affairs, and every chance of making good the sum he had abstracted. The -gold was going to beat the lead at a walk. - -The financial world was now in a state of deplorable despondency, but -that condition of things could not last for ever. There was of course no -prospect of his making a tenth part of the half a million profit during -the twelve months; but the St. George's Bank was gone, and deposits -would come flowing in, and having obliged his London agents in their -need, they could not refuse him anything in reason by-and-by. After -riding out the bad times his credit would be so firmly established that -he could get money on the best terms to build up the horrible gap he had -made. He could borrow to replace what he had stolen. - -"I shall win now, and I shall win easily," he thought, as he drove -through the bright fresh air towards Daneford; "and by the time there is -another dissolution, who can tell but I may take one of the seats for -the city, if it is offered to me." - -He went straight to Mr. Shaw, and told that gentleman how Sir Alexander -Midharst desired to see him with a view to making his will, and how the -client, although in no immediate danger of death, was nevertheless in a -state of health which made it highly desirable his worldly affairs -should be put in order as quickly as possible. - -Mr. Shaw visited the Castle that evening, wrote from the baronet's -dictation, and on Monday, the 4th of June, 1866, the will was signed by -Sir Alexander in the presence of two competent witnesses, who, in the -presence of the testator and of one another, affixed their signatures. - -A few days afterwards Mr. Gray met the lawyer. - -"Well," said the banker, with one of his easiest smiles, "did you do -what was required at the Castle?" - -"Yes," answered the white-haired solicitor, who was tremulous, and had a -disconcerting way of shutting his eyes and consulting imaginary internal -Acts of Parliament when he spoke. He was not by nature communicative, -and he held in rigid regard all professional etiquette; but Mr. Henry -Walter Grey was a very exceptional man, and, moreover, the testator had -told him Mr. Grey had consented to act as guardian and trustee; -therefore he did not feel he committed any impropriety in adding: "Sir -Alexander appears to share public feeling in your favour, and to place -unlimited confidence in our most careful banker." - -"You are very kind," returned Mr. Grey, with his most cordial smile. "As -you know, our establishment has been a long time connected with the -Castle, and when Sir Alexander asked me to act, it would look -ungracious in me to refuse." - -"It's a heavy responsibility." - -"Oh, as far as the responsibility goes----" He did not finish the -sentence in words, but with a shrug of his shoulders, as much as to say: -"We bankers are accustomed to grave responsibilities." Then the two -parted. - -From this conversation Grey not only gathered that the will had been -made, but also that under it he had been appointed executor and trustee -to the document and the estate, and guardian to the heiress. - -What more could he require to put his mind at rest? - -And yet as the days went on he was far from easy. Many things caused him -trouble and made him anxious. The gloom over the financial world -deepened instead of lifting. The ordinary depositors grew shyer and -shyer, as crash followed crash, and house followed house, in the awful -ruin of the time. - -No one breathed a word against the Daneford Bank; all who spoke of it -acknowledged its position unassailable; still its business showed no -vast increase, no such increase as would help Grey out of the whirlpool -into which he had been drawn, although the Bank's borrowing power had -been secured. - -From bad, things went to worse. As the year wore on, some of his best -customers began to feel the pressure of the times. Instead of finding -funds flowing into the Bank in unexampled abundance, money ran out. - -Old respectable firms now came to him and asked to be helped over the -disastrous period. They brought this security and that, and begged for -advances. If the name and fame of the Bank were to be magnified, this -was the time to do it. He had still funds enough to make the Bank proof -against contingency; over and above this he had a little margin, not -much, but most useful. - -About the middle of June the Weeslade Steamship Company quarrelled with -their bankers, the Weeslade Valley Bank. The Steamship Company wanted an -advance of five thousand pounds on the river steamboat _Rodwell_, which -carried passengers between Daneford and Seacliff. The Weeslade Valley -Bank refused. The Steamship Company withdrew their account from the -Valley Bank, and offered their business to the Daneford Bank. The -account was opened in the Daneford, and the advance was made by mortgage -on the _Rodwell_, the Steamship Company paying interest on the advance, -and depositing with the mortgage a policy of insurance against total -loss by water or weather. - -Towards the end of June the Daneford Bank's London agent failed, by -which the Bank lost a clear twenty thousand pounds, besides losses by -delay in getting a dividend. This was very serious. It caused a run on -the Daneford Bank. In three days thirty thousand pounds were withdrawn -in excess of average draughts. - -On the morning of the third day the Daneford Bank issued a circular -which took the town by storm. The circular was brief, and ran as -follows: - - "Thursday, 28th June, 1866. - - "THE DANEFORD BANK. - - "Take notice, owing to the fact that a run has begun on the - Daneford Bank, the offices of that Bank will be opened every - morning at eight instead of nine, and will be closed at seven - instead of four p.m., until this run has ceased. - - "HENRY WALTER GREY." - -This circular was town talk the next day. The admirers of Wat were more -enthusiastic than ever in their praises of his boldness and wisdom. This -circular killed the panic, and on Saturday of the same week the drawings -had shrunk back to an average. Yet for another week the Bank was kept -open from eight in the morning till seven in the evening. - -On Monday, the 9th of July, a second circular was issued from the Bank, -saying that as the run had ceased for a week the office hours for the -future would be as of old, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. - -But, although the run had ceased, upwards of thirty thousand pounds had -been withdrawn, and only five thousand found its way back again, and -that was decidedly bad. The Bank was not in the least jeopardy. Sir -Alexander Midharst's half a million had saved it; but the baronet's -money was not only not returning, but the balance of it in hand began -to run low. - -Notwithstanding all this business pressure and the perilous position in -which Grey stood, no one could detect in his face or manner a clue to -the anxiety which consumed him. Still he was the same joyous companion, -the same jovial host, the same considerate employer, the same liberal -patron. - -To his mother he displayed the best view of his position. He showed her -how the steamship business had fallen in to him because he was in funds -and could give accommodation beyond the power of his local rival. He -admitted the loss in London, but pointed out how the loss and the run, -taken together, must end in great advantage to his Bank. - -She heard not only his story, but, from all who spoke to her on the -subject, congratulations upon the Bank's position and his great -prudence and good sense. He told her the money from Boston had not only -saved him, but had so improved his resources that the Bank was now in -fully as good a position as at any time during his father's lifetime. - -Hard as the business affairs of Mr. Grey pressed upon him, and difficult -as he felt the burden, they were not all the troubles he had to endure. - -In order to prevent bankruptcy he had committed fraud. Up to this time -he had carried on that fraud without exciting a hint of suspicion. The -man whose money he had appropriated to his own use not only felt no -misgivings as to the safety of his vast hoard, but had recently lavished -upon him, Grey, the last proofs of implicit confidence when placing -practically all that fortune and the care of the heiress in his hands. - -But, as well as the pressure of his business and the weight of his -crime, he had other difficulties to endure. He still entertained his -friends with his usual hospitality and good grace, but the condition of -the inner circle of his domestic life grew daily harder and harder to -bear. - -The eccentricity of Mrs. Grey developed with time, and, still more -unfortunately, the terrible infirmity to which she had given way -increased upon her with the years. - -She was childless; she was alone all day in that great strange house; -few people called upon her, and she rarely went out. Her husband was -always kind in manner towards her, and she could ask for nothing he -would not get her. But she knew he and she were not one, that they never -had been one, that they never could be one. - -Mr. Grey did not lunch at home, so that Mrs. Grey usually had luncheon -by herself, except upon the rare occasions when one of her few -acquaintances called and stayed. - -Seldom Mr. Grey dined out; often he had someone to dine with him, and -often he gave parties. All this caused Mrs. Grey to be much by herself, -and solitude was, for one of her disposition and tendency, fatal. - -By little and little the disastrous habit grew. It was most carefully -concealed from the servants. At first Grey had tried to effect a cure; -then, despairing of that, he strove with all his skill to avoid a -scandal. - -With that view he had a little cupboard fitted up in the only room -furnished in the Tower. For this cupboard he got two keys--one for -himself, and one for his wife. In giving her the key he had said -quietly: - -"In future you will find the wine for ordinary purposes in the new -cupboard; so that you may not have the trouble of sending to the cellar -for it, or in case I am out and you want more than is decanted, you can -get it there. You will always have some there without sending to the -cellar for it." - -"But we don't want any more than is decanted--so few people call," said -the wife tremulously. - -"I know, I know. But someone may call, and as I keep the key of the -cellar you might find yourself in a difficult position. Take this key of -the cupboard, and here is the key of the room itself; there is only one -other key, and I have that. The room is the quietest in the whole house. -_The door locks on either the in or the outside._ The room is -comfortably done up, and you can make any use you please of it. If you -feel worried, or not very well, and wish to get away from the annoyance -of the servants, you can go and lie down a while there." - -These precautions were deplorable and degrading. All the love he had -once borne this woman had died; and although he carefully concealed his -feelings towards her, he had at last come to regard her with loathing. - -She was in no way responsible for the disasters which had fallen on his -business; she furnished no excuse for the crime he had committed, but -she was one of the elements in his misfortune; and now that she had -fallen into an odious fault, he resolved to put no impediment in her -downward career, so long as her descent did not become apparent or -public. - -It was a sad development of the romantic and chivalric story of Wat -Grey's wooing. But then, so long as Daneford knew nothing of the decay -of that romance or the decline of that chivalry, the fact that both -were going--gone, was of little moment to Wat Grey. - -His embezzlement of the money had taught him that damaging facts had -no injurious influence with the public--so long as the facts were -carefully concealed. He found crime an easier burden than he had -expected, and in place of his old dread of crime itself he had now a -dread of disclosure only. If he had grown to hate his wife, what -then--so long as no one knew of it. - -Up to this point Fate seemed to have played deliberately into his hands. -He had ruined himself in Southern expectations, Fate had put more than -half a million of money into his power, and he had extricated his -fortune. An unlucky turn of the die might have betrayed him, and given -him up to worse destruction than the former, but all came round as -though he had the ordering of events. Not only was there to be no -immediate call for that money, no immediate investigation into accounts -with a checking of documents and an examination of affairs, but he was -appointed supreme custodian of the whole property, and, for upwards of a -year from the old man's death, no enquiry disadvantageous to him could -be set on foot. - -Suppose the old man were to die soon, and business were to keep on the -disastrous lines it had adopted of late? What then? - -What then? - -Many and many a day he put that question to himself in the morning -before he broke his fast; and again at night before he went to bed he -repeated this terrible question--unanswered. - -And the more he pondered over this question the less he liked to look at -the answer. Not that the simple and direct answer appalled him, for -that had been familiar to his mind for some time; the simple answer was, -Ruin--Self-imposed Death. - -That was the positive answer to the question; but that did not affright -him _now_, though it had terrified him at first. - -He was still what might be called a young man, for he carried his -five-and-forty years more easily than many another man carried thirty. -He was not a whit insensible to the many physical and social personal -advantages he possessed. He knew he was a favourite wherever he went. He -knew he was good-looking. He knew he was clever. - -He knew he was married. - -His wife had brought him nothing worth speaking of--not position, -happiness. He had been everything to her, and how poorly had she -requited him! It was only by the utmost care he avoided a damning -scandal alighting upon his name through her. - -Fortune had favoured him up to this. Would Fortune be his friend still -further? Was it too much to hope that another great piece of good luck -might await him? - -There was one sure way out of all his danger and difficulties, if he had -only been a single man: there was Maud. - -If, when Sir Alexander died, he were a bachelor, he might marry Maud. -She knew nothing of the world, and he knew she liked him. There would be -no need for his ruin if he were only a bachelor. - -It was beyond the power of Fate to make him a bachelor; but suppose Fate -should take away that unloved wife, that great danger to his name, that -great stumbling-block in the way of his successful progress? - -_Then?_ What then? Answer: He should marry Maud, and so wipe out the -history of his crime. - -Would chance or accident, would Heaven or Hell, or whatever else he -might call it, take away from him this woman who was a curse and burden, -and give him that woman who would bring him deliverance? - -Such thoughts had long haunted his mind before he had heard on that 17th -of August the voices which assailed and tempted him in tremendous tones; -that day on which the fate of the steamboat _Rodwell_ and of Beatrice -his wife, of the Weird Sisters and the Towers of Silence, became sealed -together for ever. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -A FLASK OF COGNAC. - - -When the Weeslade Valley Bank declined to advance five thousand pounds -on the Weeslade Steamship Company's river passenger-boat the _Rodwell_, -they had two reasons for the refusal: first, they were not prepared to -lock up money at the time; second, a report reached them that the -_Rodwell_ was in bad condition. - -In the winter of the year 1865 the _Rodwell_ had lain up, undergoing -repairs, and then the discovery was made that her condition was far from -satisfactory. Many of her plates were no thicker than brown-paper, and -just at the bends aft the point of a scraper had absolutely gone -through a plate. - -The boilers, too, were found to be in an unsatisfactory condition, and -the machinery needed thorough overhauling. - -But they wanted the boat for the summer traffic, and had no time to get -all she required done before the fine weather; so she was patched for -the time, the intention being to lay her up the following autumn and put -her in good repair; in the meantime one new boiler was to be made for -her. - -Towards the middle of April she began running as usual with passengers -between Daneford and Seacliff. - -On her third trip she broke down; something went wrong with her -machinery, and she had to be towed into Seacliff by another steamer. - -As this accident occurred early in the season there were few passengers, -and little excitement arose from the circumstance. - -Almost the whole trade of the _Rodwell_ consisted of carrying seaside -folk from Daneford to Seacliff and back again. She sailed every week-day -of the season from Seacliff to Daneford at half-past seven in the -morning, and from Daneford to Seacliff at half-past six in the -afternoon. Many of the business men of the city kept their families all -the season at Seacliff, they themselves coming and going between the -little town and the city daily, and enjoying the advantages of sleeping -in sea-freshened air and two bright pleasant sails of a couple of hours -each in the day. - -When, in overhauling the _Rodwell_ in 1865, they found the boilers in -not a satisfactory condition, they took off five pounds of steam. -"Better to be sure than sorry," they said. This reduction of steam made -the _Rodwell_ slower in 1866 than in previous years. - -On Tuesday, the 14th of August, 1866, the engineer of the _Rodwell_ made -a report to the owners, and was directed to work her at another five -pounds' reduction of pressure. - -When Grey advanced the five thousand pounds on the mortgage he made no -enquiry into her condition. He knew the boat very well, had many times -travelled by her between Daneford and Seacliff. He knew she was worth -more than the money asked for, and as no mortgage existed upon her he -felt he should be quite secure if the company ensured her, and handed -him a policy for five thousand pounds. His position was that if the -company did not pay the interest on his money and his money itself, -ultimately he could seize the _Rodwell_; and if the steamboat were lost -by any chance of wind or water he should get his money from the -insurance company. - -Mr. Grey was as familiar with the steamboat _Rodwell_ as any man in -Daneford. He had often spent the summer months with his wife at -Seacliff, and had been a passenger in the boat hundreds of times. He -knew all the men employed on her; he knew every exterior brass plate and -hinge and bolt. He could go about her blindfold, and steer her up or -down the river. He didn't understand machinery, but often said he could -command, steer, and attend to the engines all by himself, and save the -wages of the crew. - -Daneford was proud of all its institutions, and after Wat there were few -it felt more complaisant about than the pretty town and picturesque -scenery of Seacliff and the faithful _Rodwell_, the town being regarded -as the country sweetheart, the milkmaid lover of the city, and the -steamboat as the Mercury of the love-making. - -It was Grey's intention to spend the month of September, 1866, at -Seacliff. He did not own a house there. It had been his custom to rent a -small white cottage that hung half-way down a red cliff surrounding one -of the blue bays clustering around the high headland on which the white -town was built. - -He did not regard his sojourn at Seacliff with any lively anticipations. -It was pleasant to steam up and down the blue river between the sunlit -green shores, through the sweet odours from the woods and hedges -freshened and spiritualised by the full broad river. The morning swim in -the strong sea-water brought the sense of health and vigour and power -into his frame. The breakfast, ample, well cooked, appetising, with -blithe company, full of inspiriting talk and resolute happiness, in the -steamer's cabin, would cure a misanthrope and buoy the heart of a cynic. -The joyous solemnity of that cigar on deck afterwards would reconcile an -anchorite to comfort. Yet for all these advantages Henry Walter Grey did -not like his season at Seacliff. - -The evening voyage was no less to be enjoyed. After the dust and worry -of the city's day it was good to feel the moist winds blowing through -your hair, against your forehead; to hear the cooling swirl of the water -at the bow, and the far-off wash of the steamer's swells upon the -shadowy shore; to watch the crimson sunset, and the coming of the -pale-blue stars, and the red moon that, slowly rising from the hot earth -to the limpid sky, grew mild and fair, while under it the white earth -sailed silent down the ocean of the dark; to feel the hallowed peace of -night ascending from earth to God. - -But it ruined all to know in that cottage above the bay on the ledge of -red cliff one waited who was no companion, yet bound to him for life; to -know year by year the chasm between them widened; and that above that -chasm hung a spirit of evil, the bad angel of a terrible weakness, which -might at any moment become visible to all those standing by, and ruin -her, and bring on him pity--pity, that boneless scorn more unendurable -than contempt or loathing. - -In the deep seclusion of the Manor, Grey felt the skeleton in his house -was pretty safely hidden; here in Seacliff there were innumerable -chances of discovery. It is more than likely he would not have gone to -Seacliff in the summer if by any possibility he could safely avoid it. -But all the well-off people of Daneford went every year to the little -town, and to depart from the custom would be to attract a dangerous -attention to himself and his household. It had been his custom of former -years to stay at Seacliff for three months of summer; but in the year -1866 he resolved to limit his stay to one month--the month of September. - -When he and she were at home in the Manor House, she was more directly -under his control, immediately under his observation. But on leaving -Seacliff in the morning he was always weighed down by the dread that in -this little town of much gossip something might leak out while he was -away. She might go into the town, and in some incautious way betray her -fault, and destroy all the respect people felt for her--all the respect -they felt for his wife. - -What an awful millstone to carry about with one! Fancy the men at the -street-corners chatting together, or groups standing at the Chamber of -Commerce windows, or the members of the Club, or his own staff at the -Bank, looking after him with compassionate eyes, and saying: "Poor Wat! -How sad and worn and broken-down he looks! What a wretched thing! What a -dreadful thing when a man's wife is a--drunkard!" - -The last word was always haunting his ears, always booming in the hollow -caverns through which his fears followed him during sleep; and although -the habit of Mrs. Grey had not yet become so confirmed as to justify the -application of such an odious epithet, her case was growing no better, -growing rather worse with time. - -All the Midharst money was gone. Her fault was at most a vice; but he -had committed a crime. He lay between two fears; he was threatened by -two discoveries. Someone might find out about her, and blast the fame -of the Manor House; someone might find out about him, and blast the -Daneford Bank, and lock him up in jail, and brand the name he bore with -ignominy. - -In such a state of mind was Grey when the 16th of August arrived and -evening brought him home. The husband and wife sat down alone to dinner, -sat down alone to the last dinner they were ever to eat together. - -"Bee," said Grey to his wife, when the dessert had been brought in and -the servants had gone, "do you think you could go down to Seacliff in -the _Rodwell_ to-morrow evening, and look up the cottage? I saw the -estimable and penurious landlord of it to-day. It's not occupied this -month, and he wanted me to take it from the 20th. I'm half inclined to -accept his offer. He says we can have it from the 20th of this month to -the end of September for a month's rent. It would be almost worth while -to take him at his word, and hear how he'd whine if I gave him a cheque -for the month's rent only. What are those two famous items out of last -year's bill?" - -"Brunswick varnish, for the kitchen coal-scuttle, 2_d._; and a pair of -brass stair-eyes, one lost and one damaged, 2_d._," quoted Mrs. Grey -seriously, as if the imposition was intolerable. - -"Yes, yes. That's it. Brunswick varnish and stair-eyes," laughed Grey. -"And at the end of all the items for damage was the general observation: -'The same being in excess of reasonable wear and tear.' Didn't he make -us whiten all the ceilings, too, on the grounds that we stopped far into -the season and blackened them with the lamps?" - -"Yes, Wat." - -"Is it three or four times we have paid, Bee, for cracking that -soup-tureen? The old crack, you know." - -"We've paid, I think, Wat, only twice for that crack, but he has charged -us with the ladle every year, although we never had one." - -"Why, this old Parkinson is much more amusing than a state-jester of -old, and not half so impudent or expensive." Mr. Grey smiled, and rubbed -his smooth cheek with his white hand. After a moment's enjoyment of his -recollections of Parkinson, he returned to the question. "Well, Bee, -will you go down in the _Rodwell_ with me to-morrow evening? We can have -a breath of sea-air, a look at Parkinson and the cottage, and come back -by the boat in the morning." - -"Very well, Wat. Of course I'll go with you." - -"Now let me see. The best plan will be for you to go from this to the -boat. Be on board at a quarter-past six, and stay there until I come. -You won't forget?" - -"No, Wat." - -"You're quite sure you won't forget?" Of late Mrs. Grey's memory had -shown signs of giving way. - -"I'll be there, certainly," she answered, a little hotly. "You don't -think my memory is so bad I am likely to forget anything that gives me a -chance of getting out of this dull house." - -"Because," he said, holding up his finger to quiet her displeasure, "I -may not be able to get away from the office until just half-past six. I -shall be at the boat in time. You will go aboard and sit down aft, and -wait for me." - -Having thus arranged for the following evening, Grey lapsed into -silence, and his wife withdrew. - -Those after-dinner hours, which, to the prosperous man are the most -placid and full of content, were now to Grey full of fears and subtle -agonies when he had no company. The necessity all through the day for -showing a fair front to the world and keeping up his reputation for -cordial joviality no longer existed when he found himself alone in his -own dining-room. - -Then he exposed his imagination to all the dangers and difficulties in -his path. Here, this 16th of August, was he safe over all the wreck of -that awful month of May, but at what a cost? The commission of a -disgraceful crime and the perpetual dread of a damning discovery. - -The financial crisis had shattered trade, dispersed confidence, and -ruined enterprise. The last penny of the baronet's money had been taken, -and was gone; and yet no remarkable prosperity, nothing in the meanest -way approaching what he had calculated upon, had set in towards him. -Even in the recent days of over-trading, when money was dear, the -deposits in the Daneford Bank had been more than during the past few -months. Things were not likely to mend in time for him. At the present -rate twenty years could not bring in half the sum he wanted, and he -might be called to disgorge within eighteen months, within a much less -time should the old baronet suddenly die and matters take a turn -unfavourable to his interest with regard to the guardianship of the -heiress--his care over her not reaching, he supposed, beyond her -twenty-first birthday. Merciful Heavens! what could deliver him? - -And then followed the invariable reply: There is nothing to save you -from infamy but marriage with Maud Midharst. - -Then the memory of his wife's faults came up before him like an -indictment seeking her life. She was flighty, unwise, dull, -uncompanionable--intemperate. - -She was no pleasure to him. She seemed to be the source of no pleasure -to herself. If the Powers of good would only take her, what a blessed -relief to him! - -If the Powers of any denomination whatever would only take her and leave -him free! - -He rose, and strode up and down the long room, his face puckered and -pinched, his hands clutched, his eyebrows dragged down over his eyes -until the eyes disappeared, those eyes wont to be so free and open. - -If the Powers of any denomination whatever----His thoughts paused a -while, his brows relaxed, his whole face changed character, put on -holiday attire. With a light foot and a pleasant smile he approached -the chimney-piece and pulled the bell. - -"James," he said, when the man entered, "bring me a flask of cognac." - -While the servant was going to the cellar he said to himself, with a -gentle smile, "I have been very thoughtless about that press in the -Tower of Silence. I have left claret and port and sherry there, but -until now I never remembered brandy! How careless I have been." - -In a few minutes James returned with the bottle, drew the cork, decanted -the brandy, and left. - -Grey took up the decanter with a cordial smile on his face, walked -towards the tower-room, the first-floor room in the Tower of Silence -upon the top of which the wasted skeleton of the huge tank stood out -clear against the quiet summer stars. - -It was now past eleven o'clock. No profounder silence reigned by night -in deserted mine deep in the bowels of the earth, in Asian desert open -to the glittering stars and the pale radiance of the moon, on the dark -peaks of mighty alp that reaches upward into the thin windless air, than -in the chambers and passages of the fearful Manor House. - -As he draws near the door of the tower-room he carries the decanter of -brandy in one hand, a lighted candle in the other. When only a few feet -separate him from the door he pauses suddenly, and looks earnestly -forward. There are two keys for that door, one is on his ring, the other -is in the possession of his wife. He holds the lamp high above his head, -and listens intently. Yes; there is someone inside. - -While he waits he hears a lock shot. Presently the door opens, and with -a cry of surprise and fear his wife confronts him. - -"Bee," he says, without allowing the smile to relax, "is this you? I -thought you were gone to bed." - -"I went to my room," says the unhappy woman, trembling and looking down, -"but I could not sleep. I was very nervous and--and, Wat, I thought a -glass of port might do me good." - -"Of course it will. Of course it will," he says, in a soft voice. "I was -just going to put this in the cupboard." He holds up the decanter. - -"What is that?" she asks, in a voice full of uneasiness and fear. - -"Only a little brandy. It's not a rattlesnake or a petard that you need -be afraid of, Bee," he replies, in a bantering tone. - -"No, no, Wat," she cries, drawing back a pace and holding up her hands -as though she saw some fearful object in her way. "We don't want any -brandy here. Indeed we don't." - -"What nonsense!" he laughs. "But, seriously, Bee, you know we must have -some brandy here. Suppose one of the servants, or any chance caller were -to become suddenly faint, what could you do without brandy?" - -"Don't put it there, Wat! For my sake, for God's sake, don't put it -there!" She covers her face with her hands, and trembles again. - -"There now, Bee, go to bed, and don't be silly. I should never be able -to forgive myself if any harm came of there being no brandy that could -be readily got at." - -With slow heavy steps the woman passes him, and, as she reaches the end -of the short corridor, throws up her hands to heaven, sobs out, "God be -merciful to me!" and bursts into tears. - -He waits until she is out of the passage, then shrugs his shoulders, -and, with the old, genial smile upon his face deposits the decanter of -cognac in the cupboard of the room on the first floor of the tower, of -that tower which, in a moment of grim humour, he had called the Tower of -Silence. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -ON THE THRESHOLD OF DEATH. - - -Mr. Grey breakfasted early, Mrs. Grey late. Nothing was said by either -to the other on the night of the 16th. On Friday morning, the morning of -the 17th of August, 1866, Mrs. Grey was still sleeping when her husband -left the house. - -The morning was bright and clear, and as the banker strode on briskly to -the city he hummed an air to keep him company. His voice was -indifferent, his ear was indifferent, and yet it was more invigorating -to hear him blundering out wild approximations to a tune than to listen -to a moderately accomplished drawing-room vocalist. The banker seemed -unable to keep the natural gladness of his nature within bounds; the -accomplished vocalist follows an everyday handicraft or trade with the -tools of which he is familiar and expert. - -As Grey walked to his office that bright Friday morning he met many -friends and acquaintances. He had a nod, a wave of the hand, a cheerful -word, a kind enquiry, a jovial wish, a congratulation for each, -according to person and circumstances. - -He carried his black bag in his hand. In the black bag were some books, -some papers, and the revolver. Nothing particular occurred to him on the -way to the Bank. Nothing particular awaited him upon his arrival at the -office. All was going on smoothly and prosperously--but very slowly, -very slowly towards bringing back the baronet's money. - -Two was his luncheon hour, and at two he went out. He lunched at his -club, and then strolled down to the Chamber of Commerce to see the -latest Exchange telegrams, and have a chat with some of the merchants -and traders and shipowners of Daneford. He got back to the office at a -little after three. - -Nothing particular had occurred during his absence. He went into his -private room and disposed of some routine affairs. Then, having no -business to do, he threw up the window, and looking out, began to -whistle softly a recitative of his own invention. - -After a little while he stopped whistling, and thought: "I shall be here -two hours by myself this evening. I don't think I could do anything -better than burn that book." In a little while more he made up his mind. -"Yes; I will burn it. It would tell against me in any case. Even suppose -by any miracle I am able to get that money together again, the dates -would betray me. Then it is better to have neither book nor Stock than a -tell-tale book only. Dead men and burnt books tell no tales. Yes; up the -chimney it shall go. If I am able to replace that money, the making of a -new book will be an easy task, a graceful amusement." - -Mr. Grey had always kept the Midharst (Consols) account in his own -handwriting, and in a book to which none but himself had access. This -was a small book bound in rough calf, having a patent lock and key. -Before the Bank closed at four o'clock he went down to the strong-room -and took up this book to his private office. - -By about half-past four all the clerks had left the office, and Mr. -Aldridge had gone out to pick up an appetite for dinner. Grey locked the -two doors that led into his office, opened the little ledger, and -having cut the book out of the cover, he locked up the cover in a safe -in the wall of his own office. There were two reasons for doing this: 1. -The cover was, with the appliances at his command, indestructible. 2. He -could get new paper bound into the old cover; and those of his staff who -were familiar with the outside of the book would not be able to detect -any difference between the original and the counterfeit. - -When the cover of the book had been concealed under lock and key he sat -down in front of the grate, and began tearing up the book into single -leaves, and burning each one separately in the empty grate. - -As the record of the baronet's twenty years of grinding, exaction, and -penurious living changed into flame and smoke and ashes, Grey's thoughts -were busy with the awful aspects of his position, and now, for the -first time, a new element of fear entered into the case. - -He suddenly stopped in his work and looked round him with a ghastly -smile. Last night he had been calculating that his only way of avoiding -exposure lay through the freedom of himself to marry Maud. But suppose -anything were to happen to his wife _now_. Suppose she died that very -day; suppose she had died a week ago, a month ago; what would have -occurred? He should then be a childless widower, younger in appearance -and in manner than in years, and even young enough in years to be the -suitor of any girl. Was it likely if he were so circumstanced Sir -Alexander might not think of altering the will, of introducing into it -another guardian, executor, or trustee? True, Sir Alexander was not an -ordinary man, and had unlimited confidence in him, Grey; but surely he -could not be such a fool as to leave his daughter and his daughter's -fortune in the hands solely of a popular, good-looking, and an agreeable -widower of forty-five? - -The thought flurried him, and he gasped and covered his face with his -handkerchief, and leaned upon the mantelpiece. - -Last night it had appeared to him nothing more advantageous to his -fortune could arise than the death of his wife. Now that event seemed -the most disastrous which could befall him. The more he looked at the -whole situation the more hopeless his position appeared. What last night -he regarded as the gateway to deliverance now was the cavern of ruin. -Well, he had begun burning this book, and he might as well finish it. -Destroying this could have no important influence for evil on the case, -and might be beneficial or have a mitigating influence. - -At last the whole book lay in a mass of black and blue ashes at his -feet. He stood in front of the pile for a few moments thinking. "Between -that book and me there is great similarity. It was once truthful, then -it recorded a lie, and now it is burnt and black. I was once honest; I -fell; and now my position, my prospects, and my hopes are in ashes. -There is no chance of escape." - -It was after five o'clock. He rang the bell; as he did so, he heard the -street-bell ring also. - -"Aldridge coming back from his constitutional." Then, correcting -himself, he thought: "Of course, Aldridge doesn't ring." - -He unlocked the doors, and in a few minutes the servant knocked and -entered. - -"I want you to tidy up that grate; I've been burning some old letters," -said Grey. - -"Yes, sir; a letter for you, sir, just come." - -"All right; leave it on my table." - -"Beg pardon, sir, but it's from the Castle, and marked immediate." - -The banker took it and glanced at the superscription as the servant -withdrew. - -"From Mrs. Grant," he muttered. "What can it be now?" - -He tore open the envelope and read the contents hastily. The note was -very brief. Sir Alexander had had a bad night, and was rather worse this -morning. He particularly wanted to see Mr. Grey _at once_. Would Mr. -Grey be so good as to come _instantly_ upon receipt of this? The words -in italics were underlined heavily three or four times. - -"What can this be?" he thought. "The last time I got a note from Mrs. -Grant asking me to go to the Castle I was in the final extremity of -apprehension, and all came much better than I could have dared to hope. -There seems no possibility of a favourable solution of the present -situation. If the old man is sinking, that will give me only a year--and -that is the least terrible thing can cause this hasty summons. Well, go -I must, and at once." - -He leaped lightly down the stairs, carrying his bag in his hand, and was -soon driving rapidly towards Island Ferry. - -Two miles lay between him and the city before he remembered his -appointment with his wife on board the _Rodwell_. - -"Never mind," he thought, "I'll board the steamboat as she passes the -Island; that will make it all right." - -By six o'clock he had reached Island Ferry. Without the loss of a moment -he crossed over to the Island and ascended towards the Castle. - -A servant at once conducted him to Mrs. Grant, who was waiting for him -in the hall-room off the grand entrance-hall. - -"O Mr. Grey, I am so glad you have come; we are in such fearful anxiety. -Poor Sir Alexander has got worse and worse ever since I wrote to you. -The doctors say this is what they have been dreading all along." - -The little woman was in a state of the greatest excitement, and had -completely lost all sense of proportion. The standards of her feelings -had been broken by her agitation, and everything that went wrong seemed -of equal importance and mischief. - -"What is the matter now?" the banker asked, in a soft sympathetic voice. -"I hope Miss Midharst," he added, before he gave the little widow time -to answer, "is kept as free as possible from these sad and depressing -scenes. - -"Oh, yes; that is, I mean the poor child is fearfully distressed. She -has been with her father all day. It's not good for her, but then she -wouldn't come away. I think if you spoke to her it would do her good. -She used to mind a good deal what I said to her, but all this day she -sits there, staring as if the room was full of ghosts. I fear there's -something bad the matter with the whole place; and only for darling -Maud, I'm sure I shouldn't stop an hour. And to listen to him is -something dreadful. He talks of nothing but his money and you and -robbery----" - -"What!" exclaimed Grey, loudly and sharply. - -"Now," she cried, "you are offended with me just because I am nervous -and excitable. Maybe _you'd_ be excited yourself, Mr. Grey, if he was -turning to you every minute and saying you were a wolf in sheep's -clothing, and that you wanted to rob his child of the fortune he had -laid by for her. You wouldn't like to be called a robber, and you're a -man, and I am only a nervous woman; and men are more used to that kind -of language than women, although, until now, I did not know that -gentlemen ever used such words." - -Here Mrs. Grant broke down completely, and sobbed. - -By this time Grey had recovered from the appalling shock caused by Mrs. -Grant's association of himself with theft. He went up to the sobbing -woman, and in his gentlest accents, having placed his hand reassuringly -on her shoulder, said: - -"Mrs. Grant, I am exceedingly sorry if my hasty exclamation has caused -you any annoyance. Believe me, nothing was further from my intention -than to disturb you under the distressing circumstance you describe, and -in the very shattered condition in which your nerves must be. Forgive -me, pray. Do say that you forgive me." - -He pleaded in his most winning voice and manner; he looked upon the -friendliness of Mrs. Grant towards him as of great importance. - -"It wasn't your fault, Mr. Grey," said Mrs. Grant, quieting her sobs. "I -know I am not fit for anything of this kind; it always knocks me up." - -"No wonder. Of course, as you say, such expressions are never heard -among gentlemen----" - -She interrupted him. - -"I hope I didn't say anything unbecoming to you; if I did, I didn't mean -it. I am so worried and confused I don't know what I'm saying." By this -time she had forgotten the cause of her tears. What Grey said made her -believe she herself had uttered something offensive to the banker. "I -wonder can it be that I have caught the fever from Sir Alexander, and -am not in my right mind?" - -"No, no, no," laughed Grey reassuringly. "You need not be afraid of -that." He had no desire to recall to her memory the words which had -drawn from him the abrupt and disconcerting exclamation. "And so," he -said, in a bland voice, "poor Sir Alexander's head is wandering." - -"Oh, yes. He began to be queer last night, and got worse all the night. -This morning we sent for the doctors, and they came again in the -afternoon. At the latter visit they said I had better send for you, as -you were so much in Sir Alexander's mind, both when he was raving and -when he wasn't." - -"Then he has lucid intervals?" - -"Oh, yes--or, at least, not quite lucid. There are times when he is less -wild than others; but I think his mind is not quite free at any time. I -have been keeping you here instead of taking you direct to him, as I -should have done. You will excuse me; my poor head is quite gone too. -Will you come with me to him now?" - -"Yes," he answered, with a profound bow. - -As he followed her through the dull stately passages that, although it -was still full daylight, were dim and funereal, he tried to pierce the -veil of the future. How would this sudden development of the old man's -disease affect him? Was the old man in his comparatively lucid moments -capable of altering his will? What was the cause of the old man's desire -to see him? And, above all, how had this idea of theft come upon him? - -So far as he could now form an opinion of the case, he did not feel -reassured. - -Suppose Mrs. Grant's account of the baronet's condition of mind in the -less excited moments was overdrawn, and that while in his periods of -delirium he was haunted by goblin fears of robbers, in his more -collected phases he might be troubled with reasonable dread of theft or -misappropriation or fraud. Did the old man desire to destroy or alter -his will? That was the vital question. If he did, then surely the lead -would overtake the gold. - -The gold! That gold could never be won back, not in as many years as it -took the baronet to save it up. Not in twice as many years, and he might -have no more than one year. The gold could never overtake the lead -now--that is, the gold, the Consols. - -But the gold of a wedding-ring for Miss Midharst would balance the -five-tons weight of the baronet's. Little over half an ounce of gold -would outweigh five tons; a ring that cost no more than three guineas -would balance a deficit of five hundred and fifty thousand pounds! - -Mrs. Grant softly opened the door of the sick chamber, and motioning -someone inside to come near, she said, as Miss Midharst approached: - -"Maud, dear, here is Mr. Grey; he came at once." - -The girl offered him her hand, and Grey took it respectfully, tenderly, -and held it, saying: - -"I am deeply grieved, Miss Midharst, at what Mrs. Grant tells me. I hope -this may be only a temporary affection. How is Sir Alexander now?" - -"Oh, he's very, very bad!" sobbed the girl, in a whisper. "It was kind -of you to come. He talks of you always." - -"I am, believe me, Miss Midharst, deeply grieved for him, and--you." - -Nothing could be more kind and sympathetic than his voice and manner. - -"He talks of nothing but you and the money," whispered the girl, through -her tears. - -At that moment a shrill shout came from the bed, followed by the words: - -"Ah, Grey, is that you? You thieving scoundrel! Do you dare to come into -my house, under my roof, after stealing my darling's fortune! Bring me -my pistols, I say--some one bring me my pistols! I will shoot this -miscreant banker Grey. My pistols, I say!" - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -BY THE STATE BED. - - -For a moment Grey paused irresolutely on the threshold of the sick room. -This was the most alarming ordeal to which he had been subjected. Could -it be that by any untoward circumstance of disastrous fate the old man -had discovered the truth? - -To be loudly, violently accused of the crime he had committed by the man -whose money he had stolen, and in the presence of that man's daughter! - -He had often in his worst moments imagined the position he now occupied, -but had never dared to think of, it had never entered his moments of -wildest fear to realise, such a scene conducted in the presence of Miss -Midharst and Mrs. Grant. And now to the horrors of hearing such words -from the defrauded man's lips, was added the awful question, the -appalling uncertainty in the questions: Did the baronet know anything? -Did he know all? - -His name for honour, for honesty, the existence of the respectable old -institution which had been handed down to him by his father unsullied, -his very life, hung upon these two questions. There was only one chance -between him and ruin, between him and death. At these thoughts he made a -prodigious effort, and turning to the two distracted woman with a forced -smile, and a lip he could not keep from trembling, said: - -"I fear my presence only excites Sir Alexander. Had I not better retire -until he is more calm?" - -"Oh, Mr. Grey," said Maud through her tears, "you must not mind his -words. He does not know what he says. He does not understand what is -said to him. He does not even know who is in the room when he is in this -state. My poor father, oh, my poor father!" She covered her face with -her hands and sobbed out. - -Grey began to breathe more freely. He whispered, as though the weight of -a mountain were rolling off him, "He does not know what he says. He does -not know who is in the room. Poor gentleman! Poor Sir Alexander! I am -profoundly sorry for him and for you, Miss Midharst. You can understand -how much I was surprised to hear him, who has so long relied upon me, -use such words to me. It was, you must admit," he looked from the woman -to the girl in deferential appeal, "rather startling." - -"We know what he thinks of you when he is in his right senses, Mr. -Grey," said Mrs. Grant. "We know he has the greatest confidence in you." - -The banker bowed deeply, and when he had straightened himself once more, -regarded the widow with profound and sorrowful attention. - -Mrs. Grant continued: "In his lucid moments he asked for you, and seemed -anxious to see you on business, as of old; but when he raved as he did -just now, he accused us all of taking his money." - -"What a sad and distracting form of delusion!" murmured the banker. He -could scarcely contain himself. He would at that moment have forfeited -the five thousand pounds advanced on the mortgage of the _Rodwell_ if he -might throw his arms into the air and shout out and laugh and dance. - -The sick man spoke of everyone as a thief in his frenzy, but in his -clear moments spoke of him, Grey, as of old! He did not suspect him -exclusively; the indictment to which he had listened in paralysed terror -had been by accident preferred against him; by accident it might have -been preferred against any other human being with whose name Sir -Alexander was familiar! - -The weight of earth had rolled back from his breast, and he was -breathing more freely than for many a long day. - -The three now left the door and walked into the room. At best the vast -chamber was gloomy, but now all light but a faint dim glow that clung to -the inside of the curtains was excluded. - -Grey placed himself at the side of the vast bedstead. Sir Alexander had -sold off all his personal furniture; he occupied one of the state rooms -and slept in one of the enormous state bedsteads; these bedsteads were -in the deeds he could not alter, and had to go down to the next heir. -The first look the banker cast at the face of the sick man gave him a -shock. - -The old baronet had always had a colour in his cheeks; now all the -colour was gone from the cheeks and gathered into the temples and -forehead. The wrinkled forehead was of a dull brick colour. The great -forked dark vein of the forehead stood up out of the dry red skin like -the forked mullion of a gothic window, against whose crimson panes the -west is red. In the temples of the old man the rugged veins were swollen -and knotted, and in the purple hollows between the dark blue knots a -quick feeble pulse fluttered and hurried forward like a frightened -hunted beast. Through the counterpane the thin form showed sharply. The -breathing was quick and unquiet, the eyes staring and fixed upon the -carved oak ceiling. Apparently the delirious paroxysm had passed, and -the patient was suffering from modified collapse. - -"He will be better presently, and may recognise you," whispered Mrs. -Grant into Grey's ear. She stood by his side. At the foot stood Maud, -weeping softly, silently. For a while no one moved. - -Gradually the breathing of the sick man grew more steady, and the -fluttering pulse in the hollow temples more regular. - -"In a few minutes," whispered the widow, "he will be quite collected." - -As she had foretold, his eyes descended from the ceiling and began -running over the room and those present, as if trying to recover memory. -At length they were fixed on Grey and did not move from him. Although -the eye was dull and clouded, there was a look of intelligence in it. It -was the eye of a weakened intellect rather than of a disordered one. - -"Ah, Grey, is that you?" - -"Yes, Sir Alexander. I hope you feel better?" - -"I am quite well. I have been greatly troubled about that money, those -Consols. They tell me they have been sold. Is it true that my Consols -have been sold? I ask you in the presence of my daughter, for whom they -were saved, have they been sold?" The sick man's eyes were filmy; but -while they were dull to the perception of surrounding objects, they -seemed to be partly closed against objects of natural vision only that -they might be partly opened to unascertainable forms and figures of -supernatural view. - -Grey's heart quailed. Who were "they" that had informed him of the -fraud? What did the sick man know of the fraud? What did he surmise? Was -there anything but imagination to account for these fears, these hideous -questions, this awful ordeal? He was sorry he had left his bag below in -the little room where Mrs. Grant had received him. Nothing could save -him now but a calm exterior and intrepid audacity. He cleared his throat -to make sure his voice was obedient to his will, and answered boldly, -but softly: - -"No one has sold the Consols, Sir Alexander. I answer you faithfully, in -your presence and in the presence of Miss Midharst, for whose benefit -they have been acquired and put by." - -He was amazed himself at the firmness and clearness of his voice. If it -had been merely repeating the words of another man, his voice could not -have been less open to suspicion; if he had been pronouncing a most -consoling truth, his manner could not have been more benignly -reassuring. Instead of the words being those of another, they were so -intimately his own that his existence depended upon their utterance; -instead of being true, they contained a lie so monstrous under the -circumstances that they were as false and wicked as a blasphemous false -oath. He thought to himself grimly, as he rapidly reviewed the words and -the import of his voice: "I am acting in a play of the Devil's writing, -and must do honour to the character I represent and credit to the -author." - -The eyes of the old man were fixed on the banker's face as he said: -"What you tell me of my money, _her_ money, is quite true? It is quite -safe? No one has sold out?" - -"It is quite true; no one has sold out." - -"Swear it!" - -"I swear it." - -"Mrs. Grant, get the Book. I am a magistrate, and you shall swear the -formal oath, so that you may be punished if you are hiding the truth -from an old helpless man." - -Mrs. Grant placed a Testament on the bed beside Mr. Grey. The latter -took up the Book. He did not care to question the legality of such an -oath. He thought he would humour the old man. A crime or two more were -nothing to him now, particularly when these crimes helped to cover up -the other crime of embezzlement, theft, fraud--call it what you will. - -Mr. Grey took up the Testament, and Sir Alexander, in a confused way, -repeated words which could not be clearly heard, but ended with the -clause usual to the ending of a formal oath. - -Mr. Grey kissed the Book reverentially, and murmured the final words. As -he uttered the words, he could not avoid the reflection that if he were -acting in a play of the Devil's writing, some of the words to be -uttered had a peculiar aspect as coming from the Master of Evil. - -Mr. Grey put the Book on the bed, and looked with reassuring glance at -both the women. The old baronet muttered to himself indistinctly for a -few seconds. "Bad dreams, bad dreams," he said distinctly at last; "they -were only dreams." - -Mr. Grey looked round again at the women and inclined his head -significantly to them, as though he would say: "Poor Sir Alexander! His -dreams must have been bad indeed, if he fancied anyone had taken his -money." - -By this the great flush had disappeared from the old man's forehead, the -veins had subsided, and a deadly pallor covered his features from -forehead to chin. During the paroxysms of his delirium, it seemed as -though his head was in danger of bursting from too great a supply of -heated blood; now it looked as if the walls of his skull and the flesh -of his face were about to crumble and fall in for want of fluid -sufficient to sustain their weight. But in the eye still lingered the -heat and flickered the fire of the fever. He lay still for a while, and -seemed to be about to fall asleep. Presently, however, all were startled -to hear his voice ring out clear and firm, high above their notion of -his present strength, clear above their notion of his intellectual -capacity: - -"Henry Grey, take her hand, my daughter's hand, and lead her here--no -the other hand--give her your left hand, Henry Grey." - -Mr. Grey walked to where the girl stood, now pale and tearless, at the -foot of the bed, and offered her his right hand; then his left, and led -her to the side of the bed, where he had been standing. - -"Now, Henry Grey, take the Testament in your right hand. I am going to -make you swear--I am a deputy-lieutenant--to guard with all your power -and wiles, my only daughter, Maud Midharst, herself and her fortune and -her happiness. Say the words after me." - -"Herself and her fortune and her happiness to guard with all my power," -he repeated. - -"All your power and wiles," insisted the old man, in a tone of -exasperation. - -"My power and--wiles," repeated Mr. Grey, after a slight hesitation. - -"To act as executor of my will, trustee to her fortune, and guardian of -my child. So help me, God." - -Mr. Grey repeated the words with solemn deliberation. - -"Kiss the Book." - -Mr. Grey bent his head reverentially over the sacred volume and kissed -it devoutly. - -"Kiss the Book, my child. Take it in your own right hand and kiss it. It -is the history of the life and sufferings and death of our Lord, and -something of great moment is conducting." - -"Kiss the Book, you also," looking towards Mrs. Grant. - -She did as he desired. - -"Now, my daughter, and you, Henry Grey, both together hold that Book, -which is the history of the life and sufferings and death of our Lord, -to my lips, for I am weak and unable, and I will kiss it last of all." - -They placed the Book against his lips, and when he had kissed it they -drew it back, and placed the Testament on the bed. - -Mr. Grey folded his arms tightly across his chest; he had a feeling that -his chest would burst if he did not shout out and relieve it. - -"My daughter," said the sick man, "if I should never get off this bed -again--and I feel that something great is conducting--when I am dead you -will look to him for all advice and guidance. He will be your friend, -your only friend, who can be of aid to you when I am dead. You will lean -upon him. He will guard your money and see that no one does you ill or -cheats you. He is an honest man, Maud. He has taken care of your fortune -for me until now; he will take care of it for you when I am dead. You -will have no one else but him; no friend in all the world but Henry -Grey." - -"Oh, my God!" burst from the banker. If the hangman were in the room, -and any word spoken by him, Grey, was to be the signal for his death, he -could not restrain himself. - -For a moment they all three looked at him in grave surprise. His words -were not perhaps improper to the grave occasion, but his manner of -uttering them had something startling in it. There was in his tone a cry -of wild appeal against an inexorable decree of prodigious woe. His voice -had more the sound of a brute's inarticulate cry of despair than any -human agony fitted to human words. It was a death-cry, the death-cry of -some fine instinct of the human soul. It was a cry the like of which no -man utters twice in a lifetime. - -The old man regarded the banker for a moment with a look of surprise. -Then the expression of the old man's face softened, and he said: "Grey, -my arm is weak. I cannot raise it. Take my hand. You will be good to her -when I am dead. I know what the world may say. It may say, Grey, that -you and I are not equals; that I might have bestowed the guardianship of -my daughter's fortune among houses such as the Fleureys' or the -Midharsts'. But I know what you are and what your father was, and I am -placing what I value above all earthly things in your keeping. I am an -old man, and the doctors may be right this time. I am old and weak, -Henry Grey, and I want you to be her friend when I am dead. The world -may say what it pleases about you as guardian. I am firm in my faith in -you. No orphan, friendless--the last, I may say, of her house--had ever -a more careful or prudent or wise guardian than you. I am old and weak. -There is one more favour I would ask of you before you go--for I have -said all. You will not refuse an old man on his death-bed, Henry Grey?" - -"No," in a faint thin whisper. - -"I am weak, and cannot do it myself. Raise up my hand held in yours, and -place your hand against my lips, that I may kiss the hand which is to -shield my daughter when I am gone." - -"Oh, Sir Alexander!" in a tone of agonized protest. - -"I am very old and very weak. You will not, because I am old and weak -and cannot raise your hand, deny me this pleasure." - -The banker did as he was asked. - -When he had placed the cold thin hand back again on the bed, the baronet -sighed and murmured: "I am tired. I will try to sleep awhile. You may -go, Henry Grey. God bless you, Henry Grey! Now I am at rest!" - -With a deep bow to the ladies, Mr. Grey left the room. He went down a -passage and then turned into another. Here he was alone, out of sight -and earshot. He threw his arms heavily up, straight above his head, and -flung himself against the wall with a groan, beat his arms and hands -against the wall, and struck his forehead against the wall. - -"Do I live?" he cried; "or am I already among the damned?" - - -END OF VOL. I. - - -CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3), by -Richard Dowling - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WEIRD SISTERS, VOLUME I (OF 3) *** - -***** This file should be named 41552.txt or 41552.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/5/41552/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -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. 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