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+Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+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 Doings Of Raffles Haw
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #8394]
+Release Date: June, 2005
+Last Updated: March 6, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lionel G. Sear
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+ 1.  A DOUBLE ENIGMA
+
+ 2.  THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+ 3.  A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+ 4.  FROM CLIME TO CLIME.
+
+ 5.  LAURA'S REQUEST
+
+ 6.  A STRANGE VISITOR
+
+ 7.  THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+ 8.  A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+ 9.  A NEW DEPARTURE
+
+10. THE GREAT SECRET
+
+11. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+12. A FAMILY JAR.
+
+13. A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
+
+14. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+15. THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. A DOUBLE ENIGMA.
+
+
+“I'm afraid that he won't come,” said Laura McIntyre, in a disconsolate
+voice.
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“Oh, look at the weather; it is something too awful.”
+
+As she spoke a whirl of snow beat with a muffled patter against the cosy
+red-curtained window, while a long blast of wind shrieked and whistled
+through the branches of the great white-limbed elms which skirted the
+garden.
+
+Robert McIntyre rose from the sketch upon which he had been working, and
+taking one of the lamps in his hand peered out into the darkness. The
+long skeleton limbs of the bare trees tossed and quivered dimly amid the
+whirling drift. His sister sat by the fire, her fancy-work in her lap,
+and looked up at her brothers profile which showed against the brilliant
+yellow light. It was a handsome face, young and fair and clear cut, with
+wavy brown hair combed backwards and rippling down into that outward
+curve at the ends which one associates with the artistic temperament.
+There was refinement too in his slightly puckered eyes, his dainty
+gold-rimmed _pince-nez_ glasses, and in the black velveteen coat which
+caught the light so richly upon its shoulder. In his mouth only
+there was something--a suspicion of coarseness, a possibility of
+weakness--which in the eyes of some, and of his sister among them,
+marred the grace and beauty of his features. Yet, as he was wont himself
+to say, when one thinks that each poor mortal is heir to a legacy of
+every evil trait or bodily taint of so vast a line of ancestors, lucky
+indeed is the man who does not find that Nature has scored up some
+long-owing family debt upon his features.
+
+And indeed in this case the remorseless creditor had gone so far as to
+exact a claim from the lady also, though in her case the extreme beauty
+of the upper part of the face drew the eye away from any weakness which
+might be found in the lower. She was darker than her brother--so dark
+that her heavily coiled hair seemed to be black until the light shone
+slantwise across it. The delicate, half-petulant features, the finely
+traced brows, and the thoughtful, humorous eyes were all perfect in
+their way, and yet the combination left something to be desired. There
+was a vague sense of a flaw somewhere, in feature or in expression,
+which resolved itself, when analysed, into a slight out-turning and
+droop of the lower lip; small indeed, and yet pronounced enough to turn
+what would have been a beautiful face into a merely pretty one. Very
+despondent and somewhat cross she looked as she leaned back in the
+armchair, the tangle of bright-coloured silks and of drab holland upon
+her lap, her hands clasped behind her head, with her snowy forearms and
+little pink elbows projecting on either side.
+
+“I know he won't come,” she repeated.
+
+“Nonsense, Laura! Of course he'll come. A sailor and afraid of the
+weather!”
+
+“Ha!” She raised her finger, and a smile of triumph played over her
+face, only to die away again into a blank look of disappointment. “It is
+only papa,” she murmured.
+
+A shuffling step was heard in the hall, and a little peaky man, with his
+slippers very much down at the heels, came shambling into the room. Mr.
+McIntyre, sen., was pale and furtive-looking, with a thin straggling
+red beard shot with grey, and a sunken downcast face. Ill-fortune and
+ill-health had both left their marks upon him. Ten years before he had
+been one of the largest and richest gunmakers in Birmingham, but a long
+run of commercial bad luck had sapped his great fortune, and had finally
+driven him into the Bankruptcy Court. The death of his wife on the very
+day of his insolvency had filled his cup of sorrow, and he had gone
+about since with a stunned, half-dazed expression upon his weak pallid
+face which spoke of a mind unhinged. So complete had been his downfall
+that the family would have been reduced to absolute poverty were it not
+for a small legacy of two-hundred a year which both the children had
+received from one of their uncles upon the mother's side who had amassed
+a fortune in Australia. By combining their incomes, and by taking a
+house in the quiet country district of Tamfield, some fourteen miles
+from the great Midland city, they were still able to live with some
+approach to comfort. The change, however, was a bitter one to all--to
+Robert, who had to forego the luxuries dear to his artistic temperament,
+and to think of turning what had been merely an overruling hobby into a
+means of earning a living; and even more to Laura, who winced before
+the pity of her old friends, and found the lanes and fields of
+Tamfield intolerably dull after the life and bustle of Edgbaston. Their
+discomfort was aggravated by the conduct of their father, whose life
+now was one long wail over his misfortunes, and who alternately sought
+comfort in the Prayer-book and in the decanter for the ills which had
+befallen him.
+
+To Laura, however, Tamfield presented one attraction, which was now
+about to be taken from her. Their choice of the little country hamlet as
+their residence had been determined by the fact of their old friend,
+the Reverend John Spurling, having been nominated as the vicar. Hector
+Spurling, the elder son, two months Laura's senior, had been engaged to
+her for some years, and was, indeed, upon the point of marrying her when
+the sudden financial crash had disarranged their plans. A sub-lieutenant
+in the Navy, he was home on leave at present, and hardly an evening
+passed without his making his way from the Vicarage to Elmdene, where
+the McIntyres resided. To-day, however, a note had reached them to
+the effect that he had been suddenly ordered on duty, and that he must
+rejoin his ship at Portsmouth by the next evening. He would look in,
+were it but for half-an-hour, to bid them adieu.
+
+“Why, where's Hector?” asked Mr. McIntyre, blinking round from side to
+side.
+
+“He's not come, father. How could you expect him to come on such a night
+as this? Why, there must be two feet of snow in the glebe field.”
+
+“Not come, eh?” croaked the old man, throwing himself down upon the
+sofa. “Well, well, it only wants him and his father to throw us over,
+and the thing will be complete.”
+
+“How can you even hint at such a thing, father?” cried Laura
+indignantly. “They have been as true as steel. What would they think if
+they heard you.”
+
+“I think, Robert,” he said, disregarding his daughter's protest, “that
+I will have a drop, just the very smallest possible drop, of brandy. A
+mere thimbleful will do; but I rather think I have caught cold during
+the snowstorm to-day.”
+
+Robert went on sketching stolidly in his folding book, but Laura looked
+up from her work.
+
+“I'm afraid there is nothing in the house, father,” she said.
+
+“Laura! Laura!” He shook his head as one more in sorrow than in anger.
+“You are no longer a girl, Laura; you are a woman, the manager of a
+household, Laura. We trust in you. We look entirely towards you. And yet
+you leave your poor brother Robert without any brandy, to say nothing of
+me, your father. Good heavens, Laura! what would your mother have said?
+Think of accidents, think of sudden illness, think of apoplectic fits,
+Laura. It is a very grave res--a very grave response--a very great risk
+that you run.”
+
+“I hardly touch the stuff,” said Robert curtly; “Laura need not provide
+any for me.”
+
+“As a medicine it is invaluable, Robert. To be used, you understand, and
+not to be abused. That's the whole secret of it. But I'll step down to
+the Three Pigeons for half an hour.”
+
+“My dear father,” cried the young man “you surely are not going out upon
+such a night. If you must have brandy could I not send Sarah for some?
+Please let me send Sarah; or I would go myself, or--”
+
+Pip! came a little paper pellet from his sister's chair on to the
+sketch-book in front of him! He unrolled it and held it to the light.
+
+“For Heaven's sake let him go!” was scrawled across it.
+
+“Well, in any case, wrap yourself up warm,” he continued, laying bare
+his sudden change of front with a masculine clumsiness which horrified
+his sister. “Perhaps it is not so cold as it looks. You can't lose your
+way, that is one blessing. And it is not more than a hundred yards.”
+
+With many mumbles and grumbles at his daughter's want of foresight, old
+McIntyre struggled into his great-coat and wrapped his scarf round his
+long thin throat. A sharp gust of cold wind made the lamps flicker as he
+threw open the hall-door. His two children listened to the dull fall of
+his footsteps as he slowly picked out the winding garden path.
+
+“He gets worse--he becomes intolerable,” said Robert at last. “We should
+not have let him out; he may make a public exhibition of himself.”
+
+“But it's Hector's last night,” pleaded Laura. “It would be dreadful if
+they met and he noticed anything. That was why I wished him to go.”
+
+“Then you were only just in time,” remarked her brother, “for I hear the
+gate go, and--yes, you see.”
+
+As he spoke a cheery hail came from outside, with a sharp rat-tat at the
+window. Robert stepped out and threw open the door to admit a tall young
+man, whose black frieze jacket was all mottled and glistening with snow
+crystals. Laughing loudly he shook himself like a Newfoundland dog, and
+kicked the snow from his boots before entering the little lamplit room.
+
+Hector Spurling's profession was written in every line of his face.
+The clean-shaven lip and chin, the little fringe of side whisker, the
+straight decisive mouth, and the hard weather-tanned cheeks all spoke of
+the Royal Navy. Fifty such faces may be seen any night of the year round
+the mess-table of the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth Dockyard--faces
+which bear a closer resemblance to each other than brother does commonly
+to brother. They are all cast in a common mould, the products of a
+system which teaches early self-reliance, hardihood, and manliness--a
+fine type upon the whole; less refined and less intellectual, perhaps,
+than their brothers of the land, but full of truth and energy and
+heroism. In figure he was straight, tall, and well-knit, with keen grey
+eyes, and the sharp prompt manner of a man who has been accustomed both
+to command and to obey.
+
+“You had my note?” he said, as he entered the room. “I have to go again,
+Laura. Isn't it a bore? Old Smithers is short-handed, and wants me back
+at once.” He sat down by the girl, and put his brown hand across her
+white one. “It won't be a very large order this time,” he continued.
+“It's the flying squadron business--Madeira, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and
+home. I shouldn't wonder if we were back in March.”
+
+“It seems only the other day that you landed.” she answered.
+
+“Poor little girl! But it won't be long. Mind you take good care of her,
+Robert when I am gone. And when I come again, Laura, it will be the last
+time mind! Hang the money! There are plenty who manage on less. We need
+not have a house. Why should we? You can get very nice rooms in Southsea
+at 2 pounds a week. McDougall, our paymaster, has just married, and he
+only gives thirty shillings. You would not be afraid, Laura?”
+
+“No, indeed.”
+
+“The dear old governor is so awfully cautious. Wait, wait, wait, that's
+always his cry. I tell him that he ought to have been in the Government
+Heavy Ordnance Department. But I'll speak to him tonight. I'll talk him
+round. See if I don't. And you must speak to your own governor. Robert
+here will back you up. And here are the ports and the dates that we are
+due at each. Mind that you have a letter waiting for me at every one.”
+
+He took a slip of paper from the side pocket of his coat, but, instead
+of handing it to the young lady, he remained staring at it with the
+utmost astonishment upon his face.
+
+“Well, I never!” he exclaimed. “Look here, Robert; what do you call
+this?”
+
+“Hold it to the light. Why, it's a fifty-pound Bank of England note.
+Nothing remarkable about it that I can see.”
+
+“On the contrary. It's the queerest thing that ever happened to me. I
+can't make head or tail of it.”
+
+“Come, then, Hector,” cried Miss McIntyre with a challenge in her eyes.
+“Something very queer happened to me also to-day. I'll bet a pair of
+gloves that my adventure was more out of the common than yours, though I
+have nothing so nice to show at the end of it.”
+
+“Come, I'll take that, and Robert here shall be the judge.”
+
+“State your cases.” The young artist shut up his sketch-book, and rested
+his head upon his hands with a face of mock solemnity. “Ladies first! Go
+along Laura, though I think I know something of your adventure already.”
+
+“It was this morning, Hector,” she said. “Oh, by the way, the story will
+make you wild. I had forgotten that. However, you mustn't mind, because,
+really, the poor fellow was perfectly mad.”
+
+“What on earth was it?” asked the young officer, his eyes travelling
+from the bank-note to his _fiancee_.
+
+“Oh, it was harmless enough, and yet you will confess it was very queer.
+I had gone out for a walk, but as the snow began to fall I took shelter
+under the shed which the workmen have built at the near end of the great
+new house. The men have gone, you know, and the owner is supposed to be
+coming to-morrow, but the shed is still standing. I was sitting there
+upon a packing-case when a man came down the road and stopped under the
+same shelter. He was a quiet, pale-faced man, very tall and thin, not
+much more than thirty, I should think, poorly dressed, but with the look
+and bearing of a gentleman. He asked me one or two questions about the
+village and the people, which, of course, I answered, until at last we
+found ourselves chatting away in the pleasantest and easiest fashion
+about all sorts of things. The time passed so quickly that I forgot all
+about the snow until he drew my attention to its having stopped for
+the moment. Then, just as I was turning to go, what in the world do you
+suppose that he did? He took a step towards me, looked in a sad pensive
+way into my face, and said: `I wonder whether you could care for me if
+I were without a penny.' Wasn't it strange? I was so frightened that I
+whisked out of the shed, and was off down the road before he could add
+another word. But really, Hector, you need not look so black, for when
+I look back at it I can quite see from his tone and manner that he meant
+no harm. He was thinking aloud, without the least intention of being
+offensive. I am convinced that the poor fellow was mad.”
+
+“Hum! There was some method in his madness, it seems to me,” remarked
+her brother.
+
+“There would have been some method in my kicking,” said the lieutenant
+savagely. “I never heard of a more outrageous thing in my life.”
+
+“Now, I said that you would be wild!” She laid her white hand upon the
+sleeve of his rough frieze jacket. “It was nothing. I shall never see
+the poor fellow again. He was evidently a stranger to this part of the
+country. But that was my little adventure. Now let us have yours.”
+
+The young man crackled the bank-note between his fingers and thumb,
+while he passed his other hand over his hair with the action of a man
+who strives to collect himself.
+
+“It is some ridiculous mistake,” he said. “I must try and set it right.
+Yet I don't know how to set about it either. I was going down to the
+village from the Vicarage just after dusk when I found a fellow in a
+trap who had got himself into broken water. One wheel had sunk into the
+edge of the ditch which had been hidden by the snow, and the whole thing
+was high and dry, with a list to starboard enough to slide him out of
+his seat. I lent a hand, of course, and soon had the wheel in the road
+again. It was quite dark, and I fancy that the fellow thought that I was
+a bumpkin, for we did not exchange five words. As he drove off he shoved
+this into my hand. It is the merest chance that I did not chuck it away,
+for, feeling that it was a crumpled piece of paper, I imagined that it
+must be a tradesman's advertisement or something of the kind. However,
+as luck would have it, I put it in my pocket, and there I found it when
+I looked for the dates of our cruise. Now you know as much of the matter
+as I do.”
+
+Brother and sister stared at the black and white crinkled note with
+astonishment upon their faces.
+
+“Why, your unknown traveller must have been Monte Cristo, or Rothschild
+at the least!” said Robert. “I am bound to say, Laura, that I think you
+have lost your bet.”
+
+“Oh, I am quite content to lose it. I never heard of such a piece of
+luck. What a perfectly delightful man this must be to know.”
+
+“But I can't take his money,” said Hector Spurling, looking somewhat
+ruefully at the note. “A little prize-money is all very well in its way,
+but a Johnny must draw the line somewhere. Besides it must have been
+a mistake. And yet he meant to give me something big, for he could not
+mistake a note for a coin. I suppose I must advertise for the fellow.”
+
+“It seems a pity too,” remarked Robert. “I must say that I don't quite
+see it in the same light that you do.”
+
+“Indeed I think that you are very Quixotic, Hector,” said Laura
+McIntyre. “Why should you not accept it in the spirit in which it was
+meant? You did this stranger a service--perhaps a greater service than
+you know of--and he meant this as a little memento of the occasion. I do
+not see that there is any possible reason against your keeping it.”
+
+“Oh, come!” said the young sailor, with an embarrassed laugh, “it is not
+quite the thing--not the sort of story one would care to tell at mess.”
+
+“In any case you are off to-morrow morning,” observed Robert. “You have
+no time to make inquiries about the mysterious Croesus. You must really
+make the best of it.”
+
+“Well, look here, Laura, you put it in your work-basket,” cried Hector
+Spurling. “You shall be my banker, and if the rightful owner turns up
+then I can refer him to you. If not, I suppose we must look on it as a
+kind of salvage-money, though I am bound to say I don't feel entirely
+comfortable about it.” He rose to his feet, and threw the note down into
+the brown basket of coloured wools which stood beside her. “Now, Laura,
+I must up anchor, for I promised the governor to be back by nine. It
+won't be long this time, dear, and it shall be the last. Good-bye,
+Robert! Good luck!”
+
+“Good-bye, Hector! _Bon voyage!_”
+
+The young artist remained by the table, while his sister followed her
+lover to the door. In the dim light of the hall he could see their
+figures and overhear their words.
+
+“Next time, little girl?”
+
+“Next time be it, Hector.”
+
+“And nothing can part us?”
+
+“Nothing.”
+
+“In the whole world?”
+
+“Nothing.”
+
+Robert discreetly closed the door. A moment later a thud from without,
+and the quick footsteps crunching on the snow told him that their
+visitor had departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+
+The snow had ceased to fall, but for a week a hard frost had held the
+country side in its iron grip. The roads rang under the horses' hoofs,
+and every wayside ditch and runlet was a street of ice. Over the long
+undulating landscape the red brick houses peeped out warmly against the
+spotless background, and the lines of grey smoke streamed straight up
+into the windless air. The sky was of the lightest palest blue, and
+the morning sun, shining through the distant fog-wreaths of Birmingham,
+struck a subdued glow from the broad-spread snow fields which might have
+gladdened the eyes of an artist.
+
+It did gladden the heart of one who viewed it that morning from the
+summit of the gently-curving Tamfield Hill Robert McIntyre stood with
+his elbows upon a gate-rail, his Tam-o'-Shanter hat over his eyes, and
+a short briar-root pipe in his mouth, looking slowly about him, with the
+absorbed air of one who breathes his fill of Nature. Beneath him to
+the north lay the village of Tamfield, red walls, grey roofs, and a
+scattered bristle of dark trees, with his own little Elmdene nestling
+back from the broad, white winding Birmingham Road. At the other
+side, as he slowly faced round, lay a vast stone building, white and
+clear-cut, fresh from the builders' hands. A great tower shot up from
+one corner of it, and a hundred windows twinkled ruddily in the light of
+the morning sun. A little distance from it stood a second small square
+low-lying structure, with a tall chimney rising from the midst of it,
+rolling out a long plume of smoke into the frosty air. The whole vast
+structure stood within its own grounds, enclosed by a stately park
+wall, and surrounded by what would in time be an extensive plantation
+of fir-trees. By the lodge gates a vast pile of _debris_, with lines
+of sheds for workmen, and huge heaps of planks from scaffoldings, all
+proclaimed that the work had only just been brought to an end.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked down with curious eyes at the broad-spread
+building. It had long been a mystery and a subject of gossip for the
+whole country side. Hardly a year had elapsed since the rumour had first
+gone about that a millionaire had bought a tract of land, and that it
+was his intention to build a country seat upon it. Since then the work
+had been pushed on night and day, until now it was finished to the
+last detail in a shorter time than it takes to build many a six-roomed
+cottage. Every morning two long special trains had arrived from
+Birmingham, carrying down a great army of labourers, who were relieved
+in the evening by a fresh gang, who carried on their task under the rays
+of twelve enormous electric lights. The number of workmen appeared to be
+only limited by the space into which they could be fitted. Great lines
+of waggons conveyed the white Portland stone from the depot by the
+station. Hundreds of busy toilers handed it over, shaped and squared, to
+the actual masons, who swung it up with steam cranes on to the growing
+walls, where it was instantly fitted and mortared by their companions.
+Day by day the house shot higher, while pillar and cornice and carving
+seemed to bud out from it as if by magic. Nor was the work confined
+to the main building. A large separate structure sprang up at the same
+time, and there came gangs of pale-faced men from London with much
+extraordinary machinery, vast cylinders, wheels and wires, which they
+fitted up in this outlying building. The great chimney which rose from
+the centre of it, combined with these strange furnishings, seemed to
+mean that it was reserved as a factory or place of business, for it
+was rumoured that this rich man's hobby was the same as a poor man's
+necessity, and that he was fond of working with his own hands amid
+chemicals and furnaces. Scarce, too, was the second storey begun ere the
+wood-workers and plumbers and furnishers were busy beneath, carrying
+out a thousand strange and costly schemes for the greater comfort and
+convenience of the owner. Singular stories were told all round the
+country, and even in Birmingham itself, of the extraordinary luxury and
+the absolute disregard for money which marked all these arrangements.
+No sum appeared to be too great to spend upon the smallest detail which
+might do away with or lessen any of the petty inconveniences of life.
+Waggons and waggons of the richest furniture had passed through the
+village between lines of staring villagers. Costly skins, glossy
+carpets, rich rugs, ivory, and ebony, and metal; every glimpse into
+these storehouses of treasure had given rise to some new legend. And
+finally, when all had been arranged, there had come a staff of forty
+servants, who heralded the approach of the owner, Mr. Raffles Haw
+himself.
+
+It was no wonder, then, that it was with considerable curiosity that
+Robert McIntyre looked down at the great house, and marked the smoking
+chimneys, the curtained windows, and the other signs which showed that
+its tenant had arrived. A vast area of greenhouses gleamed like a lake
+on the further side, and beyond were the long lines of stables and
+outhouses. Fifty horses had passed through Tamfield the week before, so
+that, large as were the preparations, they were not more than would
+be needed. Who and what could this man be who spent his money with
+so lavish a hand? His name was unknown. Birmingham was as ignorant as
+Tamfield as to his origin or the sources of his wealth. Robert McIntyre
+brooded languidly over the problem as he leaned against the gate,
+puffing his blue clouds of bird's-eye into the crisp, still air.
+
+Suddenly his eye caught a dark figure emerging from the Avenue gates and
+striding up the winding road. A few minutes brought him near enough to
+show a familiar face looking over the stiff collar and from under the
+soft black hat of an English clergyman.
+
+“Good-morning, Mr. Spurling.”
+
+“Ah, good-morning, Robert. How are you? Are you coming my way? How
+slippery the roads are!”
+
+His round, kindly face was beaming with good nature, and he took little
+jumps as he walked, like a man who can hardly contain himself for
+pleasure.
+
+“Have you heard from Hector?”
+
+“Oh, yes. He went off all right last Wednesday from Spithead, and he
+will write from Madeira. But you generally have later news at Elmdene
+than I have.”
+
+“I don't know whether Laura has heard. Have you been up to see the new
+comer?”
+
+“Yes; I have just left him.”
+
+“Is he a married man--this Mr. Raffles Haw?”
+
+“No, he is a bachelor. He does not seem to have any relations either, as
+far as I could learn. He lives alone, amid his huge staff of servants.
+It is a most remarkable establishment. It made me think of the Arabian
+Nights.”
+
+“And the man? What is he like?”
+
+“He is an angel--a positive angel. I never heard or read of such
+kindness in my life. He has made me a happy man.”
+
+The clergyman's eyes sparkled with emotion, and he blew his nose loudly
+in his big red handkerchief.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked at him in surprise.
+
+“I am delighted to hear it,” he said. “May I ask what he has done?”
+
+“I went up to him by appointment this morning. I had written asking him
+if I might call. I spoke to him of the parish and its needs, of my long
+struggle to restore the south side of the church, and of our efforts
+to help my poor parishioners during this hard weather. While I spoke
+he said not a word, but sat with a vacant face, as though he were not
+listening to me. When I had finished he took up his pen. 'How much will
+it take to do the church?' he asked. 'A thousand pounds,' I answered;
+'but we have already raised three hundred among ourselves. The Squire
+has very handsomely given fifty pounds.' 'Well,' said he, 'how about
+the poor folk? How many families are there?' 'About three hundred,' I
+answered. 'And coals, I believe, are at about a pound a ton', said he.
+'Three tons ought to see them through the rest of the winter. Then you
+can get a very fair pair of blankets for two pounds. That would make
+five pounds per family, and seven hundred for the church.' He dipped his
+pen in the ink, and, as I am a living man, Robert, he wrote me a cheque
+then and there for two thousand two hundred pounds. I don't know what
+I said; I felt like a fool; I could not stammer out words with which
+to thank him. All my troubles have been taken from my shoulders in an
+instant, and indeed, Robert, I can hardly realise it.”
+
+“He must be a most charitable man.”
+
+“Extraordinarily so. And so unpretending. One would think that it was
+I who was doing the favour and he who was the beggar. I thought of that
+passage about making the heart of the widow sing for joy. He made my
+heart sing for joy, I can tell you. Are you coming up to the Vicarage?”
+
+“No, thank you, Mr. Spurling. I must go home and get to work on my new
+picture. It's a five-foot canvas--the landing of the Romans in Kent. I
+must have another try for the Academy. Good-morning.”
+
+He raised his hat and continued down the road, while the vicar turned
+off into the path which led to his home.
+
+Robert McIntyre had converted a large bare room in the upper storey of
+Elmdene into a studio, and thither he retreated after lunch. It was
+as well that he should have some little den of his own, for his father
+would talk of little save of his ledgers and accounts, while Laura
+had become peevish and querulous since the one tie which held her
+to Tamfield had been removed. The chamber was a bare and bleak one,
+un-papered and un-carpeted, but a good fire sparkled in the grate, and
+two large windows gave him the needful light. His easel stood in the
+centre, with the great canvas balanced across it, while against the
+walls there leaned his two last attempts, “The Murder of Thomas of
+Canterbury” and “The Signing of Magna Charta.” Robert had a weakness for
+large subjects and broad effects. If his ambition was greater than
+his skill, he had still all the love of his art and the patience under
+discouragement which are the stuff out of which successful painters are
+made. Twice his brace of pictures had journeyed to town, and twice they
+had come back to him, until the finely gilded frames which had made such
+a call upon his purse began to show signs of these varied adventures.
+Yet, in spite of their depressing company, Robert turned to his fresh
+work with all the enthusiasm which a conviction of ultimate success can
+inspire.
+
+But he could not work that afternoon.
+
+In vain he dashed in his background and outlined the long curves of the
+Roman galleys. Do what he would, his mind would still wander from his
+work to dwell upon his conversation with the vicar in the morning. His
+imagination was fascinated by the idea of this strange man living alone
+amid a crowd, and yet wielding such a power that with one dash of his
+pen he could change sorrow into joy, and transform the condition of
+a whole parish. The incident of the fifty-pound note came back to his
+mind. It must surely have been Raffles Haw with whom Hector Spurling
+had come in contact. There could not be two men in one parish to whom so
+large a sum was of so small an account as to be thrown to a bystander in
+return for a trifling piece of assistance. Of course, it must have been
+Raffles Haw. And his sister had the note, with instructions to return
+it to the owner, could he be found. He threw aside his palette, and
+descending into the sitting-room he told Laura and his father of his
+morning's interview with the vicar, and of his conviction that this was
+the man of whom Hector was in quest.
+
+“Tut! Tut!” said old McIntyre. “How is this, Laura? I knew nothing of
+this. What do women know of money or of business? Hand the note over to
+me and I shall relieve you of all responsibility. I will take everything
+upon myself.”
+
+“I cannot possibly, papa,” said Laura, with decision. “I should not
+think of parting with it.”
+
+“What is the world coming to?” cried the old man, with his thin hands
+held up in protest. “You grow more undutiful every day, Laura. This
+money would be of use to me--of use, you understand. It may be the
+corner-stone of the vast business which I shall re-construct. I will use
+it, Laura, and I will pay something--four, shall we say, or even
+four and a-half--and you may have it back on any day. And I will give
+security--the security of my--well, of my word of honour.”
+
+“It is quite impossible, papa,” his daughter answered coldly. “It is not
+my money. Hector asked me to be his banker. Those were his very words.
+It is not in my power to lend it. As to what you say, Robert, you may
+be right or you may be wrong, but I certainly shall not give Mr. Raffles
+Haw or anyone else the money without Hector's express command.”
+
+“You are very right about not giving it to Mr. Raffles Haw,” cried old
+McIntyre, with many nods of approbation. “I should certainly not let it
+go out of the family.”
+
+“Well, I thought that I would tell you.”
+
+Robert picked up his Tam-o'-Shanter and strolled out to avoid the
+discussion between his father and sister, which he saw was about to
+be renewed. His artistic nature revolted at these petty and sordid
+disputes, and he turned to the crisp air and the broad landscape to
+soothe his ruffled feelings. Avarice had no place among his failings,
+and his father's perpetual chatter about money inspired him with a
+positive loathing and disgust for the subject.
+
+Robert was lounging slowly along his favourite walk which curled
+over the hill, with his mind turning from the Roman invasion to the
+mysterious millionaire, when his eyes fell upon a tall, lean man in
+front of him, who, with a pipe between his lips, was endeavouring
+to light a match under cover of his cap. The man was clad in a rough
+pea-jacket, and bore traces of smoke and grime upon his face and hands.
+Yet there is a Freemasonry among smokers which overrides every social
+difference, so Robert stopped and held out his case of fusees.
+
+“A light?” said he.
+
+“Thank you.” The man picked out a fusee, struck it, and bent his head to
+it. He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very sharp
+and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight thick
+eyebrows which almost met on either side of it. Clearly a superior
+kind of workman, and possibly one of those who had been employed in
+the construction of the new house. Here was a chance of getting some
+first-hand information on the question which had aroused his curiosity.
+Robert waited until he had lit his pipe, and then walked on beside him.
+
+“Are you going in the direction of the new Hall?” he asked.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+The man's voice was cold, and his manner reserved.
+
+“Perhaps you were engaged in the building of it?”
+
+“Yes, I had a hand in it.”
+
+“They say that it is a wonderful place inside. It has been quite the
+talk of the district. Is it as rich as they say?”
+
+“I am sure I don't know. I have not heard what they say.”
+
+His attitude was certainly not encouraging, and it seemed to Robert that
+he gave little sidelong suspicious glances at him out of his keen grey
+eyes. Yet, if he were so careful and discreet there was the more reason
+to think that there was information to be extracted, if he could but
+find a way to it.
+
+“Ah, there it lies!” he remarked, as they topped the brow of the hill,
+and looked down once more at the great building. “Well, no doubt it is
+very gorgeous and splendid, but really for my own part I would rather
+live in my own little box down yonder in the village.”
+
+The workman puffed gravely at his pipe.
+
+“You are no great admirer of wealth, then?” he said.
+
+“Not I. I should not care to be a penny richer than I am. Of course I
+should like to sell my pictures. One must make a living. But beyond that
+I ask nothing. I dare say that I, a poor artist, or you, a man who work
+for your bread, have more happiness out of life than the owner of that
+great palace.”
+
+“Indeed, I think that it is more than likely,” the other answered, in a
+much more conciliatory voice.
+
+“Art,” said Robert, warming to the subject, “is her own reward. What
+mere bodily indulgence is there which money could buy which can
+give that deep thrill of satisfaction which comes on the man who has
+conceived something new, something beautiful, and the daily delight as
+he sees it grow under his hand, until it stands before him a completed
+whole? With my art and without wealth I am happy. Without my art I
+should have a void which no money could fill. But I really don't know
+why I should say all this to you.”
+
+The workman had stopped, and was staring at him earnestly with a look of
+the deepest interest upon his smoke-darkened features.
+
+“I am very glad to hear what you say,” said he. “It is a pleasure to
+know that the worship of gold is not quite universal, and that there are
+at least some who can rise above it. Would you mind my shaking you by
+the hand?”
+
+It was a somewhat extraordinary request, but Robert rather prided
+himself upon his Bohemianism, and upon his happy facility for making
+friends with all sorts and conditions of men. He readily exchanged a
+cordial grip with his chance acquaintance.
+
+“You expressed some curiosity as to this house. I know the grounds
+pretty well, and might perhaps show you one or two little things which
+would interest you. Here are the gates. Will you come in with me?”
+
+Here was, indeed, a chance. Robert eagerly assented, and walked up the
+winding drive amid the growing fir-trees. When he found his uncouth
+guide, however, marching straight across the broad, gravel square to the
+main entrance, he felt that he had placed himself in a false position.
+
+“Surely not through the front door,” he whispered, plucking his
+companion by the sleeve. “Perhaps Mr. Raffles Haw might not like it.”
+
+“I don't think there will be any difficulty,” said the other, with a
+quiet smile. “My name is Raffles Haw.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+
+Robert McIntyre's face must have expressed the utter astonishment which
+filled his mind at this most unlooked-for announcement. For a moment he
+thought that his companion must be joking, but the ease and assurance
+with which he lounged up the steps, and the deep respect with which a
+richly-clad functionary in the hall swung open the door to admit him,
+showed that he spoke in sober earnest. Raffles Haw glanced back, and
+seeing the look of absolute amazement upon the young artist's features,
+he chuckled quietly to himself.
+
+“You will forgive me, won't you, for not disclosing my identity?” he
+said, laying his hand with a friendly gesture upon the other's sleeve.
+“Had you known me you would have spoken less freely, and I should not
+have had the opportunity of learning your true worth. For example, you
+might hardly have been so frank upon the matter of wealth had you known
+that you were speaking to the master of the Hall.”
+
+“I don't think that I was ever so astonished in my life,” gasped Robert.
+
+“Naturally you are. How could you take me for anything but a workman?
+So I am. Chemistry is one of my hobbies, and I spend hours a day in my
+laboratory yonder. I have only just struck work, and as I had inhaled
+some not-over-pleasant gases, I thought that a turn down the road and a
+whiff of tobacco might do me good. That was how I came to meet you, and
+my toilet, I fear, corresponded only too well with my smoke-grimed face.
+But I rather fancy I know you by repute. Your name is Robert McIntyre,
+is it not?”
+
+“Yes, though I cannot imagine how you knew.”
+
+“Well, I naturally took some little trouble to learn something of my
+neighbours. I had heard that there was an artist of that name, and I
+presume that artists are not very numerous in Tamfield. But how do you
+like the design? I hope it does not offend your trained taste.”
+
+“Indeed, it is wonderful--marvellous! You must yourself have an
+extraordinary eye for effect.”
+
+“Oh, I have no taste at all; not the slightest. I cannot tell good from
+bad. There never was such a complete Philistine. But I had the best man
+in London down, and another fellow from Vienna. They fixed it up between
+them.”
+
+They had been standing just within the folding doors upon a huge mat
+of bison skins. In front of them lay a great square court, paved with
+many-coloured marbles laid out in a labyrinth of arabesque design. In
+the centre a high fountain of carved jade shot five thin feathers of
+spray into the air, four of which curved towards each corner of the
+court to descend into broad marble basins, while the fifth mounted
+straight up to an immense height, and then tinkled back into the central
+reservoir. On either side of the court a tall, graceful palm-tree shot
+up its slender stem to break into a crown of drooping green leaves some
+fifty feet above their heads. All round were a series of Moorish arches,
+in jade and serpentine marble, with heavy curtains of the deepest purple
+to cover the doors which lay between them. In front, to right and to
+left, a broad staircase of marble, carpeted with rich thick Smyrna rug
+work, led upwards to the upper storeys, which were arranged around the
+central court. The temperature within was warm and yet fresh, like the
+air of an English May.
+
+“It's taken from the Alhambra,” said Raffles Haw. “The palm-trees are
+pretty. They strike right through the building into the ground beneath,
+and their roots are all girt round with hot-water pipes. They seem to
+thrive very well.”
+
+“What beautifully delicate brass-work!” cried Robert, looking up with
+admiring eyes at the bright and infinitely fragile metal trellis screens
+which adorned the spaces between the Moorish arches.
+
+“It is rather neat. But it is not brass-work. Brass is not tough enough
+to allow them to work it to that degree of fineness. It is gold. But
+just come this way with me. You won't mind waiting while I remove this
+smoke?”
+
+He led the way to a door upon the left side of the court, which, to
+Robert's surprise, swung slowly open as they approached it. “That is
+a little improvement which I have adopted,” remarked the master of the
+house. “As you go up to a door your weight upon the planks releases a
+spring which causes the hinges to revolve. Pray step in. This is my own
+little sanctum, and furnished after my own heart.”
+
+If Robert expected to see some fresh exhibition of wealth and luxury
+he was woefully disappointed, for he found himself in a large but bare
+room, with a little iron truckle-bed in one corner, a few scattered
+wooden chairs, a dingy carpet, and a large table heaped with books,
+bottles, papers, and all the other _debris_ which collect around a busy
+and untidy man. Motioning his visitor into a chair, Raffles Haw pulled
+off his coat, and, turning up the sleeves of his coarse flannel shirt,
+he began to plunge and scrub in the warm water which flowed from a tap
+in the wall.
+
+“You see how simple my own tastes are,” he remarked, as he mopped his
+dripping face and hair with the towel. “This is the only room in my
+great house where I find myself in a congenial atmosphere. It is homely
+to me. I can read here and smoke my pipe in peace. Anything like luxury
+is abhorrent to me.”
+
+“Really, I should not have though it,” observed Robert.
+
+“It is a fact, I assure you. You see, even with your views as to the
+worthlessness of wealth, views which, I am sure, are very sensible and
+much to your credit, you must allow that if a man should happen to be
+the possessor of vast--well, let us say of considerable--sums of money,
+it is his duty to get that money into circulation, so that the community
+may be the better for it. There is the secret of my fine feathers. I
+have to exert all my ingenuity in order to spend my income, and yet keep
+the money in legitimate channels. For example, it is very easy to give
+money away, and no doubt I could dispose of my surplus, or part of my
+surplus, in that fashion, but I have no wish to pauperise anyone, or to
+do mischief by indiscriminate charity. I must exact some sort of money's
+worth for all the money which I lay out You see my point, don't you?”
+
+“Entirely; though really it is something novel to hear a man complain of
+the difficulty of spending his income.”
+
+“I assure you that it is a very serious difficulty with me. But I have
+hit upon some plans--some very pretty plans. Will you wash your hands?
+Well, then, perhaps you would care to have a look round. Just come into
+this corner of the room, and sit upon this chair. So. Now I will sit
+upon this one, and we are ready to start.”
+
+The angle of the chamber in which they sat was painted for about six
+feet in each direction of a dark chocolate-brown, and was furnished with
+two red plush seats protruding from the walls, and in striking contrast
+with the simplicity of the rest of the apartment.
+
+“This,” remarked Raffles Haw, “is a lift, though it is so closely joined
+to the rest of the room that without the change in colour it might
+puzzle you to find the division. It is made to run either horizontally
+or vertically. This line of knobs represents the various rooms. You can
+see 'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon them. I
+will show you the upward action. I press this one with 'Kitchen' upon
+it.”
+
+There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without
+moving from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that
+a large arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.
+
+“That is the kitchen door,” said Raffles Haw. “I have my kitchen at the
+top of the house. I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking. We have come
+up eighty feet in a very few seconds. Now I press again and here we are
+in my room once more.”
+
+Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.
+
+“The wonders of science are greater than those of magic,” he remarked.
+
+“Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism. Now we try the horizontal. I
+press the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see. Step towards the door,
+and you will find it open in front of you.”
+
+Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a
+large and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed
+from their weight, flashed back to its original position. With his feet
+sinking into the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some
+mossy bank, he stared about him at the great pictures which lined the
+walls.
+
+“Surely, surely, I see Raphael's touch there,” he cried, pointing up at
+the one which faced him.
+
+“Yes, it is a Raphael, and I believe one of his best. I had a very
+exciting bid for it with the French Government. They wanted it for the
+Louvre, but of course at an auction the longest purse must win.”
+
+“And this 'Arrest of Catiline' must be a Rubens. One cannot mistake his
+splendid men and his infamous women.”
+
+“Yes, it is a Rubens. The other two are a Velasquez and a Teniers,
+fair specimens of the Spanish and of the Dutch schools. I have only old
+masters here. The moderns are in the billiard-room. The furniture here
+is a little curious. In fact, I fancy that it is unique. It is made of
+ebony and narwhals' horns. You see that the legs of everything are of
+spiral ivory, both the table and the chairs. It cost the upholsterer
+some little pains, for the supply of these things is a strictly limited
+one. Curiously enough, the Chinese Emperor had given a large order for
+narwhals' horns to repair some ancient pagoda, which was fenced in with
+them, but I outbid him in the market, and his celestial highness has had
+to wait. There is a lift here in the corner, but we do not need it. Pray
+step through this door. This is the billiard-room,” he continued as they
+advanced into the adjoining room. “You see I have a few recent pictures
+of merit upon the walls. Here is a Corot, two Meissoniers, a Bouguereau,
+a Millais, an Orchardson, and two Alma-Tademas. It seems to me to be
+a pity to hang pictures over these walls of carved oak. Look at those
+birds hopping and singing in the branches. They really seem to move and
+twitter, don't they?”
+
+“They are perfect. I never saw such exquisite work. But why do you call
+it a billiard-room, Mr. Haw? I do not see any board.”
+
+“Oh, a board is such a clumsy uncompromising piece of furniture. It is
+always in the way unless you actually need to use it. In this case the
+board is covered by that square of polished maple which you see let into
+the floor. Now I put my foot upon this motor. You see!” As he spoke,
+the central portion of the flooring flew up, and a most beautiful
+tortoise-shell-plated billiard-table rose up to its proper position.
+He pressed a second spring, and a bagatelle-table appeared in the same
+fashion. “You may have card-tables or what you will by setting the
+levers in motion,” he remarked. “But all this is very trifling. Perhaps
+we may find something in the museum which may be of more interest to
+you.”
+
+He led the way into another chamber, which was furnished in antique
+style, with hangings of the rarest and richest tapestry. The floor was
+a mosaic of coloured marbles, scattered over with mats of costly fur.
+There was little furniture, but a number of Louis Quatorze cabinets of
+ebony and silver with delicately-painted plaques were ranged round the
+apartment.
+
+“It is perhaps hardly fair to dignify it by the name of a museum,” said
+Raffles Haw. “It consists merely of a few elegant trifles which I have
+picked up here and there. Gems are my strongest point. I fancy that
+there, perhaps, I might challenge comparison with any private collector
+in the world. I lock them up, for even the best servants may be
+tempted.”
+
+He took a silver key from his watch chain, and began to unlock and draw
+out the drawers. A cry of wonder and of admiration burst from Robert
+McIntyre, as his eyes rested upon case after case filled with the
+most magnificent stones. The deep still red of the rubies, the clear
+scintillating green of the emeralds, the hard glitter of the diamonds,
+the many shifting shades of beryls, of amethysts, of onyxes, of
+cats'-eyes, of opals, of agates, of cornelians seemed to fill the whole
+chamber with a vague twinkling, many-coloured light. Long slabs of the
+beautiful blue lapis lazuli, magnificent bloodstones, specimens of pink
+and red and white coral, long strings of lustrous pearls, all these were
+tossed out by their owner as a careless schoolboy might pour marbles
+from his bag.
+
+“This isn't bad,” he said, holding up a great glowing yellow mass as
+large as his own head. “It is really a very fine piece of amber. It
+was forwarded to me by my agent at the Baltic. Twenty-eight pounds,
+it weighs. I never heard of so fine a one. I have no very large
+brilliants--there were no very large ones in the market--but my average
+is good. Pretty toys, are they not?” He picked up a double handful of
+emeralds from a drawer, and then let them trickle slowly back into the
+heap.
+
+“Good heavens!” cried Robert, as he gazed from case to case. “It is an
+immense fortune in itself. Surely a hundred thousand pounds would hardly
+buy so splendid a collection.”
+
+“I don't think that you would do for a valuer of precious stones,” said
+Raffles Haw, laughing. “Why, the contents of that one little drawer
+of brilliants could not be bought for the sum which you name. I have a
+memo. here of what I have expended up to date on my collection, though
+I have agents at work who will probably make very considerable additions
+to it within the next few weeks. As matters stand, however, I have
+spent--let me see-pearls one forty thousand; emeralds, seven fifty;
+rubies, eight forty; brilliants, nine twenty; onyxes--I have several
+very nice onyxes-two thirty. Other gems, carbuncles, agates--hum!
+Yes, it figures out at just over four million seven hundred and forty
+thousand. I dare say that we may say five millions, for I have not
+counted the odd money.”
+
+“Good gracious!” cried the young artist, with staring eyes.
+
+“I have a certain feeling of duty in the matter. You see the cutting,
+polishing, and general sale of stones is one of those industries which
+is entirely dependent upon wealth. If we do not support it, it must
+languish, which means misfortune to a considerable number of people. The
+same applies to the gold filigree work which you noticed in the
+court. Wealth has its responsibilities, and the encouragement of these
+handicrafts are among the most obvious of them. Here is a nice ruby. It
+is Burmese, and the fifth largest in existence. I am inclined to think
+that if it were uncut it would be the second, but of course cutting
+takes away a great deal.” He held up the blazing red stone, about the
+size of a chestnut, between his finger and thumb for a moment, and then
+threw it carelessly back into its drawer. “Come into the smoking-room,”
+ he said; “you will need some little refreshment, for they say that
+sight-seeing is the most exhausting occupation in the world.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. FROM CLIME TO CLIME
+
+
+The chamber in which the bewildered Robert now found himself was more
+luxurious, if less rich, than any which he had yet seen. Low settees of
+claret-coloured plush were scattered in orderly disorder over a mossy
+Eastern carpet. Deep lounges, reclining sofas, American rocking-chairs,
+all were to be had for the choosing. One end of the room was walled by
+glass, and appeared to open upon a luxuriant hot-house. At the further
+end a double line of gilt rails supported a profusion of the most recent
+magazines and periodicals. A rack at each side of the inlaid fireplace
+sustained a long line of the pipes of all places and nations--English
+cherrywoods, French briars, German china-bowls, carved meerschaums,
+scented cedar and myall-wood, with Eastern narghiles, Turkish
+chibooques, and two great golden-topped hookahs. To right and left
+were a series of small lockers, extending in a treble row for the whole
+length of the room, with the names of the various brands of tobacco
+scrolled in ivory work across them. Above were other larger tiers of
+polished oak, which held cigars and cigarettes.
+
+“Try that Damascus settee,” said the master of the house, as he threw
+himself into a rocking-chair. “It is from the Sultan's upholsterer.
+The Turks have a very good notion of comfort. I am a confirmed smoker
+myself, Mr. McIntyre, so I have been able, perhaps, to check my
+architect here more than in most of the other departments. Of pictures,
+for example, I know nothing, as you would very speedily find out. On
+a tobacco, I might, perhaps, offer an opinion. Now these”--he drew out
+some long, beautifully-rolled, mellow-coloured cigars--“these are really
+something a little out of the common. Do try one.”
+
+Robert lit the weed which was offered to him, and leaned back
+luxuriously amid his cushions, gazing through the blue balmy fragrant
+cloud-wreaths at the extraordinary man in the dirty pea-jacket who spoke
+of millions as another might of sovereigns. With his pale face, his sad,
+languid air, and his bowed shoulders, it was as though he were crushed
+down under the weight of his own gold. There was a mute apology, an
+attitude of deprecation in his manner and speech, which was strangely
+at variance with the immense power which he wielded. To Robert the
+whole whimsical incident had been intensely interesting and amusing. His
+artistic nature blossomed out in this atmosphere of perfect luxury
+and comfort, and he was conscious of a sense of repose and of absolute
+sensual contentment such as he had never before experienced.
+
+“Shall it be coffee, or Rhine wine, or Tokay, or perhaps something
+stronger,” asked Raffles Haw, stretching out his hand to what looked like
+a piano-board projecting from the wall. “I can recommend the Tokay. I
+have it from the man who supplies the Emperor of Austria, though I think
+I may say that I get the cream of it.”
+
+He struck twice upon one of the piano-notes, and sat expectant. With a
+sharp click at the end of ten seconds a sliding shutter flew open, and
+a small tray protruded bearing two long tapering Venetian glasses filled
+with wine.
+
+“It works very nicely,” said Raffles Haw. “It is quite a new thing--never
+before done, as far as I know. You see the names of the various wines
+and so on printed on the notes. By pressing the note down I complete an
+electric circuit which causes the tap in the cellars beneath to remain
+open long enough to fill the glass which always stands beneath it. The
+glasses, you understand, stand upon a revolving drum, so that there must
+always be one there. The glasses are then brought up through a pneumatic
+tube, which is set working by the increased weight of the glass when the
+wine is added to it. It is a pretty little idea. But I am afraid that I
+bore you rather with all these petty contrivances. It is a whim of mine
+to push mechanism as far as it will go.”
+
+“On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder,” said Robert
+warmly. “It is as if I had been suddenly whipped up out of prosaic old
+England and transferred in an instant to some enchanted palace, some
+Eastern home of the Genii. I could not have believed that there existed
+upon this earth such adaptation of means to an end, such complete
+mastery of every detail which may aid in stripping life of any of its
+petty worries.”
+
+“I have something yet to show you,” remarked Raffles Haw; “but we will
+rest here for a few minutes, for I wished to have a word with you. How
+is the cigar?”
+
+“Most excellent.”
+
+“It was rolled in Louisiana in the old slavery days. There is nothing
+made like them now. The man who had them did not know their value. He
+let them go at merely a few shillings apiece. Now I want you to do me a
+favour, Mr. McIntyre.”
+
+“I shall be so glad.”
+
+“You can see more or less how I am situated. I am a complete stranger
+here. With the well-to-do classes I have little in common. I am no
+society man. I don't want to call or be called on. I am a student in a
+small way, and a man of quiet tastes. I have no social ambitions at all.
+Do you understand?”
+
+“Entirely.”
+
+“On the other hand, my experience of the world has been that it is the
+rarest thing to be able to form a friendship with a poorer man--I mean
+with a man who is at all eager to increase his income. They think much
+of your wealth, and little of yourself. I have tried, you understand,
+and I know.” He paused and ran his fingers through his thin beard.
+
+Robert McIntyre nodded to show that he appreciated his position.
+
+“Now, you see,” he continued, “if I am to be cut off from the rich by
+my own tastes, and from those who are not rich by my distrust of their
+motives, my situation is an isolated one. Not that I mind isolation:
+I am used to it. But it limits my field of usefulness. I have no
+trustworthy means of informing myself when and where I may do good.
+I have already, I am glad to say, met a man to-day, your vicar, who
+appears to be thoroughly unselfish and trustworthy. He shall be one
+of my channels of communication with the outer world. Might I ask you
+whether you would be willing to become another?”
+
+“With the greatest pleasure,” said Robert eagerly.
+
+The proposition filled his heart with joy, for it seemed to give him an
+almost official connection with this paradise of a house. He could not
+have asked for anything more to his taste.
+
+“I was fortunate enough to discover by your conversation how high a
+ground you take in such matters, and how entirely disinterested you
+are. You may have observed that I was short and almost rude with you at
+first. I have had reason to fear and suspect all chance friendships.
+Too often they have proved to be carefully planned beforehand, with some
+sordid object in view. Good heavens, what stories I could tell you!
+A lady pursued by a bull--I have risked my life to save her, and have
+learned afterwards that the scene had been arranged by the mother as an
+effective introduction, and that the bull had been hired by the hour.
+But I won't shake your faith in human nature. I have had some rude
+shocks myself. I look, perhaps, with a jaundiced eye on all who come
+near me. It is the more needful that I should have one whom I can trust
+to advise me.”
+
+“If you will only show me where my opinion can be of any use I shall be
+most happy,” said Robert. “My people come from Birmingham, but I know
+most of the folk here and their position.”
+
+“That is just what I want. Money can do so much good, and it may do so
+much harm. I shall consult you when I am in doubt. By the way, there
+is one small question which I might ask you now. Can you tell me who
+a young lady is with very dark hair, grey eyes, and a finely chiselled
+face? She wore a blue dress when I saw her, with astrachan about her
+neck and cuffs.”
+
+Robert chuckled to himself.
+
+“I know that dress pretty well,” he said. “It is my sister Laura whom
+you describe.”
+
+“Your sister! Really! Why, there is a resemblance, now that my attention
+is called to it. I saw her the other day, and wondered who she might be.
+She lives with you, of course?”
+
+“Yes; my father, she, and I live together at Elmdene.”
+
+“Where I hope to have the pleasure of making their acquaintance. You
+have finished your cigar? Have another, or try a pipe. To the real
+smoker all is mere trifling save the pipe. I have most brands of tobacco
+here. The lockers are filled on the Monday, and on Saturday they are
+handed over to the old folk at the alms-houses, so I manage to keep it
+pretty fresh always. Well, if you won't take anything else, perhaps you
+would care to see one or two of the other effects which I have devised.
+On this side is the armoury, and beyond it the library. My collection of
+books is a limited one; there are just over the fifty thousand volumes.
+But it is to some extent remarkable for quality. I have a Visigoth Bible
+of the fifth century, which I rather fancy is unique; there is a 'Biblia
+Pauperum' of 1430; a MS. of Genesis done upon mulberry leaves, probably
+of the second century; a 'Tristan and Iseult' of the eighth century; and
+some hundred black-letters, with five very fine specimens of Schoffer
+and Fust. But those you may turn over any wet afternoon when you have
+nothing better to do. Meanwhile, I have a little device connected with
+this smoking-room which may amuse you. Light this other cigar. Now sit
+with me upon this lounge which stands at the further end of the room.”
+
+The sofa in question was in a niche which was lined in three sides and
+above with perfectly clear transparent crystal. As they sat down the
+master of the house drew a cord which pulled out a crystal shutter
+behind them, so that they were enclosed on all sides in a great box
+of glass, so pure and so highly polished that its presence might very
+easily be forgotten. A number of golden cords with crystal handles hung
+down into this small chamber, and appeared to be connected with a long
+shining bar outside.
+
+“Now, where would you like to smoke your cigar?” said Raffles Haw, with
+a twinkle in his demure eyes. “Shall we go to India, or to Egypt, or to
+China, or to--”
+
+“To South America,” said Robert.
+
+There was a twinkle, a whirr, and a sense of motion. The young artist
+gazed about him in absolute amazement. Look where he would all round
+were tree-ferns and palms with long drooping creepers, and a blaze of
+brilliant orchids. Smoking-room, house, England, all were gone, and he
+sat on a settee in the heart of a virgin forest of the Amazon. It was no
+mere optical delusion or trick. He could see the hot steam rising from
+the tropical undergrowth, the heavy drops falling from the huge green
+leaves, the very grain and fibre of the rough bark which clothed the
+trunks. Even as he gazed a green mottled snake curled noiselessly over
+a branch above his head, and a bright-coloured paroquet broke suddenly
+from amid the foliage and flashed off among the tree-trunks. Robert
+gazed around, speechless with surprise, and finally turned upon his host
+a face in which curiosity was not un-mixed with a suspicion of fear.
+
+“People have been burned for less, have they not?” cried Raffles Haw
+laughing heartily. “Have you had enough of the Amazon? What do you say
+to a spell of Egypt?”
+
+Again the whirr, the swift flash of passing objects, and in an instant
+a huge desert stretched on every side of them, as far as the eye could
+reach. In the foreground a clump of five palm-trees towered into the
+air, with a profusion of rough cactus-like plants bristling from their
+base. On the other side rose a rugged, gnarled, grey monolith, carved at
+the base into a huge scarabaeus. A group of lizards played about on the
+surface of the old carved stone. Beyond, the yellow sand stretched away
+into furthest space, where the dim mirage mist played along the horizon.
+
+“Mr. Haw, I cannot understand it!” Robert grasped the velvet edge of the
+settee, and gazed wildly about him.
+
+“The effect is rather startling, is it not? This Egyptian desert is
+my favourite when I lay myself out for a contemplative smoke. It seems
+strange that tobacco should have come from the busy, practical West.
+It has much more affinity for the dreamy, languid East. But perhaps you
+would like to run over to China for a change?”
+
+“Not to-day,” said Robert, passing his hand over his forehead. “I feel
+rather confused by all these wonders, and indeed I think that they have
+affected my nerves a little. Besides, it is time that I returned to my
+prosaic Elmdene, if I can find my way out of this wilderness to which
+you have transplanted me. But would you ease my mind, Mr. Haw, by
+showing me how this thing is done?”
+
+“It is the merest toy--a complex plaything, nothing more. Allow me to
+explain. I have a line of very large greenhouses which extends from
+one end of my smoking-room. These different houses are kept at varying
+degrees of heat and humidity so as to reproduce the exact climates of
+Egypt, China, and the rest. You see, our crystal chamber is a tramway
+running with a minimum of friction along a steel rod. By pulling this or
+that handle I regulate how far it shall go, and it travels, as you have
+seen, with amazing speed. The effect of my hot-houses is heightened by
+the roofs being invariably concealed by skies, which are really very
+admirably painted, and by the introduction of birds and other creatures,
+which seem to flourish quite as well in artificial as in natural heat.
+This explains the South American effect.”
+
+“But not the Egyptian.”
+
+“No. It is certainly rather clever. I had the best man in France,
+at least the best at those large effects, to paint in that circular
+background. You understand, the palms, cacti, obelisk, and so on, are
+perfectly genuine, and so is the sand for fifty yards or so, and I defy
+the keenest-eyed man in England to tell where the deception commences.
+It is the familiar and perhaps rather meretricious effect of a circular
+panorama, but carried out in the most complete manner. Was there any
+other point?”
+
+“The crystal box? Why was it?”
+
+“To preserve my guests from the effects of the changes of temperature.
+It would be a poor kindness to bring them back to my smoking-room
+drenched through, and with the seeds of a violent cold. The crystal has
+to be kept warm, too, otherwise vapour would deposit, and you would have
+your view spoiled. But must you really go? Then here we are back in the
+smoking-room. I hope that it will not be your last visit by many a one.
+And if I may come down to Elmdene I should be very glad to do so. This
+is the way through the museum.”
+
+As Robert McIntyre emerged from the balmy aromatic atmosphere of the
+great house, into the harsh, raw, biting air of an English winter
+evening, he felt as though he had been away for a long visit in some
+foreign country. Time is measured by impressions, and so vivid and novel
+had been his feelings, that weeks and weeks might have elapsed since his
+chat with the smoke-grimed stranger in the road. He walked along with
+his head in a whirl, his whole mind possessed and intoxicated by the one
+idea of the boundless wealth and the immense power of this extraordinary
+stranger. Small and sordid and mean seemed his own Elmdene as he
+approached it, and he passed over its threshold full of restless
+discontent against himself and his surroundings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. LAURA'S REQUEST.
+
+
+That night after supper Robert McIntyre poured forth all that he had
+seen to his father and to his sister. So full was he of the one subject
+that it was a relief to him to share his knowledge with others. Rather
+for his own sake, then, than for theirs he depicted vividly all
+the marvels which he had seen; the profusion of wealth, the regal
+treasure-house of gems, the gold, the marble, the extraordinary devices,
+the absolute lavishness and complete disregard for money which was shown
+in every detail. For an hour he pictured with glowing words all
+the wonders which had been shown him, and ended with some pride by
+describing the request which Mr. Raffles Haw had made, and the complete
+confidence which he had placed in him.
+
+His words had a very different effect upon his two listeners. Old
+McIntyre leaned back in his chair with a bitter smile upon his lips, his
+thin face crinkled into a thousand puckers, and his small eyes shining
+with envy and greed. His lean yellow hand upon the table was clenched
+until the knuckles gleamed white in the lamplight. Laura, on the other
+hand, leaned forward, her lips parted, drinking in her brother's words
+with a glow of colour upon either cheek. It seemed to Robert, as he
+glanced from one to the other of them, that he had never seen his father
+look so evil, or his sister so beautiful.
+
+“Who is the fellow, then?” asked the old man after a considerable pause.
+“I hope he got all this in an honest fashion. Five millions in jewels,
+you say. Good gracious me! Ready to give it away, too, but afraid of
+pauperising any one. You can tell him, Robert, that you know of one
+very deserving case which has not the slightest objection to being
+pauperised.”
+
+“But who can he possibly be, Robert?” cried Laura. “Haw cannot be his
+real name. He must be some disguised prince, or perhaps a king in exile.
+Oh, I should have loved to have seen those diamonds and the emeralds! I
+always think that emeralds suit dark people best. You must tell me again
+all about that museum, Robert.”
+
+“I don't think that he is anything more than he pretends to be,” her
+brother answered. “He has the plain, quiet manners of an ordinary
+middle-class Englishman. There was no particular polish that I
+could see. He knew a little about books and pictures, just enough to
+appreciate them, but nothing more. No, I fancy that he is a man quite in
+our own position of life, who has in some way inherited a vast sum. Of
+course it is difficult for me to form an estimate, but I should judge
+that what I saw to-day--house, pictures, jewels, books, and so on--could
+never have been bought under twenty millions, and I am sure that that
+figure is entirely an under-statement.”
+
+“I never knew but one Haw,” said old McIntyre, drumming his fingers on
+the table; “he was a foreman in my pin-fire cartridge-case department.
+But he was an elderly single man. Well, I hope he got it all honestly. I
+hope the money is clean.”
+
+“And really, really, he is coming to see us!” cried Laura, clapping her
+hands. “Oh, when do you think he will come, Robert? Do give me warning.
+Do you think it will be to-morrow?”
+
+“I am sure I cannot say.”
+
+“I should so love to see him. I don't know when I have been so
+interested.”
+
+“Why, you have a letter there,” remarked Robert. “From Hector, too, by
+the foreign stamp. How is he?”
+
+“It only came this evening. I have not opened it yet. To tell the truth,
+I have been so interested in your story that I had forgotten all about
+it. Poor old Hector! It is from Madeira.” She glanced rapidly over the
+four pages of straggling writing in the young sailor's bold schoolboyish
+hand. “Oh, he is all right,” she said. “They had a gale on the way out,
+and that sort of thing, but he is all right now. He thinks he may
+be back by March. I wonder whether your new friend will come
+to-morrow--your knight of the enchanted Castle.”
+
+“Hardly so soon, I should fancy.”
+
+“If he should be looking about for an investment. Robert,” said the
+father, “you won't forget to tell him what a fine opening there is now
+in the gun trade. With my knowledge, and a few thousands at my back, I
+could bring him in his thirty per cent. as regular as the bank. After
+all, he must lay out his money somehow. He cannot sink it all in
+books and precious stones. I am sure that I could give him the highest
+references.”
+
+“It may be a long time before he comes, father,” said Robert coldly;
+“and when he does I am afraid that I can hardly use his friendship as a
+means of advancing your interest.”
+
+“We are his equals, father,” cried Laura with spirit. “Would you put us
+on the footing of beggars? He would think we cared for him only for his
+money. I wonder that you should think of such a thing.”
+
+“If I had not thought of such things where would your education have
+been, miss?” retorted the angry old man; and Robert stole quietly away
+to his room, whence amid his canvases he could still hear the hoarse
+voice and the clear in their never-ending family jangle. More and more
+sordid seemed the surroundings of his life, and more and more to be
+valued the peace which money can buy.
+
+Breakfast had hardly been cleared in the morning, and Robert had not yet
+ascended to his work, when there came a timid tapping at the door, and
+there was Raffles Haw on the mat outside. Robert ran out and welcomed
+him with all cordiality.
+
+“I am afraid that I am a very early visitor,” he said apologetically;
+“but I often take a walk after breakfast.” He had no traces of work upon
+him now, but was trim and neat with a dark suit, and carefully brushed
+hair. “You spoke yesterday of your work. Perhaps, early as it is, you
+would allow me the privilege of looking over your studio?”
+
+“Pray step in, Mr. Haw,” cried Robert, all in a flutter at this advance
+from so munificent a patron of art; “I should be only too happy to show
+you such little work as I have on hand, though, indeed, I am almost
+afraid when I think how familiar you are with some of the greatest
+masterpieces. Allow me to introduce you to my father and to my sister
+Laura.”
+
+Old McIntyre bowed low and rubbed his thin hands together; but the young
+lady gave a gasp of surprise, and stared with widely-opened eyes at the
+millionaire. Maw stepped forward, however, and shook her quietly by the
+hand,
+
+“I expected to find that it was you,” he said. “I have already met your
+sister, Mr. McIntyre, on the very first day that I came here. We took
+shelter in a shed from a snowstorm, and had quite a pleasant little
+chat.”
+
+“I had no notion that I was speaking to the owner of the Hall,” said
+Laura in some confusion. “How funnily things turn out, to be sure!”
+
+“I had often wondered who it was that I spoke to, but it was only
+yesterday that I discovered. What a sweet little place you have here! It
+must be charming in summer. Why, if it were not for this hill my windows
+would look straight across at yours.”
+
+“Yes, and we should see all your beautiful plantations,” said Laura,
+standing beside him in the window. “I was wishing only yesterday that
+the hill was not there.”
+
+“Really! I shall be happy to have it removed for you if you would like
+it.”
+
+“Good gracious!” cried Laura. “Why, where would you put it?”
+
+“Oh, they could run it along the line and dump it anywhere. It is not
+much of a hill. A few thousand men with proper machinery, and a line
+of rails brought right up to them could easily dispose of it in a few
+months.”
+
+“And the poor vicar's house?” Laura asked, laughing.
+
+“I think that might be got over. We could run him up a facsimile, which
+would, perhaps, be more convenient to him. Your brother will tell you
+that I am quite an expert at the designing of houses. But, seriously, if
+you think it would be an improvement I will see what can be done.”
+
+“Not for the world, Mr. Haw. Why, I should be a traitor to the whole
+village if I were to encourage such a scheme. The hill is the one thing
+which gives Tamfield the slightest individuality. It would be the
+height of selfishness to sacrifice it in order to improve the view from
+Elmdene.”
+
+“It is a little box of a place this, Mr. Haw,” said old McIntyre. “I
+should think you must feel quite stifled in it after your grand mansion,
+of which my son tells me such wonders. But we were not always accustomed
+to this sort of thing, Mr. Haw. Humble as I stand here, there was a
+time, and not so long ago, when I could write as many figures on a
+cheque as any gunmaker in Birmingham. It was--”
+
+“He is a dear discontented old papa,” cried Laura, throwing her arm
+round him in a caressing manner. He gave a sharp squeak and a grimace
+of pain, which he endeavoured to hide by an outbreak of painfully
+artificial coughing.
+
+“Shall we go upstairs?” said Robert hurriedly, anxious to divert his
+guest's attention from this little domestic incident. “My studio is the
+real atelier, for it is right up under the tiles. I shall lead the way,
+if you will have the kindness to follow me.”
+
+Leaving Laura and Mr. McIntyre, they went up together to the workroom.
+Mr. Haw stood long in front of the “Signing of Magna Charta,” and
+the “Murder of Thomas a Becket,” screwing up his eyes and twitching
+nervously at his beard, while Robert stood by in anxious expectancy.
+
+“And how much are these?” asked Raffles Haw at last.
+
+“I priced them at a hundred apiece when I sent them to London.”
+
+“Then the best I can wish you is that the day may come when you would
+gladly give ten times the sum to have them back again. I am sure that
+there are great possibilities in you, and I see that in grouping and in
+boldness of design you have already achieved much. But your drawing, if
+you will excuse my saying so, is just a little crude, and your colouring
+perhaps a trifle thin. Now, I will make a bargain with you, Mr.
+McIntyre, if you will consent to it. I know that money has no charms
+for you, but still, as you said when I first met you, a man must live.
+I shall buy these two canvases from you at the price which you name,
+subject to the condition that you may always have them back again by
+repaying the same sum.”
+
+“You are really very kind.” Robert hardly knew whether to be delighted
+at having sold his pictures or humiliated at the frank criticism of the
+buyer.
+
+“May I write a cheque at once?” said Raffles Haw. “Here is pen and ink.
+So! I shall send a couple of footmen down for them in the afternoon.
+Well, I shall keep them in trust for you. I dare say that when you are
+famous they will be of value as specimens of your early manner.”
+
+“I am sure that I am extremely obliged to you, Mr. Haw,” said the young
+artist, placing the cheque in his notebook. He glanced at it as he
+folded it up, in the vague hope that perhaps this man of whims had
+assessed his pictures at a higher rate than he had named. The figures,
+however, were exact. Robert began dimly to perceive that there were
+drawbacks as well as advantages to the reputation of a money-scorner,
+which he had gained by a few chance words, prompted rather by the
+reaction against his father's than by his own real convictions.
+
+“I hope, Miss McIntyre,” said Raffles Haw, when they had descended to
+the sitting-room once more, “that you will do me the honour of coming to
+see the little curiosities which I have gathered together. Your brother
+will, I am sure, escort you up; or perhaps Mr. McIntyre would care to
+come?”
+
+“I shall be delighted to come, Mr. Haw,” cried Laura, with her sweetest
+smile. “A good deal of my time just now is taken up in looking after the
+poor people, who find the cold weather very trying.” Robert raised his
+eyebrows, for it was the first he had heard of his sister's missions of
+mercy, but Mr. Raffles Haw nodded approvingly. “Robert was telling us of
+your wonderful hot-houses. I am sure I wish I could transport the whole
+parish into one of them, and give them a good warm.”
+
+“Nothing would be easier, but I am afraid that they might find it a
+little trying when they came out again. I have one house which is only
+just finished. Your brother has not seen it yet, but I think it is the
+best of them all. It represents an Indian jungle, and is hot enough in
+all conscience.”
+
+“I shall so look forward to seeing it,” cried Laura, clasping her hands.
+“It has been one of the dreams of my life to see India. I have read so
+much of it, the temples, the forests, the great rivers, and the tigers.
+Why, you would hardly believe it, but I have never seen a tiger except
+in a picture.”
+
+“That can easily be set right,” said Raffles Haw, with his quiet smile.
+“Would you care to see one?”
+
+“Oh, immensely.”
+
+“I will have one sent down. Let me see, it is nearly twelve o'clock. I
+can get a wire to Liverpool by one. There is a man there who deals in
+such things. I should think he would be due to-morrow morning. Well,
+I shall look forward to seeing you all before very long. I have rather
+outstayed my time, for I am a man of routine, and I always put in a
+certain number of hours in my laboratory.” He shook hands cordially with
+them all, and lighting his pipe at the doorstep, strolled off upon his
+way.
+
+“Well, what do you think of him now?” asked Robert, as they watched his
+black figure against the white snow.
+
+“I think that he is no more fit to be trusted with all that money than a
+child,” cried the old man. “It made me positively sick to hear him talk
+of moving hills and buying tigers, and such-like nonsense, when there
+are honest men without a business, and great businesses starving for a
+little capital. It's unchristian--that's what I call it.”
+
+“I think he is most delightful, Robert,” said Laura. “Remember, you have
+promised to take us up to the Hall. And he evidently wishes us to go
+soon. Don't you think we might go this afternoon?”
+
+“I hardly think that, Laura. You leave it in my hands, and I will
+arrange it all. And now I must get to work, for the light is so very
+short on these winter days.”
+
+That night Robert McIntyre had gone to bed, and was dozing off when a
+hand plucked at his shoulder, and he started up to find his sister in
+some white drapery, with a shawl thrown over her shoulders, standing
+beside him in the moonlight.
+
+“Robert, dear,” she whispered, stooping over him, “there was something I
+wanted to ask you, but papa was always in the way. You will do something
+to please me, won't you, Robert?”
+
+“Of course, Laura. What is it?”
+
+“I do so hate having my affairs talked over, dear. If Mr. Raffles Haw
+says anything to you about me, or asks any questions, please don't say
+anything about Hector. You won't, will you, Robert, for the sake of your
+little sister?”
+
+“No; not unless you wish it.”
+
+“There is a dear good brother.” She stooped over him and kissed him
+tenderly.
+
+It was a rare thing for Laura to show any emotion, and her brother
+marvelled sleepily over it until he relapsed into his interrupted doze.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A STRANGE VISITOR.
+
+
+The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which
+followed the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to
+hear the buzz and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street.
+Nearer and nearer came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two maddened
+horses reared themselves up on the other side of the garden hedge,
+prancing and pawing, with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing at some
+horror behind them. Two men hung shouting to their bridles, while a
+third came rushing up the curved gravel path. Before the McIntyres could
+realise the situation, their maid, Mary, darted into the sitting-room
+with terror in her round freckled face:
+
+“If you please, miss,” she screamed, “your tiger has arrove.”
+
+“Good heavens!” cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled
+teacup in his hand. “This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a trolly
+with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their mouths
+open.”
+
+“Mad as a hatter!” shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. “I could see it in his
+eye. He spent enough on this beast to start me in business.
+Whoever heard of such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the
+police-station.”
+
+“Nothing of the sort, papa,” said Laura, rising with dignity and
+wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks
+flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
+
+Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be
+diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful
+sister.
+
+“Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me,” she said,
+sweeping towards the door. “I look upon it as a great attention on his
+part. I shall certainly go out and look at it.”
+
+“If you please, sir,” said the carman, reappearing at the door, “it's
+all as we can do to 'old in the 'osses.”
+
+“Let us all go out together then,” suggested Robert.
+
+They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole
+village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the
+almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long,
+lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced
+stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and
+rubbing its muzzle against the bars.
+
+“What were your orders?” asked Robert of the carman.
+
+“It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train
+is drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back. If it 'ad
+been royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are
+to take it back when you're done with it. It's been a cruel job, sir,
+for our arms is pulled clean out of the sockets a-'olding in of the
+'osses.”
+
+“What a dear, sweet creature it is,” cried Laura. “How sleek and how
+graceful! I cannot understand how people could be afraid of anything so
+beautiful.”
+
+“If you please, marm,” said the carman, touching his skin cap, “he out
+with his paw between the bars as we stood in the station yard, and if
+I 'adn't pulled my mate Bill back it would ha' been a case of kingdom
+come. It was a proper near squeak, I can tell ye.”
+
+“I never saw anything more lovely,” continued Laura, loftily overlooking
+the remarks of the driver. “It has been a very great pleasure to me
+to see it, and I hope that you will tell Mr. Haw so if you see him,
+Robert.”
+
+“The horses are very restive,” said her brother. “Perhaps, Laura, if you
+have seen enough, it would be as well to let them go.”
+
+She bowed in the regal fashion which she had so suddenly adopted. Robert
+shouted the order, the driver sprang up, his comrades let the horses
+go, and away rattled the waggon and the trolly with half the Tamfielders
+streaming vainly behind it.
+
+“Is it not wonderful what money can do?” Laura remarked, as they knocked
+the snow from their shoes within the porch. “There seems to be no wish
+which Mr. Haw could not at once gratify.”
+
+“No wish of yours, you mean,” broke in her father. “It's different when
+he is dealing with a wrinkled old man who has spent himself in working
+for his children. A plainer case of love at first sight I never saw.”
+
+“How can you be so coarse, papa?” cried Laura, but her eyes flashed, and
+her teeth gleamed, as though the remark had not altogether displeased
+her.
+
+“For heaven's sake, be careful, Laura!” cried Robert. “It had not struck
+me before, but really it does look rather like it. You know how you
+stand. Raffles Haw is not a man to play with.”
+
+“You dear old boy!” said Laura, laying her hand upon his shoulder, “what
+do you know of such things? All you have to do is to go on with your
+painting, and to remember the promise you made the other night.”
+
+“What promise was that, then?” cried old McIntyre suspiciously.
+
+“Never you mind, papa. But if you forget it, Robert, I shall never
+forgive you as long as I live.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+
+It can easily be believed that as the weeks passed the name and fame
+of the mysterious owner of the New Hall resounded over the quiet
+countryside until the rumour of him had spread to the remotest corners
+of Warwickshire and Staffordshire. In Birmingham on the one side, and in
+Coventry and Leamington on the other, there was gossip as to his untold
+riches, his extraordinary whims, and the remarkable life which he led.
+His name was bandied from mouth to mouth, and a thousand efforts were
+made to find out who and what he was. In spite of all their pains,
+however, the newsmongers were unable to discover the slightest trace of
+his antecedents, or to form even a guess as to the secret of his riches.
+
+It was no wonder that conjecture was rife upon the subject, for hardly a
+day passed without furnishing some new instance of the boundlessness of
+his power and of the goodness of his heart. Through the vicar, Robert,
+and others, he had learned much of the inner life of the parish, and
+many were the times when the struggling man, harassed and driven to
+the wall, found thrust into his hand some morning a brief note with
+an enclosure which rolled all the sorrow back from his life. One day a
+thick double-breasted pea-jacket and a pair of good sturdy boots were
+served out to every old man in the almshouse. On another, Miss Swire,
+the decayed gentlewoman who eked out her small annuity by needlework,
+had a brand new first-class sewing-machine handed in to her to take the
+place of the old worn-out treadle which tried her rheumatic joints.
+The pale-faced schoolmaster, who had spent years with hardly a break in
+struggling with the juvenile obtuseness of Tamfield, received through
+the post a circular ticket for a two months' tour through Southern
+Europe, with hotel coupons and all complete. John Hackett, the farmer,
+after five long years of bad seasons, borne with a brave heart, had at
+last been overthrown by the sixth, and had the bailiffs actually in the
+house when the good vicar had rushed in, waving a note above his head,
+to tell him not only that his deficit had been made up, but that enough
+remained over to provide the improved machinery which would enable him
+to hold his own for the future. An almost superstitious feeling came
+upon the rustic folk as they looked at the great palace when the sun
+gleamed upon the huge hot-houses, or even more so, perhaps, when at
+night the brilliant electric lights shot their white radiance through
+the countless rows of windows. To them it was as if some minor
+Providence presided in that great place, unseen but seeing all,
+boundless in its power and its graciousness, ever ready to assist and to
+befriend. In every good deed, however, Raffles Haw still remained in
+the background, while the vicar and Robert had the pleasant task of
+conveying his benefits to the lowly and the suffering.
+
+Once only did he appear in his own person, and that was upon the famous
+occasion when he saved the well-known bank of Garraweg Brothers in
+Birmingham. The most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers,
+Louis and Rupert, had built up a business which extended its
+ramifications into every townlet of four counties. The failure of their
+London agents had suddenly brought a heavy loss upon them, and the
+circumstance leaking out had caused a sudden and most dangerous run upon
+their establishment. Urgent telegrams for bullion from all their forty
+branches poured in at the very instant when the head office was crowded
+with anxious clients all waving their deposit-books, and clamouring for
+their money. Bravely did the two brothers with their staff stand with
+smiling faces behind the shining counter, while swift messengers sped
+and telegrams flashed to draw in all the available resources of the
+bank. All day the stream poured through the office, and when four
+o'clock came, and the doors were closed for the day, the street without
+was still blocked by the expectant crowd, while there remained scarce a
+thousand pounds of bullion in the cellars.
+
+“It is only postponed. Louis,” said brother Rupert despairingly, when
+the last clerk had left the office, and when at last they could relax
+the fixed smile upon their haggard faces.
+
+“Those shutters will never come down again,” cried brother Louis, and
+the two suddenly burst out sobbing in each other's arms, not for their
+own griefs, but for the miseries which they might bring upon those who
+had trusted them.
+
+But who shall ever dare to say that there is no hope, if he will but
+give his griefs to the world? That very night Mrs. Spurling had received
+a letter from her old school friend, Mrs. Louis Garraweg, with all her
+fears and her hopes poured out in it, and the whole sad story of their
+troubles. Swift from the Vicarage went the message to the Hall, and
+early next morning Mr. Raffles Haw, with a great black carpet-bag in his
+hand, found means to draw the cashier of the local branch of the Bank
+of England from his breakfast, and to persuade him to open his doors
+at unofficial hours. By half-past nine the crowd had already begun
+to collect around Garraweg's, when a stranger, pale and thin, with a
+bloated carpet-bag, was shown at his own very pressing request into the
+bank parlour.
+
+“It is no use, sir,” said the elder brother humbly, as they stood
+together encouraging each other to turn a brave face to misfortune,
+“we can do no more. We have little left, and it would be unfair to the
+others to pay you now. We can but hope that when our assets are realised
+no one will be the loser save ourselves.”
+
+“I did not come to draw out, but to put in,” said Raffles Haw in his
+demure apologetic fashion. “I have in my bag five thousand hundred-pound
+Bank of England notes. If you will have the goodness to place them to my
+credit account I should be extremely obliged.”
+
+“But, good heavens, sir!” stammered Rupert Garraweg, “have you
+not heard? Have you not seen? We cannot allow you to do this thing
+blindfold; can we Louis?”
+
+“Most certainly not. We cannot recommend our bank, sir, at the present
+moment, for there is a run upon us, and we do not know to what lengths
+it may go.”
+
+“Tut! tut!” said Raffles Haw. “If the run continues you must send me a
+wire, and I shall make a small addition to my account. You will send me
+a receipt by post. Good-morning, gentlemen!” He bowed himself out ere
+the astounded partners could realise what had befallen them, or raise
+their eyes from the huge black bag and the visiting card which lay upon
+their table. There was no great failure in Birmingham that day, and the
+house of Garraweg still survives to enjoy the success which it deserves.
+
+Such were the deeds by which Raffles Haw made himself known throughout
+the Midlands, and yet, in spite of all his open-handedness, he was not
+a man to be imposed upon. In vain the sturdy beggar cringed at his gate,
+and in vain the crafty letter-writer poured out a thousand fabulous woes
+upon paper. Robert was astonished when he brought some tale of trouble
+to the Hall to observe how swift was the perception of the recluse, and
+how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger
+upon the one point which rang false. Were a man strong enough to help
+himself, or of such a nature as to profit nothing by help, none would
+he get from the master of the New Hall. In vain, for example, did old
+McIntyre throw himself continually across the path of the millionaire,
+and impress upon him, by a thousand hints and innuendoes, the hard
+fortune which had been dealt him, and the ease with which his fallen
+greatness might be restored. Raffles Haw listened politely, bowed,
+smiled, but never showed the slightest inclination to restore the
+querulous old gunmaker to his pedestal.
+
+But if the recluse's wealth was a lure which drew the beggars from
+far and near, as the lamp draws the moths, it had the same power of
+attraction upon another and much more dangerous class. Strange hard
+faces were seen in the village street, prowling figures were marked at
+night stealing about among the fir plantations, and warning messages
+arrived from city police and county constabulary to say that evil
+visitors were known to have taken train to Tamfield. But if, as Raffles
+Haw held, there were few limits to the power of immense wealth, it
+possessed, among other things, the power of self-preservation, as one or
+two people were to learn to their cost.
+
+“Would you mind stepping up to the Hall?” he said one morning, putting
+his head in at the door of the Elmdene sitting-room. “I have something
+there that might amuse you.” He was on intimate terms with the McIntyres
+now, and there were few days on which they did not see something of each
+other.
+
+They gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were
+usually the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for
+them.
+
+“I have shown you a tiger,” he remarked to Laura, as he led them into
+the dining-room. “I will now show you something quite as dangerous,
+though not nearly so pretty.” There was an arrangement of mirrors at one
+end of the room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at the
+top.
+
+“Look in there--in the upper glass,” said Raffles Haw.
+
+“Good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!” cried Laura. “There are two
+of them, and I don't know which is the worse.”
+
+“What on earth are they doing?” asked Robert. “They appear to be sitting
+on the ground in some sort of a cellar.”
+
+“Most dangerous-looking characters,” said the old man. “I should
+strongly recommend you to send for a policeman.”
+
+“I have done so. But it seems a work of supererogation to take them to
+prison, for they are very snugly in prison already. However, I suppose
+that the law must have its own.”
+
+“And who are they, and how did they come there? Do tell us, Mr. Haw.”
+
+Laura McIntyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather
+piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.
+
+“I know no more than you do. They were not there last night, and they
+are here this morning, so I suppose it is a safe inference that they
+came in during the night, especially as my servants found the window
+open when they came down. As to their character and intentions, I should
+think that is pretty legible upon their faces. They look a pair of
+beauties, don't they?”
+
+“But I cannot understand in the least where they are,” said Robert,
+staring into the mirror. “One of them has taken to butting his head
+against the wall. No, he is bending so that the other may stand upon his
+back. He is up there now, and the light is shining upon his face. What
+a bewildered ruffianly face it is too. I should so like to sketch it.
+It would be a study for the picture I am thinking of of the Reign of
+Terror.”
+
+“I have caught them in my patent burglar trap,” said Haw. “They are my
+first birds, but I have no doubt that they will not be the last. I will
+show you how it works. It is quite a new thing. This flooring is now
+as strong as possible, but every night I disconnect it. It is done
+simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the ground-floor.
+When the floor is disconnected one may advance three or four steps,
+either from the window or door, and then that whole part turns on a
+hinge and slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where you may
+kick your heels until you are released. There is a central oasis between
+the hinges, where the furniture is grouped for the night. The flooring
+flies into position again when the weight of the intruder is removed,
+and there he must bide, while I can always take a peep at him by this
+simple little optical arrangement. I thought it might amuse you to have
+a look at my prisoners before I handed them over to the head-constable,
+who I see is now coming up the avenue.”
+
+“The poor burglars!” cried Laura. “It is no wonder that they look
+bewildered, for I suppose, Mr. Haw, that they neither know where they
+are, nor how they came there. I am so glad to know that you guard
+yourself in this way, for I have often thought that you ran a danger.”
+
+“Have you so?” said he, smiling round at her. “I think that my house
+is fairly burglar-proof. I have one window which may be used as an
+entrance, the centre one of the three of my laboratory. I keep it so
+because, to tell the truth, I am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and
+when I treat myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in and
+out without ceremony. It would, however, be a fortunate rogue who picked
+the only safe entrance out of a hundred, and even then he might find
+pitfalls. Here is the constable, but you must not go, for Miss McIntyre
+has still something to see in my little place. If you will step into the
+billiard-room I shall be with you in a very few moments.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+
+That morning, and many mornings both before and afterwards, were spent
+by Laura at the New Hall examining the treasures of the museum, playing
+with the thousand costly toys which Raffles Haw had collected, or
+sallying out from the smoking-room in the crystal chamber into the long
+line of luxurious hot-houses. Haw would walk demurely beside her as
+she flitted from one thing to another like a butterfly among flowers,
+watching her out of the corner of his eyes, and taking a quiet pleasure
+in her delight. The only joy which his costly possessions had ever
+brought him was that which came from the entertainment of others.
+
+By this time his attentions towards Laura McIntyre had become so
+marked that they could hardly be mistaken. He visibly brightened in
+her presence, and was never weary of devising a thousand methods of
+surprising and pleasing her. Every morning ere the McIntyre family were
+afoot a great bouquet of strange and beautiful flowers was brought
+down by a footman from the Hall to brighten their breakfast-table. Her
+slightest wish, however fantastic, was instantly satisfied, if human
+money or ingenuity could do it. When the frost lasted a stream was
+dammed and turned from its course that it might flood two meadows,
+solely in order that she might have a place upon which to skate. With
+the thaw there came a groom every afternoon with a sleek and beautiful
+mare in case Miss McIntyre should care to ride. Everything went to show
+that she had made a conquest of the recluse of the New Hall.
+
+And she on her side played her part admirably. With female adaptiveness
+she fell in with his humour, and looked at the world through his eyes.
+Her talk was of almshouses and free libraries, of charities and of
+improvements. He had never a scheme to which she could not add some
+detail making it more complete and more effective. To Haw it seemed that
+at last he had met a mind which was in absolute affinity with his own.
+Here was a help-mate, who could not only follow, but even lead him in
+the path which he had chosen.
+
+Neither Robert nor his father could fail to see what was going forward,
+but to the latter nothing could possibly be more acceptable than a
+family tie which should connect him, however indirectly, with a man of
+vast fortune. The glamour of the gold bags had crept over Robert also,
+and froze the remonstrance upon his lips. It was very pleasant to have
+the handling of all this wealth, even as a mere agent. Why should he
+do or say what might disturb their present happy relations? It was his
+sister's business, not his; and as to Hector Spurling, he must take his
+chance as other men did. It was obviously best not to move one way or
+the other in the matter.
+
+But to Robert himself, his work and his surroundings were becoming more
+and more irksome. His joy in his art had become less keen since he had
+known Raffles Haw. It seemed so hard to toll and slave to earn such a
+trifling sum, when money could really be had for the asking. It was true
+that he had asked for none, but large sums were for ever passing through
+his hands for those who were needy, and if he were needy himself his
+friend would surely not grudge it to him. So the Roman galleys still
+remained faintly outlined upon the great canvas, while Robert's days
+were spent either in the luxurious library at the Hall, or in strolling
+about the country listening to tales of trouble, and returning like
+a tweed-suited ministering angel to carry Raffles Haw's help to the
+unfortunate. It was not an ambitious life, but it was one which was very
+congenial to his weak and easy-going nature.
+
+Robert had observed that fits of depression had frequently come upon
+the millionaire, and it had sometimes struck him that the enormous sums
+which he spent had possibly made a serious inroad into his capital, and
+that his mind was troubled as to the future. His abstracted manner, his
+clouded brow, and his bent head all spoke of a soul which was weighed
+down with care, and it was only in Laura's presence that he could throw
+off the load of his secret trouble. For five hours a day he buried
+himself in the laboratory and amused himself with his hobby, but it
+was one of his whims that no one, neither any of his servants, nor
+even Laura or Robert, should ever cross the threshold of that outlying
+building. Day after day he vanished into it, to reappear hours
+afterwards pale and exhausted, while the whirr of machinery and the
+smoke which streamed from his high chimney showed how considerable were
+the operations which he undertook single-handed.
+
+“Could I not assist you in any way?” suggested Robert, as they sat
+together after luncheon in the smoking-room. “I am convinced that you
+over-try your strength. I should be so glad to help you, and I know a
+little of chemistry.”
+
+“Do you, indeed?” said Raffles Haw, raising his eyebrows. “I had no
+idea of that; it is very seldom that the artistic and the scientific
+faculties go together.”
+
+“I don't know that I have either particularly developed. But I have
+taken classes, and I worked for two years in the laboratory at Sir
+Josiah Mason's Institute.”
+
+“I am delighted to hear it,” Haw replied with emphasis. “That may be
+of great importance to us. It is very possible--indeed, almost
+certain--that I shall avail myself of your offer of assistance, and
+teach you something of my chemical methods, which I may say differ
+considerably from those of the orthodox school. The time, however, is
+hardly ripe for that. What is it, Jones?”
+
+“A note, sir.”
+
+The butler handed it in upon a silver salver. Haw broke the seal and ran
+his eye over it.
+
+“Tut! tut! It is from Lady Morsley, asking me to the Lord-Lieutenant's
+ball. I cannot possibly accept. It is very kind of them, but I do wish
+they would leave me alone. Very well, Jones. I shall write. Do you know,
+Robert, I am often very unhappy.”
+
+He frequently called the young artist by his Christian name, especially
+in his more confidential moments.
+
+“I have sometimes feared that you were,” said the other sympathetically.
+“But how strange it seems, you who are yet young, healthy, with every
+faculty for enjoyment, and a millionaire.”
+
+“Ah, Robert,” cried Haw, leaning back in his chair, and sending up thick
+blue wreaths from his pipe. “You have put your finger upon my
+trouble. If I were a millionaire I might be happy, but, alas, I am no
+millionaire!”
+
+“Good heavens!” gasped Robert.
+
+Cold seemed to shoot to his inmost soul as it flashed upon him that this
+was a prelude to a confession of impending bankruptcy, and that all this
+glorious life, all the excitement and the colour and change, were about
+to vanish into thin air.
+
+“No millionaire!” he stammered.
+
+“No, Robert; I am a billionaire--perhaps the only one in the world. That
+is what is on my mind, and why I am unhappy sometimes. I feel that I
+should spend this money--that I should put it in circulation--and yet it
+is so hard to do it without failing to do good--without doing positive
+harm. I feel my responsibility deeply. It weighs me down. Am I justified
+in continuing to live this quiet life when there are so many millions
+whom I might save and comfort if I could but reach them?”
+
+Robert heaved a long sigh of relief. “Perhaps you take too grave a view
+of your responsibilities,” he said. “Everybody knows that the good which
+you have done is immense. What more could you desire? If you really
+wished to extend your benevolence further, there are organised charities
+everywhere which would be very glad of your help.”
+
+“I have the names of two hundred and seventy of them,” Haw answered.
+“You must run your eye over them some time, and see if you can suggest
+any others. I send my annual mite to each of them. I don't think there
+is much room for expansion in that direction.”
+
+“Well, really you have done your share, and more than your share.
+I would settle down to lead a happy life, and think no more of the
+matter.”
+
+“I could not do that,” Haw answered earnestly. “I have not been singled
+out to wield this immense power simply in order that I might lead
+a happy life. I can never believe that. Now, can you not use your
+imagination, Robert, and devise methods by which a man who has command
+of--well, let us say, for argument's sake, boundless wealth, could
+benefit mankind by it, without taking away any one's independence or in
+any way doing harm?”
+
+“Well, really, now that I come to think of it, it is a very difficult
+problem,” said Robert.
+
+“Now I will submit a few schemes to you, and you may give me your
+opinion on them. Supposing that such a man were to buy ten square miles
+of ground here in Staffordshire, and were to build upon it a neat city,
+consisting entirely of clean, comfortable little four-roomed
+houses, furnished in a simple style, with shops and so forth, but no
+public-houses. Supposing, too, that he were to offer a house free to all
+the homeless folk, all the tramps, and broken men, and out-of-workers
+in Great Britain. Then, having collected them together, let him employ
+them, under fitting superintendence, upon some colossal piece of work
+which would last for many years, and perhaps be of permanent value to
+humanity. Give them a good rate of pay, and let their hours of labour be
+reasonable, and those of recreation be pleasant. Might you not benefit
+them and benefit humanity at one stroke?”
+
+“But what form of work could you devise which would employ so vast
+a number for so long a time, and yet not compete with any existing
+industry? To do the latter would simply mean to shift the misery from
+one class to another.”
+
+“Precisely so. I should compete with no one. What I thought of doing was
+of sinking a shaft through the earth's crust, and of establishing rapid
+communication with the Antipodes. When you had got a certain distance
+down--how far is an interesting mathematical problem--the centre of
+gravity would be beneath you, presuming that your boring was not quite
+directed towards the centre, and you could then lay down rails and
+tunnel as if you were on the level.”
+
+Then for the first time it flashed into Robert McIntyre's head that his
+father's chance words were correct, and that he was in the presence of
+a madman. His great wealth had clearly turned his brain, and made him a
+monomaniac. He nodded indulgently, as when one humours a child.
+
+“It would be very nice,” he said. “I have heard, however, that the
+interior of the earth is molten, and your workmen would need to be
+Salamanders.”
+
+“The latest scientific data do not bear out the idea that the earth
+is so hot,” answered Raffles Haw. “It is certain that the increased
+temperature in coal mines depends upon the barometric pressure. There
+are gases in the earth which may be ignited, and there are combustible
+materials as we see in the volcanoes; but if we came across anything of
+the sort in our borings, we could turn a river or two down the shaft,
+and get the better of it in that fashion.”
+
+“It would be rather awkward if the other end of your shaft came out
+under the Pacific Ocean,” said Robert, choking down his inclination to
+laugh.
+
+“I have had estimates and calculations from the first living
+engineers--French, English, and American. The point of exit of the
+tunnel could be calculated to the yard. That portfolio in the corner is
+full of sections, plans, and diagrams. I have agents employed in buying
+up land, and if all goes well, we may get to work in the autumn. That is
+one device which may produce results. Another is canal-cutting.”
+
+“Ah, there you would compete with the railways.”
+
+“You don't quite understand. I intend to cut canals through every neck
+of land where such a convenience would facilitate commerce. Such a
+scheme, when unaccompanied by any toll upon vessels, would, I think, be
+a very judicious way of helping the human race.”
+
+“And where, pray, would you cut the canals?” asked Robert.
+
+“I have a map of the world here,” Haw answered, rising, and taking one
+down from the paper-rack. “You see the blue pencil marks. Those are the
+points where I propose to establish communication. Of course, I should
+begin by the obvious duty of finishing the Panama business.”
+
+“Naturally.” The man's lunacy was becoming more and more obvious, and
+yet there was such precision and coolness in his manner, that Robert
+found himself against his own reason endorsing and speculating over his
+plans.
+
+“The Isthmus of Corinth also occurs to one. That, however, is a small
+matter, from either a financial or an engineering point of view. I
+propose, however, to make a junction here, through Kiel between the
+German Ocean and the Baltic. It saves, you will observe, the whole
+journey round the coast of Denmark, and would facilitate our trade with
+Germany and Russia. Another very obvious improvement is to join the
+Forth and the Clyde, so as to connect Leith with the Irish and American
+routes. You see the blue line?”
+
+“Quite so.”
+
+“And we will have a little cutting here. It will run from Uleaborg to
+Kem, and will connect the White Sea with the Gulf of Bothnia. We must
+not allow our sympathies to be insular, must we? Our little charities
+should be cosmopolitan. We will try and give the good people of
+Archangel a better outlet for their furs and their tallow.”
+
+“But it will freeze.”
+
+“For six months in the year. Still, it will be something. Then we must
+do something for the East. It would never do to overlook the East.”
+
+“It would certainly be an oversight,” said Robert, who was keenly alive
+to the comical side of the question. Raffles Haw, however, in deadly
+earnest, sat scratching away at his map with his blue pencil.
+
+“Here is a point where we might be of some little use. If we cut through
+from Batoum to the Kura River we might tap the trade of the Caspian, and
+open up communication with all the rivers which run into it. You notice
+that they include a considerable tract of country. Then, again, I think
+that we might venture upon a little cutting between Beirut, on the
+Mediterranean, and the upper waters of the Euphrates, which would lead
+us into the Persian Gulf. Those are one or two of the more obvious
+canals which might knit the human race into a closer whole.”
+
+“Your plans are certainly stupendous,” said Robert, uncertain whether to
+laugh or to be awe-struck. “You will cease to be a man, and become one
+of the great forces of Nature, altering, moulding, and improving.”
+
+“That is precisely the view which I take of myself. That is why I feel
+my responsibility so acutely.”
+
+“But surely if you will do all this you may rest. It is a considerable
+programme.”
+
+“Not at all. I am a patriotic Briton, and I should like to do something
+to leave my name in the annals of my country. I should prefer, however,
+to do it after my own death, as anything in the shape of publicity and
+honour is very offensive to me. I have, therefore, put by eight hundred
+million in a place which shall be duly mentioned in my will, which I
+propose to devote to paying off the National Debt. I cannot see that any
+harm could arise from its extinction.”
+
+Robert sat staring, struck dumb by the audacity of the strange man's
+words.
+
+“Then there is the heating of the soil. There is room for improvement
+there. You have no doubt read of the immense yields which have resulted
+in Jersey and elsewhere, from the running of hot-water pipes through the
+soil. The crops are trebled and quadrupled. I would propose to try the
+experiment upon a larger scale. We might possibly reserve the Isle of
+Man to serve as a pumping and heating station. The main pipes would run
+to England, Ireland, and Scotland, where they would subdivide rapidly
+until they formed a network two feet deep under the whole country. A
+pipe at distances of a yard would suffice for every purpose.”
+
+“I am afraid,” suggested Robert, “that the water which left the Isle of
+Man warm might lose a little of its virtue before it reached Caithness,
+for example.”
+
+“There need not be any difficulty there. Every few miles a furnace might
+be arranged to keep up the temperature. These are a few of my plans for
+the future, Robert, and I shall want the co-operation of disinterested
+men like yourself in all of them. But how brightly the sun shines, and
+how sweet the countryside looks! The world is very beautiful, and
+I should like to leave it happier than I found it. Let us walk out
+together, Robert, and you will tell me of any fresh cases where I may be
+of assistance.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. A NEW DEPARTURE.
+
+
+Whatever good Mr. Raffles Haw's wealth did to the world, there could be
+no doubt that there were cases where it did harm. The very contemplation
+and thought of it had upon many a disturbing and mischievous effect.
+Especially was this the case with the old gunmaker. From being merely
+a querulous and grasping man, he had now become bitter, brooding, and
+dangerous. Week by week, as he saw the tide of wealth flow as it were
+through his very house without being able to divert the smallest rill to
+nourish his own fortunes, he became more wolfish and more hungry-eyed.
+He spoke less of his own wrongs, but he brooded more, and would stand
+for hours on Tamfield Hill looking down at the great palace beneath, as
+a thirst-stricken man might gaze at the desert mirage.
+
+He had worked, and peeped, and pried, too, until there were points upon
+which he knew more than either his son or his daughter.
+
+“I suppose that you still don't know where your friend gets his money?”
+ he remarked to Robert one morning, as they walked together through the
+village.
+
+“No, father, I do not. I only know that he spends it very well.”
+
+“Well!” snarled the old man. “Yes, very well! He has helped every tramp
+and slut and worthless vagabond over the countryside, but he will
+not advance a pound, even on the best security, to help a respectable
+business man to fight against misfortune.”
+
+“My dear father, I really cannot argue with you about it,” said Robert.
+“I have already told you more than once what I think. Mr. Haw's object
+is to help those who are destitute. He looks upon us as his equals, and
+would not presume to patronise us, or to act as if we could not help
+ourselves. It would be a humiliation to us to take his money.”
+
+“Pshaw! Besides, it is only a question of an advance, and advances
+are made every day among business men. How can you talk such nonsense,
+Robert?”
+
+Early as it was, his son could see from his excited, quarrelsome manner
+that the old man had been drinking. The habit had grown upon him of
+late, and it was seldom now that he was entirely sober.
+
+“Mr. Raffles Haw is the best judge,” said Robert coldly. “If he earns
+the money, he has a right to spend it as he likes.”
+
+“And how does he earn it? You don't know, Robert. You don't know that
+you aren't aiding and abetting a felony when you help him to fritter
+it away. Was ever so much money earned in an honest fashion? I tell you
+there never was. I tell you, also, that lumps of gold are no more to
+that man than chunks of coal to the miners over yonder. He could build
+his house of them and think nothing of it.”
+
+“I know that he is very rich, father. I think, however, that he has an
+extravagant way of talking sometimes, and that his imagination carries
+him away. I have heard him talk of plans which the richest man upon
+earth could not possibly hope to carry through.”
+
+“Don't you make any mistake, my son. Your poor old father isn't quite
+a fool, though he is only an honest broken merchant.” He looked up
+sideways at his son with a wink and a most unpleasant leer. “Where
+there's money I can smell it. There's money there, and heaps of it.
+It's my belief that he is the richest man in the world, though how he
+came to be so I should not like to guarantee. I'm not quite blind yet,
+Robert. Have you seen the weekly waggon?”
+
+“The weekly waggon!”
+
+“Yes, Robert. You see I can find some news for you yet. It is due this
+morning. Every Saturday morning you will see the waggon come in. Why,
+here it is now, as I am a living man, coming round the curve.”
+
+Robert glanced back and saw a great heavy waggon drawn by two strong
+horses lumbering slowly along the road which led to the New Hall. From
+the efforts of the animals and its slow pace the contents seemed to be
+of great weight.
+
+“Just you wait here,” old McIntyre cried, plucking at his son's sleeve
+with his thin bony hand. “Wait here and see it pass. Then we will watch
+what becomes of it.”
+
+They stood by the side of the road until it came abreast of them. The
+waggon was covered with tarpaulin sheetings in front and at the sides,
+but behind some glimpse could be caught of the contents. They consisted,
+as far as Robert could see, of a number of packets of the same shape,
+each about two feet long and six inches high, arranged symmetrically
+upon the top of each other. Each packet was surrounded by a covering of
+coarse sacking.
+
+“What do you think of that?” asked old McIntyre triumphantly as the load
+creaked past.
+
+“Why, father? What do you make of it?”
+
+“I have watched it, Robert--I have watched it every Saturday, and I had
+my chance of looking a little deeper into it. You remember the day when
+the elm blew down, and the road was blocked until they could saw it in
+two. That was on a Saturday, and the waggon came to a stand until they
+could clear a way for it. I was there, Robert, and I saw my chance.
+I strolled behind the waggon, and I placed my hands upon one of those
+packets. They look small, do they not? It would take a strong man to
+lift one. They are heavy, Robert, heavy, and hard with the hardness of
+metal. I tell you, boy, that that waggon is loaded with gold.”
+
+“Gold!”
+
+“With solid bars of gold, Robert. But come into the plantation and we
+shall see what becomes of it.”
+
+They passed through the lodge gates, behind the waggon, and then
+wandered off among the fir-trees until they gained a spot where they
+could command a view. The load had halted, not in front of the house,
+but at the door of the out-building with the chimney. A staff of
+stablemen and footmen were in readiness, who proceeded to swiftly unload
+and to carry the packages through the door. It was the first time that
+Robert had ever seen any one save the master of the house enter the
+laboratory. No sign was seen of him now, however, and in half an hour
+the contents had all been safely stored and the waggon had driven
+briskly away.
+
+“I cannot understand it, father,” said Robert thoughtfully, as they
+resumed their walk. “Supposing that your supposition is correct, who
+would send him such quantities of gold, and where could it come from?”
+
+“Ha, you have to come to the old man after all!” chuckled his companion.
+“I can see the little game. It is clear enough to me. There are two of
+them in it, you understand. The other one gets the gold. Never mind how,
+but we will hope that there is no harm. Let us suppose, for example,
+that they have found a marvellous mine, where you can just shovel it out
+like clay from a pit. Well, then, he sends it on to this one, and he has
+his furnaces and his chemicals, and he refines and purifies it and makes
+it fit to sell. That's my explanation of it, Robert. Eh, has the old man
+put his finger on it?”
+
+“But if that were true, father, the gold must go back again.”
+
+“So it does, Robert, but a little at a time. Ha, ha! I've had my eyes
+open, you see. Every night it goes down in a small cart, and is sent on
+to London by the 7.40. Not in bars this time, but done up in iron-bound
+chests. I've seen them, boy, and I've had this hand upon them.”
+
+“Well,” said the young man thoughtfully, “maybe you are right. It is
+possible that you are right.”
+
+While father and son were prying into his secrets, Raffles Haw had found
+his way to Elmdene, where Laura sat reading the _Queen_ by the fire.
+
+“I am so sorry,” she said, throwing down her paper and springing to
+her feet. “They are all out except me. But I am sure that they won't be
+long. I expect Robert every moment.”
+
+“I would rather speak with you alone,” answered Raffles Haw quietly.
+“Pray sit down, for I wanted to have a little chat with you.”
+
+Laura resumed her seat with a flush upon her cheeks and a quickening of
+the breath. She turned her face away and gazed into the fire; but there
+was a sparkle in her eyes which was not caught from the leaping flames.
+
+“Do you remember the first time that we met, Miss McIntyre?” he
+asked, standing on the rug and looking down at her dark hair, and the
+beautifully feminine curve of her ivory neck.
+
+“As if it were yesterday,” she answered in her sweet mellow tones.
+
+“Then you must also remember the wild words that I said when we
+parted. It was very foolish of me. I am sure that I am most sorry if I
+frightened or disturbed you, but I have been a very solitary man for a
+long time, and I have dropped into a bad habit of thinking aloud. Your
+voice, your face, your manner, were all so like my ideal of a true
+woman, loving, faithful, and sympathetic, that I could not help
+wondering whether, if I were a poor man, I might ever hope to win the
+affection of such a one.”
+
+“Your good opinion, Mr. Raffles Haw, is very dear to me,” said Laura.
+“I assure you that I was not frightened, and that there is no need to
+apologise for what was really a compliment.”
+
+“Since then I have found,” he continued, “that all that I had read upon
+your face was true. That your mind is indeed that of the true woman,
+full of the noblest and sweetest qualities which human nature can aspire
+to. You know that I am a man of fortune, but I wish you to dismiss that
+consideration from your mind. Do you think from what you know of my
+character that you could be happy as my wife, Laura?”
+
+She made no answer, but still sat with her head turned away and her
+sparkling eyes fixed upon the fire. One little foot from under her skirt
+tapped nervously upon the rug.
+
+“It is only right that you should know a little more about me before you
+decide. There is, however, little to know. I am an orphan, and, as far
+as I know, without a relation upon earth. My father was a respectable
+man, a country surgeon in Wales, and he brought me up to his own
+profession. Before I had passed my examinations, however, he died and
+left me a small annuity. I had conceived a great liking for the subjects
+of chemistry and electricity, and instead of going on with my medical
+work I devoted myself entirely to these studies, and eventually built
+myself a laboratory where I could follow out my own researches. At about
+this time I came into a very large sum of money, so large as to make me
+feel that a vast responsibility rested upon me in the use which I made
+of it. After some thought I determined to build a large house in a quiet
+part of the country, not too far from a great centre. There I could be
+in touch with the world, and yet would have quiet and leisure to mature
+the schemes which were in my head. As it chanced, I chose Tamfield as my
+site. All that remains now is to carry out the plans which I have
+made, and to endeavour to lighten the earth of some of the misery and
+injustice which weigh it down. I again ask you, Laura, will you throw
+in your lot with mine, and help me in the life's work which lies before
+me?”
+
+Laura looked up at him, at his stringy figure, his pale face, his keen,
+yet gentle eyes. Somehow as she looked there seemed to form itself
+beside him some shadow of Hector Spurling, the manly features, the
+clear, firm mouth, the frank manner. Now, in the very moment of her
+triumph, it sprang clearly up in her mind how at the hour of their
+ruin he had stood firmly by them, and had loved the penniless girl as
+tenderly as the heiress to fortune. That last embrace at the door, too,
+came back to her, and she felt his lips warm upon her own.
+
+“I am very much honoured, Mr. Haw,” she stammered, “but this is so
+sudden. I have not had time to think. I do not know what to say.”
+
+“Do not let me hurry you,” he cried earnestly. “I beg that you will
+think well over it. I shall come again for my answer. When shall I come?
+Tonight?”
+
+“Yes, come tonight.”
+
+“Then, adieu. Believe me that I think more highly of you for your
+hesitation. I shall live in hope.” He raised her hand to his lips, and
+left her to her own thoughts.
+
+But what those thoughts were did not long remain in doubt. Dimmer and
+dimmer grew the vision of the distant sailor face, clearer and clearer
+the image of the vast palace, of the queenly power, of the diamonds, the
+gold, the ambitious future. It all lay at her feet, waiting to be picked
+up. How could she have hesitated, even for a moment? She rose, and,
+walking over to her desk, she took out a sheet of paper and an envelope.
+The latter she addressed to Lieutenant Spurling, H.M.S. _Active_,
+Gibraltar. The note cost some little trouble, but at last she got it
+worded to her mind.
+
+   “Dear Hector,” she said--“I am convinced that your father has
+   never         entirely approved of our engagement, otherwise he
+   would not have thrown obstacles in the way of our marriage.
+   I am sure, too, that since my poor father's misfortune it is
+   only your own sense of honour and feeling of duty which have
+   kept you true to me, and that you would have done infinitely
+   better had you never seen me.  I cannot bear, Hector, to allow
+   you to imperil your future for my sake, and I have determined,
+   after thinking well over the matter, to release you from our
+   boy and girl engagement, so that you may be entirely free in
+   every way.  It is possible that you may think it unkind of me
+   to do this now, but I am quite sure, dear Hector, that when you
+   are an admiral and a very distinguished man, you will look back
+   at this, and you will see that I have been a true friend to you,
+   and have prevented you from making a false step early in your
+   career.  For myself, whether I marry or not, I have determined
+   to devote the remainder of my life to trying to do good, and to
+   leaving the world happier than I found it.  Your father is very
+   well, and gave us a capital sermon last Sunday.  I enclose the
+   bank-note which you asked me to keep for you.  Good-bye, for ever,
+   dear Hector, and believe me when I say that, come what may, I am
+   ever your true friend,
+
+   “Laura S. McIntyre.”
+
+She had hardly sealed her letter before her father and Robert returned.
+She closed the door behind them, and made them a little curtsey.
+
+“I await my family's congratulations,” she said, with her head in the
+air. “Mr. Raffles Haw has been here, and he has asked me to be his
+wife.”
+
+“The deuce he did!” cried the old man. “And you said--?”
+
+“I am to see him again.”
+
+“And you will say--?”
+
+“I will accept him.”
+
+“You were always a good girl, Laura,” said old McIntyre, standing on his
+tiptoes to kiss her.
+
+“But Laura, Laura, how about Hector?” asked Robert in mild remonstrance.
+
+“Oh, I have written to him,” his sister answered carelessly. “I wish you
+would be good enough to post the letter.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE GREAT SECRET.
+
+
+And so Laura McIntyre became duly engaged to Raffles Haw, and old
+McIntyre grew even more hungry-looking as he felt himself a step nearer
+to the source of wealth, while Robert thought less of work than ever,
+and never gave as much as a thought to the great canvas which still
+stood, dust-covered, upon his easel. Haw gave Laura an engagement ring
+of old gold, with a great blazing diamond bulging out of it. There was
+little talk about the matter, however, for it was Haw's wish that all
+should be done very quietly. Nearly all his evenings were spent at
+Elmdene, where he and Laura would build up the most colossal schemes of
+philanthropy for the future. With a map stretched out on the table in
+front of them, these two young people would, as it were, hover over the
+world, planning, devising, and improving.
+
+“Bless the girl!” said old McIntyre to his son; “she speaks about it as
+if she were born to millions. Maybe, when once she is married, she won't
+be so ready to chuck her money into every mad scheme that her husband
+can think of.”
+
+“Laura is greatly changed,” Robert answered; “she has grown much more
+serious in her ideas.”
+
+“You wait a bit!” sniggered his father. “She is a good girl, is Laura,
+and she knows what she is about. She's not a girl to let her old dad go
+to the wall if she can set him right. It's a pretty state of things,” he
+added bitterly: “here's my daughter going to marry a man who thinks no
+more of gold than I used to of gun-metal; and here's my son going about
+with all the money he cares to ask for to help every ne'er-do-well in
+Staffordshire; and here's their father, who loved them and cared for
+them, and brought them both up, without money enough very often to buy
+a bottle of brandy. I don't know what your poor dear mother would have
+thought of it.”
+
+“You have only to ask for what you want.”
+
+“Yes, as if I were a five-year-old child. But I tell you, Robert, I'll
+have my rights, and if I can't get them one way I will another. I won't
+be treated as if I were no one. And there's one thing: if I am to be
+this man's pa-in-law, I'll want to know something about him and his
+money first. We may be poor, but we are honest. I'll up to the Hall now,
+and have it out with him.” He seized his hat and stick and made for the
+door.
+
+“No, no, father,” cried Robert, catching him by the sleeve. “You had
+better leave the matter alone. Mr. Haw is a very sensitive man. He would
+not like to be examined upon such a point. It might lead to a serious
+quarrel. I beg that you will not go.”
+
+“I am not to be put off for ever,” snarled the old man, who had been
+drinking heavily. “I'll put my foot down now, once and for ever.” He
+tugged at his sleeve to free himself from his son's grasp.
+
+“At least you shall not go without Laura knowing. I will call her down,
+and we shall have her opinion.”
+
+“Oh, I don't want to have any scenes,” said McIntyre sulkily, relaxing
+his efforts. He lived in dread of his daughter, and at his worst moments
+the mention of her name would serve to restrain him.
+
+“Besides,” said Robert, “I have not the slightest doubt that Raffles
+Haw will see the necessity for giving us some sort of explanation before
+matters go further. He must understand that we have some claim now to be
+taken into his confidence.”
+
+He had hardly spoken when there was a tap at the door, and the man of
+whom they were speaking walked in.
+
+“Good-morning, Mr. McIntyre,” said he. “Robert, would you mind stepping
+up to the Hall with me? I want to have a little business chat.” He
+looked serious, like a man who is carrying out something which he has
+well weighed.
+
+They walked up together with hardly a word on either side. Raffles Haw
+was absorbed in his own thoughts. Robert felt expectant and nervous,
+for he knew that something of importance lay before him. The winter had
+almost passed now, and the first young shoots were beginning to peep out
+timidly in the face of the wind and the rain of an English March. The
+snows were gone, but the countryside looked bleaker and drearier, all
+shrouded in the haze from the damp, sodden meadows.
+
+“By the way, Robert,” said Raffles Haw suddenly, as they walked up the
+Avenue. “Has your great Roman picture gone to London?”
+
+“I have not finished it yet.”
+
+“But I know that you are a quick worker. You must be nearly at the end
+of it.”
+
+“No, I am afraid that it has not advanced much since you saw it. For one
+thing, the light has not been very good.”
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but a pained expression flashed over his face.
+When they reached the house he led the way through the museum. Two great
+metal cases were lying on the floor.
+
+“I have a small addition there to the gem collection,” he remarked as he
+passed. “They only arrived last night, and I have not opened them yet,
+but I am given to understand from the letters and invoices that there
+are some fine specimens. We might arrange them this afternoon, if you
+care to assist me. Let us go into the smoking-room now.”
+
+He threw himself down into a settee, and motioned Robert into the
+armchair in front of him.
+
+“Light a cigar,” he said. “Press the spring if there is any refreshment
+which you would like. Now, my dear Robert, confess to me in the first
+place that you have often thought me mad.”
+
+The charge was so direct and so true that the young artist hesitated,
+hardly knowing how to answer.
+
+“My dear boy, I do not blame you. It was the most natural thing in the
+world. I should have looked upon anyone as a madman who had talked to me
+as I have talked to you. But for all that, Robert, you were wrong, and I
+have never yet in our conversations proposed any scheme which it was not
+well within my power to carry out. I tell you in all sober earnest that
+the amount of my income is limited only by my desire, and that all the
+bankers and financiers combined could not furnish the sums which I can
+put forward without an effort.”
+
+“I have had ample proof of your immense wealth,” said Robert.
+
+“And you are very naturally curious as to how that wealth was obtained.
+Well, I can tell you one thing. The money is perfectly clean. I have
+robbed no one, cheated no one, sweated no one, ground no one down in the
+gaining of it. I can read your father's eye, Robert. I can see that he
+has done me an injustice in this matter. Well, perhaps he is not to be
+blamed. Perhaps I also might think uncharitable things if I were In his
+place. But that is why I now give an explanation to you, Robert, and not
+to him. You, at least, have trusted me, and you have a right, before I
+become one of your family, to know all that I can tell you. Laura also
+has trusted me, but I know well that she is content still to trust me.”
+
+“I would not intrude upon your secrets, Mr. Haw,” said Robert, “but
+of course I cannot deny that I should be very proud and pleased if you
+cared to confide them to me.”
+
+“And I will. Not all. I do not think that I shall ever, while I live,
+tell all. But I shall leave directions behind me so that when I die you
+may be able to carry on my unfinished work. I shall tell you where those
+directions are to be found. In the meantime, you must be content to
+learn the effects which I produce without knowing every detail as to the
+means.”
+
+Robert settled himself down in his chair and concentrated his attention
+upon his companion's words, while Haw bent forward his eager, earnest
+face, like a man who knows the value of the words which he is saying.
+
+“You are already aware,” he remarked, “that I have devoted a great deal
+of energy and of time to the study of chemistry.”
+
+“So you told me.”
+
+“I commenced my studies under a famous English chemist, I continued
+them under the best man in France, and I completed them in the most
+celebrated laboratory of Germany. I was not rich, but my father had left
+me enough to keep me comfortably, and by living economically I had a
+sum at my command which enabled me to carry out my studies in a very
+complete way. When I returned to England I built myself a laboratory
+in a quiet country place where I could work without distraction or
+interruption. There I began a series of investigations which soon took
+me into regions of science to which none of the three famous men who
+taught me had ever penetrated.
+
+“You say, Robert, that you have some slight knowledge of chemistry, and
+you will find it easier to follow what I say. Chemistry is to a large
+extent an empirical science, and the chance experiment may lead to
+greater results than could, with our present data, be derived from the
+closest study or the keenest reasoning. The most important chemical
+discoveries from the first manufacture of glass to the whitening and
+refining of sugar have all been due to some happy chance which might
+have befallen a mere dabbler as easily as a deep student.
+
+“Well, it was to such a chance that my own great discovery--perhaps the
+greatest that the world has seen--was due, though I may claim the credit
+of having originated the line of thought which led up to it. I had
+frequently speculated as to the effect which powerful currents of
+electricity exercise upon any substance through which they are poured
+for a considerable time. I did not here mean such feeble currents as
+are passed along a telegraph wire, but I mean the very highest possible
+developments. Well, I tried a series of experiments upon this point. I
+found that in liquids, and in compounds, the force had a disintegrating
+effect. The well-known experiment of the electrolysis of water will, of
+course, occur to you. But I found that in the case of elemental solids
+the effect was a remarkable one. The element slowly decreased in weight,
+without perceptibly altering in composition. I hope that I make myself
+clear to you?”
+
+“I follow you entirely,” said Robert, deeply interested in his
+companion's narrative.
+
+“I tried upon several elements, and always with the same result. In
+every case an hour's current would produce a perceptible loss of weight.
+My theory at that stage was that there was a loosening of the molecules
+caused by the electric fluid, and that a certain number of these
+molecules were shed off like an impalpable dust, all round the lump of
+earth or of metal, which remained, of course, the lighter by their loss.
+I had entirely accepted this theory, when a very remarkable chance led
+me to completely alter my opinions.
+
+“I had one Saturday night fastened a bar of bismuth in a clamp, and had
+attached it on either side to an electric wire, in order to observe what
+effect the current would have upon it. I had been testing each metal in
+turn, exposing them to the influence for from one to two hours. I had
+just got everything in position, and had completed my connection, when
+I received a telegram to say that John Stillingfleet, an old chemist in
+London with whom I had been on terms of intimacy, was dangerously ill,
+and had expressed a wish to see me. The last train was due to leave in
+twenty minutes, and I lived a good mile from the station, I thrust a few
+things into a bag, locked my laboratory, and ran as hard as I could to
+catch it.
+
+“It was not until I was in London that it suddenly occurred to me that
+I had neglected to shut off the current, and that it would continue to
+pass through the bar of bismuth until the batteries were exhausted. The
+fact, however, seemed to be of small importance, and I dismissed it from
+my mind. I was detained in London until the Tuesday night, and it
+was Wednesday morning before I got back to my work. As I unlocked the
+laboratory door my mind reverted to the uncompleted experiment, and it
+struck me that in all probability my piece of bismuth would have been
+entirely disintegrated and reduced to its primitive molecules. I was
+utterly unprepared for the truth.
+
+“When I approached the table I found, sure enough, that the bar of metal
+had vanished, and that the clamp was empty. Having noted the fact, I was
+about to turn away to something else, when my attention was attracted to
+the fact that the table upon which the clamp stood was starred over with
+little patches of some liquid silvery matter, which lay in single drops
+or coalesced into little pools. I had a very distinct recollection of
+having thoroughly cleared the table before beginning my experiment,
+so that this substance had been deposited there since I had left for
+London. Much interested, I very carefully collected it all into one
+vessel, and examined it minutely. There could be no question as to what
+it was. It was the purest mercury, and gave no response to any test for
+bismuth.
+
+“I at once grasped the fact that chance had placed in my hands a
+chemical discovery of the very first importance. If bismuth were, under
+certain conditions, to be subjected to the action of electricity, it
+would begin by losing weight, and would finally be transformed into
+mercury. I had broken down the partition which separated two elements.
+
+“But the process would be a constant one. It would presumably prove
+to be a general law, and not an isolated fact. If bismuth turned into
+mercury, what would mercury turn into? There would be no rest for me
+until I had solved the question. I renewed the exhausted batteries and
+passed the current through the bowl of quicksilver. For sixteen hours I
+sat watching the metal, marking how it slowly seemed to curdle, to grow
+firmer, to lose its silvery glitter and to take a dull yellow hue. When
+I at last picked it up in a forceps, and threw it upon the table, it had
+lost every characteristic of mercury, and had obviously become another
+metal. A few simple tests were enough to show me that this other metal
+was platinum.
+
+“Now, to a chemist, there was something very suggestive in the order in
+which these changes had been effected. Perhaps you can see the relation,
+Robert, which they bear to each other?”
+
+“No, I cannot say that I do.”
+
+Robert had sat listening to this strange statement with parted lips and
+staring eyes.
+
+“I will show you. Speaking atomically, bismuth is the heaviest of the
+metals. Its atomic weight is 210. The next in weight is lead, 207, and
+then comes mercury at 200. Possibly the long period during which the
+current had acted in my absence had reduced the bismuth to lead and
+the lead in turn to mercury. Now platinum stands at 197.5, and it was
+accordingly the next metal to be produced by the continued current. Do
+you see now?”
+
+“It is quite clear.”
+
+“And then there came the inference, which sent my heart into my mouth
+and caused my head to swim round. Gold is the next in the series.
+Its atomic weight is 197. I remembered now, and for the first time
+understood why it was always lead and mercury winch were mentioned by
+the old alchemists as being the two metals which might be used in their
+calling. With fingers which trembled with excitement I adjusted the
+wires again, and in little more than an hour--for the length of the
+process was always in proportion to the difference in the metals--I
+had before me a knob of ruddy crinkled metal, which answered to every
+reaction for gold.
+
+“Well, Robert, this is a long story, but I think that you will agree
+with me that its importance justifies me in going into detail. When
+I had satisfied myself that I had really manufactured gold I cut the
+nugget in two. One half I sent to a jeweller and worker in precious
+metals, with whom I had some slight acquaintance, asking him to report
+upon the quality of the metal. With the other half I continued my series
+of experiments, and reduced it in successive stages through all the long
+series of metals, through silver and zinc and manganese, until I brought
+it to lithium, which is the lightest of all.”
+
+“And what did it turn to then?” asked Robert.
+
+“Then came what to chemists is likely to be the most interesting portion
+of my discovery. It turned to a greyish fine powder, which powder gave
+no further results, however much I might treat it with electricity.
+And that powder is the base of all things; it is the mother of all
+the elements; it is, in short, the substance whose existence has been
+recently surmised by a leading chemist, and which has been christened
+protyle by him. I am the discoverer of the great law of the electrical
+transposition of the metals, and I am the first to demonstrate protyle,
+so that, I think, Robert, if all my schemes in other directions come to
+nothing, my name is at least likely to live in the chemical world.
+
+“There is not very much more for me to tell you. I had my nugget back
+from my friend the jeweller, confirming my opinion as to its nature and
+its quality. I soon found several methods by which the process might
+be simplified, and especially a modification of the ordinary electric
+current, which was very much more effective. Having made a certain
+amount of gold, I disposed of it for a sum which enabled me to buy
+improved materials and stronger batteries. In this way I enlarged my
+operations until at last I was in a position to build this house and
+to have a laboratory where I could carry out my work on a much larger
+scale. As I said before, I can now state with all truth that the amount
+of my income is only limited by my desires.”
+
+“It is wonderful!” gasped Robert. “It is like a fairy tale. But with
+this great discovery in your mind you must have been sorely tempted to
+confide it to others.”
+
+“I thought well over it. I gave it every consideration. It was obvious
+to me that if my invention were made public, its immediate result would
+be to deprive the present precious metals of all their special value.
+Some other substance--amber, we will say, or ivory--would be chosen as a
+medium for barter, and gold would be inferior to brass, as being heavier
+and yet not so hard. No one would be the better for such a consummation
+as that. Now, if I retained my secret, and used it with wisdom, I might
+make myself the greatest benefactor to mankind that has ever
+lived. Those were the chief reasons, and I trust that they are not
+dishonourable ones, which led me to form the resolution, which I have
+today for the first time broken.”
+
+“But your secret is safe with me,” cried Robert. “My lips shall be
+sealed until I have your permission to speak.”
+
+“If I had not known that I could trust you I should have withheld it
+from your knowledge. And now, my dear Robert, theory is very weak work,
+and practice is infinitely more interesting. I have given you more than
+enough of the first. If you will be good enough to accompany me to the
+laboratory I shall give you a little of the latter.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+
+Raffles Haw led the way through the front door, and crossing over the
+gravelled drive pushed open the outer door of the laboratory--the same
+through which the McIntyres had seen the packages conveyed from the
+waggon. On passing through it Robert found that they were not really
+within the building, but merely in a large bare ante-chamber, around
+the walls of which were stacked the very objects which had aroused his
+curiosity and his father's speculations. All mystery had gone from
+them now, however, for while some were still wrapped in their sackcloth
+coverings, others had been undone, and revealed themselves as great pigs
+of lead.
+
+“There is my raw material,” said Raffles Haw carelessly, nodding at the
+heap. “Every Saturday I have a waggon-load sent up, which serves me
+for a week, but we shall need to work double tides when Laura and I
+are married, and we get our great schemes under way. I have to be very
+careful about the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is
+reproduced in the gold.”
+
+A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber. Haw unlocked it, but only
+to disclose a second one about five feet further on.
+
+“This flooring is all disconnected at night,” he remarked. “I have no
+doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about
+this sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some inquisitive
+ostler or too adventurous butler.”
+
+The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare,
+whitewashed room with a glass roof. At one end was the furnace and
+boiler, the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red light
+beat through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the building.
+On either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in rows, tier
+topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic cells. Robert's
+eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels, complicated networks of
+wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles, graduated glasses, Bunsen
+burners, porcelain insulators, and all the varied _debris_ of a chemical
+and electrical workshop.
+
+“Come across here,” said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of
+metal, the coke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid. “Yours
+is the first foot except my own which has ever penetrated to this
+room since the workmen left it. My servants carry the lead into the
+ante-room, but come no further. The furnace can be cleaned and stoked
+from without. I employ a fellow to do nothing else. Now take a look in
+here.”
+
+He threw open a door on the further side, and motioned to the young
+artist to enter. The latter stood silent with one foot over the
+threshold, staring in amazement around him. The room, which may have
+been some thirty feet square, was paved and walled with gold. Great
+brick-shaped ingots, closely packed, covered the whole floor, while on
+every side they were reared up in compact barriers to the very ceiling.
+The single electric lamp which lighted the windowless chamber struck
+a dull, murky, yellow light from the vast piles of precious metal, and
+gleamed ruddily upon the golden floor.
+
+“This is my treasure house,” remarked the owner. “You see that I have
+rather an accumulation just now. My imports have been exceeding my
+exports. You can understand that I have other and more important duties
+even than the making of gold, just now. This is where I store my output
+until I am ready to send it off. Every night almost I am in the habit of
+sending a case of it to London. I employ seventeen brokers in its sale.
+Each thinks that he is the only one, and each is dying to know where I
+can get such large quantities of virgin gold. They say that it is the
+purest which comes into the market. The popular theory is, I believe,
+that I am a middleman acting on behalf of some new South African mine,
+which wishes to keep its whereabouts a secret. What value would you put
+upon the gold in this chamber? It ought to be worth something, for it
+represents nearly a week's work.”
+
+“Something fabulous, I have no doubt,” said Robert, glancing round at
+the yellow barriers. “Shall I say a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?”
+
+“Oh dear me, it is surely worth very much more than that,” cried Raffles
+Haw, laughing. “Let me see. Suppose that we put it at three ten an
+ounce, which is nearly ten shillings under the mark. That makes,
+roughly, fifty-six pounds for a pound in weight. Now each of these
+ingots weighs thirty-six pounds, which brings their value to two
+thousand and a few odd pounds. There are five hundred ingots on each of
+these three sides of the room, but on the fourth there are only three
+hundred, on account of the door, but there cannot be less than two
+hundred on the floor, which gives us a rough total of two thousand
+ingots. So you see, my dear boy, that any broker who could get the
+contents of this chamber for four million pounds would be doing a nice
+little stroke of business.”
+
+“And a week's work!” gasped Robert. “It makes my head swim.”
+
+“You will follow me now when I repeat that none of the great schemes
+which I intend to simultaneously set in motion are at all likely to
+languish for want of funds. Now come into the laboratory with me and see
+how it is done.”
+
+In the centre of the workroom was an instrument like a huge vice, with
+two large brass-coloured plates, and a great steel screw for bringing
+them together. Numerous wires ran into these metal plates, and were
+attached at the other end to the rows of dynamic machines. Beneath was
+a glass stand, which was hollowed out in the centre into a succession of
+troughs.
+
+“You will soon understand all about it,” said Raffles Haw, throwing off
+his coat, and pulling on a smoke-stained and dirty linen jacket. “We
+must first stoke up a little.” He put his weight on a pair of great
+bellows, and an answering roar came from the furnace. “That will do. The
+more heat the more electric force, and the quicker our task. Now for the
+lead! Just give me a hand in carrying it.”
+
+They lifted a dozen of the pigs of lead from the floor on to the glass
+stand, and having adjusted the plates on either side, Haw screwed up the
+handle so as to hold them in position.
+
+“It used in the early days to be a slow process,” he remarked; “but now
+that I have immense facilities for my work it takes a very short time. I
+have now only to complete the connection in order to begin.”
+
+He took hold of a long glass lever which projected from among the wires,
+and drew it downwards. A sharp click was heard, followed by a loud,
+sparkling, crackling noise. Great spurts of flame sprang from the two
+electrodes, and the mass of lead was surrounded by an aureole of golden
+sparks, which hissed and snapped like pistol-shots. The air was filled
+with the peculiar acid smell of ozone.
+
+“The power there is immense,” said Raffles Haw, superintending the
+process, with his watch upon the palm of his hand. “It would reduce an
+organic substance to protyle instantly. It is well to understand the
+mechanism thoroughly, for any mistake might be a grave matter for the
+operator. You are dealing with gigantic forces. But you perceive that
+the lead is already beginning to turn.”
+
+Silvery dew-like drops had indeed begun to form upon the dull-coloured
+mass, and to drop with a tinkle and splash into the glass troughs.
+Slowly the lead melted away, like an icicle in the sun, the electrodes
+ever closing upon it as it contracted, until they came together in the
+centre, and a row of pools of quicksilver had taken the place of the
+solid metal. Two smaller electrodes were plunged into the mercury, which
+gradually curdled and solidified, until it had resumed the solid form,
+with a yellowish brassy shimmer.
+
+“What lies in the moulds now is platinum,” remarked Raffles Haw. “We
+must take it from the troughs and refix it in the large electrodes.
+So! Now we turn on the current again. You see that it gradually takes a
+darker and richer tint. Now I think that it is perfect.” He drew up the
+lever, removed the electrodes, and there lay a dozen bricks of ruddy
+sparkling gold.
+
+“You see, according to our calculations, our morning's work has been
+worth twenty-four thousand pounds, and it has not taken us more than
+twenty minutes,” remarked the alchemist, as he picked up the newly-made
+ingots, and threw them down among the others.
+
+“We will devote one of them to experiment,” said he, leaving the last
+standing upon the glass insulator. “To the world it would seem an
+expensive demonstration which cost two thousand pounds, but our
+standard, you see, is a different one. Now you will see me run through
+the whole gamut of metallic nature.”
+
+First of all men after the discoverer, Robert saw the gold mass, when
+the electrodes were again applied to it, change swiftly and successively
+to barium, to tin, to silver, to copper, to iron. He saw the long white
+electric sparks change to crimson with the strontium, to purple with the
+potassium, to yellow with the manganese. Then, finally, after a hundred
+transformations, it disintegrated before his eyes, and lay as a little
+mound of fluffy grey dust upon the glass table.
+
+“And this is protyle,” said Haw, passing his fingers through it. “The
+chemist of the future may resolve it into further constituents, but to
+me it is the Ultima Thule.”
+
+“And now, Robert,” he continued, after a pause, “I have shown you enough
+to enable you to understand something of my system. This is the great
+secret. It is the secret which endows the man who knows it with such
+a universal power as no man has ever enjoyed since the world was made.
+This secret it is the dearest wish of my heart to use for good, and
+I swear to you, Robert McIntyre, that if I thought it would tend to
+anything but good I would have done with it for ever. No, I would
+neither use it myself nor would any other man learn it from my lips. I
+swear it by all that is holy and solemn!”
+
+His eyes flashed as he spoke, and his voice quivered with emotion.
+Standing, pale and lanky, amid his electrodes and his retorts, there was
+still something majestic about this man, who, amid all his stupendous
+good fortune, could still keep his moral sense undazzled by the glitter
+of his gold. Robert's weak nature had never before realised the strength
+which lay in those thin, firm lips and earnest eyes.
+
+“Surely in your hands, Mr. Haw, nothing but good can come of it,” he
+said.
+
+“I hope not--I pray not--most earnestly do I pray not. I have done for
+you, Robert, what I might not have done for my own brother had I one,
+and I have done it because I believe and hope that you are a man who
+would not use this power, should you inherit it, for selfish ends.
+But even now I have not told you all. There is one link which I have
+withheld from you, and which shall be withheld from you while I live.
+But look at this chest, Robert.”
+
+He led him to a great iron-clamped chest which stood in the corner, and,
+throwing it open, he took from it a small case of carved ivory.
+
+“Inside this,” he said, “I have left a paper which makes clear anything
+which is still hidden from you. Should anything happen to me you
+will always be able to inherit my powers, and to continue my plans
+by following the directions which are there expressed. And now,”
+ he continued, throwing his casket back again into the box, “I shall
+frequently require your help, but I do not think it will be necessary
+this morning. I have already taken up too much of your time. If you are
+going back to Elmdene I wish that you would tell Laura that I shall be
+with her in the afternoon.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. A FAMILY JAR.
+
+
+And so the great secret was out, and Robert walked home with his head in
+a whirl, and the blood tingling in his veins. He had shivered as he
+came up at the damp cold of the wind and the sight of the mist-mottled
+landscape. That was all gone now. His own thoughts tinged everything
+with sunshine, and he felt inclined to sing and dance as he walked
+down the muddy, deeply-rutted country lane. Wonderful had been the fate
+allotted to Raffles Haw, but surely hardly less important that which had
+come upon himself. He was the sharer of the alchemist's secret, and
+the heir to an inheritance which combined a wealth greater than that of
+monarchs, to a freedom such as monarchs cannot enjoy. This was a destiny
+indeed! A thousand gold-tinted visions of his future life rose up
+before him, and in fancy he already sat high above the human race,
+with prostrate thousands imploring his aid, or thanking him for his
+benevolence.
+
+How sordid seemed the untidy garden, with its scrappy bushes and gaunt
+elm trees! How mean the plain brick front, with the green wooden porch!
+It had always offended his artistic sense, but now it was obtrusive in
+its ugliness. The plain room, too, with the American leather chairs, the
+dull-coloured carpet, and the patchwork rug, he felt a loathing for it
+all. The only pretty thing in it, upon which his eyes could rest with
+satisfaction, was his sister, as she leaned back in her chair by the
+fire with her white, clear beautiful face outlined against the dark
+background.
+
+“Do you know, Robert,” she said, glancing up at him from under her long
+black lashes, “Papa grows unendurable. I have had to speak very plainly
+to him, and to make him understand that I am marrying for my own benefit
+and not for his.”
+
+“Where is he, then?”
+
+“I don't know. At the Three Pigeons, no doubt. He spends most of his
+time there now. He flew off in a passion, and talked such nonsense about
+marriage settlements, and forbidding the banns, and so on. His notion
+of a marriage settlement appears to be a settlement upon the bride's
+father. He should wait quietly, and see what can be done for him.”
+
+“I think, Laura, that we must make a good deal of allowance for him,”
+ said Robert earnestly. “I have noticed a great change in him lately. I
+don't think he is himself at all. I must get some medical advice. But I
+have been up at the Hall this morning.”
+
+“Have you? Have you seen Raffles? Did he send anything for me?”
+
+“He said that he would come down when he had finished his work.”
+
+“But what is the matter, Robert?” cried Laura, with the swift perception
+of womanhood. “You are flushed, and your eyes are shining, and really
+you look quite handsome. Raffles has been telling you something! What
+was it? Oh, I know! He has been telling you how he made his money.
+Hasn't he, now?”
+
+“Well, yes. He took me partly into his confidence. I congratulate you,
+Laura, with all my heart, for you will be a very wealthy woman.”
+
+“How strange it seems that he should have come to us in our poverty.
+It is all owing to you, you dear old Robert; for if he had not taken a
+fancy to you, he would never have come down to Elmdene and taken a fancy
+to some one else.”
+
+“Not at all,” Robert answered, sitting down by his sister, and patting
+her hand affectionately. “It was a clear case of love at first sight.
+He was in love with you before he ever knew your name. He asked me about
+you the very first time I saw him.”
+
+“But tell me about his money, Bob,” said his sister. “He has not told
+me yet, and I am so curious. How did he make it? It was not from his
+father; he told me that himself. His father was just a country doctor.
+How did he do it?”
+
+“I am bound over to secrecy. He will tell you himself.”
+
+“Oh, but only tell me if I guess right. He had it left him by an uncle,
+eh? Well, by a friend? Or he took out some wonderful patent? Or he
+discovered a mine? Or oil? Do tell me, Robert!”
+
+“I mustn't, really,” cried her brother laughing. “And I must not talk to
+you any more. You are much too sharp. I feel a responsibility about it;
+and, besides, I must really do some work.”
+
+“It Is very unkind of you,” said Laura, pouting. “But I must put my
+things on, for I go into Birmingham by the 1.20.”
+
+“To Birmingham?”
+
+“Yes, I have a hundred things to order. There is everything to be got.
+You men forget about these details. Raffles wishes to have the wedding
+in little more than a fortnight. Of course it will be very quiet, but
+still one needs something.”
+
+“So early as that!” said Robert, thoughtfully. “Well, perhaps it is
+better so.”
+
+“Much better, Robert. Would it not be dreadful if Hector came back first
+and there was a scene? If I were once married I should not mind. Why
+should I? But of course Raffles knows nothing about him, and it would be
+terrible if they came together.”
+
+“That must be avoided at any cost.”
+
+“Oh, I cannot bear even to think of it. Poor Hector! And yet what could
+I do, Robert? You know that it was only a boy and girl affair. And how
+could I refuse such an offer as this? It was a duty to my family, was it
+not?”
+
+“You were placed in a difficult position--very difficult,” her brother
+answered. “But all will be right, and I have no doubt Hector will see it
+as you do. But does Mr. Spurling know of your engagement?”
+
+“Not a word. He was here yesterday, and talked of Hector, but indeed I
+did not know how to tell him. We are to be married by special licence in
+Birmingham, so really there is no reason why he should know. But now I
+must hurry or I shall miss my train.”
+
+When his sister was gone Robert went up to his studio, and having
+ground some colours upon his palette he stood for some time, brush and
+mahlstick in hand, in front of his big bare canvas. But how profitless
+all his work seemed to him now! What object had he in doing it? Was it
+to earn money? Money could be had for the asking, or, for that matter,
+without the asking. Or was it to produce a thing of beauty? But he had
+artistic faults. Raffles Haw had said so, and he knew that he was right.
+After all his pains the thing might not please; and with money he could
+at all times buy pictures which would please, and which would be things
+of beauty. What, then, was the object of his working? He could see none.
+He threw down his brush, and, lighting his pipe, he strolled downstairs
+once more.
+
+His father was standing in front of the fire, and in no very good
+humour, as his red face and puckered eyes sufficed to show.
+
+“Well, Robert,” he began, “I suppose that, as usual, you have spent your
+morning plotting against your father?”
+
+“What do you mean, father?”
+
+“I mean what I say. What is it but plotting when three folk--you and she
+and this Raffles Haw--whisper and arrange and have meetings without a
+word to me about it? What do I know of your plans?”
+
+“I cannot tell you secrets which are not my own, father.”
+
+“But I'll have a voice in the matter, for all that. Secrets or no
+secrets, you will find that Laura has a father, and that he is not a man
+to be set aside. I may have had my ups and downs in trade, but I have
+not quite fallen so low that I am nothing in my own family. What am I to
+get out of this precious marriage?”
+
+“What should you get? Surely Laura's happiness and welfare are enough
+for you?”
+
+“If this man were really fond of Laura he would show proper
+consideration for Laura's father. It was only yesterday that I asked him
+for a loan-condescended actually to ask for it--I, who have been within
+an ace of being Mayor of Birmingham! And he refused me point blank.”
+
+“Oh, father! How could you expose yourself to such humiliation?”
+
+“Refused me point blank!” cried the old man excitedly. “It was against
+his principles, if you please. But I'll be even with him--you see if I
+am not. I know one or two things about him. What is it they call him at
+the Three Pigeons? A 'smasher'--that's the word-a coiner of false
+money. Why else should he have this metal sent him, and that great smoky
+chimney of his going all day?”
+
+“Why can you not leave him alone, father?” expostulated Robert. “You
+seem to think of nothing but his money. If he had not a penny he would
+still be a very kind-hearted, pleasant gentleman.”
+
+Old McIntyre burst into a hoarse laugh.
+
+“I like to hear you preach,” said he. “Without a penny, indeed! Do you
+think that you would dance attendance upon him if he were a poor man?
+Do you think that Laura would ever have looked twice at him? You know as
+well as I do that she is marrying him only for his money.”
+
+Robert gave a cry of dismay. There was the alchemist standing in the
+doorway, pale and silent, looking from one to the other of them with his
+searching eyes.
+
+“I must apologise,” he said coldly. “I did not mean to listen to your
+words. I could not help it. But I have heard them. As to you, Mr.
+McIntyre, I believe that you speak from your own bad heart. I will not
+let myself be moved by your words. In Robert I have a true friend. Laura
+also loves me for my own sake. You cannot shake my faith in them. But
+with you, Mr. McIntyre, I have nothing in common; and it is as well,
+perhaps, that we should both recognise the fact.”
+
+He bowed, and was gone ere either of the McIntyres could say a word.
+
+“You see!” said Robert at last. “You have done now what you cannot
+undo!”
+
+“I will be even with him!” cried the old man furiously, shaking his
+fist through the window at the dark slow-pacing figure. “You just wait,
+Robert, and see if your old dad is a man to be played with.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A MIDNIGHT VENTURE.
+
+
+Not a word was said to Laura when she returned as to the scene which had
+occurred in her absence. She was in the gayest of spirits, and prattled
+merrily about her purchases and her arrangements, wondering from time
+to time when Raffles Haw would come. As night fell, however, without any
+word from him, she became uneasy.
+
+“What can be the matter that he does not come?” she said. “It is the
+first day since our engagement that I have not seen him.”
+
+Robert looked out through the window.
+
+“It is a gusty night, and raining hard,” he remarked. “I do not at all
+expect him.”
+
+“Poor Hector used to come, rain, snow, or fine. But, then, of course, he
+was a sailor. It was nothing to him. I hope that Raffles is not ill.”
+
+“He was quite well when I saw him this morning,” answered her brother,
+and they relapsed into silence, while the rain pattered against the
+windows, and the wind screamed amid the branches of the elms outside.
+
+Old McIntyre had sat in the corner most of the day biting his nails and
+glowering into the fire, with a brooding, malignant expression upon his
+wrinkled features. Contrary to his usual habits, he did not go to
+the village inn, but shuffled off early to bed without a word to his
+children. Laura and Robert remained chatting for some time by the fire,
+she talking of the thousand and one wonderful things which were to be
+done when she was mistress of the New Hall. There was less philanthropy
+in her talk when her future husband was absent, and Robert could not but
+remark that her carriages, her dresses, her receptions, and her travels
+in distant countries were the topics into which she threw all the
+enthusiasm which he had formerly heard her bestow upon refuge homes and
+labour organisations.
+
+“I think that greys are the nicest horses,” she said. “Bays are nice
+too, but greys are more showy. We could manage with a brougham and a
+landau, and perhaps a high dog-cart for Raffles. He has the coach-house
+full at present, but he never uses them, and I am sure that those fifty
+horses would all die for want of exercise, or get livers like Strasburg
+geese, if they waited for him to ride or drive them.”
+
+“I suppose that you will still live here?” said her brother.
+
+“We must have a house in London as well, and run up for the season. I
+don't, of course, like to make suggestions now, but it will be different
+afterwards. I am sure that Raffles will do it if I ask him. It is all
+very well for him to say that he does not want any thanks or honours,
+but I should like to know what is the use of being a public benefactor
+if you are to have no return for it. I am sure that if he does only
+half what he talks of doing, they will make him a peer--Lord Tamfield,
+perhaps--and then, of course, I shall be my Lady Tamfield, and what
+would you think of that, Bob?” She dropped him a stately curtsey, and
+tossed her head in the air, as one who was born to wear a coronet.
+
+“Father must be pensioned off,” she remarked presently. “He shall have
+so much a year on condition that he keeps away. As to you, Bob, I don't
+know what we shall do for you. We shall make you President of the Royal
+Academy if money can do it.”
+
+It was late before they ceased building their air-castles and retired to
+their rooms. But Robert's brain was excited, and he could not sleep.
+The events of the day had been enough to shake a stronger man. There
+had been the revelation of the morning, the strange sights which he
+had witnessed in the laboratory, and the immense secret which had been
+confided to his keeping. Then there had been his conversation with his
+father in the afternoon, their disagreement, and the sudden intrusion
+of Raffles Haw. Finally the talk with his sister had excited his
+imagination, and driven sleep from his eyelids. In vain he turned and
+twisted in his bed, or paced the floor of his chamber. He was not only
+awake, but abnormally awake, with every nerve highly strung, and every
+sense at the keenest. What was he to do to gain a little sleep? It
+flashed across him that there was brandy in the decanter downstairs, and
+that a glass might act as a sedative.
+
+He had opened the door of his room, when suddenly his ear caught the
+sound of slow and stealthy footsteps upon the stairs. His own lamp was
+unlit, but a dim glimmer came from a moving taper, and a long black
+shadow travelled down the wall. He stood motionless, listening intently.
+The steps were in the hall now, and he heard a gentle creaking as the
+key was cautiously turned in the door. The next instant there came a
+gust of cold air, the taper was extinguished, and a sharp snap announced
+that the door had been closed from without.
+
+Robert stood astonished. Who could this night wanderer be? It must be
+his father. But what errand could take him out at three in the morning?
+And such a morning, too! With every blast of the wind the rain beat up
+against his chamber-window as though it would drive it in. The glass
+rattled in the frames, and the tree outside creaked and groaned as its
+great branches were tossed about by the gale. What could draw any man
+forth upon such a night?
+
+Hurriedly Robert struck a match and lit his lamp. His father's room was
+opposite his own, and the door was ajar. He pushed it open and looked
+about him. It was empty. The bed had not even been lain upon. The single
+chair stood by the window, and there the old man must have sat since he
+left them. There was no book, no paper, no means by which he could have
+amused himself, nothing but a razor-strop lying on the window-sill.
+
+A feeling of impending misfortune struck cold to Robert's heart. There
+was some ill-meaning in this journey of his father's. He thought of his
+brooding of yesterday, his scowling face, his bitter threats. Yes, there
+was some mischief underlying it. But perhaps he might even now be in
+time to prevent it. There was no use calling Laura. She could be no help
+in the matter. He hurriedly threw on his clothes, muffled himself in his
+top-coat, and, seizing his hat and stick, he set off after his father.
+
+As he came out into the village street the wind whirled down it, so that
+he had to put his ear and shoulder against it, and push his way forward.
+It was better, however, when he turned into the lane. The high bank and
+the hedge sheltered him upon one side. The road, however, was deep in
+mud, and the rain fell in a steady swish. Not a soul was to be seen, but
+he needed to make no inquiries, for he knew whither his father had gone
+as certainly as though he had seen him.
+
+The iron side gate of the avenue was half open, and Robert stumbled his
+way up the gravelled drive amid the dripping fir-trees. What could his
+father's intention be when he reached the Hall? Was it merely that he
+wished to spy and prowl, or did he intend to call up the master and
+enter into some discussion as to his wrongs? Or was it possible that
+some blacker and more sinister design lay beneath his strange doings?
+Robert thought suddenly of the razor-strop, and gasped with horror. What
+had the old man been doing with that? He quickened his pace to a run,
+and hurried on until he found himself at the door of the Hall.
+
+Thank God! all was quiet there. He stood by the big silent door and
+listened intently. There was nothing to be heard save the wind and the
+rain. Where, then, could his father be? If he wished to enter the Hall
+he would not attempt to do so by one of the windows, for had he not been
+present when Raffles Haw had shown them the precautions which he had
+taken? But then a sudden thought struck Robert. There was one window
+which was left unguarded. Haw had been imprudent enough to tell them
+so. It was the middle window of the laboratory. If he remembered it so
+clearly, of course his father would remember it too. There was the point
+of danger.
+
+The moment that he had come round the corner of the building he found
+that his surmise had been correct. An electric lamp burned in the
+laboratory, and the silver squares of the three large windows stood out
+clear and bright in the darkness. The centre one had been thrown open,
+and, even as he gazed, Robert saw a dark monkey-like figure spring up
+on to the sill, and vanish into the room beyond. For a moment only it
+outlined itself against the brilliant light beyond, but in that moment
+Robert had space to see that it was indeed his father. On tiptoe he
+crossed the intervening space, and peeped in through the open window. It
+was a singular spectacle which met his eyes.
+
+There stood upon the glass table some half-dozen large ingots of gold,
+which had been made the night before, but which had not been removed to
+the treasure-house. On these the old man had thrown himself, as one who
+enters into his rightful inheritance. He lay across the table, his arms
+clasping the bars of gold, his cheek pressed against them, crooning
+and muttering to himself. Under the clear, still light, amid the giant
+wheels and strange engines, that one little dark figure clutching and
+clinging to the ingots had in it something both weird and piteous.
+
+For five minutes or more Robert stood in the darkness amid the rain,
+looking in at this strange sight, while his father hardly moved save to
+cuddle closer to the gold, and to pat it with his thin hands. Robert
+was still uncertain what he should do, when his eyes wandered from the
+central figure and fell on something else which made him give a little
+cry of astonishment--a cry which was drowned amid the howling of the
+gale.
+
+Raffles Haw was standing in the corner of the room. Where he had come
+from Robert could not say, but he was certain that he had not been there
+when he first looked in. He stood silent, wrapped in some long, dark
+dressing-gown, his arms folded, and a bitter smile upon his pale face.
+Old McIntyre seemed to see him at almost the same moment, for he
+snarled out an oath, and clutched still closer at his treasure, looking
+slantwise at the master of the house with furtive, treacherous eyes.
+
+“And it has really come to this!” said Haw at last, taking a step
+forward. “You have actually fallen so low, Mr. McIntyre, as to steal
+into my house at night like a common burglar. You knew that this window
+was unguarded. I remember telling you as much. But I did not tell you
+what other means I had adopted by which I might be warned if knaves made
+an entrance. But that you should have come! You!”
+
+The old gunmaker made no attempt to justify himself, but he muttered
+some few hoarse words, and continued to cling to the treasure.
+
+“I love your daughter,” said Raffles Haw, “and for her sake I will not
+expose you. Your hideous and infamous secret shall be safe with me. No
+ear shall hear what has happened this night. I will not, as I might,
+arouse my servants and send for the police. But you must leave my house
+without further words. I have nothing more to say to you. Go as you have
+come.”
+
+He took a step forward, and held out his hand as if to detach the old
+man's grasp from the golden bars. The other thrust his hand into the
+breast of his coat, and with a shrill scream of rage flung himself upon
+the alchemist. So sudden and so fierce was the movement that Haw had no
+time for defence. A bony hand gripped him by the throat, and the blade
+of a razor flashed in the air. Fortunately, as it fell, the weapon
+struck against one of the many wires which spanned the room, and flying
+out of the old man's grasp, tinkled upon the stone floor. But, though
+disarmed, he was still dangerous. With a horrible silent energy he
+pushed Haw back and back until, coming to a bench, they both fell over
+it, McIntyre remaining uppermost. His other hand was on the alchemist's
+throat, and it might have fared ill with him had Robert not climbed
+through the window and dragged his father off from him. With the aid
+of Haw, he pinned the old man down, and passed a long cravat around his
+arms. It was terrible to look at him, for his face was convulsed, his
+eyes bulging from his head, and his lips white with foam.
+
+Haw leaned against the glass table panting, with his hand to his side.
+
+“You here, Robert?” he gasped. “Is it not horrible? How did you come?”
+
+“I followed him. I heard him go out.”
+
+“He would have robbed me. And he would have murdered me. But he is
+mad--stark, staring mad!”
+
+There could be no doubt of it. Old McIntyre was sitting up now, and
+burst suddenly into a hoarse peal of laughter, rocking himself backwards
+and forwards, and looking up at them with little twinkling, cunning
+eyes. It was clear to both of them that his mind, weakened by long
+brooding over the one idea, had now at last become that of a monomaniac.
+His horrid causeless mirth was more terrible even than his fury.
+
+“What shall we do with him?” asked Haw. “We cannot take him back to
+Elmdene. It would be a terrible shock to Laura.”
+
+“We could have doctors to certify in the morning. Could we not keep him
+here until then? If we take him back, some one will meet us, and there
+will be a scandal.”
+
+“I know. We will take him to one of the padded rooms, where he can
+neither hurt himself nor anyone else. I am somewhat shaken myself. But I
+am better now. Do you take one arm, and I will take the other.”
+
+Half-leading and half-dragging him they managed between them to convey
+the old gunmaker away from the scene of his disaster, and to lodge him
+for the night in a place of safety. At five in the morning Robert had
+started in the gig to make the medical arrangements, while Raffles Haw
+paced his palatial house with a troubled face and a sad heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+
+It may be that Laura did not look upon the removal of her father as an
+unmixed misfortune. Nothing was said to her as to the manner of the old
+man's seizure, but Robert informed her at breakfast that he had thought
+it best, acting under medical advice, to place him for a time under
+some restraint. She had herself frequently remarked upon the growing
+eccentricity of his manner, so that the announcement could have been
+no great surprise to her. It is certain that it did not diminish her
+appetite for the coffee and the scrambled eggs, nor prevent her from
+chatting a good deal about her approaching wedding.
+
+But it was very different with Raffles Haw. The incident had shocked
+him to his inmost soul. He had often feared lest his money should do
+indirect evil, but here were crime and madness arising before his very
+eyes from its influence. In vain he tried to choke down his feelings,
+and to persuade himself that this attack of old McIntyre's was something
+which came of itself--something which had no connection with himself or
+his wealth. He remembered the man as he had first met him, garrulous,
+foolish, but with no obvious vices. He recalled the change which, week
+by week, had come over him--his greedy eye, his furtive manner, his
+hints and innuendoes, ending only the day before in a positive demand
+for money. It was too certain that there was a chain of events there
+leading direct to the horrible encounter in the laboratory. His money
+had cast a blight where he had hoped to shed a blessing.
+
+Mr. Spurling, the vicar, was up shortly after breakfast, some rumour of
+evil having come to his ears. It was good for Haw to talk with him, for
+the fresh breezy manner of the old clergyman was a corrective to his own
+sombre and introspective mood.
+
+“Prut, tut!” said he. “This is very bad--very bad indeed! Mind unhinged,
+you say, and not likely to get over it! Dear, dear! I have noticed
+a change in him these last few weeks. He looked like a man who had
+something upon his mind. And how is Mr. Robert McIntyre?”
+
+“He is very well. He was with me this morning when his father had this
+attack.”
+
+“Ha! There is a change in that young man. I observe an alteration in
+him. You will forgive me, Mr. Raffles Haw, if I say a few serious words
+of advice to you. Apart from my spiritual functions I am old enough
+to be your father. You are a very wealthy man, and you have used your
+wealth nobly--yes, sir, nobly. I do not think that there is a man in a
+thousand who would have done as well. But don't you think sometimes that
+it has a dangerous influence upon those who are around you?”
+
+“I have sometimes feared so.” “We may pass over old Mr. McIntyre. It
+would hardly be just, perhaps, to mention him in this connection. But
+there is Robert. He used to take such an interest in his profession.
+He was so keen about art. If you met him, the first words he said were
+usually some reference to his plans, or the progress he was making in
+his latest picture. He was ambitious, pushing, self-reliant. Now he does
+nothing. I know for a fact that it is two months since he put brush to
+canvas. He has turned from a student into an idler, and, what is worse,
+I fear into a parasite. You will forgive me for speaking so plainly?”
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but he threw out his hands with a gesture of
+pain.
+
+“And then there is something to be said about the country folk,” said
+the vicar. “Your kindness has been, perhaps, a little indiscriminate
+there. They don't seem to be as helpful or as self-reliant as they used.
+There was old Blaxton, whose cowhouse roof was blown off the other day.
+He used to be a man who was full of energy and resource. Three months
+ago he would have got a ladder and had that roof on again in two days'
+work. But now he must sit down, and wring his hands, and write letters,
+because he knew that it would come to your ears, and that you would make
+it good. There's old Ellary, too! Well, of course he was always poor,
+but at least he did something, and so kept himself out of mischief. Not
+a stroke will he do now, but smokes and talks scandal from morning to
+night. And the worst of it is, that it not only hurts those who have
+had your help, but it unsettles those who have not. They all have an
+injured, surly feeling as if other folk were getting what they had an
+equal right to. It has really come to such a pitch that I thought it was
+a duty to speak to you about it. Well, it is a new experience to me.
+I have often had to reprove my parishioners for not being charitable
+enough, but it is very strange to find one who is too charitable. It is
+a noble error.”
+
+“I thank you very much for letting me know about it,” answered Raffles
+Haw, as he shook the good old clergyman's hand. “I shall certainly
+reconsider my conduct in that respect.”
+
+He kept a rigid and unmoved face until his visitor had gone, and then
+retiring to his own little room, he threw himself upon the bed and burst
+out sobbing with his face buried in the pillow. Of all men in England,
+this, the richest, was on that day the most miserable. How could he use
+this great power which he held? Every blessing which he tried to give
+turned itself into a curse. His intentions were so good, and yet the
+results were so terrible. It was as if he had some foul leprosy of the
+mind which all caught who were exposed to his influence. His charity,
+so well meant, so carefully bestowed, had yet poisoned the whole
+countryside. And if in small things his results were so evil, how could
+he tell that they would be better in the larger plans which he had
+formed? If he could not pay the debts of a simple yokel without
+disturbing the great laws of cause and effect which lie at the base of
+all things, what could he hope for when he came to fill the treasury
+of nations, to interfere with the complex conditions of trade, or to
+provide for great masses of the population? He drew back with horror as
+he dimly saw that vast problems faced him in which he might make errors
+which all his money could not repair. The way of Providence was the
+straight way. Yet he, a half-blind creature, must needs push in and
+strive to alter and correct it. Would he be a benefactor? Might he not
+rather prove to be the greatest malefactor that the world had seen?
+
+But soon a calmer mood came upon him, and he rose and bathed his flushed
+face and fevered brow. After all, was not there a field where all were
+agreed that money might be well spent? It was not the way of nature, but
+rather the way of man which he would alter. It was not Providence that
+had ordained that folk should live half-starved and overcrowded in
+dreary slums. That was the result of artificial conditions, and it
+might well be healed by artificial means. Why should not his plans
+be successful after all, and the world better for his discovery? Then
+again, it was not the truth that he cast a blight on those with whom he
+was brought in contact. There was Laura; who knew more of him than she
+did, and yet how good and sweet and true she was! She at least had lost
+nothing through knowing him. He would go down and see her. It would be
+soothing to hear her voice, and to turn to her for words of sympathy in
+this his hour of darkness.
+
+The storm had died away, but a soft wind was blowing, and the smack of
+the coming spring was in the air. He drew in the aromatic scent of the
+fir-trees as he passed down the curving drive. Before him lay the long
+sloping countryside, all dotted over with the farmsteadings and little
+red cottages, with the morning sun striking slantwise upon their grey
+roofs and glimmering windows. His heart yearned over all these people
+with their manifold troubles, their little sordid miseries, their
+strivings and hopings and petty soul-killing cares. How could he get
+at them? How could he manage to lift the burden from them, and yet not
+hinder them in their life aim? For more and more could he see that all
+refinement is through sorrow, and that the life which does not refine is
+the life without an aim.
+
+Laura was alone in the sitting-room at Elmdene, for Robert had gone out
+to make some final arrangements about his father. She sprang up as her
+lover entered, and ran forward with a pretty girlish gesture to greet
+him.
+
+“Oh, Raffles!” she cried, “I knew that you would come. Is it not
+dreadful about papa?”
+
+“You must not fret, dearest,” he answered gently. “It may not prove to
+be so very grave after all.”
+
+“But it all happened before I was stirring. I knew nothing about it
+until breakfast-time. They must have gone up to the Hall very early.”
+
+“Yes, they did come up rather early.”
+
+“What is the matter with you, Raffles?” cried Laura, looking up into his
+face. “You look so sad and weary!”
+
+“I have been a little in the blues. The fact is, Laura, that I have had
+a long talk with Mr. Spurling this morning.”
+
+The girl started, and turned white to the lips. A long talk with Mr.
+Spurling! Did that mean that he had learned her secret?
+
+“Well?” she gasped.
+
+“He tells me that my charity has done more harm than good, and in fact,
+that I have had an evil influence upon every one whom I have come
+near. He said it in the most delicate way, but that was really what it
+amounted to.”
+
+“Oh, is that all?” said Laura, with a long sigh of relief. “You must not
+think of minding what Mr. Spurling says. Why, it is absurd on the face
+of it! Everybody knows that there are dozens of men all over the country
+who would have been ruined and turned out of their houses if you had not
+stood their friend. How could they be the worse for having known you? I
+wonder that Mr. Spurling can talk such nonsense!”
+
+“How is Robert's picture getting on?”
+
+“Oh, he has a lazy fit on him. He has not touched it for ever so long.
+But why do you ask that? You have that furrow on your brow again. Put it
+away, sir!”
+
+She smoothed it away with her little white hand.
+
+“Well, at any rate, I don't think that quite everybody is the worse,”
+ said he, looking down at her. “There is one, at least, who is beyond
+taint, one who is good, and pure, and true, and who would love me as
+well if I were a poor clerk struggling for a livelihood. You would,
+would you not, Laura?”
+
+“You foolish boy! of course I would.”
+
+“And yet how strange it is that it should be so. That you, who are the
+only woman whom I have ever loved, should be the only one in whom I also
+have raised an affection which is free from greed or interest. I wonder
+whether you may not have been sent by Providence simply to restore my
+confidence in the world. How barren a place would it not be if it were
+not for woman's love! When all seemed black around me this morning, I
+tell you, Laura, that I seemed to turn to you and to your love as the
+one thing on earth upon which I could rely. All else seemed shifting,
+unstable, influenced by this or that base consideration. In you, and you
+only, could I trust.”
+
+“And I in you, dear Raffles! I never knew what love was until I met
+you.”
+
+She took a step towards him, her hands advanced, love shining in her
+features, when in an instant Raffles saw the colour struck from her
+face, and a staring horror spring into her eyes. Her blanched and rigid
+face was turned towards the open door, while he, standing partly behind
+it, could not see what it was that had so moved her.
+
+“Hector!” she gasped, with dry lips.
+
+A quick step in the hall, and a slim, weather-tanned young man sprang
+forward into the room, and caught her up in his arms as if she had been
+a feather.
+
+“You darling!” he said; “I knew that I would surprise you. I came right
+up from Plymouth by the night train. And I have long leave, and plenty
+of time to get married. Isn't it jolly, dear Laura?”
+
+He pirouetted round with her in the exuberance of his delight. As he
+spun round, however, his eyes fell suddenly upon the pale and silent
+stranger who stood by the door. Hector blushed furiously, and made an
+awkward sailor bow, standing with Laura's cold and unresponsive hand
+still clasped in his.
+
+“Very sorry, sir--didn't see you,” he said. “You'll excuse my going on
+in this mad sort of way, but if you had served you would know what it
+is to get away from quarter-deck manners, and to be a free man. Miss
+McIntyre will tell you that we have known each other since we were
+children, and as we are to be married in, I hope, a month at the latest,
+we understand each other pretty well.”
+
+Raffles Haw still stood cold and motionless. He was stunned, benumbed,
+by what he saw and heard. Laura drew away from Hector, and tried to free
+her hand from his grasp.
+
+“Didn't you get my letter at Gibraltar?” she asked.
+
+“Never went to Gibraltar. Were ordered home by wire from Madeira.
+Those chaps at the Admiralty never know their own minds for two hours
+together. But what matter about a letter, Laura, so long as I can see
+you and speak with you? You have not introduced me to your friend here.”
+
+“One word, sir,” cried Raffles Haw in a quivering voice. “Do I entirely
+understand you? Let me be sure that there is no mistake. You say that
+you are engaged to be married to Miss McIntyre?”
+
+“Of course I am. I've just come back from a four months' cruise, and I
+am going to be married before I drag my anchor again.”
+
+“Four months!” gasped Haw. “Why, it is just four months since I came
+here. And one last question, sir. Does Robert McIntyre know of your
+engagement?”
+
+“Does Bob know? Of course he knows. Why, it was to his care I left Laura
+when I started. But what is the meaning of all this? What is the matter
+with you, Laura? Why are you so white and silent? And--hallo! Hold up,
+sir! The man is fainting!”
+
+“It is all right!” gasped Haw, steadying himself against the edge of the
+door.
+
+He was as white as paper, and his hand was pressed close to his side as
+though some sudden pain had shot through him. For a moment he tottered
+there like a stricken man, and then, with a hoarse cry, he turned and
+fled out through the open door.
+
+“Poor devil!” said Hector, gazing in amazement after him. “He seems hard
+hit anyhow. But what is the meaning of all this, Laura?”
+
+His face had darkened, and his mouth had set.
+
+She had not said a word, but had stood with a face like a mask looking
+blankly in front of her. Now she tore herself away from him, and,
+casting herself down with her face buried in the cushion of the sofa,
+she burst into a passion of sobbing.
+
+“It means that you have ruined me,” she cried. “That you have
+ruined-ruined--ruined me! Could you not leave us alone? Why must you
+come at the last moment? A few more days, and we were safe. And you
+never had my letter.”
+
+“And what was in your letter, then?” he asked coldly, standing with his
+arms folded, looking down at her.
+
+“It was to tell you that I released you. I love Raffles Haw, and I was
+to have been his wife. And now it is all gone. Oh, Hector, I hate you,
+and I shall always hate you as long as I live, for you have stepped
+between me and the only good fortune that ever came to me. Leave me
+alone, and I hope that you will never cross our threshold again.”
+
+“Is that your last word, Laura?”
+
+“The last that I shall ever speak to you.”
+
+“Then, good-bye. I shall see the Dad, and go straight back to Plymouth.”
+ He waited an instant, in hopes of an answer, and then walked sadly from
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+It was late that night that a startled knocking came at the door of
+Elmdene. Laura had been in her room all day, and Robert was moodily
+smoking his pipe by the fire, when this harsh and sudden summons
+broke in upon his thoughts. There in the porch was Jones, the stout
+head-butler of the Hall, hatless, scared, with the raindrops shining in
+the lamplight upon his smooth, bald head.
+
+“If you please, Mr. McIntyre, sir, would it trouble you to step up to
+the Hall?” he cried. “We are all frightened, sir, about master.”
+
+Robert caught up his hat and started at a run, the frightened butler
+trotting heavily beside him. It had been a day of excitement and
+disaster. The young artist's heart was heavy within him, and the shadow
+of some crowning trouble seemed to have fallen upon his soul.
+
+“What is the matter with your master, then?” he asked, as he slowed down
+into a walk.
+
+“We don't know, sir; but we can't get an answer when we knock at the
+laboratory door. Yet he's there, for it's locked on the inside. It has
+given us all a scare, sir, that, and his goin's-on during the day.”
+
+“His goings-on?”
+
+“Yes, sir; for he came back this morning like a man demented, a-talkin'
+to himself, and with his eyes starin' so that it was dreadful to look at
+the poor dear gentleman. Then he walked about the passages a long time,
+and he wouldn't so much as look at his luncheon, but he went into the
+museum, and gathered all his jewels and things, and carried them into
+the laboratory. We don't know what he's done since then, sir, but his
+furnace has been a-roarin', and his big chimney spoutin' smoke like a
+Birmingham factory. When night came we could see his figure against the
+light, a-workin' and a-heavin' like a man possessed. No dinner would he
+have, but work, and work, and work. Now it's all quiet, and the furnace
+cold, and no smoke from above, but we can't get no answer from him, sir,
+so we are scared, and Miller has gone for the police, and I came away
+for you.”
+
+They reached the Hall as the butler finished his explanation, and
+there outside the laboratory door stood the little knot of footmen and
+ostlers, while the village policeman, who had just arrived, was holding
+his bull's-eye to the keyhole, and endeavouring to peep through.
+
+“The key is half-turned,” he said. “I can't see nothing except just the
+light.”
+
+“Here's Mr. McIntyre,” cried half-a-dozen voices, as Robert came
+forward.
+
+“We'll have to beat the door in, sir,” said the policeman. “We can't get
+any sort of answer, and there's something wrong.”
+
+Twice and thrice they threw their united weights against it until at
+last with a sharp snap the lock broke, and they crowded into the narrow
+passage. The inner door was ajar, and the laboratory lay before them.
+
+In the centre was an enormous heap of fluffy grey ash, reaching up
+half-way to the ceiling. Beside it was another heap, much smaller, of
+some brilliant scintillating dust, which shimmered brightly in the rays
+of the electric light. All round was a bewildering chaos of broken jars,
+shattered bottles, cracked machinery, and tangled wires, all bent and
+draggled. And there in the midst of this universal ruin, leaning back in
+his chair with his hands clasped upon his lap, and the easy pose of one
+who rests after hard work safely carried through, sat Raffles Haw, the
+master of the house, and the richest of mankind, with the pallor of
+death upon his face. So easily he sat and so naturally, with such a
+serene expression upon his features, that it was not until they raised
+him, and touched his cold and rigid limbs, that they could realise that
+he had indeed passed away.
+
+Reverently and slowly they bore him to his room, for he was beloved by
+all who had served him. Robert alone lingered with the policeman in the
+laboratory. Like a man in a dream he wandered about, marvelling at the
+universal destruction. A large broad-headed hammer lay upon the
+ground, and with this Haw had apparently set himself to destroy all
+his apparatus, having first used his electrical machines to reduce
+to protyle all the stock of gold which he had accumulated. The
+treasure-room which had so dazzled Robert consisted now of merely four
+bare walls, while the gleaming dust upon the floor proclaimed the fate
+of that magnificent collection of gems which had alone amounted to a
+royal fortune. Of all the machinery no single piece remained intact,
+and even the glass table was shattered into three pieces. Strenuously
+earnest must have been the work which Raffles Haw had done that day.
+
+And suddenly Robert thought of the secret which had been treasured in
+the casket within the iron-clamped box. It was to tell him the one last
+essential link which would make his knowledge of the process complete.
+Was it still there? Thrilling all over, he opened the great chest, and
+drew out the ivory box. It was locked, but the key was in it. He turned
+it and threw open the lid. There was a white slip of paper with his own
+name written upon it. With trembling fingers he unfolded it. Was he
+the heir to the riches of El Dorado, or was he destined to be a poor
+struggling artist? The note was dated that very evening, and ran in this
+way:
+
+   “MY DEAR ROBERT,--My secret shall never be used again. I cannot
+   tell you how I thank Heaven that I did not entirely confide it to
+   you, for I should have been handing over an inheritance of misery
+   both to yourself and others.  For myself I have hardly had a happy
+   moment since I discovered it. This I could have borne had I been
+   able to feel that I was doing good, but, alas! the only effect of my
+   attempts has been to turn workers into idlers, contented men into
+   greedy parasites, and, worst of all, true, pure women into
+   deceivers and hypocrites.  If this is the effect of my interference
+   on a small scale, I cannot hope for anything better were I to carry
+   out the plans which we have so often discussed.  The schemes of my
+   life have all turned to nothing.  For myself, you shall never see me
+   again.  I shall go back to the student life from which I emerged.
+   There, at least, if I can do little good, I can do no harm.  It is
+   my wish that such valuables as remain in the Hall should be sold,
+   and the proceeds divided amidst all the charities of Birmingham.
+   I shall leave tonight if I am well enough, but I have been much
+   troubled all day by a stabbing pain in my side.  It is as if wealth
+   were as bad for health as it is for peace of mind.  Good-bye,
+   Robert, and may you never have as sad a heart as I have to-night.
+   Yours very truly,
+   RAFFLES HAW.”
+
+“Was it suicide, sir? Was it suicide?” broke in the policeman as Robert
+put the note in his pocket.
+
+“No,” he answered; “I think it was a broken heart.”
+
+And so the wonders of the New Hall were all dismantled, the carvings and
+the gold, the books and the pictures, and many a struggling man or woman
+who had heard nothing of Raffles Haw during his life had cause to bless
+him after his death. The house has been bought by a company now, who
+have turned it into a hydropathic establishment, and of all the folk who
+frequent it in search of health or of pleasure there are few who know
+the strange story which is connected with it.
+
+The blight which Haw's wealth cast around it seemed to last even after
+his death. Old McIntyre still raves in the County Lunatic Asylum, and
+treasures up old scraps of wood and metal under the impression that they
+are all ingots of gold. Robert McIntyre is a moody and irritable man,
+for ever pursuing a quest which will always evade him. His art is
+forgotten, and he spends his whole small income upon chemical and
+electrical appliances, with which he vainly seeks to rediscover that
+one hidden link. His sister keeps house for him, a silent and brooding
+woman, still queenly and beautiful, but of a bitter, dissatisfied mind.
+Of late, however, she has devoted herself to charity, and has been of so
+much help to Mr. Spurling's new curate that it is thought that he may
+be tempted to secure her assistance for ever. So runs the gossip of the
+village, and in small places such gossip is seldom wrong. As to Hector
+Spurling, he is still in her Majesty's service, and seems inclined to
+abide by his father's wise advice, that he should not think of marrying
+until he was a Commander. It is possible that of all who were brought
+within the spell of Raffles Haw he was the only one who had occasion to
+bless it.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Doings of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
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+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+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 Doings Of Raffles Haw
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #8394]
+Last Updated: March 6, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lionel G. Sear, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Arthur Conan Doyle
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A DOUBLE ENIGMA
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A HOUSE OF WONDERS
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          FROM CLIME TO CLIME
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          LAURA'S REQUEST
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A STRANGE VISITOR
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A NEW DEPARTURE
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          THE GREAT SECRET
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A FAMILY JAR
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          A MIDNIGHT VENTURE
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a>
+        </td>
+        <td>
+          THE GREATER SECRET
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. A DOUBLE ENIGMA.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid that he won't come,&rdquo; said Laura McIntyre, in a disconsolate
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, look at the weather; it is something too awful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she spoke a whirl of snow beat with a muffled patter against the cosy
+      red-curtained window, while a long blast of wind shrieked and whistled
+      through the branches of the great white-limbed elms which skirted the
+      garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre rose from the sketch upon which he had been working, and
+      taking one of the lamps in his hand peered out into the darkness. The long
+      skeleton limbs of the bare trees tossed and quivered dimly amid the
+      whirling drift. His sister sat by the fire, her fancy-work in her lap, and
+      looked up at her brothers profile which showed against the brilliant
+      yellow light. It was a handsome face, young and fair and clear cut, with
+      wavy brown hair combed backwards and rippling down into that outward curve
+      at the ends which one associates with the artistic temperament. There was
+      refinement too in his slightly puckered eyes, his dainty gold-rimmed <i>pince-nez</i>
+      glasses, and in the black velveteen coat which caught the light so richly
+      upon its shoulder. In his mouth only there was something&mdash;a suspicion
+      of coarseness, a possibility of weakness&mdash;which in the eyes of some,
+      and of his sister among them, marred the grace and beauty of his features.
+      Yet, as he was wont himself to say, when one thinks that each poor mortal
+      is heir to a legacy of every evil trait or bodily taint of so vast a line
+      of ancestors, lucky indeed is the man who does not find that Nature has
+      scored up some long-owing family debt upon his features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And indeed in this case the remorseless creditor had gone so far as to
+      exact a claim from the lady also, though in her case the extreme beauty of
+      the upper part of the face drew the eye away from any weakness which might
+      be found in the lower. She was darker than her brother&mdash;so dark that
+      her heavily coiled hair seemed to be black until the light shone slantwise
+      across it. The delicate, half-petulant features, the finely traced brows,
+      and the thoughtful, humorous eyes were all perfect in their way, and yet
+      the combination left something to be desired. There was a vague sense of a
+      flaw somewhere, in feature or in expression, which resolved itself, when
+      analysed, into a slight out-turning and droop of the lower lip; small
+      indeed, and yet pronounced enough to turn what would have been a beautiful
+      face into a merely pretty one. Very despondent and somewhat cross she
+      looked as she leaned back in the armchair, the tangle of bright-coloured
+      silks and of drab holland upon her lap, her hands clasped behind her head,
+      with her snowy forearms and little pink elbows projecting on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know he won't come,&rdquo; she repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense, Laura! Of course he'll come. A sailor and afraid of the
+      weather!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha!&rdquo; She raised her finger, and a smile of triumph played over her face,
+      only to die away again into a blank look of disappointment. &ldquo;It is only
+      papa,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A shuffling step was heard in the hall, and a little peaky man, with his
+      slippers very much down at the heels, came shambling into the room. Mr.
+      McIntyre, sen., was pale and furtive-looking, with a thin straggling red
+      beard shot with grey, and a sunken downcast face. Ill-fortune and
+      ill-health had both left their marks upon him. Ten years before he had
+      been one of the largest and richest gunmakers in Birmingham, but a long
+      run of commercial bad luck had sapped his great fortune, and had finally
+      driven him into the Bankruptcy Court. The death of his wife on the very
+      day of his insolvency had filled his cup of sorrow, and he had gone about
+      since with a stunned, half-dazed expression upon his weak pallid face
+      which spoke of a mind unhinged. So complete had been his downfall that the
+      family would have been reduced to absolute poverty were it not for a small
+      legacy of two-hundred a year which both the children had received from one
+      of their uncles upon the mother's side who had amassed a fortune in
+      Australia. By combining their incomes, and by taking a house in the quiet
+      country district of Tamfield, some fourteen miles from the great Midland
+      city, they were still able to live with some approach to comfort. The
+      change, however, was a bitter one to all&mdash;to Robert, who had to
+      forego the luxuries dear to his artistic temperament, and to think of
+      turning what had been merely an overruling hobby into a means of earning a
+      living; and even more to Laura, who winced before the pity of her old
+      friends, and found the lanes and fields of Tamfield intolerably dull after
+      the life and bustle of Edgbaston. Their discomfort was aggravated by the
+      conduct of their father, whose life now was one long wail over his
+      misfortunes, and who alternately sought comfort in the Prayer-book and in
+      the decanter for the ills which had befallen him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Laura, however, Tamfield presented one attraction, which was now about
+      to be taken from her. Their choice of the little country hamlet as their
+      residence had been determined by the fact of their old friend, the
+      Reverend John Spurling, having been nominated as the vicar. Hector
+      Spurling, the elder son, two months Laura's senior, had been engaged to
+      her for some years, and was, indeed, upon the point of marrying her when
+      the sudden financial crash had disarranged their plans. A sub-lieutenant
+      in the Navy, he was home on leave at present, and hardly an evening passed
+      without his making his way from the Vicarage to Elmdene, where the
+      McIntyres resided. To-day, however, a note had reached them to the effect
+      that he had been suddenly ordered on duty, and that he must rejoin his
+      ship at Portsmouth by the next evening. He would look in, were it but for
+      half-an-hour, to bid them adieu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, where's Hector?&rdquo; asked Mr. McIntyre, blinking round from side to
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's not come, father. How could you expect him to come on such a night
+      as this? Why, there must be two feet of snow in the glebe field.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not come, eh?&rdquo; croaked the old man, throwing himself down upon the sofa.
+      &ldquo;Well, well, it only wants him and his father to throw us over, and the
+      thing will be complete.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you even hint at such a thing, father?&rdquo; cried Laura indignantly.
+      &ldquo;They have been as true as steel. What would they think if they heard
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Robert,&rdquo; he said, disregarding his daughter's protest, &ldquo;that I
+      will have a drop, just the very smallest possible drop, of brandy. A mere
+      thimbleful will do; but I rather think I have caught cold during the
+      snowstorm to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert went on sketching stolidly in his folding book, but Laura looked up
+      from her work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid there is nothing in the house, father,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Laura! Laura!&rdquo; He shook his head as one more in sorrow than in anger.
+      &ldquo;You are no longer a girl, Laura; you are a woman, the manager of a
+      household, Laura. We trust in you. We look entirely towards you. And yet
+      you leave your poor brother Robert without any brandy, to say nothing of
+      me, your father. Good heavens, Laura! what would your mother have said?
+      Think of accidents, think of sudden illness, think of apoplectic fits,
+      Laura. It is a very grave res&mdash;a very grave response&mdash;a very
+      great risk that you run.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hardly touch the stuff,&rdquo; said Robert curtly; &ldquo;Laura need not provide
+      any for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a medicine it is invaluable, Robert. To be used, you understand, and
+      not to be abused. That's the whole secret of it. But I'll step down to the
+      Three Pigeons for half an hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear father,&rdquo; cried the young man &ldquo;you surely are not going out upon
+      such a night. If you must have brandy could I not send Sarah for some?
+      Please let me send Sarah; or I would go myself, or&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pip! came a little paper pellet from his sister's chair on to the
+      sketch-book in front of him! He unrolled it and held it to the light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For Heaven's sake let him go!&rdquo; was scrawled across it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, in any case, wrap yourself up warm,&rdquo; he continued, laying bare his
+      sudden change of front with a masculine clumsiness which horrified his
+      sister. &ldquo;Perhaps it is not so cold as it looks. You can't lose your way,
+      that is one blessing. And it is not more than a hundred yards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With many mumbles and grumbles at his daughter's want of foresight, old
+      McIntyre struggled into his great-coat and wrapped his scarf round his
+      long thin throat. A sharp gust of cold wind made the lamps flicker as he
+      threw open the hall-door. His two children listened to the dull fall of
+      his footsteps as he slowly picked out the winding garden path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He gets worse&mdash;he becomes intolerable,&rdquo; said Robert at last. &ldquo;We
+      should not have let him out; he may make a public exhibition of himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it's Hector's last night,&rdquo; pleaded Laura. &ldquo;It would be dreadful if
+      they met and he noticed anything. That was why I wished him to go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you were only just in time,&rdquo; remarked her brother, &ldquo;for I hear the
+      gate go, and&mdash;yes, you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke a cheery hail came from outside, with a sharp rat-tat at the
+      window. Robert stepped out and threw open the door to admit a tall young
+      man, whose black frieze jacket was all mottled and glistening with snow
+      crystals. Laughing loudly he shook himself like a Newfoundland dog, and
+      kicked the snow from his boots before entering the little lamplit room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hector Spurling's profession was written in every line of his face. The
+      clean-shaven lip and chin, the little fringe of side whisker, the straight
+      decisive mouth, and the hard weather-tanned cheeks all spoke of the Royal
+      Navy. Fifty such faces may be seen any night of the year round the
+      mess-table of the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth Dockyard&mdash;faces
+      which bear a closer resemblance to each other than brother does commonly
+      to brother. They are all cast in a common mould, the products of a system
+      which teaches early self-reliance, hardihood, and manliness&mdash;a fine
+      type upon the whole; less refined and less intellectual, perhaps, than
+      their brothers of the land, but full of truth and energy and heroism. In
+      figure he was straight, tall, and well-knit, with keen grey eyes, and the
+      sharp prompt manner of a man who has been accustomed both to command and
+      to obey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had my note?&rdquo; he said, as he entered the room. &ldquo;I have to go again,
+      Laura. Isn't it a bore? Old Smithers is short-handed, and wants me back at
+      once.&rdquo; He sat down by the girl, and put his brown hand across her white
+      one. &ldquo;It won't be a very large order this time,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;It's the
+      flying squadron business&mdash;Madeira, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and home. I
+      shouldn't wonder if we were back in March.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems only the other day that you landed.&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little girl! But it won't be long. Mind you take good care of her,
+      Robert when I am gone. And when I come again, Laura, it will be the last
+      time mind! Hang the money! There are plenty who manage on less. We need
+      not have a house. Why should we? You can get very nice rooms in Southsea
+      at 2 pounds a week. McDougall, our paymaster, has just married, and he
+      only gives thirty shillings. You would not be afraid, Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dear old governor is so awfully cautious. Wait, wait, wait, that's
+      always his cry. I tell him that he ought to have been in the Government
+      Heavy Ordnance Department. But I'll speak to him tonight. I'll talk him
+      round. See if I don't. And you must speak to your own governor. Robert
+      here will back you up. And here are the ports and the dates that we are
+      due at each. Mind that you have a letter waiting for me at every one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a slip of paper from the side pocket of his coat, but, instead of
+      handing it to the young lady, he remained staring at it with the utmost
+      astonishment upon his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Look here, Robert; what do you call this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold it to the light. Why, it's a fifty-pound Bank of England note.
+      Nothing remarkable about it that I can see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary. It's the queerest thing that ever happened to me. I
+      can't make head or tail of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, then, Hector,&rdquo; cried Miss McIntyre with a challenge in her eyes.
+      &ldquo;Something very queer happened to me also to-day. I'll bet a pair of
+      gloves that my adventure was more out of the common than yours, though I
+      have nothing so nice to show at the end of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, I'll take that, and Robert here shall be the judge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;State your cases.&rdquo; The young artist shut up his sketch-book, and rested
+      his head upon his hands with a face of mock solemnity. &ldquo;Ladies first! Go
+      along Laura, though I think I know something of your adventure already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was this morning, Hector,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Oh, by the way, the story will
+      make you wild. I had forgotten that. However, you mustn't mind, because,
+      really, the poor fellow was perfectly mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What on earth was it?&rdquo; asked the young officer, his eyes travelling from
+      the bank-note to his <i>fiancee</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it was harmless enough, and yet you will confess it was very queer. I
+      had gone out for a walk, but as the snow began to fall I took shelter
+      under the shed which the workmen have built at the near end of the great
+      new house. The men have gone, you know, and the owner is supposed to be
+      coming to-morrow, but the shed is still standing. I was sitting there upon
+      a packing-case when a man came down the road and stopped under the same
+      shelter. He was a quiet, pale-faced man, very tall and thin, not much more
+      than thirty, I should think, poorly dressed, but with the look and bearing
+      of a gentleman. He asked me one or two questions about the village and the
+      people, which, of course, I answered, until at last we found ourselves
+      chatting away in the pleasantest and easiest fashion about all sorts of
+      things. The time passed so quickly that I forgot all about the snow until
+      he drew my attention to its having stopped for the moment. Then, just as I
+      was turning to go, what in the world do you suppose that he did? He took a
+      step towards me, looked in a sad pensive way into my face, and said: `I
+      wonder whether you could care for me if I were without a penny.' Wasn't it
+      strange? I was so frightened that I whisked out of the shed, and was off
+      down the road before he could add another word. But really, Hector, you
+      need not look so black, for when I look back at it I can quite see from
+      his tone and manner that he meant no harm. He was thinking aloud, without
+      the least intention of being offensive. I am convinced that the poor
+      fellow was mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum! There was some method in his madness, it seems to me,&rdquo; remarked her
+      brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There would have been some method in my kicking,&rdquo; said the lieutenant
+      savagely. &ldquo;I never heard of a more outrageous thing in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I said that you would be wild!&rdquo; She laid her white hand upon the
+      sleeve of his rough frieze jacket. &ldquo;It was nothing. I shall never see the
+      poor fellow again. He was evidently a stranger to this part of the
+      country. But that was my little adventure. Now let us have yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man crackled the bank-note between his fingers and thumb, while
+      he passed his other hand over his hair with the action of a man who
+      strives to collect himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is some ridiculous mistake,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I must try and set it right.
+      Yet I don't know how to set about it either. I was going down to the
+      village from the Vicarage just after dusk when I found a fellow in a trap
+      who had got himself into broken water. One wheel had sunk into the edge of
+      the ditch which had been hidden by the snow, and the whole thing was high
+      and dry, with a list to starboard enough to slide him out of his seat. I
+      lent a hand, of course, and soon had the wheel in the road again. It was
+      quite dark, and I fancy that the fellow thought that I was a bumpkin, for
+      we did not exchange five words. As he drove off he shoved this into my
+      hand. It is the merest chance that I did not chuck it away, for, feeling
+      that it was a crumpled piece of paper, I imagined that it must be a
+      tradesman's advertisement or something of the kind. However, as luck would
+      have it, I put it in my pocket, and there I found it when I looked for the
+      dates of our cruise. Now you know as much of the matter as I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Brother and sister stared at the black and white crinkled note with
+      astonishment upon their faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, your unknown traveller must have been Monte Cristo, or Rothschild at
+      the least!&rdquo; said Robert. &ldquo;I am bound to say, Laura, that I think you have
+      lost your bet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I am quite content to lose it. I never heard of such a piece of luck.
+      What a perfectly delightful man this must be to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I can't take his money,&rdquo; said Hector Spurling, looking somewhat
+      ruefully at the note. &ldquo;A little prize-money is all very well in its way,
+      but a Johnny must draw the line somewhere. Besides it must have been a
+      mistake. And yet he meant to give me something big, for he could not
+      mistake a note for a coin. I suppose I must advertise for the fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems a pity too,&rdquo; remarked Robert. &ldquo;I must say that I don't quite see
+      it in the same light that you do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I think that you are very Quixotic, Hector,&rdquo; said Laura McIntyre.
+      &ldquo;Why should you not accept it in the spirit in which it was meant? You did
+      this stranger a service&mdash;perhaps a greater service than you know of&mdash;and
+      he meant this as a little memento of the occasion. I do not see that there
+      is any possible reason against your keeping it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, come!&rdquo; said the young sailor, with an embarrassed laugh, &ldquo;it is not
+      quite the thing&mdash;not the sort of story one would care to tell at
+      mess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In any case you are off to-morrow morning,&rdquo; observed Robert. &ldquo;You have no
+      time to make inquiries about the mysterious Croesus. You must really make
+      the best of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, look here, Laura, you put it in your work-basket,&rdquo; cried Hector
+      Spurling. &ldquo;You shall be my banker, and if the rightful owner turns up then
+      I can refer him to you. If not, I suppose we must look on it as a kind of
+      salvage-money, though I am bound to say I don't feel entirely comfortable
+      about it.&rdquo; He rose to his feet, and threw the note down into the brown
+      basket of coloured wools which stood beside her. &ldquo;Now, Laura, I must up
+      anchor, for I promised the governor to be back by nine. It won't be long
+      this time, dear, and it shall be the last. Good-bye, Robert! Good luck!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-bye, Hector! <i>Bon voyage!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young artist remained by the table, while his sister followed her
+      lover to the door. In the dim light of the hall he could see their figures
+      and overhear their words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next time, little girl?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next time be it, Hector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And nothing can part us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the whole world?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert discreetly closed the door. A moment later a thud from without, and
+      the quick footsteps crunching on the snow told him that their visitor had
+      departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The snow had ceased to fall, but for a week a hard frost had held the
+      country side in its iron grip. The roads rang under the horses' hoofs, and
+      every wayside ditch and runlet was a street of ice. Over the long
+      undulating landscape the red brick houses peeped out warmly against the
+      spotless background, and the lines of grey smoke streamed straight up into
+      the windless air. The sky was of the lightest palest blue, and the morning
+      sun, shining through the distant fog-wreaths of Birmingham, struck a
+      subdued glow from the broad-spread snow fields which might have gladdened
+      the eyes of an artist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It did gladden the heart of one who viewed it that morning from the summit
+      of the gently-curving Tamfield Hill Robert McIntyre stood with his elbows
+      upon a gate-rail, his Tam-o'-Shanter hat over his eyes, and a short
+      briar-root pipe in his mouth, looking slowly about him, with the absorbed
+      air of one who breathes his fill of Nature. Beneath him to the north lay
+      the village of Tamfield, red walls, grey roofs, and a scattered bristle of
+      dark trees, with his own little Elmdene nestling back from the broad,
+      white winding Birmingham Road. At the other side, as he slowly faced
+      round, lay a vast stone building, white and clear-cut, fresh from the
+      builders' hands. A great tower shot up from one corner of it, and a
+      hundred windows twinkled ruddily in the light of the morning sun. A little
+      distance from it stood a second small square low-lying structure, with a
+      tall chimney rising from the midst of it, rolling out a long plume of
+      smoke into the frosty air. The whole vast structure stood within its own
+      grounds, enclosed by a stately park wall, and surrounded by what would in
+      time be an extensive plantation of fir-trees. By the lodge gates a vast
+      pile of <i>debris</i>, with lines of sheds for workmen, and huge heaps of
+      planks from scaffoldings, all proclaimed that the work had only just been
+      brought to an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre looked down with curious eyes at the broad-spread
+      building. It had long been a mystery and a subject of gossip for the whole
+      country side. Hardly a year had elapsed since the rumour had first gone
+      about that a millionaire had bought a tract of land, and that it was his
+      intention to build a country seat upon it. Since then the work had been
+      pushed on night and day, until now it was finished to the last detail in a
+      shorter time than it takes to build many a six-roomed cottage. Every
+      morning two long special trains had arrived from Birmingham, carrying down
+      a great army of labourers, who were relieved in the evening by a fresh
+      gang, who carried on their task under the rays of twelve enormous electric
+      lights. The number of workmen appeared to be only limited by the space
+      into which they could be fitted. Great lines of waggons conveyed the white
+      Portland stone from the depot by the station. Hundreds of busy toilers
+      handed it over, shaped and squared, to the actual masons, who swung it up
+      with steam cranes on to the growing walls, where it was instantly fitted
+      and mortared by their companions. Day by day the house shot higher, while
+      pillar and cornice and carving seemed to bud out from it as if by magic.
+      Nor was the work confined to the main building. A large separate structure
+      sprang up at the same time, and there came gangs of pale-faced men from
+      London with much extraordinary machinery, vast cylinders, wheels and
+      wires, which they fitted up in this outlying building. The great chimney
+      which rose from the centre of it, combined with these strange furnishings,
+      seemed to mean that it was reserved as a factory or place of business, for
+      it was rumoured that this rich man's hobby was the same as a poor man's
+      necessity, and that he was fond of working with his own hands amid
+      chemicals and furnaces. Scarce, too, was the second storey begun ere the
+      wood-workers and plumbers and furnishers were busy beneath, carrying out a
+      thousand strange and costly schemes for the greater comfort and
+      convenience of the owner. Singular stories were told all round the
+      country, and even in Birmingham itself, of the extraordinary luxury and
+      the absolute disregard for money which marked all these arrangements. No
+      sum appeared to be too great to spend upon the smallest detail which might
+      do away with or lessen any of the petty inconveniences of life. Waggons
+      and waggons of the richest furniture had passed through the village
+      between lines of staring villagers. Costly skins, glossy carpets, rich
+      rugs, ivory, and ebony, and metal; every glimpse into these storehouses of
+      treasure had given rise to some new legend. And finally, when all had been
+      arranged, there had come a staff of forty servants, who heralded the
+      approach of the owner, Mr. Raffles Haw himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no wonder, then, that it was with considerable curiosity that
+      Robert McIntyre looked down at the great house, and marked the smoking
+      chimneys, the curtained windows, and the other signs which showed that its
+      tenant had arrived. A vast area of greenhouses gleamed like a lake on the
+      further side, and beyond were the long lines of stables and outhouses.
+      Fifty horses had passed through Tamfield the week before, so that, large
+      as were the preparations, they were not more than would be needed. Who and
+      what could this man be who spent his money with so lavish a hand? His name
+      was unknown. Birmingham was as ignorant as Tamfield as to his origin or
+      the sources of his wealth. Robert McIntyre brooded languidly over the
+      problem as he leaned against the gate, puffing his blue clouds of
+      bird's-eye into the crisp, still air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly his eye caught a dark figure emerging from the Avenue gates and
+      striding up the winding road. A few minutes brought him near enough to
+      show a familiar face looking over the stiff collar and from under the soft
+      black hat of an English clergyman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, Mr. Spurling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, good-morning, Robert. How are you? Are you coming my way? How
+      slippery the roads are!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His round, kindly face was beaming with good nature, and he took little
+      jumps as he walked, like a man who can hardly contain himself for
+      pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you heard from Hector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. He went off all right last Wednesday from Spithead, and he will
+      write from Madeira. But you generally have later news at Elmdene than I
+      have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know whether Laura has heard. Have you been up to see the new
+      comer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I have just left him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is he a married man&mdash;this Mr. Raffles Haw?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he is a bachelor. He does not seem to have any relations either, as
+      far as I could learn. He lives alone, amid his huge staff of servants. It
+      is a most remarkable establishment. It made me think of the Arabian
+      Nights.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the man? What is he like?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is an angel&mdash;a positive angel. I never heard or read of such
+      kindness in my life. He has made me a happy man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman's eyes sparkled with emotion, and he blew his nose loudly in
+      his big red handkerchief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre looked at him in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am delighted to hear it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;May I ask what he has done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went up to him by appointment this morning. I had written asking him if
+      I might call. I spoke to him of the parish and its needs, of my long
+      struggle to restore the south side of the church, and of our efforts to
+      help my poor parishioners during this hard weather. While I spoke he said
+      not a word, but sat with a vacant face, as though he were not listening to
+      me. When I had finished he took up his pen. 'How much will it take to do
+      the church?' he asked. 'A thousand pounds,' I answered; 'but we have
+      already raised three hundred among ourselves. The Squire has very
+      handsomely given fifty pounds.' 'Well,' said he, 'how about the poor folk?
+      How many families are there?' 'About three hundred,' I answered. 'And
+      coals, I believe, are at about a pound a ton', said he. 'Three tons ought
+      to see them through the rest of the winter. Then you can get a very fair
+      pair of blankets for two pounds. That would make five pounds per family,
+      and seven hundred for the church.' He dipped his pen in the ink, and, as I
+      am a living man, Robert, he wrote me a cheque then and there for two
+      thousand two hundred pounds. I don't know what I said; I felt like a fool;
+      I could not stammer out words with which to thank him. All my troubles
+      have been taken from my shoulders in an instant, and indeed, Robert, I can
+      hardly realise it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He must be a most charitable man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Extraordinarily so. And so unpretending. One would think that it was I
+      who was doing the favour and he who was the beggar. I thought of that
+      passage about making the heart of the widow sing for joy. He made my heart
+      sing for joy, I can tell you. Are you coming up to the Vicarage?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, thank you, Mr. Spurling. I must go home and get to work on my new
+      picture. It's a five-foot canvas&mdash;the landing of the Romans in Kent.
+      I must have another try for the Academy. Good-morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his hat and continued down the road, while the vicar turned off
+      into the path which led to his home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre had converted a large bare room in the upper storey of
+      Elmdene into a studio, and thither he retreated after lunch. It was as
+      well that he should have some little den of his own, for his father would
+      talk of little save of his ledgers and accounts, while Laura had become
+      peevish and querulous since the one tie which held her to Tamfield had
+      been removed. The chamber was a bare and bleak one, un-papered and
+      un-carpeted, but a good fire sparkled in the grate, and two large windows
+      gave him the needful light. His easel stood in the centre, with the great
+      canvas balanced across it, while against the walls there leaned his two
+      last attempts, &ldquo;The Murder of Thomas of Canterbury&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Signing of
+      Magna Charta.&rdquo; Robert had a weakness for large subjects and broad effects.
+      If his ambition was greater than his skill, he had still all the love of
+      his art and the patience under discouragement which are the stuff out of
+      which successful painters are made. Twice his brace of pictures had
+      journeyed to town, and twice they had come back to him, until the finely
+      gilded frames which had made such a call upon his purse began to show
+      signs of these varied adventures. Yet, in spite of their depressing
+      company, Robert turned to his fresh work with all the enthusiasm which a
+      conviction of ultimate success can inspire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he could not work that afternoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In vain he dashed in his background and outlined the long curves of the
+      Roman galleys. Do what he would, his mind would still wander from his work
+      to dwell upon his conversation with the vicar in the morning. His
+      imagination was fascinated by the idea of this strange man living alone
+      amid a crowd, and yet wielding such a power that with one dash of his pen
+      he could change sorrow into joy, and transform the condition of a whole
+      parish. The incident of the fifty-pound note came back to his mind. It
+      must surely have been Raffles Haw with whom Hector Spurling had come in
+      contact. There could not be two men in one parish to whom so large a sum
+      was of so small an account as to be thrown to a bystander in return for a
+      trifling piece of assistance. Of course, it must have been Raffles Haw.
+      And his sister had the note, with instructions to return it to the owner,
+      could he be found. He threw aside his palette, and descending into the
+      sitting-room he told Laura and his father of his morning's interview with
+      the vicar, and of his conviction that this was the man of whom Hector was
+      in quest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tut! Tut!&rdquo; said old McIntyre. &ldquo;How is this, Laura? I knew nothing of
+      this. What do women know of money or of business? Hand the note over to me
+      and I shall relieve you of all responsibility. I will take everything upon
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot possibly, papa,&rdquo; said Laura, with decision. &ldquo;I should not think
+      of parting with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the world coming to?&rdquo; cried the old man, with his thin hands held
+      up in protest. &ldquo;You grow more undutiful every day, Laura. This money would
+      be of use to me&mdash;of use, you understand. It may be the corner-stone
+      of the vast business which I shall re-construct. I will use it, Laura, and
+      I will pay something&mdash;four, shall we say, or even four and a-half&mdash;and
+      you may have it back on any day. And I will give security&mdash;the
+      security of my&mdash;well, of my word of honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is quite impossible, papa,&rdquo; his daughter answered coldly. &ldquo;It is not
+      my money. Hector asked me to be his banker. Those were his very words. It
+      is not in my power to lend it. As to what you say, Robert, you may be
+      right or you may be wrong, but I certainly shall not give Mr. Raffles Haw
+      or anyone else the money without Hector's express command.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very right about not giving it to Mr. Raffles Haw,&rdquo; cried old
+      McIntyre, with many nods of approbation. &ldquo;I should certainly not let it go
+      out of the family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I thought that I would tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert picked up his Tam-o'-Shanter and strolled out to avoid the
+      discussion between his father and sister, which he saw was about to be
+      renewed. His artistic nature revolted at these petty and sordid disputes,
+      and he turned to the crisp air and the broad landscape to soothe his
+      ruffled feelings. Avarice had no place among his failings, and his
+      father's perpetual chatter about money inspired him with a positive
+      loathing and disgust for the subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert was lounging slowly along his favourite walk which curled over the
+      hill, with his mind turning from the Roman invasion to the mysterious
+      millionaire, when his eyes fell upon a tall, lean man in front of him,
+      who, with a pipe between his lips, was endeavouring to light a match under
+      cover of his cap. The man was clad in a rough pea-jacket, and bore traces
+      of smoke and grime upon his face and hands. Yet there is a Freemasonry
+      among smokers which overrides every social difference, so Robert stopped
+      and held out his case of fusees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A light?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you.&rdquo; The man picked out a fusee, struck it, and bent his head to
+      it. He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very sharp
+      and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight thick
+      eyebrows which almost met on either side of it. Clearly a superior kind of
+      workman, and possibly one of those who had been employed in the
+      construction of the new house. Here was a chance of getting some
+      first-hand information on the question which had aroused his curiosity.
+      Robert waited until he had lit his pipe, and then walked on beside him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going in the direction of the new Hall?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man's voice was cold, and his manner reserved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you were engaged in the building of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I had a hand in it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They say that it is a wonderful place inside. It has been quite the talk
+      of the district. Is it as rich as they say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I don't know. I have not heard what they say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His attitude was certainly not encouraging, and it seemed to Robert that
+      he gave little sidelong suspicious glances at him out of his keen grey
+      eyes. Yet, if he were so careful and discreet there was the more reason to
+      think that there was information to be extracted, if he could but find a
+      way to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there it lies!&rdquo; he remarked, as they topped the brow of the hill, and
+      looked down once more at the great building. &ldquo;Well, no doubt it is very
+      gorgeous and splendid, but really for my own part I would rather live in
+      my own little box down yonder in the village.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The workman puffed gravely at his pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are no great admirer of wealth, then?&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I. I should not care to be a penny richer than I am. Of course I
+      should like to sell my pictures. One must make a living. But beyond that I
+      ask nothing. I dare say that I, a poor artist, or you, a man who work for
+      your bread, have more happiness out of life than the owner of that great
+      palace.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, I think that it is more than likely,&rdquo; the other answered, in a
+      much more conciliatory voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Art,&rdquo; said Robert, warming to the subject, &ldquo;is her own reward. What mere
+      bodily indulgence is there which money could buy which can give that deep
+      thrill of satisfaction which comes on the man who has conceived something
+      new, something beautiful, and the daily delight as he sees it grow under
+      his hand, until it stands before him a completed whole? With my art and
+      without wealth I am happy. Without my art I should have a void which no
+      money could fill. But I really don't know why I should say all this to
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The workman had stopped, and was staring at him earnestly with a look of
+      the deepest interest upon his smoke-darkened features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad to hear what you say,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;It is a pleasure to know
+      that the worship of gold is not quite universal, and that there are at
+      least some who can rise above it. Would you mind my shaking you by the
+      hand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a somewhat extraordinary request, but Robert rather prided himself
+      upon his Bohemianism, and upon his happy facility for making friends with
+      all sorts and conditions of men. He readily exchanged a cordial grip with
+      his chance acquaintance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You expressed some curiosity as to this house. I know the grounds pretty
+      well, and might perhaps show you one or two little things which would
+      interest you. Here are the gates. Will you come in with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here was, indeed, a chance. Robert eagerly assented, and walked up the
+      winding drive amid the growing fir-trees. When he found his uncouth guide,
+      however, marching straight across the broad, gravel square to the main
+      entrance, he felt that he had placed himself in a false position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely not through the front door,&rdquo; he whispered, plucking his companion
+      by the sleeve. &ldquo;Perhaps Mr. Raffles Haw might not like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think there will be any difficulty,&rdquo; said the other, with a quiet
+      smile. &ldquo;My name is Raffles Haw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre's face must have expressed the utter astonishment which
+      filled his mind at this most unlooked-for announcement. For a moment he
+      thought that his companion must be joking, but the ease and assurance with
+      which he lounged up the steps, and the deep respect with which a
+      richly-clad functionary in the hall swung open the door to admit him,
+      showed that he spoke in sober earnest. Raffles Haw glanced back, and
+      seeing the look of absolute amazement upon the young artist's features, he
+      chuckled quietly to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will forgive me, won't you, for not disclosing my identity?&rdquo; he said,
+      laying his hand with a friendly gesture upon the other's sleeve. &ldquo;Had you
+      known me you would have spoken less freely, and I should not have had the
+      opportunity of learning your true worth. For example, you might hardly
+      have been so frank upon the matter of wealth had you known that you were
+      speaking to the master of the Hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think that I was ever so astonished in my life,&rdquo; gasped Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally you are. How could you take me for anything but a workman? So I
+      am. Chemistry is one of my hobbies, and I spend hours a day in my
+      laboratory yonder. I have only just struck work, and as I had inhaled some
+      not-over-pleasant gases, I thought that a turn down the road and a whiff
+      of tobacco might do me good. That was how I came to meet you, and my
+      toilet, I fear, corresponded only too well with my smoke-grimed face. But
+      I rather fancy I know you by repute. Your name is Robert McIntyre, is it
+      not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, though I cannot imagine how you knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I naturally took some little trouble to learn something of my
+      neighbours. I had heard that there was an artist of that name, and I
+      presume that artists are not very numerous in Tamfield. But how do you
+      like the design? I hope it does not offend your trained taste.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, it is wonderful&mdash;marvellous! You must yourself have an
+      extraordinary eye for effect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I have no taste at all; not the slightest. I cannot tell good from
+      bad. There never was such a complete Philistine. But I had the best man in
+      London down, and another fellow from Vienna. They fixed it up between
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They had been standing just within the folding doors upon a huge mat of
+      bison skins. In front of them lay a great square court, paved with
+      many-coloured marbles laid out in a labyrinth of arabesque design. In the
+      centre a high fountain of carved jade shot five thin feathers of spray
+      into the air, four of which curved towards each corner of the court to
+      descend into broad marble basins, while the fifth mounted straight up to
+      an immense height, and then tinkled back into the central reservoir. On
+      either side of the court a tall, graceful palm-tree shot up its slender
+      stem to break into a crown of drooping green leaves some fifty feet above
+      their heads. All round were a series of Moorish arches, in jade and
+      serpentine marble, with heavy curtains of the deepest purple to cover the
+      doors which lay between them. In front, to right and to left, a broad
+      staircase of marble, carpeted with rich thick Smyrna rug work, led upwards
+      to the upper storeys, which were arranged around the central court. The
+      temperature within was warm and yet fresh, like the air of an English May.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's taken from the Alhambra,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw. &ldquo;The palm-trees are
+      pretty. They strike right through the building into the ground beneath,
+      and their roots are all girt round with hot-water pipes. They seem to
+      thrive very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What beautifully delicate brass-work!&rdquo; cried Robert, looking up with
+      admiring eyes at the bright and infinitely fragile metal trellis screens
+      which adorned the spaces between the Moorish arches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is rather neat. But it is not brass-work. Brass is not tough enough to
+      allow them to work it to that degree of fineness. It is gold. But just
+      come this way with me. You won't mind waiting while I remove this smoke?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way to a door upon the left side of the court, which, to
+      Robert's surprise, swung slowly open as they approached it. &ldquo;That is a
+      little improvement which I have adopted,&rdquo; remarked the master of the
+      house. &ldquo;As you go up to a door your weight upon the planks releases a
+      spring which causes the hinges to revolve. Pray step in. This is my own
+      little sanctum, and furnished after my own heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If Robert expected to see some fresh exhibition of wealth and luxury he
+      was woefully disappointed, for he found himself in a large but bare room,
+      with a little iron truckle-bed in one corner, a few scattered wooden
+      chairs, a dingy carpet, and a large table heaped with books, bottles,
+      papers, and all the other <i>debris</i> which collect around a busy and
+      untidy man. Motioning his visitor into a chair, Raffles Haw pulled off his
+      coat, and, turning up the sleeves of his coarse flannel shirt, he began to
+      plunge and scrub in the warm water which flowed from a tap in the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see how simple my own tastes are,&rdquo; he remarked, as he mopped his
+      dripping face and hair with the towel. &ldquo;This is the only room in my great
+      house where I find myself in a congenial atmosphere. It is homely to me. I
+      can read here and smoke my pipe in peace. Anything like luxury is
+      abhorrent to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, I should not have though it,&rdquo; observed Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a fact, I assure you. You see, even with your views as to the
+      worthlessness of wealth, views which, I am sure, are very sensible and
+      much to your credit, you must allow that if a man should happen to be the
+      possessor of vast&mdash;well, let us say of considerable&mdash;sums of
+      money, it is his duty to get that money into circulation, so that the
+      community may be the better for it. There is the secret of my fine
+      feathers. I have to exert all my ingenuity in order to spend my income,
+      and yet keep the money in legitimate channels. For example, it is very
+      easy to give money away, and no doubt I could dispose of my surplus, or
+      part of my surplus, in that fashion, but I have no wish to pauperise
+      anyone, or to do mischief by indiscriminate charity. I must exact some
+      sort of money's worth for all the money which I lay out You see my point,
+      don't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Entirely; though really it is something novel to hear a man complain of
+      the difficulty of spending his income.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I assure you that it is a very serious difficulty with me. But I have hit
+      upon some plans&mdash;some very pretty plans. Will you wash your hands?
+      Well, then, perhaps you would care to have a look round. Just come into
+      this corner of the room, and sit upon this chair. So. Now I will sit upon
+      this one, and we are ready to start.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The angle of the chamber in which they sat was painted for about six feet
+      in each direction of a dark chocolate-brown, and was furnished with two
+      red plush seats protruding from the walls, and in striking contrast with
+      the simplicity of the rest of the apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This,&rdquo; remarked Raffles Haw, &ldquo;is a lift, though it is so closely joined
+      to the rest of the room that without the change in colour it might puzzle
+      you to find the division. It is made to run either horizontally or
+      vertically. This line of knobs represents the various rooms. You can see
+      'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon them. I will
+      show you the upward action. I press this one with 'Kitchen' upon it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without moving
+      from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that a large
+      arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the kitchen door,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw. &ldquo;I have my kitchen at the
+      top of the house. I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking. We have come up
+      eighty feet in a very few seconds. Now I press again and here we are in my
+      room once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wonders of science are greater than those of magic,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism. Now we try the horizontal. I press
+      the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see. Step towards the door, and you
+      will find it open in front of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a large
+      and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed from their
+      weight, flashed back to its original position. With his feet sinking into
+      the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some mossy bank, he
+      stared about him at the great pictures which lined the walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely, surely, I see Raphael's touch there,&rdquo; he cried, pointing up at
+      the one which faced him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is a Raphael, and I believe one of his best. I had a very
+      exciting bid for it with the French Government. They wanted it for the
+      Louvre, but of course at an auction the longest purse must win.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And this 'Arrest of Catiline' must be a Rubens. One cannot mistake his
+      splendid men and his infamous women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is a Rubens. The other two are a Velasquez and a Teniers, fair
+      specimens of the Spanish and of the Dutch schools. I have only old masters
+      here. The moderns are in the billiard-room. The furniture here is a little
+      curious. In fact, I fancy that it is unique. It is made of ebony and
+      narwhals' horns. You see that the legs of everything are of spiral ivory,
+      both the table and the chairs. It cost the upholsterer some little pains,
+      for the supply of these things is a strictly limited one. Curiously
+      enough, the Chinese Emperor had given a large order for narwhals' horns to
+      repair some ancient pagoda, which was fenced in with them, but I outbid
+      him in the market, and his celestial highness has had to wait. There is a
+      lift here in the corner, but we do not need it. Pray step through this
+      door. This is the billiard-room,&rdquo; he continued as they advanced into the
+      adjoining room. &ldquo;You see I have a few recent pictures of merit upon the
+      walls. Here is a Corot, two Meissoniers, a Bouguereau, a Millais, an
+      Orchardson, and two Alma-Tademas. It seems to me to be a pity to hang
+      pictures over these walls of carved oak. Look at those birds hopping and
+      singing in the branches. They really seem to move and twitter, don't
+      they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are perfect. I never saw such exquisite work. But why do you call it
+      a billiard-room, Mr. Haw? I do not see any board.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, a board is such a clumsy uncompromising piece of furniture. It is
+      always in the way unless you actually need to use it. In this case the
+      board is covered by that square of polished maple which you see let into
+      the floor. Now I put my foot upon this motor. You see!&rdquo; As he spoke, the
+      central portion of the flooring flew up, and a most beautiful
+      tortoise-shell-plated billiard-table rose up to its proper position. He
+      pressed a second spring, and a bagatelle-table appeared in the same
+      fashion. &ldquo;You may have card-tables or what you will by setting the levers
+      in motion,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;But all this is very trifling. Perhaps we may
+      find something in the museum which may be of more interest to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led the way into another chamber, which was furnished in antique style,
+      with hangings of the rarest and richest tapestry. The floor was a mosaic
+      of coloured marbles, scattered over with mats of costly fur. There was
+      little furniture, but a number of Louis Quatorze cabinets of ebony and
+      silver with delicately-painted plaques were ranged round the apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is perhaps hardly fair to dignify it by the name of a museum,&rdquo; said
+      Raffles Haw. &ldquo;It consists merely of a few elegant trifles which I have
+      picked up here and there. Gems are my strongest point. I fancy that there,
+      perhaps, I might challenge comparison with any private collector in the
+      world. I lock them up, for even the best servants may be tempted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a silver key from his watch chain, and began to unlock and draw
+      out the drawers. A cry of wonder and of admiration burst from Robert
+      McIntyre, as his eyes rested upon case after case filled with the most
+      magnificent stones. The deep still red of the rubies, the clear
+      scintillating green of the emeralds, the hard glitter of the diamonds, the
+      many shifting shades of beryls, of amethysts, of onyxes, of cats'-eyes, of
+      opals, of agates, of cornelians seemed to fill the whole chamber with a
+      vague twinkling, many-coloured light. Long slabs of the beautiful blue
+      lapis lazuli, magnificent bloodstones, specimens of pink and red and white
+      coral, long strings of lustrous pearls, all these were tossed out by their
+      owner as a careless schoolboy might pour marbles from his bag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This isn't bad,&rdquo; he said, holding up a great glowing yellow mass as large
+      as his own head. &ldquo;It is really a very fine piece of amber. It was
+      forwarded to me by my agent at the Baltic. Twenty-eight pounds, it weighs.
+      I never heard of so fine a one. I have no very large brilliants&mdash;there
+      were no very large ones in the market&mdash;but my average is good. Pretty
+      toys, are they not?&rdquo; He picked up a double handful of emeralds from a
+      drawer, and then let them trickle slowly back into the heap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; cried Robert, as he gazed from case to case. &ldquo;It is an
+      immense fortune in itself. Surely a hundred thousand pounds would hardly
+      buy so splendid a collection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think that you would do for a valuer of precious stones,&rdquo; said
+      Raffles Haw, laughing. &ldquo;Why, the contents of that one little drawer of
+      brilliants could not be bought for the sum which you name. I have a memo.
+      here of what I have expended up to date on my collection, though I have
+      agents at work who will probably make very considerable additions to it
+      within the next few weeks. As matters stand, however, I have spent&mdash;let
+      me see-pearls one forty thousand; emeralds, seven fifty; rubies, eight
+      forty; brilliants, nine twenty; onyxes&mdash;I have several very nice
+      onyxes-two thirty. Other gems, carbuncles, agates&mdash;hum! Yes, it
+      figures out at just over four million seven hundred and forty thousand. I
+      dare say that we may say five millions, for I have not counted the odd
+      money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious!&rdquo; cried the young artist, with staring eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a certain feeling of duty in the matter. You see the cutting,
+      polishing, and general sale of stones is one of those industries which is
+      entirely dependent upon wealth. If we do not support it, it must languish,
+      which means misfortune to a considerable number of people. The same
+      applies to the gold filigree work which you noticed in the court. Wealth
+      has its responsibilities, and the encouragement of these handicrafts are
+      among the most obvious of them. Here is a nice ruby. It is Burmese, and
+      the fifth largest in existence. I am inclined to think that if it were
+      uncut it would be the second, but of course cutting takes away a great
+      deal.&rdquo; He held up the blazing red stone, about the size of a chestnut,
+      between his finger and thumb for a moment, and then threw it carelessly
+      back into its drawer. &ldquo;Come into the smoking-room,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;you will
+      need some little refreshment, for they say that sight-seeing is the most
+      exhausting occupation in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. FROM CLIME TO CLIME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The chamber in which the bewildered Robert now found himself was more
+      luxurious, if less rich, than any which he had yet seen. Low settees of
+      claret-coloured plush were scattered in orderly disorder over a mossy
+      Eastern carpet. Deep lounges, reclining sofas, American rocking-chairs,
+      all were to be had for the choosing. One end of the room was walled by
+      glass, and appeared to open upon a luxuriant hot-house. At the further end
+      a double line of gilt rails supported a profusion of the most recent
+      magazines and periodicals. A rack at each side of the inlaid fireplace
+      sustained a long line of the pipes of all places and nations&mdash;English
+      cherrywoods, French briars, German china-bowls, carved meerschaums,
+      scented cedar and myall-wood, with Eastern narghiles, Turkish chibooques,
+      and two great golden-topped hookahs. To right and left were a series of
+      small lockers, extending in a treble row for the whole length of the room,
+      with the names of the various brands of tobacco scrolled in ivory work
+      across them. Above were other larger tiers of polished oak, which held
+      cigars and cigarettes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Try that Damascus settee,&rdquo; said the master of the house, as he threw
+      himself into a rocking-chair. &ldquo;It is from the Sultan's upholsterer. The
+      Turks have a very good notion of comfort. I am a confirmed smoker myself,
+      Mr. McIntyre, so I have been able, perhaps, to check my architect here
+      more than in most of the other departments. Of pictures, for example, I
+      know nothing, as you would very speedily find out. On a tobacco, I might,
+      perhaps, offer an opinion. Now these&rdquo;&mdash;he drew out some long,
+      beautifully-rolled, mellow-coloured cigars&mdash;&ldquo;these are really
+      something a little out of the common. Do try one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert lit the weed which was offered to him, and leaned back luxuriously
+      amid his cushions, gazing through the blue balmy fragrant cloud-wreaths at
+      the extraordinary man in the dirty pea-jacket who spoke of millions as
+      another might of sovereigns. With his pale face, his sad, languid air, and
+      his bowed shoulders, it was as though he were crushed down under the
+      weight of his own gold. There was a mute apology, an attitude of
+      deprecation in his manner and speech, which was strangely at variance with
+      the immense power which he wielded. To Robert the whole whimsical incident
+      had been intensely interesting and amusing. His artistic nature blossomed
+      out in this atmosphere of perfect luxury and comfort, and he was conscious
+      of a sense of repose and of absolute sensual contentment such as he had
+      never before experienced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall it be coffee, or Rhine wine, or Tokay, or perhaps something
+      stronger,&rdquo; asked Raffles Haw, stretching out his hand to what looked like
+      a piano-board projecting from the wall. &ldquo;I can recommend the Tokay. I have
+      it from the man who supplies the Emperor of Austria, though I think I may
+      say that I get the cream of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He struck twice upon one of the piano-notes, and sat expectant. With a
+      sharp click at the end of ten seconds a sliding shutter flew open, and a
+      small tray protruded bearing two long tapering Venetian glasses filled
+      with wine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It works very nicely,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw. &ldquo;It is quite a new thing&mdash;never
+      before done, as far as I know. You see the names of the various wines and
+      so on printed on the notes. By pressing the note down I complete an
+      electric circuit which causes the tap in the cellars beneath to remain
+      open long enough to fill the glass which always stands beneath it. The
+      glasses, you understand, stand upon a revolving drum, so that there must
+      always be one there. The glasses are then brought up through a pneumatic
+      tube, which is set working by the increased weight of the glass when the
+      wine is added to it. It is a pretty little idea. But I am afraid that I
+      bore you rather with all these petty contrivances. It is a whim of mine to
+      push mechanism as far as it will go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder,&rdquo; said Robert
+      warmly. &ldquo;It is as if I had been suddenly whipped up out of prosaic old
+      England and transferred in an instant to some enchanted palace, some
+      Eastern home of the Genii. I could not have believed that there existed
+      upon this earth such adaptation of means to an end, such complete mastery
+      of every detail which may aid in stripping life of any of its petty
+      worries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have something yet to show you,&rdquo; remarked Raffles Haw; &ldquo;but we will
+      rest here for a few minutes, for I wished to have a word with you. How is
+      the cigar?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most excellent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was rolled in Louisiana in the old slavery days. There is nothing made
+      like them now. The man who had them did not know their value. He let them
+      go at merely a few shillings apiece. Now I want you to do me a favour, Mr.
+      McIntyre.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be so glad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can see more or less how I am situated. I am a complete stranger
+      here. With the well-to-do classes I have little in common. I am no society
+      man. I don't want to call or be called on. I am a student in a small way,
+      and a man of quiet tastes. I have no social ambitions at all. Do you
+      understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Entirely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the other hand, my experience of the world has been that it is the
+      rarest thing to be able to form a friendship with a poorer man&mdash;I
+      mean with a man who is at all eager to increase his income. They think
+      much of your wealth, and little of yourself. I have tried, you understand,
+      and I know.&rdquo; He paused and ran his fingers through his thin beard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert McIntyre nodded to show that he appreciated his position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, you see,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;if I am to be cut off from the rich by my
+      own tastes, and from those who are not rich by my distrust of their
+      motives, my situation is an isolated one. Not that I mind isolation: I am
+      used to it. But it limits my field of usefulness. I have no trustworthy
+      means of informing myself when and where I may do good. I have already, I
+      am glad to say, met a man to-day, your vicar, who appears to be thoroughly
+      unselfish and trustworthy. He shall be one of my channels of communication
+      with the outer world. Might I ask you whether you would be willing to
+      become another?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With the greatest pleasure,&rdquo; said Robert eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The proposition filled his heart with joy, for it seemed to give him an
+      almost official connection with this paradise of a house. He could not
+      have asked for anything more to his taste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was fortunate enough to discover by your conversation how high a ground
+      you take in such matters, and how entirely disinterested you are. You may
+      have observed that I was short and almost rude with you at first. I have
+      had reason to fear and suspect all chance friendships. Too often they have
+      proved to be carefully planned beforehand, with some sordid object in
+      view. Good heavens, what stories I could tell you! A lady pursued by a
+      bull&mdash;I have risked my life to save her, and have learned afterwards
+      that the scene had been arranged by the mother as an effective
+      introduction, and that the bull had been hired by the hour. But I won't
+      shake your faith in human nature. I have had some rude shocks myself. I
+      look, perhaps, with a jaundiced eye on all who come near me. It is the
+      more needful that I should have one whom I can trust to advise me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will only show me where my opinion can be of any use I shall be
+      most happy,&rdquo; said Robert. &ldquo;My people come from Birmingham, but I know most
+      of the folk here and their position.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is just what I want. Money can do so much good, and it may do so
+      much harm. I shall consult you when I am in doubt. By the way, there is
+      one small question which I might ask you now. Can you tell me who a young
+      lady is with very dark hair, grey eyes, and a finely chiselled face? She
+      wore a blue dress when I saw her, with astrachan about her neck and
+      cuffs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert chuckled to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that dress pretty well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is my sister Laura whom you
+      describe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your sister! Really! Why, there is a resemblance, now that my attention
+      is called to it. I saw her the other day, and wondered who she might be.
+      She lives with you, of course?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; my father, she, and I live together at Elmdene.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where I hope to have the pleasure of making their acquaintance. You have
+      finished your cigar? Have another, or try a pipe. To the real smoker all
+      is mere trifling save the pipe. I have most brands of tobacco here. The
+      lockers are filled on the Monday, and on Saturday they are handed over to
+      the old folk at the alms-houses, so I manage to keep it pretty fresh
+      always. Well, if you won't take anything else, perhaps you would care to
+      see one or two of the other effects which I have devised. On this side is
+      the armoury, and beyond it the library. My collection of books is a
+      limited one; there are just over the fifty thousand volumes. But it is to
+      some extent remarkable for quality. I have a Visigoth Bible of the fifth
+      century, which I rather fancy is unique; there is a 'Biblia Pauperum' of
+      1430; a MS. of Genesis done upon mulberry leaves, probably of the second
+      century; a 'Tristan and Iseult' of the eighth century; and some hundred
+      black-letters, with five very fine specimens of Schoffer and Fust. But
+      those you may turn over any wet afternoon when you have nothing better to
+      do. Meanwhile, I have a little device connected with this smoking-room
+      which may amuse you. Light this other cigar. Now sit with me upon this
+      lounge which stands at the further end of the room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sofa in question was in a niche which was lined in three sides and
+      above with perfectly clear transparent crystal. As they sat down the
+      master of the house drew a cord which pulled out a crystal shutter behind
+      them, so that they were enclosed on all sides in a great box of glass, so
+      pure and so highly polished that its presence might very easily be
+      forgotten. A number of golden cords with crystal handles hung down into
+      this small chamber, and appeared to be connected with a long shining bar
+      outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, where would you like to smoke your cigar?&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, with a
+      twinkle in his demure eyes. &ldquo;Shall we go to India, or to Egypt, or to
+      China, or to&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To South America,&rdquo; said Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a twinkle, a whirr, and a sense of motion. The young artist
+      gazed about him in absolute amazement. Look where he would all round were
+      tree-ferns and palms with long drooping creepers, and a blaze of brilliant
+      orchids. Smoking-room, house, England, all were gone, and he sat on a
+      settee in the heart of a virgin forest of the Amazon. It was no mere
+      optical delusion or trick. He could see the hot steam rising from the
+      tropical undergrowth, the heavy drops falling from the huge green leaves,
+      the very grain and fibre of the rough bark which clothed the trunks. Even
+      as he gazed a green mottled snake curled noiselessly over a branch above
+      his head, and a bright-coloured paroquet broke suddenly from amid the
+      foliage and flashed off among the tree-trunks. Robert gazed around,
+      speechless with surprise, and finally turned upon his host a face in which
+      curiosity was not un-mixed with a suspicion of fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;People have been burned for less, have they not?&rdquo; cried Raffles Haw
+      laughing heartily. &ldquo;Have you had enough of the Amazon? What do you say to
+      a spell of Egypt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the whirr, the swift flash of passing objects, and in an instant a
+      huge desert stretched on every side of them, as far as the eye could
+      reach. In the foreground a clump of five palm-trees towered into the air,
+      with a profusion of rough cactus-like plants bristling from their base. On
+      the other side rose a rugged, gnarled, grey monolith, carved at the base
+      into a huge scarabaeus. A group of lizards played about on the surface of
+      the old carved stone. Beyond, the yellow sand stretched away into furthest
+      space, where the dim mirage mist played along the horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Haw, I cannot understand it!&rdquo; Robert grasped the velvet edge of the
+      settee, and gazed wildly about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The effect is rather startling, is it not? This Egyptian desert is my
+      favourite when I lay myself out for a contemplative smoke. It seems
+      strange that tobacco should have come from the busy, practical West. It
+      has much more affinity for the dreamy, languid East. But perhaps you would
+      like to run over to China for a change?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not to-day,&rdquo; said Robert, passing his hand over his forehead. &ldquo;I feel
+      rather confused by all these wonders, and indeed I think that they have
+      affected my nerves a little. Besides, it is time that I returned to my
+      prosaic Elmdene, if I can find my way out of this wilderness to which you
+      have transplanted me. But would you ease my mind, Mr. Haw, by showing me
+      how this thing is done?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the merest toy&mdash;a complex plaything, nothing more. Allow me to
+      explain. I have a line of very large greenhouses which extends from one
+      end of my smoking-room. These different houses are kept at varying degrees
+      of heat and humidity so as to reproduce the exact climates of Egypt,
+      China, and the rest. You see, our crystal chamber is a tramway running
+      with a minimum of friction along a steel rod. By pulling this or that
+      handle I regulate how far it shall go, and it travels, as you have seen,
+      with amazing speed. The effect of my hot-houses is heightened by the roofs
+      being invariably concealed by skies, which are really very admirably
+      painted, and by the introduction of birds and other creatures, which seem
+      to flourish quite as well in artificial as in natural heat. This explains
+      the South American effect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But not the Egyptian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. It is certainly rather clever. I had the best man in France, at least
+      the best at those large effects, to paint in that circular background. You
+      understand, the palms, cacti, obelisk, and so on, are perfectly genuine,
+      and so is the sand for fifty yards or so, and I defy the keenest-eyed man
+      in England to tell where the deception commences. It is the familiar and
+      perhaps rather meretricious effect of a circular panorama, but carried out
+      in the most complete manner. Was there any other point?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The crystal box? Why was it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To preserve my guests from the effects of the changes of temperature. It
+      would be a poor kindness to bring them back to my smoking-room drenched
+      through, and with the seeds of a violent cold. The crystal has to be kept
+      warm, too, otherwise vapour would deposit, and you would have your view
+      spoiled. But must you really go? Then here we are back in the
+      smoking-room. I hope that it will not be your last visit by many a one.
+      And if I may come down to Elmdene I should be very glad to do so. This is
+      the way through the museum.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As Robert McIntyre emerged from the balmy aromatic atmosphere of the great
+      house, into the harsh, raw, biting air of an English winter evening, he
+      felt as though he had been away for a long visit in some foreign country.
+      Time is measured by impressions, and so vivid and novel had been his
+      feelings, that weeks and weeks might have elapsed since his chat with the
+      smoke-grimed stranger in the road. He walked along with his head in a
+      whirl, his whole mind possessed and intoxicated by the one idea of the
+      boundless wealth and the immense power of this extraordinary stranger.
+      Small and sordid and mean seemed his own Elmdene as he approached it, and
+      he passed over its threshold full of restless discontent against himself
+      and his surroundings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. LAURA'S REQUEST.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      That night after supper Robert McIntyre poured forth all that he had seen
+      to his father and to his sister. So full was he of the one subject that it
+      was a relief to him to share his knowledge with others. Rather for his own
+      sake, then, than for theirs he depicted vividly all the marvels which he
+      had seen; the profusion of wealth, the regal treasure-house of gems, the
+      gold, the marble, the extraordinary devices, the absolute lavishness and
+      complete disregard for money which was shown in every detail. For an hour
+      he pictured with glowing words all the wonders which had been shown him,
+      and ended with some pride by describing the request which Mr. Raffles Haw
+      had made, and the complete confidence which he had placed in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His words had a very different effect upon his two listeners. Old McIntyre
+      leaned back in his chair with a bitter smile upon his lips, his thin face
+      crinkled into a thousand puckers, and his small eyes shining with envy and
+      greed. His lean yellow hand upon the table was clenched until the knuckles
+      gleamed white in the lamplight. Laura, on the other hand, leaned forward,
+      her lips parted, drinking in her brother's words with a glow of colour
+      upon either cheek. It seemed to Robert, as he glanced from one to the
+      other of them, that he had never seen his father look so evil, or his
+      sister so beautiful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is the fellow, then?&rdquo; asked the old man after a considerable pause.
+      &ldquo;I hope he got all this in an honest fashion. Five millions in jewels, you
+      say. Good gracious me! Ready to give it away, too, but afraid of
+      pauperising any one. You can tell him, Robert, that you know of one very
+      deserving case which has not the slightest objection to being pauperised.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But who can he possibly be, Robert?&rdquo; cried Laura. &ldquo;Haw cannot be his real
+      name. He must be some disguised prince, or perhaps a king in exile. Oh, I
+      should have loved to have seen those diamonds and the emeralds! I always
+      think that emeralds suit dark people best. You must tell me again all
+      about that museum, Robert.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think that he is anything more than he pretends to be,&rdquo; her
+      brother answered. &ldquo;He has the plain, quiet manners of an ordinary
+      middle-class Englishman. There was no particular polish that I could see.
+      He knew a little about books and pictures, just enough to appreciate them,
+      but nothing more. No, I fancy that he is a man quite in our own position
+      of life, who has in some way inherited a vast sum. Of course it is
+      difficult for me to form an estimate, but I should judge that what I saw
+      to-day&mdash;house, pictures, jewels, books, and so on&mdash;could never
+      have been bought under twenty millions, and I am sure that that figure is
+      entirely an under-statement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never knew but one Haw,&rdquo; said old McIntyre, drumming his fingers on the
+      table; &ldquo;he was a foreman in my pin-fire cartridge-case department. But he
+      was an elderly single man. Well, I hope he got it all honestly. I hope the
+      money is clean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And really, really, he is coming to see us!&rdquo; cried Laura, clapping her
+      hands. &ldquo;Oh, when do you think he will come, Robert? Do give me warning. Do
+      you think it will be to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure I cannot say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should so love to see him. I don't know when I have been so
+      interested.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you have a letter there,&rdquo; remarked Robert. &ldquo;From Hector, too, by the
+      foreign stamp. How is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It only came this evening. I have not opened it yet. To tell the truth, I
+      have been so interested in your story that I had forgotten all about it.
+      Poor old Hector! It is from Madeira.&rdquo; She glanced rapidly over the four
+      pages of straggling writing in the young sailor's bold schoolboyish hand.
+      &ldquo;Oh, he is all right,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They had a gale on the way out, and that
+      sort of thing, but he is all right now. He thinks he may be back by March.
+      I wonder whether your new friend will come to-morrow&mdash;your knight of
+      the enchanted Castle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly so soon, I should fancy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he should be looking about for an investment. Robert,&rdquo; said the
+      father, &ldquo;you won't forget to tell him what a fine opening there is now in
+      the gun trade. With my knowledge, and a few thousands at my back, I could
+      bring him in his thirty per cent. as regular as the bank. After all, he
+      must lay out his money somehow. He cannot sink it all in books and
+      precious stones. I am sure that I could give him the highest references.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may be a long time before he comes, father,&rdquo; said Robert coldly; &ldquo;and
+      when he does I am afraid that I can hardly use his friendship as a means
+      of advancing your interest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are his equals, father,&rdquo; cried Laura with spirit. &ldquo;Would you put us on
+      the footing of beggars? He would think we cared for him only for his
+      money. I wonder that you should think of such a thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had not thought of such things where would your education have been,
+      miss?&rdquo; retorted the angry old man; and Robert stole quietly away to his
+      room, whence amid his canvases he could still hear the hoarse voice and
+      the clear in their never-ending family jangle. More and more sordid seemed
+      the surroundings of his life, and more and more to be valued the peace
+      which money can buy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Breakfast had hardly been cleared in the morning, and Robert had not yet
+      ascended to his work, when there came a timid tapping at the door, and
+      there was Raffles Haw on the mat outside. Robert ran out and welcomed him
+      with all cordiality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid that I am a very early visitor,&rdquo; he said apologetically; &ldquo;but
+      I often take a walk after breakfast.&rdquo; He had no traces of work upon him
+      now, but was trim and neat with a dark suit, and carefully brushed hair.
+      &ldquo;You spoke yesterday of your work. Perhaps, early as it is, you would
+      allow me the privilege of looking over your studio?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pray step in, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; cried Robert, all in a flutter at this advance
+      from so munificent a patron of art; &ldquo;I should be only too happy to show
+      you such little work as I have on hand, though, indeed, I am almost afraid
+      when I think how familiar you are with some of the greatest masterpieces.
+      Allow me to introduce you to my father and to my sister Laura.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Old McIntyre bowed low and rubbed his thin hands together; but the young
+      lady gave a gasp of surprise, and stared with widely-opened eyes at the
+      millionaire. Maw stepped forward, however, and shook her quietly by the
+      hand,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expected to find that it was you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have already met your
+      sister, Mr. McIntyre, on the very first day that I came here. We took
+      shelter in a shed from a snowstorm, and had quite a pleasant little chat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no notion that I was speaking to the owner of the Hall,&rdquo; said Laura
+      in some confusion. &ldquo;How funnily things turn out, to be sure!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had often wondered who it was that I spoke to, but it was only
+      yesterday that I discovered. What a sweet little place you have here! It
+      must be charming in summer. Why, if it were not for this hill my windows
+      would look straight across at yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and we should see all your beautiful plantations,&rdquo; said Laura,
+      standing beside him in the window. &ldquo;I was wishing only yesterday that the
+      hill was not there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really! I shall be happy to have it removed for you if you would like
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious!&rdquo; cried Laura. &ldquo;Why, where would you put it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, they could run it along the line and dump it anywhere. It is not much
+      of a hill. A few thousand men with proper machinery, and a line of rails
+      brought right up to them could easily dispose of it in a few months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the poor vicar's house?&rdquo; Laura asked, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that might be got over. We could run him up a facsimile, which
+      would, perhaps, be more convenient to him. Your brother will tell you that
+      I am quite an expert at the designing of houses. But, seriously, if you
+      think it would be an improvement I will see what can be done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not for the world, Mr. Haw. Why, I should be a traitor to the whole
+      village if I were to encourage such a scheme. The hill is the one thing
+      which gives Tamfield the slightest individuality. It would be the height
+      of selfishness to sacrifice it in order to improve the view from Elmdene.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a little box of a place this, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; said old McIntyre. &ldquo;I
+      should think you must feel quite stifled in it after your grand mansion,
+      of which my son tells me such wonders. But we were not always accustomed
+      to this sort of thing, Mr. Haw. Humble as I stand here, there was a time,
+      and not so long ago, when I could write as many figures on a cheque as any
+      gunmaker in Birmingham. It was&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a dear discontented old papa,&rdquo; cried Laura, throwing her arm round
+      him in a caressing manner. He gave a sharp squeak and a grimace of pain,
+      which he endeavoured to hide by an outbreak of painfully artificial
+      coughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we go upstairs?&rdquo; said Robert hurriedly, anxious to divert his
+      guest's attention from this little domestic incident. &ldquo;My studio is the
+      real atelier, for it is right up under the tiles. I shall lead the way, if
+      you will have the kindness to follow me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving Laura and Mr. McIntyre, they went up together to the workroom. Mr.
+      Haw stood long in front of the &ldquo;Signing of Magna Charta,&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Murder
+      of Thomas a Becket,&rdquo; screwing up his eyes and twitching nervously at his
+      beard, while Robert stood by in anxious expectancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how much are these?&rdquo; asked Raffles Haw at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I priced them at a hundred apiece when I sent them to London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then the best I can wish you is that the day may come when you would
+      gladly give ten times the sum to have them back again. I am sure that
+      there are great possibilities in you, and I see that in grouping and in
+      boldness of design you have already achieved much. But your drawing, if
+      you will excuse my saying so, is just a little crude, and your colouring
+      perhaps a trifle thin. Now, I will make a bargain with you, Mr. McIntyre,
+      if you will consent to it. I know that money has no charms for you, but
+      still, as you said when I first met you, a man must live. I shall buy
+      these two canvases from you at the price which you name, subject to the
+      condition that you may always have them back again by repaying the same
+      sum.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are really very kind.&rdquo; Robert hardly knew whether to be delighted at
+      having sold his pictures or humiliated at the frank criticism of the
+      buyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I write a cheque at once?&rdquo; said Raffles Haw. &ldquo;Here is pen and ink.
+      So! I shall send a couple of footmen down for them in the afternoon. Well,
+      I shall keep them in trust for you. I dare say that when you are famous
+      they will be of value as specimens of your early manner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure that I am extremely obliged to you, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; said the young
+      artist, placing the cheque in his notebook. He glanced at it as he folded
+      it up, in the vague hope that perhaps this man of whims had assessed his
+      pictures at a higher rate than he had named. The figures, however, were
+      exact. Robert began dimly to perceive that there were drawbacks as well as
+      advantages to the reputation of a money-scorner, which he had gained by a
+      few chance words, prompted rather by the reaction against his father's
+      than by his own real convictions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope, Miss McIntyre,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, when they had descended to the
+      sitting-room once more, &ldquo;that you will do me the honour of coming to see
+      the little curiosities which I have gathered together. Your brother will,
+      I am sure, escort you up; or perhaps Mr. McIntyre would care to come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be delighted to come, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; cried Laura, with her sweetest
+      smile. &ldquo;A good deal of my time just now is taken up in looking after the
+      poor people, who find the cold weather very trying.&rdquo; Robert raised his
+      eyebrows, for it was the first he had heard of his sister's missions of
+      mercy, but Mr. Raffles Haw nodded approvingly. &ldquo;Robert was telling us of
+      your wonderful hot-houses. I am sure I wish I could transport the whole
+      parish into one of them, and give them a good warm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing would be easier, but I am afraid that they might find it a little
+      trying when they came out again. I have one house which is only just
+      finished. Your brother has not seen it yet, but I think it is the best of
+      them all. It represents an Indian jungle, and is hot enough in all
+      conscience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall so look forward to seeing it,&rdquo; cried Laura, clasping her hands.
+      &ldquo;It has been one of the dreams of my life to see India. I have read so
+      much of it, the temples, the forests, the great rivers, and the tigers.
+      Why, you would hardly believe it, but I have never seen a tiger except in
+      a picture.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That can easily be set right,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, with his quiet smile.
+      &ldquo;Would you care to see one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, immensely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will have one sent down. Let me see, it is nearly twelve o'clock. I can
+      get a wire to Liverpool by one. There is a man there who deals in such
+      things. I should think he would be due to-morrow morning. Well, I shall
+      look forward to seeing you all before very long. I have rather outstayed
+      my time, for I am a man of routine, and I always put in a certain number
+      of hours in my laboratory.&rdquo; He shook hands cordially with them all, and
+      lighting his pipe at the doorstep, strolled off upon his way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what do you think of him now?&rdquo; asked Robert, as they watched his
+      black figure against the white snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that he is no more fit to be trusted with all that money than a
+      child,&rdquo; cried the old man. &ldquo;It made me positively sick to hear him talk of
+      moving hills and buying tigers, and such-like nonsense, when there are
+      honest men without a business, and great businesses starving for a little
+      capital. It's unchristian&mdash;that's what I call it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think he is most delightful, Robert,&rdquo; said Laura. &ldquo;Remember, you have
+      promised to take us up to the Hall. And he evidently wishes us to go soon.
+      Don't you think we might go this afternoon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hardly think that, Laura. You leave it in my hands, and I will arrange
+      it all. And now I must get to work, for the light is so very short on
+      these winter days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That night Robert McIntyre had gone to bed, and was dozing off when a hand
+      plucked at his shoulder, and he started up to find his sister in some
+      white drapery, with a shawl thrown over her shoulders, standing beside him
+      in the moonlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Robert, dear,&rdquo; she whispered, stooping over him, &ldquo;there was something I
+      wanted to ask you, but papa was always in the way. You will do something
+      to please me, won't you, Robert?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, Laura. What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do so hate having my affairs talked over, dear. If Mr. Raffles Haw says
+      anything to you about me, or asks any questions, please don't say anything
+      about Hector. You won't, will you, Robert, for the sake of your little
+      sister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; not unless you wish it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a dear good brother.&rdquo; She stooped over him and kissed him
+      tenderly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a rare thing for Laura to show any emotion, and her brother
+      marvelled sleepily over it until he relapsed into his interrupted doze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. A STRANGE VISITOR.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which followed
+      the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to hear the buzz
+      and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street. Nearer and nearer
+      came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two maddened horses reared
+      themselves up on the other side of the garden hedge, prancing and pawing,
+      with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing at some horror behind them. Two
+      men hung shouting to their bridles, while a third came rushing up the
+      curved gravel path. Before the McIntyres could realise the situation,
+      their maid, Mary, darted into the sitting-room with terror in her round
+      freckled face:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please, miss,&rdquo; she screamed, &ldquo;your tiger has arrove.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled
+      teacup in his hand. &ldquo;This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a trolly
+      with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their mouths open.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mad as a hatter!&rdquo; shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. &ldquo;I could see it in his eye.
+      He spent enough on this beast to start me in business. Whoever heard of
+      such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the police-station.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing of the sort, papa,&rdquo; said Laura, rising with dignity and wrapping
+      a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks flushed,
+      and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be diverted
+      from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me,&rdquo; she said, sweeping
+      towards the door. &ldquo;I look upon it as a great attention on his part. I
+      shall certainly go out and look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please, sir,&rdquo; said the carman, reappearing at the door, &ldquo;it's all
+      as we can do to 'old in the 'osses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us all go out together then,&rdquo; suggested Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole
+      village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the
+      almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long, lithe,
+      venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced stealthily
+      round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and rubbing its
+      muzzle against the bars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What were your orders?&rdquo; asked Robert of the carman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train is
+      drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back. If it 'ad been
+      royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are to
+      take it back when you're done with it. It's been a cruel job, sir, for our
+      arms is pulled clean out of the sockets a-'olding in of the 'osses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a dear, sweet creature it is,&rdquo; cried Laura. &ldquo;How sleek and how
+      graceful! I cannot understand how people could be afraid of anything so
+      beautiful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please, marm,&rdquo; said the carman, touching his skin cap, &ldquo;he out
+      with his paw between the bars as we stood in the station yard, and if I
+      'adn't pulled my mate Bill back it would ha' been a case of kingdom come.
+      It was a proper near squeak, I can tell ye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never saw anything more lovely,&rdquo; continued Laura, loftily overlooking
+      the remarks of the driver. &ldquo;It has been a very great pleasure to me to see
+      it, and I hope that you will tell Mr. Haw so if you see him, Robert.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The horses are very restive,&rdquo; said her brother. &ldquo;Perhaps, Laura, if you
+      have seen enough, it would be as well to let them go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She bowed in the regal fashion which she had so suddenly adopted. Robert
+      shouted the order, the driver sprang up, his comrades let the horses go,
+      and away rattled the waggon and the trolly with half the Tamfielders
+      streaming vainly behind it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it not wonderful what money can do?&rdquo; Laura remarked, as they knocked
+      the snow from their shoes within the porch. &ldquo;There seems to be no wish
+      which Mr. Haw could not at once gratify.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wish of yours, you mean,&rdquo; broke in her father. &ldquo;It's different when he
+      is dealing with a wrinkled old man who has spent himself in working for
+      his children. A plainer case of love at first sight I never saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you be so coarse, papa?&rdquo; cried Laura, but her eyes flashed, and
+      her teeth gleamed, as though the remark had not altogether displeased her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For heaven's sake, be careful, Laura!&rdquo; cried Robert. &ldquo;It had not struck
+      me before, but really it does look rather like it. You know how you stand.
+      Raffles Haw is not a man to play with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You dear old boy!&rdquo; said Laura, laying her hand upon his shoulder, &ldquo;what
+      do you know of such things? All you have to do is to go on with your
+      painting, and to remember the promise you made the other night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What promise was that, then?&rdquo; cried old McIntyre suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never you mind, papa. But if you forget it, Robert, I shall never forgive
+      you as long as I live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It can easily be believed that as the weeks passed the name and fame of
+      the mysterious owner of the New Hall resounded over the quiet countryside
+      until the rumour of him had spread to the remotest corners of Warwickshire
+      and Staffordshire. In Birmingham on the one side, and in Coventry and
+      Leamington on the other, there was gossip as to his untold riches, his
+      extraordinary whims, and the remarkable life which he led. His name was
+      bandied from mouth to mouth, and a thousand efforts were made to find out
+      who and what he was. In spite of all their pains, however, the newsmongers
+      were unable to discover the slightest trace of his antecedents, or to form
+      even a guess as to the secret of his riches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no wonder that conjecture was rife upon the subject, for hardly a
+      day passed without furnishing some new instance of the boundlessness of
+      his power and of the goodness of his heart. Through the vicar, Robert, and
+      others, he had learned much of the inner life of the parish, and many were
+      the times when the struggling man, harassed and driven to the wall, found
+      thrust into his hand some morning a brief note with an enclosure which
+      rolled all the sorrow back from his life. One day a thick double-breasted
+      pea-jacket and a pair of good sturdy boots were served out to every old
+      man in the almshouse. On another, Miss Swire, the decayed gentlewoman who
+      eked out her small annuity by needlework, had a brand new first-class
+      sewing-machine handed in to her to take the place of the old worn-out
+      treadle which tried her rheumatic joints. The pale-faced schoolmaster, who
+      had spent years with hardly a break in struggling with the juvenile
+      obtuseness of Tamfield, received through the post a circular ticket for a
+      two months' tour through Southern Europe, with hotel coupons and all
+      complete. John Hackett, the farmer, after five long years of bad seasons,
+      borne with a brave heart, had at last been overthrown by the sixth, and
+      had the bailiffs actually in the house when the good vicar had rushed in,
+      waving a note above his head, to tell him not only that his deficit had
+      been made up, but that enough remained over to provide the improved
+      machinery which would enable him to hold his own for the future. An almost
+      superstitious feeling came upon the rustic folk as they looked at the
+      great palace when the sun gleamed upon the huge hot-houses, or even more
+      so, perhaps, when at night the brilliant electric lights shot their white
+      radiance through the countless rows of windows. To them it was as if some
+      minor Providence presided in that great place, unseen but seeing all,
+      boundless in its power and its graciousness, ever ready to assist and to
+      befriend. In every good deed, however, Raffles Haw still remained in the
+      background, while the vicar and Robert had the pleasant task of conveying
+      his benefits to the lowly and the suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once only did he appear in his own person, and that was upon the famous
+      occasion when he saved the well-known bank of Garraweg Brothers in
+      Birmingham. The most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers,
+      Louis and Rupert, had built up a business which extended its ramifications
+      into every townlet of four counties. The failure of their London agents
+      had suddenly brought a heavy loss upon them, and the circumstance leaking
+      out had caused a sudden and most dangerous run upon their establishment.
+      Urgent telegrams for bullion from all their forty branches poured in at
+      the very instant when the head office was crowded with anxious clients all
+      waving their deposit-books, and clamouring for their money. Bravely did
+      the two brothers with their staff stand with smiling faces behind the
+      shining counter, while swift messengers sped and telegrams flashed to draw
+      in all the available resources of the bank. All day the stream poured
+      through the office, and when four o'clock came, and the doors were closed
+      for the day, the street without was still blocked by the expectant crowd,
+      while there remained scarce a thousand pounds of bullion in the cellars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is only postponed. Louis,&rdquo; said brother Rupert despairingly, when the
+      last clerk had left the office, and when at last they could relax the
+      fixed smile upon their haggard faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those shutters will never come down again,&rdquo; cried brother Louis, and the
+      two suddenly burst out sobbing in each other's arms, not for their own
+      griefs, but for the miseries which they might bring upon those who had
+      trusted them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But who shall ever dare to say that there is no hope, if he will but give
+      his griefs to the world? That very night Mrs. Spurling had received a
+      letter from her old school friend, Mrs. Louis Garraweg, with all her fears
+      and her hopes poured out in it, and the whole sad story of their troubles.
+      Swift from the Vicarage went the message to the Hall, and early next
+      morning Mr. Raffles Haw, with a great black carpet-bag in his hand, found
+      means to draw the cashier of the local branch of the Bank of England from
+      his breakfast, and to persuade him to open his doors at unofficial hours.
+      By half-past nine the crowd had already begun to collect around
+      Garraweg's, when a stranger, pale and thin, with a bloated carpet-bag, was
+      shown at his own very pressing request into the bank parlour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no use, sir,&rdquo; said the elder brother humbly, as they stood together
+      encouraging each other to turn a brave face to misfortune, &ldquo;we can do no
+      more. We have little left, and it would be unfair to the others to pay you
+      now. We can but hope that when our assets are realised no one will be the
+      loser save ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not come to draw out, but to put in,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw in his
+      demure apologetic fashion. &ldquo;I have in my bag five thousand hundred-pound
+      Bank of England notes. If you will have the goodness to place them to my
+      credit account I should be extremely obliged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, good heavens, sir!&rdquo; stammered Rupert Garraweg, &ldquo;have you not heard?
+      Have you not seen? We cannot allow you to do this thing blindfold; can we
+      Louis?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most certainly not. We cannot recommend our bank, sir, at the present
+      moment, for there is a run upon us, and we do not know to what lengths it
+      may go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tut! tut!&rdquo; said Raffles Haw. &ldquo;If the run continues you must send me a
+      wire, and I shall make a small addition to my account. You will send me a
+      receipt by post. Good-morning, gentlemen!&rdquo; He bowed himself out ere the
+      astounded partners could realise what had befallen them, or raise their
+      eyes from the huge black bag and the visiting card which lay upon their
+      table. There was no great failure in Birmingham that day, and the house of
+      Garraweg still survives to enjoy the success which it deserves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the deeds by which Raffles Haw made himself known throughout the
+      Midlands, and yet, in spite of all his open-handedness, he was not a man
+      to be imposed upon. In vain the sturdy beggar cringed at his gate, and in
+      vain the crafty letter-writer poured out a thousand fabulous woes upon
+      paper. Robert was astonished when he brought some tale of trouble to the
+      Hall to observe how swift was the perception of the recluse, and how
+      unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger upon
+      the one point which rang false. Were a man strong enough to help himself,
+      or of such a nature as to profit nothing by help, none would he get from
+      the master of the New Hall. In vain, for example, did old McIntyre throw
+      himself continually across the path of the millionaire, and impress upon
+      him, by a thousand hints and innuendoes, the hard fortune which had been
+      dealt him, and the ease with which his fallen greatness might be restored.
+      Raffles Haw listened politely, bowed, smiled, but never showed the
+      slightest inclination to restore the querulous old gunmaker to his
+      pedestal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But if the recluse's wealth was a lure which drew the beggars from far and
+      near, as the lamp draws the moths, it had the same power of attraction
+      upon another and much more dangerous class. Strange hard faces were seen
+      in the village street, prowling figures were marked at night stealing
+      about among the fir plantations, and warning messages arrived from city
+      police and county constabulary to say that evil visitors were known to
+      have taken train to Tamfield. But if, as Raffles Haw held, there were few
+      limits to the power of immense wealth, it possessed, among other things,
+      the power of self-preservation, as one or two people were to learn to
+      their cost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you mind stepping up to the Hall?&rdquo; he said one morning, putting his
+      head in at the door of the Elmdene sitting-room. &ldquo;I have something there
+      that might amuse you.&rdquo; He was on intimate terms with the McIntyres now,
+      and there were few days on which they did not see something of each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were usually
+      the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have shown you a tiger,&rdquo; he remarked to Laura, as he led them into the
+      dining-room. &ldquo;I will now show you something quite as dangerous, though not
+      nearly so pretty.&rdquo; There was an arrangement of mirrors at one end of the
+      room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at the top.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look in there&mdash;in the upper glass,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!&rdquo; cried Laura. &ldquo;There are two of
+      them, and I don't know which is the worse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What on earth are they doing?&rdquo; asked Robert. &ldquo;They appear to be sitting
+      on the ground in some sort of a cellar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Most dangerous-looking characters,&rdquo; said the old man. &ldquo;I should strongly
+      recommend you to send for a policeman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have done so. But it seems a work of supererogation to take them to
+      prison, for they are very snugly in prison already. However, I suppose
+      that the law must have its own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And who are they, and how did they come there? Do tell us, Mr. Haw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Laura McIntyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather
+      piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know no more than you do. They were not there last night, and they are
+      here this morning, so I suppose it is a safe inference that they came in
+      during the night, especially as my servants found the window open when
+      they came down. As to their character and intentions, I should think that
+      is pretty legible upon their faces. They look a pair of beauties, don't
+      they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I cannot understand in the least where they are,&rdquo; said Robert,
+      staring into the mirror. &ldquo;One of them has taken to butting his head
+      against the wall. No, he is bending so that the other may stand upon his
+      back. He is up there now, and the light is shining upon his face. What a
+      bewildered ruffianly face it is too. I should so like to sketch it. It
+      would be a study for the picture I am thinking of of the Reign of Terror.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have caught them in my patent burglar trap,&rdquo; said Haw. &ldquo;They are my
+      first birds, but I have no doubt that they will not be the last. I will
+      show you how it works. It is quite a new thing. This flooring is now as
+      strong as possible, but every night I disconnect it. It is done
+      simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the ground-floor.
+      When the floor is disconnected one may advance three or four steps, either
+      from the window or door, and then that whole part turns on a hinge and
+      slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where you may kick your
+      heels until you are released. There is a central oasis between the hinges,
+      where the furniture is grouped for the night. The flooring flies into
+      position again when the weight of the intruder is removed, and there he
+      must bide, while I can always take a peep at him by this simple little
+      optical arrangement. I thought it might amuse you to have a look at my
+      prisoners before I handed them over to the head-constable, who I see is
+      now coming up the avenue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The poor burglars!&rdquo; cried Laura. &ldquo;It is no wonder that they look
+      bewildered, for I suppose, Mr. Haw, that they neither know where they are,
+      nor how they came there. I am so glad to know that you guard yourself in
+      this way, for I have often thought that you ran a danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you so?&rdquo; said he, smiling round at her. &ldquo;I think that my house is
+      fairly burglar-proof. I have one window which may be used as an entrance,
+      the centre one of the three of my laboratory. I keep it so because, to
+      tell the truth, I am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and when I treat
+      myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in and out without
+      ceremony. It would, however, be a fortunate rogue who picked the only safe
+      entrance out of a hundred, and even then he might find pitfalls. Here is
+      the constable, but you must not go, for Miss McIntyre has still something
+      to see in my little place. If you will step into the billiard-room I shall
+      be with you in a very few moments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      That morning, and many mornings both before and afterwards, were spent by
+      Laura at the New Hall examining the treasures of the museum, playing with
+      the thousand costly toys which Raffles Haw had collected, or sallying out
+      from the smoking-room in the crystal chamber into the long line of
+      luxurious hot-houses. Haw would walk demurely beside her as she flitted
+      from one thing to another like a butterfly among flowers, watching her out
+      of the corner of his eyes, and taking a quiet pleasure in her delight. The
+      only joy which his costly possessions had ever brought him was that which
+      came from the entertainment of others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time his attentions towards Laura McIntyre had become so marked
+      that they could hardly be mistaken. He visibly brightened in her presence,
+      and was never weary of devising a thousand methods of surprising and
+      pleasing her. Every morning ere the McIntyre family were afoot a great
+      bouquet of strange and beautiful flowers was brought down by a footman
+      from the Hall to brighten their breakfast-table. Her slightest wish,
+      however fantastic, was instantly satisfied, if human money or ingenuity
+      could do it. When the frost lasted a stream was dammed and turned from its
+      course that it might flood two meadows, solely in order that she might
+      have a place upon which to skate. With the thaw there came a groom every
+      afternoon with a sleek and beautiful mare in case Miss McIntyre should
+      care to ride. Everything went to show that she had made a conquest of the
+      recluse of the New Hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she on her side played her part admirably. With female adaptiveness
+      she fell in with his humour, and looked at the world through his eyes. Her
+      talk was of almshouses and free libraries, of charities and of
+      improvements. He had never a scheme to which she could not add some detail
+      making it more complete and more effective. To Haw it seemed that at last
+      he had met a mind which was in absolute affinity with his own. Here was a
+      help-mate, who could not only follow, but even lead him in the path which
+      he had chosen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither Robert nor his father could fail to see what was going forward,
+      but to the latter nothing could possibly be more acceptable than a family
+      tie which should connect him, however indirectly, with a man of vast
+      fortune. The glamour of the gold bags had crept over Robert also, and
+      froze the remonstrance upon his lips. It was very pleasant to have the
+      handling of all this wealth, even as a mere agent. Why should he do or say
+      what might disturb their present happy relations? It was his sister's
+      business, not his; and as to Hector Spurling, he must take his chance as
+      other men did. It was obviously best not to move one way or the other in
+      the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to Robert himself, his work and his surroundings were becoming more
+      and more irksome. His joy in his art had become less keen since he had
+      known Raffles Haw. It seemed so hard to toll and slave to earn such a
+      trifling sum, when money could really be had for the asking. It was true
+      that he had asked for none, but large sums were for ever passing through
+      his hands for those who were needy, and if he were needy himself his
+      friend would surely not grudge it to him. So the Roman galleys still
+      remained faintly outlined upon the great canvas, while Robert's days were
+      spent either in the luxurious library at the Hall, or in strolling about
+      the country listening to tales of trouble, and returning like a
+      tweed-suited ministering angel to carry Raffles Haw's help to the
+      unfortunate. It was not an ambitious life, but it was one which was very
+      congenial to his weak and easy-going nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert had observed that fits of depression had frequently come upon the
+      millionaire, and it had sometimes struck him that the enormous sums which
+      he spent had possibly made a serious inroad into his capital, and that his
+      mind was troubled as to the future. His abstracted manner, his clouded
+      brow, and his bent head all spoke of a soul which was weighed down with
+      care, and it was only in Laura's presence that he could throw off the load
+      of his secret trouble. For five hours a day he buried himself in the
+      laboratory and amused himself with his hobby, but it was one of his whims
+      that no one, neither any of his servants, nor even Laura or Robert, should
+      ever cross the threshold of that outlying building. Day after day he
+      vanished into it, to reappear hours afterwards pale and exhausted, while
+      the whirr of machinery and the smoke which streamed from his high chimney
+      showed how considerable were the operations which he undertook
+      single-handed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I not assist you in any way?&rdquo; suggested Robert, as they sat
+      together after luncheon in the smoking-room. &ldquo;I am convinced that you
+      over-try your strength. I should be so glad to help you, and I know a
+      little of chemistry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you, indeed?&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, raising his eyebrows. &ldquo;I had no idea
+      of that; it is very seldom that the artistic and the scientific faculties
+      go together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know that I have either particularly developed. But I have taken
+      classes, and I worked for two years in the laboratory at Sir Josiah
+      Mason's Institute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am delighted to hear it,&rdquo; Haw replied with emphasis. &ldquo;That may be of
+      great importance to us. It is very possible&mdash;indeed, almost certain&mdash;that
+      I shall avail myself of your offer of assistance, and teach you something
+      of my chemical methods, which I may say differ considerably from those of
+      the orthodox school. The time, however, is hardly ripe for that. What is
+      it, Jones?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A note, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The butler handed it in upon a silver salver. Haw broke the seal and ran
+      his eye over it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tut! tut! It is from Lady Morsley, asking me to the Lord-Lieutenant's
+      ball. I cannot possibly accept. It is very kind of them, but I do wish
+      they would leave me alone. Very well, Jones. I shall write. Do you know,
+      Robert, I am often very unhappy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He frequently called the young artist by his Christian name, especially in
+      his more confidential moments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have sometimes feared that you were,&rdquo; said the other sympathetically.
+      &ldquo;But how strange it seems, you who are yet young, healthy, with every
+      faculty for enjoyment, and a millionaire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Robert,&rdquo; cried Haw, leaning back in his chair, and sending up thick
+      blue wreaths from his pipe. &ldquo;You have put your finger upon my trouble. If
+      I were a millionaire I might be happy, but, alas, I am no millionaire!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good heavens!&rdquo; gasped Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cold seemed to shoot to his inmost soul as it flashed upon him that this
+      was a prelude to a confession of impending bankruptcy, and that all this
+      glorious life, all the excitement and the colour and change, were about to
+      vanish into thin air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No millionaire!&rdquo; he stammered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Robert; I am a billionaire&mdash;perhaps the only one in the world.
+      That is what is on my mind, and why I am unhappy sometimes. I feel that I
+      should spend this money&mdash;that I should put it in circulation&mdash;and
+      yet it is so hard to do it without failing to do good&mdash;without doing
+      positive harm. I feel my responsibility deeply. It weighs me down. Am I
+      justified in continuing to live this quiet life when there are so many
+      millions whom I might save and comfort if I could but reach them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert heaved a long sigh of relief. &ldquo;Perhaps you take too grave a view of
+      your responsibilities,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody knows that the good which you
+      have done is immense. What more could you desire? If you really wished to
+      extend your benevolence further, there are organised charities everywhere
+      which would be very glad of your help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have the names of two hundred and seventy of them,&rdquo; Haw answered. &ldquo;You
+      must run your eye over them some time, and see if you can suggest any
+      others. I send my annual mite to each of them. I don't think there is much
+      room for expansion in that direction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, really you have done your share, and more than your share. I would
+      settle down to lead a happy life, and think no more of the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could not do that,&rdquo; Haw answered earnestly. &ldquo;I have not been singled
+      out to wield this immense power simply in order that I might lead a happy
+      life. I can never believe that. Now, can you not use your imagination,
+      Robert, and devise methods by which a man who has command of&mdash;well,
+      let us say, for argument's sake, boundless wealth, could benefit mankind
+      by it, without taking away any one's independence or in any way doing
+      harm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, really, now that I come to think of it, it is a very difficult
+      problem,&rdquo; said Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I will submit a few schemes to you, and you may give me your opinion
+      on them. Supposing that such a man were to buy ten square miles of ground
+      here in Staffordshire, and were to build upon it a neat city, consisting
+      entirely of clean, comfortable little four-roomed houses, furnished in a
+      simple style, with shops and so forth, but no public-houses. Supposing,
+      too, that he were to offer a house free to all the homeless folk, all the
+      tramps, and broken men, and out-of-workers in Great Britain. Then, having
+      collected them together, let him employ them, under fitting
+      superintendence, upon some colossal piece of work which would last for
+      many years, and perhaps be of permanent value to humanity. Give them a
+      good rate of pay, and let their hours of labour be reasonable, and those
+      of recreation be pleasant. Might you not benefit them and benefit humanity
+      at one stroke?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what form of work could you devise which would employ so vast a
+      number for so long a time, and yet not compete with any existing industry?
+      To do the latter would simply mean to shift the misery from one class to
+      another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely so. I should compete with no one. What I thought of doing was
+      of sinking a shaft through the earth's crust, and of establishing rapid
+      communication with the Antipodes. When you had got a certain distance down&mdash;how
+      far is an interesting mathematical problem&mdash;the centre of gravity
+      would be beneath you, presuming that your boring was not quite directed
+      towards the centre, and you could then lay down rails and tunnel as if you
+      were on the level.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for the first time it flashed into Robert McIntyre's head that his
+      father's chance words were correct, and that he was in the presence of a
+      madman. His great wealth had clearly turned his brain, and made him a
+      monomaniac. He nodded indulgently, as when one humours a child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be very nice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have heard, however, that the
+      interior of the earth is molten, and your workmen would need to be
+      Salamanders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The latest scientific data do not bear out the idea that the earth is so
+      hot,&rdquo; answered Raffles Haw. &ldquo;It is certain that the increased temperature
+      in coal mines depends upon the barometric pressure. There are gases in the
+      earth which may be ignited, and there are combustible materials as we see
+      in the volcanoes; but if we came across anything of the sort in our
+      borings, we could turn a river or two down the shaft, and get the better
+      of it in that fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be rather awkward if the other end of your shaft came out under
+      the Pacific Ocean,&rdquo; said Robert, choking down his inclination to laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had estimates and calculations from the first living engineers&mdash;French,
+      English, and American. The point of exit of the tunnel could be calculated
+      to the yard. That portfolio in the corner is full of sections, plans, and
+      diagrams. I have agents employed in buying up land, and if all goes well,
+      we may get to work in the autumn. That is one device which may produce
+      results. Another is canal-cutting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there you would compete with the railways.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't quite understand. I intend to cut canals through every neck of
+      land where such a convenience would facilitate commerce. Such a scheme,
+      when unaccompanied by any toll upon vessels, would, I think, be a very
+      judicious way of helping the human race.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And where, pray, would you cut the canals?&rdquo; asked Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a map of the world here,&rdquo; Haw answered, rising, and taking one
+      down from the paper-rack. &ldquo;You see the blue pencil marks. Those are the
+      points where I propose to establish communication. Of course, I should
+      begin by the obvious duty of finishing the Panama business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally.&rdquo; The man's lunacy was becoming more and more obvious, and yet
+      there was such precision and coolness in his manner, that Robert found
+      himself against his own reason endorsing and speculating over his plans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Isthmus of Corinth also occurs to one. That, however, is a small
+      matter, from either a financial or an engineering point of view. I
+      propose, however, to make a junction here, through Kiel between the German
+      Ocean and the Baltic. It saves, you will observe, the whole journey round
+      the coast of Denmark, and would facilitate our trade with Germany and
+      Russia. Another very obvious improvement is to join the Forth and the
+      Clyde, so as to connect Leith with the Irish and American routes. You see
+      the blue line?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And we will have a little cutting here. It will run from Uleaborg to Kem,
+      and will connect the White Sea with the Gulf of Bothnia. We must not allow
+      our sympathies to be insular, must we? Our little charities should be
+      cosmopolitan. We will try and give the good people of Archangel a better
+      outlet for their furs and their tallow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it will freeze.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For six months in the year. Still, it will be something. Then we must do
+      something for the East. It would never do to overlook the East.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would certainly be an oversight,&rdquo; said Robert, who was keenly alive to
+      the comical side of the question. Raffles Haw, however, in deadly earnest,
+      sat scratching away at his map with his blue pencil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is a point where we might be of some little use. If we cut through
+      from Batoum to the Kura River we might tap the trade of the Caspian, and
+      open up communication with all the rivers which run into it. You notice
+      that they include a considerable tract of country. Then, again, I think
+      that we might venture upon a little cutting between Beirut, on the
+      Mediterranean, and the upper waters of the Euphrates, which would lead us
+      into the Persian Gulf. Those are one or two of the more obvious canals
+      which might knit the human race into a closer whole.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your plans are certainly stupendous,&rdquo; said Robert, uncertain whether to
+      laugh or to be awe-struck. &ldquo;You will cease to be a man, and become one of
+      the great forces of Nature, altering, moulding, and improving.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is precisely the view which I take of myself. That is why I feel my
+      responsibility so acutely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But surely if you will do all this you may rest. It is a considerable
+      programme.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all. I am a patriotic Briton, and I should like to do something to
+      leave my name in the annals of my country. I should prefer, however, to do
+      it after my own death, as anything in the shape of publicity and honour is
+      very offensive to me. I have, therefore, put by eight hundred million in a
+      place which shall be duly mentioned in my will, which I propose to devote
+      to paying off the National Debt. I cannot see that any harm could arise
+      from its extinction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert sat staring, struck dumb by the audacity of the strange man's
+      words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then there is the heating of the soil. There is room for improvement
+      there. You have no doubt read of the immense yields which have resulted in
+      Jersey and elsewhere, from the running of hot-water pipes through the
+      soil. The crops are trebled and quadrupled. I would propose to try the
+      experiment upon a larger scale. We might possibly reserve the Isle of Man
+      to serve as a pumping and heating station. The main pipes would run to
+      England, Ireland, and Scotland, where they would subdivide rapidly until
+      they formed a network two feet deep under the whole country. A pipe at
+      distances of a yard would suffice for every purpose.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; suggested Robert, &ldquo;that the water which left the Isle of
+      Man warm might lose a little of its virtue before it reached Caithness,
+      for example.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There need not be any difficulty there. Every few miles a furnace might
+      be arranged to keep up the temperature. These are a few of my plans for
+      the future, Robert, and I shall want the co-operation of disinterested men
+      like yourself in all of them. But how brightly the sun shines, and how
+      sweet the countryside looks! The world is very beautiful, and I should
+      like to leave it happier than I found it. Let us walk out together,
+      Robert, and you will tell me of any fresh cases where I may be of
+      assistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. A NEW DEPARTURE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Whatever good Mr. Raffles Haw's wealth did to the world, there could be no
+      doubt that there were cases where it did harm. The very contemplation and
+      thought of it had upon many a disturbing and mischievous effect.
+      Especially was this the case with the old gunmaker. From being merely a
+      querulous and grasping man, he had now become bitter, brooding, and
+      dangerous. Week by week, as he saw the tide of wealth flow as it were
+      through his very house without being able to divert the smallest rill to
+      nourish his own fortunes, he became more wolfish and more hungry-eyed. He
+      spoke less of his own wrongs, but he brooded more, and would stand for
+      hours on Tamfield Hill looking down at the great palace beneath, as a
+      thirst-stricken man might gaze at the desert mirage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had worked, and peeped, and pried, too, until there were points upon
+      which he knew more than either his son or his daughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that you still don't know where your friend gets his money?&rdquo; he
+      remarked to Robert one morning, as they walked together through the
+      village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, father, I do not. I only know that he spends it very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo; snarled the old man. &ldquo;Yes, very well! He has helped every tramp
+      and slut and worthless vagabond over the countryside, but he will not
+      advance a pound, even on the best security, to help a respectable business
+      man to fight against misfortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear father, I really cannot argue with you about it,&rdquo; said Robert. &ldquo;I
+      have already told you more than once what I think. Mr. Haw's object is to
+      help those who are destitute. He looks upon us as his equals, and would
+      not presume to patronise us, or to act as if we could not help ourselves.
+      It would be a humiliation to us to take his money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pshaw! Besides, it is only a question of an advance, and advances are
+      made every day among business men. How can you talk such nonsense,
+      Robert?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Early as it was, his son could see from his excited, quarrelsome manner
+      that the old man had been drinking. The habit had grown upon him of late,
+      and it was seldom now that he was entirely sober.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Raffles Haw is the best judge,&rdquo; said Robert coldly. &ldquo;If he earns the
+      money, he has a right to spend it as he likes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how does he earn it? You don't know, Robert. You don't know that you
+      aren't aiding and abetting a felony when you help him to fritter it away.
+      Was ever so much money earned in an honest fashion? I tell you there never
+      was. I tell you, also, that lumps of gold are no more to that man than
+      chunks of coal to the miners over yonder. He could build his house of them
+      and think nothing of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that he is very rich, father. I think, however, that he has an
+      extravagant way of talking sometimes, and that his imagination carries him
+      away. I have heard him talk of plans which the richest man upon earth
+      could not possibly hope to carry through.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you make any mistake, my son. Your poor old father isn't quite a
+      fool, though he is only an honest broken merchant.&rdquo; He looked up sideways
+      at his son with a wink and a most unpleasant leer. &ldquo;Where there's money I
+      can smell it. There's money there, and heaps of it. It's my belief that he
+      is the richest man in the world, though how he came to be so I should not
+      like to guarantee. I'm not quite blind yet, Robert. Have you seen the
+      weekly waggon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The weekly waggon!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Robert. You see I can find some news for you yet. It is due this
+      morning. Every Saturday morning you will see the waggon come in. Why, here
+      it is now, as I am a living man, coming round the curve.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert glanced back and saw a great heavy waggon drawn by two strong
+      horses lumbering slowly along the road which led to the New Hall. From the
+      efforts of the animals and its slow pace the contents seemed to be of
+      great weight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just you wait here,&rdquo; old McIntyre cried, plucking at his son's sleeve
+      with his thin bony hand. &ldquo;Wait here and see it pass. Then we will watch
+      what becomes of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They stood by the side of the road until it came abreast of them. The
+      waggon was covered with tarpaulin sheetings in front and at the sides, but
+      behind some glimpse could be caught of the contents. They consisted, as
+      far as Robert could see, of a number of packets of the same shape, each
+      about two feet long and six inches high, arranged symmetrically upon the
+      top of each other. Each packet was surrounded by a covering of coarse
+      sacking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of that?&rdquo; asked old McIntyre triumphantly as the load
+      creaked past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, father? What do you make of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have watched it, Robert&mdash;I have watched it every Saturday, and I
+      had my chance of looking a little deeper into it. You remember the day
+      when the elm blew down, and the road was blocked until they could saw it
+      in two. That was on a Saturday, and the waggon came to a stand until they
+      could clear a way for it. I was there, Robert, and I saw my chance. I
+      strolled behind the waggon, and I placed my hands upon one of those
+      packets. They look small, do they not? It would take a strong man to lift
+      one. They are heavy, Robert, heavy, and hard with the hardness of metal. I
+      tell you, boy, that that waggon is loaded with gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gold!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With solid bars of gold, Robert. But come into the plantation and we
+      shall see what becomes of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They passed through the lodge gates, behind the waggon, and then wandered
+      off among the fir-trees until they gained a spot where they could command
+      a view. The load had halted, not in front of the house, but at the door of
+      the out-building with the chimney. A staff of stablemen and footmen were
+      in readiness, who proceeded to swiftly unload and to carry the packages
+      through the door. It was the first time that Robert had ever seen any one
+      save the master of the house enter the laboratory. No sign was seen of him
+      now, however, and in half an hour the contents had all been safely stored
+      and the waggon had driven briskly away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot understand it, father,&rdquo; said Robert thoughtfully, as they
+      resumed their walk. &ldquo;Supposing that your supposition is correct, who would
+      send him such quantities of gold, and where could it come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha, you have to come to the old man after all!&rdquo; chuckled his companion.
+      &ldquo;I can see the little game. It is clear enough to me. There are two of
+      them in it, you understand. The other one gets the gold. Never mind how,
+      but we will hope that there is no harm. Let us suppose, for example, that
+      they have found a marvellous mine, where you can just shovel it out like
+      clay from a pit. Well, then, he sends it on to this one, and he has his
+      furnaces and his chemicals, and he refines and purifies it and makes it
+      fit to sell. That's my explanation of it, Robert. Eh, has the old man put
+      his finger on it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if that were true, father, the gold must go back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it does, Robert, but a little at a time. Ha, ha! I've had my eyes
+      open, you see. Every night it goes down in a small cart, and is sent on to
+      London by the 7.40. Not in bars this time, but done up in iron-bound
+      chests. I've seen them, boy, and I've had this hand upon them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the young man thoughtfully, &ldquo;maybe you are right. It is
+      possible that you are right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While father and son were prying into his secrets, Raffles Haw had found
+      his way to Elmdene, where Laura sat reading the <i>Queen</i> by the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am so sorry,&rdquo; she said, throwing down her paper and springing to her
+      feet. &ldquo;They are all out except me. But I am sure that they won't be long.
+      I expect Robert every moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would rather speak with you alone,&rdquo; answered Raffles Haw quietly. &ldquo;Pray
+      sit down, for I wanted to have a little chat with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Laura resumed her seat with a flush upon her cheeks and a quickening of
+      the breath. She turned her face away and gazed into the fire; but there
+      was a sparkle in her eyes which was not caught from the leaping flames.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember the first time that we met, Miss McIntyre?&rdquo; he asked,
+      standing on the rug and looking down at her dark hair, and the beautifully
+      feminine curve of her ivory neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As if it were yesterday,&rdquo; she answered in her sweet mellow tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you must also remember the wild words that I said when we parted. It
+      was very foolish of me. I am sure that I am most sorry if I frightened or
+      disturbed you, but I have been a very solitary man for a long time, and I
+      have dropped into a bad habit of thinking aloud. Your voice, your face,
+      your manner, were all so like my ideal of a true woman, loving, faithful,
+      and sympathetic, that I could not help wondering whether, if I were a poor
+      man, I might ever hope to win the affection of such a one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your good opinion, Mr. Raffles Haw, is very dear to me,&rdquo; said Laura. &ldquo;I
+      assure you that I was not frightened, and that there is no need to
+      apologise for what was really a compliment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since then I have found,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;that all that I had read upon
+      your face was true. That your mind is indeed that of the true woman, full
+      of the noblest and sweetest qualities which human nature can aspire to.
+      You know that I am a man of fortune, but I wish you to dismiss that
+      consideration from your mind. Do you think from what you know of my
+      character that you could be happy as my wife, Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no answer, but still sat with her head turned away and her
+      sparkling eyes fixed upon the fire. One little foot from under her skirt
+      tapped nervously upon the rug.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is only right that you should know a little more about me before you
+      decide. There is, however, little to know. I am an orphan, and, as far as
+      I know, without a relation upon earth. My father was a respectable man, a
+      country surgeon in Wales, and he brought me up to his own profession.
+      Before I had passed my examinations, however, he died and left me a small
+      annuity. I had conceived a great liking for the subjects of chemistry and
+      electricity, and instead of going on with my medical work I devoted myself
+      entirely to these studies, and eventually built myself a laboratory where
+      I could follow out my own researches. At about this time I came into a
+      very large sum of money, so large as to make me feel that a vast
+      responsibility rested upon me in the use which I made of it. After some
+      thought I determined to build a large house in a quiet part of the
+      country, not too far from a great centre. There I could be in touch with
+      the world, and yet would have quiet and leisure to mature the schemes
+      which were in my head. As it chanced, I chose Tamfield as my site. All
+      that remains now is to carry out the plans which I have made, and to
+      endeavour to lighten the earth of some of the misery and injustice which
+      weigh it down. I again ask you, Laura, will you throw in your lot with
+      mine, and help me in the life's work which lies before me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Laura looked up at him, at his stringy figure, his pale face, his keen,
+      yet gentle eyes. Somehow as she looked there seemed to form itself beside
+      him some shadow of Hector Spurling, the manly features, the clear, firm
+      mouth, the frank manner. Now, in the very moment of her triumph, it sprang
+      clearly up in her mind how at the hour of their ruin he had stood firmly
+      by them, and had loved the penniless girl as tenderly as the heiress to
+      fortune. That last embrace at the door, too, came back to her, and she
+      felt his lips warm upon her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much honoured, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; she stammered, &ldquo;but this is so sudden.
+      I have not had time to think. I do not know what to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not let me hurry you,&rdquo; he cried earnestly. &ldquo;I beg that you will think
+      well over it. I shall come again for my answer. When shall I come?
+      Tonight?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, come tonight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, adieu. Believe me that I think more highly of you for your
+      hesitation. I shall live in hope.&rdquo; He raised her hand to his lips, and
+      left her to her own thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But what those thoughts were did not long remain in doubt. Dimmer and
+      dimmer grew the vision of the distant sailor face, clearer and clearer the
+      image of the vast palace, of the queenly power, of the diamonds, the gold,
+      the ambitious future. It all lay at her feet, waiting to be picked up. How
+      could she have hesitated, even for a moment? She rose, and, walking over
+      to her desk, she took out a sheet of paper and an envelope. The latter she
+      addressed to Lieutenant Spurling, H.M.S. <i>Active</i>, Gibraltar. The
+      note cost some little trouble, but at last she got it worded to her mind.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;Dear Hector,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;I am convinced that your father has
+   never         entirely approved of our engagement, otherwise he
+   would not have thrown obstacles in the way of our marriage.
+   I am sure, too, that since my poor father's misfortune it is
+   only your own sense of honour and feeling of duty which have
+   kept you true to me, and that you would have done infinitely
+   better had you never seen me.  I cannot bear, Hector, to allow
+   you to imperil your future for my sake, and I have determined,
+   after thinking well over the matter, to release you from our
+   boy and girl engagement, so that you may be entirely free in
+   every way.  It is possible that you may think it unkind of me
+   to do this now, but I am quite sure, dear Hector, that when you
+   are an admiral and a very distinguished man, you will look back
+   at this, and you will see that I have been a true friend to you,
+   and have prevented you from making a false step early in your
+   career.  For myself, whether I marry or not, I have determined
+   to devote the remainder of my life to trying to do good, and to
+   leaving the world happier than I found it.  Your father is very
+   well, and gave us a capital sermon last Sunday.  I enclose the
+   bank-note which you asked me to keep for you.  Good-bye, for ever,
+   dear Hector, and believe me when I say that, come what may, I am
+   ever your true friend,
+
+   &ldquo;Laura S. McIntyre.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      She had hardly sealed her letter before her father and Robert returned.
+      She closed the door behind them, and made them a little curtsey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I await my family's congratulations,&rdquo; she said, with her head in the air.
+      &ldquo;Mr. Raffles Haw has been here, and he has asked me to be his wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The deuce he did!&rdquo; cried the old man. &ldquo;And you said&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am to see him again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you will say&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will accept him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were always a good girl, Laura,&rdquo; said old McIntyre, standing on his
+      tiptoes to kiss her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Laura, Laura, how about Hector?&rdquo; asked Robert in mild remonstrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I have written to him,&rdquo; his sister answered carelessly. &ldquo;I wish you
+      would be good enough to post the letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE GREAT SECRET.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      And so Laura McIntyre became duly engaged to Raffles Haw, and old McIntyre
+      grew even more hungry-looking as he felt himself a step nearer to the
+      source of wealth, while Robert thought less of work than ever, and never
+      gave as much as a thought to the great canvas which still stood,
+      dust-covered, upon his easel. Haw gave Laura an engagement ring of old
+      gold, with a great blazing diamond bulging out of it. There was little
+      talk about the matter, however, for it was Haw's wish that all should be
+      done very quietly. Nearly all his evenings were spent at Elmdene, where he
+      and Laura would build up the most colossal schemes of philanthropy for the
+      future. With a map stretched out on the table in front of them, these two
+      young people would, as it were, hover over the world, planning, devising,
+      and improving.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless the girl!&rdquo; said old McIntyre to his son; &ldquo;she speaks about it as if
+      she were born to millions. Maybe, when once she is married, she won't be
+      so ready to chuck her money into every mad scheme that her husband can
+      think of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Laura is greatly changed,&rdquo; Robert answered; &ldquo;she has grown much more
+      serious in her ideas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wait a bit!&rdquo; sniggered his father. &ldquo;She is a good girl, is Laura, and
+      she knows what she is about. She's not a girl to let her old dad go to the
+      wall if she can set him right. It's a pretty state of things,&rdquo; he added
+      bitterly: &ldquo;here's my daughter going to marry a man who thinks no more of
+      gold than I used to of gun-metal; and here's my son going about with all
+      the money he cares to ask for to help every ne'er-do-well in
+      Staffordshire; and here's their father, who loved them and cared for them,
+      and brought them both up, without money enough very often to buy a bottle
+      of brandy. I don't know what your poor dear mother would have thought of
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have only to ask for what you want.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, as if I were a five-year-old child. But I tell you, Robert, I'll
+      have my rights, and if I can't get them one way I will another. I won't be
+      treated as if I were no one. And there's one thing: if I am to be this
+      man's pa-in-law, I'll want to know something about him and his money
+      first. We may be poor, but we are honest. I'll up to the Hall now, and
+      have it out with him.&rdquo; He seized his hat and stick and made for the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, father,&rdquo; cried Robert, catching him by the sleeve. &ldquo;You had
+      better leave the matter alone. Mr. Haw is a very sensitive man. He would
+      not like to be examined upon such a point. It might lead to a serious
+      quarrel. I beg that you will not go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not to be put off for ever,&rdquo; snarled the old man, who had been
+      drinking heavily. &ldquo;I'll put my foot down now, once and for ever.&rdquo; He
+      tugged at his sleeve to free himself from his son's grasp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At least you shall not go without Laura knowing. I will call her down,
+      and we shall have her opinion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don't want to have any scenes,&rdquo; said McIntyre sulkily, relaxing his
+      efforts. He lived in dread of his daughter, and at his worst moments the
+      mention of her name would serve to restrain him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; said Robert, &ldquo;I have not the slightest doubt that Raffles Haw
+      will see the necessity for giving us some sort of explanation before
+      matters go further. He must understand that we have some claim now to be
+      taken into his confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had hardly spoken when there was a tap at the door, and the man of whom
+      they were speaking walked in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, Mr. McIntyre,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Robert, would you mind stepping up
+      to the Hall with me? I want to have a little business chat.&rdquo; He looked
+      serious, like a man who is carrying out something which he has well
+      weighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They walked up together with hardly a word on either side. Raffles Haw was
+      absorbed in his own thoughts. Robert felt expectant and nervous, for he
+      knew that something of importance lay before him. The winter had almost
+      passed now, and the first young shoots were beginning to peep out timidly
+      in the face of the wind and the rain of an English March. The snows were
+      gone, but the countryside looked bleaker and drearier, all shrouded in the
+      haze from the damp, sodden meadows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the way, Robert,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw suddenly, as they walked up the
+      Avenue. &ldquo;Has your great Roman picture gone to London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not finished it yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I know that you are a quick worker. You must be nearly at the end of
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I am afraid that it has not advanced much since you saw it. For one
+      thing, the light has not been very good.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raffles Haw said nothing, but a pained expression flashed over his face.
+      When they reached the house he led the way through the museum. Two great
+      metal cases were lying on the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a small addition there to the gem collection,&rdquo; he remarked as he
+      passed. &ldquo;They only arrived last night, and I have not opened them yet, but
+      I am given to understand from the letters and invoices that there are some
+      fine specimens. We might arrange them this afternoon, if you care to
+      assist me. Let us go into the smoking-room now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw himself down into a settee, and motioned Robert into the armchair
+      in front of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Light a cigar,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Press the spring if there is any refreshment
+      which you would like. Now, my dear Robert, confess to me in the first
+      place that you have often thought me mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The charge was so direct and so true that the young artist hesitated,
+      hardly knowing how to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear boy, I do not blame you. It was the most natural thing in the
+      world. I should have looked upon anyone as a madman who had talked to me
+      as I have talked to you. But for all that, Robert, you were wrong, and I
+      have never yet in our conversations proposed any scheme which it was not
+      well within my power to carry out. I tell you in all sober earnest that
+      the amount of my income is limited only by my desire, and that all the
+      bankers and financiers combined could not furnish the sums which I can put
+      forward without an effort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had ample proof of your immense wealth,&rdquo; said Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you are very naturally curious as to how that wealth was obtained.
+      Well, I can tell you one thing. The money is perfectly clean. I have
+      robbed no one, cheated no one, sweated no one, ground no one down in the
+      gaining of it. I can read your father's eye, Robert. I can see that he has
+      done me an injustice in this matter. Well, perhaps he is not to be blamed.
+      Perhaps I also might think uncharitable things if I were In his place. But
+      that is why I now give an explanation to you, Robert, and not to him. You,
+      at least, have trusted me, and you have a right, before I become one of
+      your family, to know all that I can tell you. Laura also has trusted me,
+      but I know well that she is content still to trust me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would not intrude upon your secrets, Mr. Haw,&rdquo; said Robert, &ldquo;but of
+      course I cannot deny that I should be very proud and pleased if you cared
+      to confide them to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I will. Not all. I do not think that I shall ever, while I live, tell
+      all. But I shall leave directions behind me so that when I die you may be
+      able to carry on my unfinished work. I shall tell you where those
+      directions are to be found. In the meantime, you must be content to learn
+      the effects which I produce without knowing every detail as to the means.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert settled himself down in his chair and concentrated his attention
+      upon his companion's words, while Haw bent forward his eager, earnest
+      face, like a man who knows the value of the words which he is saying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are already aware,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;that I have devoted a great deal of
+      energy and of time to the study of chemistry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you told me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I commenced my studies under a famous English chemist, I continued them
+      under the best man in France, and I completed them in the most celebrated
+      laboratory of Germany. I was not rich, but my father had left me enough to
+      keep me comfortably, and by living economically I had a sum at my command
+      which enabled me to carry out my studies in a very complete way. When I
+      returned to England I built myself a laboratory in a quiet country place
+      where I could work without distraction or interruption. There I began a
+      series of investigations which soon took me into regions of science to
+      which none of the three famous men who taught me had ever penetrated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say, Robert, that you have some slight knowledge of chemistry, and
+      you will find it easier to follow what I say. Chemistry is to a large
+      extent an empirical science, and the chance experiment may lead to greater
+      results than could, with our present data, be derived from the closest
+      study or the keenest reasoning. The most important chemical discoveries
+      from the first manufacture of glass to the whitening and refining of sugar
+      have all been due to some happy chance which might have befallen a mere
+      dabbler as easily as a deep student.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it was to such a chance that my own great discovery&mdash;perhaps
+      the greatest that the world has seen&mdash;was due, though I may claim the
+      credit of having originated the line of thought which led up to it. I had
+      frequently speculated as to the effect which powerful currents of
+      electricity exercise upon any substance through which they are poured for
+      a considerable time. I did not here mean such feeble currents as are
+      passed along a telegraph wire, but I mean the very highest possible
+      developments. Well, I tried a series of experiments upon this point. I
+      found that in liquids, and in compounds, the force had a disintegrating
+      effect. The well-known experiment of the electrolysis of water will, of
+      course, occur to you. But I found that in the case of elemental solids the
+      effect was a remarkable one. The element slowly decreased in weight,
+      without perceptibly altering in composition. I hope that I make myself
+      clear to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I follow you entirely,&rdquo; said Robert, deeply interested in his companion's
+      narrative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tried upon several elements, and always with the same result. In every
+      case an hour's current would produce a perceptible loss of weight. My
+      theory at that stage was that there was a loosening of the molecules
+      caused by the electric fluid, and that a certain number of these molecules
+      were shed off like an impalpable dust, all round the lump of earth or of
+      metal, which remained, of course, the lighter by their loss. I had
+      entirely accepted this theory, when a very remarkable chance led me to
+      completely alter my opinions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had one Saturday night fastened a bar of bismuth in a clamp, and had
+      attached it on either side to an electric wire, in order to observe what
+      effect the current would have upon it. I had been testing each metal in
+      turn, exposing them to the influence for from one to two hours. I had just
+      got everything in position, and had completed my connection, when I
+      received a telegram to say that John Stillingfleet, an old chemist in
+      London with whom I had been on terms of intimacy, was dangerously ill, and
+      had expressed a wish to see me. The last train was due to leave in twenty
+      minutes, and I lived a good mile from the station, I thrust a few things
+      into a bag, locked my laboratory, and ran as hard as I could to catch it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not until I was in London that it suddenly occurred to me that I
+      had neglected to shut off the current, and that it would continue to pass
+      through the bar of bismuth until the batteries were exhausted. The fact,
+      however, seemed to be of small importance, and I dismissed it from my
+      mind. I was detained in London until the Tuesday night, and it was
+      Wednesday morning before I got back to my work. As I unlocked the
+      laboratory door my mind reverted to the uncompleted experiment, and it
+      struck me that in all probability my piece of bismuth would have been
+      entirely disintegrated and reduced to its primitive molecules. I was
+      utterly unprepared for the truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When I approached the table I found, sure enough, that the bar of metal
+      had vanished, and that the clamp was empty. Having noted the fact, I was
+      about to turn away to something else, when my attention was attracted to
+      the fact that the table upon which the clamp stood was starred over with
+      little patches of some liquid silvery matter, which lay in single drops or
+      coalesced into little pools. I had a very distinct recollection of having
+      thoroughly cleared the table before beginning my experiment, so that this
+      substance had been deposited there since I had left for London. Much
+      interested, I very carefully collected it all into one vessel, and
+      examined it minutely. There could be no question as to what it was. It was
+      the purest mercury, and gave no response to any test for bismuth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I at once grasped the fact that chance had placed in my hands a chemical
+      discovery of the very first importance. If bismuth were, under certain
+      conditions, to be subjected to the action of electricity, it would begin
+      by losing weight, and would finally be transformed into mercury. I had
+      broken down the partition which separated two elements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the process would be a constant one. It would presumably prove to be
+      a general law, and not an isolated fact. If bismuth turned into mercury,
+      what would mercury turn into? There would be no rest for me until I had
+      solved the question. I renewed the exhausted batteries and passed the
+      current through the bowl of quicksilver. For sixteen hours I sat watching
+      the metal, marking how it slowly seemed to curdle, to grow firmer, to lose
+      its silvery glitter and to take a dull yellow hue. When I at last picked
+      it up in a forceps, and threw it upon the table, it had lost every
+      characteristic of mercury, and had obviously become another metal. A few
+      simple tests were enough to show me that this other metal was platinum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, to a chemist, there was something very suggestive in the order in
+      which these changes had been effected. Perhaps you can see the relation,
+      Robert, which they bear to each other?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I cannot say that I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert had sat listening to this strange statement with parted lips and
+      staring eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will show you. Speaking atomically, bismuth is the heaviest of the
+      metals. Its atomic weight is 210. The next in weight is lead, 207, and
+      then comes mercury at 200. Possibly the long period during which the
+      current had acted in my absence had reduced the bismuth to lead and the
+      lead in turn to mercury. Now platinum stands at 197.5, and it was
+      accordingly the next metal to be produced by the continued current. Do you
+      see now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is quite clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then there came the inference, which sent my heart into my mouth and
+      caused my head to swim round. Gold is the next in the series. Its atomic
+      weight is 197. I remembered now, and for the first time understood why it
+      was always lead and mercury winch were mentioned by the old alchemists as
+      being the two metals which might be used in their calling. With fingers
+      which trembled with excitement I adjusted the wires again, and in little
+      more than an hour&mdash;for the length of the process was always in
+      proportion to the difference in the metals&mdash;I had before me a knob of
+      ruddy crinkled metal, which answered to every reaction for gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Robert, this is a long story, but I think that you will agree with
+      me that its importance justifies me in going into detail. When I had
+      satisfied myself that I had really manufactured gold I cut the nugget in
+      two. One half I sent to a jeweller and worker in precious metals, with
+      whom I had some slight acquaintance, asking him to report upon the quality
+      of the metal. With the other half I continued my series of experiments,
+      and reduced it in successive stages through all the long series of metals,
+      through silver and zinc and manganese, until I brought it to lithium,
+      which is the lightest of all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what did it turn to then?&rdquo; asked Robert.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then came what to chemists is likely to be the most interesting portion
+      of my discovery. It turned to a greyish fine powder, which powder gave no
+      further results, however much I might treat it with electricity. And that
+      powder is the base of all things; it is the mother of all the elements; it
+      is, in short, the substance whose existence has been recently surmised by
+      a leading chemist, and which has been christened protyle by him. I am the
+      discoverer of the great law of the electrical transposition of the metals,
+      and I am the first to demonstrate protyle, so that, I think, Robert, if
+      all my schemes in other directions come to nothing, my name is at least
+      likely to live in the chemical world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not very much more for me to tell you. I had my nugget back from
+      my friend the jeweller, confirming my opinion as to its nature and its
+      quality. I soon found several methods by which the process might be
+      simplified, and especially a modification of the ordinary electric
+      current, which was very much more effective. Having made a certain amount
+      of gold, I disposed of it for a sum which enabled me to buy improved
+      materials and stronger batteries. In this way I enlarged my operations
+      until at last I was in a position to build this house and to have a
+      laboratory where I could carry out my work on a much larger scale. As I
+      said before, I can now state with all truth that the amount of my income
+      is only limited by my desires.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is wonderful!&rdquo; gasped Robert. &ldquo;It is like a fairy tale. But with this
+      great discovery in your mind you must have been sorely tempted to confide
+      it to others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought well over it. I gave it every consideration. It was obvious to
+      me that if my invention were made public, its immediate result would be to
+      deprive the present precious metals of all their special value. Some other
+      substance&mdash;amber, we will say, or ivory&mdash;would be chosen as a
+      medium for barter, and gold would be inferior to brass, as being heavier
+      and yet not so hard. No one would be the better for such a consummation as
+      that. Now, if I retained my secret, and used it with wisdom, I might make
+      myself the greatest benefactor to mankind that has ever lived. Those were
+      the chief reasons, and I trust that they are not dishonourable ones, which
+      led me to form the resolution, which I have today for the first time
+      broken.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But your secret is safe with me,&rdquo; cried Robert. &ldquo;My lips shall be sealed
+      until I have your permission to speak.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had not known that I could trust you I should have withheld it from
+      your knowledge. And now, my dear Robert, theory is very weak work, and
+      practice is infinitely more interesting. I have given you more than enough
+      of the first. If you will be good enough to accompany me to the laboratory
+      I shall give you a little of the latter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Raffles Haw led the way through the front door, and crossing over the
+      gravelled drive pushed open the outer door of the laboratory&mdash;the
+      same through which the McIntyres had seen the packages conveyed from the
+      waggon. On passing through it Robert found that they were not really
+      within the building, but merely in a large bare ante-chamber, around the
+      walls of which were stacked the very objects which had aroused his
+      curiosity and his father's speculations. All mystery had gone from them
+      now, however, for while some were still wrapped in their sackcloth
+      coverings, others had been undone, and revealed themselves as great pigs
+      of lead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is my raw material,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw carelessly, nodding at the
+      heap. &ldquo;Every Saturday I have a waggon-load sent up, which serves me for a
+      week, but we shall need to work double tides when Laura and I are married,
+      and we get our great schemes under way. I have to be very careful about
+      the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is reproduced in
+      the gold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber. Haw unlocked it, but only to
+      disclose a second one about five feet further on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This flooring is all disconnected at night,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;I have no
+      doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about this
+      sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some inquisitive ostler
+      or too adventurous butler.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare,
+      whitewashed room with a glass roof. At one end was the furnace and boiler,
+      the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red light beat
+      through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the building. On
+      either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in rows, tier
+      topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic cells. Robert's
+      eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels, complicated networks of
+      wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles, graduated glasses, Bunsen
+      burners, porcelain insulators, and all the varied <i>debris</i> of a
+      chemical and electrical workshop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come across here,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of
+      metal, the coke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid. &ldquo;Yours is the
+      first foot except my own which has ever penetrated to this room since the
+      workmen left it. My servants carry the lead into the ante-room, but come
+      no further. The furnace can be cleaned and stoked from without. I employ a
+      fellow to do nothing else. Now take a look in here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw open a door on the further side, and motioned to the young artist
+      to enter. The latter stood silent with one foot over the threshold,
+      staring in amazement around him. The room, which may have been some thirty
+      feet square, was paved and walled with gold. Great brick-shaped ingots,
+      closely packed, covered the whole floor, while on every side they were
+      reared up in compact barriers to the very ceiling. The single electric
+      lamp which lighted the windowless chamber struck a dull, murky, yellow
+      light from the vast piles of precious metal, and gleamed ruddily upon the
+      golden floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is my treasure house,&rdquo; remarked the owner. &ldquo;You see that I have
+      rather an accumulation just now. My imports have been exceeding my
+      exports. You can understand that I have other and more important duties
+      even than the making of gold, just now. This is where I store my output
+      until I am ready to send it off. Every night almost I am in the habit of
+      sending a case of it to London. I employ seventeen brokers in its sale.
+      Each thinks that he is the only one, and each is dying to know where I can
+      get such large quantities of virgin gold. They say that it is the purest
+      which comes into the market. The popular theory is, I believe, that I am a
+      middleman acting on behalf of some new South African mine, which wishes to
+      keep its whereabouts a secret. What value would you put upon the gold in
+      this chamber? It ought to be worth something, for it represents nearly a
+      week's work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something fabulous, I have no doubt,&rdquo; said Robert, glancing round at the
+      yellow barriers. &ldquo;Shall I say a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh dear me, it is surely worth very much more than that,&rdquo; cried Raffles
+      Haw, laughing. &ldquo;Let me see. Suppose that we put it at three ten an ounce,
+      which is nearly ten shillings under the mark. That makes, roughly,
+      fifty-six pounds for a pound in weight. Now each of these ingots weighs
+      thirty-six pounds, which brings their value to two thousand and a few odd
+      pounds. There are five hundred ingots on each of these three sides of the
+      room, but on the fourth there are only three hundred, on account of the
+      door, but there cannot be less than two hundred on the floor, which gives
+      us a rough total of two thousand ingots. So you see, my dear boy, that any
+      broker who could get the contents of this chamber for four million pounds
+      would be doing a nice little stroke of business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a week's work!&rdquo; gasped Robert. &ldquo;It makes my head swim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will follow me now when I repeat that none of the great schemes which
+      I intend to simultaneously set in motion are at all likely to languish for
+      want of funds. Now come into the laboratory with me and see how it is
+      done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the centre of the workroom was an instrument like a huge vice, with two
+      large brass-coloured plates, and a great steel screw for bringing them
+      together. Numerous wires ran into these metal plates, and were attached at
+      the other end to the rows of dynamic machines. Beneath was a glass stand,
+      which was hollowed out in the centre into a succession of troughs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will soon understand all about it,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, throwing off
+      his coat, and pulling on a smoke-stained and dirty linen jacket. &ldquo;We must
+      first stoke up a little.&rdquo; He put his weight on a pair of great bellows,
+      and an answering roar came from the furnace. &ldquo;That will do. The more heat
+      the more electric force, and the quicker our task. Now for the lead! Just
+      give me a hand in carrying it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lifted a dozen of the pigs of lead from the floor on to the glass
+      stand, and having adjusted the plates on either side, Haw screwed up the
+      handle so as to hold them in position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It used in the early days to be a slow process,&rdquo; he remarked; &ldquo;but now
+      that I have immense facilities for my work it takes a very short time. I
+      have now only to complete the connection in order to begin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took hold of a long glass lever which projected from among the wires,
+      and drew it downwards. A sharp click was heard, followed by a loud,
+      sparkling, crackling noise. Great spurts of flame sprang from the two
+      electrodes, and the mass of lead was surrounded by an aureole of golden
+      sparks, which hissed and snapped like pistol-shots. The air was filled
+      with the peculiar acid smell of ozone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The power there is immense,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, superintending the
+      process, with his watch upon the palm of his hand. &ldquo;It would reduce an
+      organic substance to protyle instantly. It is well to understand the
+      mechanism thoroughly, for any mistake might be a grave matter for the
+      operator. You are dealing with gigantic forces. But you perceive that the
+      lead is already beginning to turn.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Silvery dew-like drops had indeed begun to form upon the dull-coloured
+      mass, and to drop with a tinkle and splash into the glass troughs. Slowly
+      the lead melted away, like an icicle in the sun, the electrodes ever
+      closing upon it as it contracted, until they came together in the centre,
+      and a row of pools of quicksilver had taken the place of the solid metal.
+      Two smaller electrodes were plunged into the mercury, which gradually
+      curdled and solidified, until it had resumed the solid form, with a
+      yellowish brassy shimmer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What lies in the moulds now is platinum,&rdquo; remarked Raffles Haw. &ldquo;We must
+      take it from the troughs and refix it in the large electrodes. So! Now we
+      turn on the current again. You see that it gradually takes a darker and
+      richer tint. Now I think that it is perfect.&rdquo; He drew up the lever,
+      removed the electrodes, and there lay a dozen bricks of ruddy sparkling
+      gold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, according to our calculations, our morning's work has been worth
+      twenty-four thousand pounds, and it has not taken us more than twenty
+      minutes,&rdquo; remarked the alchemist, as he picked up the newly-made ingots,
+      and threw them down among the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will devote one of them to experiment,&rdquo; said he, leaving the last
+      standing upon the glass insulator. &ldquo;To the world it would seem an
+      expensive demonstration which cost two thousand pounds, but our standard,
+      you see, is a different one. Now you will see me run through the whole
+      gamut of metallic nature.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      First of all men after the discoverer, Robert saw the gold mass, when the
+      electrodes were again applied to it, change swiftly and successively to
+      barium, to tin, to silver, to copper, to iron. He saw the long white
+      electric sparks change to crimson with the strontium, to purple with the
+      potassium, to yellow with the manganese. Then, finally, after a hundred
+      transformations, it disintegrated before his eyes, and lay as a little
+      mound of fluffy grey dust upon the glass table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And this is protyle,&rdquo; said Haw, passing his fingers through it. &ldquo;The
+      chemist of the future may resolve it into further constituents, but to me
+      it is the Ultima Thule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, Robert,&rdquo; he continued, after a pause, &ldquo;I have shown you enough
+      to enable you to understand something of my system. This is the great
+      secret. It is the secret which endows the man who knows it with such a
+      universal power as no man has ever enjoyed since the world was made. This
+      secret it is the dearest wish of my heart to use for good, and I swear to
+      you, Robert McIntyre, that if I thought it would tend to anything but good
+      I would have done with it for ever. No, I would neither use it myself nor
+      would any other man learn it from my lips. I swear it by all that is holy
+      and solemn!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes flashed as he spoke, and his voice quivered with emotion.
+      Standing, pale and lanky, amid his electrodes and his retorts, there was
+      still something majestic about this man, who, amid all his stupendous good
+      fortune, could still keep his moral sense undazzled by the glitter of his
+      gold. Robert's weak nature had never before realised the strength which
+      lay in those thin, firm lips and earnest eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely in your hands, Mr. Haw, nothing but good can come of it,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope not&mdash;I pray not&mdash;most earnestly do I pray not. I have
+      done for you, Robert, what I might not have done for my own brother had I
+      one, and I have done it because I believe and hope that you are a man who
+      would not use this power, should you inherit it, for selfish ends. But
+      even now I have not told you all. There is one link which I have withheld
+      from you, and which shall be withheld from you while I live. But look at
+      this chest, Robert.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He led him to a great iron-clamped chest which stood in the corner, and,
+      throwing it open, he took from it a small case of carved ivory.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inside this,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have left a paper which makes clear anything
+      which is still hidden from you. Should anything happen to me you will
+      always be able to inherit my powers, and to continue my plans by following
+      the directions which are there expressed. And now,&rdquo; he continued, throwing
+      his casket back again into the box, &ldquo;I shall frequently require your help,
+      but I do not think it will be necessary this morning. I have already taken
+      up too much of your time. If you are going back to Elmdene I wish that you
+      would tell Laura that I shall be with her in the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. A FAMILY JAR.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      And so the great secret was out, and Robert walked home with his head in a
+      whirl, and the blood tingling in his veins. He had shivered as he came up
+      at the damp cold of the wind and the sight of the mist-mottled landscape.
+      That was all gone now. His own thoughts tinged everything with sunshine,
+      and he felt inclined to sing and dance as he walked down the muddy,
+      deeply-rutted country lane. Wonderful had been the fate allotted to
+      Raffles Haw, but surely hardly less important that which had come upon
+      himself. He was the sharer of the alchemist's secret, and the heir to an
+      inheritance which combined a wealth greater than that of monarchs, to a
+      freedom such as monarchs cannot enjoy. This was a destiny indeed! A
+      thousand gold-tinted visions of his future life rose up before him, and in
+      fancy he already sat high above the human race, with prostrate thousands
+      imploring his aid, or thanking him for his benevolence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How sordid seemed the untidy garden, with its scrappy bushes and gaunt elm
+      trees! How mean the plain brick front, with the green wooden porch! It had
+      always offended his artistic sense, but now it was obtrusive in its
+      ugliness. The plain room, too, with the American leather chairs, the
+      dull-coloured carpet, and the patchwork rug, he felt a loathing for it
+      all. The only pretty thing in it, upon which his eyes could rest with
+      satisfaction, was his sister, as she leaned back in her chair by the fire
+      with her white, clear beautiful face outlined against the dark background.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, Robert,&rdquo; she said, glancing up at him from under her long
+      black lashes, &ldquo;Papa grows unendurable. I have had to speak very plainly to
+      him, and to make him understand that I am marrying for my own benefit and
+      not for his.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know. At the Three Pigeons, no doubt. He spends most of his time
+      there now. He flew off in a passion, and talked such nonsense about
+      marriage settlements, and forbidding the banns, and so on. His notion of a
+      marriage settlement appears to be a settlement upon the bride's father. He
+      should wait quietly, and see what can be done for him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Laura, that we must make a good deal of allowance for him,&rdquo; said
+      Robert earnestly. &ldquo;I have noticed a great change in him lately. I don't
+      think he is himself at all. I must get some medical advice. But I have
+      been up at the Hall this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you? Have you seen Raffles? Did he send anything for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He said that he would come down when he had finished his work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what is the matter, Robert?&rdquo; cried Laura, with the swift perception
+      of womanhood. &ldquo;You are flushed, and your eyes are shining, and really you
+      look quite handsome. Raffles has been telling you something! What was it?
+      Oh, I know! He has been telling you how he made his money. Hasn't he,
+      now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, yes. He took me partly into his confidence. I congratulate you,
+      Laura, with all my heart, for you will be a very wealthy woman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How strange it seems that he should have come to us in our poverty. It is
+      all owing to you, you dear old Robert; for if he had not taken a fancy to
+      you, he would never have come down to Elmdene and taken a fancy to some
+      one else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; Robert answered, sitting down by his sister, and patting her
+      hand affectionately. &ldquo;It was a clear case of love at first sight. He was
+      in love with you before he ever knew your name. He asked me about you the
+      very first time I saw him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But tell me about his money, Bob,&rdquo; said his sister. &ldquo;He has not told me
+      yet, and I am so curious. How did he make it? It was not from his father;
+      he told me that himself. His father was just a country doctor. How did he
+      do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am bound over to secrecy. He will tell you himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but only tell me if I guess right. He had it left him by an uncle,
+      eh? Well, by a friend? Or he took out some wonderful patent? Or he
+      discovered a mine? Or oil? Do tell me, Robert!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mustn't, really,&rdquo; cried her brother laughing. &ldquo;And I must not talk to
+      you any more. You are much too sharp. I feel a responsibility about it;
+      and, besides, I must really do some work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It Is very unkind of you,&rdquo; said Laura, pouting. &ldquo;But I must put my things
+      on, for I go into Birmingham by the 1.20.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Birmingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have a hundred things to order. There is everything to be got. You
+      men forget about these details. Raffles wishes to have the wedding in
+      little more than a fortnight. Of course it will be very quiet, but still
+      one needs something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So early as that!&rdquo; said Robert, thoughtfully. &ldquo;Well, perhaps it is better
+      so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much better, Robert. Would it not be dreadful if Hector came back first
+      and there was a scene? If I were once married I should not mind. Why
+      should I? But of course Raffles knows nothing about him, and it would be
+      terrible if they came together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That must be avoided at any cost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I cannot bear even to think of it. Poor Hector! And yet what could I
+      do, Robert? You know that it was only a boy and girl affair. And how could
+      I refuse such an offer as this? It was a duty to my family, was it not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were placed in a difficult position&mdash;very difficult,&rdquo; her
+      brother answered. &ldquo;But all will be right, and I have no doubt Hector will
+      see it as you do. But does Mr. Spurling know of your engagement?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a word. He was here yesterday, and talked of Hector, but indeed I did
+      not know how to tell him. We are to be married by special licence in
+      Birmingham, so really there is no reason why he should know. But now I
+      must hurry or I shall miss my train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When his sister was gone Robert went up to his studio, and having ground
+      some colours upon his palette he stood for some time, brush and mahlstick
+      in hand, in front of his big bare canvas. But how profitless all his work
+      seemed to him now! What object had he in doing it? Was it to earn money?
+      Money could be had for the asking, or, for that matter, without the
+      asking. Or was it to produce a thing of beauty? But he had artistic
+      faults. Raffles Haw had said so, and he knew that he was right. After all
+      his pains the thing might not please; and with money he could at all times
+      buy pictures which would please, and which would be things of beauty.
+      What, then, was the object of his working? He could see none. He threw
+      down his brush, and, lighting his pipe, he strolled downstairs once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His father was standing in front of the fire, and in no very good humour,
+      as his red face and puckered eyes sufficed to show.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Robert,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;I suppose that, as usual, you have spent your
+      morning plotting against your father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean, father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean what I say. What is it but plotting when three folk&mdash;you and
+      she and this Raffles Haw&mdash;whisper and arrange and have meetings
+      without a word to me about it? What do I know of your plans?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot tell you secrets which are not my own, father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I'll have a voice in the matter, for all that. Secrets or no secrets,
+      you will find that Laura has a father, and that he is not a man to be set
+      aside. I may have had my ups and downs in trade, but I have not quite
+      fallen so low that I am nothing in my own family. What am I to get out of
+      this precious marriage?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What should you get? Surely Laura's happiness and welfare are enough for
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this man were really fond of Laura he would show proper consideration
+      for Laura's father. It was only yesterday that I asked him for a
+      loan-condescended actually to ask for it&mdash;I, who have been within an
+      ace of being Mayor of Birmingham! And he refused me point blank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, father! How could you expose yourself to such humiliation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Refused me point blank!&rdquo; cried the old man excitedly. &ldquo;It was against his
+      principles, if you please. But I'll be even with him&mdash;you see if I am
+      not. I know one or two things about him. What is it they call him at the
+      Three Pigeons? A 'smasher'&mdash;that's the word-a coiner of false money.
+      Why else should he have this metal sent him, and that great smoky chimney
+      of his going all day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why can you not leave him alone, father?&rdquo; expostulated Robert. &ldquo;You seem
+      to think of nothing but his money. If he had not a penny he would still be
+      a very kind-hearted, pleasant gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Old McIntyre burst into a hoarse laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I like to hear you preach,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Without a penny, indeed! Do you
+      think that you would dance attendance upon him if he were a poor man? Do
+      you think that Laura would ever have looked twice at him? You know as well
+      as I do that she is marrying him only for his money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert gave a cry of dismay. There was the alchemist standing in the
+      doorway, pale and silent, looking from one to the other of them with his
+      searching eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must apologise,&rdquo; he said coldly. &ldquo;I did not mean to listen to your
+      words. I could not help it. But I have heard them. As to you, Mr.
+      McIntyre, I believe that you speak from your own bad heart. I will not let
+      myself be moved by your words. In Robert I have a true friend. Laura also
+      loves me for my own sake. You cannot shake my faith in them. But with you,
+      Mr. McIntyre, I have nothing in common; and it is as well, perhaps, that
+      we should both recognise the fact.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed, and was gone ere either of the McIntyres could say a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see!&rdquo; said Robert at last. &ldquo;You have done now what you cannot undo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will be even with him!&rdquo; cried the old man furiously, shaking his fist
+      through the window at the dark slow-pacing figure. &ldquo;You just wait, Robert,
+      and see if your old dad is a man to be played with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. A MIDNIGHT VENTURE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Not a word was said to Laura when she returned as to the scene which had
+      occurred in her absence. She was in the gayest of spirits, and prattled
+      merrily about her purchases and her arrangements, wondering from time to
+      time when Raffles Haw would come. As night fell, however, without any word
+      from him, she became uneasy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can be the matter that he does not come?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It is the first
+      day since our engagement that I have not seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert looked out through the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a gusty night, and raining hard,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;I do not at all
+      expect him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor Hector used to come, rain, snow, or fine. But, then, of course, he
+      was a sailor. It was nothing to him. I hope that Raffles is not ill.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was quite well when I saw him this morning,&rdquo; answered her brother, and
+      they relapsed into silence, while the rain pattered against the windows,
+      and the wind screamed amid the branches of the elms outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old McIntyre had sat in the corner most of the day biting his nails and
+      glowering into the fire, with a brooding, malignant expression upon his
+      wrinkled features. Contrary to his usual habits, he did not go to the
+      village inn, but shuffled off early to bed without a word to his children.
+      Laura and Robert remained chatting for some time by the fire, she talking
+      of the thousand and one wonderful things which were to be done when she
+      was mistress of the New Hall. There was less philanthropy in her talk when
+      her future husband was absent, and Robert could not but remark that her
+      carriages, her dresses, her receptions, and her travels in distant
+      countries were the topics into which she threw all the enthusiasm which he
+      had formerly heard her bestow upon refuge homes and labour organisations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that greys are the nicest horses,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Bays are nice too,
+      but greys are more showy. We could manage with a brougham and a landau,
+      and perhaps a high dog-cart for Raffles. He has the coach-house full at
+      present, but he never uses them, and I am sure that those fifty horses
+      would all die for want of exercise, or get livers like Strasburg geese, if
+      they waited for him to ride or drive them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that you will still live here?&rdquo; said her brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must have a house in London as well, and run up for the season. I
+      don't, of course, like to make suggestions now, but it will be different
+      afterwards. I am sure that Raffles will do it if I ask him. It is all very
+      well for him to say that he does not want any thanks or honours, but I
+      should like to know what is the use of being a public benefactor if you
+      are to have no return for it. I am sure that if he does only half what he
+      talks of doing, they will make him a peer&mdash;Lord Tamfield, perhaps&mdash;and
+      then, of course, I shall be my Lady Tamfield, and what would you think of
+      that, Bob?&rdquo; She dropped him a stately curtsey, and tossed her head in the
+      air, as one who was born to wear a coronet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father must be pensioned off,&rdquo; she remarked presently. &ldquo;He shall have so
+      much a year on condition that he keeps away. As to you, Bob, I don't know
+      what we shall do for you. We shall make you President of the Royal Academy
+      if money can do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late before they ceased building their air-castles and retired to
+      their rooms. But Robert's brain was excited, and he could not sleep. The
+      events of the day had been enough to shake a stronger man. There had been
+      the revelation of the morning, the strange sights which he had witnessed
+      in the laboratory, and the immense secret which had been confided to his
+      keeping. Then there had been his conversation with his father in the
+      afternoon, their disagreement, and the sudden intrusion of Raffles Haw.
+      Finally the talk with his sister had excited his imagination, and driven
+      sleep from his eyelids. In vain he turned and twisted in his bed, or paced
+      the floor of his chamber. He was not only awake, but abnormally awake,
+      with every nerve highly strung, and every sense at the keenest. What was
+      he to do to gain a little sleep? It flashed across him that there was
+      brandy in the decanter downstairs, and that a glass might act as a
+      sedative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had opened the door of his room, when suddenly his ear caught the sound
+      of slow and stealthy footsteps upon the stairs. His own lamp was unlit,
+      but a dim glimmer came from a moving taper, and a long black shadow
+      travelled down the wall. He stood motionless, listening intently. The
+      steps were in the hall now, and he heard a gentle creaking as the key was
+      cautiously turned in the door. The next instant there came a gust of cold
+      air, the taper was extinguished, and a sharp snap announced that the door
+      had been closed from without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert stood astonished. Who could this night wanderer be? It must be his
+      father. But what errand could take him out at three in the morning? And
+      such a morning, too! With every blast of the wind the rain beat up against
+      his chamber-window as though it would drive it in. The glass rattled in
+      the frames, and the tree outside creaked and groaned as its great branches
+      were tossed about by the gale. What could draw any man forth upon such a
+      night?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hurriedly Robert struck a match and lit his lamp. His father's room was
+      opposite his own, and the door was ajar. He pushed it open and looked
+      about him. It was empty. The bed had not even been lain upon. The single
+      chair stood by the window, and there the old man must have sat since he
+      left them. There was no book, no paper, no means by which he could have
+      amused himself, nothing but a razor-strop lying on the window-sill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A feeling of impending misfortune struck cold to Robert's heart. There was
+      some ill-meaning in this journey of his father's. He thought of his
+      brooding of yesterday, his scowling face, his bitter threats. Yes, there
+      was some mischief underlying it. But perhaps he might even now be in time
+      to prevent it. There was no use calling Laura. She could be no help in the
+      matter. He hurriedly threw on his clothes, muffled himself in his
+      top-coat, and, seizing his hat and stick, he set off after his father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he came out into the village street the wind whirled down it, so that
+      he had to put his ear and shoulder against it, and push his way forward.
+      It was better, however, when he turned into the lane. The high bank and
+      the hedge sheltered him upon one side. The road, however, was deep in mud,
+      and the rain fell in a steady swish. Not a soul was to be seen, but he
+      needed to make no inquiries, for he knew whither his father had gone as
+      certainly as though he had seen him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The iron side gate of the avenue was half open, and Robert stumbled his
+      way up the gravelled drive amid the dripping fir-trees. What could his
+      father's intention be when he reached the Hall? Was it merely that he
+      wished to spy and prowl, or did he intend to call up the master and enter
+      into some discussion as to his wrongs? Or was it possible that some
+      blacker and more sinister design lay beneath his strange doings? Robert
+      thought suddenly of the razor-strop, and gasped with horror. What had the
+      old man been doing with that? He quickened his pace to a run, and hurried
+      on until he found himself at the door of the Hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thank God! all was quiet there. He stood by the big silent door and
+      listened intently. There was nothing to be heard save the wind and the
+      rain. Where, then, could his father be? If he wished to enter the Hall he
+      would not attempt to do so by one of the windows, for had he not been
+      present when Raffles Haw had shown them the precautions which he had
+      taken? But then a sudden thought struck Robert. There was one window which
+      was left unguarded. Haw had been imprudent enough to tell them so. It was
+      the middle window of the laboratory. If he remembered it so clearly, of
+      course his father would remember it too. There was the point of danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moment that he had come round the corner of the building he found that
+      his surmise had been correct. An electric lamp burned in the laboratory,
+      and the silver squares of the three large windows stood out clear and
+      bright in the darkness. The centre one had been thrown open, and, even as
+      he gazed, Robert saw a dark monkey-like figure spring up on to the sill,
+      and vanish into the room beyond. For a moment only it outlined itself
+      against the brilliant light beyond, but in that moment Robert had space to
+      see that it was indeed his father. On tiptoe he crossed the intervening
+      space, and peeped in through the open window. It was a singular spectacle
+      which met his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There stood upon the glass table some half-dozen large ingots of gold,
+      which had been made the night before, but which had not been removed to
+      the treasure-house. On these the old man had thrown himself, as one who
+      enters into his rightful inheritance. He lay across the table, his arms
+      clasping the bars of gold, his cheek pressed against them, crooning and
+      muttering to himself. Under the clear, still light, amid the giant wheels
+      and strange engines, that one little dark figure clutching and clinging to
+      the ingots had in it something both weird and piteous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For five minutes or more Robert stood in the darkness amid the rain,
+      looking in at this strange sight, while his father hardly moved save to
+      cuddle closer to the gold, and to pat it with his thin hands. Robert was
+      still uncertain what he should do, when his eyes wandered from the central
+      figure and fell on something else which made him give a little cry of
+      astonishment&mdash;a cry which was drowned amid the howling of the gale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raffles Haw was standing in the corner of the room. Where he had come from
+      Robert could not say, but he was certain that he had not been there when
+      he first looked in. He stood silent, wrapped in some long, dark
+      dressing-gown, his arms folded, and a bitter smile upon his pale face. Old
+      McIntyre seemed to see him at almost the same moment, for he snarled out
+      an oath, and clutched still closer at his treasure, looking slantwise at
+      the master of the house with furtive, treacherous eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it has really come to this!&rdquo; said Haw at last, taking a step forward.
+      &ldquo;You have actually fallen so low, Mr. McIntyre, as to steal into my house
+      at night like a common burglar. You knew that this window was unguarded. I
+      remember telling you as much. But I did not tell you what other means I
+      had adopted by which I might be warned if knaves made an entrance. But
+      that you should have come! You!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old gunmaker made no attempt to justify himself, but he muttered some
+      few hoarse words, and continued to cling to the treasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I love your daughter,&rdquo; said Raffles Haw, &ldquo;and for her sake I will not
+      expose you. Your hideous and infamous secret shall be safe with me. No ear
+      shall hear what has happened this night. I will not, as I might, arouse my
+      servants and send for the police. But you must leave my house without
+      further words. I have nothing more to say to you. Go as you have come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a step forward, and held out his hand as if to detach the old
+      man's grasp from the golden bars. The other thrust his hand into the
+      breast of his coat, and with a shrill scream of rage flung himself upon
+      the alchemist. So sudden and so fierce was the movement that Haw had no
+      time for defence. A bony hand gripped him by the throat, and the blade of
+      a razor flashed in the air. Fortunately, as it fell, the weapon struck
+      against one of the many wires which spanned the room, and flying out of
+      the old man's grasp, tinkled upon the stone floor. But, though disarmed,
+      he was still dangerous. With a horrible silent energy he pushed Haw back
+      and back until, coming to a bench, they both fell over it, McIntyre
+      remaining uppermost. His other hand was on the alchemist's throat, and it
+      might have fared ill with him had Robert not climbed through the window
+      and dragged his father off from him. With the aid of Haw, he pinned the
+      old man down, and passed a long cravat around his arms. It was terrible to
+      look at him, for his face was convulsed, his eyes bulging from his head,
+      and his lips white with foam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Haw leaned against the glass table panting, with his hand to his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You here, Robert?&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;Is it not horrible? How did you come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I followed him. I heard him go out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would have robbed me. And he would have murdered me. But he is mad&mdash;stark,
+      staring mad!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There could be no doubt of it. Old McIntyre was sitting up now, and burst
+      suddenly into a hoarse peal of laughter, rocking himself backwards and
+      forwards, and looking up at them with little twinkling, cunning eyes. It
+      was clear to both of them that his mind, weakened by long brooding over
+      the one idea, had now at last become that of a monomaniac. His horrid
+      causeless mirth was more terrible even than his fury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do with him?&rdquo; asked Haw. &ldquo;We cannot take him back to
+      Elmdene. It would be a terrible shock to Laura.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could have doctors to certify in the morning. Could we not keep him
+      here until then? If we take him back, some one will meet us, and there
+      will be a scandal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know. We will take him to one of the padded rooms, where he can neither
+      hurt himself nor anyone else. I am somewhat shaken myself. But I am better
+      now. Do you take one arm, and I will take the other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Half-leading and half-dragging him they managed between them to convey the
+      old gunmaker away from the scene of his disaster, and to lodge him for the
+      night in a place of safety. At five in the morning Robert had started in
+      the gig to make the medical arrangements, while Raffles Haw paced his
+      palatial house with a troubled face and a sad heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It may be that Laura did not look upon the removal of her father as an
+      unmixed misfortune. Nothing was said to her as to the manner of the old
+      man's seizure, but Robert informed her at breakfast that he had thought it
+      best, acting under medical advice, to place him for a time under some
+      restraint. She had herself frequently remarked upon the growing
+      eccentricity of his manner, so that the announcement could have been no
+      great surprise to her. It is certain that it did not diminish her appetite
+      for the coffee and the scrambled eggs, nor prevent her from chatting a
+      good deal about her approaching wedding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was very different with Raffles Haw. The incident had shocked him
+      to his inmost soul. He had often feared lest his money should do indirect
+      evil, but here were crime and madness arising before his very eyes from
+      its influence. In vain he tried to choke down his feelings, and to
+      persuade himself that this attack of old McIntyre's was something which
+      came of itself&mdash;something which had no connection with himself or his
+      wealth. He remembered the man as he had first met him, garrulous, foolish,
+      but with no obvious vices. He recalled the change which, week by week, had
+      come over him&mdash;his greedy eye, his furtive manner, his hints and
+      innuendoes, ending only the day before in a positive demand for money. It
+      was too certain that there was a chain of events there leading direct to
+      the horrible encounter in the laboratory. His money had cast a blight
+      where he had hoped to shed a blessing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Spurling, the vicar, was up shortly after breakfast, some rumour of
+      evil having come to his ears. It was good for Haw to talk with him, for
+      the fresh breezy manner of the old clergyman was a corrective to his own
+      sombre and introspective mood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prut, tut!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;This is very bad&mdash;very bad indeed! Mind
+      unhinged, you say, and not likely to get over it! Dear, dear! I have
+      noticed a change in him these last few weeks. He looked like a man who had
+      something upon his mind. And how is Mr. Robert McIntyre?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is very well. He was with me this morning when his father had this
+      attack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! There is a change in that young man. I observe an alteration in him.
+      You will forgive me, Mr. Raffles Haw, if I say a few serious words of
+      advice to you. Apart from my spiritual functions I am old enough to be
+      your father. You are a very wealthy man, and you have used your wealth
+      nobly&mdash;yes, sir, nobly. I do not think that there is a man in a
+      thousand who would have done as well. But don't you think sometimes that
+      it has a dangerous influence upon those who are around you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have sometimes feared so.&rdquo; &ldquo;We may pass over old Mr. McIntyre. It would
+      hardly be just, perhaps, to mention him in this connection. But there is
+      Robert. He used to take such an interest in his profession. He was so keen
+      about art. If you met him, the first words he said were usually some
+      reference to his plans, or the progress he was making in his latest
+      picture. He was ambitious, pushing, self-reliant. Now he does nothing. I
+      know for a fact that it is two months since he put brush to canvas. He has
+      turned from a student into an idler, and, what is worse, I fear into a
+      parasite. You will forgive me for speaking so plainly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raffles Haw said nothing, but he threw out his hands with a gesture of
+      pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then there is something to be said about the country folk,&rdquo; said the
+      vicar. &ldquo;Your kindness has been, perhaps, a little indiscriminate there.
+      They don't seem to be as helpful or as self-reliant as they used. There
+      was old Blaxton, whose cowhouse roof was blown off the other day. He used
+      to be a man who was full of energy and resource. Three months ago he would
+      have got a ladder and had that roof on again in two days' work. But now he
+      must sit down, and wring his hands, and write letters, because he knew
+      that it would come to your ears, and that you would make it good. There's
+      old Ellary, too! Well, of course he was always poor, but at least he did
+      something, and so kept himself out of mischief. Not a stroke will he do
+      now, but smokes and talks scandal from morning to night. And the worst of
+      it is, that it not only hurts those who have had your help, but it
+      unsettles those who have not. They all have an injured, surly feeling as
+      if other folk were getting what they had an equal right to. It has really
+      come to such a pitch that I thought it was a duty to speak to you about
+      it. Well, it is a new experience to me. I have often had to reprove my
+      parishioners for not being charitable enough, but it is very strange to
+      find one who is too charitable. It is a noble error.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you very much for letting me know about it,&rdquo; answered Raffles
+      Haw, as he shook the good old clergyman's hand. &ldquo;I shall certainly
+      reconsider my conduct in that respect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He kept a rigid and unmoved face until his visitor had gone, and then
+      retiring to his own little room, he threw himself upon the bed and burst
+      out sobbing with his face buried in the pillow. Of all men in England,
+      this, the richest, was on that day the most miserable. How could he use
+      this great power which he held? Every blessing which he tried to give
+      turned itself into a curse. His intentions were so good, and yet the
+      results were so terrible. It was as if he had some foul leprosy of the
+      mind which all caught who were exposed to his influence. His charity, so
+      well meant, so carefully bestowed, had yet poisoned the whole countryside.
+      And if in small things his results were so evil, how could he tell that
+      they would be better in the larger plans which he had formed? If he could
+      not pay the debts of a simple yokel without disturbing the great laws of
+      cause and effect which lie at the base of all things, what could he hope
+      for when he came to fill the treasury of nations, to interfere with the
+      complex conditions of trade, or to provide for great masses of the
+      population? He drew back with horror as he dimly saw that vast problems
+      faced him in which he might make errors which all his money could not
+      repair. The way of Providence was the straight way. Yet he, a half-blind
+      creature, must needs push in and strive to alter and correct it. Would he
+      be a benefactor? Might he not rather prove to be the greatest malefactor
+      that the world had seen?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But soon a calmer mood came upon him, and he rose and bathed his flushed
+      face and fevered brow. After all, was not there a field where all were
+      agreed that money might be well spent? It was not the way of nature, but
+      rather the way of man which he would alter. It was not Providence that had
+      ordained that folk should live half-starved and overcrowded in dreary
+      slums. That was the result of artificial conditions, and it might well be
+      healed by artificial means. Why should not his plans be successful after
+      all, and the world better for his discovery? Then again, it was not the
+      truth that he cast a blight on those with whom he was brought in contact.
+      There was Laura; who knew more of him than she did, and yet how good and
+      sweet and true she was! She at least had lost nothing through knowing him.
+      He would go down and see her. It would be soothing to hear her voice, and
+      to turn to her for words of sympathy in this his hour of darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The storm had died away, but a soft wind was blowing, and the smack of the
+      coming spring was in the air. He drew in the aromatic scent of the
+      fir-trees as he passed down the curving drive. Before him lay the long
+      sloping countryside, all dotted over with the farmsteadings and little red
+      cottages, with the morning sun striking slantwise upon their grey roofs
+      and glimmering windows. His heart yearned over all these people with their
+      manifold troubles, their little sordid miseries, their strivings and
+      hopings and petty soul-killing cares. How could he get at them? How could
+      he manage to lift the burden from them, and yet not hinder them in their
+      life aim? For more and more could he see that all refinement is through
+      sorrow, and that the life which does not refine is the life without an
+      aim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laura was alone in the sitting-room at Elmdene, for Robert had gone out to
+      make some final arrangements about his father. She sprang up as her lover
+      entered, and ran forward with a pretty girlish gesture to greet him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Raffles!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;I knew that you would come. Is it not dreadful
+      about papa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must not fret, dearest,&rdquo; he answered gently. &ldquo;It may not prove to be
+      so very grave after all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it all happened before I was stirring. I knew nothing about it until
+      breakfast-time. They must have gone up to the Hall very early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, they did come up rather early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with you, Raffles?&rdquo; cried Laura, looking up into his
+      face. &ldquo;You look so sad and weary!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been a little in the blues. The fact is, Laura, that I have had a
+      long talk with Mr. Spurling this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl started, and turned white to the lips. A long talk with Mr.
+      Spurling! Did that mean that he had learned her secret?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He tells me that my charity has done more harm than good, and in fact,
+      that I have had an evil influence upon every one whom I have come near. He
+      said it in the most delicate way, but that was really what it amounted
+      to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, is that all?&rdquo; said Laura, with a long sigh of relief. &ldquo;You must not
+      think of minding what Mr. Spurling says. Why, it is absurd on the face of
+      it! Everybody knows that there are dozens of men all over the country who
+      would have been ruined and turned out of their houses if you had not stood
+      their friend. How could they be the worse for having known you? I wonder
+      that Mr. Spurling can talk such nonsense!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is Robert's picture getting on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he has a lazy fit on him. He has not touched it for ever so long. But
+      why do you ask that? You have that furrow on your brow again. Put it away,
+      sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smoothed it away with her little white hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, at any rate, I don't think that quite everybody is the worse,&rdquo; said
+      he, looking down at her. &ldquo;There is one, at least, who is beyond taint, one
+      who is good, and pure, and true, and who would love me as well if I were a
+      poor clerk struggling for a livelihood. You would, would you not, Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You foolish boy! of course I would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet how strange it is that it should be so. That you, who are the
+      only woman whom I have ever loved, should be the only one in whom I also
+      have raised an affection which is free from greed or interest. I wonder
+      whether you may not have been sent by Providence simply to restore my
+      confidence in the world. How barren a place would it not be if it were not
+      for woman's love! When all seemed black around me this morning, I tell
+      you, Laura, that I seemed to turn to you and to your love as the one thing
+      on earth upon which I could rely. All else seemed shifting, unstable,
+      influenced by this or that base consideration. In you, and you only, could
+      I trust.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I in you, dear Raffles! I never knew what love was until I met you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took a step towards him, her hands advanced, love shining in her
+      features, when in an instant Raffles saw the colour struck from her face,
+      and a staring horror spring into her eyes. Her blanched and rigid face was
+      turned towards the open door, while he, standing partly behind it, could
+      not see what it was that had so moved her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hector!&rdquo; she gasped, with dry lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A quick step in the hall, and a slim, weather-tanned young man sprang
+      forward into the room, and caught her up in his arms as if she had been a
+      feather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You darling!&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I knew that I would surprise you. I came right up
+      from Plymouth by the night train. And I have long leave, and plenty of
+      time to get married. Isn't it jolly, dear Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He pirouetted round with her in the exuberance of his delight. As he spun
+      round, however, his eyes fell suddenly upon the pale and silent stranger
+      who stood by the door. Hector blushed furiously, and made an awkward
+      sailor bow, standing with Laura's cold and unresponsive hand still clasped
+      in his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very sorry, sir&mdash;didn't see you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You'll excuse my going
+      on in this mad sort of way, but if you had served you would know what it
+      is to get away from quarter-deck manners, and to be a free man. Miss
+      McIntyre will tell you that we have known each other since we were
+      children, and as we are to be married in, I hope, a month at the latest,
+      we understand each other pretty well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raffles Haw still stood cold and motionless. He was stunned, benumbed, by
+      what he saw and heard. Laura drew away from Hector, and tried to free her
+      hand from his grasp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn't you get my letter at Gibraltar?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never went to Gibraltar. Were ordered home by wire from Madeira. Those
+      chaps at the Admiralty never know their own minds for two hours together.
+      But what matter about a letter, Laura, so long as I can see you and speak
+      with you? You have not introduced me to your friend here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One word, sir,&rdquo; cried Raffles Haw in a quivering voice. &ldquo;Do I entirely
+      understand you? Let me be sure that there is no mistake. You say that you
+      are engaged to be married to Miss McIntyre?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I am. I've just come back from a four months' cruise, and I am
+      going to be married before I drag my anchor again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Four months!&rdquo; gasped Haw. &ldquo;Why, it is just four months since I came here.
+      And one last question, sir. Does Robert McIntyre know of your engagement?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does Bob know? Of course he knows. Why, it was to his care I left Laura
+      when I started. But what is the meaning of all this? What is the matter
+      with you, Laura? Why are you so white and silent? And&mdash;hallo! Hold
+      up, sir! The man is fainting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is all right!&rdquo; gasped Haw, steadying himself against the edge of the
+      door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was as white as paper, and his hand was pressed close to his side as
+      though some sudden pain had shot through him. For a moment he tottered
+      there like a stricken man, and then, with a hoarse cry, he turned and fled
+      out through the open door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor devil!&rdquo; said Hector, gazing in amazement after him. &ldquo;He seems hard
+      hit anyhow. But what is the meaning of all this, Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face had darkened, and his mouth had set.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had not said a word, but had stood with a face like a mask looking
+      blankly in front of her. Now she tore herself away from him, and, casting
+      herself down with her face buried in the cushion of the sofa, she burst
+      into a passion of sobbing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means that you have ruined me,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;That you have
+      ruined-ruined&mdash;ruined me! Could you not leave us alone? Why must you
+      come at the last moment? A few more days, and we were safe. And you never
+      had my letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what was in your letter, then?&rdquo; he asked coldly, standing with his
+      arms folded, looking down at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was to tell you that I released you. I love Raffles Haw, and I was to
+      have been his wife. And now it is all gone. Oh, Hector, I hate you, and I
+      shall always hate you as long as I live, for you have stepped between me
+      and the only good fortune that ever came to me. Leave me alone, and I hope
+      that you will never cross our threshold again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that your last word, Laura?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The last that I shall ever speak to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, good-bye. I shall see the Dad, and go straight back to Plymouth.&rdquo;
+       He waited an instant, in hopes of an answer, and then walked sadly from
+      the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. THE GREATER SECRET.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was late that night that a startled knocking came at the door of
+      Elmdene. Laura had been in her room all day, and Robert was moodily
+      smoking his pipe by the fire, when this harsh and sudden summons broke in
+      upon his thoughts. There in the porch was Jones, the stout head-butler of
+      the Hall, hatless, scared, with the raindrops shining in the lamplight
+      upon his smooth, bald head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please, Mr. McIntyre, sir, would it trouble you to step up to the
+      Hall?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;We are all frightened, sir, about master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Robert caught up his hat and started at a run, the frightened butler
+      trotting heavily beside him. It had been a day of excitement and disaster.
+      The young artist's heart was heavy within him, and the shadow of some
+      crowning trouble seemed to have fallen upon his soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with your master, then?&rdquo; he asked, as he slowed down
+      into a walk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don't know, sir; but we can't get an answer when we knock at the
+      laboratory door. Yet he's there, for it's locked on the inside. It has
+      given us all a scare, sir, that, and his goin's-on during the day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His goings-on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir; for he came back this morning like a man demented, a-talkin' to
+      himself, and with his eyes starin' so that it was dreadful to look at the
+      poor dear gentleman. Then he walked about the passages a long time, and he
+      wouldn't so much as look at his luncheon, but he went into the museum, and
+      gathered all his jewels and things, and carried them into the laboratory.
+      We don't know what he's done since then, sir, but his furnace has been
+      a-roarin', and his big chimney spoutin' smoke like a Birmingham factory.
+      When night came we could see his figure against the light, a-workin' and
+      a-heavin' like a man possessed. No dinner would he have, but work, and
+      work, and work. Now it's all quiet, and the furnace cold, and no smoke
+      from above, but we can't get no answer from him, sir, so we are scared,
+      and Miller has gone for the police, and I came away for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached the Hall as the butler finished his explanation, and there
+      outside the laboratory door stood the little knot of footmen and ostlers,
+      while the village policeman, who had just arrived, was holding his
+      bull's-eye to the keyhole, and endeavouring to peep through.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The key is half-turned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can't see nothing except just the
+      light.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here's Mr. McIntyre,&rdquo; cried half-a-dozen voices, as Robert came forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have to beat the door in, sir,&rdquo; said the policeman. &ldquo;We can't get
+      any sort of answer, and there's something wrong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Twice and thrice they threw their united weights against it until at last
+      with a sharp snap the lock broke, and they crowded into the narrow
+      passage. The inner door was ajar, and the laboratory lay before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the centre was an enormous heap of fluffy grey ash, reaching up
+      half-way to the ceiling. Beside it was another heap, much smaller, of some
+      brilliant scintillating dust, which shimmered brightly in the rays of the
+      electric light. All round was a bewildering chaos of broken jars,
+      shattered bottles, cracked machinery, and tangled wires, all bent and
+      draggled. And there in the midst of this universal ruin, leaning back in
+      his chair with his hands clasped upon his lap, and the easy pose of one
+      who rests after hard work safely carried through, sat Raffles Haw, the
+      master of the house, and the richest of mankind, with the pallor of death
+      upon his face. So easily he sat and so naturally, with such a serene
+      expression upon his features, that it was not until they raised him, and
+      touched his cold and rigid limbs, that they could realise that he had
+      indeed passed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reverently and slowly they bore him to his room, for he was beloved by all
+      who had served him. Robert alone lingered with the policeman in the
+      laboratory. Like a man in a dream he wandered about, marvelling at the
+      universal destruction. A large broad-headed hammer lay upon the ground,
+      and with this Haw had apparently set himself to destroy all his apparatus,
+      having first used his electrical machines to reduce to protyle all the
+      stock of gold which he had accumulated. The treasure-room which had so
+      dazzled Robert consisted now of merely four bare walls, while the gleaming
+      dust upon the floor proclaimed the fate of that magnificent collection of
+      gems which had alone amounted to a royal fortune. Of all the machinery no
+      single piece remained intact, and even the glass table was shattered into
+      three pieces. Strenuously earnest must have been the work which Raffles
+      Haw had done that day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And suddenly Robert thought of the secret which had been treasured in the
+      casket within the iron-clamped box. It was to tell him the one last
+      essential link which would make his knowledge of the process complete. Was
+      it still there? Thrilling all over, he opened the great chest, and drew
+      out the ivory box. It was locked, but the key was in it. He turned it and
+      threw open the lid. There was a white slip of paper with his own name
+      written upon it. With trembling fingers he unfolded it. Was he the heir to
+      the riches of El Dorado, or was he destined to be a poor struggling
+      artist? The note was dated that very evening, and ran in this way:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;MY DEAR ROBERT,&mdash;My secret shall never be used again. I cannot
+   tell you how I thank Heaven that I did not entirely confide it to
+   you, for I should have been handing over an inheritance of misery
+   both to yourself and others.  For myself I have hardly had a happy
+   moment since I discovered it. This I could have borne had I been
+   able to feel that I was doing good, but, alas! the only effect of my
+   attempts has been to turn workers into idlers, contented men into
+   greedy parasites, and, worst of all, true, pure women into
+   deceivers and hypocrites.  If this is the effect of my interference
+   on a small scale, I cannot hope for anything better were I to carry
+   out the plans which we have so often discussed.  The schemes of my
+   life have all turned to nothing.  For myself, you shall never see me
+   again.  I shall go back to the student life from which I emerged.
+   There, at least, if I can do little good, I can do no harm.  It is
+   my wish that such valuables as remain in the Hall should be sold,
+   and the proceeds divided amidst all the charities of Birmingham.
+   I shall leave tonight if I am well enough, but I have been much
+   troubled all day by a stabbing pain in my side.  It is as if wealth
+   were as bad for health as it is for peace of mind.  Good-bye,
+   Robert, and may you never have as sad a heart as I have to-night.
+   Yours very truly,
+   RAFFLES HAW.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it suicide, sir? Was it suicide?&rdquo; broke in the policeman as Robert
+      put the note in his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;I think it was a broken heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And so the wonders of the New Hall were all dismantled, the carvings and
+      the gold, the books and the pictures, and many a struggling man or woman
+      who had heard nothing of Raffles Haw during his life had cause to bless
+      him after his death. The house has been bought by a company now, who have
+      turned it into a hydropathic establishment, and of all the folk who
+      frequent it in search of health or of pleasure there are few who know the
+      strange story which is connected with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The blight which Haw's wealth cast around it seemed to last even after his
+      death. Old McIntyre still raves in the County Lunatic Asylum, and
+      treasures up old scraps of wood and metal under the impression that they
+      are all ingots of gold. Robert McIntyre is a moody and irritable man, for
+      ever pursuing a quest which will always evade him. His art is forgotten,
+      and he spends his whole small income upon chemical and electrical
+      appliances, with which he vainly seeks to rediscover that one hidden link.
+      His sister keeps house for him, a silent and brooding woman, still queenly
+      and beautiful, but of a bitter, dissatisfied mind. Of late, however, she
+      has devoted herself to charity, and has been of so much help to Mr.
+      Spurling's new curate that it is thought that he may be tempted to secure
+      her assistance for ever. So runs the gossip of the village, and in small
+      places such gossip is seldom wrong. As to Hector Spurling, he is still in
+      her Majesty's service, and seems inclined to abide by his father's wise
+      advice, that he should not think of marrying until he was a Commander. It
+      is possible that of all who were brought within the spell of Raffles Haw
+      he was the only one who had occasion to bless it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/8394.txt b/8394.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/8394.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4420 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+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 Doings Of Raffles Haw
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #8394]
+Release Date: June, 2005
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lionel G. Sear
+
+
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+ 1.  A DOUBLE ENIGMA
+
+ 2.  THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+ 3.  A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+ 4.  FROM CLIME TO CLIME.
+
+ 5.  LAURA'S REQUEST
+
+ 6.  A STRANGE VISITOR
+
+ 7.  THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+ 8.  A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+ 9.  A NEW DEPARTURE
+
+10. THE GREAT SECRET
+
+11. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+12. A FAMILY JAR.
+
+13. A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
+
+14. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+15. THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. A DOUBLE ENIGMA.
+
+
+"I'm afraid that he won't come," said Laura McIntyre, in a disconsolate
+voice.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Oh, look at the weather; it is something too awful."
+
+As she spoke a whirl of snow beat with a muffled patter against the cosy
+red-curtained window, while a long blast of wind shrieked and whistled
+through the branches of the great white-limbed elms which skirted the
+garden.
+
+Robert McIntyre rose from the sketch upon which he had been working, and
+taking one of the lamps in his hand peered out into the darkness. The
+long skeleton limbs of the bare trees tossed and quivered dimly amid the
+whirling drift. His sister sat by the fire, her fancy-work in her lap,
+and looked up at her brothers profile which showed against the brilliant
+yellow light. It was a handsome face, young and fair and clear cut, with
+wavy brown hair combed backwards and rippling down into that outward
+curve at the ends which one associates with the artistic temperament.
+There was refinement too in his slightly puckered eyes, his dainty
+gold-rimmed _pince-nez_ glasses, and in the black velveteen coat which
+caught the light so richly upon its shoulder. In his mouth only
+there was something--a suspicion of coarseness, a possibility of
+weakness--which in the eyes of some, and of his sister among them,
+marred the grace and beauty of his features. Yet, as he was wont himself
+to say, when one thinks that each poor mortal is heir to a legacy of
+every evil trait or bodily taint of so vast a line of ancestors, lucky
+indeed is the man who does not find that Nature has scored up some
+long-owing family debt upon his features.
+
+And indeed in this case the remorseless creditor had gone so far as to
+exact a claim from the lady also, though in her case the extreme beauty
+of the upper part of the face drew the eye away from any weakness which
+might be found in the lower. She was darker than her brother--so dark
+that her heavily coiled hair seemed to be black until the light shone
+slantwise across it. The delicate, half-petulant features, the finely
+traced brows, and the thoughtful, humorous eyes were all perfect in
+their way, and yet the combination left something to be desired. There
+was a vague sense of a flaw somewhere, in feature or in expression,
+which resolved itself, when analysed, into a slight out-turning and
+droop of the lower lip; small indeed, and yet pronounced enough to turn
+what would have been a beautiful face into a merely pretty one. Very
+despondent and somewhat cross she looked as she leaned back in the
+armchair, the tangle of bright-coloured silks and of drab holland upon
+her lap, her hands clasped behind her head, with her snowy forearms and
+little pink elbows projecting on either side.
+
+"I know he won't come," she repeated.
+
+"Nonsense, Laura! Of course he'll come. A sailor and afraid of the
+weather!"
+
+"Ha!" She raised her finger, and a smile of triumph played over her
+face, only to die away again into a blank look of disappointment. "It is
+only papa," she murmured.
+
+A shuffling step was heard in the hall, and a little peaky man, with his
+slippers very much down at the heels, came shambling into the room. Mr.
+McIntyre, sen., was pale and furtive-looking, with a thin straggling
+red beard shot with grey, and a sunken downcast face. Ill-fortune and
+ill-health had both left their marks upon him. Ten years before he had
+been one of the largest and richest gunmakers in Birmingham, but a long
+run of commercial bad luck had sapped his great fortune, and had finally
+driven him into the Bankruptcy Court. The death of his wife on the very
+day of his insolvency had filled his cup of sorrow, and he had gone
+about since with a stunned, half-dazed expression upon his weak pallid
+face which spoke of a mind unhinged. So complete had been his downfall
+that the family would have been reduced to absolute poverty were it not
+for a small legacy of two-hundred a year which both the children had
+received from one of their uncles upon the mother's side who had amassed
+a fortune in Australia. By combining their incomes, and by taking a
+house in the quiet country district of Tamfield, some fourteen miles
+from the great Midland city, they were still able to live with some
+approach to comfort. The change, however, was a bitter one to all--to
+Robert, who had to forego the luxuries dear to his artistic temperament,
+and to think of turning what had been merely an overruling hobby into a
+means of earning a living; and even more to Laura, who winced before
+the pity of her old friends, and found the lanes and fields of
+Tamfield intolerably dull after the life and bustle of Edgbaston. Their
+discomfort was aggravated by the conduct of their father, whose life
+now was one long wail over his misfortunes, and who alternately sought
+comfort in the Prayer-book and in the decanter for the ills which had
+befallen him.
+
+To Laura, however, Tamfield presented one attraction, which was now
+about to be taken from her. Their choice of the little country hamlet as
+their residence had been determined by the fact of their old friend,
+the Reverend John Spurling, having been nominated as the vicar. Hector
+Spurling, the elder son, two months Laura's senior, had been engaged to
+her for some years, and was, indeed, upon the point of marrying her when
+the sudden financial crash had disarranged their plans. A sub-lieutenant
+in the Navy, he was home on leave at present, and hardly an evening
+passed without his making his way from the Vicarage to Elmdene, where
+the McIntyres resided. To-day, however, a note had reached them to
+the effect that he had been suddenly ordered on duty, and that he must
+rejoin his ship at Portsmouth by the next evening. He would look in,
+were it but for half-an-hour, to bid them adieu.
+
+"Why, where's Hector?" asked Mr. McIntyre, blinking round from side to
+side.
+
+"He's not come, father. How could you expect him to come on such a night
+as this? Why, there must be two feet of snow in the glebe field."
+
+"Not come, eh?" croaked the old man, throwing himself down upon the
+sofa. "Well, well, it only wants him and his father to throw us over,
+and the thing will be complete."
+
+"How can you even hint at such a thing, father?" cried Laura
+indignantly. "They have been as true as steel. What would they think if
+they heard you."
+
+"I think, Robert," he said, disregarding his daughter's protest, "that
+I will have a drop, just the very smallest possible drop, of brandy. A
+mere thimbleful will do; but I rather think I have caught cold during
+the snowstorm to-day."
+
+Robert went on sketching stolidly in his folding book, but Laura looked
+up from her work.
+
+"I'm afraid there is nothing in the house, father," she said.
+
+"Laura! Laura!" He shook his head as one more in sorrow than in anger.
+"You are no longer a girl, Laura; you are a woman, the manager of a
+household, Laura. We trust in you. We look entirely towards you. And yet
+you leave your poor brother Robert without any brandy, to say nothing of
+me, your father. Good heavens, Laura! what would your mother have said?
+Think of accidents, think of sudden illness, think of apoplectic fits,
+Laura. It is a very grave res--a very grave response--a very great risk
+that you run."
+
+"I hardly touch the stuff," said Robert curtly; "Laura need not provide
+any for me."
+
+"As a medicine it is invaluable, Robert. To be used, you understand, and
+not to be abused. That's the whole secret of it. But I'll step down to
+the Three Pigeons for half an hour."
+
+"My dear father," cried the young man "you surely are not going out upon
+such a night. If you must have brandy could I not send Sarah for some?
+Please let me send Sarah; or I would go myself, or--"
+
+Pip! came a little paper pellet from his sister's chair on to the
+sketch-book in front of him! He unrolled it and held it to the light.
+
+"For Heaven's sake let him go!" was scrawled across it.
+
+"Well, in any case, wrap yourself up warm," he continued, laying bare
+his sudden change of front with a masculine clumsiness which horrified
+his sister. "Perhaps it is not so cold as it looks. You can't lose your
+way, that is one blessing. And it is not more than a hundred yards."
+
+With many mumbles and grumbles at his daughter's want of foresight, old
+McIntyre struggled into his great-coat and wrapped his scarf round his
+long thin throat. A sharp gust of cold wind made the lamps flicker as he
+threw open the hall-door. His two children listened to the dull fall of
+his footsteps as he slowly picked out the winding garden path.
+
+"He gets worse--he becomes intolerable," said Robert at last. "We should
+not have let him out; he may make a public exhibition of himself."
+
+"But it's Hector's last night," pleaded Laura. "It would be dreadful if
+they met and he noticed anything. That was why I wished him to go."
+
+"Then you were only just in time," remarked her brother, "for I hear the
+gate go, and--yes, you see."
+
+As he spoke a cheery hail came from outside, with a sharp rat-tat at the
+window. Robert stepped out and threw open the door to admit a tall young
+man, whose black frieze jacket was all mottled and glistening with snow
+crystals. Laughing loudly he shook himself like a Newfoundland dog, and
+kicked the snow from his boots before entering the little lamplit room.
+
+Hector Spurling's profession was written in every line of his face.
+The clean-shaven lip and chin, the little fringe of side whisker, the
+straight decisive mouth, and the hard weather-tanned cheeks all spoke of
+the Royal Navy. Fifty such faces may be seen any night of the year round
+the mess-table of the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth Dockyard--faces
+which bear a closer resemblance to each other than brother does commonly
+to brother. They are all cast in a common mould, the products of a
+system which teaches early self-reliance, hardihood, and manliness--a
+fine type upon the whole; less refined and less intellectual, perhaps,
+than their brothers of the land, but full of truth and energy and
+heroism. In figure he was straight, tall, and well-knit, with keen grey
+eyes, and the sharp prompt manner of a man who has been accustomed both
+to command and to obey.
+
+"You had my note?" he said, as he entered the room. "I have to go again,
+Laura. Isn't it a bore? Old Smithers is short-handed, and wants me back
+at once." He sat down by the girl, and put his brown hand across her
+white one. "It won't be a very large order this time," he continued.
+"It's the flying squadron business--Madeira, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and
+home. I shouldn't wonder if we were back in March."
+
+"It seems only the other day that you landed." she answered.
+
+"Poor little girl! But it won't be long. Mind you take good care of her,
+Robert when I am gone. And when I come again, Laura, it will be the last
+time mind! Hang the money! There are plenty who manage on less. We need
+not have a house. Why should we? You can get very nice rooms in Southsea
+at 2 pounds a week. McDougall, our paymaster, has just married, and he
+only gives thirty shillings. You would not be afraid, Laura?"
+
+"No, indeed."
+
+"The dear old governor is so awfully cautious. Wait, wait, wait, that's
+always his cry. I tell him that he ought to have been in the Government
+Heavy Ordnance Department. But I'll speak to him tonight. I'll talk him
+round. See if I don't. And you must speak to your own governor. Robert
+here will back you up. And here are the ports and the dates that we are
+due at each. Mind that you have a letter waiting for me at every one."
+
+He took a slip of paper from the side pocket of his coat, but, instead
+of handing it to the young lady, he remained staring at it with the
+utmost astonishment upon his face.
+
+"Well, I never!" he exclaimed. "Look here, Robert; what do you call
+this?"
+
+"Hold it to the light. Why, it's a fifty-pound Bank of England note.
+Nothing remarkable about it that I can see."
+
+"On the contrary. It's the queerest thing that ever happened to me. I
+can't make head or tail of it."
+
+"Come, then, Hector," cried Miss McIntyre with a challenge in her eyes.
+"Something very queer happened to me also to-day. I'll bet a pair of
+gloves that my adventure was more out of the common than yours, though I
+have nothing so nice to show at the end of it."
+
+"Come, I'll take that, and Robert here shall be the judge."
+
+"State your cases." The young artist shut up his sketch-book, and rested
+his head upon his hands with a face of mock solemnity. "Ladies first! Go
+along Laura, though I think I know something of your adventure already."
+
+"It was this morning, Hector," she said. "Oh, by the way, the story will
+make you wild. I had forgotten that. However, you mustn't mind, because,
+really, the poor fellow was perfectly mad."
+
+"What on earth was it?" asked the young officer, his eyes travelling
+from the bank-note to his _fiancee_.
+
+"Oh, it was harmless enough, and yet you will confess it was very queer.
+I had gone out for a walk, but as the snow began to fall I took shelter
+under the shed which the workmen have built at the near end of the great
+new house. The men have gone, you know, and the owner is supposed to be
+coming to-morrow, but the shed is still standing. I was sitting there
+upon a packing-case when a man came down the road and stopped under the
+same shelter. He was a quiet, pale-faced man, very tall and thin, not
+much more than thirty, I should think, poorly dressed, but with the look
+and bearing of a gentleman. He asked me one or two questions about the
+village and the people, which, of course, I answered, until at last we
+found ourselves chatting away in the pleasantest and easiest fashion
+about all sorts of things. The time passed so quickly that I forgot all
+about the snow until he drew my attention to its having stopped for
+the moment. Then, just as I was turning to go, what in the world do you
+suppose that he did? He took a step towards me, looked in a sad pensive
+way into my face, and said: `I wonder whether you could care for me if
+I were without a penny.' Wasn't it strange? I was so frightened that I
+whisked out of the shed, and was off down the road before he could add
+another word. But really, Hector, you need not look so black, for when
+I look back at it I can quite see from his tone and manner that he meant
+no harm. He was thinking aloud, without the least intention of being
+offensive. I am convinced that the poor fellow was mad."
+
+"Hum! There was some method in his madness, it seems to me," remarked
+her brother.
+
+"There would have been some method in my kicking," said the lieutenant
+savagely. "I never heard of a more outrageous thing in my life."
+
+"Now, I said that you would be wild!" She laid her white hand upon the
+sleeve of his rough frieze jacket. "It was nothing. I shall never see
+the poor fellow again. He was evidently a stranger to this part of the
+country. But that was my little adventure. Now let us have yours."
+
+The young man crackled the bank-note between his fingers and thumb,
+while he passed his other hand over his hair with the action of a man
+who strives to collect himself.
+
+"It is some ridiculous mistake," he said. "I must try and set it right.
+Yet I don't know how to set about it either. I was going down to the
+village from the Vicarage just after dusk when I found a fellow in a
+trap who had got himself into broken water. One wheel had sunk into the
+edge of the ditch which had been hidden by the snow, and the whole thing
+was high and dry, with a list to starboard enough to slide him out of
+his seat. I lent a hand, of course, and soon had the wheel in the road
+again. It was quite dark, and I fancy that the fellow thought that I was
+a bumpkin, for we did not exchange five words. As he drove off he shoved
+this into my hand. It is the merest chance that I did not chuck it away,
+for, feeling that it was a crumpled piece of paper, I imagined that it
+must be a tradesman's advertisement or something of the kind. However,
+as luck would have it, I put it in my pocket, and there I found it when
+I looked for the dates of our cruise. Now you know as much of the matter
+as I do."
+
+Brother and sister stared at the black and white crinkled note with
+astonishment upon their faces.
+
+"Why, your unknown traveller must have been Monte Cristo, or Rothschild
+at the least!" said Robert. "I am bound to say, Laura, that I think you
+have lost your bet."
+
+"Oh, I am quite content to lose it. I never heard of such a piece of
+luck. What a perfectly delightful man this must be to know."
+
+"But I can't take his money," said Hector Spurling, looking somewhat
+ruefully at the note. "A little prize-money is all very well in its way,
+but a Johnny must draw the line somewhere. Besides it must have been
+a mistake. And yet he meant to give me something big, for he could not
+mistake a note for a coin. I suppose I must advertise for the fellow."
+
+"It seems a pity too," remarked Robert. "I must say that I don't quite
+see it in the same light that you do."
+
+"Indeed I think that you are very Quixotic, Hector," said Laura
+McIntyre. "Why should you not accept it in the spirit in which it was
+meant? You did this stranger a service--perhaps a greater service than
+you know of--and he meant this as a little memento of the occasion. I do
+not see that there is any possible reason against your keeping it."
+
+"Oh, come!" said the young sailor, with an embarrassed laugh, "it is not
+quite the thing--not the sort of story one would care to tell at mess."
+
+"In any case you are off to-morrow morning," observed Robert. "You have
+no time to make inquiries about the mysterious Croesus. You must really
+make the best of it."
+
+"Well, look here, Laura, you put it in your work-basket," cried Hector
+Spurling. "You shall be my banker, and if the rightful owner turns up
+then I can refer him to you. If not, I suppose we must look on it as a
+kind of salvage-money, though I am bound to say I don't feel entirely
+comfortable about it." He rose to his feet, and threw the note down into
+the brown basket of coloured wools which stood beside her. "Now, Laura,
+I must up anchor, for I promised the governor to be back by nine. It
+won't be long this time, dear, and it shall be the last. Good-bye,
+Robert! Good luck!"
+
+"Good-bye, Hector! _Bon voyage!_"
+
+The young artist remained by the table, while his sister followed her
+lover to the door. In the dim light of the hall he could see their
+figures and overhear their words.
+
+"Next time, little girl?"
+
+"Next time be it, Hector."
+
+"And nothing can part us?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"In the whole world?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+Robert discreetly closed the door. A moment later a thud from without,
+and the quick footsteps crunching on the snow told him that their
+visitor had departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+
+The snow had ceased to fall, but for a week a hard frost had held the
+country side in its iron grip. The roads rang under the horses' hoofs,
+and every wayside ditch and runlet was a street of ice. Over the long
+undulating landscape the red brick houses peeped out warmly against the
+spotless background, and the lines of grey smoke streamed straight up
+into the windless air. The sky was of the lightest palest blue, and
+the morning sun, shining through the distant fog-wreaths of Birmingham,
+struck a subdued glow from the broad-spread snow fields which might have
+gladdened the eyes of an artist.
+
+It did gladden the heart of one who viewed it that morning from the
+summit of the gently-curving Tamfield Hill Robert McIntyre stood with
+his elbows upon a gate-rail, his Tam-o'-Shanter hat over his eyes, and
+a short briar-root pipe in his mouth, looking slowly about him, with the
+absorbed air of one who breathes his fill of Nature. Beneath him to
+the north lay the village of Tamfield, red walls, grey roofs, and a
+scattered bristle of dark trees, with his own little Elmdene nestling
+back from the broad, white winding Birmingham Road. At the other
+side, as he slowly faced round, lay a vast stone building, white and
+clear-cut, fresh from the builders' hands. A great tower shot up from
+one corner of it, and a hundred windows twinkled ruddily in the light of
+the morning sun. A little distance from it stood a second small square
+low-lying structure, with a tall chimney rising from the midst of it,
+rolling out a long plume of smoke into the frosty air. The whole vast
+structure stood within its own grounds, enclosed by a stately park
+wall, and surrounded by what would in time be an extensive plantation
+of fir-trees. By the lodge gates a vast pile of _debris_, with lines
+of sheds for workmen, and huge heaps of planks from scaffoldings, all
+proclaimed that the work had only just been brought to an end.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked down with curious eyes at the broad-spread
+building. It had long been a mystery and a subject of gossip for the
+whole country side. Hardly a year had elapsed since the rumour had first
+gone about that a millionaire had bought a tract of land, and that it
+was his intention to build a country seat upon it. Since then the work
+had been pushed on night and day, until now it was finished to the
+last detail in a shorter time than it takes to build many a six-roomed
+cottage. Every morning two long special trains had arrived from
+Birmingham, carrying down a great army of labourers, who were relieved
+in the evening by a fresh gang, who carried on their task under the rays
+of twelve enormous electric lights. The number of workmen appeared to be
+only limited by the space into which they could be fitted. Great lines
+of waggons conveyed the white Portland stone from the depot by the
+station. Hundreds of busy toilers handed it over, shaped and squared, to
+the actual masons, who swung it up with steam cranes on to the growing
+walls, where it was instantly fitted and mortared by their companions.
+Day by day the house shot higher, while pillar and cornice and carving
+seemed to bud out from it as if by magic. Nor was the work confined
+to the main building. A large separate structure sprang up at the same
+time, and there came gangs of pale-faced men from London with much
+extraordinary machinery, vast cylinders, wheels and wires, which they
+fitted up in this outlying building. The great chimney which rose from
+the centre of it, combined with these strange furnishings, seemed to
+mean that it was reserved as a factory or place of business, for it
+was rumoured that this rich man's hobby was the same as a poor man's
+necessity, and that he was fond of working with his own hands amid
+chemicals and furnaces. Scarce, too, was the second storey begun ere the
+wood-workers and plumbers and furnishers were busy beneath, carrying
+out a thousand strange and costly schemes for the greater comfort and
+convenience of the owner. Singular stories were told all round the
+country, and even in Birmingham itself, of the extraordinary luxury and
+the absolute disregard for money which marked all these arrangements.
+No sum appeared to be too great to spend upon the smallest detail which
+might do away with or lessen any of the petty inconveniences of life.
+Waggons and waggons of the richest furniture had passed through the
+village between lines of staring villagers. Costly skins, glossy
+carpets, rich rugs, ivory, and ebony, and metal; every glimpse into
+these storehouses of treasure had given rise to some new legend. And
+finally, when all had been arranged, there had come a staff of forty
+servants, who heralded the approach of the owner, Mr. Raffles Haw
+himself.
+
+It was no wonder, then, that it was with considerable curiosity that
+Robert McIntyre looked down at the great house, and marked the smoking
+chimneys, the curtained windows, and the other signs which showed that
+its tenant had arrived. A vast area of greenhouses gleamed like a lake
+on the further side, and beyond were the long lines of stables and
+outhouses. Fifty horses had passed through Tamfield the week before, so
+that, large as were the preparations, they were not more than would
+be needed. Who and what could this man be who spent his money with
+so lavish a hand? His name was unknown. Birmingham was as ignorant as
+Tamfield as to his origin or the sources of his wealth. Robert McIntyre
+brooded languidly over the problem as he leaned against the gate,
+puffing his blue clouds of bird's-eye into the crisp, still air.
+
+Suddenly his eye caught a dark figure emerging from the Avenue gates and
+striding up the winding road. A few minutes brought him near enough to
+show a familiar face looking over the stiff collar and from under the
+soft black hat of an English clergyman.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Spurling."
+
+"Ah, good-morning, Robert. How are you? Are you coming my way? How
+slippery the roads are!"
+
+His round, kindly face was beaming with good nature, and he took little
+jumps as he walked, like a man who can hardly contain himself for
+pleasure.
+
+"Have you heard from Hector?"
+
+"Oh, yes. He went off all right last Wednesday from Spithead, and he
+will write from Madeira. But you generally have later news at Elmdene
+than I have."
+
+"I don't know whether Laura has heard. Have you been up to see the new
+comer?"
+
+"Yes; I have just left him."
+
+"Is he a married man--this Mr. Raffles Haw?"
+
+"No, he is a bachelor. He does not seem to have any relations either, as
+far as I could learn. He lives alone, amid his huge staff of servants.
+It is a most remarkable establishment. It made me think of the Arabian
+Nights."
+
+"And the man? What is he like?"
+
+"He is an angel--a positive angel. I never heard or read of such
+kindness in my life. He has made me a happy man."
+
+The clergyman's eyes sparkled with emotion, and he blew his nose loudly
+in his big red handkerchief.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked at him in surprise.
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," he said. "May I ask what he has done?"
+
+"I went up to him by appointment this morning. I had written asking him
+if I might call. I spoke to him of the parish and its needs, of my long
+struggle to restore the south side of the church, and of our efforts
+to help my poor parishioners during this hard weather. While I spoke
+he said not a word, but sat with a vacant face, as though he were not
+listening to me. When I had finished he took up his pen. 'How much will
+it take to do the church?' he asked. 'A thousand pounds,' I answered;
+'but we have already raised three hundred among ourselves. The Squire
+has very handsomely given fifty pounds.' 'Well,' said he, 'how about
+the poor folk? How many families are there?' 'About three hundred,' I
+answered. 'And coals, I believe, are at about a pound a ton', said he.
+'Three tons ought to see them through the rest of the winter. Then you
+can get a very fair pair of blankets for two pounds. That would make
+five pounds per family, and seven hundred for the church.' He dipped his
+pen in the ink, and, as I am a living man, Robert, he wrote me a cheque
+then and there for two thousand two hundred pounds. I don't know what
+I said; I felt like a fool; I could not stammer out words with which
+to thank him. All my troubles have been taken from my shoulders in an
+instant, and indeed, Robert, I can hardly realise it."
+
+"He must be a most charitable man."
+
+"Extraordinarily so. And so unpretending. One would think that it was
+I who was doing the favour and he who was the beggar. I thought of that
+passage about making the heart of the widow sing for joy. He made my
+heart sing for joy, I can tell you. Are you coming up to the Vicarage?"
+
+"No, thank you, Mr. Spurling. I must go home and get to work on my new
+picture. It's a five-foot canvas--the landing of the Romans in Kent. I
+must have another try for the Academy. Good-morning."
+
+He raised his hat and continued down the road, while the vicar turned
+off into the path which led to his home.
+
+Robert McIntyre had converted a large bare room in the upper storey of
+Elmdene into a studio, and thither he retreated after lunch. It was
+as well that he should have some little den of his own, for his father
+would talk of little save of his ledgers and accounts, while Laura
+had become peevish and querulous since the one tie which held her
+to Tamfield had been removed. The chamber was a bare and bleak one,
+un-papered and un-carpeted, but a good fire sparkled in the grate, and
+two large windows gave him the needful light. His easel stood in the
+centre, with the great canvas balanced across it, while against the
+walls there leaned his two last attempts, "The Murder of Thomas of
+Canterbury" and "The Signing of Magna Charta." Robert had a weakness for
+large subjects and broad effects. If his ambition was greater than
+his skill, he had still all the love of his art and the patience under
+discouragement which are the stuff out of which successful painters are
+made. Twice his brace of pictures had journeyed to town, and twice they
+had come back to him, until the finely gilded frames which had made such
+a call upon his purse began to show signs of these varied adventures.
+Yet, in spite of their depressing company, Robert turned to his fresh
+work with all the enthusiasm which a conviction of ultimate success can
+inspire.
+
+But he could not work that afternoon.
+
+In vain he dashed in his background and outlined the long curves of the
+Roman galleys. Do what he would, his mind would still wander from his
+work to dwell upon his conversation with the vicar in the morning. His
+imagination was fascinated by the idea of this strange man living alone
+amid a crowd, and yet wielding such a power that with one dash of his
+pen he could change sorrow into joy, and transform the condition of
+a whole parish. The incident of the fifty-pound note came back to his
+mind. It must surely have been Raffles Haw with whom Hector Spurling
+had come in contact. There could not be two men in one parish to whom so
+large a sum was of so small an account as to be thrown to a bystander in
+return for a trifling piece of assistance. Of course, it must have been
+Raffles Haw. And his sister had the note, with instructions to return
+it to the owner, could he be found. He threw aside his palette, and
+descending into the sitting-room he told Laura and his father of his
+morning's interview with the vicar, and of his conviction that this was
+the man of whom Hector was in quest.
+
+"Tut! Tut!" said old McIntyre. "How is this, Laura? I knew nothing of
+this. What do women know of money or of business? Hand the note over to
+me and I shall relieve you of all responsibility. I will take everything
+upon myself."
+
+"I cannot possibly, papa," said Laura, with decision. "I should not
+think of parting with it."
+
+"What is the world coming to?" cried the old man, with his thin hands
+held up in protest. "You grow more undutiful every day, Laura. This
+money would be of use to me--of use, you understand. It may be the
+corner-stone of the vast business which I shall re-construct. I will use
+it, Laura, and I will pay something--four, shall we say, or even
+four and a-half--and you may have it back on any day. And I will give
+security--the security of my--well, of my word of honour."
+
+"It is quite impossible, papa," his daughter answered coldly. "It is not
+my money. Hector asked me to be his banker. Those were his very words.
+It is not in my power to lend it. As to what you say, Robert, you may
+be right or you may be wrong, but I certainly shall not give Mr. Raffles
+Haw or anyone else the money without Hector's express command."
+
+"You are very right about not giving it to Mr. Raffles Haw," cried old
+McIntyre, with many nods of approbation. "I should certainly not let it
+go out of the family."
+
+"Well, I thought that I would tell you."
+
+Robert picked up his Tam-o'-Shanter and strolled out to avoid the
+discussion between his father and sister, which he saw was about to
+be renewed. His artistic nature revolted at these petty and sordid
+disputes, and he turned to the crisp air and the broad landscape to
+soothe his ruffled feelings. Avarice had no place among his failings,
+and his father's perpetual chatter about money inspired him with a
+positive loathing and disgust for the subject.
+
+Robert was lounging slowly along his favourite walk which curled
+over the hill, with his mind turning from the Roman invasion to the
+mysterious millionaire, when his eyes fell upon a tall, lean man in
+front of him, who, with a pipe between his lips, was endeavouring
+to light a match under cover of his cap. The man was clad in a rough
+pea-jacket, and bore traces of smoke and grime upon his face and hands.
+Yet there is a Freemasonry among smokers which overrides every social
+difference, so Robert stopped and held out his case of fusees.
+
+"A light?" said he.
+
+"Thank you." The man picked out a fusee, struck it, and bent his head to
+it. He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very sharp
+and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight thick
+eyebrows which almost met on either side of it. Clearly a superior
+kind of workman, and possibly one of those who had been employed in
+the construction of the new house. Here was a chance of getting some
+first-hand information on the question which had aroused his curiosity.
+Robert waited until he had lit his pipe, and then walked on beside him.
+
+"Are you going in the direction of the new Hall?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+The man's voice was cold, and his manner reserved.
+
+"Perhaps you were engaged in the building of it?"
+
+"Yes, I had a hand in it."
+
+"They say that it is a wonderful place inside. It has been quite the
+talk of the district. Is it as rich as they say?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know. I have not heard what they say."
+
+His attitude was certainly not encouraging, and it seemed to Robert that
+he gave little sidelong suspicious glances at him out of his keen grey
+eyes. Yet, if he were so careful and discreet there was the more reason
+to think that there was information to be extracted, if he could but
+find a way to it.
+
+"Ah, there it lies!" he remarked, as they topped the brow of the hill,
+and looked down once more at the great building. "Well, no doubt it is
+very gorgeous and splendid, but really for my own part I would rather
+live in my own little box down yonder in the village."
+
+The workman puffed gravely at his pipe.
+
+"You are no great admirer of wealth, then?" he said.
+
+"Not I. I should not care to be a penny richer than I am. Of course I
+should like to sell my pictures. One must make a living. But beyond that
+I ask nothing. I dare say that I, a poor artist, or you, a man who work
+for your bread, have more happiness out of life than the owner of that
+great palace."
+
+"Indeed, I think that it is more than likely," the other answered, in a
+much more conciliatory voice.
+
+"Art," said Robert, warming to the subject, "is her own reward. What
+mere bodily indulgence is there which money could buy which can
+give that deep thrill of satisfaction which comes on the man who has
+conceived something new, something beautiful, and the daily delight as
+he sees it grow under his hand, until it stands before him a completed
+whole? With my art and without wealth I am happy. Without my art I
+should have a void which no money could fill. But I really don't know
+why I should say all this to you."
+
+The workman had stopped, and was staring at him earnestly with a look of
+the deepest interest upon his smoke-darkened features.
+
+"I am very glad to hear what you say," said he. "It is a pleasure to
+know that the worship of gold is not quite universal, and that there are
+at least some who can rise above it. Would you mind my shaking you by
+the hand?"
+
+It was a somewhat extraordinary request, but Robert rather prided
+himself upon his Bohemianism, and upon his happy facility for making
+friends with all sorts and conditions of men. He readily exchanged a
+cordial grip with his chance acquaintance.
+
+"You expressed some curiosity as to this house. I know the grounds
+pretty well, and might perhaps show you one or two little things which
+would interest you. Here are the gates. Will you come in with me?"
+
+Here was, indeed, a chance. Robert eagerly assented, and walked up the
+winding drive amid the growing fir-trees. When he found his uncouth
+guide, however, marching straight across the broad, gravel square to the
+main entrance, he felt that he had placed himself in a false position.
+
+"Surely not through the front door," he whispered, plucking his
+companion by the sleeve. "Perhaps Mr. Raffles Haw might not like it."
+
+"I don't think there will be any difficulty," said the other, with a
+quiet smile. "My name is Raffles Haw."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+
+Robert McIntyre's face must have expressed the utter astonishment which
+filled his mind at this most unlooked-for announcement. For a moment he
+thought that his companion must be joking, but the ease and assurance
+with which he lounged up the steps, and the deep respect with which a
+richly-clad functionary in the hall swung open the door to admit him,
+showed that he spoke in sober earnest. Raffles Haw glanced back, and
+seeing the look of absolute amazement upon the young artist's features,
+he chuckled quietly to himself.
+
+"You will forgive me, won't you, for not disclosing my identity?" he
+said, laying his hand with a friendly gesture upon the other's sleeve.
+"Had you known me you would have spoken less freely, and I should not
+have had the opportunity of learning your true worth. For example, you
+might hardly have been so frank upon the matter of wealth had you known
+that you were speaking to the master of the Hall."
+
+"I don't think that I was ever so astonished in my life," gasped Robert.
+
+"Naturally you are. How could you take me for anything but a workman?
+So I am. Chemistry is one of my hobbies, and I spend hours a day in my
+laboratory yonder. I have only just struck work, and as I had inhaled
+some not-over-pleasant gases, I thought that a turn down the road and a
+whiff of tobacco might do me good. That was how I came to meet you, and
+my toilet, I fear, corresponded only too well with my smoke-grimed face.
+But I rather fancy I know you by repute. Your name is Robert McIntyre,
+is it not?"
+
+"Yes, though I cannot imagine how you knew."
+
+"Well, I naturally took some little trouble to learn something of my
+neighbours. I had heard that there was an artist of that name, and I
+presume that artists are not very numerous in Tamfield. But how do you
+like the design? I hope it does not offend your trained taste."
+
+"Indeed, it is wonderful--marvellous! You must yourself have an
+extraordinary eye for effect."
+
+"Oh, I have no taste at all; not the slightest. I cannot tell good from
+bad. There never was such a complete Philistine. But I had the best man
+in London down, and another fellow from Vienna. They fixed it up between
+them."
+
+They had been standing just within the folding doors upon a huge mat
+of bison skins. In front of them lay a great square court, paved with
+many-coloured marbles laid out in a labyrinth of arabesque design. In
+the centre a high fountain of carved jade shot five thin feathers of
+spray into the air, four of which curved towards each corner of the
+court to descend into broad marble basins, while the fifth mounted
+straight up to an immense height, and then tinkled back into the central
+reservoir. On either side of the court a tall, graceful palm-tree shot
+up its slender stem to break into a crown of drooping green leaves some
+fifty feet above their heads. All round were a series of Moorish arches,
+in jade and serpentine marble, with heavy curtains of the deepest purple
+to cover the doors which lay between them. In front, to right and to
+left, a broad staircase of marble, carpeted with rich thick Smyrna rug
+work, led upwards to the upper storeys, which were arranged around the
+central court. The temperature within was warm and yet fresh, like the
+air of an English May.
+
+"It's taken from the Alhambra," said Raffles Haw. "The palm-trees are
+pretty. They strike right through the building into the ground beneath,
+and their roots are all girt round with hot-water pipes. They seem to
+thrive very well."
+
+"What beautifully delicate brass-work!" cried Robert, looking up with
+admiring eyes at the bright and infinitely fragile metal trellis screens
+which adorned the spaces between the Moorish arches.
+
+"It is rather neat. But it is not brass-work. Brass is not tough enough
+to allow them to work it to that degree of fineness. It is gold. But
+just come this way with me. You won't mind waiting while I remove this
+smoke?"
+
+He led the way to a door upon the left side of the court, which, to
+Robert's surprise, swung slowly open as they approached it. "That is
+a little improvement which I have adopted," remarked the master of the
+house. "As you go up to a door your weight upon the planks releases a
+spring which causes the hinges to revolve. Pray step in. This is my own
+little sanctum, and furnished after my own heart."
+
+If Robert expected to see some fresh exhibition of wealth and luxury
+he was woefully disappointed, for he found himself in a large but bare
+room, with a little iron truckle-bed in one corner, a few scattered
+wooden chairs, a dingy carpet, and a large table heaped with books,
+bottles, papers, and all the other _debris_ which collect around a busy
+and untidy man. Motioning his visitor into a chair, Raffles Haw pulled
+off his coat, and, turning up the sleeves of his coarse flannel shirt,
+he began to plunge and scrub in the warm water which flowed from a tap
+in the wall.
+
+"You see how simple my own tastes are," he remarked, as he mopped his
+dripping face and hair with the towel. "This is the only room in my
+great house where I find myself in a congenial atmosphere. It is homely
+to me. I can read here and smoke my pipe in peace. Anything like luxury
+is abhorrent to me."
+
+"Really, I should not have though it," observed Robert.
+
+"It is a fact, I assure you. You see, even with your views as to the
+worthlessness of wealth, views which, I am sure, are very sensible and
+much to your credit, you must allow that if a man should happen to be
+the possessor of vast--well, let us say of considerable--sums of money,
+it is his duty to get that money into circulation, so that the community
+may be the better for it. There is the secret of my fine feathers. I
+have to exert all my ingenuity in order to spend my income, and yet keep
+the money in legitimate channels. For example, it is very easy to give
+money away, and no doubt I could dispose of my surplus, or part of my
+surplus, in that fashion, but I have no wish to pauperise anyone, or to
+do mischief by indiscriminate charity. I must exact some sort of money's
+worth for all the money which I lay out You see my point, don't you?"
+
+"Entirely; though really it is something novel to hear a man complain of
+the difficulty of spending his income."
+
+"I assure you that it is a very serious difficulty with me. But I have
+hit upon some plans--some very pretty plans. Will you wash your hands?
+Well, then, perhaps you would care to have a look round. Just come into
+this corner of the room, and sit upon this chair. So. Now I will sit
+upon this one, and we are ready to start."
+
+The angle of the chamber in which they sat was painted for about six
+feet in each direction of a dark chocolate-brown, and was furnished with
+two red plush seats protruding from the walls, and in striking contrast
+with the simplicity of the rest of the apartment.
+
+"This," remarked Raffles Haw, "is a lift, though it is so closely joined
+to the rest of the room that without the change in colour it might
+puzzle you to find the division. It is made to run either horizontally
+or vertically. This line of knobs represents the various rooms. You can
+see 'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon them. I
+will show you the upward action. I press this one with 'Kitchen' upon
+it."
+
+There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without
+moving from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that
+a large arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.
+
+"That is the kitchen door," said Raffles Haw. "I have my kitchen at the
+top of the house. I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking. We have come
+up eighty feet in a very few seconds. Now I press again and here we are
+in my room once more."
+
+Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.
+
+"The wonders of science are greater than those of magic," he remarked.
+
+"Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism. Now we try the horizontal. I
+press the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see. Step towards the door,
+and you will find it open in front of you."
+
+Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a
+large and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed
+from their weight, flashed back to its original position. With his feet
+sinking into the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some
+mossy bank, he stared about him at the great pictures which lined the
+walls.
+
+"Surely, surely, I see Raphael's touch there," he cried, pointing up at
+the one which faced him.
+
+"Yes, it is a Raphael, and I believe one of his best. I had a very
+exciting bid for it with the French Government. They wanted it for the
+Louvre, but of course at an auction the longest purse must win."
+
+"And this 'Arrest of Catiline' must be a Rubens. One cannot mistake his
+splendid men and his infamous women."
+
+"Yes, it is a Rubens. The other two are a Velasquez and a Teniers,
+fair specimens of the Spanish and of the Dutch schools. I have only old
+masters here. The moderns are in the billiard-room. The furniture here
+is a little curious. In fact, I fancy that it is unique. It is made of
+ebony and narwhals' horns. You see that the legs of everything are of
+spiral ivory, both the table and the chairs. It cost the upholsterer
+some little pains, for the supply of these things is a strictly limited
+one. Curiously enough, the Chinese Emperor had given a large order for
+narwhals' horns to repair some ancient pagoda, which was fenced in with
+them, but I outbid him in the market, and his celestial highness has had
+to wait. There is a lift here in the corner, but we do not need it. Pray
+step through this door. This is the billiard-room," he continued as they
+advanced into the adjoining room. "You see I have a few recent pictures
+of merit upon the walls. Here is a Corot, two Meissoniers, a Bouguereau,
+a Millais, an Orchardson, and two Alma-Tademas. It seems to me to be
+a pity to hang pictures over these walls of carved oak. Look at those
+birds hopping and singing in the branches. They really seem to move and
+twitter, don't they?"
+
+"They are perfect. I never saw such exquisite work. But why do you call
+it a billiard-room, Mr. Haw? I do not see any board."
+
+"Oh, a board is such a clumsy uncompromising piece of furniture. It is
+always in the way unless you actually need to use it. In this case the
+board is covered by that square of polished maple which you see let into
+the floor. Now I put my foot upon this motor. You see!" As he spoke,
+the central portion of the flooring flew up, and a most beautiful
+tortoise-shell-plated billiard-table rose up to its proper position.
+He pressed a second spring, and a bagatelle-table appeared in the same
+fashion. "You may have card-tables or what you will by setting the
+levers in motion," he remarked. "But all this is very trifling. Perhaps
+we may find something in the museum which may be of more interest to
+you."
+
+He led the way into another chamber, which was furnished in antique
+style, with hangings of the rarest and richest tapestry. The floor was
+a mosaic of coloured marbles, scattered over with mats of costly fur.
+There was little furniture, but a number of Louis Quatorze cabinets of
+ebony and silver with delicately-painted plaques were ranged round the
+apartment.
+
+"It is perhaps hardly fair to dignify it by the name of a museum," said
+Raffles Haw. "It consists merely of a few elegant trifles which I have
+picked up here and there. Gems are my strongest point. I fancy that
+there, perhaps, I might challenge comparison with any private collector
+in the world. I lock them up, for even the best servants may be
+tempted."
+
+He took a silver key from his watch chain, and began to unlock and draw
+out the drawers. A cry of wonder and of admiration burst from Robert
+McIntyre, as his eyes rested upon case after case filled with the
+most magnificent stones. The deep still red of the rubies, the clear
+scintillating green of the emeralds, the hard glitter of the diamonds,
+the many shifting shades of beryls, of amethysts, of onyxes, of
+cats'-eyes, of opals, of agates, of cornelians seemed to fill the whole
+chamber with a vague twinkling, many-coloured light. Long slabs of the
+beautiful blue lapis lazuli, magnificent bloodstones, specimens of pink
+and red and white coral, long strings of lustrous pearls, all these were
+tossed out by their owner as a careless schoolboy might pour marbles
+from his bag.
+
+"This isn't bad," he said, holding up a great glowing yellow mass as
+large as his own head. "It is really a very fine piece of amber. It
+was forwarded to me by my agent at the Baltic. Twenty-eight pounds,
+it weighs. I never heard of so fine a one. I have no very large
+brilliants--there were no very large ones in the market--but my average
+is good. Pretty toys, are they not?" He picked up a double handful of
+emeralds from a drawer, and then let them trickle slowly back into the
+heap.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Robert, as he gazed from case to case. "It is an
+immense fortune in itself. Surely a hundred thousand pounds would hardly
+buy so splendid a collection."
+
+"I don't think that you would do for a valuer of precious stones," said
+Raffles Haw, laughing. "Why, the contents of that one little drawer
+of brilliants could not be bought for the sum which you name. I have a
+memo. here of what I have expended up to date on my collection, though
+I have agents at work who will probably make very considerable additions
+to it within the next few weeks. As matters stand, however, I have
+spent--let me see-pearls one forty thousand; emeralds, seven fifty;
+rubies, eight forty; brilliants, nine twenty; onyxes--I have several
+very nice onyxes-two thirty. Other gems, carbuncles, agates--hum!
+Yes, it figures out at just over four million seven hundred and forty
+thousand. I dare say that we may say five millions, for I have not
+counted the odd money."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried the young artist, with staring eyes.
+
+"I have a certain feeling of duty in the matter. You see the cutting,
+polishing, and general sale of stones is one of those industries which
+is entirely dependent upon wealth. If we do not support it, it must
+languish, which means misfortune to a considerable number of people. The
+same applies to the gold filigree work which you noticed in the
+court. Wealth has its responsibilities, and the encouragement of these
+handicrafts are among the most obvious of them. Here is a nice ruby. It
+is Burmese, and the fifth largest in existence. I am inclined to think
+that if it were uncut it would be the second, but of course cutting
+takes away a great deal." He held up the blazing red stone, about the
+size of a chestnut, between his finger and thumb for a moment, and then
+threw it carelessly back into its drawer. "Come into the smoking-room,"
+he said; "you will need some little refreshment, for they say that
+sight-seeing is the most exhausting occupation in the world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. FROM CLIME TO CLIME
+
+
+The chamber in which the bewildered Robert now found himself was more
+luxurious, if less rich, than any which he had yet seen. Low settees of
+claret-coloured plush were scattered in orderly disorder over a mossy
+Eastern carpet. Deep lounges, reclining sofas, American rocking-chairs,
+all were to be had for the choosing. One end of the room was walled by
+glass, and appeared to open upon a luxuriant hot-house. At the further
+end a double line of gilt rails supported a profusion of the most recent
+magazines and periodicals. A rack at each side of the inlaid fireplace
+sustained a long line of the pipes of all places and nations--English
+cherrywoods, French briars, German china-bowls, carved meerschaums,
+scented cedar and myall-wood, with Eastern narghiles, Turkish
+chibooques, and two great golden-topped hookahs. To right and left
+were a series of small lockers, extending in a treble row for the whole
+length of the room, with the names of the various brands of tobacco
+scrolled in ivory work across them. Above were other larger tiers of
+polished oak, which held cigars and cigarettes.
+
+"Try that Damascus settee," said the master of the house, as he threw
+himself into a rocking-chair. "It is from the Sultan's upholsterer.
+The Turks have a very good notion of comfort. I am a confirmed smoker
+myself, Mr. McIntyre, so I have been able, perhaps, to check my
+architect here more than in most of the other departments. Of pictures,
+for example, I know nothing, as you would very speedily find out. On
+a tobacco, I might, perhaps, offer an opinion. Now these"--he drew out
+some long, beautifully-rolled, mellow-coloured cigars--"these are really
+something a little out of the common. Do try one."
+
+Robert lit the weed which was offered to him, and leaned back
+luxuriously amid his cushions, gazing through the blue balmy fragrant
+cloud-wreaths at the extraordinary man in the dirty pea-jacket who spoke
+of millions as another might of sovereigns. With his pale face, his sad,
+languid air, and his bowed shoulders, it was as though he were crushed
+down under the weight of his own gold. There was a mute apology, an
+attitude of deprecation in his manner and speech, which was strangely
+at variance with the immense power which he wielded. To Robert the
+whole whimsical incident had been intensely interesting and amusing. His
+artistic nature blossomed out in this atmosphere of perfect luxury
+and comfort, and he was conscious of a sense of repose and of absolute
+sensual contentment such as he had never before experienced.
+
+"Shall it be coffee, or Rhine wine, or Tokay, or perhaps something
+stronger," asked Raffles Haw, stretching out his hand to what looked like
+a piano-board projecting from the wall. "I can recommend the Tokay. I
+have it from the man who supplies the Emperor of Austria, though I think
+I may say that I get the cream of it."
+
+He struck twice upon one of the piano-notes, and sat expectant. With a
+sharp click at the end of ten seconds a sliding shutter flew open, and
+a small tray protruded bearing two long tapering Venetian glasses filled
+with wine.
+
+"It works very nicely," said Raffles Haw. "It is quite a new thing--never
+before done, as far as I know. You see the names of the various wines
+and so on printed on the notes. By pressing the note down I complete an
+electric circuit which causes the tap in the cellars beneath to remain
+open long enough to fill the glass which always stands beneath it. The
+glasses, you understand, stand upon a revolving drum, so that there must
+always be one there. The glasses are then brought up through a pneumatic
+tube, which is set working by the increased weight of the glass when the
+wine is added to it. It is a pretty little idea. But I am afraid that I
+bore you rather with all these petty contrivances. It is a whim of mine
+to push mechanism as far as it will go."
+
+"On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder," said Robert
+warmly. "It is as if I had been suddenly whipped up out of prosaic old
+England and transferred in an instant to some enchanted palace, some
+Eastern home of the Genii. I could not have believed that there existed
+upon this earth such adaptation of means to an end, such complete
+mastery of every detail which may aid in stripping life of any of its
+petty worries."
+
+"I have something yet to show you," remarked Raffles Haw; "but we will
+rest here for a few minutes, for I wished to have a word with you. How
+is the cigar?"
+
+"Most excellent."
+
+"It was rolled in Louisiana in the old slavery days. There is nothing
+made like them now. The man who had them did not know their value. He
+let them go at merely a few shillings apiece. Now I want you to do me a
+favour, Mr. McIntyre."
+
+"I shall be so glad."
+
+"You can see more or less how I am situated. I am a complete stranger
+here. With the well-to-do classes I have little in common. I am no
+society man. I don't want to call or be called on. I am a student in a
+small way, and a man of quiet tastes. I have no social ambitions at all.
+Do you understand?"
+
+"Entirely."
+
+"On the other hand, my experience of the world has been that it is the
+rarest thing to be able to form a friendship with a poorer man--I mean
+with a man who is at all eager to increase his income. They think much
+of your wealth, and little of yourself. I have tried, you understand,
+and I know." He paused and ran his fingers through his thin beard.
+
+Robert McIntyre nodded to show that he appreciated his position.
+
+"Now, you see," he continued, "if I am to be cut off from the rich by
+my own tastes, and from those who are not rich by my distrust of their
+motives, my situation is an isolated one. Not that I mind isolation:
+I am used to it. But it limits my field of usefulness. I have no
+trustworthy means of informing myself when and where I may do good.
+I have already, I am glad to say, met a man to-day, your vicar, who
+appears to be thoroughly unselfish and trustworthy. He shall be one
+of my channels of communication with the outer world. Might I ask you
+whether you would be willing to become another?"
+
+"With the greatest pleasure," said Robert eagerly.
+
+The proposition filled his heart with joy, for it seemed to give him an
+almost official connection with this paradise of a house. He could not
+have asked for anything more to his taste.
+
+"I was fortunate enough to discover by your conversation how high a
+ground you take in such matters, and how entirely disinterested you
+are. You may have observed that I was short and almost rude with you at
+first. I have had reason to fear and suspect all chance friendships.
+Too often they have proved to be carefully planned beforehand, with some
+sordid object in view. Good heavens, what stories I could tell you!
+A lady pursued by a bull--I have risked my life to save her, and have
+learned afterwards that the scene had been arranged by the mother as an
+effective introduction, and that the bull had been hired by the hour.
+But I won't shake your faith in human nature. I have had some rude
+shocks myself. I look, perhaps, with a jaundiced eye on all who come
+near me. It is the more needful that I should have one whom I can trust
+to advise me."
+
+"If you will only show me where my opinion can be of any use I shall be
+most happy," said Robert. "My people come from Birmingham, but I know
+most of the folk here and their position."
+
+"That is just what I want. Money can do so much good, and it may do so
+much harm. I shall consult you when I am in doubt. By the way, there
+is one small question which I might ask you now. Can you tell me who
+a young lady is with very dark hair, grey eyes, and a finely chiselled
+face? She wore a blue dress when I saw her, with astrachan about her
+neck and cuffs."
+
+Robert chuckled to himself.
+
+"I know that dress pretty well," he said. "It is my sister Laura whom
+you describe."
+
+"Your sister! Really! Why, there is a resemblance, now that my attention
+is called to it. I saw her the other day, and wondered who she might be.
+She lives with you, of course?"
+
+"Yes; my father, she, and I live together at Elmdene."
+
+"Where I hope to have the pleasure of making their acquaintance. You
+have finished your cigar? Have another, or try a pipe. To the real
+smoker all is mere trifling save the pipe. I have most brands of tobacco
+here. The lockers are filled on the Monday, and on Saturday they are
+handed over to the old folk at the alms-houses, so I manage to keep it
+pretty fresh always. Well, if you won't take anything else, perhaps you
+would care to see one or two of the other effects which I have devised.
+On this side is the armoury, and beyond it the library. My collection of
+books is a limited one; there are just over the fifty thousand volumes.
+But it is to some extent remarkable for quality. I have a Visigoth Bible
+of the fifth century, which I rather fancy is unique; there is a 'Biblia
+Pauperum' of 1430; a MS. of Genesis done upon mulberry leaves, probably
+of the second century; a 'Tristan and Iseult' of the eighth century; and
+some hundred black-letters, with five very fine specimens of Schoffer
+and Fust. But those you may turn over any wet afternoon when you have
+nothing better to do. Meanwhile, I have a little device connected with
+this smoking-room which may amuse you. Light this other cigar. Now sit
+with me upon this lounge which stands at the further end of the room."
+
+The sofa in question was in a niche which was lined in three sides and
+above with perfectly clear transparent crystal. As they sat down the
+master of the house drew a cord which pulled out a crystal shutter
+behind them, so that they were enclosed on all sides in a great box
+of glass, so pure and so highly polished that its presence might very
+easily be forgotten. A number of golden cords with crystal handles hung
+down into this small chamber, and appeared to be connected with a long
+shining bar outside.
+
+"Now, where would you like to smoke your cigar?" said Raffles Haw, with
+a twinkle in his demure eyes. "Shall we go to India, or to Egypt, or to
+China, or to--"
+
+"To South America," said Robert.
+
+There was a twinkle, a whirr, and a sense of motion. The young artist
+gazed about him in absolute amazement. Look where he would all round
+were tree-ferns and palms with long drooping creepers, and a blaze of
+brilliant orchids. Smoking-room, house, England, all were gone, and he
+sat on a settee in the heart of a virgin forest of the Amazon. It was no
+mere optical delusion or trick. He could see the hot steam rising from
+the tropical undergrowth, the heavy drops falling from the huge green
+leaves, the very grain and fibre of the rough bark which clothed the
+trunks. Even as he gazed a green mottled snake curled noiselessly over
+a branch above his head, and a bright-coloured paroquet broke suddenly
+from amid the foliage and flashed off among the tree-trunks. Robert
+gazed around, speechless with surprise, and finally turned upon his host
+a face in which curiosity was not un-mixed with a suspicion of fear.
+
+"People have been burned for less, have they not?" cried Raffles Haw
+laughing heartily. "Have you had enough of the Amazon? What do you say
+to a spell of Egypt?"
+
+Again the whirr, the swift flash of passing objects, and in an instant
+a huge desert stretched on every side of them, as far as the eye could
+reach. In the foreground a clump of five palm-trees towered into the
+air, with a profusion of rough cactus-like plants bristling from their
+base. On the other side rose a rugged, gnarled, grey monolith, carved at
+the base into a huge scarabaeus. A group of lizards played about on the
+surface of the old carved stone. Beyond, the yellow sand stretched away
+into furthest space, where the dim mirage mist played along the horizon.
+
+"Mr. Haw, I cannot understand it!" Robert grasped the velvet edge of the
+settee, and gazed wildly about him.
+
+"The effect is rather startling, is it not? This Egyptian desert is
+my favourite when I lay myself out for a contemplative smoke. It seems
+strange that tobacco should have come from the busy, practical West.
+It has much more affinity for the dreamy, languid East. But perhaps you
+would like to run over to China for a change?"
+
+"Not to-day," said Robert, passing his hand over his forehead. "I feel
+rather confused by all these wonders, and indeed I think that they have
+affected my nerves a little. Besides, it is time that I returned to my
+prosaic Elmdene, if I can find my way out of this wilderness to which
+you have transplanted me. But would you ease my mind, Mr. Haw, by
+showing me how this thing is done?"
+
+"It is the merest toy--a complex plaything, nothing more. Allow me to
+explain. I have a line of very large greenhouses which extends from
+one end of my smoking-room. These different houses are kept at varying
+degrees of heat and humidity so as to reproduce the exact climates of
+Egypt, China, and the rest. You see, our crystal chamber is a tramway
+running with a minimum of friction along a steel rod. By pulling this or
+that handle I regulate how far it shall go, and it travels, as you have
+seen, with amazing speed. The effect of my hot-houses is heightened by
+the roofs being invariably concealed by skies, which are really very
+admirably painted, and by the introduction of birds and other creatures,
+which seem to flourish quite as well in artificial as in natural heat.
+This explains the South American effect."
+
+"But not the Egyptian."
+
+"No. It is certainly rather clever. I had the best man in France,
+at least the best at those large effects, to paint in that circular
+background. You understand, the palms, cacti, obelisk, and so on, are
+perfectly genuine, and so is the sand for fifty yards or so, and I defy
+the keenest-eyed man in England to tell where the deception commences.
+It is the familiar and perhaps rather meretricious effect of a circular
+panorama, but carried out in the most complete manner. Was there any
+other point?"
+
+"The crystal box? Why was it?"
+
+"To preserve my guests from the effects of the changes of temperature.
+It would be a poor kindness to bring them back to my smoking-room
+drenched through, and with the seeds of a violent cold. The crystal has
+to be kept warm, too, otherwise vapour would deposit, and you would have
+your view spoiled. But must you really go? Then here we are back in the
+smoking-room. I hope that it will not be your last visit by many a one.
+And if I may come down to Elmdene I should be very glad to do so. This
+is the way through the museum."
+
+As Robert McIntyre emerged from the balmy aromatic atmosphere of the
+great house, into the harsh, raw, biting air of an English winter
+evening, he felt as though he had been away for a long visit in some
+foreign country. Time is measured by impressions, and so vivid and novel
+had been his feelings, that weeks and weeks might have elapsed since his
+chat with the smoke-grimed stranger in the road. He walked along with
+his head in a whirl, his whole mind possessed and intoxicated by the one
+idea of the boundless wealth and the immense power of this extraordinary
+stranger. Small and sordid and mean seemed his own Elmdene as he
+approached it, and he passed over its threshold full of restless
+discontent against himself and his surroundings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. LAURA'S REQUEST.
+
+
+That night after supper Robert McIntyre poured forth all that he had
+seen to his father and to his sister. So full was he of the one subject
+that it was a relief to him to share his knowledge with others. Rather
+for his own sake, then, than for theirs he depicted vividly all
+the marvels which he had seen; the profusion of wealth, the regal
+treasure-house of gems, the gold, the marble, the extraordinary devices,
+the absolute lavishness and complete disregard for money which was shown
+in every detail. For an hour he pictured with glowing words all
+the wonders which had been shown him, and ended with some pride by
+describing the request which Mr. Raffles Haw had made, and the complete
+confidence which he had placed in him.
+
+His words had a very different effect upon his two listeners. Old
+McIntyre leaned back in his chair with a bitter smile upon his lips, his
+thin face crinkled into a thousand puckers, and his small eyes shining
+with envy and greed. His lean yellow hand upon the table was clenched
+until the knuckles gleamed white in the lamplight. Laura, on the other
+hand, leaned forward, her lips parted, drinking in her brother's words
+with a glow of colour upon either cheek. It seemed to Robert, as he
+glanced from one to the other of them, that he had never seen his father
+look so evil, or his sister so beautiful.
+
+"Who is the fellow, then?" asked the old man after a considerable pause.
+"I hope he got all this in an honest fashion. Five millions in jewels,
+you say. Good gracious me! Ready to give it away, too, but afraid of
+pauperising any one. You can tell him, Robert, that you know of one
+very deserving case which has not the slightest objection to being
+pauperised."
+
+"But who can he possibly be, Robert?" cried Laura. "Haw cannot be his
+real name. He must be some disguised prince, or perhaps a king in exile.
+Oh, I should have loved to have seen those diamonds and the emeralds! I
+always think that emeralds suit dark people best. You must tell me again
+all about that museum, Robert."
+
+"I don't think that he is anything more than he pretends to be," her
+brother answered. "He has the plain, quiet manners of an ordinary
+middle-class Englishman. There was no particular polish that I
+could see. He knew a little about books and pictures, just enough to
+appreciate them, but nothing more. No, I fancy that he is a man quite in
+our own position of life, who has in some way inherited a vast sum. Of
+course it is difficult for me to form an estimate, but I should judge
+that what I saw to-day--house, pictures, jewels, books, and so on--could
+never have been bought under twenty millions, and I am sure that that
+figure is entirely an under-statement."
+
+"I never knew but one Haw," said old McIntyre, drumming his fingers on
+the table; "he was a foreman in my pin-fire cartridge-case department.
+But he was an elderly single man. Well, I hope he got it all honestly. I
+hope the money is clean."
+
+"And really, really, he is coming to see us!" cried Laura, clapping her
+hands. "Oh, when do you think he will come, Robert? Do give me warning.
+Do you think it will be to-morrow?"
+
+"I am sure I cannot say."
+
+"I should so love to see him. I don't know when I have been so
+interested."
+
+"Why, you have a letter there," remarked Robert. "From Hector, too, by
+the foreign stamp. How is he?"
+
+"It only came this evening. I have not opened it yet. To tell the truth,
+I have been so interested in your story that I had forgotten all about
+it. Poor old Hector! It is from Madeira." She glanced rapidly over the
+four pages of straggling writing in the young sailor's bold schoolboyish
+hand. "Oh, he is all right," she said. "They had a gale on the way out,
+and that sort of thing, but he is all right now. He thinks he may
+be back by March. I wonder whether your new friend will come
+to-morrow--your knight of the enchanted Castle."
+
+"Hardly so soon, I should fancy."
+
+"If he should be looking about for an investment. Robert," said the
+father, "you won't forget to tell him what a fine opening there is now
+in the gun trade. With my knowledge, and a few thousands at my back, I
+could bring him in his thirty per cent. as regular as the bank. After
+all, he must lay out his money somehow. He cannot sink it all in
+books and precious stones. I am sure that I could give him the highest
+references."
+
+"It may be a long time before he comes, father," said Robert coldly;
+"and when he does I am afraid that I can hardly use his friendship as a
+means of advancing your interest."
+
+"We are his equals, father," cried Laura with spirit. "Would you put us
+on the footing of beggars? He would think we cared for him only for his
+money. I wonder that you should think of such a thing."
+
+"If I had not thought of such things where would your education have
+been, miss?" retorted the angry old man; and Robert stole quietly away
+to his room, whence amid his canvases he could still hear the hoarse
+voice and the clear in their never-ending family jangle. More and more
+sordid seemed the surroundings of his life, and more and more to be
+valued the peace which money can buy.
+
+Breakfast had hardly been cleared in the morning, and Robert had not yet
+ascended to his work, when there came a timid tapping at the door, and
+there was Raffles Haw on the mat outside. Robert ran out and welcomed
+him with all cordiality.
+
+"I am afraid that I am a very early visitor," he said apologetically;
+"but I often take a walk after breakfast." He had no traces of work upon
+him now, but was trim and neat with a dark suit, and carefully brushed
+hair. "You spoke yesterday of your work. Perhaps, early as it is, you
+would allow me the privilege of looking over your studio?"
+
+"Pray step in, Mr. Haw," cried Robert, all in a flutter at this advance
+from so munificent a patron of art; "I should be only too happy to show
+you such little work as I have on hand, though, indeed, I am almost
+afraid when I think how familiar you are with some of the greatest
+masterpieces. Allow me to introduce you to my father and to my sister
+Laura."
+
+Old McIntyre bowed low and rubbed his thin hands together; but the young
+lady gave a gasp of surprise, and stared with widely-opened eyes at the
+millionaire. Maw stepped forward, however, and shook her quietly by the
+hand,
+
+"I expected to find that it was you," he said. "I have already met your
+sister, Mr. McIntyre, on the very first day that I came here. We took
+shelter in a shed from a snowstorm, and had quite a pleasant little
+chat."
+
+"I had no notion that I was speaking to the owner of the Hall," said
+Laura in some confusion. "How funnily things turn out, to be sure!"
+
+"I had often wondered who it was that I spoke to, but it was only
+yesterday that I discovered. What a sweet little place you have here! It
+must be charming in summer. Why, if it were not for this hill my windows
+would look straight across at yours."
+
+"Yes, and we should see all your beautiful plantations," said Laura,
+standing beside him in the window. "I was wishing only yesterday that
+the hill was not there."
+
+"Really! I shall be happy to have it removed for you if you would like
+it."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Laura. "Why, where would you put it?"
+
+"Oh, they could run it along the line and dump it anywhere. It is not
+much of a hill. A few thousand men with proper machinery, and a line
+of rails brought right up to them could easily dispose of it in a few
+months."
+
+"And the poor vicar's house?" Laura asked, laughing.
+
+"I think that might be got over. We could run him up a facsimile, which
+would, perhaps, be more convenient to him. Your brother will tell you
+that I am quite an expert at the designing of houses. But, seriously, if
+you think it would be an improvement I will see what can be done."
+
+"Not for the world, Mr. Haw. Why, I should be a traitor to the whole
+village if I were to encourage such a scheme. The hill is the one thing
+which gives Tamfield the slightest individuality. It would be the
+height of selfishness to sacrifice it in order to improve the view from
+Elmdene."
+
+"It is a little box of a place this, Mr. Haw," said old McIntyre. "I
+should think you must feel quite stifled in it after your grand mansion,
+of which my son tells me such wonders. But we were not always accustomed
+to this sort of thing, Mr. Haw. Humble as I stand here, there was a
+time, and not so long ago, when I could write as many figures on a
+cheque as any gunmaker in Birmingham. It was--"
+
+"He is a dear discontented old papa," cried Laura, throwing her arm
+round him in a caressing manner. He gave a sharp squeak and a grimace
+of pain, which he endeavoured to hide by an outbreak of painfully
+artificial coughing.
+
+"Shall we go upstairs?" said Robert hurriedly, anxious to divert his
+guest's attention from this little domestic incident. "My studio is the
+real atelier, for it is right up under the tiles. I shall lead the way,
+if you will have the kindness to follow me."
+
+Leaving Laura and Mr. McIntyre, they went up together to the workroom.
+Mr. Haw stood long in front of the "Signing of Magna Charta," and
+the "Murder of Thomas a Becket," screwing up his eyes and twitching
+nervously at his beard, while Robert stood by in anxious expectancy.
+
+"And how much are these?" asked Raffles Haw at last.
+
+"I priced them at a hundred apiece when I sent them to London."
+
+"Then the best I can wish you is that the day may come when you would
+gladly give ten times the sum to have them back again. I am sure that
+there are great possibilities in you, and I see that in grouping and in
+boldness of design you have already achieved much. But your drawing, if
+you will excuse my saying so, is just a little crude, and your colouring
+perhaps a trifle thin. Now, I will make a bargain with you, Mr.
+McIntyre, if you will consent to it. I know that money has no charms
+for you, but still, as you said when I first met you, a man must live.
+I shall buy these two canvases from you at the price which you name,
+subject to the condition that you may always have them back again by
+repaying the same sum."
+
+"You are really very kind." Robert hardly knew whether to be delighted
+at having sold his pictures or humiliated at the frank criticism of the
+buyer.
+
+"May I write a cheque at once?" said Raffles Haw. "Here is pen and ink.
+So! I shall send a couple of footmen down for them in the afternoon.
+Well, I shall keep them in trust for you. I dare say that when you are
+famous they will be of value as specimens of your early manner."
+
+"I am sure that I am extremely obliged to you, Mr. Haw," said the young
+artist, placing the cheque in his notebook. He glanced at it as he
+folded it up, in the vague hope that perhaps this man of whims had
+assessed his pictures at a higher rate than he had named. The figures,
+however, were exact. Robert began dimly to perceive that there were
+drawbacks as well as advantages to the reputation of a money-scorner,
+which he had gained by a few chance words, prompted rather by the
+reaction against his father's than by his own real convictions.
+
+"I hope, Miss McIntyre," said Raffles Haw, when they had descended to
+the sitting-room once more, "that you will do me the honour of coming to
+see the little curiosities which I have gathered together. Your brother
+will, I am sure, escort you up; or perhaps Mr. McIntyre would care to
+come?"
+
+"I shall be delighted to come, Mr. Haw," cried Laura, with her sweetest
+smile. "A good deal of my time just now is taken up in looking after the
+poor people, who find the cold weather very trying." Robert raised his
+eyebrows, for it was the first he had heard of his sister's missions of
+mercy, but Mr. Raffles Haw nodded approvingly. "Robert was telling us of
+your wonderful hot-houses. I am sure I wish I could transport the whole
+parish into one of them, and give them a good warm."
+
+"Nothing would be easier, but I am afraid that they might find it a
+little trying when they came out again. I have one house which is only
+just finished. Your brother has not seen it yet, but I think it is the
+best of them all. It represents an Indian jungle, and is hot enough in
+all conscience."
+
+"I shall so look forward to seeing it," cried Laura, clasping her hands.
+"It has been one of the dreams of my life to see India. I have read so
+much of it, the temples, the forests, the great rivers, and the tigers.
+Why, you would hardly believe it, but I have never seen a tiger except
+in a picture."
+
+"That can easily be set right," said Raffles Haw, with his quiet smile.
+"Would you care to see one?"
+
+"Oh, immensely."
+
+"I will have one sent down. Let me see, it is nearly twelve o'clock. I
+can get a wire to Liverpool by one. There is a man there who deals in
+such things. I should think he would be due to-morrow morning. Well,
+I shall look forward to seeing you all before very long. I have rather
+outstayed my time, for I am a man of routine, and I always put in a
+certain number of hours in my laboratory." He shook hands cordially with
+them all, and lighting his pipe at the doorstep, strolled off upon his
+way.
+
+"Well, what do you think of him now?" asked Robert, as they watched his
+black figure against the white snow.
+
+"I think that he is no more fit to be trusted with all that money than a
+child," cried the old man. "It made me positively sick to hear him talk
+of moving hills and buying tigers, and such-like nonsense, when there
+are honest men without a business, and great businesses starving for a
+little capital. It's unchristian--that's what I call it."
+
+"I think he is most delightful, Robert," said Laura. "Remember, you have
+promised to take us up to the Hall. And he evidently wishes us to go
+soon. Don't you think we might go this afternoon?"
+
+"I hardly think that, Laura. You leave it in my hands, and I will
+arrange it all. And now I must get to work, for the light is so very
+short on these winter days."
+
+That night Robert McIntyre had gone to bed, and was dozing off when a
+hand plucked at his shoulder, and he started up to find his sister in
+some white drapery, with a shawl thrown over her shoulders, standing
+beside him in the moonlight.
+
+"Robert, dear," she whispered, stooping over him, "there was something I
+wanted to ask you, but papa was always in the way. You will do something
+to please me, won't you, Robert?"
+
+"Of course, Laura. What is it?"
+
+"I do so hate having my affairs talked over, dear. If Mr. Raffles Haw
+says anything to you about me, or asks any questions, please don't say
+anything about Hector. You won't, will you, Robert, for the sake of your
+little sister?"
+
+"No; not unless you wish it."
+
+"There is a dear good brother." She stooped over him and kissed him
+tenderly.
+
+It was a rare thing for Laura to show any emotion, and her brother
+marvelled sleepily over it until he relapsed into his interrupted doze.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A STRANGE VISITOR.
+
+
+The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which
+followed the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to
+hear the buzz and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street.
+Nearer and nearer came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two maddened
+horses reared themselves up on the other side of the garden hedge,
+prancing and pawing, with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing at some
+horror behind them. Two men hung shouting to their bridles, while a
+third came rushing up the curved gravel path. Before the McIntyres could
+realise the situation, their maid, Mary, darted into the sitting-room
+with terror in her round freckled face:
+
+"If you please, miss," she screamed, "your tiger has arrove."
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled
+teacup in his hand. "This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a trolly
+with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their mouths
+open."
+
+"Mad as a hatter!" shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. "I could see it in his
+eye. He spent enough on this beast to start me in business.
+Whoever heard of such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the
+police-station."
+
+"Nothing of the sort, papa," said Laura, rising with dignity and
+wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks
+flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
+
+Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be
+diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful
+sister.
+
+"Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me," she said,
+sweeping towards the door. "I look upon it as a great attention on his
+part. I shall certainly go out and look at it."
+
+"If you please, sir," said the carman, reappearing at the door, "it's
+all as we can do to 'old in the 'osses."
+
+"Let us all go out together then," suggested Robert.
+
+They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole
+village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the
+almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long,
+lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced
+stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and
+rubbing its muzzle against the bars.
+
+"What were your orders?" asked Robert of the carman.
+
+"It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train
+is drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back. If it 'ad
+been royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are
+to take it back when you're done with it. It's been a cruel job, sir,
+for our arms is pulled clean out of the sockets a-'olding in of the
+'osses."
+
+"What a dear, sweet creature it is," cried Laura. "How sleek and how
+graceful! I cannot understand how people could be afraid of anything so
+beautiful."
+
+"If you please, marm," said the carman, touching his skin cap, "he out
+with his paw between the bars as we stood in the station yard, and if
+I 'adn't pulled my mate Bill back it would ha' been a case of kingdom
+come. It was a proper near squeak, I can tell ye."
+
+"I never saw anything more lovely," continued Laura, loftily overlooking
+the remarks of the driver. "It has been a very great pleasure to me
+to see it, and I hope that you will tell Mr. Haw so if you see him,
+Robert."
+
+"The horses are very restive," said her brother. "Perhaps, Laura, if you
+have seen enough, it would be as well to let them go."
+
+She bowed in the regal fashion which she had so suddenly adopted. Robert
+shouted the order, the driver sprang up, his comrades let the horses
+go, and away rattled the waggon and the trolly with half the Tamfielders
+streaming vainly behind it.
+
+"Is it not wonderful what money can do?" Laura remarked, as they knocked
+the snow from their shoes within the porch. "There seems to be no wish
+which Mr. Haw could not at once gratify."
+
+"No wish of yours, you mean," broke in her father. "It's different when
+he is dealing with a wrinkled old man who has spent himself in working
+for his children. A plainer case of love at first sight I never saw."
+
+"How can you be so coarse, papa?" cried Laura, but her eyes flashed, and
+her teeth gleamed, as though the remark had not altogether displeased
+her.
+
+"For heaven's sake, be careful, Laura!" cried Robert. "It had not struck
+me before, but really it does look rather like it. You know how you
+stand. Raffles Haw is not a man to play with."
+
+"You dear old boy!" said Laura, laying her hand upon his shoulder, "what
+do you know of such things? All you have to do is to go on with your
+painting, and to remember the promise you made the other night."
+
+"What promise was that, then?" cried old McIntyre suspiciously.
+
+"Never you mind, papa. But if you forget it, Robert, I shall never
+forgive you as long as I live."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+
+It can easily be believed that as the weeks passed the name and fame
+of the mysterious owner of the New Hall resounded over the quiet
+countryside until the rumour of him had spread to the remotest corners
+of Warwickshire and Staffordshire. In Birmingham on the one side, and in
+Coventry and Leamington on the other, there was gossip as to his untold
+riches, his extraordinary whims, and the remarkable life which he led.
+His name was bandied from mouth to mouth, and a thousand efforts were
+made to find out who and what he was. In spite of all their pains,
+however, the newsmongers were unable to discover the slightest trace of
+his antecedents, or to form even a guess as to the secret of his riches.
+
+It was no wonder that conjecture was rife upon the subject, for hardly a
+day passed without furnishing some new instance of the boundlessness of
+his power and of the goodness of his heart. Through the vicar, Robert,
+and others, he had learned much of the inner life of the parish, and
+many were the times when the struggling man, harassed and driven to
+the wall, found thrust into his hand some morning a brief note with
+an enclosure which rolled all the sorrow back from his life. One day a
+thick double-breasted pea-jacket and a pair of good sturdy boots were
+served out to every old man in the almshouse. On another, Miss Swire,
+the decayed gentlewoman who eked out her small annuity by needlework,
+had a brand new first-class sewing-machine handed in to her to take the
+place of the old worn-out treadle which tried her rheumatic joints.
+The pale-faced schoolmaster, who had spent years with hardly a break in
+struggling with the juvenile obtuseness of Tamfield, received through
+the post a circular ticket for a two months' tour through Southern
+Europe, with hotel coupons and all complete. John Hackett, the farmer,
+after five long years of bad seasons, borne with a brave heart, had at
+last been overthrown by the sixth, and had the bailiffs actually in the
+house when the good vicar had rushed in, waving a note above his head,
+to tell him not only that his deficit had been made up, but that enough
+remained over to provide the improved machinery which would enable him
+to hold his own for the future. An almost superstitious feeling came
+upon the rustic folk as they looked at the great palace when the sun
+gleamed upon the huge hot-houses, or even more so, perhaps, when at
+night the brilliant electric lights shot their white radiance through
+the countless rows of windows. To them it was as if some minor
+Providence presided in that great place, unseen but seeing all,
+boundless in its power and its graciousness, ever ready to assist and to
+befriend. In every good deed, however, Raffles Haw still remained in
+the background, while the vicar and Robert had the pleasant task of
+conveying his benefits to the lowly and the suffering.
+
+Once only did he appear in his own person, and that was upon the famous
+occasion when he saved the well-known bank of Garraweg Brothers in
+Birmingham. The most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers,
+Louis and Rupert, had built up a business which extended its
+ramifications into every townlet of four counties. The failure of their
+London agents had suddenly brought a heavy loss upon them, and the
+circumstance leaking out had caused a sudden and most dangerous run upon
+their establishment. Urgent telegrams for bullion from all their forty
+branches poured in at the very instant when the head office was crowded
+with anxious clients all waving their deposit-books, and clamouring for
+their money. Bravely did the two brothers with their staff stand with
+smiling faces behind the shining counter, while swift messengers sped
+and telegrams flashed to draw in all the available resources of the
+bank. All day the stream poured through the office, and when four
+o'clock came, and the doors were closed for the day, the street without
+was still blocked by the expectant crowd, while there remained scarce a
+thousand pounds of bullion in the cellars.
+
+"It is only postponed. Louis," said brother Rupert despairingly, when
+the last clerk had left the office, and when at last they could relax
+the fixed smile upon their haggard faces.
+
+"Those shutters will never come down again," cried brother Louis, and
+the two suddenly burst out sobbing in each other's arms, not for their
+own griefs, but for the miseries which they might bring upon those who
+had trusted them.
+
+But who shall ever dare to say that there is no hope, if he will but
+give his griefs to the world? That very night Mrs. Spurling had received
+a letter from her old school friend, Mrs. Louis Garraweg, with all her
+fears and her hopes poured out in it, and the whole sad story of their
+troubles. Swift from the Vicarage went the message to the Hall, and
+early next morning Mr. Raffles Haw, with a great black carpet-bag in his
+hand, found means to draw the cashier of the local branch of the Bank
+of England from his breakfast, and to persuade him to open his doors
+at unofficial hours. By half-past nine the crowd had already begun
+to collect around Garraweg's, when a stranger, pale and thin, with a
+bloated carpet-bag, was shown at his own very pressing request into the
+bank parlour.
+
+"It is no use, sir," said the elder brother humbly, as they stood
+together encouraging each other to turn a brave face to misfortune,
+"we can do no more. We have little left, and it would be unfair to the
+others to pay you now. We can but hope that when our assets are realised
+no one will be the loser save ourselves."
+
+"I did not come to draw out, but to put in," said Raffles Haw in his
+demure apologetic fashion. "I have in my bag five thousand hundred-pound
+Bank of England notes. If you will have the goodness to place them to my
+credit account I should be extremely obliged."
+
+"But, good heavens, sir!" stammered Rupert Garraweg, "have you
+not heard? Have you not seen? We cannot allow you to do this thing
+blindfold; can we Louis?"
+
+"Most certainly not. We cannot recommend our bank, sir, at the present
+moment, for there is a run upon us, and we do not know to what lengths
+it may go."
+
+"Tut! tut!" said Raffles Haw. "If the run continues you must send me a
+wire, and I shall make a small addition to my account. You will send me
+a receipt by post. Good-morning, gentlemen!" He bowed himself out ere
+the astounded partners could realise what had befallen them, or raise
+their eyes from the huge black bag and the visiting card which lay upon
+their table. There was no great failure in Birmingham that day, and the
+house of Garraweg still survives to enjoy the success which it deserves.
+
+Such were the deeds by which Raffles Haw made himself known throughout
+the Midlands, and yet, in spite of all his open-handedness, he was not
+a man to be imposed upon. In vain the sturdy beggar cringed at his gate,
+and in vain the crafty letter-writer poured out a thousand fabulous woes
+upon paper. Robert was astonished when he brought some tale of trouble
+to the Hall to observe how swift was the perception of the recluse, and
+how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger
+upon the one point which rang false. Were a man strong enough to help
+himself, or of such a nature as to profit nothing by help, none would
+he get from the master of the New Hall. In vain, for example, did old
+McIntyre throw himself continually across the path of the millionaire,
+and impress upon him, by a thousand hints and innuendoes, the hard
+fortune which had been dealt him, and the ease with which his fallen
+greatness might be restored. Raffles Haw listened politely, bowed,
+smiled, but never showed the slightest inclination to restore the
+querulous old gunmaker to his pedestal.
+
+But if the recluse's wealth was a lure which drew the beggars from
+far and near, as the lamp draws the moths, it had the same power of
+attraction upon another and much more dangerous class. Strange hard
+faces were seen in the village street, prowling figures were marked at
+night stealing about among the fir plantations, and warning messages
+arrived from city police and county constabulary to say that evil
+visitors were known to have taken train to Tamfield. But if, as Raffles
+Haw held, there were few limits to the power of immense wealth, it
+possessed, among other things, the power of self-preservation, as one or
+two people were to learn to their cost.
+
+"Would you mind stepping up to the Hall?" he said one morning, putting
+his head in at the door of the Elmdene sitting-room. "I have something
+there that might amuse you." He was on intimate terms with the McIntyres
+now, and there were few days on which they did not see something of each
+other.
+
+They gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were
+usually the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for
+them.
+
+"I have shown you a tiger," he remarked to Laura, as he led them into
+the dining-room. "I will now show you something quite as dangerous,
+though not nearly so pretty." There was an arrangement of mirrors at one
+end of the room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at the
+top.
+
+"Look in there--in the upper glass," said Raffles Haw.
+
+"Good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!" cried Laura. "There are two
+of them, and I don't know which is the worse."
+
+"What on earth are they doing?" asked Robert. "They appear to be sitting
+on the ground in some sort of a cellar."
+
+"Most dangerous-looking characters," said the old man. "I should
+strongly recommend you to send for a policeman."
+
+"I have done so. But it seems a work of supererogation to take them to
+prison, for they are very snugly in prison already. However, I suppose
+that the law must have its own."
+
+"And who are they, and how did they come there? Do tell us, Mr. Haw."
+
+Laura McIntyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather
+piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.
+
+"I know no more than you do. They were not there last night, and they
+are here this morning, so I suppose it is a safe inference that they
+came in during the night, especially as my servants found the window
+open when they came down. As to their character and intentions, I should
+think that is pretty legible upon their faces. They look a pair of
+beauties, don't they?"
+
+"But I cannot understand in the least where they are," said Robert,
+staring into the mirror. "One of them has taken to butting his head
+against the wall. No, he is bending so that the other may stand upon his
+back. He is up there now, and the light is shining upon his face. What
+a bewildered ruffianly face it is too. I should so like to sketch it.
+It would be a study for the picture I am thinking of of the Reign of
+Terror."
+
+"I have caught them in my patent burglar trap," said Haw. "They are my
+first birds, but I have no doubt that they will not be the last. I will
+show you how it works. It is quite a new thing. This flooring is now
+as strong as possible, but every night I disconnect it. It is done
+simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the ground-floor.
+When the floor is disconnected one may advance three or four steps,
+either from the window or door, and then that whole part turns on a
+hinge and slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where you may
+kick your heels until you are released. There is a central oasis between
+the hinges, where the furniture is grouped for the night. The flooring
+flies into position again when the weight of the intruder is removed,
+and there he must bide, while I can always take a peep at him by this
+simple little optical arrangement. I thought it might amuse you to have
+a look at my prisoners before I handed them over to the head-constable,
+who I see is now coming up the avenue."
+
+"The poor burglars!" cried Laura. "It is no wonder that they look
+bewildered, for I suppose, Mr. Haw, that they neither know where they
+are, nor how they came there. I am so glad to know that you guard
+yourself in this way, for I have often thought that you ran a danger."
+
+"Have you so?" said he, smiling round at her. "I think that my house
+is fairly burglar-proof. I have one window which may be used as an
+entrance, the centre one of the three of my laboratory. I keep it so
+because, to tell the truth, I am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and
+when I treat myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in and
+out without ceremony. It would, however, be a fortunate rogue who picked
+the only safe entrance out of a hundred, and even then he might find
+pitfalls. Here is the constable, but you must not go, for Miss McIntyre
+has still something to see in my little place. If you will step into the
+billiard-room I shall be with you in a very few moments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+
+That morning, and many mornings both before and afterwards, were spent
+by Laura at the New Hall examining the treasures of the museum, playing
+with the thousand costly toys which Raffles Haw had collected, or
+sallying out from the smoking-room in the crystal chamber into the long
+line of luxurious hot-houses. Haw would walk demurely beside her as
+she flitted from one thing to another like a butterfly among flowers,
+watching her out of the corner of his eyes, and taking a quiet pleasure
+in her delight. The only joy which his costly possessions had ever
+brought him was that which came from the entertainment of others.
+
+By this time his attentions towards Laura McIntyre had become so
+marked that they could hardly be mistaken. He visibly brightened in
+her presence, and was never weary of devising a thousand methods of
+surprising and pleasing her. Every morning ere the McIntyre family were
+afoot a great bouquet of strange and beautiful flowers was brought
+down by a footman from the Hall to brighten their breakfast-table. Her
+slightest wish, however fantastic, was instantly satisfied, if human
+money or ingenuity could do it. When the frost lasted a stream was
+dammed and turned from its course that it might flood two meadows,
+solely in order that she might have a place upon which to skate. With
+the thaw there came a groom every afternoon with a sleek and beautiful
+mare in case Miss McIntyre should care to ride. Everything went to show
+that she had made a conquest of the recluse of the New Hall.
+
+And she on her side played her part admirably. With female adaptiveness
+she fell in with his humour, and looked at the world through his eyes.
+Her talk was of almshouses and free libraries, of charities and of
+improvements. He had never a scheme to which she could not add some
+detail making it more complete and more effective. To Haw it seemed that
+at last he had met a mind which was in absolute affinity with his own.
+Here was a help-mate, who could not only follow, but even lead him in
+the path which he had chosen.
+
+Neither Robert nor his father could fail to see what was going forward,
+but to the latter nothing could possibly be more acceptable than a
+family tie which should connect him, however indirectly, with a man of
+vast fortune. The glamour of the gold bags had crept over Robert also,
+and froze the remonstrance upon his lips. It was very pleasant to have
+the handling of all this wealth, even as a mere agent. Why should he
+do or say what might disturb their present happy relations? It was his
+sister's business, not his; and as to Hector Spurling, he must take his
+chance as other men did. It was obviously best not to move one way or
+the other in the matter.
+
+But to Robert himself, his work and his surroundings were becoming more
+and more irksome. His joy in his art had become less keen since he had
+known Raffles Haw. It seemed so hard to toll and slave to earn such a
+trifling sum, when money could really be had for the asking. It was true
+that he had asked for none, but large sums were for ever passing through
+his hands for those who were needy, and if he were needy himself his
+friend would surely not grudge it to him. So the Roman galleys still
+remained faintly outlined upon the great canvas, while Robert's days
+were spent either in the luxurious library at the Hall, or in strolling
+about the country listening to tales of trouble, and returning like
+a tweed-suited ministering angel to carry Raffles Haw's help to the
+unfortunate. It was not an ambitious life, but it was one which was very
+congenial to his weak and easy-going nature.
+
+Robert had observed that fits of depression had frequently come upon
+the millionaire, and it had sometimes struck him that the enormous sums
+which he spent had possibly made a serious inroad into his capital, and
+that his mind was troubled as to the future. His abstracted manner, his
+clouded brow, and his bent head all spoke of a soul which was weighed
+down with care, and it was only in Laura's presence that he could throw
+off the load of his secret trouble. For five hours a day he buried
+himself in the laboratory and amused himself with his hobby, but it
+was one of his whims that no one, neither any of his servants, nor
+even Laura or Robert, should ever cross the threshold of that outlying
+building. Day after day he vanished into it, to reappear hours
+afterwards pale and exhausted, while the whirr of machinery and the
+smoke which streamed from his high chimney showed how considerable were
+the operations which he undertook single-handed.
+
+"Could I not assist you in any way?" suggested Robert, as they sat
+together after luncheon in the smoking-room. "I am convinced that you
+over-try your strength. I should be so glad to help you, and I know a
+little of chemistry."
+
+"Do you, indeed?" said Raffles Haw, raising his eyebrows. "I had no
+idea of that; it is very seldom that the artistic and the scientific
+faculties go together."
+
+"I don't know that I have either particularly developed. But I have
+taken classes, and I worked for two years in the laboratory at Sir
+Josiah Mason's Institute."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," Haw replied with emphasis. "That may be
+of great importance to us. It is very possible--indeed, almost
+certain--that I shall avail myself of your offer of assistance, and
+teach you something of my chemical methods, which I may say differ
+considerably from those of the orthodox school. The time, however, is
+hardly ripe for that. What is it, Jones?"
+
+"A note, sir."
+
+The butler handed it in upon a silver salver. Haw broke the seal and ran
+his eye over it.
+
+"Tut! tut! It is from Lady Morsley, asking me to the Lord-Lieutenant's
+ball. I cannot possibly accept. It is very kind of them, but I do wish
+they would leave me alone. Very well, Jones. I shall write. Do you know,
+Robert, I am often very unhappy."
+
+He frequently called the young artist by his Christian name, especially
+in his more confidential moments.
+
+"I have sometimes feared that you were," said the other sympathetically.
+"But how strange it seems, you who are yet young, healthy, with every
+faculty for enjoyment, and a millionaire."
+
+"Ah, Robert," cried Haw, leaning back in his chair, and sending up thick
+blue wreaths from his pipe. "You have put your finger upon my
+trouble. If I were a millionaire I might be happy, but, alas, I am no
+millionaire!"
+
+"Good heavens!" gasped Robert.
+
+Cold seemed to shoot to his inmost soul as it flashed upon him that this
+was a prelude to a confession of impending bankruptcy, and that all this
+glorious life, all the excitement and the colour and change, were about
+to vanish into thin air.
+
+"No millionaire!" he stammered.
+
+"No, Robert; I am a billionaire--perhaps the only one in the world. That
+is what is on my mind, and why I am unhappy sometimes. I feel that I
+should spend this money--that I should put it in circulation--and yet it
+is so hard to do it without failing to do good--without doing positive
+harm. I feel my responsibility deeply. It weighs me down. Am I justified
+in continuing to live this quiet life when there are so many millions
+whom I might save and comfort if I could but reach them?"
+
+Robert heaved a long sigh of relief. "Perhaps you take too grave a view
+of your responsibilities," he said. "Everybody knows that the good which
+you have done is immense. What more could you desire? If you really
+wished to extend your benevolence further, there are organised charities
+everywhere which would be very glad of your help."
+
+"I have the names of two hundred and seventy of them," Haw answered.
+"You must run your eye over them some time, and see if you can suggest
+any others. I send my annual mite to each of them. I don't think there
+is much room for expansion in that direction."
+
+"Well, really you have done your share, and more than your share.
+I would settle down to lead a happy life, and think no more of the
+matter."
+
+"I could not do that," Haw answered earnestly. "I have not been singled
+out to wield this immense power simply in order that I might lead
+a happy life. I can never believe that. Now, can you not use your
+imagination, Robert, and devise methods by which a man who has command
+of--well, let us say, for argument's sake, boundless wealth, could
+benefit mankind by it, without taking away any one's independence or in
+any way doing harm?"
+
+"Well, really, now that I come to think of it, it is a very difficult
+problem," said Robert.
+
+"Now I will submit a few schemes to you, and you may give me your
+opinion on them. Supposing that such a man were to buy ten square miles
+of ground here in Staffordshire, and were to build upon it a neat city,
+consisting entirely of clean, comfortable little four-roomed
+houses, furnished in a simple style, with shops and so forth, but no
+public-houses. Supposing, too, that he were to offer a house free to all
+the homeless folk, all the tramps, and broken men, and out-of-workers
+in Great Britain. Then, having collected them together, let him employ
+them, under fitting superintendence, upon some colossal piece of work
+which would last for many years, and perhaps be of permanent value to
+humanity. Give them a good rate of pay, and let their hours of labour be
+reasonable, and those of recreation be pleasant. Might you not benefit
+them and benefit humanity at one stroke?"
+
+"But what form of work could you devise which would employ so vast
+a number for so long a time, and yet not compete with any existing
+industry? To do the latter would simply mean to shift the misery from
+one class to another."
+
+"Precisely so. I should compete with no one. What I thought of doing was
+of sinking a shaft through the earth's crust, and of establishing rapid
+communication with the Antipodes. When you had got a certain distance
+down--how far is an interesting mathematical problem--the centre of
+gravity would be beneath you, presuming that your boring was not quite
+directed towards the centre, and you could then lay down rails and
+tunnel as if you were on the level."
+
+Then for the first time it flashed into Robert McIntyre's head that his
+father's chance words were correct, and that he was in the presence of
+a madman. His great wealth had clearly turned his brain, and made him a
+monomaniac. He nodded indulgently, as when one humours a child.
+
+"It would be very nice," he said. "I have heard, however, that the
+interior of the earth is molten, and your workmen would need to be
+Salamanders."
+
+"The latest scientific data do not bear out the idea that the earth
+is so hot," answered Raffles Haw. "It is certain that the increased
+temperature in coal mines depends upon the barometric pressure. There
+are gases in the earth which may be ignited, and there are combustible
+materials as we see in the volcanoes; but if we came across anything of
+the sort in our borings, we could turn a river or two down the shaft,
+and get the better of it in that fashion."
+
+"It would be rather awkward if the other end of your shaft came out
+under the Pacific Ocean," said Robert, choking down his inclination to
+laugh.
+
+"I have had estimates and calculations from the first living
+engineers--French, English, and American. The point of exit of the
+tunnel could be calculated to the yard. That portfolio in the corner is
+full of sections, plans, and diagrams. I have agents employed in buying
+up land, and if all goes well, we may get to work in the autumn. That is
+one device which may produce results. Another is canal-cutting."
+
+"Ah, there you would compete with the railways."
+
+"You don't quite understand. I intend to cut canals through every neck
+of land where such a convenience would facilitate commerce. Such a
+scheme, when unaccompanied by any toll upon vessels, would, I think, be
+a very judicious way of helping the human race."
+
+"And where, pray, would you cut the canals?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have a map of the world here," Haw answered, rising, and taking one
+down from the paper-rack. "You see the blue pencil marks. Those are the
+points where I propose to establish communication. Of course, I should
+begin by the obvious duty of finishing the Panama business."
+
+"Naturally." The man's lunacy was becoming more and more obvious, and
+yet there was such precision and coolness in his manner, that Robert
+found himself against his own reason endorsing and speculating over his
+plans.
+
+"The Isthmus of Corinth also occurs to one. That, however, is a small
+matter, from either a financial or an engineering point of view. I
+propose, however, to make a junction here, through Kiel between the
+German Ocean and the Baltic. It saves, you will observe, the whole
+journey round the coast of Denmark, and would facilitate our trade with
+Germany and Russia. Another very obvious improvement is to join the
+Forth and the Clyde, so as to connect Leith with the Irish and American
+routes. You see the blue line?"
+
+"Quite so."
+
+"And we will have a little cutting here. It will run from Uleaborg to
+Kem, and will connect the White Sea with the Gulf of Bothnia. We must
+not allow our sympathies to be insular, must we? Our little charities
+should be cosmopolitan. We will try and give the good people of
+Archangel a better outlet for their furs and their tallow."
+
+"But it will freeze."
+
+"For six months in the year. Still, it will be something. Then we must
+do something for the East. It would never do to overlook the East."
+
+"It would certainly be an oversight," said Robert, who was keenly alive
+to the comical side of the question. Raffles Haw, however, in deadly
+earnest, sat scratching away at his map with his blue pencil.
+
+"Here is a point where we might be of some little use. If we cut through
+from Batoum to the Kura River we might tap the trade of the Caspian, and
+open up communication with all the rivers which run into it. You notice
+that they include a considerable tract of country. Then, again, I think
+that we might venture upon a little cutting between Beirut, on the
+Mediterranean, and the upper waters of the Euphrates, which would lead
+us into the Persian Gulf. Those are one or two of the more obvious
+canals which might knit the human race into a closer whole."
+
+"Your plans are certainly stupendous," said Robert, uncertain whether to
+laugh or to be awe-struck. "You will cease to be a man, and become one
+of the great forces of Nature, altering, moulding, and improving."
+
+"That is precisely the view which I take of myself. That is why I feel
+my responsibility so acutely."
+
+"But surely if you will do all this you may rest. It is a considerable
+programme."
+
+"Not at all. I am a patriotic Briton, and I should like to do something
+to leave my name in the annals of my country. I should prefer, however,
+to do it after my own death, as anything in the shape of publicity and
+honour is very offensive to me. I have, therefore, put by eight hundred
+million in a place which shall be duly mentioned in my will, which I
+propose to devote to paying off the National Debt. I cannot see that any
+harm could arise from its extinction."
+
+Robert sat staring, struck dumb by the audacity of the strange man's
+words.
+
+"Then there is the heating of the soil. There is room for improvement
+there. You have no doubt read of the immense yields which have resulted
+in Jersey and elsewhere, from the running of hot-water pipes through the
+soil. The crops are trebled and quadrupled. I would propose to try the
+experiment upon a larger scale. We might possibly reserve the Isle of
+Man to serve as a pumping and heating station. The main pipes would run
+to England, Ireland, and Scotland, where they would subdivide rapidly
+until they formed a network two feet deep under the whole country. A
+pipe at distances of a yard would suffice for every purpose."
+
+"I am afraid," suggested Robert, "that the water which left the Isle of
+Man warm might lose a little of its virtue before it reached Caithness,
+for example."
+
+"There need not be any difficulty there. Every few miles a furnace might
+be arranged to keep up the temperature. These are a few of my plans for
+the future, Robert, and I shall want the co-operation of disinterested
+men like yourself in all of them. But how brightly the sun shines, and
+how sweet the countryside looks! The world is very beautiful, and
+I should like to leave it happier than I found it. Let us walk out
+together, Robert, and you will tell me of any fresh cases where I may be
+of assistance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. A NEW DEPARTURE.
+
+
+Whatever good Mr. Raffles Haw's wealth did to the world, there could be
+no doubt that there were cases where it did harm. The very contemplation
+and thought of it had upon many a disturbing and mischievous effect.
+Especially was this the case with the old gunmaker. From being merely
+a querulous and grasping man, he had now become bitter, brooding, and
+dangerous. Week by week, as he saw the tide of wealth flow as it were
+through his very house without being able to divert the smallest rill to
+nourish his own fortunes, he became more wolfish and more hungry-eyed.
+He spoke less of his own wrongs, but he brooded more, and would stand
+for hours on Tamfield Hill looking down at the great palace beneath, as
+a thirst-stricken man might gaze at the desert mirage.
+
+He had worked, and peeped, and pried, too, until there were points upon
+which he knew more than either his son or his daughter.
+
+"I suppose that you still don't know where your friend gets his money?"
+he remarked to Robert one morning, as they walked together through the
+village.
+
+"No, father, I do not. I only know that he spends it very well."
+
+"Well!" snarled the old man. "Yes, very well! He has helped every tramp
+and slut and worthless vagabond over the countryside, but he will
+not advance a pound, even on the best security, to help a respectable
+business man to fight against misfortune."
+
+"My dear father, I really cannot argue with you about it," said Robert.
+"I have already told you more than once what I think. Mr. Haw's object
+is to help those who are destitute. He looks upon us as his equals, and
+would not presume to patronise us, or to act as if we could not help
+ourselves. It would be a humiliation to us to take his money."
+
+"Pshaw! Besides, it is only a question of an advance, and advances
+are made every day among business men. How can you talk such nonsense,
+Robert?"
+
+Early as it was, his son could see from his excited, quarrelsome manner
+that the old man had been drinking. The habit had grown upon him of
+late, and it was seldom now that he was entirely sober.
+
+"Mr. Raffles Haw is the best judge," said Robert coldly. "If he earns
+the money, he has a right to spend it as he likes."
+
+"And how does he earn it? You don't know, Robert. You don't know that
+you aren't aiding and abetting a felony when you help him to fritter
+it away. Was ever so much money earned in an honest fashion? I tell you
+there never was. I tell you, also, that lumps of gold are no more to
+that man than chunks of coal to the miners over yonder. He could build
+his house of them and think nothing of it."
+
+"I know that he is very rich, father. I think, however, that he has an
+extravagant way of talking sometimes, and that his imagination carries
+him away. I have heard him talk of plans which the richest man upon
+earth could not possibly hope to carry through."
+
+"Don't you make any mistake, my son. Your poor old father isn't quite
+a fool, though he is only an honest broken merchant." He looked up
+sideways at his son with a wink and a most unpleasant leer. "Where
+there's money I can smell it. There's money there, and heaps of it.
+It's my belief that he is the richest man in the world, though how he
+came to be so I should not like to guarantee. I'm not quite blind yet,
+Robert. Have you seen the weekly waggon?"
+
+"The weekly waggon!"
+
+"Yes, Robert. You see I can find some news for you yet. It is due this
+morning. Every Saturday morning you will see the waggon come in. Why,
+here it is now, as I am a living man, coming round the curve."
+
+Robert glanced back and saw a great heavy waggon drawn by two strong
+horses lumbering slowly along the road which led to the New Hall. From
+the efforts of the animals and its slow pace the contents seemed to be
+of great weight.
+
+"Just you wait here," old McIntyre cried, plucking at his son's sleeve
+with his thin bony hand. "Wait here and see it pass. Then we will watch
+what becomes of it."
+
+They stood by the side of the road until it came abreast of them. The
+waggon was covered with tarpaulin sheetings in front and at the sides,
+but behind some glimpse could be caught of the contents. They consisted,
+as far as Robert could see, of a number of packets of the same shape,
+each about two feet long and six inches high, arranged symmetrically
+upon the top of each other. Each packet was surrounded by a covering of
+coarse sacking.
+
+"What do you think of that?" asked old McIntyre triumphantly as the load
+creaked past.
+
+"Why, father? What do you make of it?"
+
+"I have watched it, Robert--I have watched it every Saturday, and I had
+my chance of looking a little deeper into it. You remember the day when
+the elm blew down, and the road was blocked until they could saw it in
+two. That was on a Saturday, and the waggon came to a stand until they
+could clear a way for it. I was there, Robert, and I saw my chance.
+I strolled behind the waggon, and I placed my hands upon one of those
+packets. They look small, do they not? It would take a strong man to
+lift one. They are heavy, Robert, heavy, and hard with the hardness of
+metal. I tell you, boy, that that waggon is loaded with gold."
+
+"Gold!"
+
+"With solid bars of gold, Robert. But come into the plantation and we
+shall see what becomes of it."
+
+They passed through the lodge gates, behind the waggon, and then
+wandered off among the fir-trees until they gained a spot where they
+could command a view. The load had halted, not in front of the house,
+but at the door of the out-building with the chimney. A staff of
+stablemen and footmen were in readiness, who proceeded to swiftly unload
+and to carry the packages through the door. It was the first time that
+Robert had ever seen any one save the master of the house enter the
+laboratory. No sign was seen of him now, however, and in half an hour
+the contents had all been safely stored and the waggon had driven
+briskly away.
+
+"I cannot understand it, father," said Robert thoughtfully, as they
+resumed their walk. "Supposing that your supposition is correct, who
+would send him such quantities of gold, and where could it come from?"
+
+"Ha, you have to come to the old man after all!" chuckled his companion.
+"I can see the little game. It is clear enough to me. There are two of
+them in it, you understand. The other one gets the gold. Never mind how,
+but we will hope that there is no harm. Let us suppose, for example,
+that they have found a marvellous mine, where you can just shovel it out
+like clay from a pit. Well, then, he sends it on to this one, and he has
+his furnaces and his chemicals, and he refines and purifies it and makes
+it fit to sell. That's my explanation of it, Robert. Eh, has the old man
+put his finger on it?"
+
+"But if that were true, father, the gold must go back again."
+
+"So it does, Robert, but a little at a time. Ha, ha! I've had my eyes
+open, you see. Every night it goes down in a small cart, and is sent on
+to London by the 7.40. Not in bars this time, but done up in iron-bound
+chests. I've seen them, boy, and I've had this hand upon them."
+
+"Well," said the young man thoughtfully, "maybe you are right. It is
+possible that you are right."
+
+While father and son were prying into his secrets, Raffles Haw had found
+his way to Elmdene, where Laura sat reading the _Queen_ by the fire.
+
+"I am so sorry," she said, throwing down her paper and springing to
+her feet. "They are all out except me. But I am sure that they won't be
+long. I expect Robert every moment."
+
+"I would rather speak with you alone," answered Raffles Haw quietly.
+"Pray sit down, for I wanted to have a little chat with you."
+
+Laura resumed her seat with a flush upon her cheeks and a quickening of
+the breath. She turned her face away and gazed into the fire; but there
+was a sparkle in her eyes which was not caught from the leaping flames.
+
+"Do you remember the first time that we met, Miss McIntyre?" he
+asked, standing on the rug and looking down at her dark hair, and the
+beautifully feminine curve of her ivory neck.
+
+"As if it were yesterday," she answered in her sweet mellow tones.
+
+"Then you must also remember the wild words that I said when we
+parted. It was very foolish of me. I am sure that I am most sorry if I
+frightened or disturbed you, but I have been a very solitary man for a
+long time, and I have dropped into a bad habit of thinking aloud. Your
+voice, your face, your manner, were all so like my ideal of a true
+woman, loving, faithful, and sympathetic, that I could not help
+wondering whether, if I were a poor man, I might ever hope to win the
+affection of such a one."
+
+"Your good opinion, Mr. Raffles Haw, is very dear to me," said Laura.
+"I assure you that I was not frightened, and that there is no need to
+apologise for what was really a compliment."
+
+"Since then I have found," he continued, "that all that I had read upon
+your face was true. That your mind is indeed that of the true woman,
+full of the noblest and sweetest qualities which human nature can aspire
+to. You know that I am a man of fortune, but I wish you to dismiss that
+consideration from your mind. Do you think from what you know of my
+character that you could be happy as my wife, Laura?"
+
+She made no answer, but still sat with her head turned away and her
+sparkling eyes fixed upon the fire. One little foot from under her skirt
+tapped nervously upon the rug.
+
+"It is only right that you should know a little more about me before you
+decide. There is, however, little to know. I am an orphan, and, as far
+as I know, without a relation upon earth. My father was a respectable
+man, a country surgeon in Wales, and he brought me up to his own
+profession. Before I had passed my examinations, however, he died and
+left me a small annuity. I had conceived a great liking for the subjects
+of chemistry and electricity, and instead of going on with my medical
+work I devoted myself entirely to these studies, and eventually built
+myself a laboratory where I could follow out my own researches. At about
+this time I came into a very large sum of money, so large as to make me
+feel that a vast responsibility rested upon me in the use which I made
+of it. After some thought I determined to build a large house in a quiet
+part of the country, not too far from a great centre. There I could be
+in touch with the world, and yet would have quiet and leisure to mature
+the schemes which were in my head. As it chanced, I chose Tamfield as my
+site. All that remains now is to carry out the plans which I have
+made, and to endeavour to lighten the earth of some of the misery and
+injustice which weigh it down. I again ask you, Laura, will you throw
+in your lot with mine, and help me in the life's work which lies before
+me?"
+
+Laura looked up at him, at his stringy figure, his pale face, his keen,
+yet gentle eyes. Somehow as she looked there seemed to form itself
+beside him some shadow of Hector Spurling, the manly features, the
+clear, firm mouth, the frank manner. Now, in the very moment of her
+triumph, it sprang clearly up in her mind how at the hour of their
+ruin he had stood firmly by them, and had loved the penniless girl as
+tenderly as the heiress to fortune. That last embrace at the door, too,
+came back to her, and she felt his lips warm upon her own.
+
+"I am very much honoured, Mr. Haw," she stammered, "but this is so
+sudden. I have not had time to think. I do not know what to say."
+
+"Do not let me hurry you," he cried earnestly. "I beg that you will
+think well over it. I shall come again for my answer. When shall I come?
+Tonight?"
+
+"Yes, come tonight."
+
+"Then, adieu. Believe me that I think more highly of you for your
+hesitation. I shall live in hope." He raised her hand to his lips, and
+left her to her own thoughts.
+
+But what those thoughts were did not long remain in doubt. Dimmer and
+dimmer grew the vision of the distant sailor face, clearer and clearer
+the image of the vast palace, of the queenly power, of the diamonds, the
+gold, the ambitious future. It all lay at her feet, waiting to be picked
+up. How could she have hesitated, even for a moment? She rose, and,
+walking over to her desk, she took out a sheet of paper and an envelope.
+The latter she addressed to Lieutenant Spurling, H.M.S. _Active_,
+Gibraltar. The note cost some little trouble, but at last she got it
+worded to her mind.
+
+   "Dear Hector," she said--"I am convinced that your father has
+   never         entirely approved of our engagement, otherwise he
+   would not have thrown obstacles in the way of our marriage.
+   I am sure, too, that since my poor father's misfortune it is
+   only your own sense of honour and feeling of duty which have
+   kept you true to me, and that you would have done infinitely
+   better had you never seen me.  I cannot bear, Hector, to allow
+   you to imperil your future for my sake, and I have determined,
+   after thinking well over the matter, to release you from our
+   boy and girl engagement, so that you may be entirely free in
+   every way.  It is possible that you may think it unkind of me
+   to do this now, but I am quite sure, dear Hector, that when you
+   are an admiral and a very distinguished man, you will look back
+   at this, and you will see that I have been a true friend to you,
+   and have prevented you from making a false step early in your
+   career.  For myself, whether I marry or not, I have determined
+   to devote the remainder of my life to trying to do good, and to
+   leaving the world happier than I found it.  Your father is very
+   well, and gave us a capital sermon last Sunday.  I enclose the
+   bank-note which you asked me to keep for you.  Good-bye, for ever,
+   dear Hector, and believe me when I say that, come what may, I am
+   ever your true friend,
+
+   "Laura S. McIntyre."
+
+She had hardly sealed her letter before her father and Robert returned.
+She closed the door behind them, and made them a little curtsey.
+
+"I await my family's congratulations," she said, with her head in the
+air. "Mr. Raffles Haw has been here, and he has asked me to be his
+wife."
+
+"The deuce he did!" cried the old man. "And you said--?"
+
+"I am to see him again."
+
+"And you will say--?"
+
+"I will accept him."
+
+"You were always a good girl, Laura," said old McIntyre, standing on his
+tiptoes to kiss her.
+
+"But Laura, Laura, how about Hector?" asked Robert in mild remonstrance.
+
+"Oh, I have written to him," his sister answered carelessly. "I wish you
+would be good enough to post the letter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE GREAT SECRET.
+
+
+And so Laura McIntyre became duly engaged to Raffles Haw, and old
+McIntyre grew even more hungry-looking as he felt himself a step nearer
+to the source of wealth, while Robert thought less of work than ever,
+and never gave as much as a thought to the great canvas which still
+stood, dust-covered, upon his easel. Haw gave Laura an engagement ring
+of old gold, with a great blazing diamond bulging out of it. There was
+little talk about the matter, however, for it was Haw's wish that all
+should be done very quietly. Nearly all his evenings were spent at
+Elmdene, where he and Laura would build up the most colossal schemes of
+philanthropy for the future. With a map stretched out on the table in
+front of them, these two young people would, as it were, hover over the
+world, planning, devising, and improving.
+
+"Bless the girl!" said old McIntyre to his son; "she speaks about it as
+if she were born to millions. Maybe, when once she is married, she won't
+be so ready to chuck her money into every mad scheme that her husband
+can think of."
+
+"Laura is greatly changed," Robert answered; "she has grown much more
+serious in her ideas."
+
+"You wait a bit!" sniggered his father. "She is a good girl, is Laura,
+and she knows what she is about. She's not a girl to let her old dad go
+to the wall if she can set him right. It's a pretty state of things," he
+added bitterly: "here's my daughter going to marry a man who thinks no
+more of gold than I used to of gun-metal; and here's my son going about
+with all the money he cares to ask for to help every ne'er-do-well in
+Staffordshire; and here's their father, who loved them and cared for
+them, and brought them both up, without money enough very often to buy
+a bottle of brandy. I don't know what your poor dear mother would have
+thought of it."
+
+"You have only to ask for what you want."
+
+"Yes, as if I were a five-year-old child. But I tell you, Robert, I'll
+have my rights, and if I can't get them one way I will another. I won't
+be treated as if I were no one. And there's one thing: if I am to be
+this man's pa-in-law, I'll want to know something about him and his
+money first. We may be poor, but we are honest. I'll up to the Hall now,
+and have it out with him." He seized his hat and stick and made for the
+door.
+
+"No, no, father," cried Robert, catching him by the sleeve. "You had
+better leave the matter alone. Mr. Haw is a very sensitive man. He would
+not like to be examined upon such a point. It might lead to a serious
+quarrel. I beg that you will not go."
+
+"I am not to be put off for ever," snarled the old man, who had been
+drinking heavily. "I'll put my foot down now, once and for ever." He
+tugged at his sleeve to free himself from his son's grasp.
+
+"At least you shall not go without Laura knowing. I will call her down,
+and we shall have her opinion."
+
+"Oh, I don't want to have any scenes," said McIntyre sulkily, relaxing
+his efforts. He lived in dread of his daughter, and at his worst moments
+the mention of her name would serve to restrain him.
+
+"Besides," said Robert, "I have not the slightest doubt that Raffles
+Haw will see the necessity for giving us some sort of explanation before
+matters go further. He must understand that we have some claim now to be
+taken into his confidence."
+
+He had hardly spoken when there was a tap at the door, and the man of
+whom they were speaking walked in.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. McIntyre," said he. "Robert, would you mind stepping
+up to the Hall with me? I want to have a little business chat." He
+looked serious, like a man who is carrying out something which he has
+well weighed.
+
+They walked up together with hardly a word on either side. Raffles Haw
+was absorbed in his own thoughts. Robert felt expectant and nervous,
+for he knew that something of importance lay before him. The winter had
+almost passed now, and the first young shoots were beginning to peep out
+timidly in the face of the wind and the rain of an English March. The
+snows were gone, but the countryside looked bleaker and drearier, all
+shrouded in the haze from the damp, sodden meadows.
+
+"By the way, Robert," said Raffles Haw suddenly, as they walked up the
+Avenue. "Has your great Roman picture gone to London?"
+
+"I have not finished it yet."
+
+"But I know that you are a quick worker. You must be nearly at the end
+of it."
+
+"No, I am afraid that it has not advanced much since you saw it. For one
+thing, the light has not been very good."
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but a pained expression flashed over his face.
+When they reached the house he led the way through the museum. Two great
+metal cases were lying on the floor.
+
+"I have a small addition there to the gem collection," he remarked as he
+passed. "They only arrived last night, and I have not opened them yet,
+but I am given to understand from the letters and invoices that there
+are some fine specimens. We might arrange them this afternoon, if you
+care to assist me. Let us go into the smoking-room now."
+
+He threw himself down into a settee, and motioned Robert into the
+armchair in front of him.
+
+"Light a cigar," he said. "Press the spring if there is any refreshment
+which you would like. Now, my dear Robert, confess to me in the first
+place that you have often thought me mad."
+
+The charge was so direct and so true that the young artist hesitated,
+hardly knowing how to answer.
+
+"My dear boy, I do not blame you. It was the most natural thing in the
+world. I should have looked upon anyone as a madman who had talked to me
+as I have talked to you. But for all that, Robert, you were wrong, and I
+have never yet in our conversations proposed any scheme which it was not
+well within my power to carry out. I tell you in all sober earnest that
+the amount of my income is limited only by my desire, and that all the
+bankers and financiers combined could not furnish the sums which I can
+put forward without an effort."
+
+"I have had ample proof of your immense wealth," said Robert.
+
+"And you are very naturally curious as to how that wealth was obtained.
+Well, I can tell you one thing. The money is perfectly clean. I have
+robbed no one, cheated no one, sweated no one, ground no one down in the
+gaining of it. I can read your father's eye, Robert. I can see that he
+has done me an injustice in this matter. Well, perhaps he is not to be
+blamed. Perhaps I also might think uncharitable things if I were In his
+place. But that is why I now give an explanation to you, Robert, and not
+to him. You, at least, have trusted me, and you have a right, before I
+become one of your family, to know all that I can tell you. Laura also
+has trusted me, but I know well that she is content still to trust me."
+
+"I would not intrude upon your secrets, Mr. Haw," said Robert, "but
+of course I cannot deny that I should be very proud and pleased if you
+cared to confide them to me."
+
+"And I will. Not all. I do not think that I shall ever, while I live,
+tell all. But I shall leave directions behind me so that when I die you
+may be able to carry on my unfinished work. I shall tell you where those
+directions are to be found. In the meantime, you must be content to
+learn the effects which I produce without knowing every detail as to the
+means."
+
+Robert settled himself down in his chair and concentrated his attention
+upon his companion's words, while Haw bent forward his eager, earnest
+face, like a man who knows the value of the words which he is saying.
+
+"You are already aware," he remarked, "that I have devoted a great deal
+of energy and of time to the study of chemistry."
+
+"So you told me."
+
+"I commenced my studies under a famous English chemist, I continued
+them under the best man in France, and I completed them in the most
+celebrated laboratory of Germany. I was not rich, but my father had left
+me enough to keep me comfortably, and by living economically I had a
+sum at my command which enabled me to carry out my studies in a very
+complete way. When I returned to England I built myself a laboratory
+in a quiet country place where I could work without distraction or
+interruption. There I began a series of investigations which soon took
+me into regions of science to which none of the three famous men who
+taught me had ever penetrated.
+
+"You say, Robert, that you have some slight knowledge of chemistry, and
+you will find it easier to follow what I say. Chemistry is to a large
+extent an empirical science, and the chance experiment may lead to
+greater results than could, with our present data, be derived from the
+closest study or the keenest reasoning. The most important chemical
+discoveries from the first manufacture of glass to the whitening and
+refining of sugar have all been due to some happy chance which might
+have befallen a mere dabbler as easily as a deep student.
+
+"Well, it was to such a chance that my own great discovery--perhaps the
+greatest that the world has seen--was due, though I may claim the credit
+of having originated the line of thought which led up to it. I had
+frequently speculated as to the effect which powerful currents of
+electricity exercise upon any substance through which they are poured
+for a considerable time. I did not here mean such feeble currents as
+are passed along a telegraph wire, but I mean the very highest possible
+developments. Well, I tried a series of experiments upon this point. I
+found that in liquids, and in compounds, the force had a disintegrating
+effect. The well-known experiment of the electrolysis of water will, of
+course, occur to you. But I found that in the case of elemental solids
+the effect was a remarkable one. The element slowly decreased in weight,
+without perceptibly altering in composition. I hope that I make myself
+clear to you?"
+
+"I follow you entirely," said Robert, deeply interested in his
+companion's narrative.
+
+"I tried upon several elements, and always with the same result. In
+every case an hour's current would produce a perceptible loss of weight.
+My theory at that stage was that there was a loosening of the molecules
+caused by the electric fluid, and that a certain number of these
+molecules were shed off like an impalpable dust, all round the lump of
+earth or of metal, which remained, of course, the lighter by their loss.
+I had entirely accepted this theory, when a very remarkable chance led
+me to completely alter my opinions.
+
+"I had one Saturday night fastened a bar of bismuth in a clamp, and had
+attached it on either side to an electric wire, in order to observe what
+effect the current would have upon it. I had been testing each metal in
+turn, exposing them to the influence for from one to two hours. I had
+just got everything in position, and had completed my connection, when
+I received a telegram to say that John Stillingfleet, an old chemist in
+London with whom I had been on terms of intimacy, was dangerously ill,
+and had expressed a wish to see me. The last train was due to leave in
+twenty minutes, and I lived a good mile from the station, I thrust a few
+things into a bag, locked my laboratory, and ran as hard as I could to
+catch it.
+
+"It was not until I was in London that it suddenly occurred to me that
+I had neglected to shut off the current, and that it would continue to
+pass through the bar of bismuth until the batteries were exhausted. The
+fact, however, seemed to be of small importance, and I dismissed it from
+my mind. I was detained in London until the Tuesday night, and it
+was Wednesday morning before I got back to my work. As I unlocked the
+laboratory door my mind reverted to the uncompleted experiment, and it
+struck me that in all probability my piece of bismuth would have been
+entirely disintegrated and reduced to its primitive molecules. I was
+utterly unprepared for the truth.
+
+"When I approached the table I found, sure enough, that the bar of metal
+had vanished, and that the clamp was empty. Having noted the fact, I was
+about to turn away to something else, when my attention was attracted to
+the fact that the table upon which the clamp stood was starred over with
+little patches of some liquid silvery matter, which lay in single drops
+or coalesced into little pools. I had a very distinct recollection of
+having thoroughly cleared the table before beginning my experiment,
+so that this substance had been deposited there since I had left for
+London. Much interested, I very carefully collected it all into one
+vessel, and examined it minutely. There could be no question as to what
+it was. It was the purest mercury, and gave no response to any test for
+bismuth.
+
+"I at once grasped the fact that chance had placed in my hands a
+chemical discovery of the very first importance. If bismuth were, under
+certain conditions, to be subjected to the action of electricity, it
+would begin by losing weight, and would finally be transformed into
+mercury. I had broken down the partition which separated two elements.
+
+"But the process would be a constant one. It would presumably prove
+to be a general law, and not an isolated fact. If bismuth turned into
+mercury, what would mercury turn into? There would be no rest for me
+until I had solved the question. I renewed the exhausted batteries and
+passed the current through the bowl of quicksilver. For sixteen hours I
+sat watching the metal, marking how it slowly seemed to curdle, to grow
+firmer, to lose its silvery glitter and to take a dull yellow hue. When
+I at last picked it up in a forceps, and threw it upon the table, it had
+lost every characteristic of mercury, and had obviously become another
+metal. A few simple tests were enough to show me that this other metal
+was platinum.
+
+"Now, to a chemist, there was something very suggestive in the order in
+which these changes had been effected. Perhaps you can see the relation,
+Robert, which they bear to each other?"
+
+"No, I cannot say that I do."
+
+Robert had sat listening to this strange statement with parted lips and
+staring eyes.
+
+"I will show you. Speaking atomically, bismuth is the heaviest of the
+metals. Its atomic weight is 210. The next in weight is lead, 207, and
+then comes mercury at 200. Possibly the long period during which the
+current had acted in my absence had reduced the bismuth to lead and
+the lead in turn to mercury. Now platinum stands at 197.5, and it was
+accordingly the next metal to be produced by the continued current. Do
+you see now?"
+
+"It is quite clear."
+
+"And then there came the inference, which sent my heart into my mouth
+and caused my head to swim round. Gold is the next in the series.
+Its atomic weight is 197. I remembered now, and for the first time
+understood why it was always lead and mercury winch were mentioned by
+the old alchemists as being the two metals which might be used in their
+calling. With fingers which trembled with excitement I adjusted the
+wires again, and in little more than an hour--for the length of the
+process was always in proportion to the difference in the metals--I
+had before me a knob of ruddy crinkled metal, which answered to every
+reaction for gold.
+
+"Well, Robert, this is a long story, but I think that you will agree
+with me that its importance justifies me in going into detail. When
+I had satisfied myself that I had really manufactured gold I cut the
+nugget in two. One half I sent to a jeweller and worker in precious
+metals, with whom I had some slight acquaintance, asking him to report
+upon the quality of the metal. With the other half I continued my series
+of experiments, and reduced it in successive stages through all the long
+series of metals, through silver and zinc and manganese, until I brought
+it to lithium, which is the lightest of all."
+
+"And what did it turn to then?" asked Robert.
+
+"Then came what to chemists is likely to be the most interesting portion
+of my discovery. It turned to a greyish fine powder, which powder gave
+no further results, however much I might treat it with electricity.
+And that powder is the base of all things; it is the mother of all
+the elements; it is, in short, the substance whose existence has been
+recently surmised by a leading chemist, and which has been christened
+protyle by him. I am the discoverer of the great law of the electrical
+transposition of the metals, and I am the first to demonstrate protyle,
+so that, I think, Robert, if all my schemes in other directions come to
+nothing, my name is at least likely to live in the chemical world.
+
+"There is not very much more for me to tell you. I had my nugget back
+from my friend the jeweller, confirming my opinion as to its nature and
+its quality. I soon found several methods by which the process might
+be simplified, and especially a modification of the ordinary electric
+current, which was very much more effective. Having made a certain
+amount of gold, I disposed of it for a sum which enabled me to buy
+improved materials and stronger batteries. In this way I enlarged my
+operations until at last I was in a position to build this house and
+to have a laboratory where I could carry out my work on a much larger
+scale. As I said before, I can now state with all truth that the amount
+of my income is only limited by my desires."
+
+"It is wonderful!" gasped Robert. "It is like a fairy tale. But with
+this great discovery in your mind you must have been sorely tempted to
+confide it to others."
+
+"I thought well over it. I gave it every consideration. It was obvious
+to me that if my invention were made public, its immediate result would
+be to deprive the present precious metals of all their special value.
+Some other substance--amber, we will say, or ivory--would be chosen as a
+medium for barter, and gold would be inferior to brass, as being heavier
+and yet not so hard. No one would be the better for such a consummation
+as that. Now, if I retained my secret, and used it with wisdom, I might
+make myself the greatest benefactor to mankind that has ever
+lived. Those were the chief reasons, and I trust that they are not
+dishonourable ones, which led me to form the resolution, which I have
+today for the first time broken."
+
+"But your secret is safe with me," cried Robert. "My lips shall be
+sealed until I have your permission to speak."
+
+"If I had not known that I could trust you I should have withheld it
+from your knowledge. And now, my dear Robert, theory is very weak work,
+and practice is infinitely more interesting. I have given you more than
+enough of the first. If you will be good enough to accompany me to the
+laboratory I shall give you a little of the latter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+
+Raffles Haw led the way through the front door, and crossing over the
+gravelled drive pushed open the outer door of the laboratory--the same
+through which the McIntyres had seen the packages conveyed from the
+waggon. On passing through it Robert found that they were not really
+within the building, but merely in a large bare ante-chamber, around
+the walls of which were stacked the very objects which had aroused his
+curiosity and his father's speculations. All mystery had gone from
+them now, however, for while some were still wrapped in their sackcloth
+coverings, others had been undone, and revealed themselves as great pigs
+of lead.
+
+"There is my raw material," said Raffles Haw carelessly, nodding at the
+heap. "Every Saturday I have a waggon-load sent up, which serves me
+for a week, but we shall need to work double tides when Laura and I
+are married, and we get our great schemes under way. I have to be very
+careful about the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is
+reproduced in the gold."
+
+A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber. Haw unlocked it, but only
+to disclose a second one about five feet further on.
+
+"This flooring is all disconnected at night," he remarked. "I have no
+doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about
+this sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some inquisitive
+ostler or too adventurous butler."
+
+The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare,
+whitewashed room with a glass roof. At one end was the furnace and
+boiler, the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red light
+beat through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the building.
+On either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in rows, tier
+topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic cells. Robert's
+eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels, complicated networks of
+wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles, graduated glasses, Bunsen
+burners, porcelain insulators, and all the varied _debris_ of a chemical
+and electrical workshop.
+
+"Come across here," said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of
+metal, the coke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid. "Yours
+is the first foot except my own which has ever penetrated to this
+room since the workmen left it. My servants carry the lead into the
+ante-room, but come no further. The furnace can be cleaned and stoked
+from without. I employ a fellow to do nothing else. Now take a look in
+here."
+
+He threw open a door on the further side, and motioned to the young
+artist to enter. The latter stood silent with one foot over the
+threshold, staring in amazement around him. The room, which may have
+been some thirty feet square, was paved and walled with gold. Great
+brick-shaped ingots, closely packed, covered the whole floor, while on
+every side they were reared up in compact barriers to the very ceiling.
+The single electric lamp which lighted the windowless chamber struck
+a dull, murky, yellow light from the vast piles of precious metal, and
+gleamed ruddily upon the golden floor.
+
+"This is my treasure house," remarked the owner. "You see that I have
+rather an accumulation just now. My imports have been exceeding my
+exports. You can understand that I have other and more important duties
+even than the making of gold, just now. This is where I store my output
+until I am ready to send it off. Every night almost I am in the habit of
+sending a case of it to London. I employ seventeen brokers in its sale.
+Each thinks that he is the only one, and each is dying to know where I
+can get such large quantities of virgin gold. They say that it is the
+purest which comes into the market. The popular theory is, I believe,
+that I am a middleman acting on behalf of some new South African mine,
+which wishes to keep its whereabouts a secret. What value would you put
+upon the gold in this chamber? It ought to be worth something, for it
+represents nearly a week's work."
+
+"Something fabulous, I have no doubt," said Robert, glancing round at
+the yellow barriers. "Shall I say a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?"
+
+"Oh dear me, it is surely worth very much more than that," cried Raffles
+Haw, laughing. "Let me see. Suppose that we put it at three ten an
+ounce, which is nearly ten shillings under the mark. That makes,
+roughly, fifty-six pounds for a pound in weight. Now each of these
+ingots weighs thirty-six pounds, which brings their value to two
+thousand and a few odd pounds. There are five hundred ingots on each of
+these three sides of the room, but on the fourth there are only three
+hundred, on account of the door, but there cannot be less than two
+hundred on the floor, which gives us a rough total of two thousand
+ingots. So you see, my dear boy, that any broker who could get the
+contents of this chamber for four million pounds would be doing a nice
+little stroke of business."
+
+"And a week's work!" gasped Robert. "It makes my head swim."
+
+"You will follow me now when I repeat that none of the great schemes
+which I intend to simultaneously set in motion are at all likely to
+languish for want of funds. Now come into the laboratory with me and see
+how it is done."
+
+In the centre of the workroom was an instrument like a huge vice, with
+two large brass-coloured plates, and a great steel screw for bringing
+them together. Numerous wires ran into these metal plates, and were
+attached at the other end to the rows of dynamic machines. Beneath was
+a glass stand, which was hollowed out in the centre into a succession of
+troughs.
+
+"You will soon understand all about it," said Raffles Haw, throwing off
+his coat, and pulling on a smoke-stained and dirty linen jacket. "We
+must first stoke up a little." He put his weight on a pair of great
+bellows, and an answering roar came from the furnace. "That will do. The
+more heat the more electric force, and the quicker our task. Now for the
+lead! Just give me a hand in carrying it."
+
+They lifted a dozen of the pigs of lead from the floor on to the glass
+stand, and having adjusted the plates on either side, Haw screwed up the
+handle so as to hold them in position.
+
+"It used in the early days to be a slow process," he remarked; "but now
+that I have immense facilities for my work it takes a very short time. I
+have now only to complete the connection in order to begin."
+
+He took hold of a long glass lever which projected from among the wires,
+and drew it downwards. A sharp click was heard, followed by a loud,
+sparkling, crackling noise. Great spurts of flame sprang from the two
+electrodes, and the mass of lead was surrounded by an aureole of golden
+sparks, which hissed and snapped like pistol-shots. The air was filled
+with the peculiar acid smell of ozone.
+
+"The power there is immense," said Raffles Haw, superintending the
+process, with his watch upon the palm of his hand. "It would reduce an
+organic substance to protyle instantly. It is well to understand the
+mechanism thoroughly, for any mistake might be a grave matter for the
+operator. You are dealing with gigantic forces. But you perceive that
+the lead is already beginning to turn."
+
+Silvery dew-like drops had indeed begun to form upon the dull-coloured
+mass, and to drop with a tinkle and splash into the glass troughs.
+Slowly the lead melted away, like an icicle in the sun, the electrodes
+ever closing upon it as it contracted, until they came together in the
+centre, and a row of pools of quicksilver had taken the place of the
+solid metal. Two smaller electrodes were plunged into the mercury, which
+gradually curdled and solidified, until it had resumed the solid form,
+with a yellowish brassy shimmer.
+
+"What lies in the moulds now is platinum," remarked Raffles Haw. "We
+must take it from the troughs and refix it in the large electrodes.
+So! Now we turn on the current again. You see that it gradually takes a
+darker and richer tint. Now I think that it is perfect." He drew up the
+lever, removed the electrodes, and there lay a dozen bricks of ruddy
+sparkling gold.
+
+"You see, according to our calculations, our morning's work has been
+worth twenty-four thousand pounds, and it has not taken us more than
+twenty minutes," remarked the alchemist, as he picked up the newly-made
+ingots, and threw them down among the others.
+
+"We will devote one of them to experiment," said he, leaving the last
+standing upon the glass insulator. "To the world it would seem an
+expensive demonstration which cost two thousand pounds, but our
+standard, you see, is a different one. Now you will see me run through
+the whole gamut of metallic nature."
+
+First of all men after the discoverer, Robert saw the gold mass, when
+the electrodes were again applied to it, change swiftly and successively
+to barium, to tin, to silver, to copper, to iron. He saw the long white
+electric sparks change to crimson with the strontium, to purple with the
+potassium, to yellow with the manganese. Then, finally, after a hundred
+transformations, it disintegrated before his eyes, and lay as a little
+mound of fluffy grey dust upon the glass table.
+
+"And this is protyle," said Haw, passing his fingers through it. "The
+chemist of the future may resolve it into further constituents, but to
+me it is the Ultima Thule."
+
+"And now, Robert," he continued, after a pause, "I have shown you enough
+to enable you to understand something of my system. This is the great
+secret. It is the secret which endows the man who knows it with such
+a universal power as no man has ever enjoyed since the world was made.
+This secret it is the dearest wish of my heart to use for good, and
+I swear to you, Robert McIntyre, that if I thought it would tend to
+anything but good I would have done with it for ever. No, I would
+neither use it myself nor would any other man learn it from my lips. I
+swear it by all that is holy and solemn!"
+
+His eyes flashed as he spoke, and his voice quivered with emotion.
+Standing, pale and lanky, amid his electrodes and his retorts, there was
+still something majestic about this man, who, amid all his stupendous
+good fortune, could still keep his moral sense undazzled by the glitter
+of his gold. Robert's weak nature had never before realised the strength
+which lay in those thin, firm lips and earnest eyes.
+
+"Surely in your hands, Mr. Haw, nothing but good can come of it," he
+said.
+
+"I hope not--I pray not--most earnestly do I pray not. I have done for
+you, Robert, what I might not have done for my own brother had I one,
+and I have done it because I believe and hope that you are a man who
+would not use this power, should you inherit it, for selfish ends.
+But even now I have not told you all. There is one link which I have
+withheld from you, and which shall be withheld from you while I live.
+But look at this chest, Robert."
+
+He led him to a great iron-clamped chest which stood in the corner, and,
+throwing it open, he took from it a small case of carved ivory.
+
+"Inside this," he said, "I have left a paper which makes clear anything
+which is still hidden from you. Should anything happen to me you
+will always be able to inherit my powers, and to continue my plans
+by following the directions which are there expressed. And now,"
+he continued, throwing his casket back again into the box, "I shall
+frequently require your help, but I do not think it will be necessary
+this morning. I have already taken up too much of your time. If you are
+going back to Elmdene I wish that you would tell Laura that I shall be
+with her in the afternoon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. A FAMILY JAR.
+
+
+And so the great secret was out, and Robert walked home with his head in
+a whirl, and the blood tingling in his veins. He had shivered as he
+came up at the damp cold of the wind and the sight of the mist-mottled
+landscape. That was all gone now. His own thoughts tinged everything
+with sunshine, and he felt inclined to sing and dance as he walked
+down the muddy, deeply-rutted country lane. Wonderful had been the fate
+allotted to Raffles Haw, but surely hardly less important that which had
+come upon himself. He was the sharer of the alchemist's secret, and
+the heir to an inheritance which combined a wealth greater than that of
+monarchs, to a freedom such as monarchs cannot enjoy. This was a destiny
+indeed! A thousand gold-tinted visions of his future life rose up
+before him, and in fancy he already sat high above the human race,
+with prostrate thousands imploring his aid, or thanking him for his
+benevolence.
+
+How sordid seemed the untidy garden, with its scrappy bushes and gaunt
+elm trees! How mean the plain brick front, with the green wooden porch!
+It had always offended his artistic sense, but now it was obtrusive in
+its ugliness. The plain room, too, with the American leather chairs, the
+dull-coloured carpet, and the patchwork rug, he felt a loathing for it
+all. The only pretty thing in it, upon which his eyes could rest with
+satisfaction, was his sister, as she leaned back in her chair by the
+fire with her white, clear beautiful face outlined against the dark
+background.
+
+"Do you know, Robert," she said, glancing up at him from under her long
+black lashes, "Papa grows unendurable. I have had to speak very plainly
+to him, and to make him understand that I am marrying for my own benefit
+and not for his."
+
+"Where is he, then?"
+
+"I don't know. At the Three Pigeons, no doubt. He spends most of his
+time there now. He flew off in a passion, and talked such nonsense about
+marriage settlements, and forbidding the banns, and so on. His notion
+of a marriage settlement appears to be a settlement upon the bride's
+father. He should wait quietly, and see what can be done for him."
+
+"I think, Laura, that we must make a good deal of allowance for him,"
+said Robert earnestly. "I have noticed a great change in him lately. I
+don't think he is himself at all. I must get some medical advice. But I
+have been up at the Hall this morning."
+
+"Have you? Have you seen Raffles? Did he send anything for me?"
+
+"He said that he would come down when he had finished his work."
+
+"But what is the matter, Robert?" cried Laura, with the swift perception
+of womanhood. "You are flushed, and your eyes are shining, and really
+you look quite handsome. Raffles has been telling you something! What
+was it? Oh, I know! He has been telling you how he made his money.
+Hasn't he, now?"
+
+"Well, yes. He took me partly into his confidence. I congratulate you,
+Laura, with all my heart, for you will be a very wealthy woman."
+
+"How strange it seems that he should have come to us in our poverty.
+It is all owing to you, you dear old Robert; for if he had not taken a
+fancy to you, he would never have come down to Elmdene and taken a fancy
+to some one else."
+
+"Not at all," Robert answered, sitting down by his sister, and patting
+her hand affectionately. "It was a clear case of love at first sight.
+He was in love with you before he ever knew your name. He asked me about
+you the very first time I saw him."
+
+"But tell me about his money, Bob," said his sister. "He has not told
+me yet, and I am so curious. How did he make it? It was not from his
+father; he told me that himself. His father was just a country doctor.
+How did he do it?"
+
+"I am bound over to secrecy. He will tell you himself."
+
+"Oh, but only tell me if I guess right. He had it left him by an uncle,
+eh? Well, by a friend? Or he took out some wonderful patent? Or he
+discovered a mine? Or oil? Do tell me, Robert!"
+
+"I mustn't, really," cried her brother laughing. "And I must not talk to
+you any more. You are much too sharp. I feel a responsibility about it;
+and, besides, I must really do some work."
+
+"It Is very unkind of you," said Laura, pouting. "But I must put my
+things on, for I go into Birmingham by the 1.20."
+
+"To Birmingham?"
+
+"Yes, I have a hundred things to order. There is everything to be got.
+You men forget about these details. Raffles wishes to have the wedding
+in little more than a fortnight. Of course it will be very quiet, but
+still one needs something."
+
+"So early as that!" said Robert, thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps it is
+better so."
+
+"Much better, Robert. Would it not be dreadful if Hector came back first
+and there was a scene? If I were once married I should not mind. Why
+should I? But of course Raffles knows nothing about him, and it would be
+terrible if they came together."
+
+"That must be avoided at any cost."
+
+"Oh, I cannot bear even to think of it. Poor Hector! And yet what could
+I do, Robert? You know that it was only a boy and girl affair. And how
+could I refuse such an offer as this? It was a duty to my family, was it
+not?"
+
+"You were placed in a difficult position--very difficult," her brother
+answered. "But all will be right, and I have no doubt Hector will see it
+as you do. But does Mr. Spurling know of your engagement?"
+
+"Not a word. He was here yesterday, and talked of Hector, but indeed I
+did not know how to tell him. We are to be married by special licence in
+Birmingham, so really there is no reason why he should know. But now I
+must hurry or I shall miss my train."
+
+When his sister was gone Robert went up to his studio, and having
+ground some colours upon his palette he stood for some time, brush and
+mahlstick in hand, in front of his big bare canvas. But how profitless
+all his work seemed to him now! What object had he in doing it? Was it
+to earn money? Money could be had for the asking, or, for that matter,
+without the asking. Or was it to produce a thing of beauty? But he had
+artistic faults. Raffles Haw had said so, and he knew that he was right.
+After all his pains the thing might not please; and with money he could
+at all times buy pictures which would please, and which would be things
+of beauty. What, then, was the object of his working? He could see none.
+He threw down his brush, and, lighting his pipe, he strolled downstairs
+once more.
+
+His father was standing in front of the fire, and in no very good
+humour, as his red face and puckered eyes sufficed to show.
+
+"Well, Robert," he began, "I suppose that, as usual, you have spent your
+morning plotting against your father?"
+
+"What do you mean, father?"
+
+"I mean what I say. What is it but plotting when three folk--you and she
+and this Raffles Haw--whisper and arrange and have meetings without a
+word to me about it? What do I know of your plans?"
+
+"I cannot tell you secrets which are not my own, father."
+
+"But I'll have a voice in the matter, for all that. Secrets or no
+secrets, you will find that Laura has a father, and that he is not a man
+to be set aside. I may have had my ups and downs in trade, but I have
+not quite fallen so low that I am nothing in my own family. What am I to
+get out of this precious marriage?"
+
+"What should you get? Surely Laura's happiness and welfare are enough
+for you?"
+
+"If this man were really fond of Laura he would show proper
+consideration for Laura's father. It was only yesterday that I asked him
+for a loan-condescended actually to ask for it--I, who have been within
+an ace of being Mayor of Birmingham! And he refused me point blank."
+
+"Oh, father! How could you expose yourself to such humiliation?"
+
+"Refused me point blank!" cried the old man excitedly. "It was against
+his principles, if you please. But I'll be even with him--you see if I
+am not. I know one or two things about him. What is it they call him at
+the Three Pigeons? A 'smasher'--that's the word-a coiner of false
+money. Why else should he have this metal sent him, and that great smoky
+chimney of his going all day?"
+
+"Why can you not leave him alone, father?" expostulated Robert. "You
+seem to think of nothing but his money. If he had not a penny he would
+still be a very kind-hearted, pleasant gentleman."
+
+Old McIntyre burst into a hoarse laugh.
+
+"I like to hear you preach," said he. "Without a penny, indeed! Do you
+think that you would dance attendance upon him if he were a poor man?
+Do you think that Laura would ever have looked twice at him? You know as
+well as I do that she is marrying him only for his money."
+
+Robert gave a cry of dismay. There was the alchemist standing in the
+doorway, pale and silent, looking from one to the other of them with his
+searching eyes.
+
+"I must apologise," he said coldly. "I did not mean to listen to your
+words. I could not help it. But I have heard them. As to you, Mr.
+McIntyre, I believe that you speak from your own bad heart. I will not
+let myself be moved by your words. In Robert I have a true friend. Laura
+also loves me for my own sake. You cannot shake my faith in them. But
+with you, Mr. McIntyre, I have nothing in common; and it is as well,
+perhaps, that we should both recognise the fact."
+
+He bowed, and was gone ere either of the McIntyres could say a word.
+
+"You see!" said Robert at last. "You have done now what you cannot
+undo!"
+
+"I will be even with him!" cried the old man furiously, shaking his
+fist through the window at the dark slow-pacing figure. "You just wait,
+Robert, and see if your old dad is a man to be played with."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A MIDNIGHT VENTURE.
+
+
+Not a word was said to Laura when she returned as to the scene which had
+occurred in her absence. She was in the gayest of spirits, and prattled
+merrily about her purchases and her arrangements, wondering from time
+to time when Raffles Haw would come. As night fell, however, without any
+word from him, she became uneasy.
+
+"What can be the matter that he does not come?" she said. "It is the
+first day since our engagement that I have not seen him."
+
+Robert looked out through the window.
+
+"It is a gusty night, and raining hard," he remarked. "I do not at all
+expect him."
+
+"Poor Hector used to come, rain, snow, or fine. But, then, of course, he
+was a sailor. It was nothing to him. I hope that Raffles is not ill."
+
+"He was quite well when I saw him this morning," answered her brother,
+and they relapsed into silence, while the rain pattered against the
+windows, and the wind screamed amid the branches of the elms outside.
+
+Old McIntyre had sat in the corner most of the day biting his nails and
+glowering into the fire, with a brooding, malignant expression upon his
+wrinkled features. Contrary to his usual habits, he did not go to
+the village inn, but shuffled off early to bed without a word to his
+children. Laura and Robert remained chatting for some time by the fire,
+she talking of the thousand and one wonderful things which were to be
+done when she was mistress of the New Hall. There was less philanthropy
+in her talk when her future husband was absent, and Robert could not but
+remark that her carriages, her dresses, her receptions, and her travels
+in distant countries were the topics into which she threw all the
+enthusiasm which he had formerly heard her bestow upon refuge homes and
+labour organisations.
+
+"I think that greys are the nicest horses," she said. "Bays are nice
+too, but greys are more showy. We could manage with a brougham and a
+landau, and perhaps a high dog-cart for Raffles. He has the coach-house
+full at present, but he never uses them, and I am sure that those fifty
+horses would all die for want of exercise, or get livers like Strasburg
+geese, if they waited for him to ride or drive them."
+
+"I suppose that you will still live here?" said her brother.
+
+"We must have a house in London as well, and run up for the season. I
+don't, of course, like to make suggestions now, but it will be different
+afterwards. I am sure that Raffles will do it if I ask him. It is all
+very well for him to say that he does not want any thanks or honours,
+but I should like to know what is the use of being a public benefactor
+if you are to have no return for it. I am sure that if he does only
+half what he talks of doing, they will make him a peer--Lord Tamfield,
+perhaps--and then, of course, I shall be my Lady Tamfield, and what
+would you think of that, Bob?" She dropped him a stately curtsey, and
+tossed her head in the air, as one who was born to wear a coronet.
+
+"Father must be pensioned off," she remarked presently. "He shall have
+so much a year on condition that he keeps away. As to you, Bob, I don't
+know what we shall do for you. We shall make you President of the Royal
+Academy if money can do it."
+
+It was late before they ceased building their air-castles and retired to
+their rooms. But Robert's brain was excited, and he could not sleep.
+The events of the day had been enough to shake a stronger man. There
+had been the revelation of the morning, the strange sights which he
+had witnessed in the laboratory, and the immense secret which had been
+confided to his keeping. Then there had been his conversation with his
+father in the afternoon, their disagreement, and the sudden intrusion
+of Raffles Haw. Finally the talk with his sister had excited his
+imagination, and driven sleep from his eyelids. In vain he turned and
+twisted in his bed, or paced the floor of his chamber. He was not only
+awake, but abnormally awake, with every nerve highly strung, and every
+sense at the keenest. What was he to do to gain a little sleep? It
+flashed across him that there was brandy in the decanter downstairs, and
+that a glass might act as a sedative.
+
+He had opened the door of his room, when suddenly his ear caught the
+sound of slow and stealthy footsteps upon the stairs. His own lamp was
+unlit, but a dim glimmer came from a moving taper, and a long black
+shadow travelled down the wall. He stood motionless, listening intently.
+The steps were in the hall now, and he heard a gentle creaking as the
+key was cautiously turned in the door. The next instant there came a
+gust of cold air, the taper was extinguished, and a sharp snap announced
+that the door had been closed from without.
+
+Robert stood astonished. Who could this night wanderer be? It must be
+his father. But what errand could take him out at three in the morning?
+And such a morning, too! With every blast of the wind the rain beat up
+against his chamber-window as though it would drive it in. The glass
+rattled in the frames, and the tree outside creaked and groaned as its
+great branches were tossed about by the gale. What could draw any man
+forth upon such a night?
+
+Hurriedly Robert struck a match and lit his lamp. His father's room was
+opposite his own, and the door was ajar. He pushed it open and looked
+about him. It was empty. The bed had not even been lain upon. The single
+chair stood by the window, and there the old man must have sat since he
+left them. There was no book, no paper, no means by which he could have
+amused himself, nothing but a razor-strop lying on the window-sill.
+
+A feeling of impending misfortune struck cold to Robert's heart. There
+was some ill-meaning in this journey of his father's. He thought of his
+brooding of yesterday, his scowling face, his bitter threats. Yes, there
+was some mischief underlying it. But perhaps he might even now be in
+time to prevent it. There was no use calling Laura. She could be no help
+in the matter. He hurriedly threw on his clothes, muffled himself in his
+top-coat, and, seizing his hat and stick, he set off after his father.
+
+As he came out into the village street the wind whirled down it, so that
+he had to put his ear and shoulder against it, and push his way forward.
+It was better, however, when he turned into the lane. The high bank and
+the hedge sheltered him upon one side. The road, however, was deep in
+mud, and the rain fell in a steady swish. Not a soul was to be seen, but
+he needed to make no inquiries, for he knew whither his father had gone
+as certainly as though he had seen him.
+
+The iron side gate of the avenue was half open, and Robert stumbled his
+way up the gravelled drive amid the dripping fir-trees. What could his
+father's intention be when he reached the Hall? Was it merely that he
+wished to spy and prowl, or did he intend to call up the master and
+enter into some discussion as to his wrongs? Or was it possible that
+some blacker and more sinister design lay beneath his strange doings?
+Robert thought suddenly of the razor-strop, and gasped with horror. What
+had the old man been doing with that? He quickened his pace to a run,
+and hurried on until he found himself at the door of the Hall.
+
+Thank God! all was quiet there. He stood by the big silent door and
+listened intently. There was nothing to be heard save the wind and the
+rain. Where, then, could his father be? If he wished to enter the Hall
+he would not attempt to do so by one of the windows, for had he not been
+present when Raffles Haw had shown them the precautions which he had
+taken? But then a sudden thought struck Robert. There was one window
+which was left unguarded. Haw had been imprudent enough to tell them
+so. It was the middle window of the laboratory. If he remembered it so
+clearly, of course his father would remember it too. There was the point
+of danger.
+
+The moment that he had come round the corner of the building he found
+that his surmise had been correct. An electric lamp burned in the
+laboratory, and the silver squares of the three large windows stood out
+clear and bright in the darkness. The centre one had been thrown open,
+and, even as he gazed, Robert saw a dark monkey-like figure spring up
+on to the sill, and vanish into the room beyond. For a moment only it
+outlined itself against the brilliant light beyond, but in that moment
+Robert had space to see that it was indeed his father. On tiptoe he
+crossed the intervening space, and peeped in through the open window. It
+was a singular spectacle which met his eyes.
+
+There stood upon the glass table some half-dozen large ingots of gold,
+which had been made the night before, but which had not been removed to
+the treasure-house. On these the old man had thrown himself, as one who
+enters into his rightful inheritance. He lay across the table, his arms
+clasping the bars of gold, his cheek pressed against them, crooning
+and muttering to himself. Under the clear, still light, amid the giant
+wheels and strange engines, that one little dark figure clutching and
+clinging to the ingots had in it something both weird and piteous.
+
+For five minutes or more Robert stood in the darkness amid the rain,
+looking in at this strange sight, while his father hardly moved save to
+cuddle closer to the gold, and to pat it with his thin hands. Robert
+was still uncertain what he should do, when his eyes wandered from the
+central figure and fell on something else which made him give a little
+cry of astonishment--a cry which was drowned amid the howling of the
+gale.
+
+Raffles Haw was standing in the corner of the room. Where he had come
+from Robert could not say, but he was certain that he had not been there
+when he first looked in. He stood silent, wrapped in some long, dark
+dressing-gown, his arms folded, and a bitter smile upon his pale face.
+Old McIntyre seemed to see him at almost the same moment, for he
+snarled out an oath, and clutched still closer at his treasure, looking
+slantwise at the master of the house with furtive, treacherous eyes.
+
+"And it has really come to this!" said Haw at last, taking a step
+forward. "You have actually fallen so low, Mr. McIntyre, as to steal
+into my house at night like a common burglar. You knew that this window
+was unguarded. I remember telling you as much. But I did not tell you
+what other means I had adopted by which I might be warned if knaves made
+an entrance. But that you should have come! You!"
+
+The old gunmaker made no attempt to justify himself, but he muttered
+some few hoarse words, and continued to cling to the treasure.
+
+"I love your daughter," said Raffles Haw, "and for her sake I will not
+expose you. Your hideous and infamous secret shall be safe with me. No
+ear shall hear what has happened this night. I will not, as I might,
+arouse my servants and send for the police. But you must leave my house
+without further words. I have nothing more to say to you. Go as you have
+come."
+
+He took a step forward, and held out his hand as if to detach the old
+man's grasp from the golden bars. The other thrust his hand into the
+breast of his coat, and with a shrill scream of rage flung himself upon
+the alchemist. So sudden and so fierce was the movement that Haw had no
+time for defence. A bony hand gripped him by the throat, and the blade
+of a razor flashed in the air. Fortunately, as it fell, the weapon
+struck against one of the many wires which spanned the room, and flying
+out of the old man's grasp, tinkled upon the stone floor. But, though
+disarmed, he was still dangerous. With a horrible silent energy he
+pushed Haw back and back until, coming to a bench, they both fell over
+it, McIntyre remaining uppermost. His other hand was on the alchemist's
+throat, and it might have fared ill with him had Robert not climbed
+through the window and dragged his father off from him. With the aid
+of Haw, he pinned the old man down, and passed a long cravat around his
+arms. It was terrible to look at him, for his face was convulsed, his
+eyes bulging from his head, and his lips white with foam.
+
+Haw leaned against the glass table panting, with his hand to his side.
+
+"You here, Robert?" he gasped. "Is it not horrible? How did you come?"
+
+"I followed him. I heard him go out."
+
+"He would have robbed me. And he would have murdered me. But he is
+mad--stark, staring mad!"
+
+There could be no doubt of it. Old McIntyre was sitting up now, and
+burst suddenly into a hoarse peal of laughter, rocking himself backwards
+and forwards, and looking up at them with little twinkling, cunning
+eyes. It was clear to both of them that his mind, weakened by long
+brooding over the one idea, had now at last become that of a monomaniac.
+His horrid causeless mirth was more terrible even than his fury.
+
+"What shall we do with him?" asked Haw. "We cannot take him back to
+Elmdene. It would be a terrible shock to Laura."
+
+"We could have doctors to certify in the morning. Could we not keep him
+here until then? If we take him back, some one will meet us, and there
+will be a scandal."
+
+"I know. We will take him to one of the padded rooms, where he can
+neither hurt himself nor anyone else. I am somewhat shaken myself. But I
+am better now. Do you take one arm, and I will take the other."
+
+Half-leading and half-dragging him they managed between them to convey
+the old gunmaker away from the scene of his disaster, and to lodge him
+for the night in a place of safety. At five in the morning Robert had
+started in the gig to make the medical arrangements, while Raffles Haw
+paced his palatial house with a troubled face and a sad heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+
+It may be that Laura did not look upon the removal of her father as an
+unmixed misfortune. Nothing was said to her as to the manner of the old
+man's seizure, but Robert informed her at breakfast that he had thought
+it best, acting under medical advice, to place him for a time under
+some restraint. She had herself frequently remarked upon the growing
+eccentricity of his manner, so that the announcement could have been
+no great surprise to her. It is certain that it did not diminish her
+appetite for the coffee and the scrambled eggs, nor prevent her from
+chatting a good deal about her approaching wedding.
+
+But it was very different with Raffles Haw. The incident had shocked
+him to his inmost soul. He had often feared lest his money should do
+indirect evil, but here were crime and madness arising before his very
+eyes from its influence. In vain he tried to choke down his feelings,
+and to persuade himself that this attack of old McIntyre's was something
+which came of itself--something which had no connection with himself or
+his wealth. He remembered the man as he had first met him, garrulous,
+foolish, but with no obvious vices. He recalled the change which, week
+by week, had come over him--his greedy eye, his furtive manner, his
+hints and innuendoes, ending only the day before in a positive demand
+for money. It was too certain that there was a chain of events there
+leading direct to the horrible encounter in the laboratory. His money
+had cast a blight where he had hoped to shed a blessing.
+
+Mr. Spurling, the vicar, was up shortly after breakfast, some rumour of
+evil having come to his ears. It was good for Haw to talk with him, for
+the fresh breezy manner of the old clergyman was a corrective to his own
+sombre and introspective mood.
+
+"Prut, tut!" said he. "This is very bad--very bad indeed! Mind unhinged,
+you say, and not likely to get over it! Dear, dear! I have noticed
+a change in him these last few weeks. He looked like a man who had
+something upon his mind. And how is Mr. Robert McIntyre?"
+
+"He is very well. He was with me this morning when his father had this
+attack."
+
+"Ha! There is a change in that young man. I observe an alteration in
+him. You will forgive me, Mr. Raffles Haw, if I say a few serious words
+of advice to you. Apart from my spiritual functions I am old enough
+to be your father. You are a very wealthy man, and you have used your
+wealth nobly--yes, sir, nobly. I do not think that there is a man in a
+thousand who would have done as well. But don't you think sometimes that
+it has a dangerous influence upon those who are around you?"
+
+"I have sometimes feared so." "We may pass over old Mr. McIntyre. It
+would hardly be just, perhaps, to mention him in this connection. But
+there is Robert. He used to take such an interest in his profession.
+He was so keen about art. If you met him, the first words he said were
+usually some reference to his plans, or the progress he was making in
+his latest picture. He was ambitious, pushing, self-reliant. Now he does
+nothing. I know for a fact that it is two months since he put brush to
+canvas. He has turned from a student into an idler, and, what is worse,
+I fear into a parasite. You will forgive me for speaking so plainly?"
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but he threw out his hands with a gesture of
+pain.
+
+"And then there is something to be said about the country folk," said
+the vicar. "Your kindness has been, perhaps, a little indiscriminate
+there. They don't seem to be as helpful or as self-reliant as they used.
+There was old Blaxton, whose cowhouse roof was blown off the other day.
+He used to be a man who was full of energy and resource. Three months
+ago he would have got a ladder and had that roof on again in two days'
+work. But now he must sit down, and wring his hands, and write letters,
+because he knew that it would come to your ears, and that you would make
+it good. There's old Ellary, too! Well, of course he was always poor,
+but at least he did something, and so kept himself out of mischief. Not
+a stroke will he do now, but smokes and talks scandal from morning to
+night. And the worst of it is, that it not only hurts those who have
+had your help, but it unsettles those who have not. They all have an
+injured, surly feeling as if other folk were getting what they had an
+equal right to. It has really come to such a pitch that I thought it was
+a duty to speak to you about it. Well, it is a new experience to me.
+I have often had to reprove my parishioners for not being charitable
+enough, but it is very strange to find one who is too charitable. It is
+a noble error."
+
+"I thank you very much for letting me know about it," answered Raffles
+Haw, as he shook the good old clergyman's hand. "I shall certainly
+reconsider my conduct in that respect."
+
+He kept a rigid and unmoved face until his visitor had gone, and then
+retiring to his own little room, he threw himself upon the bed and burst
+out sobbing with his face buried in the pillow. Of all men in England,
+this, the richest, was on that day the most miserable. How could he use
+this great power which he held? Every blessing which he tried to give
+turned itself into a curse. His intentions were so good, and yet the
+results were so terrible. It was as if he had some foul leprosy of the
+mind which all caught who were exposed to his influence. His charity,
+so well meant, so carefully bestowed, had yet poisoned the whole
+countryside. And if in small things his results were so evil, how could
+he tell that they would be better in the larger plans which he had
+formed? If he could not pay the debts of a simple yokel without
+disturbing the great laws of cause and effect which lie at the base of
+all things, what could he hope for when he came to fill the treasury
+of nations, to interfere with the complex conditions of trade, or to
+provide for great masses of the population? He drew back with horror as
+he dimly saw that vast problems faced him in which he might make errors
+which all his money could not repair. The way of Providence was the
+straight way. Yet he, a half-blind creature, must needs push in and
+strive to alter and correct it. Would he be a benefactor? Might he not
+rather prove to be the greatest malefactor that the world had seen?
+
+But soon a calmer mood came upon him, and he rose and bathed his flushed
+face and fevered brow. After all, was not there a field where all were
+agreed that money might be well spent? It was not the way of nature, but
+rather the way of man which he would alter. It was not Providence that
+had ordained that folk should live half-starved and overcrowded in
+dreary slums. That was the result of artificial conditions, and it
+might well be healed by artificial means. Why should not his plans
+be successful after all, and the world better for his discovery? Then
+again, it was not the truth that he cast a blight on those with whom he
+was brought in contact. There was Laura; who knew more of him than she
+did, and yet how good and sweet and true she was! She at least had lost
+nothing through knowing him. He would go down and see her. It would be
+soothing to hear her voice, and to turn to her for words of sympathy in
+this his hour of darkness.
+
+The storm had died away, but a soft wind was blowing, and the smack of
+the coming spring was in the air. He drew in the aromatic scent of the
+fir-trees as he passed down the curving drive. Before him lay the long
+sloping countryside, all dotted over with the farmsteadings and little
+red cottages, with the morning sun striking slantwise upon their grey
+roofs and glimmering windows. His heart yearned over all these people
+with their manifold troubles, their little sordid miseries, their
+strivings and hopings and petty soul-killing cares. How could he get
+at them? How could he manage to lift the burden from them, and yet not
+hinder them in their life aim? For more and more could he see that all
+refinement is through sorrow, and that the life which does not refine is
+the life without an aim.
+
+Laura was alone in the sitting-room at Elmdene, for Robert had gone out
+to make some final arrangements about his father. She sprang up as her
+lover entered, and ran forward with a pretty girlish gesture to greet
+him.
+
+"Oh, Raffles!" she cried, "I knew that you would come. Is it not
+dreadful about papa?"
+
+"You must not fret, dearest," he answered gently. "It may not prove to
+be so very grave after all."
+
+"But it all happened before I was stirring. I knew nothing about it
+until breakfast-time. They must have gone up to the Hall very early."
+
+"Yes, they did come up rather early."
+
+"What is the matter with you, Raffles?" cried Laura, looking up into his
+face. "You look so sad and weary!"
+
+"I have been a little in the blues. The fact is, Laura, that I have had
+a long talk with Mr. Spurling this morning."
+
+The girl started, and turned white to the lips. A long talk with Mr.
+Spurling! Did that mean that he had learned her secret?
+
+"Well?" she gasped.
+
+"He tells me that my charity has done more harm than good, and in fact,
+that I have had an evil influence upon every one whom I have come
+near. He said it in the most delicate way, but that was really what it
+amounted to."
+
+"Oh, is that all?" said Laura, with a long sigh of relief. "You must not
+think of minding what Mr. Spurling says. Why, it is absurd on the face
+of it! Everybody knows that there are dozens of men all over the country
+who would have been ruined and turned out of their houses if you had not
+stood their friend. How could they be the worse for having known you? I
+wonder that Mr. Spurling can talk such nonsense!"
+
+"How is Robert's picture getting on?"
+
+"Oh, he has a lazy fit on him. He has not touched it for ever so long.
+But why do you ask that? You have that furrow on your brow again. Put it
+away, sir!"
+
+She smoothed it away with her little white hand.
+
+"Well, at any rate, I don't think that quite everybody is the worse,"
+said he, looking down at her. "There is one, at least, who is beyond
+taint, one who is good, and pure, and true, and who would love me as
+well if I were a poor clerk struggling for a livelihood. You would,
+would you not, Laura?"
+
+"You foolish boy! of course I would."
+
+"And yet how strange it is that it should be so. That you, who are the
+only woman whom I have ever loved, should be the only one in whom I also
+have raised an affection which is free from greed or interest. I wonder
+whether you may not have been sent by Providence simply to restore my
+confidence in the world. How barren a place would it not be if it were
+not for woman's love! When all seemed black around me this morning, I
+tell you, Laura, that I seemed to turn to you and to your love as the
+one thing on earth upon which I could rely. All else seemed shifting,
+unstable, influenced by this or that base consideration. In you, and you
+only, could I trust."
+
+"And I in you, dear Raffles! I never knew what love was until I met
+you."
+
+She took a step towards him, her hands advanced, love shining in her
+features, when in an instant Raffles saw the colour struck from her
+face, and a staring horror spring into her eyes. Her blanched and rigid
+face was turned towards the open door, while he, standing partly behind
+it, could not see what it was that had so moved her.
+
+"Hector!" she gasped, with dry lips.
+
+A quick step in the hall, and a slim, weather-tanned young man sprang
+forward into the room, and caught her up in his arms as if she had been
+a feather.
+
+"You darling!" he said; "I knew that I would surprise you. I came right
+up from Plymouth by the night train. And I have long leave, and plenty
+of time to get married. Isn't it jolly, dear Laura?"
+
+He pirouetted round with her in the exuberance of his delight. As he
+spun round, however, his eyes fell suddenly upon the pale and silent
+stranger who stood by the door. Hector blushed furiously, and made an
+awkward sailor bow, standing with Laura's cold and unresponsive hand
+still clasped in his.
+
+"Very sorry, sir--didn't see you," he said. "You'll excuse my going on
+in this mad sort of way, but if you had served you would know what it
+is to get away from quarter-deck manners, and to be a free man. Miss
+McIntyre will tell you that we have known each other since we were
+children, and as we are to be married in, I hope, a month at the latest,
+we understand each other pretty well."
+
+Raffles Haw still stood cold and motionless. He was stunned, benumbed,
+by what he saw and heard. Laura drew away from Hector, and tried to free
+her hand from his grasp.
+
+"Didn't you get my letter at Gibraltar?" she asked.
+
+"Never went to Gibraltar. Were ordered home by wire from Madeira.
+Those chaps at the Admiralty never know their own minds for two hours
+together. But what matter about a letter, Laura, so long as I can see
+you and speak with you? You have not introduced me to your friend here."
+
+"One word, sir," cried Raffles Haw in a quivering voice. "Do I entirely
+understand you? Let me be sure that there is no mistake. You say that
+you are engaged to be married to Miss McIntyre?"
+
+"Of course I am. I've just come back from a four months' cruise, and I
+am going to be married before I drag my anchor again."
+
+"Four months!" gasped Haw. "Why, it is just four months since I came
+here. And one last question, sir. Does Robert McIntyre know of your
+engagement?"
+
+"Does Bob know? Of course he knows. Why, it was to his care I left Laura
+when I started. But what is the meaning of all this? What is the matter
+with you, Laura? Why are you so white and silent? And--hallo! Hold up,
+sir! The man is fainting!"
+
+"It is all right!" gasped Haw, steadying himself against the edge of the
+door.
+
+He was as white as paper, and his hand was pressed close to his side as
+though some sudden pain had shot through him. For a moment he tottered
+there like a stricken man, and then, with a hoarse cry, he turned and
+fled out through the open door.
+
+"Poor devil!" said Hector, gazing in amazement after him. "He seems hard
+hit anyhow. But what is the meaning of all this, Laura?"
+
+His face had darkened, and his mouth had set.
+
+She had not said a word, but had stood with a face like a mask looking
+blankly in front of her. Now she tore herself away from him, and,
+casting herself down with her face buried in the cushion of the sofa,
+she burst into a passion of sobbing.
+
+"It means that you have ruined me," she cried. "That you have
+ruined-ruined--ruined me! Could you not leave us alone? Why must you
+come at the last moment? A few more days, and we were safe. And you
+never had my letter."
+
+"And what was in your letter, then?" he asked coldly, standing with his
+arms folded, looking down at her.
+
+"It was to tell you that I released you. I love Raffles Haw, and I was
+to have been his wife. And now it is all gone. Oh, Hector, I hate you,
+and I shall always hate you as long as I live, for you have stepped
+between me and the only good fortune that ever came to me. Leave me
+alone, and I hope that you will never cross our threshold again."
+
+"Is that your last word, Laura?"
+
+"The last that I shall ever speak to you."
+
+"Then, good-bye. I shall see the Dad, and go straight back to Plymouth."
+He waited an instant, in hopes of an answer, and then walked sadly from
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+It was late that night that a startled knocking came at the door of
+Elmdene. Laura had been in her room all day, and Robert was moodily
+smoking his pipe by the fire, when this harsh and sudden summons
+broke in upon his thoughts. There in the porch was Jones, the stout
+head-butler of the Hall, hatless, scared, with the raindrops shining in
+the lamplight upon his smooth, bald head.
+
+"If you please, Mr. McIntyre, sir, would it trouble you to step up to
+the Hall?" he cried. "We are all frightened, sir, about master."
+
+Robert caught up his hat and started at a run, the frightened butler
+trotting heavily beside him. It had been a day of excitement and
+disaster. The young artist's heart was heavy within him, and the shadow
+of some crowning trouble seemed to have fallen upon his soul.
+
+"What is the matter with your master, then?" he asked, as he slowed down
+into a walk.
+
+"We don't know, sir; but we can't get an answer when we knock at the
+laboratory door. Yet he's there, for it's locked on the inside. It has
+given us all a scare, sir, that, and his goin's-on during the day."
+
+"His goings-on?"
+
+"Yes, sir; for he came back this morning like a man demented, a-talkin'
+to himself, and with his eyes starin' so that it was dreadful to look at
+the poor dear gentleman. Then he walked about the passages a long time,
+and he wouldn't so much as look at his luncheon, but he went into the
+museum, and gathered all his jewels and things, and carried them into
+the laboratory. We don't know what he's done since then, sir, but his
+furnace has been a-roarin', and his big chimney spoutin' smoke like a
+Birmingham factory. When night came we could see his figure against the
+light, a-workin' and a-heavin' like a man possessed. No dinner would he
+have, but work, and work, and work. Now it's all quiet, and the furnace
+cold, and no smoke from above, but we can't get no answer from him, sir,
+so we are scared, and Miller has gone for the police, and I came away
+for you."
+
+They reached the Hall as the butler finished his explanation, and
+there outside the laboratory door stood the little knot of footmen and
+ostlers, while the village policeman, who had just arrived, was holding
+his bull's-eye to the keyhole, and endeavouring to peep through.
+
+"The key is half-turned," he said. "I can't see nothing except just the
+light."
+
+"Here's Mr. McIntyre," cried half-a-dozen voices, as Robert came
+forward.
+
+"We'll have to beat the door in, sir," said the policeman. "We can't get
+any sort of answer, and there's something wrong."
+
+Twice and thrice they threw their united weights against it until at
+last with a sharp snap the lock broke, and they crowded into the narrow
+passage. The inner door was ajar, and the laboratory lay before them.
+
+In the centre was an enormous heap of fluffy grey ash, reaching up
+half-way to the ceiling. Beside it was another heap, much smaller, of
+some brilliant scintillating dust, which shimmered brightly in the rays
+of the electric light. All round was a bewildering chaos of broken jars,
+shattered bottles, cracked machinery, and tangled wires, all bent and
+draggled. And there in the midst of this universal ruin, leaning back in
+his chair with his hands clasped upon his lap, and the easy pose of one
+who rests after hard work safely carried through, sat Raffles Haw, the
+master of the house, and the richest of mankind, with the pallor of
+death upon his face. So easily he sat and so naturally, with such a
+serene expression upon his features, that it was not until they raised
+him, and touched his cold and rigid limbs, that they could realise that
+he had indeed passed away.
+
+Reverently and slowly they bore him to his room, for he was beloved by
+all who had served him. Robert alone lingered with the policeman in the
+laboratory. Like a man in a dream he wandered about, marvelling at the
+universal destruction. A large broad-headed hammer lay upon the
+ground, and with this Haw had apparently set himself to destroy all
+his apparatus, having first used his electrical machines to reduce
+to protyle all the stock of gold which he had accumulated. The
+treasure-room which had so dazzled Robert consisted now of merely four
+bare walls, while the gleaming dust upon the floor proclaimed the fate
+of that magnificent collection of gems which had alone amounted to a
+royal fortune. Of all the machinery no single piece remained intact,
+and even the glass table was shattered into three pieces. Strenuously
+earnest must have been the work which Raffles Haw had done that day.
+
+And suddenly Robert thought of the secret which had been treasured in
+the casket within the iron-clamped box. It was to tell him the one last
+essential link which would make his knowledge of the process complete.
+Was it still there? Thrilling all over, he opened the great chest, and
+drew out the ivory box. It was locked, but the key was in it. He turned
+it and threw open the lid. There was a white slip of paper with his own
+name written upon it. With trembling fingers he unfolded it. Was he
+the heir to the riches of El Dorado, or was he destined to be a poor
+struggling artist? The note was dated that very evening, and ran in this
+way:
+
+   "MY DEAR ROBERT,--My secret shall never be used again. I cannot
+   tell you how I thank Heaven that I did not entirely confide it to
+   you, for I should have been handing over an inheritance of misery
+   both to yourself and others.  For myself I have hardly had a happy
+   moment since I discovered it. This I could have borne had I been
+   able to feel that I was doing good, but, alas! the only effect of my
+   attempts has been to turn workers into idlers, contented men into
+   greedy parasites, and, worst of all, true, pure women into
+   deceivers and hypocrites.  If this is the effect of my interference
+   on a small scale, I cannot hope for anything better were I to carry
+   out the plans which we have so often discussed.  The schemes of my
+   life have all turned to nothing.  For myself, you shall never see me
+   again.  I shall go back to the student life from which I emerged.
+   There, at least, if I can do little good, I can do no harm.  It is
+   my wish that such valuables as remain in the Hall should be sold,
+   and the proceeds divided amidst all the charities of Birmingham.
+   I shall leave tonight if I am well enough, but I have been much
+   troubled all day by a stabbing pain in my side.  It is as if wealth
+   were as bad for health as it is for peace of mind.  Good-bye,
+   Robert, and may you never have as sad a heart as I have to-night.
+   Yours very truly,
+   RAFFLES HAW."
+
+"Was it suicide, sir? Was it suicide?" broke in the policeman as Robert
+put the note in his pocket.
+
+"No," he answered; "I think it was a broken heart."
+
+And so the wonders of the New Hall were all dismantled, the carvings and
+the gold, the books and the pictures, and many a struggling man or woman
+who had heard nothing of Raffles Haw during his life had cause to bless
+him after his death. The house has been bought by a company now, who
+have turned it into a hydropathic establishment, and of all the folk who
+frequent it in search of health or of pleasure there are few who know
+the strange story which is connected with it.
+
+The blight which Haw's wealth cast around it seemed to last even after
+his death. Old McIntyre still raves in the County Lunatic Asylum, and
+treasures up old scraps of wood and metal under the impression that they
+are all ingots of gold. Robert McIntyre is a moody and irritable man,
+for ever pursuing a quest which will always evade him. His art is
+forgotten, and he spends his whole small income upon chemical and
+electrical appliances, with which he vainly seeks to rediscover that
+one hidden link. His sister keeps house for him, a silent and brooding
+woman, still queenly and beautiful, but of a bitter, dissatisfied mind.
+Of late, however, she has devoted herself to charity, and has been of so
+much help to Mr. Spurling's new curate that it is thought that he may
+be tempted to secure her assistance for ever. So runs the gossip of the
+village, and in small places such gossip is seldom wrong. As to Hector
+Spurling, he is still in her Majesty's service, and seems inclined to
+abide by his father's wise advice, that he should not think of marrying
+until he was a Commander. It is possible that of all who were brought
+within the spell of Raffles Haw he was the only one who had occasion to
+bless it.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Doings Of Raffles Haw, by Arthur Conan Doyle
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Doings Of Raffles Haw
+by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
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+
+
+Title: The Doings Of Raffles Haw
+
+Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Release Date: June, 2005  [EBook #8394]
+[This file was first posted on July 6, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Lionel G. Sear of Truro, Cornwall, England
+
+
+
+THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW
+
+Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+ 1.  A DOUBLE ENIGMA
+
+ 2.  THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+ 3.  A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+ 4.  FROM CLIME TO CLIME.
+
+ 5.  LAURA'S REQUEST
+
+ 6.  A STRANGE VISITOR
+
+ 7.  THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+ 8.  A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+ 9.  A NEW DEPARTURE
+
+10.  THE GREAT SECRET
+
+11.  A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+12.  A FAMILY JAR.
+
+13.  A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
+
+14.  THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+15.  THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A DOUBLE ENIGMA.
+
+
+"I'm afraid that he won't come," said Laura McIntyre, in a disconsolate
+voice.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Oh, look at the weather; it is something too awful."
+
+As she spoke a whirl of snow beat with a muffled patter against the cosy
+red-curtained window, while a long blast of wind shrieked and whistled
+through the branches of the great white-limbed elms which skirted the
+garden.
+
+Robert McIntyre rose from the sketch upon which he had been working, and
+taking one of the lamps in his hand peered out into the darkness.  The
+long skeleton limbs of the bare trees tossed and quivered dimly amid the
+whirling drift.  His sister sat by the fire, her fancy-work in her lap,
+and looked up at her brothers profile which showed against the brilliant
+yellow light.  It was a handsome face, young and fair and clear cut,
+with wavy brown hair combed backwards and rippling down into that
+outward curve at the ends which one associates with the artistic
+temperament.  There was refinement too in his slightly puckered eyes,
+his dainty gold-rimmed _pince-nez_ glasses, and in the black velveteen
+coat which caught the light so richly upon its shoulder.  In his mouth
+only there was something--a suspicion of coarseness, a possibility of
+weakness--which in the eyes of some, and of his sister among them,
+marred the grace and beauty of his features.  Yet, as he was wont
+himself to say, when one thinks that each poor mortal is heir to a
+legacy of every evil trait or bodily taint of so vast a line of
+ancestors, lucky indeed is the man who does not find that Nature
+has scored up some long-owing family debt upon his features.
+
+And indeed in this case the remorseless creditor had gone so far as to
+exact a claim from the lady also, though in her case the extreme beauty
+of the upper part of the face drew the eye away from any weakness which
+might be found in the lower.  She was darker than her brother--so dark
+that her heavily coiled hair seemed to be black until the light
+shone slantwise across it.  The delicate, half-petulant features, the
+finely traced brows, and the thoughtful, humorous eyes were all perfect
+in their way, and yet the combination left something to be desired.
+There was a vague sense of a flaw somewhere, in feature or in
+expression, which resolved itself, when analysed, into a slight
+out-turning and droop of the lower lip; small indeed, and yet pronounced
+enough to turn what would have been a beautiful face into a merely
+pretty one.  Very despondent and somewhat cross she looked as she leaned
+back in the armchair, the tangle of bright-coloured silks and of drab
+holland upon her lap, her hands clasped behind her head, with her snowy
+forearms and little pink elbows projecting on either side.
+
+"I know he won't come," she repeated.
+
+"Nonsense, Laura!  Of course he'll come.  A  sailor and afraid  of the
+weather!"
+
+"Ha!" She raised her finger, and a smile of triumph played over her
+face, only to die away again into a blank look of disappointment.
+"It is only papa," she murmured.
+
+A shuffling step was heard in the hall, and a little peaky man, with his
+slippers very much down at the heels, came shambling into the room.
+Mr. McIntyre, sen., was pale and furtive-looking, with a thin straggling
+red beard shot with grey, and a sunken downcast face.  Ill-fortune
+and ill-health had both left their marks upon him.  Ten years before he
+had been one of the largest and richest gunmakers in Birmingham, but a
+long run of commercial bad luck had sapped his great fortune, and had
+finally driven him into the Bankruptcy Court.  The death of his wife on
+the very day of his insolvency had filled his cup of sorrow, and he had
+gone about since with a stunned, half-dazed expression upon his weak
+pallid face which spoke of a mind unhinged.  So complete had been his
+downfall that the family would have been reduced to absolute poverty
+were it not for a small legacy of two-hundred a year which both the
+children had received from one of their uncles upon the mother's side
+who had amassed a fortune in Australia.  By combining their incomes, and
+by taking a house in the quiet country district of Tamfield, some
+fourteen miles from the great Midland city, they were still able
+to live with some approach to comfort.  The change, however, was a
+bitter one to all--to Robert, who had to forego the luxuries dear to his
+artistic temperament, and to think of turning what had been merely an
+overruling hobby into a means of earning a living; and even more to
+Laura, who winced before the pity of her old friends, and found the
+lanes and fields of Tamfield intolerably dull after the life and bustle
+of Edgbaston.  Their discomfort was aggravated by the conduct of their
+father, whose life now was one long wail over his misfortunes, and who
+alternately sought comfort in the Prayer-book and in the decanter for
+the ills which had befallen him.
+
+To Laura, however, Tamfield presented one attraction, which was now
+about to be taken from her.  Their choice of the little country hamlet
+as their residence had been determined by the fact of their old
+friend, the Reverend John Spurling, having been nominated as the vicar.
+Hector Spurling, the elder son, two months Laura's senior, had been
+engaged to her for some years, and was, indeed, upon the point of
+marrying her when the sudden financial crash had disarranged their
+plans.  A sub-lieutenant in the Navy, he was home on leave at present,
+and hardly an evening passed without his making his way from the
+Vicarage to Elmdene, where the McIntyres resided.  To-day, however, a
+note had reached them to the effect that he had been suddenly ordered on
+duty, and that he must rejoin his ship at Portsmouth by the next
+evening.  He would look in, were it but for half-an-hour, to bid them
+adieu.
+
+"Why, where's Hector?" asked Mr. McIntyre, blinking round from side to
+side.
+
+"He's not come, father.  How could you expect him to come on such a
+night as this?  Why, there must be two feet of snow in the glebe field."
+
+"Not come, eh?" croaked the old man, throwing himself down upon the
+sofa.  "Well, well, it only wants him and his father to throw us over,
+and the thing will be complete"
+
+"How can you even hint at such a thing, father?" cried Laura
+indignantly.  "They have been as true as steel.  What would they think
+if they heard you"
+
+"I think, Robert," he said, disregarding his daughter's protest, "that I
+will have a drop, just the very smallest possible drop, of brandy. A
+mere thimbleful will do; but I rather think I have caught cold during
+the snowstorm to-day."
+
+Robert went on sketching stolidly in his folding book, but Laura looked
+up from her work.
+
+"I'm afraid there is nothing in the house, father," she said.
+
+"Laura! Laura!"  He shook his head as one more in sorrow than in anger.
+"You are no longer a girl, Laura; you are a woman, the manager of a
+household, Laura.  We trust in you.  We look entirely towards you.
+And yet you leave your poor brother Robert without any brandy, to say
+nothing of me, your father.  Good heavens, Laura! what would your
+mother have said?  Think of accidents, think of sudden illness, think of
+apoplectic fits, Laura.  It is a very grave res--a very grave respons--a
+very great risk that you run."
+
+"I hardly touch the stuff," said Robert curtly; "Laura need not provide
+any for me."
+
+"As a medicine it is invaluable, Robert.  To be used, you understand,
+and not to be abused.  That's the whole secret of it.  But I'll step
+down to the Three Pigeons for half an hour."
+
+"My dear father" cried the young man "you surely are not going out upon
+such a night.  If you must have brandy could I not send Sarah for some?
+Please let me send Sarah; or I would go myself, or--"
+
+Pip! came a little paper pellet from his sister's chair on to the
+sketch-book in front of him!  He unrolled it and held it to the light.
+
+"For Heaven's sake let him go!" was scrawled across it.
+
+"Well, in any case, wrap yourself up warm," he continued, laying bare
+his sudden change of front with a masculine clumsiness which horrified
+his sister.  "Perhaps it is not so cold as it looks.  You can't lose
+your way, that is one blessing.  And it is not more than a hundred
+yards."
+
+With many mumbles and grumbles at his daughter's want of foresight, old
+McIntyre struggled into his great-coat and wrapped his scarf round his
+long thin throat.  A sharp gust of cold wind made the lamps flicker as
+he threw open the hall-door.  His two children listened to the dull fall
+of his footsteps as he slowly picked out the winding garden path.
+
+"He gets worse--he becomes intolerable," said Robert at last.
+"We should not have let him out; he may make a public exhibition of
+himself."
+
+"But it's Hector's last night," pleaded Laura.  "It would be dreadful if
+they met and he noticed anything.  That was why I wished him to go."
+
+"Then you were only just in time," remarked her brother, "for I hear the
+gate go, and--yes, you see."
+
+As he spoke a cheery hail came from outside, with a sharp rat-tat at the
+window.  Robert stepped out and threw open the door to admit a tall
+young man, whose black frieze jacket was all mottled and glistening with
+snow crystals.  Laughing loudly he shook himself like a Newfoundland
+dog, and kicked the snow from his boots before entering the little
+lamplit room.
+
+Hector Spurling's profession was written in every line of his face.  The
+clean-shaven lip and chin, the little fringe of side whisker, the
+straight decisive mouth, and the hard weather-tanned cheeks all
+spoke of the Royal Navy.  Fifty such faces may be seen any night of the
+year round the mess-table of the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth
+Dockyard--faces which bear a closer resemblance to each other than
+brother does commonly to brother.  They are all cast in a common mould,
+the products of a system which teaches early self-reliance, hardihood,
+and manliness--a fine type upon the whole; less refined and less
+intellectual, perhaps, than their brothers of the land, but full
+of truth and energy and heroism.  In figure he was straight, tall, and
+well-knit, with keen grey eyes, and the sharp prompt manner of a man who
+has been accustomed both to command and to obey.
+
+"You had my note?" he said, as he entered the room.  "I have to go
+again, Laura. Isn't it a bore?  Old Smithers is short-handed, and wants
+me back at once."  He sat down by the girl, and put his brown hand
+across her white one.  "It won't be a very large order this time,"
+he continued.  "It's the flying squadron business--Madeira, Gibraltar,
+Lisbon, and home.  I shouldn't wonder if we were back in March."
+
+"It seems only the other day that you landed." she answered.
+
+"Poor little girl!  But it won't be long.  Mind you take good care of
+her, Robert when I am gone.  And when I come again, Laura, it will be
+the last time mind!  Hang the money!  There are plenty who manage on
+less.  We need not have a house.  Why should we?  You can get very nice
+rooms in Southsea at 2 pounds a week.  McDougall, our paymaster, has
+just married, and he only gives thirty shillings.  You would not be
+afraid, Laura?"
+
+"No, indeed."
+
+"The dear old governor is so awfully cautious. Wait, wait, wait, that's
+always his cry.  I tell him that he ought to have been in the Government
+Heavy Ordnance Department.  But I'll speak to him tonight.  I'll talk
+him round.  See if I don't.  And you must speak to your own governor.
+Robert here will back you up.  And here are the ports and the dates
+that we are due at each.  Mind that you have a letter waiting for me at
+every one."
+
+He took a slip of paper from the side pocket of his coat, but, instead
+of handing it to the young lady, he remained staring at it with the
+utmost astonishment upon his face.
+
+"Well, I never!" he exclaimed.  "Look here, Robert; what do you call
+this?"
+
+"Hold it to the light.  Why, it's a fifty-pound Bank of England note.
+Nothing remarkable about it that I can see."
+
+"On the contrary.  It's the queerest thing that ever happened to me. I
+can't make head or tail of it."
+
+"Come, then, Hector," cried Miss McIntyre with a challenge in her eyes.
+"Something very queer happened to me also to-day.  I'll bet a pair of
+gloves that my adventure was more out of the common than yours, though I
+have nothing so nice to show at the end of it."
+
+"Come, I'll take that, and Robert here shall be the judge."
+
+"State your cases."  The young artist shut up his sketch-book, and
+rested his head upon his hands with a face of mock solemnity.
+"Ladies first!  Go along Laura, though I think I know something
+of your adventure already."
+
+"It was this morning, Hector," she said. "Oh, by the way, the story will
+make you wild.  I had forgotten that.  However, you mustn't mind,
+because, really, the poor fellow was perfectly mad."
+
+"What on earth was it?" asked the young officer, his eyes travelling
+from the bank-note to his _fiancee_.
+
+"Oh, it was harmless enough, and yet you will confess it was very queer.
+I had gone out for a walk, but as the snow began to fall I took shelter
+under the shed which the workmen have built at the near end of the great
+new house.  The men have gone, you know, and the owner is supposed to be
+coming to-morrow, but the shed is still standing.  I was sitting
+there upon a packing-case when a man came down the road and stopped
+under the same shelter.  He was a quiet, pale-faced man, very tall and
+thin, not much more than thirty, I should think, poorly dressed, but
+with the look and bearing of a gentleman.  He asked me one or two
+questions about the village and the people, which, of course, I
+answered, until at last we found ourselves chatting away in the
+pleasantest and easiest fashion about all sorts of things.  The time
+passed so quickly that I forgot all about the snow until he drew my
+attention to its having stopped for the moment.  Then, just as I
+was turning to go, what in the world do you suppose that he did?
+He took a step towards me, looked in a sad pensive way into my face, and
+said: `I wonder whether you could care for me if I were without a
+penny.'  Wasn't it strange?  I was so frightened that I whisked out of
+the shed, and was off down the road before he could add another word.
+But really, Hector, you need not look so black, for when I look back at
+it I can quite see from his tone and manner that he meant no harm.  He
+was thinking aloud, without the least intention of being offensive.
+I am convinced that the poor fellow was mad."
+
+"Hum!  There was some method in his madness, it seems to me," remarked
+her brother.
+
+"There would have been some method in my kicking," said the lieutenant
+savagely.  "I never heard of a more outrageous thing in my life."
+
+"Now, I said that you would be wild!"  She laid her white hand upon the
+sleeve of his rough frieze jacket.  "It was nothing.  I shall never see
+the poor fellow again.  He was evidently a stranger to this part of the
+country.  But that was my little adventure. Now let us have yours."
+
+The young man crackled the bank-note between his fingers and thumb,
+while he passed his other hand over his hair with the action of a man
+who strives to collect himself.
+
+"It is some ridiculous mistake," he said.  "I must try and set it right.
+Yet I don't know how to set about it either.  I was going down to the
+village from the Vicarage just after dusk when I found a fellow in a
+trap who had got himself into broken water.  One wheel had sunk into the
+edge of the ditch which had been hidden by the snow, and the whole thing
+was high and dry, with a list to starboard enough to slide him out of
+his seat.  I lent a hand, of course, and soon had the wheel in the road
+again.  It was quite dark, and I fancy that the fellow thought that I
+was a bumpkin, for we did not exchange five words.  As he drove off he
+shoved this into my hand.  It is the merest chance that I did not chuck
+it away, for, feeling that it was a crumpled piece of paper, I imagined
+that it must be a tradesman's advertisement or something of the kind.
+However, as luck would have it, I put it in my pocket, and there I found
+it when I looked for the dates of our cruise.  Now you know as much of
+the matter as I do."
+
+Brother and sister stared at the black and white crinkled note with
+astonishment upon their faces.
+
+"Why, your unknown traveller must have been Monte Cristo, or Rothschild
+at the least!" said Robert.  "I am bound to say, Laura, that I think you
+have lost your bet."
+
+"Oh, I am quite content to lose it.  I never heard of such a piece of
+luck.  What a perfectly delightful man this must be to know."
+
+"But I can't take his money," said Hector Spurling, looking somewhat
+ruefully at the note.  "A little prize-money is all very well in its
+way, but a Johnny must draw the line somewhere.  Besides it must have
+been a mistake.  And yet he meant to give me something big, for
+he could not mistake a note for a coin. I suppose I must advertise for
+the fellow."
+
+"It seems a pity too," remarked Robert. "I must say that I don't quite
+see it in the same light that you do."
+
+"Indeed I think that you are very Quixotic, Hector," said Laura
+McIntyre. "Why should you not accept it in the spirit in which it was
+meant?  You did this stranger a service--perhaps a greater service than
+you know of--and he meant this as a little memento of the occasion.
+I do not see that there is any possible reason against your keeping it."
+
+"Oh, come!" said the young sailor, with an embarrassed laugh, "it is not
+quite the thing--not the sort of story one would care to tell at mess."
+
+"In any case you are off to-morrow morning," observed Robert.  "You have
+no time to make inquiries about the mysterious Croesus.  You must really
+make the best of it."
+
+"Well, look here, Laura, you put it in your work-basket," cried Hector
+Spurling. "You shall be my banker, and if the rightful owner turns up
+then I can refer him to you.  If not, I suppose we must look on it as a
+kind of salvage-money, though I am bound to say I don't feel entirely
+comfortable about it."  He rose to his feet, and threw the note down
+into the brown basket of coloured wools which stood beside her.
+"Now, Laura, I must up anchor, for I promised the governor to be back by
+nine.  It won't be long this time, dear, and it shall be the last.
+Good-bye, Robert!  Good luck!"
+
+"Good-bye, Hector!  _Bon voyage!_"
+
+The young artist remained by the table, while his sister followed her
+lover to the door.  In the dim light of the hall he could see their
+figures and overhear their words.
+
+"Next time, little girl?"
+
+"Next time be it, Hector."
+
+"And nothing can part us?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"In the whole world?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+Robert discreetly closed the door. A moment later a thud from without,
+and the quick footsteps crunching on the snow told him that their
+visitor had departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
+
+
+The snow had ceased to fall, but for a week a hard frost had held the
+country side in its iron grip.  The roads rang under the horses' hoofs,
+and every wayside ditch and runlet was a street of ice.  Over the long
+undulating landscape the red brick houses peeped out warmly against the
+spotless background, and the lines of grey smoke streamed straight up
+into the windless air.  The sky was of the lightest palest blue, and the
+morning sun, shining through the distant fog-wreaths of Birmingham,
+struck a subdued glow from the broad-spread snow fields which might
+have gladdened the eyes of an artist.
+
+It did gladden the heart of one who viewed it that morning from the
+summit of the gently-curving Tamfield Hill Robert McIntyre stood with
+his elbows upon a gate-rail, his Tam-o'-Shanter hat over his eyes, and a
+short briar-root pipe in his mouth, looking slowly about him, with the
+absorbed air of one who breathes his fill of Nature.  Beneath him to the
+north lay the village of Tamfield, red walls, grey roofs, and a
+scattered bristle of dark trees, with his own little Elmdene nestling
+back from the broad, white winding Birmingham Road.  At the other
+side, as he slowly faced round, lay a vast stone building, white and
+clear-cut, fresh from the builders' hands.  A great tower shot up from
+one corner of it, and a hundred windows twinkled ruddily in the
+light of the morning sun.  A little distance from it stood a second
+small square low-lying structure, with a tall chimney rising from the
+midst of it, rolling out a long plume of smoke into the frosty air.
+The whole vast structure stood within its own grounds, enclosed by a
+stately park wall, and surrounded by what would in time be an extensive
+plantation of fir-trees.  By the lodge gates a vast pile of _debris_,
+with lines of sheds for workmen, and huge heaps of planks from
+scaffoldings, all proclaimed that the work had only just been brought to
+an end.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked down with curious eyes at the broad-spread
+building.  It had long been a mystery and a subject of gossip for the
+whole country side.  Hardly a year had elapsed since the rumour had
+first gone about that a millionaire had bought a tract of land,
+and that it was his intention to build a country seat upon it.  Since
+then the work had been pushed on night and day, until now it was
+finished to the last detail in a shorter time than it takes to build
+many a six-roomed cottage.  Every morning two long special trains had
+arrived from Birmingham, carrying down a great army of labourers, who
+were relieved in the evening by a fresh gang, who carried on their task
+under the rays of twelve enormous electric lights.  The number of
+workmen appeared to be only limited by the space into which they could
+be fitted.  Great lines of waggons conveyed the white Portland stone
+from the depot by the station.  Hundreds of busy toilers handed it over,
+shaped and squared, to the actual masons, who swung it up with steam
+cranes on to the growing walls, where it was instantly fitted and
+mortared by their companions.  Day by day the house shot higher, while
+pillar and cornice and carving seemed to bud out from it as if by magic.
+Nor was the work confined to the main building.  A large separate
+structure sprang up at the same time, and there came gangs of pale-faced
+men from London with much extraordinary machinery, vast cylinders,
+wheels and wires, which they fitted up in this outlying building.
+The great chimney which rose from the centre of it, combined with these
+strange furnishings, seemed to mean that it was reserved as a factory or
+place of business, for it was rumoured that this rich man's hobby was
+the same as a poor man's necessity, and that he was fond of working with
+his own hands amid chemicals and furnaces.  Scarce, too, was the second
+storey begun ere the wood-workers and plumbers and furnishers were busy
+beneath, carrying out a thousand strange and costly schemes for the
+greater comfort and convenience of the owner.  Singular stories were
+told all round the country, and even in Birmingham itself, of the
+extraordinary luxury and the absolute disregard for money which marked
+all these arrangements.  No sum appeared to be too great to spend upon
+the smallest detail which might do away with or lessen any of the petty
+inconveniences of life.  Waggons and waggons of the richest furniture
+had passed through the village between lines of staring villagers.
+Costly skins, glossy carpets, rich rugs, ivory, and ebony, and metal;
+every glimpse into these storehouses of treasure had given rise to some
+new legend.  And finally, when all had been arranged, there had come a
+staff of forty servants, who heralded the approach of the owner,
+Mr. Raffles Haw himself.
+
+It was no wonder, then, that it was with considerable curiosity that
+Robert McIntyre looked down at the great house, and marked the smoking
+chimneys, the curtained windows, and the other signs which showed that
+its tenant had arrived.  A vast area of greenhouses gleamed like a lake
+on the further side, and beyond were the long lines of stables and
+outhouses.  Fifty horses had passed through Tamfield the week before, so
+that, large as were the preparations, they were not more than would be
+needed.  Who and what could this man be who spent his money with so
+lavish a hand?  His name was unknown.  Birmingham was as ignorant as
+Tamfield as to his origin or the sources of his wealth. Robert McIntyre
+brooded languidly over the problem as he leaned against the gate,
+puffing his blue clouds of bird's-eye into the crisp, still air.
+
+Suddenly his eye caught a dark figure emerging from the Avenue gates and
+striding up the winding road.  A few minutes brought him near enough to
+show a familiar face looking over the stiff collar and from under the
+soft black hat of an English clergyman.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Spurling."
+
+"Ah, good-morning, Robert.  How are you?  Are you coming my way?
+How slippery the roads are!"
+
+His round, kindly face was beaming with good nature, and he took little
+jumps as he walked, like a man who can hardly contain himself for
+pleasure.
+
+"Have you heard from Hector?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  He went off all right last Wednesday from Spithead, and he
+will write from Madeira.  But you generally have later news at Elmdene
+than I have."
+
+"I don't know whether Laura has heard.  Have you been up to see the
+new comer?"
+
+"Yes; I have just left him."
+
+"Is he a married man--this Mr. Raffles Haw?"
+
+"No, he is a bachelor.  He does not seem to have any relations either,
+as far as I could learn.  He lives alone, amid his huge staff of
+servants.  It is a most remarkable establishment.  It made me think of
+the Arabian Nights."
+
+"And the man?  What is he like?"
+
+"He is an angel--a positive angel.  I never heard or read of such
+kindness in my life.  He has made me a happy man."
+
+The clergyman's eyes sparkled with emotion, and he blew his nose loudly
+in his big red handkerchief.
+
+Robert McIntyre looked at him in surprise.
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," he said.  "May I ask what he has done?"
+
+"I went up to him by appointment this morning.  I had written asking
+him if I might call.  I spoke to him of the parish and its needs, of my
+long struggle to restore the south side of the church, and of our
+efforts to help my poor parishioners during this hard weather.
+While I spoke he said not a word, but sat with a vacant face, as though
+he were not listening to me.  When I had finished he took up his pen.
+'How much will it take to do the church?' he asked.  'A thousand
+pounds,' I answered; 'but we have already raised three hundred among
+ourselves.  The Squire has very handsomely given fifty pounds.'  'Well,'
+said he, 'how about the poor folk?  How many families are there?'
+'About three hundred,' I answered.  'And coals, I believe, are at about
+a pound a ton', said he. 'Three tons ought to see them through the rest
+of the winter.  Then you can get a very fair pair of blankets for
+two pounds.  That would make five pounds per family, and seven hundred
+for the church.'  He dipped his pen in the ink, and, as I am a living
+man, Robert, he wrote me a cheque then and there for two thousand two
+hundred pounds.  I don't know what I said; I felt like a fool; I could
+not stammer out words with which to thank him.  All my troubles have
+been taken from my shoulders in an instant, and indeed, Robert, I can
+hardly realise it."
+
+"He must be a most charitable man."
+
+"Extraordinarily so.  And so unpretending.  One would think that it was
+I who was doing the favour and he who was the beggar.  I thought of that
+passage about making the heart of the widow sing for joy.  He made my
+heart sing for joy, I can tell you.  Are you coming up to the Vicarage?"
+
+"No, thank you, Mr. Spurling.  I must go home and get to work on my new
+picture.  It's a five-foot canvas--the landing of the Romans in Kent.
+I must have another try for the Academy.  Good-morning."
+
+He raised his hat and continued down the road, while the vicar turned
+off into the path which led to his home.
+
+Robert McIntyre had converted a large bare room in the upper storey of
+Elmdene into a studio, and thither he retreated after lunch.  It was as
+well that he should have some little den of his own, for his father
+would talk of little save of his ledgers and accounts, while Laura had
+become peevish and querulous since the one tie which held her to
+Tamfield had been removed.  The chamber was a bare and bleak one,
+un-papered and un-carpeted, but a good fire sparkled in the grate, and
+two large windows gave him the needful light.  His easel stood in
+the centre, with the great canvas balanced across it, while against the
+walls there leaned his two last attempts, "The Murder of Thomas of
+Canterbury" and "The Signing of Magna Charta."  Robert had a weakness
+for large subjects and broad effects.  If his ambition was greater than
+his skill, he had still all the love of his art and the patience under
+discouragement which are the stuff out of which successful painters are
+made.  Twice his brace of pictures had journeyed to town, and twice
+they had come back to him, until the finely gilded frames which had made
+such a call upon his purse began to show signs of these varied
+adventures.  Yet, in spite of their depressing company, Robert turned
+to his fresh work with all the enthusiasm which a conviction of ultimate
+success can inspire.
+
+But he could not work that afternoon.
+
+In vain he dashed in his background and outlined the long curves of the
+Roman galleys.  Do what he would, his mind would still wander from his
+work to dwell upon his conversation with the vicar in the morning. His
+imagination was fascinated by the idea of this strange man living alone
+amid a crowd, and yet wielding such a power that with one dash of
+his pen he could change sorrow into joy, and transform the condition of
+a whole parish.  The incident of the fifty-pound note came back to his
+mind.  It must surely have been Raffles Haw with whom Hector Spurling
+had come in contact.  There could not be two men in one parish to whom
+so large a sum was of so small an account as to be thrown to a
+bystander in return for a trifling piece of assistance.  Of course, it
+must have been Raffles Haw.  And his sister had the note, with
+instructions to return it to the owner, could he be found.  He threw
+aside his palette, and descending into the sitting-room he told Laura
+and his father of his morning's interview with the vicar, and of his
+conviction that this was the man of whom Hector was in quest.
+
+"Tut! Tut!" said old McIntyre.  "How is this, Laura?  I knew nothing of
+this.  What do women know of money or of business?  Hand the note over
+to me and I shall relieve you of all responsibility.  I will take
+everything upon myself."
+
+"I cannot possibly, papa," said Laura, with decision.  "I should not
+think of parting with it."
+
+"What is the world coming to?" cried the old man, with his thin hands
+held up in protest.  "You grow more undutiful every day, Laura. This
+money would be of use to me--of use, you understand.  It may be the
+corner-stone of the vast business which I shall re-construct. I will
+use it, Laura, and I will pay something--four, shall we say, or even
+four and a-half--and you may have it back on any day.  And I will give
+security--the security of my--well, of my word of honour."
+
+"It is quite impossible, papa," his daughter answered coldly.  "It is
+not my money.  Hector asked me to be his banker.  Those were his very
+words.  It is not in my power to lend it.  As to what you say, Robert,
+you may be right or you may be wrong, but I certainly shall not give Mr.
+Raffles Haw or anyone else the money without Hector's express command."
+
+"You are very right about not giving it to Mr. Raffles Haw," cried old
+McIntyre, with many nods of approbation.  "I should certainly not let it
+go out of the family."
+
+"Well, I thought that I would tell you."
+
+Robert picked up his Tam-o'-Shanter and strolled out to avoid the
+discussion between his father and sister, which he saw was about to be
+renewed.  His artistic nature revolted at these petty and sordid
+disputes, and he turned to the crisp air and the broad landscape to
+soothe his ruffled feelings.  Avarice had no place among his failings,
+and his father's perpetual chatter about money inspired him with a
+positive loathing and disgust for the subject.
+
+Robert was lounging slowly along his favourite walk which curled over
+the hill, with his mind turning from the Roman invasion to the
+mysterious millionaire, when his eyes fell upon a tall, lean man
+in front of him, who, with a pipe between his lips, was endeavouring to
+light a match under cover of his cap.  The man was clad in a rough
+pea-jacket, and bore traces of smoke and grime upon his face and hands.
+Yet there is a Freemasonry among smokers which overrides every social
+difference, so Robert stopped and held out his case of fusees.
+
+"A light?" said he.
+
+"Thank you."  The man picked out a fusee, struck it, and bent his head
+to it.  He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very
+sharp and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight
+thick eyebrows which almost met on either side of it.  Clearly a
+superior kind of workman, and possibly one of those who had been
+employed in the construction of the new house.  Here was a chance of
+getting some first-hand information on the question which had aroused
+his curiosity.  Robert waited until he had lit his pipe, and then walked
+on beside him.
+
+"Are you going in the direction of the new Hall?" he asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+The man's voice was cold, and his manner reserved.
+
+"Perhaps you were engaged in the building of it?"
+
+"Yes, I had a hand in it."
+
+"They say that it is a wonderful place inside.  It has been quite the
+talk of the district.  Is it as rich as they say?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know.  I have not heard what they say."
+
+His attitude was certainly not encouraging, and it seemed to Robert that
+he gave little sidelong suspicious glances at him out of his keen grey
+eyes.  Yet, if he were so careful and discreet there was the more reason
+to think that there was information to be extracted, if he could but
+find a way to it.
+
+"Ah, there it lies!" he remarked, as they topped the brow of the hill,
+and looked down once more at the great building.  "Well, no doubt it is
+very gorgeous and splendid, but really for my own part I would rather
+live in my own little box down yonder in the village."
+
+The workman puffed gravely at his pipe.
+
+"You are no great admirer of wealth, then?" he said.
+
+"Not I.  I should not care to be a penny richer than I am.  Of course I
+should like to sell my pictures.  One must make a living. But beyond
+that I ask nothing.  I dare say that I, a poor artist, or you, a man who
+work for your bread, have more happiness out of life than the owner of
+that great palace,"
+
+"Indeed, I think that it is more than likely," the other answered, in a
+much more conciliatory voice.
+
+"Art," said Robert, warming to the subject, "is her own reward.  What
+mere bodily indulgence is there which money could buy which can give
+that deep thrill of satisfaction which comes on the man who has
+conceived something new, something beautiful, and the daily delight as
+he sees it grow under his hand, until it stands before him a completed
+whole?  With my art and without wealth I am happy.  Without my art I
+should have a void which no money could fill.  But I really don't know
+why I should say all this to you."
+
+The workman had stopped, and was staring at him earnestly with a look of
+the deepest interest upon his smoke-darkened features.
+
+"I am very glad to hear what you say," said he.  "It is a pleasure to
+know that the worship of gold is not quite universal, and that there are
+at least some who can rise above it.  Would you mind my shaking you by
+the hand?"
+
+It was  a somewhat  extraordinary request, but Robert rather prided
+himself upon his Bohemianism, and upon his happy facility for making
+friends with all sorts and conditions of men.  He readily exchanged a
+cordial grip with his chance acquaintance.
+
+"You expressed some curiosity as to this house.  I know the grounds
+pretty well, and might perhaps show you one or two little things which
+would interest you.  Here are the gates.  Will you come in with me?"
+
+Here was, indeed, a chance.  Robert eagerly assented, and walked up the
+winding drive amid the growing fir-trees.  When he found his uncouth
+guide, however, marching straight across the broad, gravel square to the
+main entrance, he felt that he had placed himself in a false position.
+
+"Surely not through the front door," he whispered, plucking his
+companion by the sleeve.  "Perhaps Mr. Raffles Haw might not like it."
+
+"I don't think there will be any difficulty," said the other, with a
+quiet smile.  "My name is Raffles Haw."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
+
+
+Robert McIntyre's face must have expressed the utter astonishment which
+filled his mind at this most unlooked-for announcement.  For a moment he
+thought that his companion must be joking, but the ease and assurance
+with which he lounged up the steps, and the deep respect with which a
+richly-clad functionary in the hall swung open the door to admit him,
+showed that he spoke in sober earnest.  Raffles Haw glanced back, and
+seeing the look of absolute amazement upon the young artist's features,
+he chuckled quietly to himself.
+
+"You will forgive me, won't you, for not disclosing my identity?" he
+said, laying his hand with a friendly gesture upon the other's sleeve.
+"Had you known me you would have spoken less freely, and I should not
+have had the opportunity of learning your true worth.  For example,
+you might hardly have been so frank upon the matter of wealth had you
+known that you were speaking to the master of the Hall."
+
+"I don't think that I was ever so astonished in my life," gasped Robert.
+
+"Naturally you are.  How could you take me for anything but a workman?
+So I am.  Chemistry is one of my hobbies, and I spend hours a day in my
+laboratory yonder.  I have only just struck work, and as I had inhaled
+some not-over-pleasant gases, I thought that a turn down the road and a
+whiff of tobacco might do me good.  That was how I came to meet you, and
+my toilet, I fear, corresponded only too well with my smoke-grimed face.
+But I rather fancy I know you by repute. Your name is Robert McIntyre,
+is it not?"
+
+"Yes, though I cannot imagine how you knew."
+
+"Well, I naturally took some little trouble to learn something of my
+neighbours.  I had heard that there was an artist of that name, and I
+presume that artists are not very numerous in Tamfield.  But how do you
+like the design?  I hope it does not offend your trained taste."
+
+"Indeed, it is wonderful--marvellous!  You must yourself have an
+extraordinary eye for effect."
+
+"Oh, I have no taste at all; not the slightest.  I cannot tell good from
+bad.  There never was such a complete Philistine.  But I had the best
+man in London down, and another fellow from Vienna.  They fixed it up
+between them."
+
+They had been standing just within the folding doors upon a huge mat of
+bison skins.  In front of them lay a great square court, paved with
+many-coloured marbles laid out in a labyrinth of arabesque design.
+In the centre a high fountain of carved jade shot five thin feathers of
+spray into the air, four of which curved towards each corner of the
+court to descend into broad marble basins, while the fifth mounted
+straight up to an immense height, and then tinkled back into the central
+reservoir.  On either side of the court a tall, graceful palm-tree shot
+up its slender stem to break into a crown of drooping green leaves some
+fifty feet above their heads.  All round were a series of Moorish
+arches, in jade and serpentine marble, with heavy curtains of the
+deepest purple to cover the doors which lay between them.  In front, to
+right and to left, a broad staircase of marble, carpeted with rich thick
+Smyrna rug work, led upwards to the upper storeys, which were arranged
+around the central court.  The temperature within was warm and yet
+fresh, like the air of an English May.
+
+"It's taken from the Alhambra," said Raffles Haw.  "The palm-trees are
+pretty.  They strike right through the building into the ground beneath,
+and their roots are all girt round with hot-water pipes.  They seem to
+thrive very well."
+
+"What beautifully delicate brass-work!" cried Robert, looking up with
+admiring eyes at the bright and infinitely fragile metal trellis screens
+which adorned the spaces between the Moorish arches.
+
+"It is rather neat.  But it is not brass-work.  Brass is not tough
+enough to allow them to work it to that degree of fineness.  It is gold.
+But just come this way with me.  You won't mind waiting while I remove
+this smoke?"
+
+He led the way to a door upon the left side of the court, which, to
+Robert's surprise, swung slowly open as they approached it.
+"That is a little improvement which I have adopted," remarked the master
+of the house.  "As you go up to a door your weight upon the planks
+releases a spring which causes the hinges to revolve.  Pray step in.
+This is my own little sanctum, and furnished after my own heart."
+
+If Robert expected to see some fresh exhibition of wealth and luxury he
+was woefully disappointed, for he found himself in a large but bare
+room, with a little iron truckle-bed in one corner, a few scattered
+wooden chairs, a dingy carpet, and a large table heaped with books,
+bottles, papers, and all the other _debris_ which collect around a busy
+and untidy man.  Motioning his visitor into a chair, Raffles Haw pulled
+off his coat, and, turning up the sleeves of his coarse flannel
+shirt, he began to plunge and scrub in the warm water which flowed from
+a tap in the wall.
+
+"You see how simple my own tastes are," he remarked, as he mopped his
+dripping face and hair with the towel.  "This is the only room in my
+great house where I find myself in a congenial atmosphere.  It is homely
+to me.  I can read here and smoke my pipe in peace.  Anything like
+luxury is abhorrent to me."
+
+"Really, I should not have though it," observed Robert.
+
+"It is a fact, I assure you.  You see, even with your views as to the
+worthlessness of wealth, views which, I am sure, are very sensible and
+much to your credit, you must allow that if a man should happen to be
+the possessor of vast--well, let us say of considerable--sums of money,
+it is his duty to get that money into circulation, so that the community
+may be the better for it.  There is the secret of my fine feathers.
+I have to exert all my ingenuity in order to spend my income, and yet
+keep the money in legitimate channels.  For example, it is very easy to
+give money away, and no doubt I could dispose of my surplus, or part of
+my surplus, in that fashion, but I have no wish to pauperise anyone, or
+to do mischief by indiscriminate charity.  I must exact some sort of
+money's worth for all the money which I lay out  You see my point, don't
+you?"
+
+"Entirely; though really it is something novel to hear a man complain of
+the difficulty of spending his income."
+
+"I assure you that it is a very serious difficulty with me.  But I have
+hit upon some plans--some very pretty plans.  Will you wash your hands?
+Well, then, perhaps you would care to have a look round.  Just come into
+this corner of the room, and sit upon this chair.  So.  Now I will sit
+upon this one, and we are ready to start."
+
+The angle of the chamber in which they sat was painted for about six
+feet in each direction of a dark chocolate-brown, and was furnished with
+two red plush seats protruding from the walls, and in striking contrast
+with the simplicity of the rest of the apartment.
+
+"This," remarked Raffles Haw, "is a lift, though it is so closely joined
+to the rest of the room that without the change in colour it might
+puzzle you to find the division.  It is made to run either horizontally
+or vertically.  This line of knobs represents the various rooms.
+You can see 'Dining,' 'Smoking,' 'Billiard,' 'Library' and so on, upon
+them.  I will show you the upward action.  I press this one with
+'Kitchen' upon it."
+
+There was a sense of motion, a very slight jar, and Robert, without
+moving from his seat, was conscious that the room had vanished, and that
+a large arched oaken door stood in the place which it had occupied.
+
+"That is the kitchen door," said Raffles Haw. "I have my kitchen at the
+top of the house.  I cannot tolerate the smell of cooking.  We have come
+up eighty feet in a very few seconds.  Now I press again and here we are
+in my room once more."
+
+Robert McIntyre stared about him in astonishment.
+
+"The wonders of science are greater than those of magic" he remarked.
+
+"Yes, it is a pretty little mechanism.  Now we try the horizontal.
+I press the 'Dining' knob and here we are, you see.  Step towards the
+door, and you will find it open in front of you."
+
+Robert did as he was bid, and found himself with his companion in a
+large and lofty room, while the lift, the instant that it was freed from
+their weight, flashed back to its original position.  With his feet
+sinking into the soft rich carpet, as though he were ankle-deep in some
+mossy bank, he stared about him at the great pictures which lined the
+walls.
+
+"Surely, surely, I see Raphael's touch there" he cried, pointing up at
+the one which faced him.
+
+"Yes, it is a Raphael, and I believe one of his best.  I had a very
+exciting bid for it with the French Government.  They wanted it for the
+Louvre, but of course at an auction the longest purse must win."
+
+"And this 'Arrest of Catiline' must be a Rubens.  One  cannot mistake
+his splendid men and his infamous women."
+
+"Yes, it is a Rubens.  The other two are a Velasquez and a Teniers, fair
+specimens of the Spanish and of the Dutch schools.  I have only old
+masters here.  The moderns are in the billiard-room.  The furniture here
+is a little curious.  In fact, I fancy that it is unique.  It is made of
+ebony and narwhals' horns. You see that the legs of everything are of
+spiral ivory, both the table and the chairs.  It cost the upholsterer
+some little pains, for the supply of these things is a strictly limited
+one.  Curiously enough, the Chinese Emperor had given a large order for
+narwhals' horns to repair some ancient pagoda, which was fenced in with
+them, but I outbid him in the market, and his celestial highness has had
+to wait.  There is a lift here in the corner, but we do not need it.
+Pray step through this door.  This is the billiard-room," he continued
+as they advanced into the adjoining room. "You see I have a few recent
+pictures of merit upon the walls.  Here is a Corot, two Meissoniers, a
+Bouguereau, a Millais, an Orchardson, and two Alma-Tademas.  It seems to
+me to be a pity to hang pictures over these walls of carved oak.
+Look at those birds hopping and singing in the branches.  They really
+seem to move and twitter, don't they?"
+
+"They are perfect.  I never saw such exquisite work.  But why do you
+call it a billiard-room, Mr. Haw?  I do not see any board."
+
+"Oh, a board is such a clumsy uncompromising piece of furniture. It is
+always in the way unless you actually need to use it.  In this case the
+board is covered by that square of polished maple which you see let into
+the floor.  Now I put my foot upon this motor.  You see!"  As he spoke,
+the central portion of the flooring flew up, and a most beautiful
+tortoise-shell-plated billiard-table rose up to its proper position.
+He pressed a second spring, and a bagatelle-table appeared in the same
+fashion. "You may have card-tables or what you will by setting the
+levers in motion," he remarked.  "But all this is very trifling.
+Perhaps we may find something in the museum which may be of more
+interest to you."
+
+He led the way into another chamber, which was furnished in antique
+style, with hangings of the rarest and richest tapestry.  The floor was
+a mosaic of coloured marbles, scattered over with mats of costly fur.
+There was little furniture, but a number of Louis Quatorze cabinets
+of ebony and silver with delicately-painted plaques were ranged round
+the apartment.
+
+"It is perhaps hardly fair to dignify it by the name of a museum," said
+Raffles Haw.  "It consists merely of a few elegant trifles which I have
+picked up here and there.  Gems are my strongest point.  I fancy that
+there, perhaps, I might challenge comparison with any private collector
+in the world.  I lock them up, for  even the best servants may be
+tempted."
+
+He took a silver key from his watch chain, and began to unlock and draw
+out the drawers.  A cry of wonder and of admiration burst from Robert
+McIntyre, as his eyes rested upon case after case filled with the most
+magnificent stones.  The deep still red of the rubies, the clear
+scintillating green of the emeralds, the hard glitter of the diamonds,
+the many shifting shades of beryls, of amethysts, of onyxes, of
+cats'-eyes, of opals, of agates, of cornelians seemed to fill the whole
+chamber with a vague twinkling, many-coloured light.  Long slabs of the
+beautiful blue lapis lazuli, magnificent bloodstones, specimens of pink
+and red and white coral, long strings of lustrous pearls, all these were
+tossed out by their owner as a careless schoolboy might pour marbles
+from his bag.
+
+"This isn't bad," he said, holding up a great glowing yellow mass as
+large as his own head. "It is really a very fine piece of amber.  It was
+forwarded to me by my agent at the Baltic.  Twenty-eight pounds, it
+weighs.  I never heard of so fine a one.  I have no very large
+brilliants--there were no very large ones in the market--but my average
+is good.  Pretty toys, are they not?"  He picked up a double handful of
+emeralds from a drawer, and then let them trickle slowly back into
+the heap.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Robert, as he gazed from case to case.  "It is an
+immense fortune in itself.  Surely a hundred thousand pounds would
+hardly buy so splendid a collection."
+
+"I don't think that you would do for a valuer of precious stones," said
+Raffles Haw, laughing.  "Why, the contents of that one little drawer of
+brilliants could not be bought for the sum which you name.  I have a
+memo. here of what I have expended up to date on my collection, though I
+have agents at work who will probably make very considerable additions
+to it within the next few weeks.  As matters stand, however, I have
+spent--let me see-pearls one forty thousand; emeralds, seven fifty;
+rubies, eight forty; brilliants, nine twenty; onyxes--I have several
+very nice onyxes-two thirty.  Other gems, carbuncles, agates--hum!  Yes,
+it figures out at just over four million seven hundred and forty
+thousand.  I dare say that we may say five millions, for I have not
+counted the odd money."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried the young artist, with staring eyes.
+
+"I have a certain feeling of duty in the matter.  You see the cutting,
+polishing, and general sale of stones is one of those industries which
+is entirely dependent upon wealth.  If we do not support it, it must
+languish, which means misfortune to a considerable number of people.
+The same applies to the gold filigree work which you noticed in the
+court.  Wealth has its responsibilities, and the encouragement of these
+handicrafts are among the most obvious of them.  Here is a nice ruby.
+It is Burmese, and the fifth largest in existence.  I am inclined to
+think that if it were uncut it would be the second, but of course
+cutting takes away a great deal."  He held up the blazing red stone,
+about the size of a chestnut, between his finger and thumb for a moment,
+and then threw it carelessly back into its drawer.  "Come into the
+smoking-room," he said; "you will need some little refreshment, for they
+say that sight-seeing is the most exhausting occupation in the world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FROM CLIME TO CLIME,
+
+
+The chamber in which the bewildered Robert now found himself was more
+luxurious, if less rich, than any which he had yet seen.  Low settees of
+claret-coloured plush were scattered in orderly disorder over a mossy
+Eastern carpet.  Deep lounges, reclining sofas, American rocking-chairs,
+all were to be had for the choosing.  One end of the room was walled by
+glass, and appeared to open upon a luxuriant hot-house.  At the further
+end a double line of gilt rails supported a profusion of the most recent
+magazines and periodicals.  A rack at each side of the inlaid fireplace
+sustained a long line of the pipes of all places and nations--English
+cherrywoods, French briars, German china-bowls, carved meerschaums,
+scented cedar and myall-wood, with Eastern narghiles, Turkish
+chibooques, and two great golden-topped hookahs.  To right and left were
+a series of small lockers, extending in a treble row for the whole
+length of the room, with the names of the various brands of tobacco
+scrolled in ivory work across them.  Above were other larger tiers of
+polished oak, which held cigars and cigarettes.
+
+"Try that Damascus settee," said the master of the house, as he threw
+himself into a rocking-chair.  "It is from the Sultan's upholsterer.
+The Turks have a very good notion of comfort.  I am a confirmed smoker
+myself, Mr. McIntyre, so I have been able, perhaps, to check my
+architect here more than in most of the other departments.  Of pictures,
+for example, I know nothing, as you would very speedily find out.  On a
+tobacco, I might, perhaps, offer an opinion.  Now these"--he drew out
+some long, beautifully-rolled, mellow-coloured cigars--"these are really
+something a little out of the common.  Do try one."
+
+Robert lit the weed which was offered to him, and leaned back
+luxuriously amid his cushions, gazing through  the blue balmy fragrant
+cloud-wreaths at the extraordinary man in the dirty pea-jacket who
+spoke of millions as another might of sovereigns.  With his pale face,
+his sad, languid air, and his bowed shoulders, it was as though he were
+crushed down under the weight of his own gold.  There was a mute
+apology, an attitude of deprecation in his manner and speech, which was
+strangely at variance with the immense power which he wielded.
+To Robert the whole whimsical incident had been intensely interesting
+and amusing.  His artistic nature blossomed out in this atmosphere of
+perfect luxury and comfort, and he was conscious of a sense of repose
+and of absolute sensual contentment such as he had never before
+experienced.
+
+"Shall it be coffee, or Rhine wine, or Tokay, or perhaps something
+stronger" asked Raffles Haw, stretching out his hand to what looked like
+a piano-board projecting from the wall. "I can recommend the Tokay.
+I have it from the man who supplies the Emperor of Austria, though I
+think I may say that I get the cream of it."
+
+He struck twice upon one of the piano-notes, and sat expectant.  With a
+sharp click at the end of ten seconds a sliding shutter flew open, and a
+small tray protruded bearing two long tapering Venetian glasses filled
+with wine.
+
+"It works very nicely" said Raffles Haw.  "It is quite a new thing--
+never before done, as far as I know.  You see the names of the various
+wines and so on printed on the notes.  By pressing the note down I
+complete an electric circuit which causes the tap in the cellars beneath
+to remain open long enough to fill the glass which always stands beneath
+it.  The glasses, you understand, stand upon a revolving drum, so that
+there must always be one there.  The glasses are then brought up through
+a pneumatic tube, which is set working by the increased weight of the
+glass when the wine is added to it.  It is a pretty little idea.  But I
+am afraid that I bore you rather with all these petty contrivances.
+It is a whim of mine to push mechanism as far as it will go."
+
+"On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder," said Robert
+warmly.  "It is as if I had been suddenly whipped up out of prosaic old
+England and transferred in an instant to some enchanted palace, some
+Eastern home of the Genii.  I could not have believed that there existed
+upon this earth such adaptation of means to an end, such complete
+mastery of every detail which may aid in stripping life of any of its
+petty worries."
+
+"I have something yet to show you," remarked Raffles Haw; "but we will
+rest here for a few minutes, for I wished to have a word with you.
+How is the cigar?"
+
+"Most excellent."
+
+"It was rolled in Louisiana in the old slavery days.  There is nothing
+made like them now.  The man who had them did not know their value.
+He let them go at merely a few shillings apiece.  Now I want you to do
+me a favour, Mr. McIntyre."
+
+"I shall be so glad."
+
+"You can see more or less how I am situated.  I am a complete stranger
+here.  With the well-to-do classes I have little in common.  I am no
+society man.  I don't want to call or be called on.  I am a student in a
+small way, and a man of quiet tastes.  I have no social ambitions at
+all.  Do you understand?"
+
+"Entirely."
+
+"On the other hand, my experience of the world has been that it is the
+rarest thing to be able to form a friendship with a poorer man--I mean
+with a man who is at all eager to increase his income.  They think much
+of your wealth, and little of yourself.  I have tried, you understand,
+and I know."  He paused and ran his fingers through his thin beard.
+
+Robert McIntyre nodded to show that he appreciated his position.
+
+"Now, you see," he continued, "if I am to be cut off from the rich by
+my own tastes, and from those who are not rich by my distrust of their
+motives, my situation is an isolated one.  Not that I mind isolation: I
+am used to it.  But it limits my field of usefulness.  I have no
+trustworthy means of informing myself when and where I may do good.
+I have already, I am glad to say, met a man to-day, your vicar, who
+appears to be thoroughly unselfish and trustworthy.  He shall be one of
+my channels of communication with the outer world.  Might I ask you
+whether you would be willing to become another?"
+
+"With the greatest pleasure," said Robert eagerly.
+
+The proposition filled his heart with joy, for it seemed to give him an
+almost official connection with this paradise of a house.  He could not
+have asked for anything more to his taste.
+
+"I was fortunate enough to discover by your conversation how high a
+ground you take in such matters, and how entirely disinterested you are.
+You may have observed that I was short and almost rude with you at
+first.  I have had reason to fear and suspect all chance friendships.
+Too often they have proved to be carefully planned beforehand, with some
+sordid object in view.  Good heavens, what stories I could tell you!
+A lady pursued by a bull--I have risked my life to save her, and have
+learned afterwards that the scene had been arranged by the mother as
+an effective introduction, and that the bull had been hired by the hour.
+But I won't shake your faith in human nature.  I have had some rude
+shocks myself.  I look, perhaps, with a jaundiced eye on all who come
+near me.  It is the more needful that I should have one whom I can trust
+to advise me."
+
+"If you will only show me where my opinion can be of any use I shall be
+most happy," said Robert. "My people come from Birmingham, but I know
+most of the folk here and their position."
+
+"That is just what I want.  Money can do so much good, and it may do so
+much harm.  I shall consult you when I am in doubt.  By the way, there
+is one small question which I might ask you now.  Can you tell me who a
+young lady is with very dark hair, grey eyes, and a finely chiselled
+face?  She wore a blue dress when I saw her, with astrachan about her
+neck and cuffs."
+
+Robert chuckled to himself.
+
+"I know that dress pretty well," he said.  "It is my sister Laura whom
+you describe."
+
+"Your sister!  Really!  Why, there is a resemblance, now that my
+attention is called to it.  I saw her the other day, and wondered who
+she might be.  She lives with you, of course?"
+
+"Yes; my father, she, and I live together at Elmdene."
+
+"Where I hope to have the pleasure of making their acquaintance.
+You have finished your cigar?  Have another, or try a pipe.  To the real
+smoker all is mere trifling save the pipe.  I have most brands of
+tobacco here.  The lockers are filled on the Monday, and on Saturday
+they are handed over to the old folk at the alms-houses, so I manage to
+keep it pretty fresh always.  Well, if you won't take anything else,
+perhaps you would care to see one or two of the other effects which I
+have devised.  On this side is the armoury, and beyond it the library.
+My collection of books is a limited one; there are just over the fifty
+thousand volumes.  But it is to some extent remarkable for quality.
+I have a Visigoth Bible of the fifth century, which I rather fancy is
+unique; there is a 'Biblia Pauperum' of 1430; a MS. of Genesis done upon
+mulberry leaves, probably of the second century; a 'Tristan and Iseult'
+of the eighth century; and some hundred black-letters, with five very
+fine specimens of Schoffer and Fust.  But those you may turn over any
+wet afternoon when you have nothing better to do.  Meanwhile, I have a
+little device connected with this smoking-room which may amuse you.
+Light this other cigar.  Now sit with me upon this lounge which
+stands at the further end of the room."
+
+The sofa in question was in a niche which was lined in three sides and
+above with perfectly clear transparent crystal.  As they sat down the
+master of the house drew a cord which pulled out a crystal shutter
+behind them, so that they were enclosed on all sides in a great box of
+glass, so pure and so highly polished that its presence might very
+easily be forgotten.  A number of golden cords with crystal handles hung
+down into this small chamber, and appeared to be connected with a long
+shining bar outside.
+
+"Now, where would you like to smoke your cigar?" said Raffles Haw, with
+a twinkle in his demure eyes.  "Shall we go to India, or to Egypt, or to
+China, or to--"
+
+"To South America," said Robert.
+
+There was a twinkle, a whirr, and a sense of motion.  The young artist
+gazed about him in absolute amazement.  Look where he would all round
+were tree-ferns and palms with long drooping creepers, and a blaze of
+brilliant orchids.  Smoking-room, house, England, all were gone, and
+he sat on a settee in the heart of a virgin forest of the Amazon.
+It was no mere optical delusion or trick.  He could see the hot steam
+rising from the tropical undergrowth, the heavy drops falling from
+the huge green leaves, the very grain and fibre of the rough bark which
+clothed the trunks.  Even as he gazed a green mottled snake curled
+noiselessly over a branch above his head, and a bright-coloured
+paroquet broke suddenly from amid the foliage and flashed off among the
+tree-trunks.  Robert gazed around, speechless with surprise, and finally
+turned upon his host a face in which curiosity was not un-mixed with a
+suspicion of fear.
+
+"People have been burned for less, have they not?" cried Raffles Haw
+laughing heartily.  "Have you had enough of the Amazon?  What do you say
+to a spell of Egypt?"
+
+Again the whirr, the swift flash of passing objects, and in an instant a
+huge desert stretched on every side of them, as far as the eye could
+reach.  In the foreground a clump of five palm-trees towered into the
+air, with a profusion of rough cactus-like plants bristling from their
+base.  On the other side rose a rugged, gnarled, grey monolith, carved
+at the base into a huge scarabaeus.  A group  of lizards played about on
+the surface of the old carved stone.  Beyond, the yellow sand stretched
+away into furthest space, where the dim mirage mist played along the
+horizon.
+
+"Mr. Haw, I cannot understand it!" Robert grasped the velvet edge of the
+settee, and gazed wildly about him.
+
+"The effect is rather startling, is it not?  This Egyptian desert is my
+favourite when I lay myself out for a contemplative smoke.  It seems
+strange that tobacco should have come from the busy, practical West.
+It has much more affinity for the dreamy, languid East.  But perhaps you
+would like to run over to China for a change?"
+
+"Not to-day," said Robert, passing his hand over his forehead. "I feel
+rather confused by all these wonders, and indeed I think that they have
+affected my nerves a little.  Besides, it is time that I returned
+to my prosaic Elmdene, if I can find my way out of this wilderness to
+which you have transplanted me.  But would you ease my mind, Mr. Haw, by
+showing me how this thing is done?"
+
+"It is the merest toy--a complex plaything, nothing more.  Allow me to
+explain.  I have a line of very large greenhouses which extends from one
+end of my smoking-room.  These different houses are kept at varying
+degrees of heat and humidity so as to reproduce the exact climates of
+Egypt, China, and the rest.  You see, our crystal chamber is a tramway
+running with a minimum of friction along a steel rod.  By pulling this
+or that handle I regulate how far it shall go, and it travels, as you
+have seen, with amazing speed.  The effect of my hot-houses is
+heightened by the roofs being invariably concealed by skies, which are
+really very admirably painted, and by the introduction of birds and
+other creatures, which seem to flourish quite as well in artificial as
+in natural heat.  This explains the South American effect."
+
+"But not the Egyptian."
+
+"No.  It is certainly rather clever.  I had the best man in France, at
+least the best at those large effects, to paint in that circular
+background.  You understand, the palms, cacti, obelisk, and so on, are
+perfectly genuine, and so is the sand for fifty yards or so, and I defy
+the keenest-eyed man in England to tell where the deception commences.
+It is the familiar and perhaps rather meretricious effect of a circular
+panorama, but carried out in the most complete manner.  Was there
+any other point?"
+
+"The crystal box?  Why was it?"
+
+"To preserve my guests from the effects of the changes of temperature.
+It would be a poor kindness to bring them back  to  my smoking-room
+drenched through, and with the seeds of a violent cold.  The crystal has
+to be kept warm, too, otherwise vapour would deposit, and you would have
+your view spoiled.  But must you really go?  Then here we are back in
+the smoking-room.  I hope that it will not be your last visit by many a
+one.  And if I may come down to Elmdene I should be very glad to do so.
+This is the way through the museum."
+
+As Robert McIntyre emerged from the balmy aromatic atmosphere of the
+great house, into the harsh, raw, biting air of an English winter
+evening, he felt as though he had been away for a long visit in some
+foreign country.  Time is measured by impressions, and so vivid and
+novel had been his feelings, that weeks and weeks might have elapsed
+since his chat with the smoke-grimed stranger in the road.  He walked
+along with his head in a whirl, his whole mind possessed and intoxicated
+by the one idea of the boundless wealth and the immense power of this
+extraordinary stranger.  Small and sordid and mean seemed his own
+Elmdene as he approached it, and he passed over its threshold full of
+restless discontent against himself and his surroundings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LAURA'S REQUEST.
+
+
+That night after supper Robert McIntyre poured forth all that he had
+seen to his father and to his sister.  So full was he of the one subject
+that it was a relief to him to share his knowledge with others.  Rather
+for his own sake, then, than for theirs he depicted vividly all the
+marvels which he had seen; the profusion of wealth, the regal
+treasure-house of gems, the gold, the marble, the extraordinary devices,
+the absolute lavishness and complete disregard for money which was shown
+in every detail.  For an hour he pictured with glowing words all the
+wonders which had been shown him, and ended with some pride by
+describing the request which Mr. Raffles Haw had made, and the complete
+confidence which he had placed in him.
+
+His words had a very different effect upon his two listeners.
+Old McIntyre leaned back in his chair with a bitter smile upon his lips,
+his thin face crinkled into a thousand puckers, and his small eyes
+shining with envy and greed.  His lean yellow hand upon the table was
+clenched until the knuckles gleamed white in the lamplight.  Laura, on
+the other hand, leaned forward, her lips parted, drinking in her
+brother's words with a glow of colour upon either cheek.  It seemed to
+Robert, as he glanced from one to the other of them, that he had never
+seen his father look so evil, or his sister so beautiful.
+
+"Who is the fellow, then?" asked the old man after a considerable pause.
+"I hope he got all this in an honest fashion.  Five millions in jewels,
+you say.  Good gracious me! Ready to give it away, too, but afraid of
+pauperising any one.  You can tell him, Robert, that you know of one
+very deserving case which has not the slightest objection to being
+pauperised."
+
+"But who can he possibly be, Robert?" cried Laura.  "Haw cannot be his
+real name.  He must be some disguised prince, or perhaps a king in
+exile.  Oh, I should have loved to have seen those diamonds and the
+emeralds!  I always think that emeralds suit dark people best.  You must
+tell me again all about that museum, Robert."
+
+"I don't think that he is anything more than he pretends to be," her
+brother answered.  "He has the plain, quiet manners of an ordinary
+middle-class Englishman.  There was no particular polish that I could
+see.  He knew a little about books and pictures, just enough to
+appreciate them, but nothing more.  No, I fancy that he is a man quite
+in our own position of life, who has in some way inherited a vast sum.
+Of course it is difficult for me to form an estimate, but I should judge
+that what I saw to-day--house, pictures, jewels, books, and so on--could
+never have been bought under twenty millions, and I am sure that that
+figure is entirely an under-statement."
+
+"I never knew but one Haw," said old McIntyre, drumming his fingers on
+the table; "he was a foreman in my pin-fire cartridge-case department.
+But he was an elderly single man.  Well, I hope he got it all honestly.
+I hope the money is clean."
+
+"And really, really, he is coming to see us!" cried Laura, clapping her
+hands.  "Oh, when do you think he will come, Robert?  Do give me
+warning.  Do you think it will be to-morrow?"
+
+"I am sure I cannot say."
+
+"I should so love to see him.  I don't know when I have been so
+interested."
+
+"Why, you have a letter there," remarked Robert.  "From Hector, too, by
+the foreign stamp.  How is he?"
+
+"It only came this evening.  I have not opened it yet.  To tell the
+truth, I have been so interested in your story that I had forgotten all
+about it.  Poor old Hector!  It is from Madeira."  She glanced rapidly
+over the four pages of straggling writing in the young sailor's bold
+schoolboyish hand.  "Oh, he is all right," she said.  "They had a gale
+on the way out, and that sort of thing, but he is all right now.
+He thinks he may be back by March.  I wonder whether your new friend
+will come to-morrow--your knight of the enchanted Castle."
+
+"Hardly so soon, I should fancy."
+
+"If he should be looking about for an investment.  Robert," said the
+father, "you won't forget to tell him what a fine opening there is now
+in the gun trade.  With my knowledge, and a few thousands at my back, I
+could bring him in his thirty per cent. as regular as the bank.  After
+all, he must lay out his money somehow.  He cannot sink it all in books
+and precious stones.  I am sure that I could give him the highest
+references."
+
+"It may be a long time before he comes, father," said Robert coldly;"
+and when he does I am afraid that I can hardly use his friendship as a
+means of advancing your interest."
+
+"We are his equals, father," cried Laura with spirit.  "Would you put us
+on the footing of beggars?  He would think we cared for him only for his
+money.  I wonder that you should think of such a thing."
+
+"If I had not thought of such things where would your education have
+been, miss?" retorted the angry old man; and Robert stole quietly away
+to his room, whence amid his canvases he could still hear the hoarse
+voice and the clear in their never-ending family jangle. More and more
+sordid seemed the surroundings of his life, and more and more to be
+valued the peace which money can buy.
+
+Breakfast had hardly been cleared in the morning, and Robert had not yet
+ascended to his work, when there came a timid tapping at the door, and
+there was Raffles Haw on the mat outside.  Robert ran out and welcomed
+him with all cordiality.
+
+"I am afraid that I am a very early visitor," he said apologetically;
+"but I often take a walk after breakfast."  He had no traces of work
+upon him now, but was trim and neat with a dark suit, and carefully
+brushed hair.  "You spoke yesterday of your work.  Perhaps, early as it
+is, you would allow me the privilege of looking over your studio?"
+
+"Pray step in, Mr. Haw," cried Robert, all in a flutter at this advance
+from so munificent a patron of art; "I should be only too happy to show
+you such little work as I have on hand, though, indeed, I am almost
+afraid when I think how familiar you are with some of the greatest
+masterpieces.  Allow me to introduce you to my father and to my sister
+Laura."
+
+Old McIntyre bowed low and rubbed his thin hands together; but the young
+lady gave a gasp of surprise, and stared with widely-opened eyes at the
+millionaire.  Maw stepped forward, however, and shook her quietly by the
+hand,
+
+"I expected to find that it was you," he said.  "I have already met your
+sister, Mr. McIntyre, on the very first day that I came here.  We took
+shelter in a shed from a snowstorm, and had quite a pleasant little
+chat."
+
+"I had no notion that I was speaking to the owner of the Hall," said
+Laura in some confusion.  "How funnily things turn out, to be sure!"
+
+"I had often wondered who it was that I spoke to, but it was only
+yesterday that I discovered.  What a sweet little place you have here!
+It must be charming in summer.  Why, if it were not for this hill my
+windows would look straight across at yours."
+
+"Yes, and we should see all your beautiful plantations," said Laura,
+standing beside him in the window. "I was wishing only yesterday that
+the hill was not there."
+
+"Really! I shall be happy to have it removed for you if you would like
+it."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Laura.  "Why, where would you put it?"
+
+"Oh, they could run it along the line and dump it anywhere.  It is not
+much of a hill.  A few thousand men with proper machinery, and a line of
+rails brought right up to them could easily dispose of it in a few
+months."
+
+"And the poor vicar's house?" Laura asked, laughing.
+
+"I think that might be got over.  We could run him up a facsimile, which
+would, perhaps, be more convenient to him.  Your brother will tell you
+that I am quite an expert at the designing of houses.  But, seriously,
+if you think it would be an improvement I will see what can be done."
+
+"Not for the world, Mr. Haw.  Why, I should be a traitor to the whole
+village if I were to encourage such a scheme.  The hill is the one thing
+which gives Tamfield the slightest individuality.  It would be the
+height of selfishness to sacrifice it in order to improve the view
+from Elmdene."
+
+"It is a little box of a place this, Mr. Haw" said old McIntyre.
+"I should think you must feel quite stifled in it after your grand
+mansion, of which my son tells me such wonders.  But we were
+not always accustomed to this sort of thing, Mr. Haw.  Humble as I stand
+here, there was a time, and not so long ago, when I could write as many
+figures on a cheque as any gunmaker in Birmingham. It was--"
+
+"He is a dear discontented old papa," cried Laura, throwing her arm
+round him  in a caressing manner.  He gave a sharp squeak and a grimace
+of pain, which he endeavoured to hide by an outbreak of painfully
+artificial coughing.
+
+"Shall we go upstairs?" said Robert hurriedly, anxious to divert his
+guest's attention from this little domestic incident. "My studio is the
+real atelier, for it is right up under the tiles. I shall lead the
+way, if you will have the kindness to follow me."
+
+Leaving Laura and Mr. McIntyre, they went up together to the workroom.
+Mr. Haw stood long in front of the "Signing of Magna Charta," and the
+"Murder of Thomas a Becket," screwing up his eyes and twitching
+nervously at his beard, while Robert stood by in anxious expectancy.
+
+"And how much are these?" asked Raffles Haw at last.
+
+"I priced them at a hundred apiece when I sent them to London."
+
+"Then the best I can wish you is that the day may come when you would
+gladly give ten times the sum to have them back again.  I am sure that
+there are great possibilities in you, and I see that in grouping and in
+boldness of design you have already achieved much.  But your drawing, if
+you will excuse my saying so, is just a little crude, and your colouring
+perhaps a trifle thin.  Now, I will make a bargain with you, Mr.
+McIntyre, if you will consent to it.  I know that money has no charms
+for you, but still, as you said when I first met you, a man must live.
+I shall buy these two canvases from you at the price which you name,
+subject to the condition that you may always have them back again by
+repaying the same sum."
+
+"You are really very kind."  Robert hardly knew whether to be delighted
+at having sold his pictures or humiliated at the frank criticism of the
+buyer.
+
+"May I write a cheque at once?" said Raffles Haw.  "Here is pen and
+ink.  So! I shall send a couple of footmen down for them in the
+afternoon.  Well, I shall keep them in trust for you.  I dare say
+that when you are famous they will be of value as specimens of your
+early manner."
+
+"I am sure that I am extremely obliged to you, Mr. Haw," said the young
+artist, placing the cheque in his notebook.  He glanced at it as he
+folded it up, in the vague hope that perhaps this man of whims had
+assessed his pictures at a higher rate than he had named.  The figures,
+however, were exact.  Robert began dimly to perceive that there were
+drawbacks as well as advantages to the reputation of a money-scorner,
+which he had gained by a few chance words, prompted rather by the
+reaction against his father's than by his own real convictions.
+
+"I hope, Miss McIntyre," said Raffles Haw, when they had descended to
+the sitting-room once more, "that you will do me the honour of coming to
+see the little curiosities which I have gathered together.
+Your brother will, I am sure, escort you up; or perhaps Mr. McIntyre
+would care to come?"
+
+"I shall be delighted to come, Mr. Haw" cried Laura, with her sweetest
+smile.  "A good deal of my time just now is taken up in looking after
+the poor people, who find the cold weather very trying."  Robert raised
+his eyebrows, for it was the first he had heard of his sister's missions
+of mercy, but Mr. Raffles Haw nodded approvingly.  "Robert was telling
+us of your wonderful hot-houses.  I am sure I wish I could transport the
+whole parish into one of them, and give them a good warm."
+
+"Nothing would be easier, but I am afraid that they might find it a
+little trying when they came out again.  I have one house which is only
+just finished.  Your brother has not seen it yet, but I think it is the
+best of them all.  It represents an Indian jungle, and is hot enough in
+all conscience."
+
+"I shall so look forward to seeing it," cried Laura, clasping her hands.
+"It has been one of the dreams of my life to see India.  I have read so
+much of it, the temples, the forests, the great rivers, and the tigers.
+Why, you would hardly believe it, but I have never seen a tiger except
+in a picture."
+
+"That can easily be set right," said Raffles Haw, with his quiet smile.
+"Would you care to see one?"
+
+"Oh, immensely."
+
+"I will have one sent down. Let me see, it is nearly twelve o'clock.
+I can get a wire to Liverpool by one.  There is a man there who deals in
+such things.  I should think he would be due to-morrow morning.  Well, I
+shall look forward to seeing you all before very long.  I have
+rather outstayed my time, for I am a man of routine, and I always put in
+a certain number of hours in my laboratory."  He shook hands cordially
+with them all, and lighting his pipe at the doorstep, strolled off upon
+his way.
+
+"Well, what do you think of him now?" asked Robert, as they watched
+his black figure against the white snow.
+
+"I think that he is no more fit to be trusted with all that money than a
+child," cried the old man.  "It made me positively sick to hear him talk
+of moving hills and buying tigers, and such-like nonsense, when there
+are honest men without a business, and great businesses starving for
+a little capital.  It's unchristian--that's what I call it."
+
+"I think he is most delightful, Robert," said Laura. "Remember, you have
+promised to take us up to the Hall.  And he evidently wishes us to go
+soon.  Don't you think we might go this afternoon?"
+
+"I hardly think that, Laura.  You leave it in my hands, and I will
+arrange it all.  And now I must get to work, for the light is so very
+short on these winter days."
+
+That night Robert McIntyre had gone to bed, and was dozing off when a
+hand plucked at his shoulder, and he started up to find his sister in
+some white drapery, with a shawl thrown over her shoulders, standing
+beside him in the moonlight.
+
+"Robert, dear," she whispered, stooping over him, "there was something I
+wanted to ask you, but papa was always in the way.  You will do
+something to please me, won't you, Robert?"
+
+"Of course, Laura. What is it?"
+
+"I do so hate having my affairs talked over, dear.  If Mr. Raffles Haw
+says anything to you about me, or asks any questions, please don't say
+anything about Hector.  You won't, will you, Robert, for the sake of
+your little sister?"
+
+"No; not unless you wish it."
+
+"There is a dear good brother."  She stooped over him and kissed him
+tenderly.
+
+It was a rare thing for Laura to show any emotion, and her brother
+marvelled sleepily over it until he relapsed into his interrupted doze.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A STRANGE VISITOR.
+
+
+The McIntyre family was seated at breakfast on the morning which
+followed the first visit of Raffles Haw, when they were surprised to
+hear the buzz and hum of a multitude of voices in the village street.
+Nearer and nearer came the tumult, and then, of a sudden, two
+maddened horses reared themselves up on the other side of the garden
+hedge, prancing and pawing, with ears laid back and eyes ever glancing
+at some horror behind them.  Two men hung shouting to their bridles,
+while a third came rushing up the curved gravel path.  Before the
+McIntyres could realise the situation, their maid, Mary, darted into the
+sitting-room with terror in her round freckled face:
+
+"If you please, miss," she screamed, "your tiger has arrove."
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled
+teacup in his hand.  "This is too much.  Here is an iron cage on a
+trolly with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their
+mouths open."
+
+"Mad as a hatter!" shrieked old Mr. McIntyre.  "I could see it in his
+eye.  He spent enough on this beast to start me in business.  Whoever
+heard of such a thing?  Tell the driver to take it to the
+police-station."
+
+"Nothing of the sort, papa," said Laura, rising with dignity and
+wrapping a shawl about her shoulders.  Her eyes were shining, her cheeks
+flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
+
+Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be
+diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful
+sister.
+
+"Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me," she said,
+sweeping towards the door.  "I look upon it as a great attention on his
+part.  I shall certainly go out and look at it."
+
+"If you please, sir," said the carman, reappearing at the door, "it's
+all as we can do to 'old in the 'osses."
+
+"Let us all go out together then," suggested Robert.
+
+They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole
+village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the
+almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment.  The tiger, a long,
+lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced
+stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and
+rubbing its muzzle against the bars.
+
+"What were your orders?" asked Robert of the carman.
+
+"It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train
+is drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back.  If it 'ad
+been royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are
+to take it back when you're done with it.  It's been a cruel job, sir,
+for our arms is pulled clean out of the sockets a-'olding in of the
+'osses."
+
+"What a dear, sweet creature it is," cried Laura. "How sleek and how
+graceful!  I cannot understand how people could be afraid of anything so
+beautiful."
+
+"If you please, marm," said the carman, touching his skin cap, "he out
+with his paw between the bars as we stood in the station yard, and if I
+'adn't pulled my mate Bill back it would ha' been a case of kingdom
+come.  It was a proper near squeak, I can tell ye."
+
+"I never saw anything more lovely," continued Laura, loftily overlooking
+the remarks of the driver.  "It has been a very great pleasure to me to
+see it, and I hope that you will tell Mr. Haw so if you see him,
+Robert."
+
+"The horses are very restive," said her brother. "Perhaps, Laura, if you
+have seen enough, it would be as well to let them go."
+
+She bowed in the regal fashion which she had so suddenly adopted.
+Robert shouted the order, the driver sprang up, his comrades let the
+horses go, and away rattled the waggon and the trolly with half the
+Tamfielders streaming vainly behind it.
+
+"Is it not wonderful what money can do?" Laura remarked, as they knocked
+the snow from their shoes within the porch. "There seems to be no wish
+which Mr. Haw could not at once gratify."
+
+"No wish of yours, you mean," broke in her father.  "It's different when
+he is dealing with a wrinkled old man who has spent himself in working
+for his children.  A plainer case of love at first sight I never saw."
+
+"How can you be so coarse, papa?" cried Laura, but her eyes flashed, and
+her teeth gleamed, as though the remark had not altogether displeased
+her.
+
+"For heaven's sake, be careful, Laura!" cried Robert.  "It had not
+struck me before, but really it does look rather like it.  You know how
+you stand.  Raffles Haw is not a man to play with."
+
+"You dear old boy!" said Laura, laying her hand upon his shoulder,
+"what do you know of such things?  All you have to do is to go on with
+your painting, and to remember the promise you made the other night."
+
+"What promise was that, then?" cried old McIntyre suspiciously.
+
+"Never you mind, papa.  But if you forget it, Robert, I shall never
+forgive you as long as I live."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
+
+
+It can easily be believed that as the weeks passed the name and fame of
+the mysterious owner of the New Hall resounded over the quiet
+countryside until the rumour of him had spread to the remotest corners
+of Warwickshire and Staffordshire.  In Birmingham on the one side, and
+in Coventry and Leamington on the other, there was gossip as to his
+untold riches, his extraordinary whims, and the remarkable life which he
+led.  His name was bandied from mouth to mouth, and a thousand efforts
+were made to find out who and what he was.  In spite of all their pains,
+however, the newsmongers were unable to discover the slightest trace of
+his antecedents, or to form even a guess as to the secret of his riches.
+
+It was no wonder that conjecture was rife upon the subject, for hardly a
+day passed without furnishing some new instance of the boundlessness of
+his power and of the goodness of his heart.  Through the vicar, Robert,
+and others, he had learned much of the inner life of the parish, and
+many were the times when the struggling man, harassed and driven to the
+wall, found thrust into his hand some morning a brief note with an
+enclosure which rolled all the sorrow back from his life.  One day a
+thick double-breasted pea-jacket and a pair of good sturdy boots were
+served out to every old man in the almshouse.  On another, Miss Swire,
+the decayed gentlewoman who eked out her small annuity by needlework,
+had a brand new first-class sewing-machine handed in to her to take the
+place of the old worn-out treadle which tried her rheumatic joints.
+The pale-faced schoolmaster, who had spent years with hardly a break in
+struggling with the juvenile obtuseness of Tamfield, received through
+the post a circular ticket for a two months' tour through Southern
+Europe, with hotel coupons and all complete.  John Hackett, the farmer,
+after five long years of bad seasons, borne with a brave heart, had at
+last been overthrown by the sixth, and had the bailiffs actually in the
+house when the good vicar had rushed in, waving a note above his head,
+to tell him not only that his deficit had been made up, but that enough
+remained over to provide the improved machinery which would enable him
+to hold his own for the future.  An almost superstitious feeling came
+upon the rustic folk as they looked at the great palace when the sun
+gleamed upon the huge hot-houses, or even more so, perhaps, when at
+night the brilliant electric lights shot their white radiance through
+the countless rows of windows.  To them it was as if some minor
+Providence presided in that great place, unseen but seeing all,
+boundless in its power and its graciousness, ever ready to assist and to
+befriend.  In every good deed, however, Raffles Haw still remained
+in the background, while the vicar and Robert had the pleasant task of
+conveying his benefits to the lowly and the suffering.
+
+Once only did he appear in his own person, and that was upon the famous
+occasion when he saved the well-known bank of Garraweg Brothers in
+Birmingham.  The most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers,
+Louis and Rupert, had built up a business which extended its
+ramifications into every townlet of four counties.  The failure of their
+London agents had suddenly brought a heavy loss upon them, and the
+circumstance leaking out had caused a sudden and most dangerous run upon
+their establishment.  Urgent telegrams for bullion from all their forty
+branches poured in at the very instant when the head office was crowded
+with anxious clients all waving their deposit-books, and clamouring for
+their money.  Bravely did the two brothers with their staff stand with
+smiling faces behind the shining counter, while swift messengers sped
+and telegrams flashed to draw in all the available resources of the
+bank.  All day the stream poured through the office, and when four
+o'clock came, and the doors were closed for the day, the street without
+was still blocked by the expectant crowd, while there remained scarce a
+thousand pounds of bullion in the cellars.
+
+"It is only postponed. Louis," said brother Rupert despairingly, when
+the last clerk had left the office, and when at last they could relax
+the fixed smile upon their haggard faces.
+
+"Those shutters will never come down again," cried brother Louis, and
+the two suddenly burst out sobbing in each other's arms, not for their
+own griefs, but for the miseries which they might bring upon those who
+had trusted them.
+
+But who shall ever dare to say that there is no hope, if he will but
+give his griefs to the world?  That very night Mrs. Spurling had
+received a letter from her old school friend, Mrs. Louis Garraweg, with
+all her fears and her hopes poured out in it, and the whole sad story
+of their troubles.  Swift from the Vicarage went the message to the
+Hall, and early next morning Mr. Raffles Haw, with a great black
+carpet-bag in his hand, found means to draw the cashier of the local
+branch of the Bank of England from his breakfast, and to persuade him to
+open his doors at unofficial hours.  By half-past nine the crowd had
+already begun to collect around Garraweg's, when a stranger, pale and
+thin, with a bloated carpet-bag, was shown at his own very pressing
+request into the bank parlour.
+
+"It is no use, sir," said the elder brother humbly, as they stood
+together encouraging each other to turn a brave face to misfortune,
+"we can do no more.  We have little left, and it would be unfair to the
+others to pay you now.  We can but hope that when our assets are
+realised no one will be the loser save ourselves."
+
+"I did not come to draw out, but to put in," said Raffles Haw in his
+demure apologetic fashion.  "I have in my bag five thousand
+hundred-pound Bank of England notes.  If you will have the goodness to
+place them to my credit account I should be extremely obliged."
+
+"But, good heavens, sir!" stammered Rupert Garraweg, "have you not
+heard?  Have you not seen?  We cannot allow you to do this thing
+blindfold; can we Louis?"
+
+"Most certainly not.  We cannot recommend our bank, sir, at the present
+moment, for there is a run upon us, and we do not know to what lengths
+it may go."
+
+"Tut! tut!" said Raffles Haw.  "If the run continues you must send me a
+wire, and I shall make a small addition to my account.  You will send me
+a receipt by post.  Good-morning, gentlemen!"  He bowed himself out ere
+the astounded partners could realise what had befallen them, or raise
+their eyes from the huge black bag and the visiting card which lay upon
+their table.  There was no great failure in Birmingham that day, and the
+house of Garraweg still survives to enjoy the success which it deserves.
+
+Such were the deeds by which Raffles Haw made himself known throughout
+the Midlands, and yet, in spite of all his open-handedness, he was not a
+man to be imposed upon.  In vain the sturdy beggar cringed at his gate,
+and in vain the crafty letter-writer poured out a thousand fabulous woes
+upon paper.  Robert was astonished when he brought some tale of trouble
+to the Hall to observe how swift was the perception of the recluse, and
+how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger
+upon the one point which rang false.  Were a man strong enough to help
+himself, or of such a nature as to profit nothing by help, none would he
+get from the master of the New Hall.  In vain, for example, did old
+McIntyre throw himself continually across the path of the millionaire,
+and impress upon him, by a thousand hints and innuendoes, the hard
+fortune which had been dealt him, and the ease with which his fallen
+greatness might be restored.  Raffles Haw listened politely, bowed,
+smiled, but never showed the slightest inclination to restore the
+querulous old gunmaker to his pedestal.
+
+But if the recluse's wealth was a lure which drew the beggars from far
+and near, as the lamp draws the moths, it had the same power of
+attraction upon another and much more dangerous class.  Strange
+hard faces were seen in the village street, prowling figures were marked
+at night stealing about among the fir plantations, and warning messages
+arrived from city police and county constabulary to say that evil
+visitors were known to have taken train to Tamfield.  But if, as Raffles
+Haw held, there were few limits to the power of immense wealth, it
+possessed, among other things, the power of self-preservation, as one or
+two people were to learn to their cost.
+
+"Would you mind stepping up to the Hall?" he said one morning, putting
+his head in at the door of the Elmdene sitting-room. "I have something
+there that might amuse you."  He was on intimate terms with the
+McIntyres now, and there were few days on which they did not see
+something of each other.
+
+They gladly accompanied him, all three, for such invitations were
+usually the prelude of some agreeable surprise which he had in store for
+them.
+
+"I have shown you a tiger," he remarked to Laura, as he led them into
+the dining-room.  "I will now show you something quite as dangerous,
+though not nearly so pretty."  There was an arrangement of mirrors at
+one end of the room, with a large circular glass set at a sharp angle at
+the top.
+
+"Look in there--in the upper glass," said Raffles Haw.
+
+"Good gracious! what dreadful-looking men!" cried Laura.  "There are two
+of them, and I don't know which is the worse."
+
+"What on earth are they doing?" asked Robert. "They appear to be
+sitting on the ground in some sort of a cellar."
+
+"Most dangerous-looking characters," said the old man.  "I should
+strongly recommend you to send for a policeman."
+
+"I have done so.  But it seems a work of supererogation to take them to
+prison, for they are very snugly in prison already.  However, I suppose
+that the law must have its own."
+
+"And who are they, and how did they come there?  Do tell us, Mr. Haw."
+
+Laura McIntyre had a pretty beseeching way with her, which went rather
+piquantly with her queenly style of beauty.
+
+"I know no more than you do.  They were not there last night, and they
+are here this morning, so I suppose it is a safe inference that they
+came in during the night, especially as my servants found the window
+open when they came down.  As to their character and intentions, I
+should think that is pretty legible upon their faces.  They look a pair
+of beauties, don't they?"
+
+"But I cannot understand in the least where they are," said Robert,
+staring into the mirror.  "One of them has taken to butting his head
+against the wall.  No, he is bending so that the other may stand
+upon his back.  He is up there now, and the light is shining upon his
+face.  What a bewildered ruffianly face it is too.  I should so like to
+sketch it.  It would be a study for the picture I am thinking of
+of the Reign of Terror."
+
+"I have caught them in my patent burglar trap," said Haw.  "They are my
+first birds, but I have no doubt that they will not be the last.  I will
+show you how it works.  It is quite a new thing.  This flooring is now
+as strong as possible, but every night I disconnect it.  It is
+done simultaneously by a central machine for every room on the
+ground-floor.  When the floor is disconnected one may advance three or
+four steps, either from the window or door, and then that whole part
+turns on a hinge and slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where
+you may kick your heels until you are released.  There is a central
+oasis between the hinges, where the furniture is grouped for the night.
+The flooring flies into position again when the weight of the
+intruder is removed, and there he must bide, while I can always take a
+peep at him by this simple little optical arrangement.  I thought it
+might amuse you to have a look at my prisoners before I handed them over
+to the head-constable, who I see is now coming up the avenue."
+
+"The poor burglars!" cried Laura.  "It is no wonder that they look
+bewildered, for I suppose, Mr. Haw, that they neither know where they
+are, nor how they came there.  I am so glad to know that you guard
+yourself in this way, for I have often thought that you ran a danger."
+
+"Have you so?" said he, smiling round at her.  "I think that my house
+is fairly burglar-proof.  I have one window which may be used as an
+entrance, the centre one of the three of my laboratory.  I keep it so
+because, to tell the truth, I am somewhat of a night prowler myself,
+and when I treat myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in
+and out without ceremony.  It would, however, be a fortunate rogue who
+picked the only safe entrance out of a hundred, and even then he might
+find pitfalls.  Here is the constable, but you must not go, for Miss
+McIntyre has still something to see in my little place.  If you will
+step into the billiard-room I shall be with you in a very few moments."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
+
+
+That morning, and many mornings both before and afterwards, were spent
+by Laura at the New Hall examining the treasures of the museum, playing
+with the thousand costly toys which Raffles Haw had collected, or
+sallying out from the smoking-room in the crystal chamber into the long
+line of luxurious hot-houses.  Haw would walk demurely beside her as
+she flitted from one thing to another like a butterfly among flowers,
+watching her out of the corner of his eyes, and taking a quiet pleasure
+in her delight.  The only joy which his costly possessions had ever
+brought him was that which came from the entertainment of others.
+
+By this time his attentions towards Laura McIntyre had become so marked
+that they could hardly be mistaken.  He visibly brightened in her
+presence, and was never weary of devising  a thousand methods of
+surprising and pleasing her.  Every morning ere the McIntyre family
+were afoot a great bouquet of strange and beautiful flowers was brought
+down by a footman from the Hall to brighten their breakfast-table.
+Her slightest wish, however fantastic, was instantly satisfied, if human
+money or ingenuity could do it.  When the frost lasted a stream was
+dammed and turned from its course that it might flood two meadows,
+solely in order that she might have a place upon which to skate.
+With the thaw there came a groom every afternoon with a sleek and
+beautiful mare in case Miss McIntyre should care to ride.  Everything
+went to show that she had made a conquest of the recluse of the New
+Hall.
+
+And she on her side played her part admirably.  With female adaptiveness
+she fell in with his humour, and looked at the world through his eyes.
+Her talk was of almshouses and free libraries, of charities and of
+improvements.  He had never a scheme to which she could not add some
+detail making it more complete and more effective.  To Haw it seemed
+that at last he had met a mind which was in absolute affinity with his
+own.  Here was a help-mate, who could not only follow, but even lead him
+in the path which he had chosen.
+
+Neither Robert nor his father could fail to see what was going forward,
+but to the latter nothing could possibly be more acceptable than a
+family tie which should connect him, however indirectly, with a man of
+vast fortune.  The glamour of the gold bags had crept over Robert
+also, and froze the remonstrance upon his lips.  It was very pleasant to
+have the handling of all this wealth, even as a mere agent.  Why should
+he do or say what might disturb their present happy relations?  It was
+his sister's business, not his; and as to Hector Spurling, he must take
+his chance as other men did.  It was obviously best not to move one way
+or the other in the matter.
+
+But to Robert himself, his work and his surroundings were becoming more
+and more irksome.  His joy in his art had become less keen since he had
+known Raffles Haw.  It seemed so hard to toll and slave to earn such a
+trifling sum, when money could really be had for the asking.  It was
+true that he had asked for none, but large sums were for ever passing
+through his hands for those who were needy, and if he were needy himself
+his friend would surely not grudge it to him.  So the Roman galleys
+still remained faintly outlined upon the great canvas, while Robert's
+days were spent either in the luxurious library at the Hall, or in
+strolling about the country listening to tales of trouble, and returning
+like a tweed-suited ministering angel to carry Raffles Haw's help to the
+unfortunate.  It was not an ambitious life, but it was one which was
+very congenial to his weak and easy-going nature.
+
+Robert had observed that fits of depression had frequently come upon the
+millionaire, and it had sometimes struck him that the enormous sums
+which he spent had possibly made a serious inroad into his capital, and
+that his mind was troubled as to the future.  His abstracted manner, his
+clouded brow, and his bent head all spoke of a soul which was weighed
+down with care, and it was only in Laura's presence that he could throw
+off the load of his secret trouble.  For five hours a day he buried
+himself in the laboratory and amused himself with his hobby, but it was
+one of his whims that no one, neither any of his servants, nor even
+Laura or Robert, should ever cross the threshold of that outlying
+building.  Day after day he vanished into it, to reappear hours
+afterwards pale and exhausted, while the whirr of machinery and the
+smoke which streamed from his high chimney showed how considerable were
+the operations which he undertook single-handed.
+
+"Could I not assist you in any way?" suggested Robert, as they sat
+together after luncheon in the smoking-room.  "I am convinced that you
+over-try your strength.  I should be so glad to help you, and I know a
+little of chemistry."
+
+"Do you, indeed?" said Raffles Haw, raising his eyebrows.  "I had no
+idea of that; it is very seldom that the artistic and the scientific
+faculties go together."
+
+"I don't know that I have either particularly developed.  But I have
+taken classes, and I worked for two years in the laboratory at Sir
+Josiah Mason's Institute."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," Haw replied with emphasis.  "That may be of
+great importance to us. It is very possible--indeed, almost certain--
+that I shall avail myself of your offer of assistance, and teach you
+something of my chemical methods, which I may say differ considerably
+from those of the orthodox school.  The time, however, is hardly ripe
+for that.  What is it, Jones?"
+
+"A note, sir."
+
+The butler handed it in upon a silver salver.  Haw broke the seal and
+ran his eye over it.
+
+"Tut! tut!  It is from Lady Morsley, asking me to the Lord-Lieutenant's
+ball.  I cannot possibly accept.  It is very kind of them, but I do wish
+they would leave me alone.  Very well, Jones.  I shall write.  Do you
+know, Robert, I am often very unhappy."
+
+He frequently called the young artist by his Christian name, especially
+in his more confidential moments.
+
+"I have sometimes feared that you were," said the other sympathetically.
+"But how strange it seems, you who are yet young, healthy, with every
+faculty for enjoyment, and a millionaire."
+
+"Ah, Robert," cried Haw, leaning back in his chair, and sending up thick
+blue wreaths from his pipe.  "You have put your finger upon my trouble.
+If I were a millionaire I might be happy, but, alas, I am no
+millionaire!"
+
+"Good heavens!" gasped Robert.
+
+Cold seemed to shoot to his inmost soul as it flashed upon him that this
+was a prelude to a confession of impending bankruptcy, and that all this
+glorious life, all the excitement and the colour and change, were about
+to vanish into thin air.
+
+"No millionaire!" he stammered.
+
+"No, Robert; I am a billionaire--perhaps the only one in the world.
+That is what is on my mind, and why I am unhappy sometimes.  I feel that
+I should spend this money--that I should put it in circulation--and yet
+it is so hard to do it without failing to do good--without doing
+positive harm.  I feel my responsibility deeply.  It weighs me down.
+Am I justified in continuing to live this quiet life when there are so
+many millions whom I might save and comfort if I could but reach them?"
+
+Robert heaved a long sigh of relief. "Perhaps you take too grave a view
+of your responsibilities," he said.  "Everybody knows that the good
+which you have done is immense.  What more could you desire?  If you
+really wished to extend your benevolence further, there are organised
+charities everywhere which would be very glad of your help."
+
+"I have the names of two hundred and seventy of them,"  Haw answered.
+"You must run your eye over them some time, and see if you can suggest
+any others.  I send my annual mite to each of them.  I don't think there
+is much room for expansion in that direction."
+
+"Well, really you have done your share, and more than your share.
+I would settle down to lead a happy life, and think no more of the
+matter."
+
+"I could not do that," Haw answered earnestly.  "I have not been singled
+out to wield this immense power simply in order that I might lead a
+happy life.  I can never believe that.  Now, can you not use your
+imagination, Robert, and devise methods by which a man who has command
+of--well, let us say, for argument's sake, boundless wealth, could
+benefit mankind by it, without taking away any one's independence or in
+any way doing harm?"
+
+"Well, really, now that I come to think of it, it is a very difficult
+problem," said Robert.
+
+"Now I will submit a few schemes to you, and you may give me your
+opinion on them.  Supposing that such a man were to buy ten square miles
+of ground here in Staffordshire, and were to build upon it a neat city,
+consisting entirely of clean, comfortable little four-roomed houses,
+furnished in a simple style, with shops and so forth, but no
+public-houses.  Supposing, too, that he were to offer a house free to
+all the homeless folk, all the tramps, and broken men, and
+out-of-workers in Great Britain.  Then, having collected them together,
+let him employ them, under fitting superintendence, upon some colossal
+piece of work which would last for many years, and perhaps be of
+permanent value to humanity.  Give them a good rate of pay, and let
+their hours of labour be reasonable, and those of recreation be
+pleasant.  Might you not benefit them and benefit humanity at one
+stroke?"
+
+"But what form of work could you devise which would employ so vast a
+number for so long a time, and yet not compete with any existing
+industry?  To do the latter would simply mean to shift the misery from
+one class to another."
+
+"Precisely so.  I should compete with no one.  What I thought of doing
+was of sinking a shaft through the earth's crust, and of establishing
+rapid communication with the Antipodes.  When you had got a certain
+distance down--how far is an interesting mathematical problem--the
+centre of gravity would be beneath you, presuming that your boring was
+not quite directed towards the centre, and you could then lay down rails
+and tunnel as if you were on the level."
+
+Then for the first time it flashed into Robert McIntyre's head that his
+father's chance words were correct, and that he was in the presence of a
+madman.  His great wealth had clearly turned his brain, and made him a
+monomaniac.  He nodded indulgently, as when one humours a child.
+
+"It would be very nice," he said.  "I have heard, however, that the
+interior of the earth is molten, and your workmen would need to be
+Salamanders."
+
+"The latest scientific data do not bear out the idea that the earth is
+so hot," answered Raffles Haw.  "It is certain that the increased
+temperature in coal mines depends upon the barometric pressure.
+There are gases in the earth which may be ignited, and there are
+combustible materials as we see in the volcanoes; but if we came across
+anything of the sort in our borings, we could turn a river or
+two down the shaft, and get the better of it in that fashion."
+
+"It would be rather awkward if the other end of your shaft came out
+under the Pacific Ocean," said Robert, choking down his inclination to
+laugh.
+
+"I have had estimates and calculations from the first living engineers--
+French, English, and American.  The point of exit of the tunnel could be
+calculated to the yard.  That portfolio in the corner is full of
+sections, plans, and diagrams.  I have agents employed in buying up
+land, and if all goes well, we may get to work in the autumn.  That is
+one device which may produce results.  Another is canal-cutting."
+
+"Ah, there you would compete with the railways."
+
+"You don't quite understand.  I intend to cut canals through every neck
+of land where such a convenience would facilitate commerce.  Such a
+scheme, when unaccompanied by any toll upon vessels, would, I think, be
+a very judicious way of helping the human race."
+
+"And where, pray, would you cut the canals?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have a map of the world here," Haw answered, rising, and taking one
+down from the paper-rack.  "You see the blue pencil marks.  Those are
+the points where I propose to establish communication.  Of course, I
+should begin by the obvious duty of finishing the Panama business."
+
+"Naturally."  The man's lunacy was becoming more and more obvious, and
+yet there was such precision and coolness in his manner, that Robert
+found himself against his own reason endorsing and speculating over his
+plans.
+
+"The Isthmus of Corinth also occurs to one.  That, however, is a small
+matter, from either a financial or an engineering point of view.
+I propose, however, to make a junction  here, through Kiel between the
+German Ocean and the Baltic.  It saves, you will observe, the
+whole journey round the coast of Denmark, and would facilitate our trade
+with Germany and Russia.  Another very obvious improvement is to join
+the Forth and the Clyde, so as to connect Leith with the Irish and
+American routes.  You see the blue line?"
+
+"Quite so."
+
+"And we will have a little cutting here. It will run from Uleaborg to
+Kem, and will connect the White Sea with the Gulf of Bothnia.  We must
+not allow our sympathies to be insular, must we?  Our little charities
+should be cosmopolitan.  We will try and give the good people of
+Archangel a better outlet for their furs and their tallow."
+
+"But it will freeze."
+
+"For six months in the year.  Still, it will be something.  Then we must
+do something for the East.  It would never do to overlook the East."
+
+"It would certainly be an oversight," said Robert, who was keenly alive
+to the comical side of the question.  Raffles Haw, however, in deadly
+earnest, sat scratching away at his map with his blue pencil.
+
+"Here is a point where we might be of some little use.  If we cut
+through from Batoum to the Kura River we might tap the trade of the
+Caspian, and open up communication with all the rivers which run into
+it.  You notice that they include a considerable tract of country.
+Then, again, I think that we might venture upon a little cutting between
+Beirut, on the Mediterranean, and the upper waters of the Euphrates,
+which would lead us into the Persian Gulf.  Those are one or two of the
+more obvious canals which might knit the human race into a closer
+whole."
+
+"Your plans are certainly stupendous," said Robert, uncertain whether to
+laugh or to be awe-struck. "You will cease to be a man, and become one
+of the great forces of Nature, altering, moulding, and improving."
+
+"That is precisely the view which I take of myself.  That is why I feel
+my responsibility so acutely."
+
+"But surely if you will do all this you may rest.  It is a considerable
+programme."
+
+"Not at all. I am a patriotic Briton, and I should like to do something
+to leave my name in the annals of my country.  I should prefer, however,
+to do it after my own death, as anything in the shape of publicity and
+honour is very offensive to me.  I have, therefore, put by eight hundred
+million in a place which shall be duly mentioned in my will, which
+I propose to devote to paying off the National Debt.  I cannot see that
+any harm could arise from its extinction."
+
+Robert sat staring, struck dumb by the audacity of the strange man's
+words.
+
+"Then there is the heating of the soil.  There is room for improvement
+there.  You have no doubt read of the immense yields which have resulted
+in Jersey and elsewhere, from the running of hot-water pipes through the
+soil.  The crops are trebled and quadrupled.  I would propose to try the
+experiment upon a larger scale.  We might possibly reserve the Isle of
+Man to serve as a pumping and heating station.  The main pipes would run
+to England, Ireland, and Scotland, where they would subdivide rapidly
+until they formed a network two feet deep under the whole country.
+A pipe at distances of a yard would suffice for every purpose."
+
+"I am afraid," suggested Robert, "that the water which left the Isle of
+Man warm might lose a little of its virtue before it reached Caithness,
+for example."
+
+"There need not be any difficulty there.  Every few miles a furnace
+might be arranged to keep up the temperature.  These are a few of my
+plans for the future, Robert, and I shall want the co-operation
+of disinterested men like yourself in all of them.  But how brightly the
+sun shines, and how sweet the countryside looks!  The world is very
+beautiful, and I should like to leave it happier than I found it.
+Let us walk out together, Robert, and you will tell me of any fresh
+cases where I may be of assistance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A NEW DEPARTURE.
+
+
+Whatever good Mr. Raffles Haw's wealth did to the world, there could be
+no doubt that there were cases where it did harm.  The very
+contemplation and thought of it had upon many a disturbing and
+mischievous effect.  Especially was this the case with the old gunmaker.
+From being merely a querulous and grasping man, he had now become
+bitter, brooding, and dangerous.  Week by week, as he saw the tide of
+wealth flow as it were through his very house without being able to
+divert the smallest rill to nourish his own fortunes, he became more
+wolfish and more hungry-eyed.  He spoke less of his own wrongs, but he
+brooded more, and would stand for hours on Tamfield Hill looking down at
+the great palace beneath, as a thirst-stricken man might gaze at the
+desert mirage.
+
+He had worked, and peeped, and pried, too, until there were points upon
+which he knew more than either his son or his daughter.
+
+"I suppose that you still don't know where your friend gets his money?"
+he remarked to Robert one morning, as they walked together through the
+village.
+
+"No, father, I do not.  I only know that he spends it very well."
+
+"Well!" snarled the old man.  "Yes, very well!  He has helped every
+tramp and slut and worthless vagabond over the countryside, but he will
+not advance a pound, even on the best security, to help a respectable
+business man to fight against misfortune."
+
+"My dear father, I really cannot argue with you about it," said Robert.
+"I have already told you more than once what I think.  Mr. Haw's object
+is to help those who are destitute.  He looks upon us as his equals, and
+would not presume to patronise us, or to act as if we could not help
+ourselves.  It would be a humiliation to us to take his money."
+
+"Pshaw!  Besides, it is only a question of an advance, and advances are
+made every day among business men.  How can you talk such nonsense,
+Robert?"
+
+Early as it was, his son could see from his excited, quarrelsome manner
+that the old man had been drinking.  The habit had grown upon him of
+late, and it was seldom now that he was entirely sober.
+
+"Mr. Raffles Haw is the best judge," said Robert coldly.  "If he earns
+the money, he has a right to spend it as he likes."
+
+"And how does he earn it?  You don't know, Robert.  You don't know that
+you aren't aiding and abetting a felony when you help him to fritter it
+away.  Was ever so much money earned in an honest fashion?  I tell you
+there never was.  I tell you, also, that lumps of gold are no more to
+that man than chunks of coal to the miners over yonder.  He could
+build his house of them and think nothing of it."
+
+"I know that he is very rich, father.  I think, however, that he has an
+extravagant way of talking sometimes, and that his imagination carries
+him away.  I have heard him talk of plans which the richest man upon
+earth could not possibly hope to carry through."
+
+"Don't you make any mistake, my son.  Your poor old father isn't quite a
+fool, though he is only an honest broken merchant."  He looked up
+sideways at his son with a wink and a most unpleasant leer. "Where
+there's money I can smell it.  There's money there, and heaps of it.
+  It's my belief that he is the richest man in the world, though how he
+came to be so I should not like to guarantee.  I'm not quite blind yet,
+Robert.  Have you seen the weekly waggon?"
+
+"The weekly waggon!"
+
+"Yes, Robert.  You see I can find some news for you yet.  It is due this
+morning.  Every Saturday morning you will see the waggon come in.  Why,
+here it is now, as I am a living man, coming round the curve."
+
+Robert glanced back and saw a great heavy waggon drawn by two strong
+horses lumbering slowly along the road which led to the New Hall.  From
+the efforts of the animals and its slow pace the contents seemed to be
+of great weight.
+
+"Just you wait here," old McIntyre cried, plucking at his son's sleeve
+with his thin bony hand.  "Wait here and see it pass.  Then we will
+watch what becomes of it."
+
+They stood by the side of the road until it came abreast of them.  The
+waggon was covered with tarpaulin sheetings in front and at the sides,
+but behind some glimpse could be caught of the contents.  They
+consisted, as far as Robert could see, of a number of packets of the
+same shape, each about two feet long and six inches high, arranged
+symmetrically upon the top of each other.  Each packet was surrounded by
+a covering of coarse sacking.
+
+"What do you think of that?" asked old McIntyre triumphantly as the load
+creaked past.
+
+"Why, father?  What do you make of it?"
+
+"I have watched it, Robert--I have watched it every Saturday, and I had
+my chance of looking a little deeper into it.  You remember the day when
+the elm blew down, and the road was blocked until they could saw it in
+two.  That was on a Saturday, and the waggon came to a stand until they
+could clear a way for it.  I was there, Robert, and I saw my chance.
+I strolled behind the waggon, and I placed my hands upon one of those
+packets.  They look small, do they not?  It would take a strong man to
+lift one.  They are heavy, Robert, heavy, and hard with the hardness of
+metal.  I tell you, boy, that that waggon is loaded with gold."
+
+"Gold!"
+
+"With solid bars of gold, Robert.  But come into the plantation and we
+shall see what becomes of it."
+
+They passed through the lodge gates, behind the waggon, and then
+wandered off among the fir-trees until they gained a spot where they
+could command a view.  The load had halted, not in front of the house,
+but at the door of the out-building with the chimney.  A staff of
+stablemen and footmen were in readiness, who proceeded to swiftly unload
+and to carry the packages through the door.  It was the first time that
+Robert had ever seen any one save the master of the house enter the
+laboratory.  No sign was seen of him now, however, and in half an hour
+the contents had all been safely stored and the waggon had driven
+briskly away.
+
+"I cannot understand it, father," said Robert thoughtfully, as they
+resumed their walk.  "Supposing that your supposition is correct, who
+would send him such quantities of gold, and where could it come from?"
+
+"Ha, you have to come to the old man after all!" chuckled his companion.
+"I can see the little game.  It is clear enough to me.  There are two of
+them in it, you understand.  The other one gets the gold.  Never mind
+how, but we will hope that there is no harm.  Let us suppose, for
+example, that they have found a marvellous mine, where you can just
+shovel it out like clay from a pit.  Well, then, he sends it on to this
+one, and he has his furnaces and his chemicals, and he refines and
+purifies it and makes it fit to sell.  That's my explanation of it,
+Robert.  Eh, has the old man put his finger on it?"
+
+"But if that were true, father, the gold must go back again."
+
+"So it does, Robert, but a little at a time.  Ha, ha! I've had my eyes
+open, you see.  Every night it goes down in a small cart, and is sent on
+to London by the 7.40.  Not in bars this time, but done up in iron-bound
+chests.  I've seen them, boy, and I've had this hand upon them."
+
+"Well," said the young man thoughtfully, "maybe you are right.  It is
+possible that you are right."
+
+While father and son were prying into his secrets, Raffles Haw had found
+his way to Elmdene, where Laura sat reading the _Queen_ by the fire.
+
+"I am so sorry," she said, throwing down her paper and springing to her
+feet.  "They are all out except me.  But I am sure that they won't be
+long.  I expect Robert every moment."
+
+"I would rather speak with you alone," answered Raffles Haw quietly."
+Pray sit down, for I wanted to have a little chat with you."
+
+Laura resumed her seat with a flush upon her cheeks and a quickening of
+the breath.  She turned her face away and gazed into the fire; but there
+was a sparkle in her eyes which was not caught from the leaping flames.
+
+"Do you remember the first time that we met, Miss McIntyre?" he asked,
+standing on the rug and looking down at her dark hair, and the
+beautifully feminine curve of her ivory neck.
+
+"As if it were yesterday," she answered in her sweet mellow tones.
+
+"Then you must also remember the wild words that I said when we parted.
+It was very foolish of me.  I am sure that I am most sorry if I
+frightened or disturbed you, but I have been a very solitary man for a
+long time, and I have dropped into a bad habit of thinking aloud.  Your
+voice, your face, your manner, were all so like my ideal of a true
+woman, loving, faithful, and sympathetic, that I could not help
+wondering whether, if I were a poor man, I might ever hope to win the
+affection of such a one."
+
+"Your good opinion, Mr. Raffles Haw, is very dear to me," said Laura.
+"I assure you that I was not frightened, and that there is no need to
+apologise for what was really a compliment."
+
+"Since then I have found," he continued, "that all that I had read upon
+your face was true.  That your mind is indeed that of the true woman,
+full of the noblest and sweetest qualities which human nature can aspire
+to.  You know that I am a man of fortune, but I wish you to dismiss that
+consideration from your mind.  Do you think from what you know of my
+character that you could be happy as my wife, Laura?"
+
+She made no answer, but still sat with her head turned away and her
+sparkling eyes fixed upon the fire.  One little foot from under her
+skirt tapped nervously upon the rug.
+
+"It is only right that you should know a little more about me before you
+decide.  There is, however, little to know.  I am an orphan, and, as far
+as I know, without a relation upon earth.  My father was a respectable
+man, a country surgeon in Wales, and he brought me up to his own
+profession.  Before I had passed my examinations, however, he died and
+left me a small annuity.  I had conceived a great liking for the
+subjects of chemistry and electricity, and instead of going on with my
+medical work I devoted myself entirely to these studies, and eventually
+built myself a laboratory where I could follow out my own researches.
+At about this time I came into a very large sum of money, so large as to
+make me feel that a vast responsibility rested upon me in the use which
+I made of it.  After some thought I determined to build a large house in
+a quiet part of the country, not too far from a great centre.  There I
+could be in touch with the world, and yet would have quiet and leisure
+to mature the schemes which were in my head.  As it chanced, I chose
+Tamfield as my site.  All that remains now is to carry out the plans
+which I have made, and to endeavour to lighten the earth of some of the
+misery and injustice which weigh it down.  I again ask you, Laura,
+will you throw in your lot with mine, and help me in the life's work
+which lies before me?"
+
+Laura looked up at him, at his stringy figure, his pale face, his keen,
+yet gentle eyes.  Somehow as she looked there seemed to form itself
+beside him some shadow of Hector Spurling, the manly features, the
+clear, firm mouth, the frank manner.  Now, in the very moment of her
+triumph, it sprang clearly up in her mind how at the hour of their ruin
+he had stood firmly by them, and had loved the penniless girl as
+tenderly as the heiress to fortune.  That last embrace at the door,
+too, came back to her, and she felt his lips warm upon her own.
+
+"I am very much honoured, Mr. Haw," she stammered, "but this is so
+sudden.  I have not had time to think. I do not know what to say."
+
+"Do not let me hurry you," he cried earnestly.  "I beg that you will
+think well over it.  I shall come again for my answer.  When shall I
+come?  Tonight?"
+
+"Yes, come tonight."
+
+"Then, adieu.  Believe me that I think more highly of you for your
+hesitation.  I shall live in hope." He raised her hand to his lips, and
+left her to her own thoughts.
+
+But what those thoughts were did not long remain in doubt.  Dimmer and
+dimmer grew the vision of the distant sailor face, clearer and clearer
+the image of the vast palace, of the queenly power, of the diamonds, the
+gold, the ambitious future.  It all lay at her feet, waiting to be
+picked up.  How could she have hesitated, even for a moment?  She rose,
+and, walking over to her desk, she took out a sheet of paper and an
+envelope.  The latter she addressed to Lieutenant Spurling, H.M.S.
+_Active_, Gibraltar.  The note cost some little trouble, but at last
+she got it worded to her mind.
+
+   "Dear Hector," she said--"I am convinced that your father has
+   never         entirely approved of our engagement, otherwise he
+   would not have thrown obstacles in the way of our marriage.
+   I am sure, too, that since my poor father's misfortune it is
+   only your own sense of honour and feeling of duty which have
+   kept you true to me, and that you would have done infinitely
+   better had you never seen me.  I cannot bear, Hector, to allow
+   you to imperil your future for my sake, and I have determined,
+   after thinking well over the matter, to release you from our
+   boy and girl engagement, so that you may be entirely free in
+   every way.  It is possible that you may think it unkind of me
+   to do this now, but I am quite sure, dear Hector, that when you
+   are an admiral and a very distinguished man, you will look back
+   at this, and you will see that I have been a true friend to you,
+   and have prevented you from making a false step early in your
+   career.  For myself, whether I marry or not, I have determined
+   to devote the remainder of my life to trying to do good, and to
+   leaving the world happier than I found it.  Your father is very
+   well, and gave us a capital sermon last Sunday.  I enclose the
+   bank-note which you asked me to keep for you.  Good-bye, for ever,
+   dear Hector, and believe me when I say that, come what may, I am
+   ever your true friend,
+
+   "Laura S. McIntyre."
+
+She had hardly sealed her letter before her father and Robert returned.
+She closed the door behind them, and made them a little curtsey.
+
+"I await my family's congratulations," she said, with her head in the
+air.  "Mr. Raffles Haw has been here, and he has asked me to be his
+wife."
+
+"The deuce he did!" cried the old man.  "And you said--?"
+
+"I am to see him again."
+
+"And you will say--?"
+
+"I will accept him."
+
+"You were always a good girl, Laura," said old McIntyre, standing on his
+tiptoes to kiss her.
+
+"But Laura, Laura, how about Hector?" asked Robert in mild remonstrance.
+
+"Oh, I have written to him," his sister answered carelessly.  "I wish
+you would be good enough to post the letter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE GREAT SECRET.
+
+
+And so Laura McIntyre became duly engaged to Raffles Haw, and old
+McIntyre grew even more hungry-looking as he felt himself a step nearer
+to the source of wealth, while Robert thought less of work than ever,
+and never gave as much as a thought to the great canvas which still
+stood, dust-covered, upon his easel.  Haw gave Laura an engagement ring
+of old gold, with a great blazing diamond bulging out of it.  There was
+little talk about the matter, however, for it was Haw's wish that all
+should be done very quietly.  Nearly all his evenings were spent at
+Elmdene, where he and Laura would build up the most colossal schemes of
+philanthropy for the future.  With a map stretched out on the table in
+front of them, these two young people would, as it were, hover over the
+world, planning, devising, and improving.
+
+"Bless the girl!" said old McIntyre to his son; "she speaks about it as
+if she were born to millions.  Maybe, when once she is married, she
+won't be so ready to chuck her money into every mad scheme that her
+husband can think of."
+
+"Laura is greatly changed," Robert answered; "she has grown much more
+serious in her ideas."
+
+"You wait a bit!" sniggered his father.  "She is a good girl, is Laura,
+and she knows what she is about.  She's not a girl to let her old dad go
+to the wall if she can set him right.  It's a pretty state of things,"
+he added bitterly: "here's my daughter going to marry a man who thinks
+no more of gold than I used to of gun-metal; and here's my son going
+about with all the money he cares to ask for to help every ne'er-do-well
+in Staffordshire; and here's their father, who loved them and cared for
+them, and brought them both up, without money enough very often to buy a
+bottle of brandy.  I don't know what your poor dear mother would have
+thought of it."
+
+"You have only to ask for what you want."
+
+"Yes, as if I were a five-year-old child.  But I tell you, Robert, I'll
+have my rights, and if I can't get them one way I will another.
+I won't be treated as if I were no one.  And there's one thing: if I am
+to be this man's pa-in-law, I'll want to know something about him and
+his money first.  We may be poor, but we are honest.  I'll up to the
+Hall now, and have it out with him."  He seized his hat and stick and
+made for the door.
+
+"No, no, father," cried Robert, catching him by the sleeve. "You had
+better leave the matter alone.  Mr. Haw is a very sensitive man.
+He would not like to be examined upon such a point.  It might lead to a
+serious quarrel.  I beg that you will not go."
+
+"I am not to be put off for ever," snarled the old man, who had been
+drinking heavily.  "I'll put my foot down now, once and for ever."
+He tugged at his sleeve to free himself from his son's grasp.
+
+"At least you shall not go without Laura knowing.  I will call her down,
+and we shall have her opinion."
+
+"Oh, I don't want to have any scenes," said McIntyre sulkily, relaxing
+his efforts.  He lived in dread of his daughter, and at his worst
+moments the mention of her name would serve to restrain him.
+
+"Besides," said Robert, "I have not the slightest doubt that Raffles Haw
+will see the necessity for giving us some sort of explanation before
+matters go further.  He must understand that we have some claim now to
+be taken into his confidence."
+
+He had hardly spoken when there was a tap at the door, and the man of
+whom they were speaking walked in.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. McIntyre," said he. "Robert, would you mind stepping
+up to the Hall with me? I want to have a little business chat."
+He looked serious, like a man who is carrying out something which he has
+well weighed.
+
+They walked up together with hardly a word on either side.  Raffles Haw
+was absorbed in his own thoughts.  Robert felt expectant and nervous,
+for he knew that something of importance lay before him.  The winter had
+almost passed now, and the first young shoots were beginning to peep out
+timidly in the face of the wind and the rain of an English March.
+The snows were gone, but the countryside looked bleaker and drearier,
+all shrouded in the haze from the damp, sodden meadows.
+
+"By the way, Robert," said Raffles Haw suddenly, as they walked up the
+Avenue.  "Has your great Roman picture gone to London?"
+
+"I have not finished it yet."
+
+"But I know that you are a quick worker.  You must be nearly at the end
+of it."
+
+"No, I am afraid that it has not advanced much since you saw it.  For
+one thing, the light has not been very good."
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but a pained expression flashed over his face.
+When they reached the house he led the way through the museum.  Two
+great metal cases were lying on the floor.
+
+"I have a small addition there to the gem collection," he remarked as he
+passed.  "They only arrived last night, and I have not opened them yet,
+but I am given to understand from the letters and invoices that there
+are some fine specimens.  We might arrange them this afternoon, if you
+care to assist me.  Let us go into the smoking-room now."
+
+He threw himself down into a settee, and motioned Robert into the
+armchair in front of him.
+
+"Light a cigar," he said.  "Press the spring if there is any refreshment
+which you would like.  Now, my dear Robert, confess to me in the first
+place that you have often thought me mad."
+
+The charge was so direct and so true that the young artist hesitated,
+hardly knowing how to answer.
+
+"My dear boy, I do not blame you.  It was the most natural thing in the
+world. I should have looked upon anyone as a madman who had talked to me
+as I have talked to you.  But for all that, Robert, you were wrong, and
+I have never yet in our conversations proposed any scheme which it was
+not well within my power to carry out.  I tell you in all sober earnest
+that the amount of my income is limited only by my desire, and that all
+the bankers and financiers combined could not furnish the sums which I
+can put forward without an effort."
+
+"I have had ample proof of your immense wealth," said Robert.
+
+"And you are very naturally curious as to how that wealth was obtained.
+Well, I can tell you one thing.  The money is perfectly clean.  I have
+robbed no one, cheated no one, sweated no one, ground no one down in the
+gaining of it.  I can read your father's eye, Robert.  I can see that he
+has done me an injustice in this matter.  Well, perhaps he is not to be
+blamed.  Perhaps I also might think uncharitable things if I were In his
+place.  But that is why I now give an explanation to you, Robert, and
+not to him.  You, at least, have trusted me, and you have a right,
+before I become one of your family, to know all that I can tell you.
+Laura also has trusted me, but I know well that she is content still to
+trust me."
+
+"I would not intrude upon your secrets, Mr. Haw," said Robert, "but of
+course I cannot deny that I should be very proud and pleased if you
+cared to confide them to me."
+
+"And I will.  Not all.  I do not think that I shall ever, while I live,
+tell all.  But I shall leave directions behind me so that when I die you
+may be able to carry on my unfinished work.  I shall tell you where
+those directions are to be found.  In the meantime, you must be content
+to learn the effects which I produce without knowing every detail as to
+the means."
+
+Robert settled himself down in his chair and concentrated his attention
+upon his companion's words, while Haw bent forward his eager, earnest
+face, like a man who knows the value of the words which he is saying.
+
+"You are already aware," he remarked, "that I have devoted a great deal
+of energy and of time to the study of chemistry."
+
+"So you told me."
+
+"I commenced my studies under a famous English chemist, I continued them
+under the best man in France, and I completed them in the most
+celebrated laboratory of Germany.  I was not rich, but my father had
+left me enough to keep me comfortably, and by living economically I
+had a sum at my command which enabled me to carry out my studies in a
+very complete way.  When I returned to England I built myself a
+laboratory in a quiet country place where I could work without
+distraction or interruption.  There I began a series of investigations
+which soon took me into regions of science to which none of the three
+famous men who taught me had ever penetrated.
+
+"You say, Robert, that you have some slight knowledge of chemistry, and
+you will find it easier to follow what I say.  Chemistry is to a large
+extent an empirical science, and the chance experiment may lead to
+greater results than could, with our present data, be derived from the
+closest study or the keenest reasoning.  The most important chemical
+discoveries from the first manufacture of glass to the whitening and
+refining of sugar have all been due to some happy chance which might
+have befallen a mere dabbler as easily as a deep student.
+
+"Well, it was to such a chance that my own great discovery--perhaps the
+greatest that the world has seen--was due, though I may claim the credit
+of having originated the line of thought which led up to it.  I had
+frequently speculated as to the effect which powerful currents of
+electricity exercise upon any substance through which they are poured
+for a considerable time.  I did not here mean such feeble currents as
+are passed along a telegraph wire, but I mean the very highest possible
+developments.  Well, I tried a series of experiments upon this point.
+I found that in liquids, and in compounds, the force had a
+disintegrating effect.  The well-known experiment of the electrolysis
+of water will, of course, occur to you.  But I found that in the case of
+elemental solids the effect was a remarkable one.  The element slowly
+decreased in weight, without perceptibly altering in composition.
+I hope that I make myself clear to you?"
+
+"I follow you entirely," said Robert, deeply interested in his
+companion's narrative.
+
+"I tried upon several elements, and always with the same result.
+In every case an hour's current would produce a perceptible loss of
+weight.  My theory at that stage was that there was a loosening of the
+molecules caused by the electric fluid, and that a certain number of
+these molecules were shed off like an impalpable dust, all round the
+lump of earth or of metal, which remained, of course, the lighter
+by their loss.  I had entirely accepted this theory, when a very
+remarkable chance led me to completely alter my opinions.
+
+"I had one Saturday night fastened a bar of bismuth in a clamp, and had
+attached it on either side to an electric wire, in order to observe what
+effect the current would have upon it.  I had been testing each metal in
+turn, exposing them to the influence for from one to two hours.  I had
+just got everything in position, and had completed my connection, when I
+received a telegram to say that John Stillingfleet, an old chemist in
+London with whom I had been on terms of intimacy, was dangerously ill,
+and had expressed a wish to see me.  The last train was due to leave in
+twenty minutes, and I lived a good mile from the station, I thrust a few
+things into a bag, locked my laboratory, and ran as hard as I could
+to catch it.
+
+"It was not until I was in London that it suddenly occurred to me that I
+had neglected to shut off the current, and that it would continue to
+pass through the bar of bismuth until the batteries were exhausted.
+The fact, however, seemed to be of small importance, and I dismissed it
+from my mind.  I  was detained in London until the Tuesday night, and it
+was Wednesday morning before I got back to my work.  As I unlocked the
+laboratory door my mind reverted to the uncompleted experiment, and it
+struck me that in all probability my piece of bismuth would have been
+entirely disintegrated and reduced to its primitive molecules. I was
+utterly unprepared for the truth.
+
+"When I approached the table I found, sure enough, that the bar of metal
+had vanished, and that the clamp was empty.  Having noted the fact, I
+was about to turn away to something else, when my attention was
+attracted to the fact that the table upon which the clamp stood was
+starred over with little patches of some liquid silvery matter, which
+lay in single drops or coalesced into little pools.  I had a very
+distinct recollection of having thoroughly cleared the table before
+beginning my experiment, so that this substance had been deposited there
+since I had left for London.  Much interested, I very carefully
+collected it all into one vessel, and examined it minutely.  There
+could be no question as to what it was.  It was the purest mercury, and
+gave no response to any test for bismuth.
+
+"I at once grasped the fact that chance had placed in my hands a
+chemical discovery of the very first importance.  If bismuth were, under
+certain conditions, to be subjected to the action of electricity, it
+would begin by losing weight, and would finally be transformed into
+mercury.  I had broken down the partition which separated two elements.
+
+"But the process would be a constant one.  It would presumably prove to
+be a general law, and not an isolated fact.  If bismuth turned into
+mercury, what would mercury turn into?  There would be no rest for me
+until I had solved the question.  I renewed the exhausted batteries and
+passed the current through the bowl of quicksilver.  For sixteen hours
+I sat watching the metal, marking how it slowly seemed to curdle, to
+grow firmer, to lose its silvery glitter and to take a dull yellow hue.
+When I at last picked it up in a forceps, and threw it upon the table,
+it had lost every characteristic of mercury, and had obviously become
+another metal.  A few simple tests were enough to show me that this
+other metal was platinum.
+
+"Now, to a chemist, there was something very suggestive in the order in
+which these changes had been effected.  Perhaps you can see the
+relation, Robert, which they bear to each other?"
+
+"No, I cannot say that I do."
+
+Robert had sat listening to this strange statement with parted lips and
+staring eyes.
+
+"I will show you.  Speaking atomically, bismuth is the heaviest of the
+metals.  Its atomic weight is 210.  The next in weight is lead, 207, and
+then comes mercury at 200.  Possibly the long period during which the
+current had acted in my absence had reduced the bismuth to lead and the
+lead in turn to mercury.  Now platinum stands at 197.5, and it was
+accordingly the next metal to be produced by the continued current.
+Do you see now?"
+
+"It is quite clear."
+
+"And then there came the inference, which sent my heart into my mouth
+and caused my head to swim round.  Gold is the next in the series.
+Its atomic weight  is 197. I remembered now, and for the first time
+understood why it was always lead and mercury winch were mentioned
+by the old alchemists as being the two metals which might be used in
+their calling.  With fingers which trembled with excitement I adjusted
+the wires again, and in little more than an hour--for the length
+of the process was always in proportion to the difference in the
+metals--I had before me a knob of ruddy crinkled metal, which answered
+to every reaction for gold.
+
+"Well, Robert, this is a long story, but I think that you will agree
+with me that its importance justifies me in going into detail. When I
+had satisfied myself that I had really manufactured gold I cut the
+nugget in two.  One half I sent to a jeweller and worker in precious
+metals, with whom I had some slight acquaintance, asking him to report
+upon the quality of the metal.  With the other half I continued my
+series of experiments, and reduced it in successive stages through all
+the long series of metals, through silver and zinc and manganese, until
+I brought it to lithium, which is the lightest of all."
+
+"And what did it turn to then?" asked Robert.
+
+"Then came what to chemists is likely to be the most interesting portion
+of my discovery.  It turned to a greyish fine powder, which powder gave
+no further results, however much I might treat it with electricity.
+And that powder is the base of all things; it is the mother of all the
+elements; it is, in short, the substance whose existence has been
+recently surmised by a leading chemist, and which has been christened
+protyle by him.  I am the discoverer of the great law of the electrical
+transposition of the metals, and I am the first to demonstrate protyle,
+so that, I think, Robert, if all my schemes in other directions come to
+nothing, my name is at least likely to live in the chemical world.
+
+"There is not very much more for me to tell you.  I had my nugget back
+from my friend the jeweller, confirming my opinion as to its nature and
+its quality.  I soon found several methods by which the process might be
+simplified, and especially a modification of the ordinary electric
+current, which was very much more effective.  Having made a certain
+amount of gold, I disposed of it for a sum which enabled me to buy
+improved materials and stronger batteries.  In this way I enlarged my
+operations until at last I was in a position to build this house and to
+have a laboratory where I could carry out my work on a much larger
+scale.  As I said before, I can now state with all truth that the
+amount of my income is only limited by my desires."
+
+"It is wonderful!" gasped Robert.  "It is like a fairy tale.  But with
+this great discovery in your mind you must have been sorely tempted to
+confide it to others."
+
+"I thought well over it.  I gave it every consideration.  It was obvious
+to me that if my invention were made public, its immediate result would
+be to deprive the present precious metals of all their special value.
+Some other substance--amber, we will say, or ivory--would be chosen as a
+medium for barter, and gold would be inferior to brass, as being heavier
+and yet not so hard.  No one would be the better for such a consummation
+as that.  Now, if I retained my secret, and used it with wisdom, I might
+make myself the greatest benefactor to mankind that has ever lived.
+Those were the chief reasons, and I trust that they are not
+dishonourable ones, which led me to form the resolution, which I have
+today for the first time broken."
+
+"But your secret is safe with me," cried Robert.  "My lips shall be
+sealed until I have your permission to speak."
+
+"If I had not known that I could trust you I should have withheld it
+from your knowledge.  And now, my dear Robert, theory is very weak work,
+and practice is infinitely more interesting.  I have given you more than
+enough of the first.  If you will be good enough to accompany me to the
+laboratory I shall give you a little of the latter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
+
+
+Raffles Haw led the way through the front door, and crossing over the
+gravelled drive pushed open the outer door of the laboratory--the same
+through which the McIntyres had seen the packages conveyed from the
+waggon.  On passing through it Robert found that they were not really
+within the building, but merely in a large bare ante-chamber, around the
+walls of which were stacked the very objects which had aroused his
+curiosity and his father's speculations.  All mystery had gone from
+them now, however, for while some were still wrapped in their sackcloth
+coverings, others had been undone, and revealed themselves as great pigs
+of lead.
+
+"There is my raw material," said Raffles Haw carelessly, nodding at the
+heap. "Every Saturday I have a waggon-load sent up, which serves me for
+a week, but we shall need to work double tides when Laura and I are
+married, and we get our great schemes under way.  I have to be very
+careful about the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is
+reproduced in the gold."
+
+A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber.  Haw unlocked it, but only
+to disclose a second one about five feet further on.
+
+"This flooring is all disconnected at night," he remarked.  "I have no
+doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about
+this sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some
+inquisitive ostler or too adventurous butler."
+
+The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare,
+whitewashed room with a glass roof.  At one end was the furnace and
+boiler, the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red
+light beat through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the
+building.  On either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in
+rows, tier topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic
+cells.  Robert's eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels,
+complicated networks of wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles,
+graduated glasses, Bunsen burners, porcelain insulators, and all the
+varied _debris_ of a chemical and electrical workshop.
+
+"Come across here," said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of
+metal, the coke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid. "Yours is
+the first foot except my own which has ever penetrated to this room
+since the workmen left it.  My servants carry the lead into the
+ante-room, but come no further.  The furnace can be cleaned and stoked
+from without.  I employ a fellow to do nothing else.  Now take a look in
+here."
+
+He threw open a door on the further side, and motioned to the young
+artist to enter.  The latter stood silent with one foot over the
+threshold, staring in amazement around him. The room, which may have
+been some thirty feet square, was paved and walled with gold.  Great
+brick-shaped ingots, closely packed, covered the whole floor, while on
+every side they were reared up in compact barriers to the very
+ceiling.  The single electric lamp which lighted the windowless chamber
+struck a dull, murky, yellow light from the vast piles of precious
+metal, and gleamed ruddily upon the golden floor.
+
+"This is my treasure house," remarked the owner.  "You see that I have
+rather an accumulation just now.  My imports have been exceeding my
+exports.  You can understand that I have other and more important duties
+even than the making of gold, just now.  This is where I store my output
+until I am ready to send it off.  Every night almost I am in the habit
+of sending a case of it to London.  I employ seventeen brokers in its
+sale.  Each thinks that he is the only one, and each is dying to know
+where I can get such large quantities of virgin gold.  They say that it
+is the purest which  comes  into the market.  The popular theory is, I
+believe, that I am a middleman acting on behalf of some new South
+African mine, which wishes to keep its whereabouts a secret.  What value
+would you put upon the gold in this chamber?  It ought to be worth
+something, for it represents nearly a week's work."
+
+"Something fabulous, I have no doubt," said Robert, glancing round at
+the yellow barriers. "Shall I say a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?"
+
+"Oh dear me, it is surely worth very much more than that," cried Raffles
+Haw, laughing.  "Let me see.  Suppose that we put it at three ten an
+ounce, which is nearly ten shillings under the mark.  That makes,
+roughly, fifty-six pounds for a pound in weight.  Now each of these
+ingots weighs thirty-six pounds, which brings their value to two
+thousand and a few odd pounds.  There are five hundred ingots on each of
+these three sides of the room, but on the fourth there are only three
+hundred, on account of the door, but there cannot be less than two
+hundred on the floor, which gives us a rough total of two thousand
+ingots.  So you see, my dear boy, that any broker who could get the
+contents of this chamber for four million pounds would be doing a nice
+little stroke of business."
+
+"And a week's work!" gasped Robert.  "It makes my head swim."
+
+"You will follow me now when I repeat that none of the great schemes
+which I intend to simultaneously set in motion are at all likely to
+languish for want of funds.  Now come into the laboratory with me and
+see how it is done."
+
+In the centre of the workroom was an instrument like a huge vice, with
+two large brass-coloured plates, and a great steel screw for bringing
+them together.  Numerous wires ran into these metal plates, and were
+attached at the other end to the rows of dynamic machines.  Beneath was
+a glass stand, which was hollowed out in the centre into a succession
+of troughs.
+
+"You will soon understand all about it," said Raffles Haw, throwing off
+his coat, and pulling on a smoke-stained and dirty linen jacket.
+"We must first stoke up a little."  He put his weight on a pair of great
+bellows, and an answering roar came from the furnace. "That will do.
+The more heat the more electric force, and the quicker our task.  Now
+for the lead!  Just give me a hand in carrying it."
+
+They lifted a dozen of the pigs of lead from the floor on to the glass
+stand, and having adjusted the plates on either side, Haw screwed up the
+handle so as to hold them in position.
+
+"It used in the early days to be a slow process," he remarked; "but now
+that I have immense facilities for my work it takes a very short time.
+I have now only to complete the connection in order to begin."
+
+He took hold of a long glass lever which projected from among the wires,
+and drew it downwards.  A sharp click was heard, followed by a loud,
+sparkling, crackling noise.  Great spurts of flame sprang from the two
+electrodes, and the mass of lead was surrounded by an aureole of golden
+sparks, which hissed and snapped like pistol-shots.  The air was filled
+with the peculiar acid smell of ozone.
+
+"The power there is immense," said Raffles Haw, superintending the
+process, with his watch upon the palm of his hand.  "It would reduce an
+organic substance to protyle instantly.  It is well to understand the
+mechanism thoroughly, for any mistake might be a grave matter for the
+operator.  You are dealing with gigantic forces.  But you perceive that
+the lead is already beginning to turn."
+
+Silvery dew-like drops had indeed begun to form upon the dull-coloured
+mass, and to drop with a tinkle and splash into the glass troughs.
+Slowly the lead melted away, like an icicle in the sun, the electrodes
+ever closing upon it as it contracted, until they came together in the
+centre, and a row of pools of quicksilver had taken the place of the
+solid metal.  Two smaller electrodes were plunged into the mercury,
+which gradually curdled and solidified, until it had resumed the solid
+form, with a yellowish brassy shimmer.
+
+"What lies in the moulds now is platinum," remarked Raffles Haw.
+"We must take it from the troughs and refix it in the large electrodes.
+So!  Now we turn on the current again.  You see that it gradually takes
+a darker and richer tint.  Now I think that it is perfect."  He drew
+up the lever, removed the electrodes, and there lay a dozen bricks of
+ruddy sparkling gold.
+
+"You see, according to our calculations, our morning's work has been
+worth twenty-four thousand pounds, and it has not taken us more than
+twenty minutes," remarked the alchemist, as he picked up the newly-made
+ingots, and threw them down among the others.
+
+"We will devote one of them to experiment," said he, leaving the last
+standing upon the glass insulator.  "To the world it would seem an
+expensive demonstration which cost two thousand pounds, but our
+standard, you see, is a different one.  Now you will see me run through
+the whole gamut of metallic nature."
+
+First of all men after the discoverer, Robert saw the gold mass, when
+the electrodes were again applied to it, change swiftly and successively
+to barium, to tin, to silver, to copper, to iron.   He saw the
+long white electric sparks change to crimson with the strontium, to
+purple with the potassium, to yellow with the manganese.  Then, finally,
+after a hundred transformations, it disintegrated before his eyes, and
+lay as a little mound of fluffy grey dust upon the glass table.
+
+"And this is protyle," said Haw, passing his fingers through it.
+"The chemist of the future may resolve it into further constituents, but
+to me it is the Ultima Thule."
+
+"And now, Robert," he continued, after a pause, "I have shown you enough
+to enable you to understand something of my system.  This is the great
+secret.  It is the secret which endows the man who knows it with such a
+universal power as no man has ever enjoyed since the world was made.
+This secret it is the dearest wish of my heart to use for good, and I
+swear to you, Robert McIntyre, that if I thought it would tend to
+anything but good I would have done with it for ever.  No, I would
+neither use it myself nor would any other man learn it from my lips.
+I swear it by all that is holy and solemn!"
+
+His eyes flashed as he spoke, and his voice quivered with emotion.
+Standing, pale and lanky, amid his electrodes and his retorts, there was
+still  something majestic about this man, who, amid all his stupendous
+good fortune, could still keep his moral sense undazzled by the glitter
+of his gold.  Robert's weak nature had never before realised the
+strength which lay in those thin, firm lips and earnest eyes.
+
+"Surely in your hands, Mr. Haw, nothing but good can come of it," he
+said.
+
+"I hope not--I pray not--most earnestly do I pray not.  I have done for
+you, Robert, what I might not have done for my own brother had I one,
+and I have done it because I believe and hope that you are a man who
+would not use this power, should you inherit it, for selfish ends.
+But even now I have not told you all.  There is one link which I have
+withheld from you, and which shall be withheld from you while I live.
+But look at this chest, Robert."
+
+He led him to a great iron-clamped chest which stood in the corner, and,
+throwing it open, he took from it a small case of carved ivory.
+
+"Inside this," he said, "I have left a paper which makes clear anything
+which is still hidden from you.  Should anything happen to me you will
+always be able to inherit my powers, and to continue my plans by
+following the directions which are there expressed.  And now," he
+continued, throwing his casket back again into the box, "I shall
+frequently require your help, but I do not think it will be necessary
+this morning.  I have already taken up too much of your time.  If you
+are going back to Elmdene I wish that you would tell Laura that I shall
+be with her in the afternoon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A FAMILY JAR.
+
+
+And so the great secret was out, and Robert walked home with his head in
+a whirl, and the blood tingling in his veins.  He had shivered as he
+came up at the damp cold of the wind and the sight of the mist-mottled
+landscape.  That was all gone now.  His own thoughts tinged everything
+with sunshine, and he felt inclined to sing and dance as he walked down
+the muddy, deeply-rutted country lane.  Wonderful had  been the fate
+allotted to Raffles Haw, but surely hardly less important that which had
+come upon himself.  He was the sharer of the alchemist's secret, and the
+heir to an inheritance which combined a wealth greater than that of
+monarchs, to a freedom such as monarchs cannot enjoy.  This was a
+destiny indeed!  A thousand gold-tinted visions of his future life rose
+up before him, and in fancy he already sat high above the human race,
+with prostrate thousands imploring his aid, or thanking him for his
+benevolence.
+
+How sordid seemed the untidy garden, with its scrappy bushes and gaunt
+elm trees!  How mean the plain brick front, with the green wooden porch!
+It had always offended his artistic sense, but now it was obtrusive in
+its ugliness.  The plain room, too, with the American leather chairs,
+the dull-coloured carpet, and the patchwork rug, he felt a loathing for
+it all.  The only pretty thing in it, upon which his eyes could rest
+with satisfaction, was his sister, as she leaned back in her chair by
+the fire with her white, clear beautiful face outlined against the dark
+background.
+
+"Do you know, Robert," she said, glancing up at him from under her long
+black lashes, "Papa grows unendurable.  I have had to speak very plainly
+to him, and to make him understand that I am marrying for my own benefit
+and not for his."
+
+"Where is he, then?"
+
+"I don't know.  At the Three Pigeons, no doubt.  He spends most of his
+time there now.  He flew off in a passion, and talked such nonsense
+about marriage settlements, and forbidding the banns, and so on.  His
+notion of a marriage settlement appears to be a settlement upon the
+bride's father.  He should wait quietly, and see what can be done for
+him."
+
+"I think, Laura, that we must make a good deal of allowance for him,"
+said Robert earnestly.  "I have noticed a great change in him lately.
+I don't think he is himself at all.  I must get some medical advice.
+But I have been up at the Hall this morning."
+
+"Have you?  Have you seen Raffles?  Did he send anything for me?"
+
+"He said that he would come down when he had finished his work."
+
+"But what is the matter, Robert?" cried Laura, with the swift perception
+of womanhood. "You are flushed, and your eyes are shining, and really
+you look quite handsome.  Raffles has been telling you something!
+What was it?  Oh, I know!  He has been telling you how he made his
+money.  Hasn't he, now?"
+
+"Well, yes.  He took me partly into his confidence.  I congratulate you,
+Laura, with all my heart, for you will be a very wealthy woman."
+
+"How strange it seems that he should have come to us in our poverty.
+It is all owing to you, you dear old Robert; for if he had not taken a
+fancy to you, he would never have come down to Elmdene and taken a fancy
+to some one else."
+
+"Not at all," Robert answered, sitting down by his sister, and patting
+her hand affectionately.  "It was a clear case of love at first sight.
+He was in love with you before he ever knew your name.  He asked me
+about you the very first time I saw him."
+
+"But tell me about his money, Bob," said his sister.  "He has not told
+me yet, and I am so curious.  How did he make it?  It was not from his
+father; he told me that himself.  His father was just a country doctor.
+How did he do it?"
+
+"I am bound over to secrecy.  He will tell you himself."
+
+"Oh, but only tell me if I guess right. He had it left him by an uncle,
+eh?  Well, by a friend?  Or he took out some wonderful patent?  Or he
+discovered a mine?  Or oil?  Do tell me, Robert!"
+
+"I mustn't, really," cried her brother laughing.  "And I must not talk
+to you any more.  You are much too sharp.  I feel a responsibility about
+it; and, besides, I must really do some work."
+
+"It Is very unkind of you," said Laura, pouting. "But I must put my
+things on, for I go into Birmingham by the 1.20."
+
+"To Birmingham?"
+
+"Yes, I have a hundred things to order.  There is everything to be got.
+You men forget about these details.  Raffles wishes to have the wedding
+in little more than a fortnight.  Of course it will be very quiet, but
+still one needs something."
+
+"So early as that!" said Robert, thoughtfully.  "Well, perhaps it is
+better so."
+
+"Much better, Robert.  Would it not be dreadful if Hector came back
+first and there was a scene?  If I were once married I should not mind.
+Why should I?  But of course Raffles knows nothing about him, and it
+would be terrible if they came together."
+
+"That must be avoided at any cost."
+
+"Oh, I cannot bear even to think of it.  Poor Hector!  And yet what
+could I do, Robert?  You know that it was only a boy and girl affair.
+And how could I refuse such an offer as this?  It was a duty to my
+family, was it not?"
+
+"You were placed in a difficult position--very difficult," her brother
+answered.  "But all will be right, and I have no doubt Hector will see
+it as you do.  But does Mr. Spurling know of your engagement?"
+
+"Not a word. He was here yesterday, and talked of Hector, but indeed I
+did not know how to tell him.  We are to be married by special licence
+in Birmingham, so really there is no reason why he should know.  But now
+I must hurry or I shall miss my train."
+
+When his sister was gone Robert went up to his studio, and having ground
+some colours upon his palette he stood for some time, brush and
+mahlstick in hand, in front of his big bare canvas.  But how profitless
+all his work seemed to him now!  What object had he in doing it? Was it
+to earn money?  Money could be had for the asking, or, for that matter,
+without the asking.  Or was it to produce a thing of beauty?  But he had
+artistic faults.  Raffles Haw had said so, and he knew that he was
+right.  After all his pains the thing might not please; and with money
+he could at all times buy pictures which would please, and which would
+be things of beauty.  What, then, was the object of his working?
+He could see none.  He threw down his brush, and, lighting his pipe, he
+strolled downstairs once more.
+
+His father was standing in front of the fire, and in no very good
+humour, as his red face and puckered eyes sufficed to show.
+
+"Well, Robert," he began, "I suppose that, as usual, you have spent your
+morning plotting against your father?"
+
+"What do you mean, father?"
+
+"I mean what I say.  What is it but plotting when three folk--you and
+she and this Raffles Haw--whisper and arrange and have meetings without
+a word to me about it?  What do I know of your plans?"
+
+"I cannot tell you secrets which are not my own, father."
+
+"But I'll have a voice in the matter, for all that.  Secrets or no
+secrets, you will find that Laura has a father, and that he is not a man
+to be set aside.  I may have had my ups and downs in trade, but I have
+not quite fallen so low that I am nothing in my own family.  What am I
+to get out of this precious marriage?"
+
+"What should you get?  Surely Laura's happiness and welfare are enough
+for you?"
+
+"If this man were really fond of Laura he would show proper
+consideration for Laura's father.  It was only yesterday that I asked
+him for a loan-condescended actually to ask for it--I, who have been
+within an ace of being Mayor of Birmingham!  And he refused me point
+blank."
+
+"Oh, father!  How could you expose yourself to such humiliation?"
+
+"Refused me point blank!" cried the old man excitedly.  "It was against
+his principles, if you please.  But I'll be even with him--you see if I
+am not.  I know one or two things about him.  What is it they call him
+at the Three Pigeons?  A 'smasher'--that's the word-a coiner of false
+money.  Why else should he have this metal sent him, and that great
+smoky chimney of his going all day?"
+
+"Why can you not leave him alone, father?" expostulated Robert. "You
+seem to think of nothing but his money.  If he had not a penny he would
+still be a very kind-hearted, pleasant gentleman."
+
+Old McIntyre burst into a hoarse laugh.
+
+"I like to hear you preach," said he.  "Without a penny, indeed!  Do you
+think that you would dance attendance upon him if he were a poor man?
+Do you think that Laura would ever have looked twice at him?  You know
+as well as I do that she is marrying him only for his money."
+
+Robert gave a cry of dismay.  There was the alchemist standing in the
+doorway, pale and silent, looking from one to the other of them with his
+searching eyes.
+
+"I must apologise," he said coldly.  "I did not mean to listen to your
+words.  I could not help it.  But I have heard them.  As to you, Mr.
+McIntyre, I believe that you speak from your own bad heart.  I will not
+let myself be moved by your words.  In Robert I have a true friend.
+Laura also loves me for my own sake.  You cannot shake my faith in them.
+But with you, Mr. McIntyre, I have nothing in common; and it is as well,
+perhaps, that we should both recognise the fact."
+
+He bowed, and was gone ere either of the McIntyres could say a word.
+
+"You see!" said Robert at last.  "You have done now what you cannot
+undo!"
+
+"I will be even with him!" cried the old man furiously, shaking his fist
+through the window at the dark slow-pacing figure.  "You just wait,
+Robert, and see if your old dad is a man to be played with."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A MIDNIGHT VENTURE.
+
+
+Not a word was said to Laura when she returned as to the scene which had
+occurred in her absence.  She was in the gayest of spirits, and prattled
+merrily about her purchases and her arrangements, wondering from time to
+time when Raffles Haw would come.  As night fell, however, without any
+word from him, she became uneasy.
+
+"What can be the matter that he does not come?" she said. "It is the
+first day since our engagement that I have not seen him."
+
+Robert looked out through the window.
+
+"It is a gusty night, and raining hard," he remarked.  "I do not at all
+expect him."
+
+"Poor Hector used to come, rain, snow, or fine.  But, then, of course,
+he was a sailor.  It was nothing to him.  I hope that Raffles is not
+ill."
+
+"He was quite well when I saw him this morning," answered her brother,
+and they relapsed into silence, while the rain pattered against the
+windows, and the wind screamed amid the branches of the elms outside.
+
+Old McIntyre had sat in the corner most of the day biting his nails and
+glowering into the fire, with a brooding, malignant expression upon his
+wrinkled features.  Contrary to his usual habits, he did not go to the
+village inn, but shuffled off early to bed without a word to his
+children.  Laura and Robert remained chatting for some time by the fire,
+she talking of the thousand and one wonderful things which were to be
+done when she was mistress of the New Hall.  There was less philanthropy
+in her talk when her future husband was absent, and Robert could not but
+remark that her carriages, her dresses, her receptions, and her travels
+in distant countries were the topics into which she threw all the
+enthusiasm which he had formerly heard her bestow upon refuge homes and
+labour organisations.
+
+"I think that greys are the nicest horses," she said.  "Bays are nice
+too, but greys are more showy.  We could manage with a brougham and a
+landau, and perhaps a high dog-cart for Raffles.  He has the coach-house
+full at present, but he never uses them, and I am sure that those fifty
+horses would all die for want of exercise, or get livers like Strasburg
+geese, if they waited for him to ride or drive them."
+
+"I suppose that you will still live here?" said her brother.
+
+"We must have a house in London as well, and run up for the season.
+I don't, of course, like to make suggestions now, but it will be
+different afterwards.  I am sure that Raffles will do it if I ask him.
+It is all very well for him to say that he does not want any thanks or
+honours, but I should like to know what is the use of being a public
+benefactor if you are to have no return for it.  I am sure that if he
+does only half what he talks of doing, they will make him a peer--Lord
+Tamfield, perhaps--and then, of course, I shall be my Lady Tamfield, and
+what would you think of that, Bob?"  She dropped him a stately curtsey,
+and tossed her head in the air, as one who was born to wear a coronet.
+
+"Father must be pensioned off," she remarked presently.  "He shall have
+so much a year on condition that he keeps away.  As to you, Bob, I don't
+know what we shall do for you.  We shall make you President of the Royal
+Academy if money can do it."
+
+It was late before they ceased building their air-castles and retired to
+their rooms.  But Robert's brain was excited, and he could not sleep.
+The events of the day had been enough to shake a stronger man.  There
+had been the revelation of the morning, the strange sights which he had
+witnessed in the laboratory, and the immense secret which had been
+confided to his keeping.  Then there had been his conversation with his
+father in the afternoon, their disagreement, and the sudden intrusion of
+Raffles Haw.  Finally the talk with his sister had excited his
+imagination, and driven sleep from his eyelids.  In vain he turned and
+twisted in his bed, or paced the floor of his chamber.  He was not
+only awake, but abnormally awake, with every nerve highly strung, and
+every sense at the keenest.  What was he to do to gain a little sleep?
+It flashed across him that there was brandy in the decanter downstairs,
+and that a glass might act as a sedative.
+
+He had opened the door of his room, when suddenly his ear caught the
+sound of slow and stealthy footsteps upon the stairs.  His own lamp was
+unlit, but a dim glimmer came from a moving taper, and a long black
+shadow travelled down the wall.  He stood motionless, listening
+intently.  The steps were in the hall now, and he heard a gentle
+creaking as the key was cautiously turned in the door.  The next instant
+there came a gust of cold air, the taper was extinguished, and a sharp
+snap announced that the door had been closed from without.
+
+Robert stood astonished.  Who could this night wanderer be?  It must be
+his father.  But what errand could take him out at three in the morning?
+And such a morning, too!  With every blast of the wind the rain beat up
+against his chamber-window as though it would drive it in.  The glass
+rattled in the frames, and the tree outside creaked and groaned as its
+great branches were tossed about by the gale.  What could draw any man
+forth upon such a night?
+
+Hurriedly Robert struck a match and lit his lamp.  His father's room was
+opposite his own, and the door was ajar.  He pushed it open and looked
+about him.  It was empty.  The bed had not even been lain upon.
+The single chair stood by the window, and there the old man must have
+sat since he left them.  There was no book, no paper, no means by which
+he could have amused himself, nothing but a razor-strop lying on the
+window-sill.
+
+A feeling of impending misfortune struck cold to Robert's heart.  There
+was some ill-meaning in this journey of his father's.  He thought of his
+brooding of yesterday, his scowling face, his bitter threats.
+Yes, there was some mischief underlying it.  But perhaps he might even
+now be in time to prevent it.  There was no use calling Laura.  She
+could be no help in the matter.  He hurriedly threw on his clothes,
+muffled himself in his top-coat, and, seizing his hat and stick, he set
+off after his father.
+
+As he came out into the village street the wind whirled down it, so that
+he had to put his ear and shoulder against it, and push his way forward.
+It was better, however, when he turned into the lane.  The high bank and
+the hedge sheltered him upon one side.  The road, however, was deep in
+mud, and the rain fell in a steady swish.  Not a soul was to be seen,
+but he needed to make no inquiries, for he knew whither his father had
+gone as certainly as though he had seen him.
+
+The iron side gate of the avenue was half open, and Robert stumbled his
+way up the gravelled drive amid the dripping fir-trees.  What could his
+father's intention be when he reached the Hall?   Was it merely that he
+wished to spy and prowl, or did he intend to call up the master and
+enter into some discussion as to his wrongs?  Or was it possible that
+some blacker and more sinister design lay beneath his strange doings?
+Robert thought suddenly of the razor-strop, and gasped with horror.
+What had the old man been doing with that?  He quickened his pace to a
+run, and hurried on until he found himself at the door of the Hall.
+
+Thank God! all was quiet there.  He stood by the big silent door and
+listened intently.  There was nothing to be heard save the wind and the
+rain.  Where, then, could his father be?  If he wished to enter the Hall
+he would not attempt to do so by one of the windows, for had he not been
+present when Raffles Haw had shown them the precautions which he had
+taken?  But then a sudden thought struck Robert.  There was one window
+which was left unguarded.  Haw had been imprudent enough to tell them
+so.  It was the middle window of the laboratory.  If he remembered it so
+clearly, of course his father would remember it too.  There was the
+point of danger.
+
+The moment that he had come round the corner of the building he found
+that his surmise had been correct.  An electric lamp burned in the
+laboratory, and the silver squares of the three large windows stood out
+clear and bright in the darkness.  The centre one had been thrown open,
+and, even as he gazed, Robert saw a dark monkey-like figure spring up on
+to the sill, and vanish into the room beyond.  For a moment only it
+outlined itself against the brilliant light beyond, but in that moment
+Robert had space to see that it was indeed his father.  On tiptoe he
+crossed the intervening space, and peeped in through the open window.
+It was a singular spectacle which met his eyes.
+
+There stood upon the glass table some half-dozen large ingots of gold,
+which had been made the night before, but which had not been removed to
+the treasure-house. On these the old man had thrown himself, as one who
+enters into his rightful inheritance.  He lay across the table, his arms
+clasping the bars of gold, his cheek pressed against them, crooning and
+muttering to himself.  Under the clear, still light, amid the giant
+wheels and strange engines, that one little dark figure clutching and
+clinging to the ingots had in it something both weird and piteous.
+
+For five minutes or more Robert stood in the darkness amid the rain,
+looking in at this strange sight, while his father hardly moved save to
+cuddle closer to the gold, and to pat it with his thin hands.
+Robert was still uncertain what he should do, when his eyes wandered
+from the central figure and fell on something else which made him give a
+little cry of astonishment--a cry which was drowned amid the howling of
+the gale.
+
+Raffles Haw was standing in the corner of the room.  Where he had come
+from Robert could not say, but he was certain that he had not been there
+when he first looked in.  He stood silent, wrapped in some long, dark
+dressing-gown, his arms folded, and a bitter smile upon his pale face.
+Old McIntyre seemed to see him at almost the same moment, for he snarled
+out an oath, and clutched still closer at his treasure, looking
+slantwise at the master of the house with furtive, treacherous eyes.
+
+"And it has really come to this!" said Haw at last, taking a step
+forward.  "You have actually fallen so low, Mr. McIntyre, as to steal
+into my house at night like a common burglar.  You knew that this window
+was unguarded.  I remember telling you as much.  But I did not tell you
+what other means I had adopted by which I might be warned if knaves made
+an entrance.  But that you should have come! You!"
+
+The old gunmaker made no attempt to justify himself, but he muttered
+some few hoarse words, and continued to cling to the treasure.
+
+"I love your daughter," said Raffles Haw, "and for her sake I will not
+expose you. Your hideous and infamous secret shall be safe with me.
+No ear shall hear what has happened this night.  I will not, as I might,
+arouse my servants and send for the police.  But you must leave my house
+without further words.  I have nothing more to say to you.  Go as you
+have come."
+
+He took a step forward, and held out his hand as if to detach the old
+man's grasp from the golden bars.  The other thrust his hand into the
+breast of his coat, and with a shrill scream of rage flung himself upon
+the alchemist.  So sudden and so fierce was the movement that Haw had no
+time for defence.  A bony hand gripped him by the throat, and the blade
+of a razor flashed in the air.  Fortunately, as it fell, the weapon
+struck against one of the many wires which spanned the room, and flying
+out of the old man's grasp, tinkled upon the stone floor.  But, though
+disarmed, he was still dangerous.  With a horrible silent energy he
+pushed Haw back and back until, coming to a bench, they both fell over
+it, McIntyre remaining uppermost.  His other hand was on the alchemist's
+throat, and it might have fared ill with him had Robert not climbed
+through the window and dragged his father off from him.  With the aid of
+Haw, he pinned the old man down, and passed a long cravat around his
+arms.  It was terrible to look at him, for his face was convulsed, his
+eyes bulging from his head, and his lips white with foam.
+
+Haw leaned against the glass table panting, with his hand to his side.
+
+"You here, Robert?" he gasped.  "Is it not horrible?  How did you come?"
+
+"I followed him. I heard him go out."
+
+"He would have robbed me.  And he would have murdered me.  But he is
+mad--stark, staring mad!"
+
+There could be no doubt of it. Old McIntyre was sitting up now, and
+burst suddenly into a hoarse peal of laughter, rocking himself backwards
+and forwards, and looking up at them with little twinkling, cunning
+eyes.  It was clear to both of them that his mind, weakened by long
+brooding over the one idea, had now at last become that of a monomaniac.
+His horrid causeless mirth was more terrible even than his fury.
+
+"What shall we do with him?" asked Haw.  "We cannot take him back to
+Elmdene.  It would be a terrible shock to Laura."
+
+"We could have doctors to certify in the morning.  Could we not keep him
+here until then? If we take him back, some one will meet us, and there
+will be a scandal."
+
+"I know.  We will take him to one of the padded rooms, where he can
+neither hurt himself nor anyone else.  I am somewhat shaken myself.
+But I am better now.  Do you take one arm, and I will take the other."
+
+Half-leading and half-dragging him they managed between them to convey
+the old gunmaker away from the scene of his disaster, and to lodge him
+for the night in a place of safety.  At five in the morning Robert had
+started in the gig to make the medical arrangements, while Raffles Haw
+paced his palatial house with a troubled face and a sad heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
+
+
+It may be that Laura did not look upon the removal of her father as an
+unmixed misfortune.  Nothing was said to her as to the manner of the old
+man's seizure, but Robert informed her at breakfast that he had thought
+it best, acting under medical advice, to place him for a time under some
+restraint.  She had herself frequently remarked upon the growing
+eccentricity of his manner, so that the announcement could have been no
+great surprise to her.  It is certain that it did not diminish her
+appetite for the coffee and the scrambled eggs, nor prevent her from
+chatting a good deal about her approaching wedding.
+
+But it was very different with Raffles Haw.  The incident had shocked
+him to his inmost soul.  He had often feared lest his money should do
+indirect evil, but here were crime and madness arising before his very
+eyes from its influence.  In vain he tried to choke down his
+feelings, and to persuade himself that this attack of old McIntyre's was
+something which came of itself--something which had no connection with
+himself or his wealth.  He remembered the man as he had first met him,
+garrulous, foolish, but with no obvious vices.  He recalled the change
+which, week by week, had come over him--his greedy eye, his furtive
+manner, his hints and innuendoes, ending only the day before in a
+positive demand for money.  It was too certain that there was a chain of
+events there leading direct to the horrible encounter in the laboratory.
+His money had cast a blight where he had hoped to shed a blessing.
+
+Mr. Spurling, the vicar, was up shortly after breakfast, some rumour of
+evil having come to his ears.  It was good for Haw to talk with him, for
+the fresh breezy manner of the old clergyman was a corrective to his own
+sombre and introspective mood.
+
+"Prut, tut!" said he.  "This is very bad--very bad indeed!   Mind
+unhinged, you say, and not likely to get over it!  Dear, dear!   I have
+noticed a change in him these last few weeks.  He looked like a man who
+had something upon his mind.  And how is Mr. Robert McIntyre?"
+
+"He is very well.  He was with me this morning when his father had this
+attack."
+
+"Ha!  There is a change in that young man.  I observe an alteration in
+him.  You will forgive me, Mr. Raffles Haw, if I say a few serious words
+of advice to you.  Apart from my spiritual functions I am old enough to
+be your father. You are a very wealthy man, and you have used your
+wealth nobly--yes, sir, nobly.  I do not think that there is a man in a
+thousand who would have done as well.  But don't you think sometimes
+that it has a dangerous influence upon those who are around you?"
+
+"I have sometimes feared so."  "We may pass over old Mr. McIntyre.
+It would hardly be just, perhaps, to mention him in this connection.
+But there is Robert.  He used to take such an interest in his
+profession.  He was so keen about art. If you met him, the first words
+he said were usually some reference to his plans, or the progress he was
+making in his latest picture.  He was ambitious, pushing, self-reliant.
+Now he does nothing.  I know for a fact that it is two months since he
+put brush to canvas.  He has turned from a student into an idler, and,
+what is worse, I fear into a parasite.  You will forgive me for speaking
+so plainly?"
+
+Raffles Haw said nothing, but he threw out his hands with a gesture of
+pain.
+
+"And then there is something to be said about the country folk," said
+the vicar.  "Your kindness has been, perhaps, a little indiscriminate
+there.  They don't seem to be as helpful or as self-reliant as they
+used.  There was old Blaxton, whose cowhouse roof was blown off the
+other day.  He used to be a man who was full of energy and resource.
+Three months ago he would have got a ladder and had that roof on again
+in two days' work.  But now he must sit down, and wring his hands, and
+write letters, because he knew that it would come to your ears, and that
+you would make it good.  There's old Ellary, too!  Well, of course he
+was always poor, but at least he did something, and so kept himself out
+of mischief.  Not a stroke will he do now, but smokes and talks scandal
+from morning to night.  And the worst of it is, that it not only hurts
+those who have had your help, but it unsettles those who have not.
+They all have an injured, surly feeling as if other folk were getting
+what they had an equal right to.  It has really come to such a pitch
+that I thought it was a duty to speak to you about it.  Well, it is a
+new experience to me.  I have often had to reprove my parishioners for
+not being charitable enough, but it is very strange to find one who is
+too charitable.  It is a noble error."
+
+"I thank you very much for letting me know about it," answered Raffles
+Haw, as he shook the good old clergyman's hand.  "I shall certainly
+reconsider my conduct in that respect."
+
+He kept a rigid and unmoved face until his visitor had gone, and then
+retiring to his own little room, he threw himself upon the bed and burst
+out sobbing with his face buried in the pillow.  Of all men in England,
+this, the richest, was on that day the most miserable.  How could he
+use this great power which he held?  Every blessing which he tried to
+give turned itself into a curse.  His intentions were so good, and yet
+the results were so terrible.  It was as if he had some foul leprosy of
+the mind which all caught who were exposed to his influence.
+His charity, so well meant, so carefully bestowed, had yet poisoned the
+whole countryside.  And if in small things his results were so evil, how
+could he tell that they would be better in the larger plans which he had
+formed?  If he could not pay the debts of a simple yokel without
+disturbing the great laws of cause and effect which lie at the base of
+all things, what could he hope for when he came to fill the treasury of
+nations, to interfere with the complex conditions of trade, or to
+provide for great masses of the population?  He drew back with horror as
+he dimly saw that vast problems faced him in which he might make errors
+which all his money could not repair.  The way of Providence was the
+straight way.  Yet he, a half-blind creature, must needs push in and
+strive to alter and correct it.  Would he be a benefactor?  Might he not
+rather prove to be the greatest malefactor that the world had seen?
+
+But soon a calmer mood came upon him, and he rose and bathed his flushed
+face and fevered brow.  After all, was not there a field where all were
+agreed that money might be well spent?  It was not the way of nature,
+but rather the way of man which he would alter. It was not Providence
+that had ordained that folk should live half-starved and overcrowded in
+dreary slums.  That was the result of artificial conditions, and it
+might well be healed by artificial means.  Why should not his plans be
+successful after all, and the world better for his discovery?  Then
+again, it was not the truth that he cast a blight on those with whom he
+was brought in contact.  There was Laura; who knew more of him than she
+did, and yet how good and sweet and true she was!  She at least had lost
+nothing through knowing him.  He would go down and see her.  It would be
+soothing to hear her voice, and to turn to her for words of sympathy in
+this his hour of darkness.
+
+The storm had died away, but a soft wind was blowing, and the smack of
+the coming spring was in the air.  He drew in the aromatic scent of the
+fir-trees as he passed down the curving drive.  Before him lay the long
+sloping countryside, all dotted over with the farmsteadings and little
+red cottages, with the morning sun striking slantwise upon their grey
+roofs and glimmering windows.  His heart yearned over all these people
+with their manifold troubles, their little sordid miseries, their
+strivings and hopings and petty soul-killing cares.  How could he get at
+them?  How could he manage to lift the burden from them, and yet not
+hinder them in their life aim?  For more and more could he see that all
+refinement is through sorrow, and that the life which does not refine is
+the life without an aim.
+
+Laura was alone in the sitting-room at Elmdene, for Robert had gone out
+to make some final arrangements about his father.  She sprang up as her
+lover entered, and ran forward with a pretty girlish gesture to greet
+him.
+
+"Oh, Raffles!" she cried, "I knew that you would come.  Is it not
+dreadful about papa?"
+
+"You must not fret, dearest," he answered gently.  "It may not prove to
+be so very grave after all."
+
+"But it all happened before I was stirring.  I knew nothing about it
+until breakfast-time.  They must have gone up to the Hall very early."
+
+"Yes, they did come up rather early."
+
+"What is the matter with you, Raffles?" cried Laura, looking up into
+his face.  "You look so sad and weary!"
+
+"I have been a little in the blues.  The fact is, Laura, that I have had
+a long talk with Mr. Spurling this morning."
+
+The girl started, and turned white to the lips.  A long talk with Mr.
+Spurling!  Did that mean that he had learned her secret?
+
+"Well?" she gasped.
+
+"He tells me that my charity has done more harm than good, and in fact,
+that I have had an evil influence upon every one whom I have come near.
+He said it in the most delicate way, but that was really what it
+amounted to."
+
+"Oh, is that all?" said Laura, with a long sigh of relief.  "You must
+not think of minding what Mr. Spurling says.  Why, it is absurd on the
+face of it!  Everybody knows that there are dozens of men all over the
+country who would have been ruined and turned out of their houses if
+you had not stood their friend.  How could they be the worse for having
+known you?  I wonder that Mr. Spurling can talk such nonsense!"
+
+"How is Robert's picture getting on?"
+
+"Oh, he has a lazy fit on him.  He has not touched it for ever so long.
+But why do you ask that?  You have that furrow on your brow again.
+Put it away, sir!"
+
+She smoothed it away with her little white hand.
+
+"Well, at any rate, I don't think that quite everybody is the worse,"
+said he, looking down at her.  "There is one, at least, who is beyond
+taint, one who is good, and pure, and true, and who would love me as
+well if I were a poor clerk struggling for a livelihood.  You would,
+would you not, Laura?"
+
+"You foolish boy! of course I would."
+
+"And yet how strange it is that it should be so.  That you, who are the
+only woman whom I have ever loved, should be the only one in whom I also
+have raised an affection which is free from greed or interest.  I wonder
+whether you may not have been sent by Providence simply to restore my
+confidence in the world.  How barren a place would it not be if it were
+not for woman's love!  When all seemed black around me this morning, I
+tell you, Laura, that I seemed to turn to you and to your love as the
+one thing on earth upon which I could rely.  All else seemed shifting,
+unstable, influenced by this or that base consideration.  In you, and
+you only, could I trust."
+
+"And I in you, dear Raffles! I never knew what love was until I met
+you."
+
+She took a step towards him, her hands advanced, love shining in her
+features, when in an instant Raffles saw the colour struck from her
+face, and a staring horror spring into her eyes.  Her blanched and rigid
+face was turned towards the open door, while he, standing partly
+behind it, could not see what it was that had so moved her.
+
+"Hector!" she gasped, with dry lips.
+
+A quick step in the hall, and a slim, weather-tanned young man sprang
+forward into the room, and caught her up in his arms as if she had been
+a feather.
+
+"You darling!" he said; "I knew that I would surprise you.  I came right
+up from Plymouth by the night train.  And I have long leave, and plenty
+of time to get married.  Isn't it jolly, dear Laura?"
+
+He pirouetted round with her in the exuberance of his delight.  As he
+spun round, however, his eyes fell suddenly upon the pale and silent
+stranger who stood by the door.  Hector blushed furiously, and made an
+awkward sailor bow, standing with Laura's cold and unresponsive hand
+still clasped in his.
+
+"Very sorry, sir--didn't see you," he said.  "You'll excuse my going on
+in this mad sort of way, but if you had served you would know what it is
+to get away from quarter-deck manners, and to be a free man.  Miss
+McIntyre will tell you that we have known each other since we were
+children, and as we are to be married in, I hope, a month at the latest,
+we understand each other pretty well."
+
+Raffles Haw still stood cold and motionless. He was stunned, benumbed,
+by what he saw and heard.  Laura drew away from Hector, and tried to
+free her hand from his grasp.
+
+"Didn't you get my letter at Gibraltar?" she asked.
+
+"Never went to Gibraltar.  Were ordered home by wire from Madeira.
+Those chaps at the Admiralty never know their own minds for two hours
+together.  But what matter about a letter, Laura, so long as I can see
+you and speak with you?  You have not introduced me to your friend
+here."
+
+"One word, sir," cried Raffles Haw in a quivering voice.  "Do I entirely
+understand you?   Let me be sure that there is no mistake.  You say that
+you are engaged to be married to Miss McIntyre?"
+
+"Of course I am. I've just come back from a four months' cruise, and I
+am going to be married before I drag my anchor again."
+
+"Four months!" gasped Haw.  "Why, it is just four months since I came
+here.  And one last question, sir.  Does Robert McIntyre know of your
+engagement?"
+
+"Does Bob know?  Of course he knows.  Why, it was to his care I left
+Laura when I started.  But what is the meaning of all this?  What is the
+matter with you, Laura?  Why are you so white and silent?  And--hallo!
+Hold up, sir!  The man is fainting!"
+
+"It is all right!" gasped Haw, steadying himself against the edge of the
+door.
+
+He was as white as paper, and his hand was pressed close to his side as
+though some sudden pain had shot through him.  For a moment he tottered
+there like a stricken man, and then, with a hoarse cry, he turned and
+fled out through the open door.
+
+"Poor devil!" said Hector, gazing in amazement after him.  "He seems
+hard hit anyhow.  But what is the meaning of all this, Laura?"
+
+His face had darkened, and his mouth had set.
+
+She had not said a word, but had stood with a face like a mask looking
+blankly in front of her.  Now she tore herself away from him, and,
+casting herself down with her face buried in the cushion of the sofa,
+she burst into a passion of sobbing.
+
+"It means that you have ruined me," she cried.  "That you have
+ruined-ruined--ruined me!  Could you not leave us alone?   Why must you
+come at the last moment?  A few more days, and we were safe.  And you
+never had my letter."
+
+"And what was in your letter, then?" he asked coldly, standing with his
+arms folded, looking down at her.
+
+"It was to tell you that I released you.  I love Raffles Haw, and I was
+to have been his wife.  And now it is all gone.  Oh, Hector, I hate you,
+and I shall always hate you as long as I live, for you have stepped
+between me and the only good fortune that ever came to me.  Leave me
+alone, and I hope that you will never cross our threshold again."
+
+"Is that your last word, Laura?"
+
+"The last that I shall ever speak to you."
+
+"Then, good-bye. I shall see the Dad, and go straight back to Plymouth."
+He waited an instant, in hopes of an answer, and then walked sadly from
+the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE GREATER SECRET.
+
+
+It was late that night that a startled knocking came at the door of
+Elmdene.  Laura had been in her room all day, and Robert was moodily
+smoking his pipe by the fire, when this harsh and sudden summons broke
+in upon his thoughts.  There in the porch was Jones, the stout
+head-butler of the Hall, hatless, scared, with the raindrops shining in
+the lamplight upon his smooth, bald head.
+
+"If you please, Mr. McIntyre, sir, would it trouble you to step up to
+the Hall?" he cried. "We are all frightened, sir, about master."
+
+Robert caught up his hat and started at a run, the frightened butler
+trotting heavily beside him.  It had been a day of excitement and
+disaster.  The young artist's heart was heavy within him, and the
+shadow of some crowning trouble seemed to have fallen upon his soul.
+
+"What is the matter with your master, then?" he asked, as he slowed down
+into a walk.
+
+"We don't know, sir; but we can't get an answer when we knock at the
+laboratory door.  Yet he's there, for it's locked on the inside.  It has
+given us all a scare, sir, that, and his goin's-on during the day."
+
+"His goings-on?"
+
+"Yes, sir; for he came back this morning like a man demented, a-talkin'
+to himself, and with his eyes starin' so that it was dreadful to look at
+the poor dear gentleman.  Then he walked about the passages a long time,
+and he wouldn't so much as look at his luncheon, but he went into the
+museum, and gathered all his jewels and things, and carried them into
+the laboratory.  We don't know what he's done since then, sir, but his
+furnace has been a-roarin', and his big chimney spoutin' smoke like a
+Birmingham factory.  When night came we could see his figure against
+the light, a-workin' and a-heavin' like a man possessed.  No dinner
+would he have, but work, and work, and work.  Now it's all quiet, and
+the furnace cold, and no smoke from above, but we can't get no answer
+from him, sir, so we are scared, and Miller has gone for the police, and
+I came away for you."
+
+They reached the Hall as the butler finished his explanation, and there
+outside the laboratory door stood the little knot of footmen and
+ostlers, while the village policeman, who had just arrived, was holding
+his bull's-eye to the keyhole, and endeavouring to peep through.
+
+"The key is half-turned," he said. "I can't see nothing except just the
+light."
+
+"Here's Mr. McIntyre," cried half-a-dozen voices, as Robert came
+forward.
+
+"We'll have to beat the door in, sir," said the policeman.  "We can't
+get any sort of answer, and there's something wrong."
+
+Twice and thrice they threw their united weights against it until at
+last with a sharp snap the lock broke, and they crowded into the narrow
+passage.  The inner door was ajar, and the laboratory lay before them.
+
+In the centre was an enormous heap of fluffy grey ash, reaching up
+half-way to the ceiling.  Beside it was another heap, much smaller, of
+some brilliant scintillating dust, which shimmered brightly in the rays
+of the electric light. All round was a bewildering chaos of broken jars,
+shattered bottles, cracked machinery, and tangled wires, all bent and
+draggled.  And there in the midst of this universal ruin, leaning back
+in his chair with his hands clasped upon his lap, and the easy pose of
+one who rests after hard work safely carried through, sat Raffles Haw,
+the master of the house, and the richest of mankind, with the pallor of
+death upon his face.  So easily he sat and so naturally, with such a
+serene expression upon his features, that it was not until they raised
+him, and touched his cold and rigid limbs, that they could realise that
+he had indeed passed away.
+
+Reverently and slowly they bore him to his room, for he was beloved by
+all who had served  him.  Robert alone lingered with the policeman in
+the laboratory.  Like a man in a dream he wandered about, marvelling at
+the universal destruction.  A large broad-headed hammer lay upon the
+ground, and with this Haw had apparently set himself to destroy all
+his apparatus, having first used his electrical machines to reduce to
+protyle all the stock of gold which he had accumulated. The
+treasure-room which had so dazzled Robert consisted now of merely four
+bare walls, while the gleaming dust upon the floor proclaimed the fate
+of that magnificent collection of gems which had alone amounted to a
+royal fortune.  Of all the machinery no single piece remained intact,
+and even the glass table was shattered into three pieces.  Strenuously
+earnest must have been the work which Raffles Haw had done that day.
+
+And suddenly Robert thought of the secret which had been treasured in
+the casket within the iron-clamped box.  It was to tell him the one last
+essential link which would make his knowledge of the process complete.
+Was it still there?  Thrilling all over, he opened the great chest, and
+drew out the ivory box.  It was locked, but the key was in it.  He
+turned it and threw open the lid.  There was a white slip of paper with
+his own name written upon it.  With trembling fingers he unfolded it.
+Was he the heir to the riches of El Dorado, or was he destined to be a
+poor struggling artist?  The note was dated that very evening,
+and ran in this way:
+
+   "MY DEAR ROBERT,--My secret shall never be used again. I cannot
+   tell you how I thank Heaven that I did not entirely confide it to
+   you, for I should have been handing over an inheritance of misery
+   both to yourself and others.  For myself I have hardly had a happy
+   moment since I discovered it. This I could have borne had I been
+   able to feel that I was doing good, but, alas! the only effect of my
+   attempts has been to turn workers into idlers, contented men into
+   greedy parasites, and, worst of all, true, pure women into
+   deceivers and hypocrites.  If this is the effect of my interference
+   on a small scale, I cannot hope for anything better were I to carry
+   out the plans which we have so often discussed.  The schemes of my
+   life have all turned to nothing.  For myself, you shall never see me
+   again.  I shall go back to the student life from which I emerged.
+   There, at least, if I can do little good, I can do no harm.  It is
+   my wish that such valuables as remain in the Hall should be sold,
+   and the proceeds divided amidst all the charities of Birmingham.
+   I shall leave tonight if I am well enough, but I have been much
+   troubled all day by a stabbing pain in my side.  It is as if wealth
+   were as bad for health as it is for peace of mind.  Good-bye,
+   Robert, and may you never have as sad a heart as I have to-night.
+   Yours very truly,
+   RAFFLES HAW."
+
+"Was it suicide, sir?  Was it suicide?" broke in the policeman as
+Robert put the note in his pocket.
+
+"No," he answered; "I think it was a broken heart."
+
+And so the wonders of the New Hall were all dismantled, the carvings and
+the gold, the books and the pictures, and many a struggling man or woman
+who had heard nothing of Raffles Haw during his life had cause to bless
+him after his death.  The house has been bought by a company now, who
+have turned it into a hydropathic establishment, and of all the folk
+who frequent it in search of health or of pleasure there are few who
+know the strange story which is connected with it.
+
+The blight which Haw's wealth cast around it seemed to last even after
+his death.  Old McIntyre still raves in the County Lunatic Asylum, and
+treasures up old scraps of wood and metal under the impression that they
+are all ingots of gold.  Robert McIntyre is a moody and irritable man,
+for ever pursuing a quest which will always evade him.  His art is
+forgotten, and he spends his whole small income upon chemical and
+electrical appliances, with which he vainly seeks to rediscover that one
+hidden link.  His sister keeps house for him, a silent and brooding
+woman, still queenly and beautiful, but of a bitter, dissatisfied mind.
+Of late, however, she has devoted herself to charity, and has been of so
+much help to Mr. Spurling's new curate that it is thought that he may be
+tempted to secure her assistance for ever.  So runs the gossip of the
+village, and in small places such gossip is seldom wrong.  As to Hector
+Spurling, he is still in her Majesty's service, and seems inclined to
+abide by his father's wise advice, that he should not think of marrying
+until he was a Commander.  It is possible that of all who were brought
+within the spell of Raffles Haw he was the only one who had occasion to
+bless it.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***
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